When we use them in the stress of emotion to express deep feeling, their use is perfectly justified. But one author has called these words "the miserable refuge of the speechless." We use them many times because we have no words with which to express ourselves. This use is unjustified. Be careful that you do not use them in this way. It has been said that the degree of a man's civilization can be pretty fairly judged by the expletives which he uses. Do not sprinkle your conversation with interjections and even stronger words because you are at a loss for other words.
There is a rich mine of words at your disposal. Do not be satisfied with bits of glass that have no value, when the rich diamonds of real expression can be yours for just a little digging. Save your emotional language for the time when you really need it to express deep emotion.
Yours for Education,
THE PEOPLE'S COLLEGE.
INTERJECTIONS
386. We have been studying the parts of speech,—the elements of which sentences are composed. But we have another class of words which we call parts of speech because they are spoken and written as words, but which are really not parts of speech in the same sense as the words which we have been discussing. These are words which we call interjections.
Interjection means, literally, thrown between, from jecto, to throw,and inter, between. So interjections do not enter into the constructionof sentences but are only thrown in between. Every word that is really a part of the sentence is either a noun, a pronoun, a verb, an adjective, an adverb, a preposition or a conjunction.
There are words, however, that we use with sentences which do not enter into the construction. For example, you say:
- Oh! I am wounded.
- Aha! I have conquered.
- Alas! He came too late.
387. Words which we use in these sentences, like, oh, aha, alas, are used to express the emotion which you feel in making the statement. Your Oh! in a sentence like: Oh! I am wounded, would probably sound very much like a groan. But your Aha! in the, Aha! I have conquered, will sound like a shout of victory, and your Alas! in the sentence, Alas! He came too late, will express grief or regret over the fact that he came too late.