A connected chain of reasoning is impossible without the knowledge of the words that express the development of the ideas and the varying shades of meaning. To gain this mastery, you must know the words of our language and their use. Words are the symbols of ideas and perform certain functions in expressing our thoughts. This, simply stated, is all that the study of English Grammar comprises—the study of English words and their use in the expression of thought and feeling.
THE THOUGHT AND THE WORD
11. We have found that the invention of words grew out of the ability to think and the need for expression. But we first thought! So, in order to express yourself clearly you must first think clearly. Any thought can be simply and clearly expressed. When you read something difficult of understanding, where the thought is buried under an avalanche of words, you can be assured the writer was not thinking clearly. He did not have the perfect mastery of his thought. On the other hand, one may have a valuable thought in mind and not be able to express it because he does not have the words at his command. In the one case, we have words and no idea; in the other, the idea and no words.
This study is intended to enable you to master words, the tools of expression. In whatever work you are engaged, it was first necessary to learn to use the tools with which you work. So, you must master the use of English words, the tools of your expression. You can in that way learn to express your thoughts clearly and exactly. You will not need to resort to slang, or to the tiresome repetition of a few words.
The best of everything is none too good for you. It is your right, your heritage, and the best in the English language will bring you into the company and comradeship of the men and women who have striven and toiled for humanity, who will talk to you of dreams and deeds worth while, who will place in your hands the key to a new world.
A COMPLETE THOUGHT
12. When we want to express a thought we use more than one word. Words are the symbols of ideas, but a thought is the expression of the relation between ideas. For example, I say man, and you get an idea or an image in your mind of a man, but I have not said anything about any man. But if I say, Man works, then I have expressed a thought. I have related the idea of a man and the idea of work and have expressed a complete thought.
So we express our thoughts by groups of words. The very smallest group of words which will express a complete thought must, therefore, contain two words. If I say men, fire, flowers, and stop, you wonder what I mean, for I have not expressed a thought. Or, I might say, work, burns, bloom, and you would still be in the dark as to my meaning; but, when I say, Men work, Fire burns, Flowers bloom, you understand, for I have told you my complete thought. I have put two words together in a way to make sense; I have formed a sentence.
13. If we say, Go or Wait, in the form of a command or entreaty, the single word seems to make complete sense and to form a sentence in itself. But this is only because you, who are to do the going or the waiting, is clearly implied. The words go or wait, by themselves, do not make sense or form a sentence unless they are uttered in the commanding or beseeching tone of voice which makes you understand that You go or You wait is the intended meaning. With the exception of words used in this way as a command or entreaty, it is always necessary to use at least two words to express a complete thought.
But will any two words make a sentence—express a complete thought?