c. Our new neighbors are very pleasant. 4. Do you ever say: "I guess so"? You should say: a. I think so. b. I think it is time to go home. c. I think the story is true. d. I think I know all my lessons. 5. Do you ever say: "It's funny that the train doesn't start?” You should say: a. It's strange that the train doesn't start. c. Frank has a very strange disposition. d. It is strange that you find your work so hard. e. How strange it is that he does not come! 6. Do you ever say: "I just love ice cream?" You should say: a. I like ice cream very much. b. I like to go motoring. c. Don't you like the movies? d. Wouldn't you like to go up in an airship? e. I think that he will like the trip. Write two other sentences showing the correct way of saying each of these things. Read your sentences to the class. 291 THE BADGE OF GOOD SPEECH There is a kind of badge that you may all wear. It is the badge of good speech. The wearer of that badge will not say kind of, or kinda, or sort of, but he will say rather. He will not say alongside or side of, but he will say beside. He will not say in back of, but he will say behind. He will not say would of gone, but he will say would have gone. Finish the following sentences, using in each the word which stands at the head of the group. The girl who whispers sits If I had read the letter, I The broom is kept If she had not been ill, she The Boy Scouts marched If I had been you, I — — —. It was a lovely June morning, and the first day of vacation. As soon as breakfast was over, Carol ran eagerly over to her friend Harriet's house. "Come out to the park," she cried. "I can't," said Harriet. "Mother won't let me go and leave her with all the work to do." "Let me help," offered Carol, "and you'll finish in half the time. But I don't see why you can't leave your bed to make till you come back." "Mother doesn't let me do things like that. It's bad housekeeping to leave work waiting." Notice how careful the children in this story are to use let and leave properly. What word could you put in place of let each time? Is leave ever used except when it means to allow something to remain behind? You let something or someone lie, go, do, etc. You leave something or someone lying, going, doing, etc. Here is the rest of the story. Fill the blanks correctly with let and leave. In half an hour the work was finished and the girls were ready to the house. Harriet's brother Tom would not them without him, and his book lying face downward on the floor he ran to join them. In the park they found a cool spot by the brook. They took off their hats and the wind blow through their hair. After a while they their shoes and stockings lying on the bank and went in wading. 293 USING JUST ENOUGH WORDS One of the ways in which you may fail to use the best English in your speech is by using more words than you need. Some words need helpers to make their meaning clear. Other words have so much meaning that it is wrong to use helpers. Often you hear persons say: He has a free pass on the railroad. Their camp was on a spot elevated up three thousand feet. They made a new beginning. In each of these sentences there is one unnecessary word. A pass is a paper allowing free travel or admittance. Return means to come back. Elevated means raised from a lower to a higher position. It is impossible to elevate anything down. Beginning means the starting point. There is no such thing as an old beginning. So you see that: Free is part of the meaning of the word pass. Back is part of the meaning of the word returned. Up is part of the meaning of the word elevated. New is part of the meaning of the word beginning. Make two sentences for each of the words pass, returned, elevated, beginning. Be sure to omit the unnecessary words. Read your sentences to the class. 294 USING AN INDEX You The word index originally meant a pointer. have heard it used in that way to describe your first finger, the index finger. When anyone is rude enough to point, he points with his first finger. In the back of this book, and of almost every book used for study, there are some pages called an index. What have those pages to do with pointing? Just this: by means of alphabetical arrangement and numbers of pages they point out to you just where in the book you may find the thing you wish to find. An index is a list of all the topics spoken of in a book, arranged in alphabetical order just as the dictionary is arranged. Opposite each topic are the numbers of all the pages where it is spoken of. Thus, if you do not know where in the book to find a certain lesson about adjectives, for example, you look under the A's in the index for the word adjectives, and are told that |