The Basic Teacher
Vocabulary
Read and memorize this nouns and adjectives.
Nouns
Bell |
 |
Coat |
 |
Face |
 |
Glove |
 |
Grip |
 |
Hat |
 |
Head |
 |
Hole |
 |
Mouth |
 |
Servant |
 |
Stick |
 |
Tongue |
 |
Tooth |
 |
Cry |
|
Instrument |
|
Liquid |
|
Nerve |
|
Pull |
Touch |
Trouble |
Wash |
Adjectives
Good Bad
Open Shut
Sudden
Structure words
Forward
Much - Little
Please
Structure
“Tooth”, like man and woman, forms its plural by a change of vowel and not by the addition of s.
The “th” in mouth is pronounced as in thing, but in the plural form mouths it is pronounced as in the.
There are a number of nouns which may be used either as if they were names of countables or as if they were names of substances. Two such nouns occur in this Step, pain and trouble. We may say:
OR
“Time” is another noun of the same sort. One may talk of a time, meaning a particular period of time, or of time in general.
The opposites “much” and “little” are used with names of substances, etc. and not with names of countables.
They are also used as pronouns and, as such, like the other pronouns of quantity, may be linked by “of” to the name of that to which they refer.
“Little” may be used in a special sense with “a” and “is” therefore an exception to the general rule that adjectives of quantity never have “a”, “the”, or an “adjective” before them. “A little” gives the sense 'a small amount (of),' whereas “little” used without “a” has the negative sense 'not much, not more than a small amount (of).' The distinction will easily be grasped from the examples. Note that there is no corresponding use of “a” with much.
In this Step, examples are given of some of the chief expansions of the operators.
GET: The root sense of “get” is 'obtain' or 'acquire,' understood in the widest possible way. We have already seen that this may be the equivalent of 'receive' or 'be given,' but that it is not confined to this sense. (“As”, for example, Step 8, plants from which we get berries). “Nor” is what we get limited to physical objects; we may get pleasure from a book, get a view of the river, get a pain, and so on. Sometimes we get things permanently, in other words become the owners of them, by gift, purchase, or otherwise, as when we get a book at a store. Sometimes we get them without trouble, or even without any act of our own, as when we get light from a window; sometimes with an effort, as when we get work (become employed) after trying for some time, or get a seat in the train by looking for it in competition with others, or get a bird or other animal in the sense of 'catch' it.
In order to get something, one frequently has to change its position, so, combining these ideas, one may say, for example, if one takes a ticket from inside a box. I get the ticket from the box. By a further development, the root sense of 'obtaining' disappears and get is used simply to indicate the moving of a thing into another position which is indicated by a preposition or adverb.
Change of position leads to the parallel idea of change of condition, and this gives us another expansion to get the adjectives.
It is an easy step from this to the idea of things getting themselves into positions or conditions, and in this case get it used, like come and go, without an object.
GIVE: Our first examples of “give” were in connection with physical objects, but one may give many other things, such as feelings and some acts, that are in some sense transmitted from one person or thing to another.
You have seen (Step 3) that in the simplest pattern of statement with “give” the preposition “to” comes after the object (the name of what is given) and is followed by the indirect object (the name of that which receives what is given). Sometimes, however, “to” is omitted and the indirect object put before the direct object. This inversion is possible when a physical thing is given but is most common when what is given is something which is not physical.
It is a safe rule always to use the inversion when the indirect object is a pronoun, whether the thing given is a physical object or not.
On the other hand, the inversion is never used when the direct object is a noun and the direct object is a personal pronoun. We say:
But
“Give” is also used without an indirect object with certain names of acts, in the sense simply of 'emit' or 'produce.'
KEEP: Just as one may get things in a direction or condition, so, in the sense of maintaining, one may keep them (or oneself) in a direction or condition.
LET: We have seen that “let” is normally followed by a noun or pronoun and the root form of an operator. When this operator is “go” or “come” followed by a preposition, however, the operator is often omitted.
MAKE: “Make” is used for he process of producing a new thing. It is also used for the process of producing or causing a new condition or quality in something. When used in this second sense it is followed by a noun or pronoun naming the thing which is changed and an adjective naming the quality produced.
“Make” may be used not only in the sense of 'cause to be,' but also in the sense of 'cause to do' (often in the sense of 'compel'). In this case the object is followed by an operator and the construction is the same as with let.
MAY: When we say that a thing may happen, we mean that it is possible. But it can be possible in two ways, either because circumstances allow it to happen (that is the sense of “May” that has been illustrated first), or because a person allows it by giving his permission.
But
SEE: The object of “see” may be followed by the root form of another operator to express the fact that what is seen is the person or thing named doing the act named.
Alternately, the -ing form of an operator, representing the act as in progress, may be used after the object of “see” in place of the root form.
The “-ing” adjectives formed from operators may be used without be to indicate an act done by the subject either just before or at the same time as the action named by the operator in the statement. Such adjectives, with whatever is necessary to complete their sense, are generally put at the beginning or end of the statement and are separated by a comma.
This construction is also used with hanging and other similar adjectives ending in -ing.
WITH: If a person takes meat out of a pot with his hands, his hands and the meat are together in space, and so with one another in the root sense, but the hands are also the means by which the meat is removed from the pot. This example shows the connection between the root sense of with and its use as a pointer to the instrument by which an act is done.
“Forward” means either 'onward' (in space and time) or 'to or towards the front'. We have seen that back is used as an adverb expressing the opposite of the first sense; it is also used to express the opposite of the second.
We have seen that when the adverb not qualifies an operator to make a negative statement, it comes after the operator or the auxiliary. Not is also used to qualify certain adjectives and pronouns of quantity, and in this use it is put immediately before the word it qualifies.
Two of the words with which not may be used in this way are all and every.
If we want to say that redness is not a quality of very apple or all apples (though it may be of some), it is the "every" or "the all", not the operator, which must be qualified by not, thus:
Not may similarly be used before much when it is, or forms part of, the subject, but in this case, putting not before the subject instead of after the operator changes only the emphasis, not the sense.
These statements, of course, might just as well be expressed, without not since not much: little (Little light comes into these rooms), but the habit of using negatives or understatements is common in English, as in many other languages. The same construction is not used with little, but “not a little” is used as an emphatic substitute for much.
“Requests” may be made in the form used for orders, or in the form of questions using “will” or, naturally, when the request is for permission, “may”.
“Please” is a polite form used in making requests. It may be placed at the beginning or at the end of the request or, in questions, after the subject.
TROUBLE WITH A TOOTH
[Mr. Brown is at the front door of a house. He gives the bell a push and a servant comes to the door and gets it open. He lets Mr. Brown in.]
Mr. Brown: May I see Mr. Cook?
Servant: Are you Mr. Brown?
Mr. Brown: Yes.
Servant: Will you come in, please?
[He takes Mr. Brown to a small room with a fire in it. At the other side of the room there is a door, which is shut.]
Mr. Brown: You have a good fire here.
Servant: Will you take a seat? Mr. Cook is not quite ready. May I take your things?
[Mr. Brown puts gloves in his pocket and takes his coat off. He give his hat, coat, and stick to the servant. The servant goes out. Mr. Brown takes a seat by the fire. There are some books on the table. He takes up a book and puts it down. He puts his hand to his face. A man in a white coat comes in from the other room. Mr. Brown gets up.]
Mr. Cook: [coming forward and putting his hand out]: Mr. Brown? Good morning.
Mr. Brown: Good morning. [They go into the other room.]
Mr. Cook: Will you please take a seat here?
[While Mr. Brown is getting ready, Mr. Cook goes to the other end of the room and gives his hands a wash. Then he comes back.]
Put your head back, please, and let me see. Is this the tooth which is giving the trouble?
Mr. Brown: Yes, that is the tooth, at the back of my mouth.
Mr. Cook: I see it.
[He gives the tooth a touch with his instrument. Mr. Brown puts his hand up.]
My instrument is getting on the nerve. There is a great hole in the tooth, but you have no other bad teeth. All your other teeth are very good. A man keeps young if he has good teeth.
[He gives the bad tooth another touch.]
Have you a pain in this tooth?
Mr. Brown: Yes, I am in great pain.
Mr. Cook: I will take the tooth out for you.
Mr. Brown: This is a bad day for that because I am going to the country. Do not make me late for my train.
Mr. Cook: I will be very quick. The tooth will come out with one pull.
[He gets some steel instruments out of a drawer and put them on a small table.]
I will put this thing in your mouth. It will keep it open. Now keep your tongue down, please.
[He takes up an instrument and gets a grip of the tooth with it. Then he gives a sudden pull. Mr. Brown keeps in his seat but his head goes back and he gives a cry. Mr. Cook takes the instrument out of his mouth and lets him see the tooth.]
There is the tooth.
Mr. Brown: Is it out?
Mr. Cook: Yes. That is the end of your troubles. [He gives him some liquid in a glass.] Give your mouth a wash with this.
[Mr. Brown gives his mouth a wash and gives the glass back to Mr. Cook.]
Mr. Brown: Not much blood is coming out.
Mr. Cook: That is good. You may have a little pain.
Mr. Brown: I have very little now.
Mr. Cook: Keep your mouth shut when you go out and put something round your face.
Mr. Brown: May I have a meal when I get to the station?
Mr. Cook: Yes, but give your mouth another wash after it.
Mr. Brown: I will. Good morning.
Mr. Cook: Good morning.
[The servant comes in and gives Mr. Brown his things. Mr. Brown puts on his coat and the servant takes him to the front door and lets him out.]
Notes
Read Carefully, this are some sentences of the text, and here is the explanation form them.
Trouble with a tooth: Note this wider use of with in the sense of 'concerning, having to do with'.
He lets Mr. Brown in: Let in and let out may be used with the special sense of 'open the door of a house, etc., for someone to enter or leave.'
There is a door: There is frequently used to introduce statements which simply assert the existence or presence of something. When so used it is said quite without emphasis and retains none of its pointing force.
Take a seat: sit down.
May I take your things: A person's clothes and the objects which he carries about with him, such as a walking stick or a case, are talked of as his things. Similarly, in a more general sense, one's things are one's possessions. The learner will notice that the sense of the English word thing is very wide. It can be used for whatever we may have thoughts about, whether this is a material objects, a feeling, a quality, an act, an event, or a fact.
Takes his coat off: When we remove clothing, we are simply said: “to take it off”.
Puts on his coat: It is not necessary to name the part of the body from which we take it. Put on is used similarly for the opposite action. Note that, though in these adverbial uses, on and off may still come after the object, they may, alternatively, come directly after the operator except when the object is a pronoun or where (as in some cases with get) there might be ambiguity (get off the grass: remove oneself from it, get the grass off: remove it from whatever it is on). Apart from these special phrases, on and off, like in, are among the prepositions that have a general adverbial use.
He takes up a book and puts it down: One takes up a thing when one take it off a surface; one put it down when one puts it on a surface. Note that the rules of order are the same as for take off and put on.
A man in a white coat: That is, 'wearing a white coat'.
Mr. Brown gets up: That is, 'rises from his seat'.
Putting his hand out: That is, 'forward'.
Good morning: A form of greeting.
Bad teeth: Bad here means 'decayed'.
In great pain: A condition is though of as something that a person may be in, but in may not be used before all nouns naming conditions. For instance, though a person may be in pain, he could not be descried as in pleasure. Note that “great” is used of degree as well as of size.
One: Basic number-word for 1. All number-words may be used as adjectives or pronouns. As pronouns, they may, like the other pronouns indicating quantity, be linked by of to the name of the things to which they refer. Numerical adjectives precede descriptive adjectives, but unlike other adjectives of quantity, they follow pointing or possessive adjectives or the.
Gets a grip of: grips, grasps. Notice that this phrase and the idiomatic use “of” of after grip. Also, gets a grip on.
Glass: drinking-vessel made of glass. By an expansion, the name of a substance is here used for a thing which is made of it.
Very little: Though pronouns may not as a rule “be” qualified by adverbs, much and little are exceptional in allowing very before them even in their pronoun use. We may say similarly a very little.
Round your face: Round may be used as a preposition, with the sense 'around'
Exercises
(a) (b)
(a) Describe what you see in the above picture in five sentences introducing the following words:
(i) Push, bell
A:
(ii) Hat, head
A:
(iii) Coat, hole
A:
(iv) Stick, touch
A:
(v) Little, face
A:
(b) Describe what you see in the above picture in five sentences introducing the following words :
(i) Mouth, open
A:
(ii) Tooth, pull
A:
(iii) Pain, much
A:
(iv) Tongue, grip
A:
(v) Wash, liquid
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