Dear Comrade:
In this lesson we are completing our study of the preposition. The
preposition is one of the last parts of speech which we take up for
study and it is also one of the last parts of speech to be added to our
vocabulary. The child does not use the preposition when it first begins
to talk. It uses the names of things; words of action; words that
describe objects and actions. It does not begin to use prepositions
until it begins to relate ideas.
The relation of ideas means that we are thinking; combining ideas into
thoughts. Then we begin to need prepositions, which are words of
relation, connecting words, expressing the relationship between ideas.
The measure of the fullness and richness of our lives is the measure of
our understanding of the world about us, of the relationship existing
between the different phases of that world and of our relationship to it
all.
So words do not mean much to us until we can relate them to our own
lives and our own experiences. When you look up a word in the
dictionary, do not study the word alone; study also the thing for which
it stands. A person with a good memory might acquire a vocabulary by
sheer feat of memory; but what good would it do unless each word could
be related to practical experience? It is only in this way that words
become _alive_ to us. We must have an idea, a concept and knowledge of
the thing for which the word stands.
So let us use our dictionary in this way. Do not be satisfied when you
have looked up a word simply to know how to spell and pronounce the word
and understand somewhat of its meaning. Do not be satisfied until it has
become a live word to you. Have a clear image and understanding of just
what each word stands for. Use the words in sentences of your own. Use
them in your conversation. Make them a part of your every-day life.
Do not pass over any of the words in the lesson without understanding
their meaning. Study the poem _Abou Ben Adhem_ in this week's lesson.
After you have read it over a number of times, close the book and
rewrite the poem in prose in your own language. Then compare your
version with the poem. Note where you have used different expressions
and decide which is the better, the words used in the poem or your own
words. Rewrite it several times until you have a well-written version of
this poem.
Exercises such as this will increase your vocabulary and quickly develop
the power of expression. No power can come in any department of life
without effort having been expended in its acquisition. Our great
writers have been careful students. Robert Louis Stevenson says that he
has often spent a half a day searching for the particular word which he
needed to express precisely the idea in mind. Stevenson is a master of
the English and this power came to him by this sort of studious and
earnest work.
Yours for Education,