Notes - Basic Step by Step

Notes for Basic Step By Step

PART III . NOTES

Part III . Notes

For the Teacher

and the advanced learner.

About Notes
1 . The Body
2 . Food
3 . Work
4 . The Weather
5 . The Family
6 . A Building
7 . Fire
8 . The Country
9 . The Sea
10. Time

About Steps 11-20
11 . The Machine
12 . Business
13 . Money
14 . Noise
15 . News
16 . Amusement
17 . Education
18 . Reading
19 . The Earth
20 . History

About Steps 21-30.
21 . Invention
22 . Feeling
23 . Art
24 . Trade
25 . Transport
26 . Peace
27 . Language
28 . Society
29 . Government
30 . Science

Step 6 . A BUILDING (Notes)

all ,
let , 1.
across , by , 3.
almost , quite , 4.
you , (we) , (they) , these) , (those) , such

"In the street." Things are said to be in space, as they are in oil, water, or any other substance by which they are limited, quite as naturally as they are said to be in such things as boxes or vessels. The street is a division of space, and so the houses are in it, in the same way as the street itself is in the town, and the town is in the country.
"Some are of wood." We have seen that by a natural development from off, of becomes the sign of connection between a thing and that of which it is the property (in the widest sense). Here we have an example of a different, but equally natural development, where of is the sign of connection between a thing and the material which has been used in making it. "The skin of an orange" is the skin which is (or may be) taken from the orange. "A building of wood" is a building for which the material is taken from the substance wood.
"Let light and air come into the rooms." The root sense of let is that of putting nothing in the way of some act or behaviour by some person or thing. What is let is not the person or thing only, or the act only, but the two together. So after let comes first the name of what does the operation, and then the name of the operation itself. Come is used here (and not go) because the point of view is that of a person inside the house.
Complex words. New words may frequently be formed by putting two words together. Another, inside, outside, into, and workmen are examples of such complex words. Their sound and sense are the same as if their parts were printed separately. The only points to be noted are : first, thatinside and outside are not limited to the sides of the house, but give the idea of "all the parts which are in or out;" second, that the addition of to to in is for the purpose of giving the idea of motion, and into is used in place of in whenever there is a change of position from out to in ; third, that the name workman is not given to any man who does work, but specially to one who does work with his hands.
"In and out." Though out has the sense of a direction, and is here used as the opposite of in, it is never put straight before the name of a thing like the special "names of directions." See step 29.
"Come across the street." The chief new point in this Step is the word-order used in giving orders or making requests (see ABC, p. 46).¹ Give special attention to the form with not ("Do not go in"). Here, as in statements, do is used with all names of operations, and the not comes after the do. (The fact that, in orders, be like the other operation words, takes do with not, though it does not take do in statements with not, is possibly to a point for the learner at this state ; but the teacher will do well to keep it in mind for future use).
We. The form for a number of persons when the person talking is one of them. (like all other forms for more than one, it is used with are.
Almost -- quite. Though not opposites in the true sense, these two signs of degree make one another clear in much the same way as opposites do.
You. The form used for the name f the person to whom one is talking.
They. The form for number of he (she, and it). "The door is not there." This use of there, with the sense of "in the place where it would normally be," is quite in harmony with its root sense, "in the place at which the person making the statement is pointing." The only development is from pointing by a physical sign to pointing by the general sense of what is being said.
These -- those. The forms of this and that which are used for more than one.
Such, put before the name of a thing in the form for more than one, or of a substance, has the same sense as the words, "like those (that)" (that is, of the sort we are talking about or pointing at). For a more detailed account of such see The ABC, page 45.²
"Houses are not healthy." Though the first use of healthy is in connection with persons, it is a straightforward step to its use in talking of places, foods, and so on, which have the effects of keeping or making persons healthy. -- Take note that the middle s of houses is sounded like a z (as in was).
Opposites : (in) -- (out)

(these) -- (those)
(inside) -- (outside)

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1 . Orders are given by using the root-form of an operation-word without a name or `pronoun.' In this way they are like cries but in other ways they may be like full statements, keeping the same word-order as in a normal statement:

Come to the theater tomorrow.
Put the gun down.

The "!" sign is not generally used after orders or requests formed of more than one or two words, but may be if they are cried out:

Keep away from the edge!

When `not' is needed in an order, the `auxiliary' do has to be used:

Do not go in there.

2 . Such is a less straightforward pointing word than this and that, having the sense `of this (that) sort,' or even `of this (that) sort of size (degree)': such ideas are foolish, the gloves are not such a dark color'. Take note of the word-order -- such before a (it is never used with the).
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back to A Building

Step 7. -- Fire

enough , far , near , much, 4.
if, 8.
who,

Fire, a fire. Fire is the name given to the process or condition of burning, and a fire is a mass of material in this condition, specially such a burning mass used for heating or cooking.
Fire-place. We have seen that the name of one thing may be used before the name of another to give the idea that the thing talked of has the qualities pointed to by the two names. Sometimes, however, the first name may be a sign, not of a quality of the ting in the common sense of the word (as in 'baby boy'), but of the purpose for which it is designed or the use to which it is put. When this is so, the two words are generally joined with a "-", and become the name of a special thing, as fire-place (place for a fire), though sometimes, when they are very common they may be put together as one word, like workman (see the Note on complex words, N6-1).
Some. of the rooms." Some is frequently used by itself in the sense of 'a part; or ' a group,' and then of is put between it and the name of the thing or things (which necessarily has the, this, that, or an owner-form before it) from which the selection effected by some is made. Other words which may be used in a parallel way with of are : all, any, enough, little, much, and the number-words (one of, two of, etc.).
"We make houses warm." Take note of this use of we in the sense of "persons generally." We is used for any group of which the person talking is a part ; it may be quite general, representative of "all men"; or somewhat less so, representative of a more limited group such as the person's countrymen, school friends, and so on ; or quite special, as further on in this Step, where it is representative only of the boy and his sister.
By the use fire." The root sense of by, as we have seen (Step 6) is 'near to.' As a development from this, of which a detailed account is given in the ABC (p. 119), it comes t be used, even more importantly, for pointing to the way in which we do things or to the instrument, person, or cause which is responsible for them. So the way in which we houses warm is :by the use of fires", or "by using fire", or "by having fires" and so on. Or, if we are interested only in the instrument itself, and not in the act of using it, we say "houses are kept warm by fires",. and so on. This is very like the extension of with noted on N2-2.
If I have . . . and put . . . the fire will . . . ." "If we are far . . . we do not get . . . ." The statement which is dependent on one starting with if is sometimes put in the present time and sometimes in the future. It is in the future when it is representative of an act, event, or condition, which comes after that of the if-statement ; in the present when it is representative of one which is going on at the same time as that of the if-statement. This is not a complete rule, but it will be a safe guide for the learner till his reading has given him further experience. A second point to be noted here is that when two if-statements are joined by and, it is necessary to put if only before the first.
"We are." It has been noted in connection with Step 6 that are is the form used with we, as am is used with I.
"Get it dry." It will be readily seen that if we get anything by taking it from a high shelf we get it down. In the same way we may get it in any other direction (or into a position), and so, by a simple parallel, we may get things into any condition, such as that of being dry. Get has come to be used in this way with little suggestion of its root sense of 'making ours.' From this it becomes possible to say of anything which has an effect upon another that it gets it into a certain condition. By a further simple development things are able to get themselves into conditions, and then the name of the thing undergoing the operation is commonly dropped out, as here in "the water will get (itself) warm." The two examples given later. "get (our bodies) warm," and "get a burn," will be of help to the learner in seeing the connection between the root sense and its developments.
"Before a fire." The use of before in connection with space is to be noted. See N5-2.
"Near to," "Far from." It is to be noted that though near and far are words of place like here and there, and may be used in the same way, without other words after them, their sense is that of a relation in space between two or more things, and they are most frequently used between two names. When this is done, near takes to between it and the second name, and far takes from. The learner will have not trouble with this use if he keeps in mind that the idea of near is pointing to something, that of far, away from it.
Very near. In addition to its use with names of qualities, very may be put before near and far, however these are used.
"Warm enough," "enough water." The first use of enough is as a sign of degree with names of qualities, and as such it comes after the word it is limiting. But it is, in addition, used with the names of things as a sign of amount, and then it generally comes before them like the name of a quality, though it is still possible to put it after.
Fire-light". That is, light produced by a fire. Here we have another very common sort of complex word, in which the first part gives he name of the producer,cause, owner and so on of what is named by the second part. Example of other complex words, in which the relation between the two parts may be a little different from those noted in this Step, will be given later.
Who. This form may be used of one or more than one, but only of persons.
"In danger." Conditions and relations are commonly talked of as if they had the qualities of space, and the use of in here is parallel to the development earlier noted in connection with time (Step 4).
"The damage may not be great." Though the first sense of great has to do with physical size, through the natural tendency to make use of space-words for measuring other things, it has come to be used as a general sign of danger.
"Go from one thing to another." In addition to being the name of a number, one has a more general use as a stronger form of a. It is specially so used in connection with another. The flames "go from one thing to another," that is "from any one thing to any other." -- Take note that the word 'thing' is here not put in again after another. We have seen before, in connection with the word some (N5-3), this trick of dropping a name used earlier. There are two reasons why it is important to give attention to every example of it we may come across : first, because it is a very common trick in English, and frequently, as here, though it would not be wrong to put the name in, it would seem stiff and unnatural ; second, because it is a trick which may be worked only after certain words, and is not to be attempted with any of whose use by themselves in this way the learner has no knowledge. Naturally, all words given in The Basic Words as having a 'pronoun' in addition to an 'adjective' use are quite safe, and the learner may make a start on his list with those which have come in so far " this and that, all, another, enough, some, and the number words such as one.

Opposites :

far -- near

Back to Fire

Step 8 . -- The Country

any . keep, 1. about, 3. again, 4. because , where, 8. Take note here of the complex words, farm-animal (animal for use on a farm), fowl-house, (building for fowls), and farm-house (house for the farmer on a farm).
"The only tree." Though only is among those words which are used for limiting the names of operations or qualities, it may in addition, unlike most of the others in this group, take the place of a quality word itself, but only after the or an owner-form (such as my).
"In the field is an old goat." When the words for place, time and so on are put first in a statement (see Notes on Step 4) and there is nothing more to come after the operation, the name of the 'doer,' which would normally come before it may be put at the end, and if the operator is be, it has to be put there, as in this example. The straightforward order, "An old goat is in the field," is, however, at all times quite clear, and though these possible changes may be noted by the learner, he will do well not to make use of them at the start, specially when the doer is named by I, he she, and so on.
"Give my body a push." give is frequently used without to before the name of the getter, and then the order is changed, and the name of what is given comes last. This is an important trick of natural English, and the learner will do well to give special attention to every example of it he may come across, and to the fuller account given in the ABC p. 103. It is a safe rule for the learner that this change of order is not to be attempted when what is given is named by one of the 'pronouns' it, him her, and so on.
Sheep has no special form for more than one. We say equally "one sheep (is)" and two sheep (are)."
"In others." Other may not only be used without a name after it, but when it is so used one makes the addition of s for more than one, as with the name of a thing. Unlike other words of this sort (see N7-4), other may be used without a name after it only in the form of the complex word another or when it has the, my, and so on before it ; others, on the other hand may be used by itself, as here.
Leaves See the Note on forms for numbers at the end of Step 5.
"We do not see any flowers." The sense of this statement is the same as if we said, "We see no flowers," that is, not . . . any == no. The word any has roughly the same sense as some, but it is used differently, regularly taking the place of some in not-statements, and commonly in questions and if-statements, so that in fact it has the effect of "even one" or "one bit of, however small." The use of any in other sorts of statements will be noted later (see N14-2) ; for the present, it is to be used by the learner only in the sort named here.
"Places where the weather is still warm." The joining-word where may, as here, be put after a word naming a place, for hanging onto it a statement about conditions or events there -- that is, it may have the force of "to (in, at) which" (place). Or it may be used for starring a dependent statement making clear the place of an act or condition named by the operator of another statement, as in : They go where the weather is warm -- that is, it may have the force of "to (in, at) a place at which."
Back to The Country

Step 9 . -- The Sea

among, 3. even, together, 4. though, why, 8. (what), (which), 9.
Which. The form of who used with the names of things and animals. It may be used of one or more than one.
"Over my body." A thing which is over another may be at a distance from it or it may be touching it. This second sense is very like that of on, but it has in addition the idea of 'covering.' "On my body" would be equally possible here, but it would not give as clear an idea of distribution.
That is why I keep . . . This and that are used for pointing not only a physical things but at acts, facts, events, or statements -- at anything that is, which may be 'pointed at' by the mind. This is a simple expansion of the idea of pointing which it will be well to make clear, but there is no change in the sense of this or that. In our example that is equal to "the fact that if I get a grain of sand in my eye the pain will be very great," and why is the regular sign of connection between a reason and what it is given as a reason for.
"I keep it from my face." As we may get things into any direction or condition, by a parallel development we may keep them in any position or condition. In this sense keep is frequently the opposite of let . . . go, and keeping sand from my face is the opposite of letting it go to it (or on it). The later example, "small boys and girls keep (themselves) together" is parallel in structure to "They get (themselves) in the current" and so on.
All the sand."What is limited by all in the statement is clearly not the general substance, sand, but the sand which has been pointed out as having been put on the body. For this reason the is needed, and note that all is put before it. All is the only 'adjective' which comes before the, this, that, my, and so on when used with them.
"Even they." Even may be used, as here, before the names of persons or things, or it may equally be put before the names of qualities ("Even small boys" and so on) or operations ("The wind even made a hole in the sail") or groups of words making clear how, when, and where ("The boat was wet even before we got in"). The sense is unchanged in all these uses, and the only point to be kept in mind is that even regularly comes before the word or words limited by it. Naturally, in statements with helping-words, may, do, and so on, its position is not before the helping-word, but before the operation itself ("We did not even go")
Safely. An important point to be noted in this Step is the addition of -ly to names of qualities to make forms which may be used as limiting-words in connection with acts. See The ABC, page 40, for a detailed account.
"Danger from a mist." In the same way as light comes from a fire, so, by a simple parallel, danger, pain, pleasure, hope, or any other condition may be said to come from that by which it is caused.
"Far out." The direction of the land, with its harbours into which ships come, is readily pictured s in ; that of the unlimited stretch of sea, as out.. We have the same sort of feeling about going from the land as we have about going out from our houses.
'We see great ships." Again this we is general. (see N7-1)
What has the sense of "that which," the thing at which that is pointing being made clear by the words which come after it, and it is used in complex statements in the same way as that which. The part of the statement starting with what may come before the chief operation, as here, or after it ("the smoke is what we see").
Back to The Sea

Step10. -- Time

(were). say, 1. tomorrow, yesterday, 4. how, when, while, 8. The chief point to which attention is to be given in this Step is the forming of questions which may be answered by 'Yes or 'No', by putting the name of an operation or helping-word first and the name of the person or thing doing the operation second. This simple change of order is used with the helping-words will and may, and with all forms of be and have. The rule for forming questions with the other names of operations will be given in a later Step.
Time is the general framework of our experience in which all events seem to take place ; and a time is any part or point of it. These two uses have so clear and natural a connection that it will be necessary to give special attention to it only when the language of the learner has two words for these two sides of the same idea.
Bed-cover. The sense of this complex word will give no trouble if the learner has clearly in mind the quite general sense of the word cover as "anything covering."
Awake is different from most of the other names of qualities, in not ever being put before the name of a thing. It is chiefly used, as in this example, after some form of be.
"Good morning," "good night." These are fixed forms such as all languages have for these purposes. The sense of the words is quite clear. "A good night to you !" that is, "it is my hope that you will have a good night." The marks which are put before and after them (" ") are regularly used when we are giving the words as said by another person, or by ourselves at another time.
"Are you awake "? a very important point is that are is used in connection with the person to whom one is talking, though it is equally, as we have seen, the form for more than one ("we are," "they are").
"Get up !" This is an example of the use of get in connection with ourselves (or our bodies) and some direction, which has been noted in Step 7, and again in Step 9. But though we may "get up" from anywhere, the act of getting up from our beds in the morning is so common that the words "get up," with no further details are specially used in this sense.
"After that." See the Note on "that is why." Step 9.
"In the morning," "On some mornings." On, like in and other names of directions, is frequently used in connection with time. The key to the right use of direction-words in connection with time in English is " at a point ('at this minute,' 'at half-past four'), on a line ('on Monday,' 'on that day'), in a circle (in the week, month, year). (See ABC, pp117 and 125). The use of on and in is dependent on the way in which the space of time being talked about is viewed. We say "on some mornings," because the morning is here taken as the line ; but "in the morning" because it is there clearly looked on as the circle.
These rules will be of use as a general guide, but it is only by experience that the learner will get the feeling for the right uses.
"After I go," "Before I am." The sense of before and after here clearly has to do with time and will give no trouble, but the fact that these words are used for joining statements is to be specially noted.
"A knot in my sock." A very important development of in. From its root sense (in which a foot, for example, might be in the sock) it comes naturally to have that of any position in which something is between the limits of some other thing and it is used whenever a more detailed statement of the position is not important. From this point of view, a sock may have a knot or a hole in it, as clearly as it may have a person's foot.
"Ready before I am." The complete statement would be "ready before I am ready," but in such comparisons the quality (or other) word in question is commonly not put in a second time
"We were ready." Were is the form used in place of are when talking of past time.
"While I am in the bathroom, he may . . .," "When I have on . . . I take . . ." While and when are two more joining-words used for starting dependent statements. They are like one another in the fact that the statements joined on by them have to do with time -- while-statements make clear that something was true or going on for a certain space of time measured by the statement ; when-statements that something was true or took place at (in, or on) the time pointed to by the statement. But they are unlike in that while-statements may be used only in relation to an act or condition named by an operator in another statement : when-statements, on the other hand, have in addition to this use, a use after time-names (like the use of where after place-names), as in "the time when we were young." Statements headed by while or by when in the first use, may come before or after the statement on which they are dependent, in the same way as statements headed by if, though, or because.
Everything. Every, some, no, and any (see N14-2) are used with thing for forming complex words, of which the sense is quite straightforward. For their full uses see the Note on thing ("Doing things . . ."), Step 17.
"But my coat." The sense of this is : "but I have not my coat on." Everyone will have a feeling of the connection between the idea of "on the other hand," given in the use of but between statements, and its sense when used between words.
"That is how the mornings go." How is the word used for joining a statement of any act, event, or process to an account of the way in which it is done. That is here representative of the account (which is given in the statement at which it is pointing) ; how makes the connection between it and the process (the going of the mornings). See the Note on "That is why." Step 9.
Morning in this statement is the limited sense of "time between sun-up and 12 a.m., or more loosely, the middle-day meal." This expansion has its parallel in a number of languages, but because others have a different word for this sense, it will be well to give attention to the point.
The use of go here is based on so natural and general a feeling of the motion of time that it is probably unnecessary to make a point of it.
"Through my hair." It will be noted that in talking of the "hairs." on our heads, the form for number is not used. This is because they are viewed not as separate things but as forming one cover. In reading, the learner may come across other examples of this trick of using the form for one when a number of things are viewed as a group, but this is the only one which it is important for him to make use of himself.
"Do work," have play," "have a rest," "have a wash." When to make use of have and when of do or some other 'operator" with names of acts is something for which there is no simple rule. It may be said generally that, for the reason given on N3-2, names of acts which are looked on from the point of view of the experience of doing them, this is, as events or processes forming part of the doer's experience, than have ; those, on the other hand, in which the idea of producing some effect outside ourselves is strongest take do, or some other operator (see N-14-1 and N14-2), but this is only a rough guide ; the uses themselves are fixed, and every example is to be stored in the memory.
"All the day." Day is here used as "the time between sun-up and sun-down," that is, as the opposite of 'night.' See the note on 'morning' higher up.
Today . Though the sense of this complex word would not be completely clear from looking at its parts, by the help of a comparison with tomorrow it will readily be fixed in the mind.
"Go to bed," "ready for bed," "in bed." Bed is regularly used without the, a, or any other pointing-word (such as my and so on), when what we have in mind is not simply the 'thing' 'bed' but the resting process or condition for which beds are used, and of which the word has become representative. Take note that when the sense is clearly only that of the thing 'bed', a or the or some other such word has to be used, as in the earlier part of the Step "put my shoe far under the bed."
"Are you ready ?" You is used equally in talking to one person or more than one. Here it is clearly the two boys to whom it is pointing.

Back to Time

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