Letter 3 . SENDING FOR THE DOCTOR
Dear Reader,This is March. The weather has been very cold this month and we have had a lot of rain, so a great many people have been ill. We shall be glad when the winter is over and warm weather returns. Even Anne, who is a strong healthy girl, has been unwell. When I arrived home last night my wife said, "Anne seems to be ill. She says she has a headache and a sore throat, and she won't eat anything. she has coughed and sneezed a lot. I have put her to bed and sent John for the doctor.
Half an hour later a car stopped outside our house and we hard the door-bell ring. My wife quickly opened the door.
"Good evening, doctor," she said.
"Good evening, Mrs. English," the doctor said, "there is nothing seriously wrong,I hope?"
Anne does not feel very well," said my wife as the doctor walked into the house. She took him upstairs to Anne's room straight away, and he sat down by her bed.
Good evening, my dear," he said. "Your mother tells me you are not feeling very well."
"My throat hurts, doctor," Anne said, "and my head aches."
'Show me your tongue," he said, and Anne put her tongue out. Then he looked at her throat and put a thermometer in her mouth to take her temperature, While the thermometer was in her mouth he held wrist so that he could feel how her heart was beating. If you put a finger on the blood-vessel on the under side of a person's wrist, you can count the beats. If they are coming more or less quickly then normal, or the rhythm is irregular, that is a guide to person's condition.
When the doctor has noted the rate of Anne's pulse, he let her wrist go and, taking the thermometer from her mouth, he looked at the reading. "You are a little feverish, Anne," he said, "but there isn't much wrong with you. You will be better soon."
"Can I go to school tomorrow, doctor?" Anne asked.
"Wouldn't you like to have a little holiday?" he said, smiling.
Oh no, doctor. I want to play hockey at school tomorrow," Anne answered. She like games very much, and is goal-keeper for one of the hockey teams.
"Well, I'm afraid you won't be able to. You must not go out for a few days."
We followed the doctor downstairs and in the hall he said, "Don't worry, Mrs. English ; it is only a bad cold. Anne ought to stay in bed till she is better, of course. The only real remedy for a cold is to stay in the same temperature. Keep her well covered up. I will send her some medicine to take down the fever."
"What shall I give her to eat, doctor?" said my wife.
"She may drink as much orange juice as she likes, but I should not let her eat much meat. She may have fish and toast or a little chicken. She will be able to get up soon, but she will feel weak for a time."
We were happier after the doctor's visit. we were very glad to know that Anne was not seriously ill. We had bee afraid that her illness might be something more serious and that John might have to stay away from school so as not to carry the germs to the other boys.
We shall do what the doctor tells us, and Anne will soon be well. To expect a doctor to cure an illness if you do not follow his advice is very foolish.
- Yours sincerely,
- Henry English
Notes
a great many : give attention to this use of many with a great before it to give the sense 'a very great number of '.returns : The regular verb 'return' == 'come back, come again'.
unwell : ' Well ' when it has the sense of 'in a healthy condition' may have its opposite formed with un. ' Unwell ' is a little less strong than 'ill ', its sense is nearer to 'not quite well, not very well '.
coughed, sneezed ' : 'Cough' and 'sneeze' are two more Basic nouns which are also regular verbs. The sense is, naturally, 'give a cough (sneeze)'.
last night ; You may already know that ' last night ' is used to give the sense 'yesterday night ', but if not it is a point to keep in mind. We say also ' last week', ' last month', ' last year', ' last Tuesday' and so on, for the one before the present one, but always 'yesterday', 'yesterday morning', yesterday afternoon'.
headache : This is a complex word having the sense 'an ache in the head ', and an 'ache' is a pain which is generally not very violent but which goes on without stopping. Two other common 'aches' are ' toothache' and 'stomach-ache'.
sore == giving pain, paining.
won't :Short form of 'will not '. You see here will used almost completely as a sign of fixed purpose, with very little effect of future time. "Anne won't eat" == "Anne says ' No' whenever she is offered food." It has been noted in Letter 1 that the sense of purpose is always present in will when it is used with I or we ; with other pronouns (you, he, they and so on) it is generally used simply as a sign of future time, without any suggestion of purpose, but it has a special use, as here, with any of them, as a sign of unchanging purpose. "We will have an answer" == "We are fixed in our purpose to have an answer." The answering may still be in the future, but the fixed purpose is a present condition.
put her to bed == got her into bed. We put to bed those who need our help in getting there, such as children and ill persons. Anne probably didn't need much help, so here 'put to bed ' is about the same thing as 'made her go'. Put has a number of uses with to to give the sense of 'make undergo'. You may already know 'put to death'. (make undergo death).
sent John for the doctor == sent John to the doctor's house for the purpose of getting him to come. Give attention to this sense of 'send for'. As we see in the heading of the letter, it may be used by itself without naming the person sent. A doctor is 'a person trained in medical science, whose work is the care of ill persons'.
car == automobile. the word 'car' is now more commonly used than 'automobile'.
stopped : The Simple Past of the regular verb 'stop', the sense of which is here 'make a stop' or, as we more naturally say 'come to a stop'. It may also have the sense 'make come to a stop'. ("Stop the train !").
door-bell : English houses generally have a bell in connection with the door to the street, which may be rung from the outside to let those inside the house know that there is someone 'at the door'. This is naturally called a 'door-bell '.
does not feel very well : Here the verb ' feel ' has its root sense of ' have, be experiencing, a certain feeling' -- the feeling of being very well.
straight away == without any waiting or delay. If you do not already know this form of words, get it fixed in your memory.
tells me : We might here expect the doctor to say "your mother has (just) told me" but with the words ' tell ' and 'say' the Present is frequently used even though the act of ' telling' or 'saying' has not been done, because the news or directions which have been told are still present to the mind.
hurts : the verb 'hurt' == 'give pain', or 'give pain to'.
aches : As a verb, 'ache' == have, be experiencing, an ache. It is regular.
thermometer == instrument for measuring temperature.
temperature : The general sense of this word is ' the degree of heat, the measure of the heat or cold of anything on a scale'. In connection with people or animals, it is the heat of the body, which is fixed at a certain degree when the condition is normal, but may go higher or lower when a person is ill. If it goes higher, we say that a person ' has a (high) temperature', ad if this is very high it is a sign of danger ; so an ill person's temperature is an important guide to his condition. Note that we ' take' a person's temperature' when we get it measured.
held : The Simple Past of the verb ' hold ',. Book I Letter 4. The Past Participle has the same form ' held ' ("If I had not held the man's coat, he would have got away.")
wrist == the part of the aim where the hand is joined to. In the picture the doctor is holding Anne's wrist.
could == would be able to. This is the form of 'can' used for the Simple Past and in statements making clear the effect of some condition. ("If hecame, he could see the child.") 'Can' and 'could ' ae the only two forms of this verb. (See Book I, Letter 5, Notes).
feel : Here we have another sense == 'get knowledge of by feeling, touching'.
beating : We say that the heart ' beats', because if you put your hand over it after running it will seem to be ' beating' against the wall of your chest. This is the effect of the motion of the heart-muscles by which the blood is pumped through the body. In a healthy person the heart ' beats' with a strong and regular rhythm.
count == get the number of. A regular verb.
beats : As a noun, ' beat ' == 'one unit in a regular beating (of the heart, a drum, and so on' --it is not used for ' blow' generally). The heart of a healthy person normally gives a more or less fixed (between limits) number of beats in a minute, so counting the heart-beats is another guide for medical purposes.
irregular == unregular. Give attention to this special form, in which 'ir--' takes the place of 'un--'.
noted : The Past Participle of the regular verb 'note', which == 'make a note in writing or in one's mind, about, give attention to, notice'.
pulse == the regular beating (that is, first expansion and then its opposite) of the blood-vessels as the blood is forced through them, specially that which may be noted in the wrist. Other ways of saying 'note the rate of a person's pulse' are ' feel a person's pulse', ' take a person's pulse'.
reading : The 'reading' given by any instrument is the degree or measure shown by it when it is used. Here, the reading on the thermometer would give the inner heat of Anne's body.
feverish == having a higher temperature than is normal. Anne is only "a little feverish", so her temperature is not very high.
hockey == an outdoor game played with curved sticks and a ball by two sides of players.
goal-keeper : In certain games, such as football (soccer) and hockey, the attempt is to send the ball into a special space, or place, for example between uprights, and the place on a side whose business it is to keep the ball from coming into the goal. There are, naturally, two goals, one for each side, placed at opposite ends of the field.
teams : A ' team' is the group of players forming a 'side' in such games as football, or more widely, a group of animals or persons working together, specially such a group of persons in competition with another team or other teams.
followed : The regular verb ' follow', of which this is the Simple Past, has the sense 'go or come after -- in the time or simply in order'.
worry == be troubled, have troubled feelings. The Simple Past and Past Participle of this verb are regular but change the 'y' to 'i', worried.
ought to : the verb 'ought ', which has only this one form (used for the Present and the Past) and is always followed by to, is used to give an option about what it is wise, right, for a person and so on to do. So "Anne ought to stay in bed" == "The right thing for Anne to do is stay in bed." There is no form for the Future, but clearly, no such form is needed ; from the sense of the verb, its Present may be used in relation to future acts.
remedy == anything designed to overcome disease or any other trouble, bad condition. Note that in "stay in the same temperature", 'temperature' == the degree of heat about one, not the temperature of the body.
medicine == medical substance used as a remedy, that is, given to an ill person for the purpose of making him well. Any such substance is 'a medicine', but doctors so often give 'a bottle of medicine' that the word gives a special suggestion of ' liquid medicine'.
fever == feverish condition, a high body temperature. the word is also used in naming a number of diseases marked by a very high temperature. "To take down the fever" is to make the fever less, the temperature lower.
juice == liquid which comes from fruit, meat or vegetables.
should : The form of 'shall ' used with 'I' and ' we' in the place of ' would ', that is, as a sign of the Past or, as here, in making clear the effect of some condition. The full statement would be : " If I were you, I should not . . ." (This use of were in the place of ' was' in if--statements which are not in agreement with the facts -- the doctor is not, and cannot be,Mrs. English -- is something you have to get used to in wider English. We will give more attention to it later.)
chicken : A 'chicken' is a young fowl, which is looked on as better for the table than an older one. Here, however, the sense is 'meat of a chicken', so "a little chicken" is not 'a small chicken' but 'a little of the meat of a chicken'.
weak == feeble.
visit : We have had this word as a verb, in Book I, Letter 6, now we have it as a noun == 'event or time of visiting'. Many of the words which are both nouns and verbs have a like connection of sense, so that if you have a knowledge of one of them, you may readily see the sense of the other.
illness == condition of being ill, disease.
so as not to == so that he would not. Give attention to this use of so as . . . to to give the sense of effect or purpose == 'in such a way that ' or ' for the purpose of ___-ing'.
carry : The sense here is ' take with him and give' (to the others).
germs : A 'germ' is a very small living thing producing disease in the bodies of men, animals, or plants. diseases caused by germs may be handed on from one person to another.
tells us : Another example of the Present of ' tell ' used where ' had told ' might have been expected.
cure == 'overcome' (a disease), as here, or 'make well ' (an ill person).
follow his advice : Advice == 'opinion given to another about what it would be wise for him to do'. By a very simple expansion we ' follow' someone's advice when we 'are guided by it ' -- in the same way as we ' follow' a guide. We naturally 'give (our) advice' (in the same way as we give our opinion), and so we may also ' take (a person's) advice' which is the same thing as ' following' it.
Exercises
1 . Look well at the picture an answer these questions :- (a) Who is the man ?
(b) What is he doing, and for what purpose ?
(c) What has Anne in her mouth ?
(d) What was the purpose of putting it there ?
2 . Answer these questions :
- (a) What did Mrs. English do when Anne said she was ill ?
(b) What two thing did Anne say she had ?
(c) What made Mrs. English open the front door ?
(d) Why did Anne want to go to school the next day ?
(e) What was the doctor going to send Anne ?
(f) What did he say she might have to eat ?
3. In the following statements, put the parts in sloping print in a different way :
- (a) A lot of people have colds in the winter.
(b) Please come without delay.
(c) I was not able to open the door.
(d) An automobile had come to a stop in front of the gate.
(e) The right thing for you to do is get married.
(f) I got up early so that I would be ready when they came.
(g) Please give me your opinion as to what it is wise to do about my son's education.
(h) I am fixed in my purpose to to go sea, though my father is doing his best to stop me.
(i) What was the degree shown by the pointer of the instrument ?
4 . Give in one word the sense of each of the following :
- (a) give pain : (b) go after ; (c) make well ; (d) come back ;
(e) get the number of ; (f) not regular ; (g) not very well (of a person) ; (h) be troubled.
5 . Make use of each of these words in a separate statement :
- (a) goal ; (b) team ; (c) weak ; (d) illness ; (e) remedy ;
(f) pulse ; (g) note (verb) ; (h) feverish ; (i) germ.
6 . Make three statements using the verb ' feel ' in a different sense in each.
Letter 4 . ANNE'S BIRTHDAY
Dear Reader,The date today is May 5th. It is Anne's birthday. She is now fourteen years of age.
When she got up this morning she was very excited.. She knew there would be some presents for her and she was eager to see them. At Anne's age it is always exciting to guess what presents you will get..
When she came downstairs we all said ; "Many happy returns of the day. Anne !"
As we were starting breakfast we heard a knock at the door.
(We have a knocker on the door in addition to a bell.)
"The postman," cried John, and he ran to open the door.
"Look, Anne ! Two letters and two parcels for your. Open them quickly.
![[walk]](gif/b2w241.jpg)
"Aren't they beautiful !" cried Anne. "How sweet of David."
The other parcel had in it a pair of stockings from here Aunt Rose, my sister-in-law in Cheshire.
Then she opened the envelopes and rad the letters. One was from her school friend, Nelly Cook, to wish her a happy birthday. The other had in it a present of a one pound note from her Uncle James.
![[picnic]](gif/b2w242.jpg)
Jock is our dog. He is a nice little dog, and we are very fond of him.
We were going by train to a village called Mayfield, from which we could walk into the country. At the station we met Margaret Price and Nancy Lock. They are at school with Anne and are great friends of hers.
When the train arrived at Mayfield we got out and started walking along the road. There was no traffic and we met very few people. It was all very peaceful and the country was looking beautiful. The sun was shining, the birds were singing, and the grass along the hedge was full of flowers.
Very soon we took a path across the fields, which went up to the top of a hill. There we sat down in the shade of a flowering tree and had our lunch. We were all hungry by that time, and the food tasted very good.
The view was very beautiful. Down in the valley we could see a little river. John found a bird's nest in a bush. There were four little eggs in the nest. The nest was woven out of grass and little branches.
After lunch my wife said, "Let us lie on the grass and shut our eyes." so the two of us lay down to have a little sleep, but the sound of the children's laughter kept us awake.
When we were rested we walked on, and at 5 o'clock we came to a village where we were able to get some tea at a little house. Then we walked to the nearest railway station and took a train back.
When we got home we were tired, as we had walked a long way, but we had thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.
"I have had a beautiful birthday," said Anne, as she kissed her mother and me before going to bed. "Picnics are great fun."
- Yours sincerely,
- Henry English
Notes
of age : Note this special use of of age, where we may equally well say 'old ' (fourteen years old). It is used only of persons in this way, though of may be used with age in the sense of ' having' about other things. The two boys (buildings and so on) are of the same age," but even in this sense it is more common of persons. This second use with of is paralleled with a number of other words, for example 'size' and 'colour' (shoes of the same size (colour), but there is no true parallel for of age as used here.excited : This word is an adjectival use of the Past Participle of the regular verb 'excite', which == 'get (person, feeling) worked up, get (person) moved to strong feeling'. Here the feeling is of 'exciting', which naturally == ' working up, causing a person to become "excited" '.
eager : == full of happy desire, very ready to do something.
at Anne's age : Here we have a quite natural use of at with age, looking at it as a point or stage.
guess == make an attempt to say without certain knowledge, put forward one's ideas as to what is probable. A regular verb.
Many happy returns of the day : This is the birthday greetings fixed by custom. The sense is : " I hope this day will come back and be happy many times", that is, "I hope you will go on living for a long time, have many more happy birthdays." ' Return', which we have had before as a verb is here a noun == ' the act or event of returning'.
knock : Here this is 'noise made by a sharp, hard blow on the door'. The general sense of the word is simply 'sharp blow' but because this makes a noise when given to anything hard, such as a door or a table, and so is frequently used to get attention, it has come to be used specially in the sense given here. In fact, as we see, house-doors frequently have ' knockers' on them, that is metal structures put on doors in such a way that they can be used for ' knocking' at them. Note the use of at. On would be quite right, but at is generally used when the knocking is done for the purpose of getting attention, as it usually is in connection with doors.
in addition to == being an addition, another thing. Note this very common word group.
hesitated : The Simple Past of the regular verb 'hesitate', the sense of which is ' keep back from doing something, be slow to do it, because of feeling of doubt, being uncertain.'
make up her mind == come to a decision about or to do). Give special attention to this form of works.
finally == at last. The -ly form of the adjective ' final ' == ' last '.
foreign == of some other country, not English.
on a voyage : Note that we say 'go (be) on a voyage' in the same way as we say 'go (be) on a journey'.
handkerchiefs : A ' handkerchief ' is a small square of linen, cotton, silk and so on kept in one's pocket or bag for blowing one's nose on, drying one's wet eyes, and other such uses. Handkerchiefs of larger size are sometimes used for putting round one's neck or over one's head.
Aren't they beautiful : You ought to know this point by now, but it may be a good thing to remind you that questions put simply for the purpose of inviting agreement, not for the purpose of getting knowledge, are always 'negative' (that is, are formed with not), and the 'not ' is generally put straight after the verb and joined to it in one of the short forms. ("Won't they be pleased !", "Didn't we laugh !") A help in making clear this use in writing is to put an 'exclamation mark' -- the mark ' ! ' used after cries -- at the end in place of a question-mark.
sweet : The expansion of 'sweet ' often == ' kind '.
one-pound note == a bit of paper money of the value of one pound. ????
a fine day : Used of a day or other stretch of time ' fine' == ' bright, not raining'. It is used, of course, i the same way with the word weather.
happened to be == was by chance. Happen to put before any verb gives the idea of ' by chance, not by design' ; "I happened to see him before he went away.'
promised : The Past Participle of the regular verb 'promise' == say that one will, give one's word (to do something or to give {a person} something). So we may "promise to take the children to the country" or "promise them some sweets", and so on. Others will have a very poor opinion of you if you do not ' keep your promises' (that is, do or give what you have promised).
picnic == a meal taken out of doors for pleasure, seated on the grass, sand, and so on. when you go for a picnic, you go for a walk or some other open-air pleasure, part of which will be a picnic.
suitable == right for the purpose.
sandwiches : The plural of 'sandwich' == two slices of bread with meat, cheese, or any other suitable food between, used specially for eating without knife, fork or plate, as at picnics.
lunch : When dinner is taken at night, the middle-day meal is named ' lunch', and the name is also given to any small meal not eaten at table with all the usual apparatus. So for both reasons the Englishs' picnic is a ' lunch'.
fond of : ' Befond of ' any person, animal, or thing is to ' have a love for' (him and so on).
village == a small group of houses, usually with a church and a store and a school, in the country, small country society, not big enough to be called a town.
met : The Simple Past of 'meet ' (Book I, Letter 8). The Past Participle has the same form 'met ' ("I have never met her father.")
great friends of hers : This is a surprising use of the 'possessive' (owner-form) after of, and must be well noted, if you do not know abut it already. We say : friends of mine, our, his, hers, ours, theirs, Anne's and so on. A 'great ' friend is a very dear friend.
along == on the line of. See also along the hedge, lower down.
traffic == cars, carts, people and other moving things coming and going on a road and so on.
few == 'a small number of ', the opposite of many.
peaceful == full of peace, quiet.
hedge == a fence between fields, or between them and a road, formed of low trees or ' bushes' (see later). this is the common way of ' fencing' country property in certain parts of England.
path == a way marked out for or by people walking, a footway.
hill == bit of high land sloping up from a lower level, not high enough to be called a 'mountain'.
hungry == ready for food, having a desire to eat.
tasted : The regular verb ' taste' has the same senses as the -ing form of the Basic word ' taste', Here it == ' have a (good) taste'.
valley == hollow, low land, between hills or mountains.
nest == structure made by a bird for putting its eggs in and housing its young till they are old enough to take care of themselves.
bush == sort of plant with wood stems, like a low tree, but generally with no chief stem, branching out in all directions from earth level.
woven : The Past Participle of the verb 'weave', which we met in Book I, Letter 8, in connection with the making of cotton. Bird's nests are made in somewhat the same way, by getting pieces of grass and so on twisted together.
lie == get our bodies stretched out (on). This verb is often completed by 'down', as we see when the Simple Past is used in the next statement, ' lay down'. The -ing form is lying.
shut : Like 'open', its opposite 'shut ' has a verb use of which the sense is, of course, "get shut '.
laughter == laughing. Note this word because it is more commonly used than ' laughing' as a noun.
a long way == a long distance, far. A very common use, to which give attention.
thoroughly == very fully. The -ly form from ' thorough', which we met in Book I, Letter 7.
kissed : The Simple Past of the regular verb ' kiss', which as you would expect has the sense 'give a kiss to'.
fun == gay amusement, pleasure, a merry time. A word naturally used chiefly by the young, at whose time of life the simple, merry laughing sort of pleasure seen in play, and called ' fun', is more commonly experienced.
Take note of the use of these Notes of the word 'possessive', which is the special word used in English for 'owner-form'. We may have 'possessive nouns', 'possessive pronouns', and 'possessive adjectives'. In "This book is Anne's", 'Anne's' is a possessive noun ; in "It is hers", ' hers' is a possessive pronoun ; in "It is her book", ' her' is a possessive adjective.
Exercises
1 . In the first picture :- (a) What is the man doing ?
(b) What is there between the road and the field ?
(c) Where is the bird ?
(d) What do you see going across the field ?
- (a) What event is this a picture of ?
(b) Where is it taking place ?
(c) What is the boy eating ?
(d) Where is the river ?
2 . Make these statements complete:
- (a) There is no doorbell, so you will have to give a _____ _____ the door.
(b) Anne was very _____ to see what present she had.
(c) she could not _____ _____ her _____ which parcel to open first.
(d) They all wished her _____ happy _____ of the _____.
(e) Mayfield is a _____, not a town.
(f) Thee is less _____ on a country road than in a town.
(g) Birds sometimes make their _____ in trees.
(h) He ___ down on the bed and went to sleep.
3 . Put the parts of these statements which are in sloping print in a different way:
- (a) Say what you think I have in this box.
(b) These boys are my friends.
(c) He was by chance just coming in when they arrived.
(d) The baby is six months old.
(e) He has no love of dogs.
(f) We all had a very merry time at the party.
(g) I was slow to give the answer because I was not certain about it.
(h) The town is far away.
4 . Give one word having the sense of:
- (a) at last ; (b) desiring food ; (c) not English ; (d) give one's word ;
(e) full of peace ; (f) give a kiss to ; (g) had a meeting with ; (h) get shut.
5 . Make use of each of these words in a separate statement :
- (a) handkerchief ; (b) fine ; (c) suitable ; (d) lunch ; (e) thoroughly ;
(f) laughter ; (g) excite ; (h) taste (verb) ; (i) woven ; (j) few.
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