BASIC ENGLISH
AND GRAMMATICAL REFORM

by C. K. OGDEN
Director of the Orthological Institute

Supplement to The Basic News, July, 1937
THE ORTHOLOGICAL INSTITUTE
10 KING'S PARADE, CAMBRIDGE, ENGLAND

Price ONE SHILLING, post free

CONTENTS

PAGE INTRODUCTORY.....................................	1
THE TECHNOLOGICAL APPROACH ..............	4
DIRECTIONAL THINKING ..................................	5
PROBLEMS OF STANDARDIZATION .............	7
SPELLING REFORM ..............................................	8
ORTHOLOGICAL SYNTAX ..................................	10
WORD-MAGIC, LOGIC, AND GRAMMAR .........	12
BASIC IN EDUCATION ..........................................	18
TRANSLATION AND REDUCTION .....................	20
AN EXAMPLE OF VERB-ELIMINATION .........	24
SUMMARY ................................................................	25

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BASIC ENGLISH AND GRAMMATICAL REFORM

There was an idea at the back of the old rules, the idea that because our thought is based on language, and because it is important for our thought to be clear, a great respect for form might be a help in the development of our minds. A good language is a machine for thought, and the delicate adjustment of words to changes of thought and shades of feeling is certainly dependent in some measure on attention to the parts and structure of the machine. But, by degrees, the machine became the manager of the man, and the cry went up for the right to be free from the dead weight of machine-made rules.

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