English for Adults
by CHARLES DUFF
A Book for Self-Tuition or Class Use

Contents
INTRODUCTION	v
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS	xiii
WHY LEARN ENGLISH ?	xix
PRELIMINARY NOTE	23
1 . LESSON I	31
2 . LESSON II	51
3 . LESSON III	67
4 . LESSON IV	83
5 . LESSON V	104
6 . LESSON VI	130
7 . LESSON VII	154
8 . LESSON VIII	180
INDISPENSABLE WORDS	206
CONCLUSION	210
STRUCTURE WORDS	211
VOCABULARY 5000 WORDS	213

xv
< Back to Texts All rights reserved.
This book or parts thereof must not be reproduced or adapted in any form or in any other language without the permission of the publishers.
First printed 1956

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INTRODUCING THE COURSE

THIS book presents a comprehensive Course in Standard English, It is the first of three Parts and has been specially designed for beginners or others whose mother-tongue is not English. Here the special difficulties and problems of strangers to our language are given paramount importance. Tests indicate that the resultant material is of considerable help to those English-speaking adults who desire to start at the very beginning in " brushing up " their knowledge of the language, and particularly useful to the foreigner who already knows something of English but wishes to achieve a higher and more exact standard. It should be a great comfort to many prospective learners to know that the grammar is not taught as grammar but as a " habit of speech " which can be acquired from :Peaking practice in simple, everyday English. Any adult can use this book; it is nor for children. Those who can read will be able to use it for self-tuition, apart from matters of pronunciation. The foreigner, the person who knows no English, must have a teacher to begin with, because a good pronunciation can be learnt only by listening to speech. Pronunciation is perhaps the greatest difficulty for those whose native language is not English. Good pronunciation demands for its achievement much practice in mimicking good habits of speech; and drill with the active help of a teacher, who should be there to correct every kind of fault.
    As this Course differs in many Ways from the conventional, those who wish to use it for teaching English to absolute beginners should note the principles on which it is based. Of these the most important are :
1. Language is habits of speech whereby man expresses emotions and thoughts. He makes sounds that have meanings. If he makes the sounds wrongly, he may not be understood.
2. The dominant items in speech-habits are words, with or without modifications, and used in correct order.
3. Words are modified and put together in a certain order or sequence in accordance with a system (which differs from language to language) This system is called "grammar", a convenient word meaning " the rules for good habits in using a language ". v
4. Experts in grammar make their rules from the language as it is used by the best speakers and writers : these are the final authorities, not grammarians.
5. A child learning its mother-tongue lives in an active environment of speech-habits, learns by sharp and careful listening, imitating, and then practicing in its individual way -usually a biologically natural one -- the speech-habits of those in its immediate environment.
6. An adult learning a second language (a non-English speaker learning English) never finds such perfect circumstances and opportunities for learning the " foreign " language. His problems, for this reason alone (and there are others), are very different from those of the child learning its mother-tongue. The learner of a language other than his own must be helped by a native or expert to master the speech-habits and linguistic background of the foreign tongue. And he must be prepared to work at learning.
7. The best first stage in help consists in a planned Course to be used with a teacher. This planned Course must be used with a teacher to get the best results, and it should take the learner to the point at which he will know enough to help himself. From then onwards his problems, and those of the native speaker, can be treated on almost a similar basis.
    The Course given in these pages follows the above principles, but not slavishly, because it seems to be a rule of life (as far as languages are concerned) that rigidity spells dullness. From the beginning die student is encouraged to think for himself. The English taught throughout is normal " Standard English ", a term which includes a good, clear pronunciation and simple conversational English as used by educated people everywhere throughout the English-speaking world. The language presented in these pages is free from localism and dialect. There are few vi slang words, but there is a fair sprinkling of well-established idioms and accepted colloquialisms such as are common to the language wherever it is well spoken. Learn to speak before learning to read, and to read before learning to write : that is the advice I would give to the learner whose mother tongue is not English. The general aims and scope of this Course are to enable the absolute beginner to reach a standard at which, with some wider reading and special study, he can " take " English in an English, American, or other university. Or, alternatively, equip himself to read almost any non-technical matter in English, the only other book required being a dictionary.
    Here grammar is treated as of less importance than pronunciation and vocabulary. Learning the elements of English grammar is so easy in comparison with learning pronunciation, vocabulary, and idiom, that I have come to adopt this method. Although we all know that words are the vital raw material of language, it is well to realize at the outset that it is not solely by memorizing lists of words that one acquires a competent working knowledge of English or any other tongue. Hence, if vocabulary is given a higher importance, this is merely because it is more difficult for the stranger to assimilate than our usually simple grammar. The whole point is that enough grammar is given here to make the vocabulary work. Incidentally, adult students are usually anxious to learn grammar ; and they should be encouraged to do so.
    As most teachers of English know, over thirty years of patient efforts have been devoted to the selection of vocabulary for teaching purposes by scholars and other specialists who have sought among other things : (a) to establish lists of the most useful words -- whether on a basis of frequency, structural value, or range of meaning and applicability to varieties of subject , and (b) to establish a rational and practical order in which agreed words can best be presented to the first-stage learner. I have availed myself of the results so far achieved, amending them from my own experience and the experience of many teachers of English who were my students at the Institute of Education, London University. I try as far as possible to keep to first things first, but most teachers will appreciate that in this, as in many vii others aspects of teaching English, a too rigid observance of principle is not necessarily conducive to the best or even the quickest results in learning a language. Allowing for some flexibility in the application of method and planning, the teaching aim in this Course is a lesson-by-lesson assimilation by the learner of the " most useful " or " all-purposes " words and phrases in the language. The term " most useful " has to be kept in inverted commas because there is not yet (if ever there can be) anything approaching universal agreement as to what are the most useful words in English. We can be fairly sure of the first 500--600, and even up to 1,000 there need not be many doubts; for most practical purposes the same applies up to 1500 words. But the second 1500 is much less certain : frequency of occurrence in general reading matter, plus a largely empirical estimate of what words are required to deal with common situations, have been my main guides in selecting words after the first 1500. From 3ooo words onwards, we are mostly dealing with " reading vocabulary " based on modern word-counts, but the " Classified Vocabulary " at the end of this book goes further : I have added throughout many words of my own selection, based on such realities of " reading matter " as public notices, advertising, government regulations, radio, the cinema, TV, arid other commonplaces of the world in which we live. A limit must be set, and I have been content to keep to a total of 5000 words as the " All-purposes " vocabulary at which the educated learner whose mother-tongue is not English should aim. He must know and be able to use actively and correctly the first 1500 words, which I regard as a practical working minimum ; he should be able to recognize the second 1500 and know their meanings, which must also be his aim with the 2000 words above 3000. The first 1500 words are the most difficult -- and most important : they are learned by drill and practice ; all the remainder can be learned by " mixed practice ", which includes reading, listening to living speech, as in the theater, and the use of such ancillary aids as gramophone records, radio, audio-visual aids, recorders and not forgetting everyday conversation with English speakers. Listening to speech is of greatest importance. It can be provided : by a teacher , by intercourse with native viii speakers ; by gramophone records¹ ; by radio and TV broadcasts ; by the cinema -- " talking films ". In spite of the utility of all such auxiliary aids, one must never wander far from the fact that, for the foreign learner, none of them can replace the good teacher in the first stage of learning. Pronunciation and " phonetics " are highly important from the beginning, for in the early stage the learner's speech-habits in his own language tend to come through into the new language he is learning, and that tendency must be eliminated. A great and comforting assurance can be given about English : there is not one sound in it which cannot be mastered by careful listening, mimicking, and drill. In extreme cases an expert phonetician may be required ; to-day most teachers can do all that is required. I exclude accent deliberately. Here we must be content with good, clear speech such as can be understood anywhere. For there are as many accents, intonations and rhythms as there are divisions and sub-divisions of speakers in the English-speaking world.
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1 Especially Cardinal Vowels, by Daniel Jones (Linguaphone). See page 205.
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    So much for the general questions of method and material. A few words are necessary in regard to the use of " situations " to help in learning. In everyday speech we rarely utter words that do not relate to something of immediate interest to speaker and heater, This " something of immediate interest " is nearly always the situation of the moment, or related to it. Thus :

    Jones: Hello, Brown, where have you been lately ?
    Brown: I've been in the country.
    Jones: Lucky man ! What sort of weather did you have ?
    Brown: Quite good on the whole. Have you been here in London ?
    That is a very simple example of the " social functioning of speech ". There is an object in this apparently trivial exchange, and it is the important one of re-opening or re-establishing an interrupted relationship between Jones and Brown. It will be observed that the opening of the conversation, and its trend, both depend here on something that goes outside language : namely, the fact that these two people know each other, and that there is x an old background to their relationship : the " psychological " background to the immediate situation, which both makes this situation possible and contributes to it. And so it is with most exchanges in everyday life : there is nearly always some kind of psychological background to every situation. We can take advantage of this factor in language-teaching and language-learning if, instead of having material which discards situation and rambles about anyhow, we use situations, creating them imaginatively whenever necessary, as themes or purposes of practice in speaking. This, I find, always makes the learner's task much easier. He becomes interested in the situation : it stimulates him, and helps in the release of inhibitions which otherwise frustrate his speaking. Speech invariably comes more freely when one is thus involved in a situation (if it is not an embarrassing one l). Hence, by keeping as far as possible to " situations " in the Practice in Speaking, there is less waste of time. The learner learns the language in action, he can live in the situations, and almost without effort lends himself thinking in the foreign language : the ideal always to be aimed at. Most of the Practice in Speaking throughout this Course is based on commonplace situations. But the ingenious teacher and enthusiastic learner can invent many more to add to those in the text. There is no limit to such useful exercises. The " model " Practice in Speaking is intended to make sure that the learner will use as many as possible of the words given at the head of Lessons.
    The Lessons, it will be seen, are set out in five Sections to each one. Each Section represents a period of study which may be divided further to suit immediate circumstances : one hour's work at a time is enough. Many learn even their own language very slowly, so those who regard themselves as " slow " learners must never lose heart : experience shows that quite often the slow learner ends by knowing much more than the quick one. The self-taught will make their own pace. The rule for all learners should be : never mind slow progress so long as you keep going. It would be misleading to give the impression that English is an easy language for the foreign learner, or indeed that any second language can be learnt without good hard work. x
    Finally, there is the classified Vocabulary in different types, to indicate Indispensable Words, Essential Words, and Reading Vocabulary. The Indispensable Words are indispensable for all purposes. The Essential Words enable a person to express himself with much greater ease and for further practical purposes. The Reading Vocabulary is an introduction to the much bigger Reading Vocabulary which the enthusiastic and ambitious will wish one day to acquire. The whole Vocabulary is given for reference, so that learners can tell what is a useful word, and its grade in terms of utility.
    In English for Adults (as in its companion volume French for Adults) great attention has been devoted to typography, both from the point of view of " visual memory" and to help learners who may not be familiar with the Latin alphabet. Absolute beginners will find the bold type a great help.

CHARLES DUFF
London and Singapore, 1955.

xi

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

    I am indebted to the ABC Railway Guide for the extract illustrating a Time Table on page 73; to my friend Hsiung Deb-ta for the drawings which appear on page 181 and for the hand-writing on pages 34-35.
    I wish to thank those many friends, some of them experts on the teaching of English as a foreign language, whom I have consulted or who have in one way or another contributed ideas of which I have taken advantage. I am grateful also to the publishers and printers for their patience and the help they have given me in matters of typography and in many other ways. Comments, suggestions, or corrections of any errors which may have crept into the text, will always be welcomed. They may be sent to me c/o the publishers.

C. D.    

xiii

WHY LEARN ENGLISH ?

Because:
    It is the most used language in the world, with over 200,000,000 people speaking it as their mother tongue, and as many more using it for commerce, science, sources of knowledge and scholar- sihip, culture, diplomacy, or for administrative purposes.
Its grammar and structure are simple and, apart from spelling and pronunciation, it is not a difficult language for the learner whose mother tongue is not English.
    In many parts of the world -- because of its simplicity -- it is used in an adapted (though often corrupt) form as a sort of lingua franca or international language : as, for example, among sailors of all nations ; among Indians, Africans, and traders ; and, as "Pidgin English ", in South-east Asia, Melanesia, China, Japan, and other parts of the world.
It is rapidly becoming the " Traveler's Language ", the language of hotels, restaurants, airports, liners, and such amenities ar Pullman cars ; and it is already the chief language of motorists.
    More books of all kinds -- many of 'them inexpensive " paperbacks -- more magazines providing for all tastes, more newspapers, periodicals, technical journals, and general reviews are published in English and more widely distributed than those in other language.
    In the form of Standard English (as taught in this book) it is the language of educated English speakers not only in England, in the British Commonwealth of Nations, and the United States of America, but everywhere that English is spoken.
    It is the medium of an old and considerable culture, and of a wayof life which has played, and continues to play, an important part in the world.
    It is a magnificent language which can hold its own in com- parison with any ancient or modern language: rich, flexible, and, when well used, as concise and exact as any other tongue -- qualities which, with its remarkably fine literature, make it well worth learning for its own sake.

C. D.    

xx

FIRST PRINCIPLES OF SPOKEN ENGLISH

Language cannot be separated from sound , and that is the sum of the matter. -- Jespersen.    

PRELIMINARY NOTE ON READING, WRITING AND SPEAKING ENGLISH

It does not come within the scope of this Course to teach the Learner to read and write in his own language. Part I of the Course is so designed that it can be used to teach illiterates to speak simple English. But literates, especially those who know the Roman alphabet, begin by having advantages over the illiterates: from the outset those who are used to reading their own language will more quickly learn the print and handwriting used in English.
    To help all Learners, printed alphabets are given on page 24, and a writing alphabet with an example of handwriting will be found on pages 34 and 35. The writing alphabet given here is a simple one, and was designed and written for this special purpose by a Chinese friend who had to learn English from the letter A. By using it as a model alphabet, the Learner who cannot write should be able with practice, and a little instruction from the Teacher, to write a clear hand. Dictation will help him to do so.
    For those whose mother tongue does not use our Roman alphabet this quick way of learning it is suggested. Instead of trying to learn two alphabets at the outset -- the printed and Written alphabets -- let them begin by learning only one : the printed alphabet, and of that only the capital letters as given in Part I of the Course.
    Thus, after § 1 of Lesson I has been gone through orally with the Teacher, let the Learner(s) take a pen and boldly print the 'Words and Phrases at the beginning of the Section, copying the 1c letters carefully, and trying to remember the sounds they represent. This should be taken slowly. Learners should be encouraged to do as much copying out of class as their time will permit, if only to get used to the shape and appearance of the letters and to be able to recognize them quickly. It should not be necessary to copy out the Words and Phrases of more than, say, three or four Sections before beginning to learn the written alphabet in which both capital and small letters will have to be mastered. Copying out words helps to Hx them in the memory.
    The Teacher should impress upon Learners that, when they know the alphabet, they will make much better progress than without it : and that, if the simple instructions given above are conscientiously followed, they must lead to good results. It is assumed here that those who cannot read or write will wish to learn to do so. But if not, they can still learn to speak English -- simple English -- by working through this book. Beyond that point they must be able to read and write if they wish to achieve anything beyond an elementary knowledge. 23

LEARNING TO SAY THE ALPHABET

    It is quite unnecessary for beginners to master the order of the letters in the alphabet until the time comes when a dictionary becomes necessary, Learning to say the alphabet is no help whatever in learning to speak English, but it is very useful to know the names of the letters, and their conventional order. They can be leaned in groups as follows
(reading from left to right) :

Aa Bb Cc

Dd Ee Ff Gs

Hh Ii Ji Kk

Ll Mm Nn Oo Pp

QQ Rr Ss

Tt Uu Vv

Ww

Xx Yy Zz


    If the last group is said " X, Y and Zed [or Zee] " the grouping makes a sort of jingle which is easily leaned,   zed being the British (English) and zee| the American name for this letter.

NAMES OF THE LETTERS

Letter	Name	Remarks
Aa	ay	long 5 sound
Bb	bee	long ee as in been
Cc	see	hissing ss
Dd	dee	voiced d sound
Ee	ee	long 48 sound
Ff	eff	short é sound


*** Five pages ***
25

HOW TO USE THE TABLE

    The Symbols of the International Phonetic Association are given for reference by teachers. Learners may ignore them.
    The sounds of English should be gone over by the Teacher to accustom the learner's ears to them. Each sound should be attached to a word. Thus : e as in pen, and the word pen must be memorized by the Learner. When a new word occurs with this sound in it, the Teacher says : " Pronounce as in pen." As words become longer, the same principle applies.
Thus : " SOMETHING : sŏme as in sŏ, th as in thin, ng as in thing."
    IT IS ADVISABLE TO REFER BACK TO THE LIST FROM TIME TO TIME, AND GO OVER THE SOUNDS FOR PRACTICE.

WARNING TO ADULT LEARNERS

As this Course of English has been planned for adult learners, there is an important factor of Nature which must never be overlooked by those learners or their teachers : Because their hearing is very much better than that of adults, children " take in " sounds better, and distinguish subtleties in speech better than adults can hope to. A foreign child placed among English speech-surroundings will take sounds in fully and soon reproduce them accurately. Hence, that child will grow up " without a foreign accent " when speaking English. Not so an adult. Therefore the adult learner first needs to have all strange sounds well explained to him. He must not be allowed to pass any sound he finds difficult until he can reproduce it reasonably well. This is of great importance throughout the Course. In Part I, it is of the highest importance. The adult Learner must be told of this natural handicap, and informed that it can be overcome; but only with careful attention and practice. The ability to hear well linguistically declines with adult age. Full allowance must be made for this fact. 30

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LESSON I
§ 1 . Begging to Speak : the Method


A TECHER is required by the Learner so that the latter can acquire a clear pronunciation from the outset. The material which the Learner must assimilate is selected and presented in such a way that, if a professional Teacher should not be available, then any intelligent person who can read this text and speak English clearly may take the place of the professional Teacher. The Learner must find such a friend. The aim here is to achieve first a speaking knowledge : speech can be learned only from the living voice, and not from a book.
    Initiation into English need not be difficult if Teacher and er are patient and " hasten slowly ", especially at first. A few simple principles must be followed, and they are stated below. The absolute beginner's hesitations and shyness have to be overcome, and constant reassurance and encouragement help better than anything. It is important that every Learner should understand that there is method in the way he is being taught, and that it resolves itself into : (a) imitating the teacher's speech ; (b) memorizing the material and understanding how it works ; and (c) in realizing that memorizing and assimilation are achieved by practice and repetition. Hence, before beginning to teach, let the Teacher explain to Learner(s) :

METHOD


    The approach to speaking English must be almost entirely oral, and best results are achieved by avoiding translation and by concentrating on learning to associate the sound or sounds of the English with the meaning, rather than with written symbols or words. The material provided here is given so that Vocabulary is learned first, then Structure, then Pronunciation of words and Sentences. Pronunciation can be considered as consisting of : (1) the Sound or Sounds of a Symbol ; (2) the Intonation and Rhythm of the Sentence. Both can be learned by the student by listening to and mimicking the Teacher. No attempt is made here to reduce (2) to a scientific explanation, which is unnecessary : because no two teachers will use the same intonations or rhythms. The learner learns from listening. Thus : *** 31
    *** 20 pages *** This page is a place holder for future summarization.

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LESSON II
§ 1 . Thinking in Numbers
WORDS and PHRASES
MR -- MISTER   MRS -- MISSIS   MISS   SIR   MADAM
HELLO (HALLO)   OH
ONE   TWO   THREE   FOUR   FIVE
1   2   3   4   5
HOW   HOW MANY ?
MORE   THAN   MORE THAN

Titles before names of Men and Women. These ought not to cause the Learner much trouble. The teacher explains that as a matter of politeness English-speaking peoples -- unless they are fairly close friends, or relations -- usually prefix the name of the (adult) person they are addressing with the title MR. for man, MRS. for a married woman, and MISS for a girl or unmarried woman. Thus : *** 51
    *** 15 pages ***

ACCURACY and FLUENCY


§ 2 . Numbers : The Family


§ 3. The Situation : in the Town


§ 4. The Future in 'LL : Pounds and Dollars


§ 5 . I WANT.  I WANT TO : Hotel and Lodging

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3 . LESSON III

§ 1 . Our Clothes : (TO) PUT and (TO) TAKE

67
    *** 15 pages ***

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LESSON IV

§ 1. The Ending -ER : Name-words from Action-words

83
    *** 21 pages ***

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LESSON V

§ 1. CAN and COULD : MAY and MIGHT. : Table of Personal Pronouns


***

104
    *** 27 pages ***

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LESSON VI

§ 1. WHO , WHOSE , WHO , WHICH , WHAT , and THAT


*** 130
    *** 24 pages ***

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LESSON VII

§ 1. Simple Word-building


*** 154
    *** 26 pages ***

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LESSON VII

§ 1. Little Words of Time, Place, and Direction


*** 180
    *** 24 pages ***

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THE INDISPENSABLE STRUCTURE WORDS
Supplement


I . Pronouns : Words Which Take the Place of Name-words (Nouns)

I		WE		YOU
MY		OUR		YOUR
ME		US		YOU
MINE		OUR		YOURS
HE	SHE	WE	IT	THEY
HIS	HER	WE	ITS	THEIR
HIM	HER	WE		THEM
HIS	HERS	WE		THEIRS
		OWN
MY OWN		OUR OWN		YOUR OWN
HIS OWN	HER OWN	OUR OWN	ITS OWN	THEIR OWN
		-SELF		-SELVES
MYSELF		OURSELVES		YOURSELVES
HIMSELF	HERSELF	OURSELF	ITSELF	THEMSELVES

206
II . Contractions
*** 1 page ***
III . Simple Structural Action-words (Verbs)
    *** 3 pages ***

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CONCLUSION


    If Teacher and Learner have followed instructions, certain fundamental principle will have been assimilated. These are :
(1) That, in the first stage of learning, speech -- that is, Practice in Speaking with the imitation guided by the Teacher -- is of paramount importance. Sounds, formed in accordance with speech-habits of good native speakers, convey meaning : they are language , in this case the English language.
(2) The written language is the form in which those sounds are recorded.
(3) Each language not only has its very own system of sounds,it follows certain recognizable patterns in using them to convey meanings. In English, these patterns are made up of words which can often be modified, and the words are put together in an order that can be modified in accordance with the meanings to be expressed.
(4) The Learner has now practiced (1) and has also learned the basic elements of (3). But to achieve perfection in both, and a knowledge of (2) sufficient for general purposes, the Structure of English must be mastered. 210

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STRUCTURE WORDS : INDISPENSABLE WORDS ; VOCABULARY AND DICTIONARY


   The Learner should by now have made the acquaintance of 1000 words which he must regard as indispensable. With them and the "structural words" (pages 206-9), with the various ways of modifying and using both, he has a working vocabulary of considerable range and utility. His Teacher knows that in BASIC ENGLISH a vocabulary of 850 words with a dozen rules can be made to do the work of 20,000 words. but in this Course we have been presenting Standard English, which has more rules, more words, and is capable of greater scope for the practical purposes of everyday life in a greater variety of circumstances. In the Classified Vocabulary which follow there are 500 more Indispensable word which, with the 1000 already known are shown in HEAVY TYPE.   The Learner will now find a Dictionary helpful, and he may use one of the following : (1) The Basic English Dictionary ; (2) The Pocket Oxford Dictionary ; or (3) The Thorndike-Barhart Pocket Dictionary, which has the advantage of giving both British and American English usages. 211

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CLASSIFIED VOCABULARY OF 5000 WORDS


    Although there are approximately 5000 words in this vocabulary, it represents many times that number of words. Take for example the word advance, ***
*** 50 pages *** 213

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