The following account of Basic English is designed to give a general idea of the system and its applications.
A graded introduction, written in Basic English, is provided in the ABC of Basic English; and in Basic Step by Step for class use. The material here presented to English-speaking readers is there treated in greater detail from the standpoint of the learner; and questions relating to word-order, derivatives, and idiom are fully covered. All particulars of the senses and uses of the senses and uses of the 850 Basic words will be found in The Basic Words, and the Basic equivalents of the 7,500 commonest words are given in The Basic Dictionary. Translations of these volumes are being prepared; and The General Basic English Dictionary, giving the senses of 25,000 words in Basic, will be ready early in 1940.
The case for Basic English as the Universal Language of Radio, the Talkies, Commerce, and Science is presented in Debabelization and Basic English versus the Artificial Languages; while for lighter reading, the Basic version of Bernard Shaw's Arms and the Man may be specially mentioned. Finally, in addition to a complete series of graded text- books, a wide selection of examples (stories, news, letters, and dialogues) in Basic has been provided. A list of these and other publications will be found at the end of the volume.
The present outline is divided into two Parts: --
I. A general exposition giving a brief summary of the system, and of the
purposes for which it was designed.
II. A Short Guide, in Basic English, from a somewhat different angle, which will
also serve as an example of Basic itself.
Correspondence is invited to
The Orthological Institute,
10, King's Parade,
Cambridge, England
[disbanded 1960's]
