Mr. Towner.  Take the illustration you have just used.  We say “The sewing is beautiful.” and “We find her sewing assiduously.”  Now, we use the same word, but the formation of the sentence determines whether or not it is a noun or a verb.

Prof.  Christen.  You mean the distinction between the participle and the noun?

Mr. Towner.  Yes.

Prof.  Christen.  With your permission I will not answer that particularly, but will deal with the whole subject.  I want to say that from every root you form four words, the four principal parts of speech.  And the first thing to remember is this positive stroke of genius—­that every noun ends with “o,” every adjective with “a,” every derived adverb with “e,” and every infinitive with “i.”

Mr. Towner.  How would you carry that to proper names?

Prof.  Christen.  London would be Londono; Robert is Roberto, but proper names you are at liberty to do with as you please; give them the Esperanto ending or leave them in the original form.

Mr. Towner.  What about Washington?

Prof.  Christen.  Washingtono.

Mr. Towner.  I mean, you would really change it?

Prof.  Christen.  Yes; if you prefer it; that is, if it sounds better.

Mr. Towner.  In the language?

Prof.  Christen.  Yes.

Mr. Towner.  For instance, if you were speaking about the city of
Washington, you would not say Washington, but Washingtono?

Prof.  Christen.  You will find it frequently printed as Washingtono.

Mr. Towner.  Why do you do that, because Washingtono is not the name of the city?

Prof.  Christen.  Let me say that you say London in English, but that is not French.

Mr. Towner.  But we always spell Paris the French way, although we do not pronounce it the same way; that is, “Paree.”

Prof.  Christen.  But London is not London in French; it is “Londres” in
French.

Mr. Towner.  Do you mean to say that if a letter were addressed to London from Paris the Frenchman would not pronounce and write it London but Londres?

Prof.  Christen.  Yes.

Mr. Towner.  He does not say London?

Prof.  Christen.  No, he says Londres.  And the same is true with Dover; Dover is not French; The French would be Douvres.  However, I want to say this, that after the first three or four years after I took up Esperanto geographical or proper names were left optional and they were not given any particular spelling in the Esperanto language and are not now.  Many Esperantists now would say Washington and London.  But you can make the change if you want to.

Mr. Towner.  Internationally, has not that come to be the custom, to pronounce the geographical names and proper names in the way they are pronounced in the country in which they originate?