A morning

In 1446, the Hunminjeongeum introduced Hangeul (한글), the Korean alphabet. It opened by stating the entire system in a few pages: every letter, and the rules for combining letters. The explanations came only after those pages. The book’s postface promised that the letters were quick to learn: a wise man can learn the letters before the morning is over.

This part of the book makes the same promise. It is short on purpose, so that you can finish it in a single reading. It holds a first plot, then gog’s whole vocabulary in one table, then practice. The practice has two halves: first reading finished sentences, then writing your own. The second half also shows the refusals you are most likely to see.

This part covers each idea only briefly. Nearly every idea you meet here has a full chapter later in the book. Instead, this part teaches three skills. When you finish it, you should be able to read any gog sentence, in this book or in a colleague’s script. You should also be able to write a sentence that answers your own question, and to predict whether gog will draw that sentence or refuse it.