Commence (verb)

The word commence is defined as to have or make a beginning or to enter upon according to Merriam-Webster dictionary. In the story by Zora Neale Hurston, “Sweat”, I encountered this word while reading. On Thursday November 8th, I found this word on page 272. It stated that, “She saw that Sykes had kicked all of the clothes together again, and now stood in her way truculently, his whole manner hoping, praying, for an argument. But she walked calmly around him and commenced to re-sort the things”. In this context the word was used as a past tense version to the original word “commence”. When I encountered this word I was unsure of its meaning, I thought the word relating to cleaning and tidying up because in this part of the text it talks about her argument with Sykes and how she went back to resorting things. Since she was a washwoman I assumed the word had to deal with cleaning, organizing, and more. I see the word clearer after looking up the definition because she is beginning to re-sort the things. She is entering upon the house after the argument and going to organize after meaning she did not start as yet. The word commence in this context of the story is understandable now after looking up the definition and replacing the definition words into the sentence.