The Project Gutenberg eBook of Five Hundred Mistakes of Daily Occurrence in Speaking, Pronouncing, and Writing the English Language, Corrected, by Walton Burgess

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Title: Five Hundred Mistakes of Daily Occurrence in Speaking, Pronouncing, and Writing the English Language, Corrected

Author: Walton Burgess

Release Date: March 25, 2010 [EBook #31766]

Language: English

Credits: Produced by Meredith Bach, Stephanie Eason, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net. (This book was produced from scanned images of public domain material from the Google Print project.)

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ***

“NEVER TOO LATE TO LEARN!”

FIVE HUNDRED MISTAKES

OF DAILY OCCURRENCE

IN SPEAKING, PRONOUNCING, AND WRITING

THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE,

CORRECTED.

“Which—if you but open—

You will be unwilling,

For many a shilling,

To part with the profit

Which you shall have of it.”

[The Key to Unknown Knowledge.—LONDON, 1569.

“It is highly important, that whatever we learn or know, we should know CORRECTLY; for unless our knowledge be correct, we lose half its value and usefulness.”—Conversations on Botany.

NEW-YORK:

DANIEL BURGESS & CO., 60 JOHN STREET.

1856.

Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1855, by

WALTON BURGESS,

in the Clerk’s Office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern

District of New York.

PREFACE.

This book is offered to the public, not to be classed with elaborate or learned works, nor expected, like some of its more pretending companions among the offspring of the press, to run the gauntlet of literary criticism. It was prepared to meet the wants of persons—numbered by multitudes in even the most intelligent and refined communities—who from deficiency of education, or from carelessness of manner, are in the habit of misusing many of the most common words of the English language, distorting its grammatical forms, destroying its beauty, and corrupting its purity. The most thorough mode that could be adopted to correct such errors, would doubtless be to impart to the ignorant a practical knowledge of the principles of language, as embodied in treatises on grammar; but such a good work, however desirable its results, has, in time past, been too difficult for the promoters of education to complete, and is still too great to give promise of speedy accomplishment. A better expedient, bearing immediate fruits, has been adopted in the present volume, which, while it does not aim to produce a radical reform, cannot fail to render great service to those who need to improve their usual modes of expression, and to be more discriminating in their choice of words.

The more frequent and less excusable mistakes that may be noticed in ordinary conversation or correspondence, are here taken up, one by one—exposed, explained, and corrected. They consist variously of abuses of grammar, misapplications of words and phrases, improprieties of metaphor and comparison, misstatements of meaning, and faults of pronunciation. They are grouped miscellaneously, without classification, not so much because of the difficulty of devising an arrangement that would be systematic and intelligible, as from the evident fact that a division of subjects would render no assistance to those for whom the book is specially designed; for an appropriate classification would necessarily derive its features from the forms of grammar, and with these the readers of this book are supposed to be to a great extent unfamiliar.

The volume is put forth with no flourish of trumpets, and makes no extravagant pretensions; yet the publishers believe it will be regarded as a timely and useful work. If the race of critics should not like it—and while books have their “faults,” critics have their “failings”—they are reminded that he who corrects an old error, may render no less service to his brethren, than he who discovers a new truth. If the work shall be the means of saving one sensitive man from a confusion of blushes, in the presence of a company before which he desired to preserve his equanimity, it will not have gone forth without a mission of benefit, which will merit at least one acknowledgment.

INTRODUCTION.

The aim of this book, by correcting a multitude of common errors in the use of language, is mainly to offer assistance to such persons as need greater facilities for accurate expression in ordinary conversation. It is not designed to suggest topics of talk, nor to give rules or examples pointing out the proper modes of arranging them; but simply to insure persons who often have a good thing to say, from the confusion and mortification of improperly saying it. This chapter of introduction will not, therefore, be expected to present an essay on the general subject of conversation.

It may be remarked, however, by way of admonitory hint to some, that the most prominent error in the conversation of those who commit the most blunders, does not consist in saying too little that amounts to much, but too much that amounts to little; talkativeness is a characteristic more commonly of the ignorant, than of the wise. Shenstone says, “The common fluency of speech in many men, and most women, is owing to a scarcity of matter and a scarcity of words; for whoever is master of a language, and moreover has a mind full of ideas, will be apt, in speaking, to hesitate upon the choice of both; but common speakers have only one set of ideas and one set of words to clothe them in,—and these are always ready at the mouth. Just so, people can come faster out of a church when it is almost empty, than when a crowd is at the door!” But although, according to the old proverb, “a still tongue denotes a wise head,” the faculty of speech should not be neglected, merely because it may be misused.

Conversation is not a gift bestowed only upon those whom genius favors; on the contrary, many men eminent for their fluency of style in writing, have been noted for habitual taciturnity in their intercourse with society. Hazlitt remarked, that “authors should be read, not heard!” Charles II. of England, not only the wittiest of monarchs, but one of the liveliest of men, is said to have been so charmed in reading the humor of Butler’s “Hudibras,” that he disguised himself as a private gentleman, and was introduced to the author, whom, to his astonishment, he found to be one of the dullest of companions. On the other hand, some of the humblest men with whom one falls into company, possessed of but little variety, and less extent of information, are highly entertaining talkers. The particular topic of remark does not form so essential a part of an interesting conversation, as the words and manner of those who engage in it. Robert Burns, sitting down on one occasion to write a poem, said:

“Which way the subject theme may gang,

Let time or chance determine;

Perhaps it may turn out a sang,—

Or probably a sermon.”

In the same manner, the subject of a conversation need not be made a matter of study, or special preparation. Men may talk of things momentous or trivial, and in either strain be alike attractive and agreeable.

But quitting the consideration of the thought, to refer to the mode of its expression, it must be remarked and insisted, that to “murder the king’s English” is hardly less a crime, than to design against one of the king’s subjects. If committed from ignorance, the fault is at least deplorable; but if from carelessness, it is inexcusable. The greatest of sciences is that of language; the greatest of human arts is that of using words. No “cunning hand” of the artificer can contrive a work of mechanism that is to be compared, for a moment, with those wonderful masterpieces of ingenuity, which may be wrought by him who can skilfully mould a beautiful thought into a form that shall preserve, yet radiate its beauty. A mosaic of words may be made more fair, than of inlaid precious stones. The scholar who comes forth from his study, a master of the English language, is a workman who has at his command hardly less than a hundred thousand finely-tempered instruments, with which he may fashion the most cunning device. This is a trade which all should learn, for it is one that every individual is called to practise. The greatest support of virtue in a community is intelligence; intelligence is the outgrowth of knowledge; and the almoner of all knowledge is language. The possession, therefore, of the resources, and a command over the appliances of language, is of the utmost importance to every individual. Words are current coins of the realm, and they who do not have them in their treasury, suffer a more pitiable poverty than others who have not a penny of baser specie in their pocket; and the multitude of those who have an unfailing supply, but which is of the wrong stamp, are possessed only of counterfeit cash, that will not pass in circles of respectability. The present work therefore is, in some respects, not unlike the “Detector” issued for the merchants, to indicate the great amount of worthless money that is in general circulation with the good.

It is not to be supposed that all the mistakes of daily occurrence in the use of language, are to be numbered by “five hundred”—possibly not by five thousand; but it is evident that he who is instructed against five hundred of his habitual blunders, and enabled to steer clear of every one of them, has in no slight degree improved his conversation, and thereby increased his importance. As a prefix, or accompaniment, to this catalogue of corrected mistakes, the presentation of a few rules or principles of language, which, strictly observed, might guard against numerous general classes of errors, would not be thought misplaced, or undesirable. Some suggestions on points most prominent are accordingly given among these introductory remarks—not in formal statements of grammatical rules, but in examples in which the spirit of such rules is revealed.

Not the least glaring among the many misuses of words and forms of expression in conversation, occur by incorrectly employing the pronouns—who, which, what, and that. It may be remarked, that who should be applied exclusively to persons. Which usually refers to animals and inanimate objects, except in such an expression as, “Tell me which of the two men was chosen?” What, means that which: thus, “This is the book what I wanted,” should read, “This is the book that (or which) I wanted.”

Among interrogatives, who? inquires for the name; which? for the individual; what? for the character, or occupation. Thus, “Who built the bridge?” “Mr. Blake.” “Which of the Blakes?” “Charles Blake.” “What was he?” “A distinguished civil engineer.”

The title of a small book for young people, recently published, was—“The Way that Little Children enter Heaven:” the word that is here incorrectly used as a substitute for in which, or by which.

When this and that, and their plurals, are used in the sense of latter and former, this and these signify the latter, and that and those the former. Thus, in the following couplet from Burns:

“Farewell my friends, farewell my foes,

My peace with these, my love with those.”

these refers to “foes,” and those to “friends.”

In the possessive case of nouns, some instances occur in which a wise choice may be made, but in respect to which usage is divided. Thus, we may say, “They called at Walton’s the bookseller’s,” or, with equal propriety, as far as custom is concerned, “at Walton the bookseller’s.” The first form, however, is preferable.

The use of the hyphen [-] is frequently disregarded in epistolary correspondence, occasioning not only a blemish but a blunder. Its importance may be seen by comparing the meaning of “glass house” with “glass-house;” the former may mean the Crystal Palace, while the latter is a manufactory of glass-ware.

Adjectives are often improperly used for adverbs: as, “extreme bad weather,” for “extremely bad weather.”

It is sometimes difficult to choose between such phrases as “the first three,” and “the three first.” To say first three when there is no second three is inelegant, because superfluous; and three first is absurd, because impossible. The most successful pupil in each of two classes at school would not improperly be called “the two first boys;” while propriety would require that the first and second boys of the same class should be called “the first two boys.” As a general rule, and easy to be recollected, let “first” be first.

The use of some for about is by many writers thought to be awkward: as, “Some fifty years ago,” instead of “About Fifty years.”

An ambiguity occasionally arises in employing the adjective no. Thus, “No money is better than gold,” may mean either that gold is the best kind of money, or that gold is not so good as no money at all!

After numerals, the words couple, pair, dozen, score, hundred, thousand, and a few others, need not take the plural form: thus, custom first, and finally grammar, have sanctioned such uses as, “three pair of shoes,” “nine dozen bushels,” “four couple of students;” also, “forty sail of vessels,” “seventy head of cattle.”

The article (a or an) renders an important service in such expressions as, “A few followed their leader throughout the long struggle.” To say, “Few followed him,” would imply, unlike the former phrase, that he was almost deserted.

“A black and a white horse,” suggests the idea of two horses; while “a black and white horse,” refers to but one—as if written “a black-and-white horse.”

“The red and white dahlias were most admired,” properly means the dahlias in which both these colors were blended. “The red and the white dahlias,” implies two species.

The grammatical number of a verb should agree with that of its subject, and not of its predicate. Thus, the sentences, “Death is the wages of sin,” and “The wages of sin are death,” are properly written.

In changing from a past tense to the present, when the same nominative remains, the form of the verb should continue unaltered. Thus, instead of saying “He was traveling and travels,” say “He was traveling and is traveling.”

When a verb has both a singular and a plural nominative, separated by or, its number agrees with that of the nearer: as, “the cup or his billiards were his ruin;” or, “his billiards or the cup was his ruin.”

Custom—which, when crystallized, becomes grammar—allows expressions like “The linen tears,” and “The meadow plows well,” although they should not be frequently employed, and should be more seldom coined.

A fruitful source of mistakes in language, is in the linking together of two or more inappropriate tenses, or in the misuse of one. Many among the learned and refined commit blunders of these kinds. A few corrected examples of such are here given:

“His text was, that God was love;” the sentence should be written, “His text was, that God is love.”

“The Lord hath given, and the Lord hath taken away;” say, “The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away.”

“They arrived before we left the city:” say, “they had arrived.”

“All the brothers have been greatly indebted to their father:” say, “are indebted.”

“This painting was preserved and exhibited for the last century:” say, “has been preserved and exhibited.”

“It was the last act he intended to have performed.” say, “to perform.”

“He drinks wine at dinner,” means that such is his habit; “he is drinking wine at dinner,” refers to one particular time and occasion.

Adverbs are often inelegantly used instead of adjectives; as, “the then ministry,” for “the ministry of that time.”

Of the phrases “never so good,” or, “ever so good,” as to whether one is preferable to the other, authority is divided. Modern usage inclines to the latter, while ancient preferred the former, as in the Scriptural expression, “charm he never so wisely.”

Yea and nay are not equivalent to yes and no; the latter are directly affirmative and negative, while the former are variously employed.

Of prepositions, it has been frequently said, that no words in the language are so liable to be incorrectly used. For example, “The love of God,” may mean either “His love to us,” or, “our love to Him.”

Many more of these particles are inelegantly, if not ambiguously used. Instead of “the natives were a different race to what they are now,” say, “different from.”

“He was made much on in the country:” say, “made much of.”

“In compliance of your request:” say, “in compliance with.”

“He doubts if his friend will come,” is not so elegant and accurate as, “He doubts whether his friend will come.”

More instances might be given, setting forth other frequent errors of speaking and writing, at the risk, however, of destroying the due proportion which should exist between the size of a work and the length of the Introduction. But a good heed to what has been said in the few preceding paragraphs, will enable a person who carefully reads this work to mend his modes of expression, to no inconsiderable degree. It is well known that there is no “royal road to learning,” but if there were, it could hardly be expected that such a little book as this would afford a passport to the end of the course. About two hundred years ago, a small volume was put forth by one “John Peters, learned scholar and author,” which had the following long-winded title: “A New Way to make Latin Verses, whereby any one of ordinary capacity, that only knows the A, B, C and can count nine, though he understands not one word of Latin, or what a verse means, may be plainly taught to make thousands of Hexameter and Pentameter Verses, which shall be true Latin, true Verse, and Good Sense!” The present volume must not be expected to accomplish so great a result as this—not having so comprehensive an aim, nor possessing so great a secret of success. But it is hoped that it may incite some who are unfortunately deficient in education, to seek so much additional knowledge as shall enable them at least to converse in a dialect which is within the compass of the language of their country, and free them from the imputation of belonging to another tribe of men, speaking another tongue.

A Welshman, residing near Caermarthon, who was seldom seen at the only church in the parish of his residence, was one day accosted by the worthy clergyman with the question, “My friend—to what church do you belong?” He responded, “To the Church of England.” “Ah,” replied the pastor, “I was sure that it must be some church out of Wales!” There are not a few persons who speak the English language about as truly as the Caermarthon Welshman attended the English Church!

FIVE HUNDRED MISTAKES CORRECTED.

1. “The business would suit any one who enjoys bad health.” [From an advertisement in a daily newspaper of New-York.] Few persons who have bad health can be said to enjoy it. Use some other form of expression: as, one in delicate health, or, one whose health is bad.

2. “We have no corporeal punishment here,” said a schoolmaster. Corporeal is opposed to spiritual. Say, corporal punishment. Corporeal means having a body.

3. “She is a notable woman,” as was said of the wife of the Shepherd of Salisbury Plain,—meaning careful, and pronounced as though divided not-able. This word is no longer current, with this pronunciation or signification, except to a slight extent in England. It has become obsolete, and its use now is in bad taste.

4. “Insert the advertisement in the Weekly.” Emphasize vert, and not ise.

5. “He rose up, and left the room:” leave out up, as it is absurd to say rise down. The Irishman who was hoisted down the coal pit, did not observe this rule.

6. “Set down and rest yourself:” say sit down; setting is said of the sun in the west, but cannot be properly applied to a person taking a seat. “Sit down” is not improper, though “rise up” (as in No. 5) should never be used. Sitting down expresses the act of appropriating a chair, while sitting up means sitting erect. Sitting up also refers to watching during the night with the sick.

7. “You have sown it very neatly,” said a seamstress to her apprentice: say sewed, and pronounce so as to rhyme with road. The pronunciation of sew, meaning “to use the needle,” violates its spelling; it is the same as that of sow, meaning “to scatter seed.”

8. “This is a secret between you and I:” say, you and me. The construction requires the objective case in place of I, which is in the nominative. It is in still better taste to say, “This is a secret with you and me.”

9. “Let you and I take a walk:” say, Let you and me, or, Let us. Who would think of saying, Let I go? The expression “Let I and you” is frequently heard, which contains the additional impropriety of putting the first person before the second.

10. “He is going to learn his brother Alfred how to knit nets:” say, teach. The act of communicating instruction is expressed by “teaching,” the act of receiving it by “learning.” The distinction between these words was made as early as the time of Shakespeare, and cannot be violated without incurring censure.

11. “John and Henry both read well, but John is the best reader:” say, the better reader, as best can be properly used only when three or more persons, or objects, are compared.

12. “Thompson was there among the rest.” This mode of expression, which is very common, literally declares an impossibility. The signification of “the rest” is, those in addition to Thompson, and of which Thompson formed no part; he could not therefore be among them. A more correct form would be, “Thompson was there with the rest.”

13. “The two first cows are the fattest,” said a farmer at an agricultural fair. He should have said, “the first two;” there can be only one that is first—the other must necessarily be second.

14. “It is an error; you are mistaken:” say, you mistake. Mistaken means misapprehended; “you mistake,” means “you misapprehend.”

15. “Have you lit the fire, Bridget?” say, lighted; lit is now obsolete.

16. “To be is an auxiliary verb:” pronounce auxiliary as though spelled awg-zil-ya-re, and not in five syllables.

17. February: this word is often incorrectly spelled by omitting the r.

18. The “Miscellany” was an interesting publication: pronounce miscellany with the accent on mis, and not on cel.

19. “Celery is a pleasant vegetable:” pronounce celery as it is written, and not salary.

20. “Are you at leisure?” pronounce lei in leisure the same as lee. The word should not rhyme with measure.

21. “John is my oldest brother:” say, eldest. Elder and eldest are applied to persons—older and oldest to things. Usage, however, does not make these distinctions imperative.

22. “The cloth was wove in a very short time:” say, woven.

23. “I prefer the yolk of an egg to the white:” the more common word is yelk, with the l sounded; but if yolk be used, it should be pronounced like yoke.

24. Sparrowgrass: it is only the grossest ignorance which confounds this word with asparagus. The same is the case with ing-uns for onions. A man in an obscure section of New Jersey, inquiring at a country store for onions, was told that there were none in the place. On his going out, the storekeeper turned to half a dozen idlers sitting round the stove, and said, “I wonder if that ’tarnal fool meant ing-uns!”

25. “You are very mischievous:” pronounce mischievous with the accent on mis, and not on chie, and do not say mischievious (mis-cheev-yus).

26. The following words were posted, as a sign, in a reading-room—“No Talking Allowed;” which was designed to prohibit all conversation. A wag altered the inscription so as to read, “No Talking Aloud,” which (he declared) did not prevent whispering, and chatting in low tones. What shall be said of the following—“No Smoking Aloud?”

27. “No extras or vacations:” [from the prospectus of a schoolmistress:] say, NOR vacations.

28. “He was never known to be covetous:” pronounce covetous as if written covet us, and not covetyus.

29. The Three R.’s.—An ignorant and vain pedagogue, on being asked what he could teach, replied, “The three R.’s—’ritin’, ’rethmetic, and readin’.” Any persons among the readers of this little book, who may chance to be schoolmasters, are warned against giving such a course of instruction.

30. “Dearly beloved brethren:” when beloved is placed before the noun, as in this instance, pronounce it in three syllables; when placed after, in two syllables, as, “She was much be-loved by us all.” When used as a noun by itself, it is pronounced in three syllables; as, “Be-lov-ed, let us love one another.”

31. “Not as I know:” say, that I know.

32. “He came on purpose for to do it:” omit for.

33. “He would never believe but what I did it:” say, but that I did it.

34. “He is quite as good as me:” say, as good as I. Also, instead of as good as him, say, as good as he. In both these instances am or is must be mentally supplied at the end of the phrase, to suggest the meaning; and the pronouns should, therefore, be in the nominative case.

35. “Many an one has done the same:” say, many a one. A, and not an, is also used before the long sound of u, that is, when u forms a distinct syllable of itself: as, a unit, a union, a university: it is also used before eu: as, a euphony, and likewise before the word ewe: as, a ewe: we should also say, a youth, not an youth.

36. “How do you like these kind of pears?” say, these kinds; a noun in the singular number will not allow its adjective to be in the plural.

37. “You should have went home:” say, gone.

38. “John went with James and I:” say, James and me.

39. “I see him last Monday:” say, saw him.

40. “He was averse from such a proceeding:” say, averse to.

41. “Have you shook the table-cloth?” say, shaken.

42. “I have rang several times:” say, rung.

43. “I know’d him at once:” say, knew.

44. “You have drank too much of it:” say, drunk.

45. “He has chose a very poor pattern:” say, chosen.

46. “They have broke a window:” say, broken.

47. “I have just began my letter:” say, begun.

48. “Give me them books:” say, those books.

49. “Whose are these here books?” say, these books. Here is superfluous and inelegant.

50. “Who do you mean?” say, whom.

51. “The men which we saw:” say, whom.

52. “The flowers what you have:” say, which, or that.

53. “The boy as is reading:” who is reading.

54. “It was them who did it:” say, they.

55. “It is me who am in fault:” say, It is I.

56. “Was it her who called me?” say, she.

57. “If I were her, I would accept his offer:” say, If I were she.

58. “He has got my slate:” omit got; has is sufficient for the sense. The addition of got, though not ungrammatical, but gradually becoming obsolete, does not in any degree strengthen the meaning.

59. “The pond is froze:” say, frozen.

60. “I know I am him whom he meant:” say, I am he.

61. “You cannot catch him:” pronounce catch so as to rhyme with match, and not ketch—as the fishermen are in the habit of saying.

62. “Who done it?” say, Who did it?

63. “The club gives an impetus to the ball:” pronounce impetus with the stress on im, and not on pe.

64. “Spain and Portugal form a peninsula:” pronounce pen-in-su-la, with the accent on in, and not on su.

65. Sar-da-na-pa-lus: pronounce it with the accent on pa, and not on ap. The latter pronunciation cannot be changed for the former, without incurring a gross error.

66. “He must by this time be almost as far as the antipodes:” pronounce antipodes with the accent on tip, and let des rhyme with ease; it is a word of four syllables, and not of three.

67. Vouchsafe: a word seldom used, but when used, the first syllable should rhyme with pouch; never say vousafe.

68. “The land in those parts is very fertile:” pronounce fertile so as to rhyme with myrtle. Ile in such words must be sounded as ill, with the exception of exile, senile, gentile, reconcile, and camomile, in which ile rhymes with mile.

69. Benefited: often spelt benefitted, but incorrectly.

70. “Gather a few ears of corn for dinner:” pronounce gather so as to rhyme with lather, and not gether.

71. Purpose and propose: these two words, which are often confounded, are entirely distinct in meaning. To purpose means to intend; to propose means to offer a proposition.

72. Directing and addressing letters: Directing designates the persons to whom, and the place to which the letter, as a parcel, is to be sent; addressing refers to the individual to whom, as a communication, it is written. A letter addressed to the President, may be directed to his secretary.

73. “Who do you think I saw yesterday?” say, Whom.

74. A popular proverb is expressed in the following language: “Of two evils choose the least;” say, the less. Of no less than three evils can a person choose the least.

75. Exaggerate: pronounce exad-gerate, and do not sound agger as in dagger.

76. Ladies School: the usual form, but not correct; write, Ladies’ School. The apostrophe (’) is thus used after nouns in the plural, and indicates possession. In the singular, it is placed before the s, as, The lady’s school.

77. The following equivocal notice is said to swing out on a sign-board somewhere in the Western country: “SMITH & HUGGS—SELECT SCHOOL.—Smith teaches the boys, and Huggs the girls.” Huggs needs correction!

78. “He keeps a chaise:” pronounce it shaze, and not shay; it has a regular plural, chaises.

79. “The drought lasted a long time:” pronounce drought so as to rhyme with sprout, and not drowth.

80. “The two friends conversed together for an hour:” omit together, as the full meaning of this word is implied in con, which means with, or together, or in company.

81. “The affair was compromised:” pronounce compromised in three syllables, and place the accent on com, sounding mised like prized.

82. “A steam-engine:” pronounce engine with en as in pen, and not like in; also, pronounce gine like gin.

83. “Several of the trappers were massacred by the Indians:” pronounce massacred with the accent on mas, and red like erd, as if massaker’d; never say massacreed, which is abominable.

84. “The King of Israel and the King of Judah sat either of them on his throne:” say, each of them. Either signifies the one or the other, but not both. Each relates to two or more objects, and signifies both of the two, or every one of any number taken singly. We can say, “either of the three,” for “one of the three.”

85. “A respite was granted the convict:” pronounce respite with the accent on res, and sound pite as pit.

86. “He soon returned back:” leave out back, which is implied by re in returned.

87. “The ship looked like a speck on the edge of the horizon:” pronounce horizon with the accent on ri, and not on hor, which is often the case.

88. “They were early at the sepulchre:” pronounce sepulchre with the accent on sep, and not on the second syllable.

89. “I have often swam across the Hudson:” say, swum.

90. “I found my friend better than I expected to have found him:” say, to find him.

91. “I intended to have written a letter yesterday:” say, to write; as however long it now is since I thought of writing, “to write” was then present to me, and must still be considered as present, when I recall that time and the thoughts of it.

92. Superfluous R’s: Many persons pronounce words which have no letter r in them, exactly as though they had; as drawring for drawing; “I sawr Thomas,” for “I saw,” &c. Some who do not insert a full-toned r, do worse by appending an ah to almost every word they utter. They would do well to recall the reproof which the excellent Rev. John Gruber administered to a brother in the ministry, who was guilty of this habit. That eccentric clergyman addressed a note to his friend, as follows: “Dear-ah Sir-ah—When-ah you-ah speak-ah in-ah public-ah, take-ah my-ah ad-ah-vice-ah and-ah never-ah say-ah ah-ah!—JOHN-AH GRUBER-AH.”

93. Shall and will are often confounded, or misused. The following suggestion will be of service to the reader: mere futurity is expressed by shall in the first person, and by will in the second and third; the determination of the speaker by will, in the first, and shall, in the second and third. For example: “I shall go by the way of Halifax,” simply expresses an event about to take place—as also you will, and they will: I will expresses determination—as also you shall and they shall. Brightland has the following illustrative stanza:

“In the first person simply shall foretells;

In will a threat, or else a promise, dwells.

Shall, in the second and the third, does threat;—

Will, simply, then, foretells the future feat.”

94. “Without the grammatical form of a word can be recognized at a glance, little progress can be made in reading the language:” [from a work on the study of the Latin language:] say, Unless the grammatical, &c. The use of without for unless is a very common mistake.

95. “He claimed admission to the chiefest offices:” say, chief. Chief, right, supreme, correct, true, universal, perfect, consummate, extreme, &c., imply the superlative degree without adding est, or prefixing most. In language sublime or impassioned, however, the word perfect requires the superlative form, to give it its fullest effect.

96. “I had rather do it now:” say, I would rather do. The incorrectness of the first form of expression is very clearly seen by cutting out rather, leaving “I had do,” which is ungrammatical and meaningless.

97. An obituary notice contained the following ludicrous statement: “He left a large circle of mourners, embracing his amiable wife and children!” Comprising should have been used, instead of embracing.

98. “His court-of-arms is very splendid:” say, coat-of-arms.

99. “They ride about in small carriages, which are called flies:” write the last word flys; flies is the plural of fly, the insect.

100. “Victoria is Queen of the United Kingdom:” say, United Kingdoms. Who ever speaks of the United State of America?

101. “I have not traveled this twenty years:” say, these twenty years.

102. “Soldier arms!” Say, “Shoulder arms!” The latter is frequently corrupted into “Sojer arms!”

103. “He is very much the gentleman:” say, He is a very gentlemanly man, or, He is very gentlemanly.

104. “The yellow part of an egg is very nourishing:” never pronounce yellow so as to rhyme with tallow, as we so often hear.

105. “We are going to the Zoological Gardens:” pronounce Zoological in five syllables, and place the accent on log in logical; sound log like lodge, and the first two o’s in distinct syllables; never make Zool one syllable.

106. “He strived to obtain an appointment:” say, strove.

107. “He always preaches extempore:” pronounce extempore in four syllables, with the accent on tem, and never in three, making pore to rhyme with sore—but with story.

108. “Allow me to suggest:” pronounce sug as to rhyme with mug, and gest like jest; never say sudjest.

109. “That building is an episcopal chapel:” pronounce episcopal with the accent on the second syllable, and not on co.

110. “The Emperor of Russia is a formidable sovereign:” pronounce formidable with the accent on for, and not on mid.

111. Before the words heir, herb, honest, honor, and hour, and their compounds, instead of the article a, we make use of an, as the h is not sounded; likewise before words beginning with h, that are not accented on the first syllable: such as heroic, historical, hypothesis, &c., as, “an heroic action;” “an historical work;” “an hypothesis that can scarcely be allowed.” The letter h is seldom mute at the beginning of a word; but from the negligence of tutors, and the inattention of pupils, many persons have become almost incapable of acquiring its just and full pronunciation. It is, therefore, incumbent on teachers to be particularly careful to inculcate a clear and distinct utterance of this sound.

112. “He was such an extravagant young man, that he soon spent his whole patrimony.” This construction, which is much used, is not so elegant as, “He was so extravagant a young man,” &c.

113. “The girl speaks distinct:” say, distinctly. Never use Adjectives as Adverbs.

114. “The accident of which he was reading, occurred not far from Reading:” pronounced the first italicized word to rhyme with feeding, and the other, with wedding.

115. The combination of letters ough is pronounced in eight different ways, as follows: 1. Though, in which it is pronounced o; 2. Through, pronounced oo; 3. Plough, ow; 4. Sought, awe; 5. Cough, off; 6. Rough, uff; 7. Borough, ugh; 8. Lough, ok. The following sentence, which is of doubtful authorship, affords an example of each of these eight modes of pronunciation: “I put (1) dough (6) enough in the (5) trough near the (3) slough by the (8) lough, to last the ducks that I (4) bought at the (7) borough (2) through the day.”

116. “I saw his august majesty, the Emperor of Hayti, last August:” pronounce the former word with the accent on gust; the latter, on Au.

117. “She is quite the lady:” say, She is very lady-like in her demeanor.

118. “He is seldom or ever out of town:” say, seldom or never, or, seldom if ever.

119. “We laid down to sleep:” say, we lay down, &c. We can say, however, “we laid him down to sleep.”

120. It is somewhat singular, that while tie and untie convey meanings directly opposite, loose and unloose signify precisely the same thing. Loose is the original word, and unloose is a corruption; both words, however, are now sanctioned by good usage, and may be indiscriminately employed, without offence against propriety.

121. “It is dangerous to walk of a slippery morning:” say, on a slippery morning. But the expression, “walking on a slippery morning,” and all others like it, of which a strictly literal interpretation will not give the designed signification, are to be avoided. They often excite a smile when seriousness is intended.

122. “He who makes himself famous by his eloquence, makes illustrious his origin, let it be never so mean:” say, ever so mean. The practice of using never in such phrases was anciently in vogue, but is now becoming obsolete. (See Introduction.)

123. “His reputation is acknowledged through Europe:” say, throughout Europe.

124. “The bank of the river is frequently overflown:” say, overflowed. Flown is the perfect participle of fly, flying; flowed, of flow, flowing.

125. “I doubt if this will ever reach you:” say, whether this, &c.

126. “It is not improbable but I may be able to procure you a copy:” say, that I may, &c.

127. “He was exceeding kind to me:” say, exceedingly kind.

128. “I doubt not but I shall be able:” say, that I shall.

129. “I lost near twenty pounds:” say, nearly, or almost.

130. “There were not over twenty persons present:” say, more than. Such a use of this word is not frequent among writers of reputation. It may, however, be less improperly employed, where the sense invests it with more of a semblance to its literal signification: as, “This pair of chickens will weigh over seven pounds.” Even in this case, it is better to say more than.

131. “Bills are requested to be paid quarterly:” the bills are not requested, but the persons who owe them. Say instead, It is requested that bills be paid quarterly.

132. “There can be no doubt but that he will succeed:” omit but.

133. “It was no use asking him any more questions:” say, of no use to ask him, or there was no use in asking, &c.

134. “The Americans said they had no right to pay taxes.” [From a Fourth of July Oration.] They certainly had a right to pay them, if they wished. What the speaker meant was, they were under no obligation to pay, or, they were not bound to pay.

135. “He intends to stop at home for a few days:” it is more elegant to say stay. If the time, however, should be very brief, stop would better express the idea; as, “We stopped at Elmira about twenty minutes.”

136. “At this time, I grew my own corn:” say, I raised. Farmers have made this innovation against good taste; but for what reason, it is not apparent; there seems to be no sufficient occasion for so awkward a substitute for raised.

137. “Having incautiously laid down on the damp grass, he caught a severe cold:” say, lain down.

138. “We suffered no other inconvenience but that arising from the rain:” say, than that, &c. But, to be properly used in this sentence, would require the omission of other.

139. “Brutus and Aruns killed one another:” say, each other, which is more proper. But many similar instances which occur in the New Testament, as, “Beloved, love one another,” and others no less beautiful and cherished, have rendered this form of expression common, and almost unexceptionable.

140. In a recently issued work on Arithmetic, the following is given: “If for 72 cents I can buy 9 lbs. of raisins, how much can I purchase for $14 49?” say, “what quantity can I,” &c. Who would think of saying, “how much raisins?”

141. WORDS TO BE CAREFULLY DISTINGUISHED.—Be very careful to distinguish between indite and indict (the former meaning to write, and the latter to accuse); key and quay; principle and principal; marshal and martial; counsel and council; counsellor and councillor; fort and forte; draft and draught; place and plaice (the latter being the name of a fish); stake and steak; satire and satyr; stationery and stationary; ton and tun; levy and levee; foment and ferment; fomentation and fermentation; petition and partition; Francis and Frances; dose and doze; diverse and divers; device and devise; wary and weary; salary and celery; radish and reddish; treble and triple; broach and brooch; ingenious and ingenuous; prophesy and prophecy (some clergymen sounding the final syllable of the latter word long, like the former); fondling and foundling; lightning and lightening; genus and genius; desert and dessert; currier and courier; pillow and pillar; executer and executor (the former being the regular noun from the verb “to execute,” and the latter a strictly legal term); ridicule and reticule; lineament and liniment; track and tract, lickerish and licorice (lickerish signifying dainty, and licorice being a plant, or preparation from it); statute and statue; ordinance and ordnance; lease and leash; recourse and resource; straight and strait (straight meaning direct, and strait, narrow); immerge and emerge; style and stile; compliment and complement; bass and base; contagious and contiguous; eminent and imminent; eruption and irruption; precedent and president; relic and relict.

142. “The number of emigrants arriving in this country is increasing and alarming:” say, immigrants. Emigrants are those going out from a country; immigrants, those coming into it.

143. “I prefer radishes to cucumbers:” pronounce radishes exactly as spelt, and not redishes; also, the first syllable of cucumber like fu in fuel, and not as if the word were spelled cowcumber.

144. “The two last letters were dated from Calcutta:” say, the last two, &c.

145. “The soil in those islands is so very thin, that little is produced in them beside cocoa-nut trees:” “beside cocoa-nut trees” means strictly alongside, or by the side, of them. Besides, or except, should be used. Besides also signifies in addition to: as, “I sat beside the President, and conversed with him besides.”

146. “He could neither read nor write:” say, more properly, write nor read. All persons who can write can read, but not all who read can write. This sentence, as corrected, is much stronger than in the other form.

147. “He was bred and born among the hills of the Hudson:” say, born and bred, which is the natural order.

148. “THIS HOUSE TO LET:” more properly, to be let.

149. Here, there, where, with verbs of motion, are generally better than hither, thither, whither; as, “Come here; Go there.” Hither, thither, and whither, which were used formerly, are now considered stiff and inelegant.

150. “As far as I am able to judge, the book is well written:” say, So far as, &c.

151. “It is doubtful whether he will act fairly or no:” say, fairly or not.

152. “The camelopard is the tallest of known animals:” pronounce camelopard with the accent on mel; never say camel leopard. Few words, by being mispronounced, occasion greater blunders than this term.

153. “He ran again me;” or, “I stood again the hydrant:” say, against. This word is frequently and inelegantly abbreviated, in pronunciation, into agin.

154. “No one should incur censure for being careful of their good character:” say, of his (or her).

155. “The yacht capsized in rounding the stake-boat, and the helmsman was drownded:” say, drowned.

156. “Jalap will be of service to you:” pronounce the word as it is spelled, never saying jollop.

157. The word curiosity, though a very common term, and one that should be correctly pronounced by everybody, is frequently called curosity.

158. “He has just set out to take a tour:” pronounce tour so as to rhyme with poor. Be careful to avoid saying, take a tower; such a pronunciation might suggest the Mamelon, instead of a trip of travel.

159. “The storm is ceased, and the sky is clear:” say, has ceased.

160. “Do you know who this dog-headed cane belongs to?” say, whom. In expressing in writing the idea conveyed in this question, a better form of sentence would be, “Do you know to whom this belongs?” In familiar conversation, however, the latter mode might be thought too formal and precise.

161. “Who did you wish to see?” say, whom.

162. “Whom say ye that I am?” This is the English translation, given in Luke ix. 20, of the question of Christ to Peter. The word whom should be who. Other instances of grammatical inaccuracies occur in the Bible; for example, in the Sermon on the Mount, the Saviour says: “Lay not up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt,” &c. “Moth and rust” make a plural nominative to “doth corrupt,” a singular verb. The following, however, is correct: “But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt.”

163. The word chimney is sometimes called incorrectly chimley and chimbley.

164. “I was walking towards home:” pronounce towards so as to rhyme with boards; never say, to-wards.

165. “A courier is expected from Washington:” pronounce cou in courier so as to rhyme with too, never like currier; the two words have entirely distinct significations.

166. “Let each of us mind their own business:” say, his own business.

167. “Who made that noise? Not me:” say, Not I.

168. “Is this or that the best road?” say, the better road.

169. “Rinse your mouth:” pronounce rinse as it is written, and never rense. “Rench your mouth,” said a fashionable dentist one day to a patient. “You have already wrenched it for me,” was the reply.

170. “He was tired of the dust of the town, and flew to the pure air of the country:” say, fled. Flew is part of the verb to fly; fled, of to flee.

171. “The first edition was not as well printed as the present:” say, so well, &c.

172. “The Unabridged Dictionary was his greatest work, it being the labor of a life-time:” pronounce Dictionary as if written Dik-shun-a-ry; not, as is too commonly the practice, Dixonary.

173. “I should feel sorry to be beholding to him:” say, beholden.

174. “He is a despicable fellow, and such an epitaph is strictly applicable to him:” never place the accent in despicable and applicable on the second syllable, but always on the first.

175. “Some disaster has certainly befell him:” say, befallen.

176. Carefully distinguish between sergeant and serjeant: both are pronounced sarjant, but the former is used in a military sense, and the latter applied to a lawyer. These distinctions are, however, observed chiefly in England.

177. “She is a pretty creature:” never pronounce creature like creetur.

178. The following expression would be of special significance on coming from a surgeon or anatomist: “Desiring to know your friend better, I took him apart to converse with him.” It has been said that two persons who take each other apart, frequently do so for the express purpose of putting their heads together.

179. “I am very wet, and must go and change myself:” say, change my clothes.

180. “He is taller than me:” say, than I.

181. “He is much better than me:” say, than I.

182. “You are stronger than him:” say, than he.

183. “That is the moot point:” say, disputed point. The other word is inelegant, and nearly obsolete.

184. “They are at loggerheads”: this is an extremely unpoetical figure to express the mutual relations of two individuals who have an “honest difference;” say, at variance, or use some other form of expression. It might just as well be said, “They are at tadpoles!”

185. “He paid a florin to the florist:” divide the syllables so as to pronounce like flor-in and flo-rist.

186. “His character is undeniable:” a very common expression: say, unexceptionable.

187. “Bring me the lantern:” never spell lantern—lanthorn.

188. “The room is twelve foot long, and nine foot broad:” say, twelve feet, nine feet.

189. “He is a Highlander:” never say, Heelander.

190. “He is singular, though regular in his habits, and also very particular:” beware of leaving out the u in singular, regular, and particular, which is a very common practice.

191. “They are detained at France:” say, in France.

192. “He lives at New-York:” say, in New-York.

193. “He is very dry” (meaning thirsty), is a very common and very improper word to use: say, thirsty.

194. “No less than fifty persons were there:” say, fewer, &c. Less refers to quantity; fewer to number.

195. “Such another victory, and we shall be ruined:” say, Another such victory, &c.

196. “It is some distance, from our house:” say, at some distance, &c.

197. “I shall call upon him:” say, on him.

198. “Remove those trestles:” pronounce trestles exactly as written, only leaving out the t; never say trussles.

199. “He is much addicted to raillery:” in pronouncing raillery, leave out the i; never say, rail-le-ry.

200. “He is a Doctor of Medicine:” pronounce medicine in three syllables, NEVER in two.

201. “They told me to enter in:” leave out in, as it is implied in enter.

202. “His strength is failing:” never say, strenth.

203. “Give me both of those books:” leave out of.

204. “Whenever I try to write well, I always find I can do it:” leave out always, which is unnecessary and improper.

205. “He plunged down into the stream:” leave out down.

206. “I never saw his nephew:” say, nef-ew; never nev-u, or nevvey.

207. “She is the matron:” say, may-tron, and not mat-ron.

208. “Give me leave to tell you:” never say lief for leave.

209. “The height is considerable:” pronounce height so as to rhyme with tight; never hate nor heighth. An instance occurs in “Paradise Lost” in which this word is spelled and pronounced highth.

210. “Who has my scissors?” never call scissors, sithers.

211. “He has obtained a good situation:” pronounce situation as if written sit-you-a-tion, and do not say, sitch-u-a-tion.

212. “I had as lief do it as not:” lief means willingly, gladly, and is not to be confounded with leave, as in example No. 208.

213. “First of all I shall give you a lesson in French, and last of all in music:” omit of all in both instances, as unnecessary.

214. “I shall have finished by the latter end of the week:” leave out latter, which is superfluous.

215. “They sought him throughout the whole country:” leave out whole, which is implied in throughout.

216. “Iron sinks down in water:” leave out down.

217. “A warrant was issued out for his apprehension:” leave out the word out, which is implied in issued.

218. “If you inquire for why I did so, I can give a very good reason:” leave out for.

219. “I own that I did not come soon enough; but because why? I was detained:” leave out because.

220. “I cannot by no means allow it:” say, I can by no means, &c.; or, I cannot by any means, &c.

221. “He covered it over:” leave out over.

222. “I bought a new pair of shoes:” say, a pair of new shoes.

223. “He combined together these facts:” leave out together.

224. “My brother called on me, and we both took a walk:” leave out both, which is unnecessary.

225. “Evil spirits are not occupied about the dead corpses of bad men:” leave out dead, which is altogether unnecessary, as it is implied in the word corpses, “corpse” and “dead body” being strictly synonymous.

226. “He has gone to the Lyceum:” pronounce Lyceum with the accent on the second syllable, and not on the first.

227. “This is a picture of Westminster Abbey:” never say Westminister, as if there were two words, West-minister.

228. “We are going to take a holiday:” this word was originally spelled and pronounced holyday, being compounded of the two words holy (meaning “set apart”) and day. Custom, however, has changed the orthography from y to i, and made the first syllable rhyme with Poll.

229. “It was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means:” emphasize the second, not the first syllable.

230. “He is now settled in Worcester:” pronounce as if written Wooster. Gloucester and Leicester are pronounced Gloster and Lester. The termination cester or chester, occurring in the names of many English towns, is derived and corrupted from the Latin Castra, camps; and every town so named is supposed to have been the site of a camp of soldiers, during the possession of Britain by the Romans.

231. “Relatives and Relations:” both these words designate kinsfolk, and are in most instances used indiscriminately. Relatives, however, is by some deemed the more proper and elegant.

232. “What a long lirry he has to say!” This word should be pronounced and spelt lurry; its more general meaning is a “heap,” a “throng,” a “crowd,” but is often applied to a long dull speech.

233. “Diamonds are charcoals:” pronounce diamonds in three syllables.

234. “Honor to the patriot and the sage:” divide the syllables like pa-tri-ot, not pat-ri-ot. Irish rowdyism has been called “Pat-riot-ism.”

235. “Do you believe that he will receive my letter?” observe that in the former word the diphthong is ie, and in the latter ei. A convenient rule for the spelling of such words is the following: c takes ei after it; all other consonants are followed by ie:—as, deceive, reprieve.

236. “He is now confirmed in idiotcy:” say, idiocy; the t in idiot is dropped in forming the word.

237. “He raised the national standard:” pronounce the first two syllables like the word nation, never as if written nash-ion-al.

238. Principal and Principle: be careful to observe the distinction between these words. Principal signifies chief; principle, motive.

239. “He favors the Anti-Slavery reform:” pronounce Anti with a distinct sounding of the i; else the word becomes ante, which means not “against,” but “before,”—as “ante-deluvian,” signifying “before the Deluge.”

240. Cincinnati is often misspelled Cincinnatti. The name is derived from Cincinnatus, a celebrated Roman.

241. “Her dress was made of moiré antique:” moiré antique is an article of watered silk, very well known to the “shopping” sisterhood, but very frequently called “Murray Antique.”

242. “It was mentioned in a Californian newspaper:” say, California newspaper. No one says Philadelphian, or Chicagonian journal.

243. “The lecture was characterized as a brilliant performance:” accent the first, and not the second syllable.

244. “This is one of the traditions of St. Helena:” accent le, and not Hel.

245. “The boy was found by a washwoman:” say, washerwoman.

246. “St. John’s is about two days nearer England than Halifax.” [From an account, in a New-York newspaper, of the Submarine Telegraph Expedition, September, 1855.] Does it mean that St. John’s is nearer to England than Halifax is, or nearer to England than to Halifax?

247. “He wears a blue-spotted neck-handkerchief:” say, neckerchief, or, still better, neck-cloth, or cravat. The original word is kerchief, and not handkerchief, which is a kerchief for the hand.

248. “The city was illumined in honor of the victory:” better say, illuminated. Distinguish between the pronunciation of illumined and ill-omened.

249. “She has brought the cloze pins in a bag:” say, clothes’ pins.

250. “He met with luck:” say either “bad luck,” or “good luck;” luck primarily refers to simple “chance,” although its derivatives, lucky and luckily, imply only good fortune.

251. “The in-va-lid signed a deed, that was in-val-id:” pronounce the former “invalid” with the accent on the first syllable; the latter, with the accent on the second.

252. “The duke discharged his duty.” Be careful to give the slender, clear sound of u. Avoid saying dook and dooty, or doo for dew or due. Say flute, not floot; suit, not soot; mute, not moot. As well might you say bute for boot, or shute for shoot.

253. “Genealogy, geography, and geometry are words of Greek derivation:” beware of saying geneology, jography, and jometry, a very common practice.

254. “He made out the inventory:” place the accent in inventory on the syllable in, and NEVER on ven.

255. “He deserves chastisement:” say, chas-tiz-ment, with the accent on chas, and NEVER on tise.

256. “He threw the rind away:” never call rind, rine.

257. “His knowledge is very great:” always pronounce knowledge so as to rhyme with college, and NEVER say know-ledge.

258. “They contributed to his maintenance:” pronounce maintenance with the accent on main, and never say maintainance.

259. “She wears a silk gown:” never say gownd.

260. “Maine is a maritime State:” pronounce the last syllable of maritime so as to rhyme with rim.

261. “They desisted from their design:” pronounce the former s in desisted with a soft sound, and always pronounce design as if written de-zine.

262. “They committed a heinous crime:” pronounce heinous as if spelled hay-nus; NEVER call the word hee-nus or hain-yus.

263. “He hovered about the enemy:” pronounce hovered so as to rhyme with covered.

264. “He is a powerful ally:” never place the accent on al in ally, as many do.

265. “We have never been called, almost, to the consideration of the Apocalypse, without finding fresh reasons for our opinion.” [Such are the words of a very eminent reviewer.] He should have said, “We have scarcely ever been called,” or, “we have almost never.”

266. “He is very bigoted:” never spell the last word with double t, a very common mistake.

267. “The Weekly Tribune has a large circulation:” pronounce Tribune as if divided Trib-une, and not Try-bune.

268. “He said as how you was to do it:” say, he said that you were to do it.

269. Never say, “I acquiesce with you,” but, “I acquiesce in your proposal, in your opinion,” &c.

270. “He is a distinguished antiquarian:” say, antiquary. Antiquarian is an adjective; antiquary, a noun.

271. An injudicious disposition of a clause in a sentence frequently creates great merriment in the reading. In Goldsmith’s “History of England,” a book remarkable for its carelessness of style, we find the following extraordinary sentence, in one of the chapters of the reign of Queen Elizabeth: “This” [a communication to Mary Queen of Scots] “they effected by conveying their letters to her by means of a brewer that supplied the family with ale through a chink in the wall of her apartment.” A queer brewer that—to supply ale through a chink in the wall! How easy the alteration to make the passage clear! “This they effected by conveying their letters to her through a chink in the wall of her apartment, by means of a brewer that supplied the family with ale.”

272. “Lavater wrote on Physiognomy:” in the last word sound the g distinctly, as g is always pronounced before n, when it is not in the same syllable; as, indignity, &c.

273. “She is a very amiable girl:” pronounce girl as if written gurl; gal is a vulgarism; gehl or gul is an affectation of which many polite persons are guilty.

274. “He built a large granary:” do not pronounce granary so as to rhyme with tannery. Call the word grainary. Both pronunciations, however, are given by scholars.

275. Beware of using Oh! and O indiscriminately: Oh! is used to express the emotion of pain, sorrow, or surprise; as, “Oh! the exceeding grace of God.” O is used to express wishing, exclamation, or a direct address to a person; as,

“O mother, will the God above

Forgive my faults like thee?”

276. Be careful to sound distinctly the r in such words as farther, martyr, charter, murder, &c. Never say, fah-ther, mah-tyr, chah-ter and muh-der. On the other hand, avoid trilling the r, as mur-er-der, r'r'robber. It is altogether too tragical for common life.

277. “The Duke of Wellington was an Irishman, but knew nothing of the Irish language:” beware of saying Ierishman for Irishman, or Ierish for Irish; a very common mistake, which the “Know-Nothings” are quick to detect.

278. “He did it unbeknown to us:” say, unknown, &c.

279. “He lives in affluence, as he is in affluent circumstances:” beware of placing the accent in affluence and affluent on the syllable flu instead of on af, a very common error.

280. “If I say, ‘They retreated back,’ I use a word that is superfluous, as back is implied in the syllable re in retreated:” never place the accent on flu in superfluous, but always on per.

281. “In reading Paley’s ‘Evidences of Christianity,’ I unexpectedly lit on the passage I wanted:” say, met with the passage, &c.

282. A gentleman having selected a book from the library shelves of the Mechanics’ Institute, went to the librarian to have the volume registered under his name, and said, “I have taken the life of Julius Cæsar.” “I shall then,” responded the librarian, “charge the work to Mr. Brutus!” Be careful how you “take the lives” of distinguished men.

283. “He has a bayonet to his gun:” never say baggonet. This error is a peculiarity of the Wiltshire dialect, in England. In an old Wiltshire song the following stanza occurs:

“A hornet zet in a holler tree,

A proper spiteful twoad was he;

And merrily zung while he did zet,—

His sting as sharp as a baggonet.”

284. “Aunt Deborah is down with the rheumatiz:” say, rheumatism; this is one among the isms, though a very unpopular one.

285. “It is obligatory upon every honest man to go to the polls to-day:” accent lig, and not ga.

286. “On the contrary:” accent con, not tra. The old song takes up with a bad pronunciation, for the sake of a good rhyme:

“Mistress Mary,

Quite contrary,

How does your garden grow?”

287. “That is altogether above my bend:” say, out of my power.

288. “He has absquatulated, and taken the specie with him:” absconded is a more classical word.

289. “It’s eenamost time we had started:” say, almost.

290. “I haven’t ary one:” say, I have neither, or, I haven’t either.

291. “That man is in a bad box:” say, bad predicament, or bad situation.

292. It may be doubted whether to say of a man “that he barked up the wrong tree,” is a complimentary or elegant metaphor.

293. “I will retain two-thirds, and give you the balance:” say, remainder.

294. “I calculate to go by steam:” say, “I expect.”

295. Avoid using the phrase “I cave in,” for “I give up.” It savors of slang.

296. Do not say, “chicken fixings,” for “trifles,” or “extras,” connected with dress.

297. “He is a cute man:” this is an inelegant abbreviation of acute, and employed to mean smart. It may, however, be properly applied to Yankees!

298. “He dickered with him an hour:” say, “he bargained.” This is a word somewhat peculiar to New-York.

299. “Do don’t” is a vulgar usage of the Southern States, especially Georgia, for “do not.”

300. “He is done gone:” say, ruined.

301. “We had a dreadful fine time:” say, very, or exceedingly.

302. “It rains, and I want an umbrella the worst kind:” say, “I am greatly in want,” &c. An umbrella of the worst kind would not be likely to answer the best of purposes on a rainy day!

303. “The whole concern fizzled out:” say, proved a failure.

304. “As soon as I mentioned it to him, he flared up:” say, he became excited, or grew violent.

305. “The choir sang Old Hundred:” pronounce Hundred as written, and not Hunderd.

306. “The message was sent by his aid-de-camp:” pronounce as if written ade-de-kawng, avoiding, however, as much as possible a twang on the last syllable.

307. “My beard is long:” don’t say baird.

308. “The blacksmith blows the bellows:” pronounce as written, and not bellus.

309. “Let me help you to some catsup:” avoid saying ketchup.

310. “It is new China ware:” do not say, chaney ware; this latter article exists only in the traditions of old women.

311. “The combatants parted in good humor:” accent the first syllable—never the second.

312. “We poled the raft up the creek:” pronounce as if written krik.

313. “Then spake the warrior bold:” pronounce in two syllables, as war-yur, not war-ri-or.

314. In using the word venison, sound the i: venzun is a common, though not elegant pronunciation.

315. Tapestry is divided tap-es-try and not ta-pes-try.

316. “He is only a subaltern:” accent the first syllable of subaltern.

317. “The barge is at the quay:” pronounce quay, kay.

318. “The path over the meadow was queachy:” this word, meaning soft or boggy, is now obsolete, and cannot be used with propriety.

319. “He talks pulpitically:” this word, which some who copy Chesterfield persist in using, has never by any good authority been admitted into the language.

320. To peff, meaning to cough faintly (like a sheep), is hardly a useable word.

321. Be careful to distinguish between pencil, an instrument for writing, and pensile, meaning hanging down.

322. To yank is a vulgarism, meaning to twitch powerfully.

323. Avoid the slang phrase, “I used to could.” Say, “I could formerly.”

324. “She takes on about it greatly:” say, grieves.

325. “He staved off the case two days longer:” say, he put off, or delayed.

326. “He made a great splurge:” say, he made a blustering effort.

327. “I reckon it is going to rain:” say, I think, or expect. Reckon applies to calculation.

328. “The basket is pretty large:” avoid, if possible, the use of the word pretty out of its legitimate signification; the language abounds with substitutes more elegant.

329. “She weighs a plaguy sight:” say, a great deal.

330. “He made tracks at sundown:” say, he left, or escaped.

331. “He was compelled to fork over the cash:” say, to pay over.

332. “To flunk out” is a vulgar expression for to retire through fear; the most that can be tolerated is, to sneak out.

333. “When last observed, he was going at full chisel:” say, at the top of his speed.

334. “That bill is a counterfeit:” the last syllable is pronounced as if written fit, and not feet.

335. “I am very much obliged to you:” do not say obleeged.

336. The following sentence affords an example of three words of similar pronunciation, but different signification: “It is not easy to pare a pear with a pair of scissors.”

337. “The robber entered the dwelling, and secretly carried off the silver:” say, thief; a robber attacks violently, and commits his depredations by main force; a thief is one who uses secrecy and deception.

338. “Go and fetch me my riding-whip:” say, bring. Fetch means to go and bring; go and fetch is repetition.

339. To leave and to quit are often used as synonymous terms, though improperly; to leave implies a design of returning soon—to quit, an absence of a long time, or forever; as, in Shakespeare:—

“——the very rats

Instinctively had quit it.”—Tempest, i. 2.

“I shall leave my house for a month before next Autumn; but I shall not be obliged to quit it until after Christmas.”

340. Mute and dumb. A dumb man has not the power to speak; a mute man either does not choose, or is not allowed to speak. It is, therefore, more proper to say of a person who can neither hear nor speak, that he is “deaf and dumb,” than that he is a “deaf mute.”

341. Strong and robust. These words are frequently misused: a strong man is able to bear a heavy burden, but not necessarily for a long time; a robust man bears continual fatigue with ease; a strong man may be active and nimble; while an excess of muscular development, together with a clumsiness of action, exclude these qualities from the robust man:—

“Strong as a tower in hope, I cry Amen!”

SHAKESPEARE, Richard II. i. 3.

“For one who, though of drooping mien, had yet

From nature’s kindliness received a frame

Robust as ever rural labor bred.”

WORDSWORTH, Excursion, VI.

342. “Isaac Newton invented the law of gravitation:” say, discovered. “Galileo discovered the telescope:” say, invented.

343. To hear and to listen have each distinct degrees of meaning. To hear implies no effort or particular attention. To listen implies some eagerness to hear. An old proverb says, “They that listen seldom hear any good of themselves.”

344. Ought and should both express obligation, but the latter is not so binding as the former. “Children ought to love their parents, and should be neat in their appearance.”

345. Alone and only are often misapplied. “He only could do it,” means that no other but himself could do it; “he alone could do it,” should mean that he, without the assistance of others, could do it.

346. “Please the pigs.”—(Old Proverb.) This is a corruption from “Please the pyx.” The pyx is the receptacle which contains the consecrated wafer on Romish altars; and the exclamation is equal to “Please God.” This corruption is as curious a one as that of “tawdry” from “’t Audrey,” or “at St. Audrey’s Fair,” famous for the sale of frippery—showy, cheap, and worthless.

347. “The partridge is a delightful bird:” do not say patridge. Also, do not say pasley for parsley.

348. “After this, let him hide his diminished head:” this common phrase is a poetical quotation from Milton, and is therefore proper to be used even when it does not literally express the idea:—

“At whose sight all the stars

Hide their diminished heads.”

349. “That bourne from whence no traveler returns.” How often are precisely these words spoken? They are improperly quoted from Shakespeare, in Hamlet, and correctly read as follows:—

“That undiscovered country, from whose bourne

No traveler returns.”

350. “Bring me my waistcoat:” pronounce as if written waste-coat, and not weskut. It should rhyme, as it did in an old ballad, with “laced coat.”

351. “Your bonnet to its right use.”—(Shakespeare:) never say bunnet.

352. “It is not cold enough to wear my gloves:” pronounce as if written gluvs, and to rhyme with loves. In “Fair Rosamond” the following illustrative stanza occurs:—

“He said he had his gloves from France:

The Queen said, ‘That can’t be:

If you go there for glove-making,

It is without the g.’”

353. “Egad! what great good luck!” This word is now inelegantly used, except in certain species of poetry, where it is introduced with much effect, as in the following distich:—

“All tragedies, egad! to me sound oddly;

I can no more be serious, than you godly.”

354. “The frigate is now in the Yellow Sea, or thereabouts:” say, thereabout. This term is a transposed combination of about there; there is no such word as thereabouts. The same may be said of hereabouts, and whereabouts.

355. “Whether he will or no:” say, not. The reason of this correction is clearly seen by supplying what is needed to complete the sense: Whether he will or will not.

356. “He looked at it first lengthways, then sideways:” say, lengthwise and sidewise. Also, say otherwise instead of otherways. A nobleman said to his fool, “I am wise, and you are otherwise.” “Yes,” replied his jester, “you are wise, and I am another wise.”

357. If you are a landlord, beware of incorrectly using such an expression as in the following: A landed proprietor went to a tenant with a view of increasing his rent, and said to him, “Neighbor, I am going to raise your rent.” “Thank you, sir,” was the reply, “for I am utterly unable to raise it myself.”

358. “Will you accept of this slight testimonial?” Omit of, which is superfluous, and weakens the sentence.

359. “He convinced his opponent by dint of good reasoning:” dint, meaning force or strength, is an obsolete word, and should not now be employed.

360. “The Danube empties into the Black Sea:” say, flows; to empty means to make vacant; no river can properly be called empty, until it is entirely dried up.

361. Such words as bamboozle, topsyturvy, helterskelter, hurlyburly, and pellmell are generally to be avoided. They answer, however, for familiar conversation.

362. Never say seraphims, for the plural of seraph, but seraphim; the same rule holds with cherubims. Cherubs and seraphs are proper plurals, suiting a familiar style of speaking or writing, while cherubim and seraphim are to be used only in more dignified and solemn discourse.

363. “There’s the books you wanted:” say, there are: avoid all abbreviations when they lead to a grammatical error, as in the present instance.

364. “This prisoner has, of all the gang, committed fewer misdemeanors:” say, fewest. We may say fewer than all, but we must say fewest of all.

365. “I esteem you more than the others:” this sentence is equivocal. Does it mean, “I esteem you more than I esteem the others,” or, “I esteem you more than the others esteem you?”

366. “The most eminent scholars will, on some points, differ among one another:” say, among themselves.

367. “He, from that moment, doubled his kindness and caresses of me:” say, “kindness for and caresses of me;” by omitting caresses we have, “He doubled his kindness of me,” which is not good English.

368. To differ from and to differ with: to differ from a man means to have an opinion different from his; to differ with a person signifies a quarrel or rupture.

369. “He barely escaped having one or two broken heads:” a man has but one head, let it be broken or whole. Say, “He once or twice barely escaped having a broken head.”

370. “Whenever I fall into that man’s conversation I am entertained and profited:” say, fall into conversation with that man.

371. “The lecturer spoke to several points:” say, “spoke on several points.” He spoke to his audience.

372. “I shall regard your strictures only so far as concerns my own errors:” say, concern; the phrase when filled out should read, “only so far as they concern my own errors.”

373. “I found him better than I expected to have found him:” say, to find him.

374. “I perceived that he was totally blind with half an eye:” say, “I perceived, with half an eye, that he was totally blind.” Otherwise, to a man totally blind you allot half an eye!

375. The word only is often wrongly placed in the sentence, and made to express an idea which is not designed to be conveyed. “Not only Chinese are superstitious,” implies that others besides the Chinese are superstitious. “Chinese are not only superstitious,” implies that in addition to being superstitious, they have some other characteristics. “Chinese not only are superstitious,” leaves room for something still further to be implied of the Chinese than superstition, and which is not necessarily the predicate of are; as, “Chinese not only are superstitious, but they persecute those who do not put faith in Confucius.”

376. Not the least and nothing less than, sometimes literally convey just the opposite of what is intended. “He has not the least excuse for going,” may mean that he has a great excuse, or none at all. “He seeks nothing less than worldly honor,” may signify that nothing inferior to worldly honor will satisfy his desire; or, on the other hand, it may mean that nothing is less sought by him than worldly honor. Such expressions, therefore, are to be used with caution, else they will mislead.

377. Care should be taken in the use of epithets. For instance, in the sentence, “A wise and good man should be respected,” the words wise and good may properly be applied to the same man; but if the sentence should be altered to read, “An old and young man,” it is obvious that both epithets could not relate to the same person.

378. Never say turkle soup, for turtle soup.

379. The word long should not now be employed to signify many. An example of this early usage is found in the Fifth Commandment, “that thy days may be long upon the land.” The following lines furnish an instance of the verb to lengthen, meaning to make many:—

“The best of all ways

To lengthen our days,

Is to take a few hours from the night, my lad.”

380. “They returned back again to the same city from whence they came forth:” omit the italicized words, which are redundant and inelegant.

381. “Have you any leisure upon your hands?” omit upon your hands,—not so much because anything after “leisure” is superfluous, in such a sentence, as because the idea of having leisure upon your hands is absurd.

382. “Seven lads were present, and he gave them all a book:” say, gave them each a book. All refers to a number of persons or things taken collectively, as one body; each refers to every individual, separately considered.

383. “Lend me your umberell:” say, umbrella. The former pronunciation, however, is allowed by poetic license, as in the following, adapted from Thomas Moore:—

“Oh, ever thus from childhood’s hour,

Has chilling fate upon me fell!

There always comes a soakin’ shower

When I hain’t got an umbrell.”

384. We lately met a grammarian, who had just made a tour through the mines, conjugating, or, rather, cogitating thus: “Positive, mine; comparative miner; superlative, minus!”

385. “Put not thy secret into the mouth of the Bosphorus, for it will betray it to the ears of the Black Sea.”—(Oriental Proverb.) Pronounce Bosphorus as if written Bosforus, and not Bos-porous.

386. Be careful to use the hyphen (-) correctly: it joins compound words, and words broken by the ending of a line. The use of the hyphen will appear more clearly from the following example: “many colored wings” means many wings which are colored; but “many-colored wings” means “wings of many colors.”

387. “I am afraid it will rain:” say, I fear. Afraid expresses terror; fear may mean only anxiety.

388. Never say o-fences for offences; pison for poison; co-lection for collection; voiolent for violent; kivver for cover; afeard for afraid; debbuty for deputy. The last three examples are very common.

389. “It is a mere cipher:” never spell cipher with a y.

390. “I was necessitated to do it:” a poor expression, and often made worse by necessiated being used: say, I was obliged, or compelled, to do it.

391. “Gibbon wrote the Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire:” pronounce Rise, the noun, so as to rhyme with price; Rise, the verb, rhymes with prize.

392. “He joined his regiment last week:” never say, ridgiment for regiment.

393. “He bought a gimlet:” never spell the last word gimblet, as many do.

394. “He is a supporter of the Government:” beware of omitting the n in the second syllable of Government—a very common practice.

395. “Received this day of Mr. Brown ten dollars:” say, “Received this day from,” &c.

396. “Of whatever you get, endeavor to save something; and with all your getting, get wisdom:” carefully avoid saying git for get, and gitting for getting.

397. “So intent was he on the song he was singing, while he stood by the fire, that he did not perceive that his clothes were singeing.” Verbs ending with a single e, omit the e when the termination ing is added, as, give, giving; in singeing, however, the e must be retained, to prevent its being confounded with singing. The e must also be retained in dyeing, to distinguish it from dying.

398. The following sentences may be studied: “The dyer dyes daily, yet he dies not.” “The miner minds the minor mines.” “It is not meet to mete out such meat.” “He performed a great feat with his feet at the fête.” (Fête is pronounced fate.)

399. “Lower the sails, as the sky begins to lower:” pronounce low in the former so as to rhyme with mow, and low in the latter so as to rhyme with cow.

400. “There was a great row on Monday, in Tryon Row:” pronounce the former row so as to rhyme with cow—the latter row, so as to rhyme with mo.

401. “His surname is Clifford:” never spell the sur in “surname” sir, which shows an ignorance of its true derivation, which is from the Latin.

402. “The buildings are so old that they pay almost no rent now:” scarcely any rent, is better.

403. “His mamma sent him to a preparatory school:” mamma is often written with one m only, which is not, as may at first be supposed, in imitation of the French maman, but in sheer ignorance.

404. Active verbs often take a neuter sense; as, “The house is building:” here, is building is used in a neuter signification, because it has no object after it. By this rule are explained such sentences as, “Application is wanting;” “The Grammar is printing,” &c.

405. “He attackted me without the slightest provocation:” say, attacked.

406. “I called on him every day in the week successfully:” very common, but incorrect; say, successively.

407. “I fear I shall discommode you:” it is better to say, incommode.

408. “I can do it equally as well as he:” leave out equally, which is superfluous.

409. “We could not forbear from doing it:” leave out from, which is unnecessary; or say, refrain from.

410. “He was totally dependent of his father:” say, dependent on his father.

411. “They accused him for neglecting his duty:” say, of neglecting, &c.

412. “They have a great resemblance with each other:” say, to each other.

413. “I entirely dissent with him:” say, from him.

414. “He was made much on at the Springs:” say, made much of, &c.

415. “He is a man on whom you can confide:” say, in whom, &c.

416. “He was obliged to fly the country:” say, flee the country. A very common mistake.

417. “The snuffers wants mending:” say, want mending. No one would say, “My pantaloons is ripped.”

418. “His conduct admits of no apology:” omit of, which is quite unnecessary.

419. “A gent has been here inquiring for you:” a detestable, but very common expression; say, a gentleman has been, &c. Oliver Wendell Holmes hits off this liberty with language, in the following happy couplet:—

“The things called pants, in certain documents,

Were never made for gentlemen, but gents.”

420. “That was all along of you:” say, “That was all your fault.”

421. “You have no call to be angry with me:” say, no occasion, &c.

422. “Too free an indulgence in luxuries enervate and injure the system:” say, enervates and injures, &c. The plural, luxuries, standing directly before the verb, (which should be enervates, in the singular,) deceives the ear. Errors of this kind are very common, though a moment’s thought would correct them. The verb must agree with its subject in person and in number; if the noun is in the singular, the verb that belongs to it must also be in the singular.

423. “A father divided a portion of his property among his two children, and the remainder he distributed between the poor:” say, between his two children, and among the poor. Between is applicable to two only, among to three or more.

424. “Every child should obey their parents:” say, his parents. The pronoun must agree with the noun in number, &c.

425. “He is a person who I respect greatly:” say, whom. “Be careful who you trust:” whom you trust.

426. “Let me consider of this matter.” “The culprit dreaded to enter in the prison.” “The laborers were not allowed to want for anything.” Leave out the italicized words—the sense being complete without them.

427. Cupola is often pronounced cupalo; foliage, foilage; future, futur; nature, natur: all of which errors should be carefully avoided.

428. “’Ow ’appens it that Henglishmen so hoften misplace their haitches?” It is a cockneyism; and if you have fallen into the habit, it will require perhaps more perseverance than you imagine, to correct it.

429. Do you say wagabond or vagabond, winegar or vinegar, wery or very, valking or walking, vatchman or watchman? It is a local custom, but if you have any taint of it, don’t sing “Villikins and his Dinah.”

430. Providence, confidence, and similar words, are often pronounced Providunce, confidunce, &c., substituting unce for ence. So also, words ending in ance, as maintenance, sustenance, SURVEILlance, are pronounced falsely maintenunce, sustenunce, &c.

431. Coming, going, according, &c., are often pronounced without the final g: speak them distinctly, and pronounce difficult words with de-lib-er-a-tion.

432. If you are a Yankee, you should (though, as a general thing, you will not) take special pains with your vowel sounds, that they be not formed through the nasal cavities. Don’t say heow, ceow, confeound, for how, cow, &c.

433. If you are a Western man, you are liable to give your vowel sounds too great breadth. You should not say bar for bear, hum for home, dawlar for dollar; and it is better to avoid using such expressions as I reckon, I guess, I calculate, too frequently.

434. “I am going a fishing:” be bold enough to be one among the foremost to break away from the bad habit of saying a fishing, a talking, a courting, &c. This custom, however, should be retained in quoting proverbs and wise sayings; these are better in proportion as they are older; for example: “Who goes a-borrowing, goes a-sorrowing.” The quaintness would be destroyed by saying simply borrowing and sorrowing.

435. Some people add a superfluous preposition at the end of a sentence—“More than you think for.” This is awkward.

436. “Then think on the friend who once welcomed it too,” &c. &c.: say, of.

437. Thou and thee are no longer used in spelling or writing, except by some of The Friends; but proverbial citations, originally expressed in that form, lose much of their beauty and force by alteration; as, “If thou seest thy house in flames, approach and warm thyself by it.” How greatly would a change of person tame the spirit of this fine proverb!

438. “By the street of ‘By-and-By,’ one arrives at the house of ‘Never.’” Do not say, By’mby.

439. Be careful to observe the two plurals of the following nouns:

Singular.

First Plural.

Second Plural.

Brother,

Brothers (of the same parents),

Brethren (of the same society).

Die,

Dies (for coining),

Dice (for gaming).

Index,

Indexes (tables of contents),

Indices (signs in algebra).

Pea,

Peas (referring to a limited number),

Pease (referring to the whole species).

Penny,

Pennies (coins),

Pence (the value).

Cow,

Cows (a herd of cattle),

Kine (the species).

Sow,

Sows (a litter),

Swine (the species).

Genius,

Geniuses (men of genius),

Genii (imaginary spirits).

440. Different shades of meaning may be expressed by slight variations in the position of the important words in a sentence. For example, “The Paradise Lost of Milton,” is not exactly the same in import as, “Milton’s Paradise Lost;” in the former, attention is called to the author—in the latter, to the poem.

441. In uniting the plural of one, two, three, do not use the apostrophe [’] as one’s, two’s, three’s. Good writers never conform to the latter mode. Wordsworth, who was remarkably particular, not only in the choice of his words but in their orthography, wrote:

“The sun has long been set,

The stars are out by twos and threes;

The little birds are piping yet

Among the bushes and the trees.”

442. “How’s yourself, this morning?” an exceedingly common, but very objectionable expression: say, “How are you;” &c.

443. “Wanted, two apprentices, who will be treated as one of the family:” great practical difficulty would be found in realizing such treatment! Say, “as members of the family.”

444. The following lines afford an instance of the ingenious uses to which the English language may be put:

“You sigh for a cipher, but I sigh for you;

Oh, sigh for no cipher, but oh, sigh for me;

Oh, let not my sigh for a cipher go,

But give sigh for sigh, for I sigh for you so!”

The above is more briefly expressed in the following manner:

“U O a O, but I O u,

Oh, O no O, but oh, O me;

Oh, let not my O a O go,

But give O O I O u so!”

445. Sometimes but is incorrectly substituted for that: as, “I have no doubt but he will be here to-night.” Sometimes for the conjunction if, as, “I shouldn’t wonder but that was the case.” And sometimes two conjunctions are used instead of one, as, “If that I have offended him,” “After that he had seen the parties,” &c. All this is very awkward and should be avoided.

446. “My hands are chopped:” say, chapped.

447. “This will serve as a preventative:” say, preventive.

448. “A nishe young man,” “What makesh you laugh?” “If he offendsh you, don’t speak to him,” “Ash you please,” “Not jush yet,” “We always passh your house in going to call on Missh Yatesh.” This is decided, unmitigated cockneyism, having its parallel in nothing except the broken English of the sons of Abraham, and to adopt it in conversation is certainly “not speaking like a Christian.”

449. Never say, “Cut it in half,” for this you cannot do unless you could annihilate one half. You may “cut it in two,” or “cut it in halves,” or “cut it through,” or “divide it,” but no human ability will enable you to cut it in half.

451. To lay and to lie.—To lay is an active or transitive verb, and must always have an object, expressed or understood. To lie (not meaning to tell a falsehood) is a neuter or intransitive, and therefore does not admit of an object. The only real difficulty arises from the fact, that the past tense of “lie,” when used without an auxiliary, is the same as the present of “lay.” But a little attention will obviate this. Nothing can be more erroneous than to say, “I shall go and lay down.” The question which naturally arises in the mind of the discriminating hearer is, “What are you going to lay down—money, carpets, plans, or what?” for, as a transitive verb is used, an object is wanted to complete the sense. The speaker means, that he himself is going to lie down. “My brother lays ill of a fever,” should be, “My brother lies,” &c.

VERB ACTIVE.

VERB NEUTER.

To lay.

Present Tense.

To lie.

Present Tense.

I lay

Thou layest

He lays

We lay

You lay

They lay

}

money,

carpets,

plans,

—anything.

I lie

Thou liest

He lies

We lie

You lie

They lie

}

down,

too long,

on a sofa,

—any where.

Imperfect Tense.

Imperfect Tense.

I laid

Thou laidest

He laid

We laid

You laid

They laid

}

money,

carpets,

plans,

—anything.

I lay

Thou layest

He lays

We lay

You lay

They lay

}

down,

too long,

on a sofa,

—any where.

Present Participle, Laying.

Present Participle, Lying.

Perfect Participle, Laid.

Perfect Participle, Lain.

452. Many people have an odd way of saying, “I expect,” when they mean only “I think,” or “I conclude;” as, “I expect my brother went to Richmond to-day,” “I expect those books were sent to Paris last year.” Expect can relate only to future time, and must be followed by a future tense, or a verb in the infinitive mood; as, “I expect my brother will go to Richmond to-day,” “I expect to find those books were sent to Paris last year.”

453. “A summer’s morning,” should be, A summer morning.

454. The vulgar speaker uses adjectives instead of adverbs, and says, “This letter is written shocking;” the genteel speaker uses adverbs instead of adjectives, and says, “This writing looks shockingly.”

455. “Nobody else but him,” should be, Nobody but him.

456. “That ain’t just,” should be, That is not just.

457. “He was killed by a cannon-ball,” should be, He was killed with a cannon-ball. He was killed by the cannoneer.

458. “A new pair of gloves,” should be, A pair of new gloves.

459. “Before I do that, I must first be paid,” should be, Before I do that, I must be paid.

460. A grammatical play upon the word THAT:

“Now that is a word which may often be joined,

For that that may be doubled is clear to the mind;

And that that that is right, is as plain to the view,

As that that that that we use is rightly used too;

And that that that that that line has in it, is right—

In accordance with grammar, is plain in our sight.”

461. “He will go from thence to-morrow.” The preposition “from” is included in these adverbs, therefore it becomes tautology in sense when prefixed to them.

462. “Equally as well,” is a very common expression, and a very incorrect one; the adverb of comparison, “as,” has no right in the sentence. “Equally well,” “Equally high,” “Equally dear,” should be the construction; and if a complement be necessary in the phrase, it should be preceded by the preposition “with,” as, “The wall was equally high with the former one,” “The goods at Smith’s are equally dear with those sold at the shop next door,” &c. “Equally the same” is tautology.

463. Some persons talk of “continuing on:” in what other direction would it be possible to continue?

464. “The satin measured twelve yards before I cut this piece off of it.” “The fruit was gathered off of that tree.” Omit of; or, omitting off of, insert from.

465. “He left his horse, and got on to a stage-coach,” “He jumped on to the floor,” “She laid it on to a dish,” “I threw it on to the fire.” Why use two prepositions where one would be quite as explicit, and far more elegant? Nobody would think of saying, “He came to New-York, for to go to the exhibition.”

466. “No other resource but this was allowed him:” say, “No other resource than this,” &c.

467. “I don’t know but what I shall go to White Plains to-morrow:” say, “I don’t know but that,” &c.

468. “One of those houses were sold last week,” “Each of the daughters are to have a separate share,” “Every tree in those plantations have been injured by the storm,” “Either of the children are at liberty to claim it.” Here it will be perceived that the pronouns “one,” “each,” “every,” “either,” are the true nominatives to the verbs; but the intervening noun in the plural number, in each sentence, deludes the ear; and the speaker, without reflection, renders the verb in the plural instead of the singular number.

469. “Many still die annually from the plague:” say, of the plague.

470. “He spoke contemptibly of him,” should be, He spoke contemptuously of him.

471. “Was you?” should be, Were you?

472. “This is the more perfect of the two:” say, More complete. Perfect rarely admits comparison.

473. Avoid all slang and vulgar words and phrases, as, Anyhow, Bating, Bran new, To blow up, Bother, Cut, Currying favor, Fork out, Half an eye, I am up to you, Kick up, Scrape, The Scratch, Walk into.

474. “Go over the bridge,” should be, Go across the bridge.

475. “I was some distance from home,” should be, I was at some distance from home.

476. “Is Mr. Smith in?” should be, Is Mr. Smith within?

477. “It is above a month since,” should be, It is more than a month since.

478. “Vegetables were plenty,” should be, Vegetables were plentiful.

479. “We both were very disappointed.” This is an incomplete expression: say, very much, or very greatly. No one would think of saying, “We both were very pleased.”

480. “It is I who is to receive the appointment:” say, who am to receive; who is in the first person, and the verb of which it is the subject must be in the same.

481. Never say biscake, for biscuit.

482. “Passengers are not requested to let down the chains, before the boat is fastened to the bridge.” [From a printed regulation on one of the New-York and Brooklyn ferry-boats.] The reading should be, “Passengers are requested not to let down the chains.”

483. “How will you swap jack-knives?” swap, although it is a word familiarly used in connection with “jack-knives,” is a term that cannot lay the least claim to elegance. Use some other of the many mercantile expressions to which trade has given rise.

484. “He’s put his nose to the grin-stone at an early age.” [A remark usually made by old ladies, suggested by the first marriage among their grandsons.] Say, grind-stone. A grin-stone implies a stone that “grins,” whereas, especially in this instance, the “nose” fulfills that office.

485. The importance of punctuating a written sentence is often neglected. Space does not permit the giving of rules on this subject, in this book. Business correspondence is generally blemished by many omissions of this character; for example, “Messrs G Longman & Co have recd a note from the Cor Sec Nat Shipwreck Soc informing them of the loss of one of their vessels off the N E Coast of S A at 8 P M on the 20 of Jan.” A clergyman, standing in his pulpit, was once handed a slip of paper, to be read in the hearing of the congregation, which was intended to convey the following notice: “A man going to sea, his wife desires the prayers of the church.” But the sentence was improperly punctuated, and he read, “A man going to see his wife, desires the prayers of the church!”

486. “The knave thereupon commenced rifling his friend’s (as he called him) pocket:” say, “The knave commenced rifling the pocket of his friend, as he facetiously called him.” The possessive case, and the word that governs it, must not be separated by an intervening clause.

487. “I owe thee a heavy debt of gratitude, and you will not permit me to repay it:” say, either “I owe you,” &c., preserving “and you will” in the second clause; or, “I owe thee,” and altering “and you will” into “and thou wilt.”

488. “Every lancer and every rifleman were at their post:” say, was at his post.

489. “I can lift as many pounds as he has:” add lifted.

490. Do not use to, the sign of the infinitive mood, for the infinitive itself. “I have not written to him, and I am not likely to,” should read, “I am not likely to write to him.”

491. The word agree is sometimes followed by the wrong preposition. We should say, agree with a person—to a proposition—upon a thing among ourselves.

492. We should say compare with, in respect of quality—compare to, for the sake of illustration.

493. We should say copy after a person—copy from a thing.

494. Between is properly applied only to two objects; among, to three or more. “A father divided a portion of his property between his two sons; the rest he distributed among the poor.”

495. In should not be used for into, after verbs denoting entrance. “Come in my parlor,” should read, “Come into my parlor.”

496. “We confide in, and have respect for, the good.” Such a form of expression is strained and awkward. It is better to say, “We confide in the good, and have respect for them,” or, “We trust and respect the good.”

497. “This veil of flesh parts the visible and the invisible world:” say, “parts the visible from the invisible.” It certainly is not meant that the veil of flesh parts (or divides) each of these worlds.

498. “Every leaf, every twig, every blade, every drop of water, teem with life:” say, teems.

499. “Dr. Prideaux used to relate that when he brought the manuscript of his Connection of the Old and the New Testaments to the publisher, he told him it was a dry subject, and that the printing could not be safely ventured upon unless he could enliven the work with a little humor.” The sense alone, and not the sentence, indicates to whom he and him respectively refer; such a form of expression is faulty, because it may lead to a violation of perspicuity, which is one of the most essential qualities of a good style.

500. The last direction which this little book will give, on the subject with which it has been occupied, is one that long ago was given in the greatest of books—“Let your conversation be as it becometh the Gospel of Christ.” If obedience to this injunction may not guard him who heeds it against the commission of such mistakes as are numbered in this catalogue, it will not fail to lead him out of the way of errors more grievous and solemn.

THE

BY WILLIAM W. SMITH,

Principal of Grammar School No. 1, New-York; Author of The Speller’s Manual.

This work contains about fourteen thousand of the most useful words in the English language, correctly spelled, pronounced, defined, and arranged in classes, together with rules for spelling, prefixes and suffixes, with their significations, rules for use of capitals, punctuation and other marks used in writing and printing, quotations from other languages used in English composition, abbreviations, &c., to which is added a Vocabulary for reference. Words which resemble each other in pronunciation, but have different meanings, are arranged together, and occupy about one eighth of the entire work, containing nearly three hundred pages. The sentences for examples for pupils (each embracing two or more of these words) will be found very instructive and interesting. While The Speller and Definer’s Manual supplies all that can be desired in an ordinary dictionary or speller, it furnishes much important information that cannot be found in these, and presents a study, usually dry and uninteresting, in a natural and attractive manner. It is adapted to the capacities of children, and will essentially aid the teacher in the work of instruction by suggesting questions and ideas that are very often overlooked amid the anxieties of the school-room.

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Table of Contents

The Project Gutenberg eBook of Five Hundred Mistakes of Daily Occurrence in Speaking, Pronouncing, and Writing the English Language, Corrected, by Walton Burgess

“NEVER TOO LATE TO LEARN!”

FIVE HUNDRED MISTAKES

OF DAILY OCCURRENCE

IN SPEAKING, PRONOUNCING, AND WRITING THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE,

CORRECTED.

NEW-YORK: DANIEL BURGESS & CO., 60 JOHN STREET. 1856.

PREFACE.

INTRODUCTION.

FIVE HUNDRED MISTAKES CORRECTED.

THE

NOTICES OF THE PRESS.

OF

READERS.

D. B. TOWER, A. M.,

AND

CORNELIUS WALKER, A. M.

DAVID B. TOWER, A. M.,

AND

PROF. BENJAMIN F. TWEED, A. M.

PRICE 25 CENTS.

FIRST LESSONS IN LANGUAGE: OR, ELEMENTS OF ENGLISH GRAMMAR.

David B. Tower, A. M., and Prof. Benjamin F. Tweed, A. M.

PRICE FIFTY-SIX CENTS.

GRADUAL LESSONS IN GRAMMAR;

MAYHEW’S BOOK-KEEPING.

A PRACTICAL SYSTEM OF

SINGLE AND DOUBLE ENTRY.BY IRA MAYHEW, A. M.FOR FARMERS, MECHANICS, AND MERCHANTS.

GEOGRAPHY FOR THE MILLION.

ACCOMPANIED BY A LARGE AND VALUABLE

COMPENDIUM OF ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY,

NEBRASKA AND KANSAS,

SMITH’S PRIMARY GEOGRAPHY,

SMITH’S QUARTO GEOGRAPHY,

WESTWARD, HO!

A NEW

TOWNSHIP MAP

OF THE

ALSO,

A NEW

OF THE

STATE OF WISCONSIN,

FIGURES ILLUSTRATIVE OF GESTURE, ETC.

NOTICES.

A BOOK FOR EVERY CARPENTER.

A NEW AND EASY SYSTEM OF INSTRUCTION, ESPECIALLY ADAPTED TO THE WANTS OF THE COUNTRY.

GOULD’S AMERICAN HOUSE-CARPENTERS AND JOINER’S ASSISTANT

THE

N. G. BURGESS,

IMPERISHABLE.

CHLORIDE OF GOLD,

N. G. BURGESS,

THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE