How to Speak and Write Correctly, Joseph Devlin [books to read fiction txt] 📗
- Author: Joseph Devlin
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N. B.—The past tense and past participle of To Hang is hanged or hung. When you are talking about a man meeting death on the gallows, say “He was hanged”; when you are talking about the carcass of an animal say, “It was hung,” as “The beef was hung dry.” Also say your coat “was hung on a hook.”
PREPOSITIONS AND THE OBJECTIVE CASE
Don’t forget that prepositions always take the objective case. Don’t say “Between you and I“; say “Between you and me”
Two prepositions should not govern one objective unless there is an immediate connection between them. “He was refused admission to and forcibly ejected from the school” should be “He was refused admission to the school and forcibly ejected from it.”
SUMMON—SUMMONS
Don’t say “I shall summons him,” but “I shall summon him.” Summon is a verb, summons, a noun.
It is correct to say “I shall get a summons for him,” not a summon.
UNDENIABLE—UNEXCEPTIONABLE
“My brother has an undeniable character” is wrong if I wish to convey the idea that he has a good character. The expression should be in that case “My brother has an unexceptionable character.” An undeniable character is a character that cannot be denied, whether bad or good. An unexceptionable character is one to which no one can take exception.
THE PRONOUNS
Very many mistakes occur in the use of the pronouns. “Let you and I go” should be “Let you and me go.” “Let them and we go” should be “Let them and us go.” The verb let is transitive and therefore takes the objective case.
“Give me them flowers” should be “Give me those flowers”; “I mean them three” should be “I mean those three.” Them is the objective case of the personal pronoun and cannot be used adjectively like the demonstrative adjective pronoun. “I am as strong as him” should be “I am as strong as he“; “I am younger than her” should be “I am younger than she;” “He can write better than me” should be “He can write better than I,” for in these examples the objective cases him, her and me are used wrongfully for the nominatives. After each of the misapplied pronouns a verb is understood of which each pronoun is the subject. Thus, “I am as strong as he (is).” “I am younger than she (is).” “He can write better than I (can).”
Don’t say “It is me;” say “It is I” The verb To Be of which is is a part takes the same case after it that it has before it. This holds good in all situations as well as with pronouns.
The verb To Be also requires the pronouns joined to it to be in the same case as a pronoun asking a question; The nominative I requires the nominative who and the objectives me, him, her, its, you, them, require the objective whom.
“Whom do you think I am?” should be “Who do you think I am?” and “Who do they suppose me to be?” should be “Whom do they suppose me to be?” The objective form of the Relative should be always used, in connection with a preposition. “Who do you take me for?” should be “Whom do, etc.” “Who did you give the apple to?” should be “Whom did you give the apple to,” but as pointed out elsewhere the preposition should never end a sentence, therefore, it is better to say, “To whom did you give the apple?”
After transitive verbs always use the objective cases of the pronouns. For “He and they we have seen,” say “Him and them we have seen.”
THAT FOR SO
“The hurt it was that painful it made him cry,” say “so painful.”
THESE—THOSE
Don’t say, These kind; those sort. Kind and sort are each singular and require the singular pronouns this and that. In connection with these demonstrative adjective pronouns remember that this and these refer to what is near at hand, that and those to what is more distant; as, this book (near me), that book (over there), these boys (near), those boys (at a distance).
THIS MUCH—THUS MUCH
“This much is certain” should be “Thus much or so much is certain.”
FLEE—FLY
These are two separate verbs and must not be interchanged. The principal parts of flee are flee, fled, fled; those of fly are fly, flew, flown. To flee is generally used in the meaning of getting out of danger. To fly means to soar as a bird. To say of a man “He has flown from the place” is wrong; it should be “He has fled from the place.” We can say with propriety that “A bird has flown from the place.”
THROUGH—THROUGHOUT
Don’t say “He is well known through the land,” but “He is well known throughout the land.”
VOCATION AND AVOCATION
Don’t mistake these two words so nearly alike. Vocation is the employment, business or profession one follows for a living; avocation is some pursuit or occupation which diverts the person from such employment, business or profession. Thus
“His vocation was the law, his avocation, farming.”
WAS—WERE
In the subjunctive mood the plural form were should be used with a singular subject; as, “If I were,” not was. Remember the plural form of the personal pronoun you always takes were, though it may denote but one. Thus, “You were,” never “you was.” “If I was him” is a very common expression. Note the two mistakes in it,—that of the verb implying a condition, and that of the objective case of the pronoun. It should read If I were he. This is another illustration of the rule regarding the verb To Be, taking the same case after it as before it; were is part of the verb To Be, therefore as the nominative (I) goes before it, the nominative (he) should come after it.
A OR AN
A becomes an before a vowel or before h mute for the sake of euphony or agreeable sound to the ear. An apple, an orange, an heir, an honor, etc.
Diction—Purity—Propriety—Precision.
It is the object of every writer to put his thoughts into as effective form as possible so as to make a good impression on the reader. A person may have noble thoughts and ideas but be unable to express them in such a way as to appeal to others, consequently he cannot exert the full force of his intellectuality nor leave the imprint of his character upon his time, whereas many a man but indifferently gifted may wield such a facile pen as to attract attention and win for himself an envious place among his contemporaries.
In everyday life one sees illustrations of men of excellent mentality being cast aside and ones of mediocre or in some cases, little, if any, ability chosen to fill important places. The former are unable to impress their personality; they have great thoughts, great ideas, but these thoughts and ideas are locked up in their brains and are like prisoners behind the bars struggling to get free. The key of language which would open the door is wanting, hence they have to remain locked up.
Many a man has to pass through the world unheard of and of little benefit to it or himself, simply because he cannot bring out what is in him and make it subservient to his will. It is the duty of every one to develop his best, not only for the benefit of himself but for the good of his fellow men. It is not at all necessary to have great learning or acquirements, the laborer is as useful in his own place as the philosopher in his; nor is it necessary to have many talents. One talent rightly used is much better than ten wrongly used. Often a man can do more with one than his contemporary can do with ten, often a man can make one dollar go farther than twenty in the hands of his neighbor, often the poor man lives more comfortably than the millionaire. All depends upon the individual himself. If he make right use of what the Creator has given him and live according to the laws of God and nature he is fulfilling his allotted place in the universal scheme of creation, in other words, when he does his best, he is living up to the standard of a useful manhood.
Now in order to do his best a man of ordinary intelligence and education should be able to express himself correctly both in speaking and writing, that is, he should be able to convey his thoughts in an intelligent manner which the simplest can understand. The manner in which a speaker or writer conveys his thoughts is known as his Style. In other words Style may be defined as the peculiar manner in which a man expresses his conceptions through the medium of language. It depends upon the choice of words and their arrangement to convey a meaning. Scarcely any two writers have exactly the same style, that is to say, express their ideas after the same peculiar form, just as no two mortals are fashioned by nature in the same mould, so that one is an exact counterpart of the other.
Just as men differ in the accent and tones of their voices, so do they differ in the construction of their language.
Two reporters sent out on the same mission, say to report a fire, will verbally differ in their accounts though materially both descriptions will be the same as far as the leading facts are concerned. One will express himself in a style different from the other.
If you are asked to describe the dancing of a red-haired lady at the last charity ball you can either say—“The ruby Circe, with the Titian locks glowing like the oriflamme which surrounds the golden god of day as he sinks to rest amid the crimson glory of the burnished West, gave a divine exhibition of the Terpsichorean art which thrilled the souls of the multitude” or, you can simply say—“The red-haired lady danced very well and pleased the audience.”
The former is a specimen of the ultra florid or bombastic style which may be said to depend upon the pomposity of verbosity for its effect, the latter is a specimen of simple natural Style. Needless to say it is to be preferred. The other should be avoided. It stamps the writer as a person of shallowness, ignorance and inexperience. It has been eliminated from the newspapers. Even the most flatulent of yellow sheets no longer tolerate it in their columns. Affectation and pedantry in style are now universally condemned.
It is the duty of every speaker and writer to labor after a pleasing style. It gains
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