Five Hundred Mistakes of Daily Occurrence in Speaking, Pronouncing, and Writing the English Language, Corrected, Walton Burgess [short novels to read txt] 📗

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