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

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