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

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