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

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