Five Hundred Mistakes of Daily Occurrence in Speaking, Pronouncing, and Writing the English Language, Corrected, Walton Burgess [short novels to read txt] 📗
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474. “Go over the bridge,” should be, Go across the bridge.
475. “I was some distance from home,” should be, I was at some distance from home.
476. “Is Mr. Smith in?” should be, Is Mr. Smith within?
477. “It is above a month since,” should be, It is more than a month since.
478. “Vegetables were plenty,” should be, Vegetables were plentiful.
479. “We both were very disappointed.” This is an incomplete expression: say, very much, or very greatly. No one would think of saying, “We both were very pleased.”
480. “It is I who is to receive the appointment:” say, who am to receive; who is in the first person, and the verb of which it is the subject must be in the same.
481. Never say biscake, for biscuit.
482. “Passengers are not requested to let down the chains, before the boat is fastened to the bridge.” [From a printed regulation on one of the New-York and Brooklyn ferry-boats.] The reading should be, “Passengers are requested not to let down the chains.”
483. “How will you swap jack-knives?” swap, although it is a word familiarly used in connection with “jack-knives,” is a term that cannot lay the least claim to elegance. Use some other of the many mercantile expressions to which trade has given rise.
484. “He’s put his nose to the grin-stone at an early age.” [A remark usually made by old ladies, suggested by the first marriage among their grandsons.] Say, grind-stone. A grin-stone implies a stone that “grins,” whereas, especially in this instance, the “nose” fulfills that office.
485. The importance of punctuating a written sentence is often neglected. Space does not permit the giving of rules on this subject, in this book. Business correspondence is generally blemished by many omissions of this character; for example, “Messrs G Longman & Co have recd a note from the Cor Sec Nat Shipwreck Soc informing them of the loss of one of their vessels off the N E Coast of S A at 8 P M on the 20 of Jan.” A clergyman, standing in his pulpit, was once handed a slip of paper, to be read in the hearing of the congregation, which was intended to convey the following notice: “A man going to sea, his wife desires the prayers of the church.” But the sentence was improperly punctuated, and he read, “A man going to see his wife, desires the prayers of the church!”
486. “The knave thereupon commenced rifling his friend’s (as he called him) pocket:” say, “The knave commenced rifling the pocket of his friend, as he facetiously called him.” The possessive case, and the word that governs it, must not be separated by an intervening clause.
487. “I owe thee a heavy debt of gratitude, and you will not permit me to repay it:” say, either “I owe you,” &c., preserving “and you will” in the second clause; or, “I owe thee,” and altering “and you will” into “and thou wilt.”
488. “Every lancer and every rifleman were at their post:” say, was at his post.
489. “I can lift as many pounds as he has:” add lifted.
490. Do not use to, the sign of the infinitive mood, for the infinitive itself. “I have not written to him, and I am not likely to,” should read, “I am not likely to write to him.”
491. The word agree is sometimes followed by the wrong preposition. We should say, agree with a person—to a proposition—upon a thing among ourselves.
492. We should say compare with, in respect of quality—compare to, for the sake of illustration.
493. We should say copy after a person—copy from a thing.
494. Between is properly applied only to two objects; among, to three or more. “A father divided a portion of his property between his two sons; the rest he distributed among the poor.”
495. In should not be used for into, after verbs denoting entrance. “Come in my parlor,” should read, “Come into my parlor.”
496. “We confide in, and have respect for, the good.” Such a form of expression is strained and awkward. It is better to say, “We confide in the good, and have respect for them,” or, “We trust and respect the good.”
497. “This veil of flesh parts the visible and the invisible world:” say, “parts the visible from the invisible.” It certainly is not meant that the veil of flesh parts (or divides) each of these worlds.
498. “Every leaf, every twig, every blade, every drop of water, teem with life:” say, teems.
499. “Dr. Prideaux used to relate that when he brought the manuscript of his Connection of the Old and the New Testaments to the publisher, he told him it was a dry subject, and that the printing could not be safely ventured upon unless he could enliven the work with a little humor.” The sense alone, and not the sentence, indicates to whom he and him respectively refer; such a form of expression is faulty, because it may lead to a violation of perspicuity, which is one of the most essential qualities of a good style.
500. The last direction which this little book will give, on the subject with which it has been occupied, is one that long ago was given in the greatest of books—“Let your conversation be as it becometh the Gospel of Christ.” If obedience to this injunction may not guard him who heeds it against the commission of such mistakes as are numbered in this catalogue, it will not fail to lead him out of the way of errors more grievous and solemn.
BY WILLIAM W. SMITH,
Principal of Grammar School No. 1, New-York; Author of The Speller’s Manual.
This work contains about fourteen thousand of the most useful words in the English language, correctly spelled, pronounced, defined, and arranged in classes, together with rules for spelling, prefixes and suffixes, with their significations, rules for use of capitals, punctuation and other marks used in writing and printing, quotations from other languages used in English composition, abbreviations, &c., to which is added a Vocabulary for reference. Words which resemble each other in pronunciation, but have different meanings, are arranged together, and occupy about one eighth of the entire work, containing nearly three hundred pages. The sentences for examples for pupils (each embracing two or more of these words) will be found very instructive and interesting. While The Speller and Definer’s Manual supplies all that can be desired in an ordinary dictionary or speller, it furnishes much important information that cannot be found in these, and presents a study, usually dry and uninteresting, in a natural and attractive manner. It is adapted to the capacities of children, and will essentially aid the teacher in the work of instruction by suggesting questions and ideas that are very often overlooked amid the anxieties of the school-room.
It will be found to be one of the most useful works for schools or SELF-INSTRUCTION ever issued as a text-book, and its examination will abundantly repay any friend of education.
The Manual has been adopted by the Board of Education for use in the Public Schools of New-York City.
We invite attention to the following extracts of notices of this work from city papers:
NOTICES OF THE PRESS.“The volume is not only valuable as a text-book for schools, but will be USEFUL TO ADULTS whose knowledge of the mechanics of literature has grown rusty.”—Commercial Advertiser.
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(Principal of Park Latin School, Boston,)
AND CORNELIUS WALKER, A. M.(Principal of Wells Grammar School, Boston.)
The first essential of good reading is a distinct articulation. This can only result from practice of the elementary sounds and their combinations. All of these simple elements and their combinations are given, with ample directions, arranged in the simplest and most compact form, in the first books of Tower’s series.
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The character of the selections in these two books is such as to claim the attention of all who are in search of reading matter that will wear.
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This little book was prepared for beginners, that they might feel their way understandingly, and become interested in this sometimes dry study. This subject is presented in a natural way, avoiding all unnecessary innovations. The plan is simple and plain, introducing only one thing at a time, that the pupil may see a reason for each step, and thus be led to think. It is concise, that the whole subject may be placed before the learner in the simplest manner and encumbered by as few words for the memory as possible, that the interest may be kept up till he is master of the study. By easy questions, principles are deduced from familiar examples already explained for the sake of such inferences, that a clear understanding of these principles and their application may be acquired, rather than the words used to explain and describe them.
OR, GUIDE TO THE CONSTRUCTION OF
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