Plain English Part 115

MARKS OF REFERENCE

+571.+ On the printed page you will often find the asterisk (*), or the dagger, ([Symbol: dagger]), the section (--), or parallel lines (||), used to call your attention to some note or remark written at the close of the paragraph or on the margin, at the bottom of the page or the end of the chapter. It is advisable to hunt these up as soon as you come to the mark which indicates their presence, for they usually contain some matter which explains or adds to the meaning of the sentence which you have just finished reading.

Exercise 1

In the following exercise, note the various marks of punctuation and determine why each one is used:

THE Ma.r.s.eILLAISE

Ye sons of toil, awake to glory!

Hark, hark, what myriads bid you rise; Your children, wives and grandsires h.o.a.ry-- Behold their tears and hear their cries!

Shall hateful tyrants, mischief breeding, With hireling hosts, a ruffian band,-- Affright and desolate the land, While peace and liberty lie bleeding?

CHORUS

To arms! to arms! ye brave!

Th' avenging sword unsheathe!

March on, march on, all hearts resolved On Victory or Death.

With luxury and pride surrounded, The vile, insatiate despots dare, Their thirst for gold and power unbounded, To mete and vend the light and air; Like beasts of burden would they load us, Like G.o.ds would bid their slaves adore, But Man is Man, and who is more?

Then shall they longer lash and goad us? (CHORUS)

O Liberty! can man resign thee, Once having felt thy generous flame?

Can dungeons' bolts and bars confine thee, Or whip thy n.o.ble spirit tame?

Too long the world has wept bewailing, That Falsehood's dagger tyrants wield; But Freedom is our sword and s.h.i.+eld, And all their arts are unavailing! (CHORUS)

--_Rouget de Lisle_.

THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA

I teach ye the Over-man. The man is something who shall be overcome.

What have ye done to overcome him?

All being before this made something beyond itself: and you will be the ebb of this great flood, and rather go back to the beast than overcome the man?

What is the ape to the man? A mockery or a painful shame. And even so shall man be to the Over-man: a mockery or a painful shame.

Man is a cord, tied between Beast and Over-man--a cord above an abyss.

A perilous arriving, a perilous traveling, a perilous looking backward, a perilous trembling and standing still.

What is great in man is that he is a bridge, and no goal; what can be loved in man is that he is a going-over and a going-under.

I love them that know how to live, be it even as those going under, for such are those going across.

I love them that are great in scorn, because these are they that are great in reverence, and arrows of longing toward the other sh.o.r.e!--_Nietzsche_.

SPELLING

LESSON 30

There are a great many words in English which are frequently misp.r.o.nounced; the accent is placed upon the wrong syllable; for example, _thea'ter_ instead of _the'ater_; the wrong sound is given to the vowel, for example, _hearth_ is p.r.o.nounced _hurth_. Sometimes, too, an extra letter is added in the p.r.o.nunciation; for example, _once_ is often p.r.o.nounced as though it were spelled _wunst_.

The following is a list of common words that are frequently misp.r.o.nounced, and there are many others which you may add to this list as they occur to you. Look up the correct p.r.o.nunciation in the dictionary and p.r.o.nounce them many times aloud.

In the second column in this list is given the incorrect p.r.o.nunciation, which we often hear.

Acoustics a-cow-stics Aeroplane air-e-o-plane Ap.r.o.n a-p.r.o.n Athlete ath-a-lete Autopsy au-top'-sy Awkward awk-ard Column col-yum Coupon coo-pon Deficit de-fic'it Diphtheria dip-ther-y Economic ee'co-nom-ic Errand ur-rant Faucet fos-set Figure fig-ger Film fill-um Finance fi'nance Guardian guar-deen'

Height heighth Hostile hos-tile'

Hundred hund'erd Idea i-dee'

Inaugurate in-aug-er-ate Inquiry in'qui-ry Inventory in-ven'-to-ry Length lenth Magazine mag'-a'zinn Mischievous mis-chie'-vi-ous Munic.i.p.al mu-ni-cip'-al Opponent op'-ponent Overalls over-hauls Rheumatism rheumatiz Stomach stum-ick Twice twict Vaudeville vaw'de-ville

There are a number of words in English which sound very much alike and which we are apt to confuse. For example, I heard a man recently say in a speech that the party to which he belonged had taken slow poison and now needed an anecdote. It is presumed that he meant that it needed an antidote. Some one else remarked that a certain individual had not been expelled but simply expended. He undoubtedly meant that the individual had been suspended.

This confusion in the use of words detracts from the influence which our statements would otherwise have. There are a number of words which are so nearly alike that it is very easy to be confused in the use of them.

In our spelling lesson for this week we have a number of the most common of these easily confounded words. Add to the list as many others as you can.

+Monday+

Lightening, _to make light_ Lightning, _an electric flash_ Prophesy, _to foretell_ Prophecy, _a prediction_ Accept, _to take_ Except, _to leave out_

+Tuesday+

Advice, _counsel_ Advise, _to give counsel_ Attendants, _servants_ Attendance, _those present_ Stationary, _fixed_ Stationery, _pens_, _paper_, _etc._

+Wednesday+

Formerly, _in the past_ Formally, _in a formal way_ Addition, _process of adding_ Edition, _publication_ Celery, _a vegetable_ Salary, _wages_

+Thursday+

Series, _a succession_ Serious, _solemn_ Precedent, _an example_ President, _chief or head_ Part.i.tion, _a division_ Pet.i.tion, _a request_

+Friday+

Ingenious, _skillful_ Ingenuous, _honest_ Jester, _one who jests_ Gesture, _action_ Lose, _to suffer loss_ Loose, _to untie_

+Sat.u.r.day+

Presence, _nearness_ Presents, _gifts_ Veracity, _truthfulness_ Voracity, _greediness_ Disease, _illness_ Decease, _death_