Five Hundred Mistakes of Daily Occurrence in Speaking, Pronouncing, and Writing the English Language Part 12

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. "Pa.s.sengers 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, "Pa.s.sengers _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.

s.p.a.ce 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 s.h.i.+pwreck 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 grat.i.tude, 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 ill.u.s.tration.

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 ma.n.u.script 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.

THE SPELLER AND DEFINER'S MANUAL.

BY WILLIAM W. SMITH, Princ.i.p.al 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, p.r.o.nounced, defined, and arranged in cla.s.ses, 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 p.r.o.nunciation, 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._

"We like the plan and execution of this new work, and recommend it to the attention of teachers."--_Life Ill.u.s.trated._

"The author of this excellent little manual is the princ.i.p.al of one of our grammar schools, and is well known as a teacher. If his manual have any fault, it is that of _brevity_, for the principle upon which it is constructed, strikes us as perfect."--_New-York Courier._

Retail price 62-1/2 cents. Single copies, for examination, sent to any part of the country post-paid on receipt of Fifty Cents. Address

+DANIEL BURGESS & CO., Publishers+,

NO. 60 JOHN STREET, NEW-YORK.

THE GRADUAL SERIES OF READERS. BY D. B. TOWER, A. M., (Princ.i.p.al of Park Latin School, Boston,) AND CORNELIUS WALKER, A. M. (Princ.i.p.al 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.

The _next points_ are _Emphasis_ and the _Tones_.

These are set forth and ill.u.s.trated in the last three Readers. The elements of expression requisite for the utterance of every sentiment are clearly described and explained by appropriate examples. By these examples, it is clearly shown how a pa.s.sage is to be read, and thence is deduced a rule or principle that all similar pa.s.sages are to be read in a similar manner.