Five Hundred Mistakes of Daily Occurrence in Speaking, Pronouncing, and Writing the English Language Part 4

130. "There were not _over_ twenty persons present:" say, _more than_.

Such a use of this word is not frequent among writers of reputation. It may, however, be less improperly employed, where the sense invests it with more of a semblance to its literal signification: as, "This pair of chickens will weigh _over_ seven pounds." Even in this case, it is better to say _more than_.

131. "_Bills are requested to be paid quarterly_:" _the bills are not requested_, but _the persons who owe them_. Say instead, _It is requested that bills be paid quarterly_.

132. "There can be no doubt _but that_ he will succeed:" omit _but_.

133. "It was _no use asking_ him any more questions:" say, _of no use to ask him_, or _there was no use in asking_, &c.

134. "The Americans said they _had no right_ to pay taxes." [From a Fourth of July Oration.] They certainly _had a right_ to pay them, if they wished. What the speaker meant was, _they were under no obligation to pay_, or, _they were not bound to pay_.

135. "He intends to _stop_ at home for a few days:" it is more elegant to say _stay_. If the time, however, should be very brief, _stop_ would better express the idea; as, "We _stopped_ at Elmira about twenty minutes."

136. "At this time, I _grew_ my own corn:" say, I _raised_. Farmers have made this innovation against good taste; but for what reason, it is not apparent; there seems to be no sufficient occasion for so awkward a subst.i.tute for _raised_.

137. "Having incautiously _laid down_ on the damp gra.s.s, he caught a severe cold:" say, _lain down_.

138. "We suffered no other inconvenience _but_ that arising from the rain:" say, _than_ that, &c. _But_, to be properly used in this sentence, would require the omission of _other_.

139. "Brutus and Aruns killed _one another_:" say, _each other_, which is more proper. But many similar instances which occur in the New Testament, as, "_Beloved, love one another_," and others no less beautiful and cherished, have rendered this form of expression common, and almost unexceptionable.

140. In a recently issued work on Arithmetic, the following is given: "If for 72 cents I can buy 9 lbs. of raisins, _how much_ can I purchase for $14 49?" say, "_what quant.i.ty_ can I," &c. Who would think of saying, "_how much raisins?_"

141. WORDS TO BE CAREFULLY DISTINGUISHED.--Be very careful to distinguish between _indite_ and _indict_ (the former meaning _to write_, and the latter _to accuse_); _key_ and _quay_; _principle_ and _princ.i.p.al_; _marshal_ and _martial_; _counsel_ and _council_; _counsellor_ and _councillor_; _fort_ and _forte_; _draft_ and _draught_; _place_ and _plaice_ (the latter being the name of a _fish_); _stake_ and _steak_; _satire_ and _satyr_; _stationery_ and _stationary_; _ton_ and _tun_; _levy_ and _levee_; _foment_ and _ferment_; _fomentation_ and _fermentation_; _pet.i.tion_ and _part.i.tion_; _Francis_ and _Frances_; _dose_ and _doze_; _diverse_ and _divers_; _device_ and _devise_; _wary_ and _weary_; _salary_ and _celery_; _radish_ and _reddish_; _treble_ and _triple_; _broach_ and _brooch_; _ingenious_ and _ingenuous_; _prophesy_ and _prophecy_ (some clergymen sounding the final syllable of the latter word _long_, like the former); _fondling_ and _foundling_; _lightning_ and _lightening_; _genus_ and _genius_; _desert_ and _dessert_; _currier_ and _courier_; _pillow_ and _pillar_; _executer_ and _executor_ (the former being the regular noun from the verb "to _execute_," and the latter a strictly _legal_ term); _ridicule_ and _reticule_; _lineament_ and _liniment_; _track_ and _tract_, _lickerish_ and _licorice_ (_lickerish_ signifying _dainty_, and _licorice_ being a plant, or preparation from it); _statute_ and _statue_; _ordinance_ and _ordnance_; _lease_ and _leash_; _recourse_ and _resource_; _straight_ and _strait_ (_straight_ meaning _direct_, and _strait_, _narrow_); _immerge_ and _emerge_; _style_ and _stile_; _compliment_ and _complement_; _ba.s.s_ and _base_; _contagious_ and _contiguous_; _eminent_ and _imminent_; _eruption_ and _irruption_; _precedent_ and _president_; _relic_ and _relict_.

142. "The number of _emigrants_ arriving in this country is increasing and alarming:" say, _immigrants_. _Emigrants_ are those _going out_ from a country; _immigrants_, those _coming into_ it.

143. "I prefer _radishes_ to _cuc.u.mbers_:" p.r.o.nounce _radishes_ exactly as spelt, and not _redishes_; also, the first syllable of _cuc.u.mber_ like _fu_ in _fuel_, and not as if the word were spelled _cowc.u.mber_.

144. "The _two last_ letters were dated from Calcutta:" say, the _last two_, &c.

145. "The soil in those islands is so very thin, that little is produced in them _beside_ cocoa-nut trees:" "_beside_ cocoa-nut trees" means strictly _alongside_, or _by the side_, of them. _Besides_, or _except_, should be used. _Besides_ also signifies _in addition to_: as, "I sat _beside_ the President, and conversed with him _besides_."

146. "He could neither _read nor write_:" say, more properly, _write nor read_. All persons who can _write_ can _read_, but not all who _read_ can _write_. This sentence, as corrected, is much stronger than in the other form.

147. "He was _bred and born_ among the hills of the Hudson:" say, _born and bred_, which is the natural order.

148. "THIS HOUSE TO LET:" more properly, _to be let_.

149. _Here_, _there_, _where_, with verbs of motion, are generally better than _hither_, _thither_, _whither_; as, "_Come here_; _Go there_."

_Hither_, _thither_, and _whither_, which were used formerly, are now considered stiff and inelegant.

150. "_As far as I_ am able to judge, the book is well written:" say, _So far as_, &c.

151. "It is doubtful whether he will act _fairly or no_:" say, _fairly or not_.

152. "The _camelopard_ is the tallest of known animals:" p.r.o.nounce _camelopard_ with the accent on _mel_; never say _camel leopard_. Few words, by being misp.r.o.nounced, occasion greater blunders than this term.

153. "He ran _again_ me;" or, "I stood _again_ the hydrant:" say, _against_. This word is frequently and inelegantly abbreviated, in p.r.o.nunciation, into _agin_.

154. "_No one_ should incur censure for being careful of _their_ good character:" say, of _his_ (or _her_).

155. "The yacht capsized in rounding the stake-boat, and the helmsman was _drownded_:" say, _drowned_.

156. "_Jalap_ will be of service to you:" p.r.o.nounce the word as it is spelled, never saying _jollop_.

157. The word _curiosity_, though a very common term, and one that should be correctly p.r.o.nounced by everybody, is frequently called _curosity_.

158. "He has just set out to _take a tour_:" p.r.o.nounce _tour_ so as to rhyme with _poor_. Be careful to avoid saying, _take a tower_; such a p.r.o.nunciation might suggest the Mamelon, instead of a trip of travel.

159. "The storm _is_ ceased, and the sky is clear:" say, _has_ ceased.

160. "Do you know _who_ this dog-headed cane belongs to?" say, _whom_. In expressing in _writing_ the idea conveyed in this question, a better form of sentence would be, "Do you know _to whom_ this belongs?" In familiar conversation, however, the latter mode might be thought too formal and precise.

161. "_Who_ did you wish to see?" say, _whom_.

162. "_Whom_ say ye that I am?" This is the English translation, given in Luke ix. 20, of the question of Christ to Peter. The word _whom_ should be _who_. Other instances of grammatical inaccuracies occur in the Bible; for example, in the Sermon on the Mount, the Saviour says: "Lay not up for yourselves treasures on earth, where _moth and rust doth corrupt_," &c.

"_Moth and rust_" make a plural nominative to "_doth_ corrupt," a singular verb. The following, however, is correct: "But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where _neither moth nor rust doth corrupt_."

163. The word _chimney_ is sometimes called incorrectly _chimley_ and _chimbley_.

164. "I was walking _towards_ home:" p.r.o.nounce _towards_ so as to rhyme with _boards_; _never_ say, _to-wards_.

165. "A _courier_ is expected from Was.h.i.+ngton:" p.r.o.nounce _cou_ in _courier_ so as to rhyme with _too_, never like _currier_; the two words have entirely distinct significations.

166. "Let each of us mind _their_ own business:" say, _his_ own business.

167. "Who made that noise? Not _me_:" say, Not _I_.

168. "Is this or that the _best_ road?" say, the _better_ road.

169. "_Rinse_ your mouth:" p.r.o.nounce _rinse_ as it is written, and never _rense_. "_Rench your mouth_," said a fas.h.i.+onable dentist one day to a patient. "You have already _wrenched it for me_," was the reply.

170. "He was tired of the dust of the town, and _flew_ to the pure air of the country:" say, _fled_. _Flew_ is part of the verb _to fly_; _fled_, of _to flee_.

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:" p.r.o.nounce _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 p.r.o.nounced _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 p.r.o.nounce _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_.