Five Hundred Mistakes of Daily Occurrence in Speaking, Pronouncing, and Writing the English Language Part 3

88. "They were early at the _sepulchre_:" p.r.o.nounce _sepulchre_ with the accent on _sep_, and not on the second syllable.

89. "I have often _swam_ across the Hudson:" say, _swum_.

90. "I found my friend better than I expected _to have found him_:" say, _to find him_.

91. "I intended _to have written_ a letter yesterday:" say, _to write_; as however long it now is since I thought of writing, "_to write_" was then present to me, and must still be considered as present, when I recall that time and the thoughts of it.

92. _Superfluous R's_: Many persons p.r.o.nounce words which have no letter _r_ in them, exactly as though they had; as _drawring_ for _drawing_; "I _sawr_ Thomas," for "I _saw_," &c. Some who do not insert a full-toned _r_, do worse by appending an _ah_ to almost every word they utter. They would do well to recall the reproof which the excellent Rev. John Gruber administered to a brother in the ministry, who was guilty of this habit.

That eccentric clergyman addressed a note to his friend, as follows: "Dear-ah Sir-ah--When-ah you-ah speak-ah in-ah public-ah, take-ah my-ah ad-ah-vice-ah and-ah never-ah say-ah _ah-ah_!--JOHN-AH GRUBER-AH."

93. _Shall_ and _will_ are often confounded, or misused. The following suggestion will be of service to the reader: mere _futurity_ is expressed by _shall_ in the _first_ person, and by _will_ in the _second_ and _third_; the _determination_ of the speaker by _will_, in the _first_, and _shall_, in the _second_ and _third_. For example: "_I shall go by the way of Halifax_," simply expresses an event about to take place--as also _you will_, and _they will_: _I will_ expresses determination--as also _you shall_ and _they shall_. Brightland has the following ill.u.s.trative stanza:

"In the first person simply _shall_ foretells; In _will_ a threat, or else a promise, dwells.

_Shall_, in the second and the third, does threat;-- _Will_, simply, then, foretells the future feat."

94. "_Without_ the grammatical form of a word can be recognized at a glance, little progress can be made in reading the language:" [from a work on the study of the Latin language:] say, _Unless_ the grammatical, &c.

The use of _without_ for _unless_ is a very common mistake.

95. "He claimed admission to the _chiefest_ offices:" say, _chief_.

_Chief_, _right_, _supreme_, _correct_, _true_, _universal_, _perfect_, _consummate_, _extreme_, _&c._, _imply_ the superlative degree without adding _est_, or prefixing _most_. In language sublime or impa.s.sioned, however, the word _perfect_ requires the superlative form, to give it its fullest effect.

96. "I _had rather do_ it now:" say, I _would rather do_. The incorrectness of the first form of expression is very clearly seen by cutting out _rather_, leaving "_I had do_," which is ungrammatical and meaningless.

97. An obituary notice contained the following ludicrous statement: "He left a large circle of mourners, _embracing his amiable wife and children_!" _Comprising_ should have been used, instead of _embracing_.

98. "His _court-of-arms_ is very splendid:" say, _coat-of-arms_.

99. "They ride about in small carriages, which are called _flies_:" write the last word _flys_; _flies_ is the plural of _fly_, the insect.

100. "Victoria is Queen of the _United Kingdom_:" say, _United Kingdoms_.

Who ever speaks of the _United State of America_?

101. "I have not traveled _this twenty years_:" say, _these twenty years_.

102. "Soldier arms!" Say, "_Shoulder arms!_" The latter is frequently corrupted into "_Sojer arms!_"

103. "He is _very much the gentleman_:" say, He is _a very gentlemanly man_, or, _He is very gentlemanly_.

104. "The _yellow_ part of an egg is very nouris.h.i.+ng:" never p.r.o.nounce _yellow_ so as to rhyme with _tallow_, as we so often hear.

105. "We are going to the _Zoological_ Gardens:" p.r.o.nounce _Zoological_ in _five_ syllables, and place the accent on _log_ in _logical_; sound _log_ like _lodge_, and _the first two o's in distinct syllables_; _never_ make _Zool one_ syllable.

106. "He _strived_ to obtain an appointment:" say, _strove_.

107. "He always preaches _extempore_:" p.r.o.nounce _extempore in four syllables_, with the accent on _tem_, and _never in three_, making _pore_ to rhyme with _sore_--but with _story_.

108. "Allow me to _suggest_:" p.r.o.nounce _sug_ as to rhyme with _mug_, and _gest_ like _jest_; never say _sudjest_.

109. "That building is an _episcopal_ chapel:" p.r.o.nounce _episcopal_ with the accent on the second syllable, and _not_ on _co_.

110. "The Emperor of Russia is a _formidable_ sovereign:" p.r.o.nounce _formidable_ with the accent on _for_, and _not on mid_.

111. Before the words _heir_, _herb_, _honest_, _honor_, and _hour_, and their compounds, instead of the article _a_, we make use of _an_, as the _h_ is not sounded; likewise before words beginning with _h_, that are not accented on the first syllable: such as _heroic_, _historical_, _hypothesis_, &c., as, "_an heroic action_;" "_an historical work_;" "_an hypothesis_ that can scarcely be allowed." The letter _h_ is seldom mute at the beginning of a word; but from the negligence of tutors, and the inattention of pupils, many persons have become almost incapable of acquiring its just and full p.r.o.nunciation. It is, therefore, inc.u.mbent on teachers to be particularly careful to inculcate a clear and distinct utterance of this sound.

112. "He was _such an extravagant young man_, that he soon spent his whole patrimony." This construction, which is much used, is not so elegant as, "He was _so extravagant a young man_," &c.

113. "The girl speaks _distinct_:" say, _distinctly_. _Never use Adjectives as Adverbs._

114. "The accident of which he was _reading_, occurred not far from _Reading_:" p.r.o.nounced the first italicized word to rhyme with _feeding_, and the other, with _wedding_.

115. The combination of letters _ough_ is p.r.o.nounced in eight different ways, as follows: 1. Th_ough_, in which it is p.r.o.nounced _o_; 2.

Thr_ough_, p.r.o.nounced _oo_; 3. Pl_ough_, _ow_; 4. S_ought_, _awe_; 5.

C_ough_, _off_; 6. R_ough_, _uff_; 7. Bor_ough_, _ugh_; 8. L_ough_, _ok_.

The following sentence, which is of doubtful authors.h.i.+p, affords an example of each of these eight modes of p.r.o.nunciation: "I put (1) _dough_ (6) _enough_ in the (5) _trough_ near the (3) _slough_ by the (8) _lough_, to last the ducks that I (4) _bought_ at the (7) _borough_ (2) _through_ the day."

116. "I saw his _august_ majesty, the Emperor of Hayti, last _August_:"

p.r.o.nounce the former word with the accent on _gust_; the latter, on _Au_.

117. "She is _quite the lady_:" say, She is _very lady-like in her demeanor_.

118. "He is _seldom or ever_ out of town:" say, _seldom or never_, or, _seldom if ever_.

119. "We _laid down_ to sleep:" say, we _lay down_, &c. We can say, however, "we laid _him_ down to sleep."

120. It is somewhat singular, that while _tie_ and _untie_ convey meanings directly opposite, _loose_ and _unloose_ signify precisely the same thing.

_Loose_ is the original word, and _unloose_ is a corruption; both words, however, are now sanctioned by good usage, and may be indiscriminately employed, without offence against propriety.

121. "It is dangerous to walk _of a_ slippery morning:" say, _on a_ slippery morning. But the expression, "_walking on a slippery morning_,"

and all others like it, of which a strictly literal interpretation will not give the designed signification, are to be avoided. They often excite a smile when seriousness is intended.

122. "He who makes himself famous by his eloquence, makes ill.u.s.trious his origin, let it be _never so mean_:" say, _ever so mean_. The practice of using _never_ in such phrases was anciently in vogue, but is now becoming obsolete. (See Introduction.)

123. "His reputation is acknowledged _through_ Europe:" say, _throughout_ Europe.

124. "The bank of the river is frequently _overflown_:" say, _overflowed_.

_Flown_ is the perfect participle of _fly, flying_; _flowed_, of _flow, flowing_.

125. "I doubt _if this_ will ever reach you:" say, _whether this_, &c.

126. "It is not improbable _but I may_ be able to procure you a copy:"

say, _that I may_, &c.

127. "He was _exceeding kind_ to me:" say, _exceedingly kind_.

128. "I doubt not _but I shall_ be able:" say, _that I shall_.

129. "I lost _near_ twenty pounds:" say, _nearly_, or _almost_.