SOME COMMON ERRORS 
 OF SPEECH 
 
 SUGGESTIONS FOR THE AVOIDING OF 
 CERTAIN CLASSES OF ERRORS, TO- 
 GETHER WITH EXAMPLES OF 
 BAD AND OF GOOD USAGE 
 
 BY 
 ALFRED G. COMPTON 
 
 G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS 
 
 NEW YORK AND LONDON 
 
 XLbc Untickerbocker press 
 
 1898 
 
Copyright, 1898 
 
 BY 
 
 G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS 
 
 Ube "Knickerbocker iprss?, t\cve ]>J^fs 
 
I 
 
 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 THE following pages were first contributed 
 to The College Mercury (a paper published 
 by the students of the College of the City of 
 New York), in the hope that they might help to 
 improve the English to which I was obliged to 
 listen daily in the class-room. I had thought, 
 at first, to pick out a baker's dozen of the most 
 noteworthy of the infelicities of speech and 
 to parade these before my boys for deliberate 
 inspection, somewhat as the Police Depart- 
 ment shows up pickpockets. The limit of my 
 baker's dozen was, however, soon passed; so 
 too was the other limit I had set for myself, 
 and I now offer my not very goodly company 
 of offenders for the inspection of a larger as- 
 semblage than that for which I had at first in- 
 tended them. If the spectacle of their ugliness 
 
 in 
 
 157 
 
iv Preface 
 
 shall have the effect of helping a few of my 
 readers to turn away from them, and to seek, 
 even at the expense of much labor and trouble, 
 more pleasing forms of expression, I shall be 
 content. 
 
 Both the bad forms and the corresponding 
 good ones have been illustrated, when this was 
 practicable, by examples. For obvious rea- 
 sons, I have generally, in the former instances, 
 withheld the names of the authors, but I am 
 able, if required, to present evidence that the 
 passages in question are actually "in print," 
 and have been offered in good faith. They 
 are taken, in part from standard literature, and 
 in part from the newspapers and magazines of 
 the day. That the daily papers should yield 
 the most abundant examples of faulty diction 
 is not surprising, when we consider the pres- 
 sure under which the work of their writers and 
 editors is done; what has surprised me more 
 is the generally good character of our " news- 
 paper English." The forms of expression to 
 
Preface v 
 
 which this term of disparagement may be fairly 
 applied are few, and there is an evident en- 
 deavor, on the part of most papers, to exclude 
 them, — an endeavor which fails at times by 
 reason of the desire for strong effect,, and 
 oftener, perhaps, through the impossibility of 
 eternal vigilance. 
 
 I have in my collection made no attempt at 
 system beyond that of classifying the rather 
 miscellaneous faults under a few obvious heads, 
 and I have undertaken, as a rule, to present 
 only errors concerning which there is not much 
 controversy. Writing simply with the view of 
 submitting a few suggestions that may prove 
 of service to writers who would like to do bet- 
 ter than they are now doing, I have not 
 attempted to enter into the discussions of phi- 
 lologists, for which, indeed, I cannot pretend to 
 be qualified. I understand also that our Eng- 
 lish language is a live and growing speech, and 
 that it ought not to be and in fact cannot be 
 restrained by the bands of a past age or of 
 
VI 
 
 Preface 
 
 an old-time literature, but must from time to 
 time make for itself new expressions for new 
 thoughts; I feel, however, that the conserva- 
 tive no less than the reformer has his mission 
 in language, as in politics, and that a new word 
 or phrase, like a rebel people, should be fought 
 down until it has fought its way up and has 
 proved its right to exist. 
 
 A. G. C 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 HAFTER 
 
 
 
 
 PAGE 
 
 I. Improprieties 
 
 
 
 
 I 
 
 II. Metaphors . 
 
 
 
 
 13 
 
 Worn out metaphors 
 
 
 
 
 13 
 
 Bad metaphors 
 
 
 
 
 14 
 
 II. Grammar 
 
 
 
 
 22 
 
 Accusative for nominative 
 
 
 
 
 23 
 
 Pronoun without antecedent 
 
 
 
 
 25 
 
 Pronoun with wrong antecede 
 
 nt 
 
 
 
 26 
 
 Disagreement in number 
 
 
 
 
 28 
 
 Participle : wrong reference 
 
 
 
 
 29 
 
 Passive voice 
 
 
 
 
 31 
 
 Passive, verbs of giving 
 
 
 
 
 33 
 
 Pluperfect for past future 
 
 
 
 
 37 
 
 Preterit for perfect 
 
 
 
 
 33 
 
 Preterit for pluperfect . 
 
 
 
 
 39 
 
 Divided infinitive . 
 
 
 
 
 40 
 
 Participial noun 
 
 
 
 
 45 
 
 Participle as adjective . 
 
 
 
 
 47 
 
 Prepositions with verbs . 
 
 
 
 
 . 4 3 
 
 Prepositions with adjectives 
 
 
 
 
 52 
 
 Auxiliaries : can . 
 
 
 
 
 . 53 
 
 Auxiliary without a verb 
 
 
 
 
 • 54 
 
 Shall and will 
 
 
 
 
 55 
 
 Shall and will : wrong use 
 
 
 
 . 60 
 
 " " " correct use 
 
 
 
 . 62 
 
 Possessive .... 
 
 
 
 . 65 
 
 Index expurgatorius 
 
 
 
 . 69 
 
 vii 
 
 
 
 
 
" In the first place, let me observe that our lan- 
 guage is the most precious possession we have. It 
 is a commonplace to say that the greatest gift God 
 has bestowed on man is his power of communicat- 
 ing his thoughts to his fellows by speech, and not 
 only of communicating thought, but the nicest 
 shades of thought. . . . Now, to have and 
 keep a language of this kind, somebody must take 
 care of it, and must see that its peculiar excellen- 
 ces are preserved, that its words keep their mean- 
 ing, that additions to it are not wantonly made, 
 that all changes in it are justified and justifiable, 
 and well considered. I speak with deliberation 
 when I say that there is no civilized country in 
 which, outside the colleges, so little of this is done 
 as in ours." E. L. Godkin, in The Educational 
 Review, January, 1897. 
 
 ix 
 
SOME COMMON ERRORS 
 OF SPEECH. 
 
 T 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 IMPROPRIETIES. 
 
 HE use of a word in a sense not sanctioned 
 by good usage is called an impropriety. 
 The name is perhaps less used now than form- 
 erly, but the thing named is not less common. 
 The following are a few faults of this kind that 
 one frequently meets with. Some of them 
 have been repeatedly noticed in books, but 
 still survive, and perhaps are immortal. 
 
 I. Liable is improperly used as equivalent 
 to apt or likely. " I am liable to forget 
 
 unless I write it down." " He is 
 Liable. 
 
 liable to come in before three 
 
 o'clock." " They are not liable to make such 
 
 a mistake." In "all these cases the proper 
 
 i 
 
2 Errors of Speech 
 
 word is apt or likely, — apt when the thing 
 spoken of is habitual, likely when a single 
 occasion is referred to. Thus, in the first 
 example, the meaning may be " I usually 
 forget unless I write the thing down," and 
 then apt is the proper word ; or it may only 
 be meant that on this occasion " I shall prob- 
 ably forget," and then likely is the word. The 
 same distinction would hold in the case of the 
 second example: " He is apt to come in," 
 means he will probably come in because it is 
 his habit to do so. "He is likely to come 
 in," means it is probable for reasons existing 
 in this particular instance; and in the third 
 example exactly the same distinction would 
 hold. Liable is wrong in all these cases: it 
 means exposed to, subject to, or in danger of. 
 It is not said of desirable things, but only of 
 misfortunes. One is liable to defeat, sickness, 
 infection, accident, loss of position, disappoint- 
 ment, failure, but not to promotion, success, 
 recovery, praise, or other good things. 
 
Improprieties 3 
 
 This word, moreover, is preferably used 
 with a noun rather than with a verb. " Liable 
 to error" is better than ''liable to err," 
 though Milton does use the latter. 
 
 Liable is correctly used in the first of the 
 following examples, and incorrectly in the 
 others. 
 
 " It inevitably arouses in us the notion of an 
 illusiveness like that to which our visual percep- 
 tions are so liable." Herbert Spencer, First 
 Principles, Ch. v. 
 
 " He is forgetful about details, and is liable to 
 change his mind on important public questions 
 every few days." 
 
 " A trip on the overland through New Mexico 
 in those days — it was 1877 — was apt to prove a lit- 
 tle trying to a man of quiet tastes, for the Apaches 
 always were liable to be lying in wait for the stage, 
 and road agents were unusually industrious that 
 year." 
 
 " I am pretty well acquainted with my Assembly 
 district, which I have canvassed three times for 
 Congress. It is liable to give Mr. Low from 2,000 
 to 2,500 votes, two-thirds of which will be Demo- 
 cratic." 
 
 " It is proper for the chiefs of the Citizens' 
 Union to take precautions to keep its functions 
 
4 Errors of Speech 
 
 uncontaminated, and to be prepared for that en- 
 thusiastic surging of ' labor men ' which its unpre- 
 tentious and popular character is liable to bring 
 upon it." 
 
 2. Somewhat analogous to the misuse of 
 liable is that of due. This word is correctly- 
 used as an adjective, in the sense of 
 Due. 
 
 4 owing," as: " The success of the 
 
 enterprise was entirely due to the persevering 
 efforts of this one man." Due to is here the 
 exact equivalent of owing to. It is no better 
 than the latter, and Webster says it is not 
 much used. It is, however, strictly correct ; 
 but when used, as it is occasionally, as an ad- 
 verb, it is without good authority. " He was 
 unable to arrive in time, due to the delaying 
 of his train by a displaced rail," is inexcusable. 
 " Owing to a displaced rail he was unable 
 . . .," would be correct. Owing to is used 
 both as adverb and as adjective, due to only 
 as adjective. 
 
 " The club is in a bad way financially, due to 
 differences about Cleveland." 
 
Improprieties 5 
 
 The word must be understood here as adver- 
 bial, and the proper statement would be, 
 " Owing to differences about Cleveland, the 
 club is in a bad way." 
 
 " The resistance of the column of powder . . . 
 was often enormously great, due to the imperfect 
 contact between adjacent particles." 
 
 " It is perhaps due to this promise that Sir 
 Alfred heartily concurs in the desire." 
 
 " While these tests have never been completed, 
 due to more urgent work." 
 
 "... the air at the centre became denser, 
 due to reduction of velocity." 
 
 The Weather Bureau is right in the follow- 
 ing passage : 
 
 " In the central valleys and Southern States the 
 week has not been favorable, owing to general ab- 
 sence of rain and prevalence of high temperature." 
 
 As to the following one feels less sure; it 
 would be better if the adjective due were 
 
 nearer to its noun, modifications : 
 
 " There are abundant instances to prove that 
 considerable modifications may suddenly develop 
 themselves, due to external conditions or to ob- 
 scure internal causes." Mivart, Natural Selection. 
 
6 Errors of Speech 
 
 3. The use of apt as the equivalent of likely 
 
 is an impropriety. To be apt to do a thing 
 
 means to do it frequently, though 
 Apt. 
 
 not quite habitually: there is still 
 
 some uncertainty. Frequency, however, is a 
 
 necessary element in the meaning of the word. 
 
 The following passage is wrong : 
 
 " But there is apt to be a spirited contest at the 
 Democratic caucus in the afternoon." 
 
 " There will probably be a spirited contest " 
 
 is the proper expression. 
 
 4. Though these words have the same origin 
 
 they have acquired different meanings, and the 
 
 Definitely, distinction between them is so use- 
 Definitively. ful that it ought tQ be preserved. 
 
 Definitely means specified as to contents, pre- 
 cisely limited, and is opposed to vague and 
 indefinite. Definitive means settled, freed 
 from doubt, and is opposed to tentative, 
 temporary, or provisional. A definite agree- 
 ment is made if the terms of the agreement 
 are precise; a definitive agreement has been 
 
Improprieties 7 
 
 made if the transaction has been actually 
 agreed on, even though the terms are not ex- 
 actly settled. The parties to a dispute as to a 
 boundary may have definitively agreed to 
 effect a settlement in a certain way, or within 
 a certain time, though the boundary may not 
 have been definitely marked out. On the 
 other hand, a definite boundary may have 
 been decided on, though the conditions on 
 which both parties will accept it may not 
 have been definitively agreed on. The use of 
 definite and definitely instead of definitive and 
 definitively is very common : the opposite 
 error is much less likely to occur. 
 
 The following are examples of the wrong 
 use of the words : 
 
 " Natal was practically a No Man's Land until 
 1843, when England definitely took charge of the 
 country." 
 
 " Boulton then definitely decided not to continue 
 his own experiments." 
 
 " . . . and there will be no improvement until 
 the plan is definitely adopted by some organization 
 and earnest work done." 
 
8 Errors of Speech 
 
 The words are rightly used in the following: 
 
 " She [Greece] has extricated it [the Eastern 
 question] from the meshes of diplomacy and has 
 placed it on the order of the day for a definitive 
 solution." W. E. Gladstone, Letter to the Duke 
 of Westminster. 
 
 " The course of Great Britain in the matter has 
 not yet been decided upon, but Ambassador Hay 
 will probably receive a definite statement on the 
 subject this week." 
 
 5. To claim is wrongly used in place of to 
 maintain, to state an opinion. The word means 
 
 to demand as a right. When the 
 
 To claim. .... 
 
 expression of an opinion is intended, 
 
 the proper verb is to maintain, or to declare, 
 or, if the opinion is held in the face of opposi- 
 tion, to contend. I have heard a student of 
 astronomy say, " Some astronomers claim that 
 Mars is inhabited." Doubtless there are 
 enterprising commercial peoples who would 
 " claim " Mars as within their sphere of in- 
 fluence, if they knew it to be inhabited, but 
 they would be very foolish to make any claim 
 
Improprieties 9 
 
 as to its being inhabited : they can only think 
 or believe or maintain that it is so. Daniel 
 Webster long ago called attention to this mis- 
 use of the word claim as being, in his day, 
 prevalent in Connecticut : 
 
 " This word claim means everything in the law- 
 language of Connecticut. Here a man claims that 
 he has lost a deed." 
 
 The " Ohio Claim " with which the last 
 
 presidential election made us acquainted, 
 
 though not admirable politically or morally, 
 
 is better linguistically than this Connecticut 
 
 claim. A demand for all the offices " in 
 
 sight ' ' may be correctly characterized as a 
 
 claim. 
 
 " They claimed he used the United States mails 
 for the purpose of swindling." 
 
 " Mr. Stevens of Belgium claimed that the pris- 
 oner owed his service to the state." 
 
 Carlyle writes : 
 
 " It is maintained by Helvetius and his set that 
 an infant of genius is quite the same as any other 
 infant." Sartor Resartus, Bk. II., Ch. ii. 
 
 There is no claim in this. 
 
io Errors of Speech 
 
 6. This is a favorite word with many per- 
 sons, to express anything large, unusual, sur- 
 prising, — a meaning that does not 
 Phenomenal. 
 
 belong to the word. Phenomenon 
 
 and phenomenal are terms of philosophy, op- 
 posed to noumenon and noumenal, and they 
 refer to the appearance of things, as opposed 
 to the things themselves, — the former being 
 knowable and capable of being described, 
 while the latter, if there are any latter, are 
 perhaps forever unknowable. In common 
 language these opposed terms are rarely used, 
 the ideas corresponding to them having rarely 
 need of expression, and the words have still 
 the appearance of words foreign to the lan- 
 guage. A sunrise, a snow-storm, the opening 
 of a flower, the growth of a child, is properly 
 spoken of as an impressive or beautiful phe- 
 nomenon. It was so much more natural, how- 
 ever, to call it a beautiful spectacle, scene, 
 event, or change, that there was little use in 
 ordinary speech for phenomenon in its proper 
 
Improprieties 1 1 
 
 meaning, and still less for phenomenal, and so 
 the words have been captured by the press- 
 gang of writers, and forced into a service that 
 is alien to them. 
 
 " Mr. Lamson . . . has every reason to hope 
 that before long he will attain with his invention 
 phenomenal results in aerial navigation." 
 
 In the following passage the word is cor- 
 rectly used : 
 
 " When, therefore, Philosophy proves that our 
 knowledge of the external world can be but phe- 
 nomenal — when it concludes that the things of 
 which we are conscious, are appearances, it inevi- 
 tably arouses in us the notion of an illusiveness 
 like that to which our visual perceptions are so 
 liable in comparison with our tactual perceptions." 
 Spencer, First Principles, Ch. v. 
 
 The few examples of improprieties here 
 presented will perhaps be enough to induce 
 the young writer to give some thought to the 
 choice of words, and this is all that can be ex- 
 pected. As soon as he feels the desire to use 
 words rightly, he will learn how to find, in 
 
12 Errors of Speech 
 
 dictionaries and books on synonymy, the guid- 
 ance that he needs. Only the careless feel- 
 ing that the first word which comes to hand is 
 good enough, prevents the writer from seeking 
 the word that shall be the very best for his 
 purpose. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 METAPHORS. 
 
 I. At every stage in the growth of a lan- 
 guage and of its literature there are certain 
 Worn-out metaphors which are current and 
 metaphors. are understood, but which have sur- 
 vived whatever usefulness they may have had. 
 They were perhaps picturesque once : they 
 presented a thought in a striking way, or fixed 
 the mind very strongly on one particular aspect 
 of a subject; but by dint of reiteration they 
 have become wearisome. They have ceased to 
 add force to a presentation ; and the moment 
 they fail to add clearness or force they become 
 mere encumbrances, not only useless, but harm- 
 ful. It would be easy to make a long list of 
 them. A few of them are : iron horse, iron 
 heel of tyranny, leaden hail, procrustean bed, 
 ship of state, upas tree, saturnalia, holocaust, 
 
 13 
 
14 Errors of Speech 
 
 phoenix, perhaps also alma mater. Some of 
 these are seldom met with now, perhaps never, 
 though they once moved in very respectable 
 company. Others obtrude themselves on us 
 daily in the newspapers and magazines, and 
 not a few find their way into college orations, 
 sermons, and political platforms. 
 
 2. Besides the metaphors that are worn out, 
 there are others that never were good. They 
 Bad are based on a false analogy. They 
 metaphors. assume a resemblance between the 
 thing represented and the thing representing 
 it that does not exist ; or they are based on 
 a resemblance in some aspect or quality which 
 is only an accident and not an essential. 
 
 3. Tidal-wave y as a name for a swift and 
 
 powerful movement of opinion or feeling, is 
 
 such a metaphor. If an election 
 Tidal-wave. 
 
 turns out the party in power, a 
 
 tidal-wave is said to have swept the country. 
 
 The context always shows that the writer is 
 
 thinking of the tidal-wave as something swift 
 
Metaphors 1 5 
 
 and terrible. It is in fact no such thing, how- 
 ever, but only a very gentle rise and fall of the 
 water of the ocean, through a height of half a 
 dozen feet in twelve hours. It is indeed not 
 perceived as a" wave '" at all, except by the 
 eye of science. The fact seems to be that the 
 name tidal-wave was given, in mere ignorance, 
 to one of those rare and formidable disturb- 
 ances of the ocean that are caused by earth- 
 quake shocks or volcanic eruptions, such as 
 the memorable wave that followed the fall of a 
 large part of the volcano Krakatoa into the 
 sea, and that, as the name sounded mysterious 
 and imposing, it continued to be used, to give 
 dignity to comparatively trifling events. It 
 throws no light, however, on the phenomenon 
 to which, as a supposed metaphor, it is ap- 
 plied, and when we look for the real meaning 
 of it we find it misleading. A literal ex- 
 pression, as " a great movement of popular 
 thought," " a powerful uprising of the con- 
 science of the people," would carry with it no 
 
1 6 Errors of Speech 
 
 false implication, and its meaning would be 
 
 clear. 
 
 4. Akin to the last error is the use of 
 
 cyclone in nearly the same sense. A cyclone, 
 
 like a tidal-wave, is one of the 
 Cyclone. 
 
 large and deliberate movements of 
 
 nature which have very little of terror or 
 destructiveness in them. A cyclone is an 
 atmospheric movment of large extent, often a 
 thousand miles or more in diameter, and 
 throughout nearly the whole of the area that 
 it covers, gentle and beneficent. Cyclones 
 and anti-cyclones are passing over our heads 
 continually, and, except when we happen to 
 be very near their centres, we never think of 
 them as terrible, and hardly know of their ex- 
 istence, save as windy or rainy weather. The 
 thing that the fine writer had in his mind when 
 he called a sudden and violent outburst of 
 national frenzy a " cyclone of patriotic fervor " 
 was not a cyclone : it was a hurricane or tor- 
 nado; but there was something high-sounding 
 
Metaphors 1 7 
 
 and mysterious in the word, and so it seemed 
 to him good. 
 
 5. Carnival is another word that is mis- 
 used in the some way. When the orthodox 
 
 Catholic Italians are about entering 
 
 Carnival. to 
 
 on their long lenten fast, they allow 
 
 themselves one period of unrestrained fun be- 
 fore they bid good-bye to the pleasures of the 
 table. But, because they pelt each other with 
 candies and little bags of flour, and take such 
 liberties with each other as at other times they 
 would not venture to take, the metaphor-dealer 
 thinks two or three house-burnings ought to be 
 called a carnival of fire, and half a dozen 
 murders a carnival of blood. That his meta- 
 phor, instead of making clear his meaning, 
 only beclouds it, concerns him little : it sounds 
 well, he thinks. His last misuse of the word 
 surpasses all previous ones : in a public adver- 
 tisement which stares at us from the fences, he 
 calls a great sale at a " department store," a 
 " mammoth bargain carnival." 
 
1 8 Errors of Speech 
 
 6. Handicap. To handicap a competitor in a 
 
 race is to give others an advantage over him by 
 
 letting them start in advance of him, 
 Handicap. 
 
 or by making him carry a load. The 
 
 essential idea in the word is that there is a con- 
 test, and that the chances of the contestants are 
 to be made nearly equal. A person is not ' ' han- 
 dicapped " in an undertaking when he encoun- 
 ters obstacles, or when he is not properly 
 equipped for his work, unless he is in competi- 
 tion with others, nor even then, if only his own 
 infirmity or bad luck is in the way. The word, 
 therefore, is wrongly used in the following 
 examples : 
 
 " For a long time the scientific bureaus of the 
 government have felt themselves badly handi- 
 capped by the need of resorting to special ex- 
 aminations." 
 
 The bureaus may have been annoyed, or 
 hampered, or put to much trouble; but they 
 were not handicapped. 
 
 " The new cabinet officers find themselves very 
 
Metaphors 19 
 
 seriously handicapped in their plans for reorganiz- 
 ing their departments by the Civil Service law." 
 
 7. " There will be an orgy of increased 
 Orcry. 
 
 armaments." 
 
 8. " The sin, as it seems to me, would 
 
 Case- ^ to f ee j or fancy ourselves case-hard- 
 
 hardened. . ' 
 
 ened against the will of our Maker. 
 
 9. "Wall Street had a lesson in this direction 
 
 which will never be forgotten, during the brewing 
 
 of the disturbance which ended in the 
 Brewing. „ 
 
 Iranco-Prussian war. 
 
 10. How bad a figure is the word thorn in 
 
 the following example, is evident at 
 Thorn. 
 
 a glance : 
 
 " Katarina, which, it is said, will be bombarded, 
 is the port of Elassona, and, if it falls into the 
 hands of the Greeks, will be a thorn in Edhem 
 Pasha's communications." 
 
 A word is, of course, not to be rejected be- 
 cause it is figurative. It is a commonplace 
 that most of the every-day words that have no 
 figurative association now were originally fig- 
 ures of speech; that lady, husband, king, con- 
 gress, parlor, person, and a thousand others 
 meant originally something very different from 
 
20 Errors of Speech 
 
 what they mean now, and that the first use of 
 any of them in its present meaning was a bold 
 and effective metaphor. It is in this way that 
 language has grown, and, to a less extent, still 
 grows. A metaphoric term, however, if it is 
 going to establish itself as a mere name for 
 something, a new word without its first poeti- 
 cal associations, soon asserts its right to its new 
 rank; and if it fails to do this soon it has to 
 retire: it is neither a common word nor a 
 metaphor, and it is in the way. Iron road has 
 established itself as the every-day name of the 
 railway in France, Germany, Italy, and Spain ; 
 but iron horse has been rejected in all these as 
 well as in England and America, and nobody 
 wants it now, even as a figure of speech. So it 
 is with the other words cited. And it is not 
 the critics only who reject such tattered figures : 
 the common people are just as quick, and the 
 speaker or writer who indulges too much in 
 " fine writing M will often find them smiling at 
 his flights. 
 
Metaphors 2 1 
 
 As to the question of using or not using a 
 figure of speech that offers itself (it should 
 never be sought for), the best course perhaps 
 is to let it stand, in one's first draught, and 
 consider carefully, on revision, whether it shall 
 be rejected. That which can bear the sober 
 second thought — or the soberer third thought 
 — may generally be allowed to pass. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 GRAMMAR. 
 
 T^ AULTS in grammar range all the way from 
 A the gravest, such as no one who has 
 learned the rudiments of grammar would be 
 guilty of, to those evanescent ones that lie in 
 the neutral zone between what is certainly 
 forbidden and what is certainly allowed, from 
 the jargon of the newsboy to the doubtful 
 solecisms of the editor, from " I aint got 
 none," and " them *s mine," to " wishing to 
 thus despoil the park." 
 
 Faults of the first class I had at first intended 
 not to discuss; but, besides that it is difficult 
 to say where the boundary of this class lies, 
 there are many faults that might be considered 
 as falling within this line, which are yet so 
 common that writers — particularly young writ- 
 ers — need to be cautioned against them. For 
 
 22 
 
Grammar 23 
 
 this reason I shall include under the present 
 heading a few expressions that some readers 
 may think it unnecessary to touch upon. 
 
 Among the commonest errors in grammar 
 are the errors in agreement. They occur in 
 several ways : 
 
 V 1. A nominative is often treated as an accu- 
 sative, through the accident of its standing 
 
 near a verb that governs the accusa- 
 Accusative 
 
 for nomi- tive : "The man whom I supposed 
 
 native 
 
 was the ringleader turns out to be 
 
 quite innocent." Those who fall into this very 
 common but inexcusable error may think of 
 whom as the object of supposed (if they can be 
 said to think at all), and forget that whom can- 
 not be the subject of was. If was is used, who 
 must be its subject, and the sentence must 
 read: " . . . who, I thought, was the ring- 
 leader." It must be admitted that this has a 
 bad effect : the reader can hardly avoid the im- 
 pression at first, that who is meant as the object 
 of thought, and that the writer is guilty of a 
 
24 Errors of Speech 
 
 blunder. He is set right when he comes to 
 the word was, and sees that who is really not 
 an object but a subject; but the mischief has 
 been done, — the transparency of the sentence 
 has been clouded. It is not enough that the 
 meaning of the sentence should become clear 
 when the end is reached : there should not be 
 any hesitation or doubt at any point in its 
 progress. It is true that commas before and 
 after / thought direct the attention to the 
 proper construction ; but it is much to be pre- 
 ferred that the meaning should appear clearly, 
 independently of punctuation, and so the pas- 
 sage should read: " the man that I thought to 
 be the ringleader." 
 
 The following are examples of this fault 
 which the reader will easily correct: 
 
 " There is abundant evidence to show that he 
 was at least one of the distinguished men whom 
 Gruter says had access to Gilbert's writing in its 
 unpublished form." 
 
 " But you must not shut your eyes to the fact 
 that I am only a chemist, a shopkeeper, . . . 
 
Grammar 25 
 
 one whom your people would say was no fit friend 
 for you." 
 
 " Epicurus writes a letter to Idomeneus . . . 
 to recommend to him, who had made so many men 
 rich, one Pythocles, a friend of his, whom he de- 
 sired might be made a rich man too." 
 
 " . . . an odd brother who sat on the same 
 benches in the ancient chapel . . . and one 
 whom, if we may credit what another philosopher 
 high in favor in court said about him, was a testy 
 and crusty old gentleman." 
 
 2. A careless writer sometimes refers a pro- 
 noun back, in his imagination, to a noun that 
 
 has no existence in the sentence, 
 Pronoun 
 
 without leaving it thus in the unfortunate 
 " predicament of a word that " stands 
 for a noun," but which has no noun that it can 
 stand for: 
 
 " There are three slave markets outside of Africa 
 which make the business of the Arab slave-hunters 
 profitable in certain parts of Africa, namely, Zan- 
 zibar, Arabia, and Egypt. In Egypt they are in 
 demand as household slaves." 
 
 Here the writer evidently meant to say that 
 
26 Errors of Speech 
 
 the slaves are in demand, but he does say, if he 
 says anything, that the three slave markets are 
 in demand : he has not provided the pronoun 
 they with any antecedent. 
 
 " A camel's gait is a peculiar one, they go some- 
 thing like a pig with the fore and like a cow with 
 the hind legs." 
 
 This also is a common error; but it is one 
 that could be very easily avoided. It is only 
 necessary that the writer should cultivate the 
 habit of looking back whenever he uses a pro- 
 noun, to see whether there is an antecedent to 
 which it unmistakably refers. In this way 
 the habit of correct reference will soon be 
 formed. 
 
 3. Often there are two nouns in the sen- 
 tence, and the writer refers the pronoun, in his 
 
 „ mind, to the wrong one. An adver- 
 
 Pronoun : 
 
 wrong an- tisement of some fine silks reads as 
 
 tecedent. , ,, 
 
 follows : 
 
 " Simpson, Crawford & Simpson having bought 
 
Grammar 27 
 
 the entire collection they will be on exhibition in 
 our windows this week." 
 
 The purchasing of some silks hardly deserves, 
 one would think, so severe a punishment as 
 that which the gentlemen's advertising agent 
 seems to propose. The fault here would have 
 been detected if the writer had paused to in- 
 quire what they referred to. He would then 
 probably have written: " The entire collection 
 having been purchased . . . will be ex- 
 hibited." It is not common to find examples 
 of this fault so ludicrous as this and the follow- 
 ing, from a standard text-book : 
 
 " To the group of Dinosaurs belongs the Iguano- 
 don, of the Wealden beds, first made known by 
 Dr. Mantell, whose body was 28 to 30 feet long." 
 
 A great railroad has for years kept the fol- 
 lowing request before the eyes of all its passen- 
 gers : 
 
 " In case of accident, pull the handle of this 
 valve up as far as it will go ; when the train has 
 come to a stop pull it back to its former position." 
 
28 Errors of Speech 
 
 It is not known that any passenger has tried 
 
 to do the thing proposed, and so the notice 
 
 has done no harm perhaps; but why should 
 
 not the writer of it have looked to his pronoun, 
 
 before sending it out into the world in such 
 
 ambiguous company ? 
 
 / 4. This mental referring, by the writer, of a 
 
 pronoun to the wrong antecedent, or of a verb 
 
 to the wrong subject causes, fre- 
 Disagree- 
 
 ment in quently, disagreement in number. 
 
 number. „. . , 
 
 lhis is a very common class-room 
 
 error, but it is subtle enough also to entrap 
 
 many a respectable writer, as the following 
 
 examples show : 
 
 " When I recollect to what complete perfection 
 the culture of many of the best productions of the 
 earth have been brought in France . . ." 
 
 " The idea of these dangers were interesting 
 rather than unpleasant." 
 
 "... his [Lord Salisbury's] attitude toward 
 the American contentions in Behring Sea are im- 
 possible to forecast." 
 
 " It was kept by a brother and sister, neither of 
 whom was out of their teens." 
 
Grammar 29 
 
 " Every one of them pressed forward to do some- 
 thing for him, and seemed discouraged if they were 
 not employed." 
 
 " And sometimes he stands up while everybody 
 else is on their knees." 
 
 "... and assumed that, but for the fear of 
 being burned, or for the hope of being rewarded, 
 anybody would pass their lives in lying, stealing 
 and murdering." 
 
 " It must always be remembered that a fungus, 
 which may be perfectly harmless if cooked and 
 eaten while fresh, would just as probably be dele- 
 terious if gathered and kept for a day or two with- 
 out cooking. Chemical changes take place so 
 rapidly that they cannot be cooked too soon, and 
 not even the common mushrooms should be kept 
 longer than possible." 
 
 5. The participles give a great deal of 
 
 trouble, which may, however, be avoided if the 
 
 writer will take the pains to inquire, 
 Participle : 
 wrong concerning every participle, what it 
 
 relates to, and will see that he does 
 
 not allow it to appear to relate to any other 
 
 word. The fault under consideration presents 
 
 itself in a great variety of ways, and requires 
 
30 Errors of Speech 
 
 various treatment. The following specimens 
 will sufficiently illustrate it : 
 
 " But this officer, hoping that by refusing this 
 humane request the Cubans would desist in the 
 bombardment, absolutely prohibited the exit of 
 non-combatants from the town." 
 
 " By refusing " was obviously meant to refer 
 to " this officer," but, if the writer had asked 
 himself the question, What does it refer to ? he 
 would have seen, or ought to have seen, that it 
 refers to " the Cubans. " The false reference 
 would have been corrected if he had written, 
 " hoping that, if he refused the request, the 
 Cubans would stop the bombardment ..." 
 
 " Rising with the sun, a dish of kumis or mare's 
 milk, and a small cup of black coffee are the only 
 refreshments formally partaken of." 
 
 If the writer of this had inquired what " rising 
 
 with the sun " referred to, he would have 
 
 found that it referred to " a dish of kumis," 
 
 though he meant it, no doubt, to refer to some 
 
 person, whom, however, he has neglected to 
 
 mention, 
 
Grammar 3 1 
 
 " Being a great seaport, one sees plenty of sea- 
 faring faces, . . . and being at the same time 
 an important naval and military station for Great 
 Britain, another picturesque element is made up of 
 the gay uniforms of soldiers and sailors." 
 
 " Dressed all in black broadcloth, with a wide- 
 leafed black felt hat, hands in pockets, I had first 
 met him striding leisurely down the wide main 
 street of Fort Atkinson." 
 
 -I 
 
 6. The English language allows a degree of 
 freedom in the use of the passive form that is 
 Passive often conducive to rapidity and 
 voice. force, but which is, in the present 
 
 day, much abused. The following sentences 
 can hardly be considered good : 
 
 " What then is the use of these investigations, by 
 which the correlation and equivalence of force is 
 sought to be established ? " 
 
 " The next I knew the bill was agreed to be 
 favorably reported." 
 
 " A portion of Duncan's coat of mail is pretended 
 to be shown there." 
 
 " Mr. Peckham conceded that the contract was 
 only an agreement by which . . . the secret 
 undercutting of rates is sought to be avoided." 
 
 " The taxing power was never before threatened 
 to be so ruthlessly and defiantly used," 
 
32 Errors of Speech 
 
 " The clover, which was to be begun cutting on 
 the morrow . . ." 
 
 Bad as these appear, however, it would be 
 easy to make a collection of expressions lead- 
 ing up to these, by easy steps, from others 
 with which no fault could be found : 
 
 " The spy was executed the next morning." 
 
 " The debts were paid." 
 
 " It was expected that the debts would be paid." 
 
 " He was ordered to be executed." 
 
 " The debts were expected to be paid." 
 
 The first three of these sentences are beyond 
 criticism; the fourth is to be justified, if at all, 
 either because, in spite of opposition, it has 
 established its right to exist, or because " to 
 order to be executed " may be regarded as a 
 compound verb, capable of being used in the 
 passive voice ; but for the last neither of these 
 excuses can be urged, and as it is unnecessary, 
 it should be avoided. One can say with 
 greater simplicity, " It was expected that the 
 debts would be paid," and some analogous 
 
Grammar 33 
 
 turn of expression can always be found in such 
 
 cases. 
 
 7. Perhaps the worst cases of the kind 
 
 under consideration are those in which the 
 
 verb that is put into the passive form 
 Passive, 
 
 verbs of is one that governs both a dative and 
 
 giving. . . 
 
 an accusative, as give, promise, 
 
 award, allow, guarantee, and some others. A 
 noun in the accusative may be put into the nom- 
 inative if the construction of the sentence is 
 changed from active to passive: " He fought a 
 battle" may become: " A battle was fought." 
 " They gave a great banquet " may become: 
 " A great banquet was given " ; and such change 
 is sometimes advantageous, as fixing the atten- 
 tion on the act rather than the actor. A noun 
 or pronoun in the dative, however, representing 
 the person to whom something is given, cannot 
 properly be thus made nominative. " They 
 gave him a consulship as a reward for his services 
 to his party " is good English, if bad morality, 
 but " He was given a consulship as a reward " 
 
34 Errors of Speech 
 
 must be condemned under both heads; and it 
 has not even the defence of directness or force, 
 since " He was rewarded with a consulship," 
 or "A consulship was his reward," would be at 
 least equally direct. Indolence is the only- 
 excuse for such expressions. Every one of the 
 following examples can easily be made correct 
 without suffering in force: 
 
 " There have been many editions of the Diary 
 [Pepys's], but it is only now that the public is given 
 a complete one." 
 
 But no complete one has been given till 
 now " is better, not only for the reason already 
 given, but because edition and not public should 
 lead, in the latter part of the sentence as in the 
 former part. 
 
 " Among the men who attended were a delega- 
 tion from the City Club Committee on Legislation 
 which was given power to act on charter matters." 
 
 ' Which had been empowered " would correct 
 the bad passive form and the wrong tense at 
 the same time. 
 
Grammar 35 
 
 " At the same time it is essential to the establish- 
 ment of the merit system that the subordinate shall 
 in some way be assured protection from the danger 
 of removal without cause." 
 
 The awkward locution could have been avoided 
 by so simple a change as the insertion of the 
 preposition 0/" after assured. 
 
 " It is understood however, that Sir Herbert 
 Kitchener will be given the command of the army 
 of occupation." 
 
 So simple a change as " Sir Herbert Kitchener 
 will receive the command . . .", or " The 
 command will be given to Sir Herbert . . .", 
 would make the sentence correct without mak- 
 ing it less idiomatic or forcible. 
 
 " ' The resolution must follow the usual course,' 
 sharply replied the Speaker, and so the House was 
 not given an opportunity of deciding whether it 
 wanted to sympathize with the Greeks or not." 
 
 " The pretension of a protectorate is directly 
 contrary to the history and traditions of this coun- 
 try, and was given diplomatic life only through the 
 extraordinary combination of qualities which made 
 Mr. Blaine a successful demagogue." 
 
36 Errors of Speech 
 
 The idiomatic character of the expression is 
 one of the defences most commonly set up in 
 such cases as these, and examples are often 
 cited from good writers. It is true that many 
 forms of expression which do not conform 
 strictly to rules of grammar have found ac- 
 ceptance, and have become idioms of one 
 language or another. It is also true, however, 
 that idioms which do not conduce to force and 
 clearness, but rather to weakness and obscurity, 
 acquire no particular sacredness merely be- 
 cause of their being idioms. And as for good 
 writers and their usage, there is no infallible 
 writer, and no expression can be justified 
 merely by the fact that it was used by Addi- 
 son, or Swift, or Johnson, or even by De Quin- 
 cey, or Lamb, or Eliot. Even in spite of the 
 usage of many good writers, we are justified in 
 avoiding a given form if it is bad on theoretical 
 grounds, provided the required meaning can 
 be equally well expressed by another form, not 
 open to the same objections. 
 
Grammar 37 
 
 8. This construction, which is not often met 
 
 with in America, is rather common among 
 
 _ English writers: " I expected him 
 
 Pluperfect & r 
 
 for past to have come to see me " should be 
 
 future. (( T ... 
 
 1 expected him to come to see 
 
 me." The action of coining was, at the time 
 of the expecting, not past, but future. 
 
 So: " Might have been expected to have 
 gone," which is quoted from Froude by Richard 
 Grant White, should be " Might have been ex- 
 pected to go." The corrections in the follow- 
 ing examples are obvious : 
 
 " It would have behooved him as a physician 
 . . . to have regarded his own pursuits in a 
 peculiarly philosophical spirit." 
 
 " She would have given much, however, to have 
 escaped this business." 
 
 '' What the English ought to have done was to 
 have supported their natural ally, the Sultan." 
 
 " A vivacious old man whom I took to have been 
 the devil, drew near and questioned me about our 
 journey." 
 
 " It would have gone to your heart to have heard 
 the moans the dumb creature made on the day of 
 my master's death." 
 
38 Errors of Speech 
 
 Here is Macaulay's treatment of such a case: 
 
 " It would therefore have been mere insanity to 
 leave him in possession of that plenitude of mili- 
 tary authority which his ancestors had enjoyed." 
 History of England, Ch. i. 
 
 9. This fault is very common in New York 
 among young people, and particularly among 
 Preterit those who have been brought up in 
 for perfect. German surroundings. I frequently 
 hear, and sometimes read: " I did not get ex- 
 cused yet," " I did not study so far to-day." 
 The rule is inflexible in English, that a past 
 action in a time not yet finished, no matter 
 how long the time named may be, whether it 
 be this day, this week, or this century, must 
 be in the perfect tense, while an action in a 
 time which is finished, however short the 
 time may be, though it be only " five minutes 
 ago," or" this morning," provided I am speak- 
 ing this afternoon, must be in the preterit. 
 " Nothing like it has been seen this century," 
 
 I have seen it within five minutes, though 
 

 Grammar 39 
 
 I cannot remember where," " I met him 
 more than five minutes ago," — these are all 
 correct. " I have not seen him this morn- 
 ing " and " I did not see him this morning " 
 are also both correct, provided the first is said 
 while the morning is yet unfinished, and the 
 second after the morning is finished. This 
 distinction does not hold in some other lan- 
 guages, but it is rigorous in English. It is 
 even impossible to give examples of the neglect 
 of it from fairly good writers, and it is in this 
 respect unlike most of the other faults cited in 
 this work. 
 
 10. The substitution of the preterit for the 
 pluperfect, as in the following, is a less com- 
 Preterit for mon error > though I meet with it 
 Pluperfect. occas i nally among speakers or 
 writers of German descent : 
 
 " Her Sylvander was seventeen years in the 
 grave when her husband died." 
 
 11. There has been much controversy as to 
 the propriety of separating the particle to from 
 
40 Errors of Speech 
 
 the verb of which it is a part, for the purpose 
 of putting an adverb or an adverbial phrase 
 Divided between. Shall we write, as one of 
 infinitive. our daily papers does, " It would be 
 a shame, some said, to thus despoil this beauti- 
 ful park," or rather, as Washington Irving did, 
 " Oliver Goldsmith will be found faithfully to 
 inherit the virtues and the weaknesses of his 
 race " ? The practice of good writers and 
 particularly of careful ones is in favor of the 
 latter, though a large collection can be made, 
 and has been made by Fitzedward Hall, of 
 passages supporting the former. Of such an 
 array of citations this must be said : There is 
 scarcely any form of expression, however bad, 
 that cannot be shown to have been used by 
 some moderately good writers or even by some 
 great one. From Shakspere's " between you 
 and I," all the way up, or down, to Byron's 
 11 there let him lay," examples can be found 
 of almost every fault that can be named. The 
 difficulties of rhythm and rhyme, the energy 
 
Grammar 4 1 
 
 sometimes supposed to belong to vulgar forms 
 of speech, the fierce rush of inspired utterance 
 which will not pick and choose but must come 
 forth at once, — all these and more are cited 
 in justification of such lapses. They are at 
 best excuses only; and while the writer may 
 be pardoned for using such speech at first, 
 rather than interrupt the swift current of his 
 thought, he is inexcusable for not having 
 amended it when the time for quiet correction 
 came. Moreover, while much may be forgiven 
 to the authors of Othello and Childe Harold, 
 the rank and file of writers have no right to 
 expect the immunity of genius for their blun- 
 ders, but must seek to please by correct and 
 graceful expression. 
 
 12. It is said, in answer to the objections to 
 the divided infinitive, that the separating of 
 
 the particle is not a violation of any 
 Divided 
 infinitive: rule of grammar, and that it some- 
 
 apo ogy. t j mes helps the writer over the dif- 
 ficulty, so often encountered, of getting the 
 
42 Errors of Speech 
 
 adverb into close connection with the verb 
 that it qualifies. As to the first statement, 
 the answer is that to, as the sign of the infini- 
 tive, is not the preposition to, nor is it prop- 
 erly a word at all. It is only the sign of 
 the mood, as en, oir, ar, etc., are in other 
 languages. This is fully recognized in com- 
 mon speech and writing, and no one would 
 think of saying ' ' I hope to safely arrive, " ' ' He 
 promised to as quickly as possible come," " I 
 thought I should be able to before it was too 
 late see him." In all these absurd instances 
 the object that seems to be generally in view 
 has been accomplished, — the adverb has been 
 hedged in where there can be no possible doubt 
 as to what it refers to, but at what a cost! 
 Absurd as these examples are, they are only a 
 little more objectionable than hundreds that 
 one might jot down in a month's reading from 
 college compositions, magazine articles, scien- 
 tific reports, and even more pretentious writ- 
 ings : 
 
Grammar 43 
 
 "We cannot suppose that Columbia College 
 would be so discourteous as to gratuitously ignore 
 our challenge." 
 
 " Some air-castles he built so often that he seemed 
 to fairly dwell in them." 
 
 " They were said to always buy everything of 
 the best." 
 
 " The governor ... [of the engine] is free 
 to instantly respond to variations in the rate of 
 motion." 
 
 " He hoped to really interest the readers of his 
 journal in the affair." 
 
 " He then saw his way to completely supply this 
 want." 
 
 It is not easy to see what advantage these 
 expressions have over the following : 
 
 " Nor will it be less my duty faithfully to record 
 disasters mingled with triumphs." Macaulay, 
 Hist, of England, Ch. i. 
 
 " Senator Sherman's acceptance of the State 
 portfolio made it a necessity for him at once pub- 
 licly to recant." Evening Post, Jan. 16, 1897. 
 
 " We may form a pretty accurate idea of the 
 quality of these productions from the fact that 
 Quintus Cicero, in order homceopathically to be- 
 guile the weariness of winter quarters in Gaul, 
 composed four tragedies in sixteen days." Momm- 
 sen, Rome. Translated by Dickson, iv., 689. 
 
44 Errors of Speech 
 
 " The Commission does not assume that it has 
 been able to anticipate every contingency, nor 
 . . . altogether to avoid omissions, repetitions, 
 and mistakes." W. L. Strong, Report on New 
 Charter. 
 
 " Fully to enter into such a subject would oc- 
 cupy much space." Wallace, Natural Selection, 
 Preface. 
 
 " Suitably to provide against this is the mandate 
 of duty." McKinley, Inaugural Address. 
 
 " He will do well constantly to try himself in re- 
 spect of these, steadily to widen his culture, severely 
 to check in himself the provincial spirit." Mat- 
 thew Arnold, The Literary Influence of Academies. 
 
 " . . . and we may surely be led somewhat 
 to distrust our judgment of them by observing 
 what ignoble imaginations have sometimes . . . 
 occupied the hearts of others." Ruskin, The 
 Ethics of the Dust, Ch. vii. 
 
 " As his inclinations were to philosophical study, 
 this it was now his ambition uninterruptedly to 
 pursue." Benjamin, The Intellectual Rise in Elec- 
 tricity. 
 
 " It brings us on to the platform where alone the 
 best and highest intellectual work can be said fairly 
 to begin." Matthew Arnold, The Literary In- 
 fluence of Acadeitiies. 
 
 "... we ought at all times humbly to ac- 
 knowledge our sins before God." Book of Common 
 Prayer. 
 
Grammar 45 
 
 " If so, the tendency would be to diminish 
 slowly the planet's mean motion." Kirkwood, 
 Meteoric Astronomy, Ch. iii. 
 
 " He must admit that it [government] had been 
 employed in some instances wholly to remove, and 
 in many considerably to correct the abusive prac- 
 tices and usages that had prevailed in the state." 
 Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in Fra?ice. 
 
 " Congress shall make no law . . . abridging 
 the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and 
 to petition the Government for a redress of griev- 
 ances." Constitution of the United States. 
 
 13. The use of the present participle as a 
 
 noun requires that this noun be 
 Participial 
 
 noun without properly governed ; but this re- 
 government. . . . 11 
 quirement is often neglected. 
 
 " I must trust to the reader reposing some confi- 
 dence in my accuracy." 
 
 " I must trust to the reader's reposing some 
 confidence . . . " supplies the government 
 required. 
 
 " And I presume that this change may be safely 
 attributed to the domestic duck flying much less 
 and walking more than its wild parent." 
 
46 Errors of Speech 
 
 " No case is on record of a variable being ceas- 
 ing to be variable under cultivation." 
 
 " Upon the fellow telling him he would warrant 
 it [the axle] the knight . . . went in without 
 further ceremony." 
 
 In these examples the possessive govern- 
 ment, the right one, would have been easily 
 secured, as it is secured in the following : 
 
 " No, Mr. Caudle, no, it 's no use your telling me 
 to go to sleep." Jerrold, Mrs. Caudle's Curtain 
 Lectures, No. 3. 
 
 " If any one has such a scheme of policy to pro- 
 pose, I advise his proposing it anywhere rather 
 than in England." Gladstone, Letter to the 
 Duke of Westminster. 
 
 " The account given by Herodotus of Xerxes's 
 cutting a canal through the isthmus of Athos . . . 
 is much more strongly attested by Thucydides. 
 . . ." Whately, Rhetoric, Part I., Ch. ii., Sec. 4. 
 
 The following are cases in which the fault 
 
 could not have been so easily avoided ; but it 
 
 could have been avoided nevertheless : 
 
 " We need not be surprised at this system, when 
 it does act under confinement, acting not quite 
 regularly." 
 
 " , . . at this system's acting not quite 
 
Grammar 47 
 
 regularly when it does act," would have cor- 
 rected the error. 
 
 " Not only was thought made treason, but men 
 were forced to reveal their thoughts on pain of 
 their very silence being punished with the penalty 
 of treason." 
 
 This is a difficult case, because of the harsh 
 
 effect of putting " silence " into the possessive 
 
 case ; but a different expression can easily be 
 
 found, not using the participle at all, as : " . . . 
 
 lest their very silence should be punished 
 
 . . . " Thus, as usual, it is only indolence 
 
 or haste that prevents the writer's finding the 
 
 proper expression, provided he has the ability 
 
 to judge what is proper. 
 
 14. This fault, of leaving a participial noun 
 
 without government, is very common, but we 
 
 Participle are n °t to suppose that it occurs 
 as adjective. ever y t j me we fi nc j a participle 
 
 unaccompanied by a possessive. In the follow- 
 ing examples the participles are used as adjec- 
 tives, and need no possessive: 
 
48 Errors of Speech 
 
 " That puts the President in the most attractive 
 light before the machine workers, for what could 
 be more winning than this picture of him laying 
 his hand on the General's shoulder . . . ? " 
 
 " We should have been face to face with an un- 
 paralleled political betrayal — nothing less than that 
 of the chief of the party opposed to free silver at 
 1 6 to i doing his best to force free silver upon us 
 at 15% to i." 
 
 The following is a doubtful passage, suscep- 
 tible, perhaps, of either interpretation : 
 
 " His discourse was broken off by his man tell- 
 ing him he had called a coach." 
 
 15. Of the prepositions that accompany 
 verbs there are some that are parts of ad- 
 Prepositions verbial phrases, as ' to learn by 
 with verbs. heart> »» « tQ discuss at length, " " I 
 
 shall come of course," and so on. There are 
 others that may be regarded as parts of the 
 verb, forming compounds analogous to those 
 so freely used in German, as " That is some- 
 thing I should never think of," " That is more 
 than I bargained for," " Such conduct is hard 
 to conceive of." These two classes of expres- 
 
Grammar 49 
 
 sion give no trouble : the preposition and the 
 noun or verb are so constantly seen together 
 that no other preposition ever intrudes. 
 
 There are verbs, however, that keep com- 
 pany, or have kept company, with more than 
 one preposition, and which give occasion some- 
 times for doubt as to their proper mates. 
 These are generally verbs of Latin origin, 
 having already Latin prepositions of their own 
 firmly united to them, and which hold rather 
 loosely therefore to the second or English 
 companions which have been forced upon them. 
 
 16. The tendency of the English language, 
 
 as of other languages, in respect to such verbs 
 
 as these, is in favor of that preposi- 
 Differ from. 
 
 tion which is a translation of the 
 
 Latin one. Thus we say, appeiid to, annex to, 
 detach from, exempt from, concur with, com- 
 municate with, deliver from, and so on through 
 a long list. Nevertheless, differ with is now 
 sometimes met with, and though not conform- 
 able with the genius of the language, seems 
 
50 Errors of Speech 
 
 likely, if not to drive out the other expression, 
 at least to divide its domain. The only cases, 
 I think, in which differ with is used are those 
 in which a difference of opinion is spoken of. 
 When the difference is in character, religion, 
 appearance, anything but opinion, no one, I 
 think, would use anything but differ from. 
 Even in this use, the form differ with is cer- 
 tainly not well established ; it is seldom if ever 
 used in speaking of third persons, but only 
 when the speaker says " I differ with so-and- 
 so M ; and, as it is entirely unnecessary, it seems 
 to me it should be avoided. The following is 
 correct : 
 
 " I must differ from you there altogether." 
 Trollope, Dr. Thome, Ch. xliv. 
 
 " Sir : A few years ago I felt the necessity of 
 differing from you on the subject of foot-ball." 
 Letter in The Nation, Dec. 23, 1897. 
 
 " Perhaps in minor particulars I might differ 
 from him." Report of the Electrical Conference at 
 Philadelphia, 1884, p. 162. 
 
 17. Connect to is much used now by some 
 
Grammar 5 1 
 
 writers on electricity, instead of connect with. 
 Connect ^ has no advantage over the latter, 
 with. anc j k as no SU pp 0r t among good 
 
 writers. There is no need for it, even as a 
 technical term, and there is the strongest rea- 
 son therefore why it should be avoided. 
 
 " This time includes placing the cartridge in the 
 hole, connecting to the pump and . . ." 
 
 " Must each have the frame permanently con- 
 nected to ground." 
 
 " If the sphere be an infinitely thin conductor 
 and be connected to the ground . . ." 
 
 The same writer, however, says, correctly : 
 
 " The vessel is connected with an electrometer." 
 " The quadrants connected with b become posi- 
 tively charged, and the quadrants connected with 
 a become negatively charged." 
 
 1 8. Compare to is no better than connect to : 
 
 with is the proper preposition in both cases. 
 
 Observe the effect of the substitu- 
 Compare to. 
 
 tion in the following examples : 
 
 " Yet two of these were good cross-examiners 
 
 compared to the chairman." 
 
52 Errors of Speech 
 
 " They still knew that the interest they took in 
 their business was a trifling affair compared to their 
 spontaneous, long-suffering affection for nautical 
 sport." 
 
 19. An adjective requires the same preposi- 
 tion as the verb to which it is etymologically 
 
 related. Different to is therefore as 
 Preposition 
 
 with adjec- wrong as differ with, and the follow- 
 ing examples must be condemned: 
 
 " . . . and Russian officers must be very dif- 
 ferent to English ones." 
 
 " It is quite a different affair to that of Moffat's." 
 
 The correct usage is shown in Section 16. 
 
 The following are examples of the misuse of 
 other prepositions. The errors will be readily 
 detected : 
 
 " In walked Sir Hercules Robinson, dressed in a 
 court uniform much ornamented by gold embroid- 
 ery." 
 
 "... the emperors of Austria and Russia 
 sympathized in the autocratic tendencies of Abdul 
 Hamid." 
 
 " Every particle of matter of which we have any 
 knowledge attracts every other particle in con- 
 formity to the law of gravitation." 
 
Grammar 53 
 
 v 20. Some mistakes in the use of auxiliaries 
 are rather common. First among these is the 
 Auxilia- use °f can instead of may t a mistake 
 nes: Can. common j n childhood, and not alto- 
 gether unknown in maturer years. " You 
 can now go and take some exercise," " Can 
 we have a week longer for our composition ? M 
 These, if rare, are not unheard of, and young 
 writers should be on their guard against them. 
 Can implies ability : may asks or gives permis- 
 sion. 
 
 Though this error belongs, as said, mostly 
 to childhood's years, we find it occasionally in 
 the work of the elders. Thus: 
 
 " Can I come in, Frank ? " Trollope, Dr. 
 Thome, Ch. xliv. 
 
 But here it is put into the mouth of a young 
 speaker, and perhaps it should be said that this 
 error does not rise much higher than the school- 
 room. So high, however, it does rise, and 
 somewhat too often. 
 
54 Errors of Speech 
 
 21. Another error in the use of auxiliaries 
 
 consists in leaving the auxiliary or 
 Auxiliary 
 
 without a helping word without anything to 
 verb - help. 
 
 " ' I 've sometimes thought she 'd turn me out of 
 the house.' 
 
 " ' I wish with all my heart she had.' " 
 
 Hodgson, in his Errors in the Use of English, 
 a large collection from English writers, has had 
 better luck (or worse ?) in meeting with this 
 blunder than I have had among American and 
 English writers together. I am inclined to 
 think it commoner in England than in Amer- 
 ica, and commoner fifty years ago than now. 
 I cite a few of Hodgson's examples, with some 
 of my own collecting: 
 
 " Shelley, like Byron, early knew what it was to 
 love ; almost all the great poets have." 
 
 Have known, the writer meant to say, but 
 there is no known in his sentence. 
 
 " We are all apt to imagine that what is, always 
 has, and always will be." 
 
Grammar 55 
 
 Always has been is intended. 
 
 " I am anxious for the time when he will talk as 
 much nonsense to me as I have to him." 
 
 " Some part of this exemption may, and no doubt 
 is, due to mental and physical causes." 
 
 The analogy between this error and that 
 which consists in leaving a pronoun without an 
 antecedent is obvious, and the training that is 
 good as a corrective for the one may be recom- 
 mended for the other. 
 
 22. Shall and will. By far the most trouble- 
 some of the English auxiliaries are shall and 
 Shall and wi'll: indeed, so common is the mis- 
 • use of these two words that many 
 
 persons question the wisdom of trying to main- 
 tain the distinction between them. As for me, 
 however, I feel that the system of refined dis- 
 tinctions between these words which has grown 
 up during five centuries and been perfected 
 during the last two is a choice inheritance 
 which everyone who cares for the beauties of 
 his native tongue ought to be willing to make 
 considerable effort to preserve. 
 
56 Errors of Speech 
 
 That will originally implied desire and con- 
 sequently determination, while shall expressed 
 duty or obligation, is the key to the many nice 
 shades of meaning that can now be expressed 
 by the proper use of these two words. To 
 trace out and explain all these nice distinctions 
 would be an undertaking too large for these 
 pages : only two or three of the plainest cases 
 can be touched on. 
 
 a. Will can never be properly used in the 
 first person, unless intention, purpose, or 
 promise is implied. If nothing more is meant 
 than that a given event is going to happen, shall 
 must be used. This, the most simple and 
 positive of the principles governing the use of 
 shall and will, is violated in the recitation- 
 room, daily, in the most flagrant way. Every 
 hour I hear, "If we divide by the co-efficient 
 of x we will find . . .", lt Solving this 
 equation we will find two values . . .", 
 "If we look at Venus through a good telescope 
 we will see it crescent-shaped," and so on. 
 
Grammar 57 
 
 Impossible as it is to listen to these things 
 without shuddering, it is also impossible to 
 pause to correct them all, and it ought not to 
 be necessary: however difficult some of the 
 other uses of these words may be, this distinc- 
 tion is of such an elementary kind as should be 
 understood and correctly applied by everybody 
 who pretends to be a student, and the neglect 
 of it should be an unpardonable offence. 
 
 b. So positive and so simple is the principle 
 just stated that it suffices to condemn at once 
 and without appeal the use of will or would in 
 the first person with such verbs as like, prefer, 
 wish, fear, hope, and others expressing involun- 
 tary states of mind. " I would like to hear 
 your opinion," " I would be afraid to walk 
 there after dark, " " I will expect to hear from 
 you soon," " I would prefer to manage it in 
 my own way," and all expressions like these 
 are wrong. The state of feeling indicated, 
 that of preferring, liking, fearing, is one that 
 arises spontaneously in the speaker, and the 
 
58 Errors of Speech 
 
 will has no influence over it. That hundreds 
 of such expressions can be found in the 
 writings, and thousands in the speech, of men 
 of considerable culture does not justify them: 
 they are uniformly excluded from the writings 
 of all who pay attention to correctness of style, 
 from Shakspere to George Eliot. Such pas- 
 sages as the following, which may be found in 
 any desired number in the reports of the trans- 
 actions of scientific societies, have no justifica- 
 tion, and no one who hopes to learn to speak 
 and write English correctly should ever allow 
 himself to use them : 
 
 " I would like to add a word to what Mr. Hen- 
 derson has said." 
 
 " I would like to say just one word." 
 " Mr. Chairman, I would like the privilege of 
 seconding that motion." 
 
 c. Should and would, when used affirmatively 
 and in direct discourse (not in such expressions 
 as " he said he should," " they thought they 
 should "), follow the analogy of shall and will. 
 
Grammar 59 
 
 If these three principles be firmly grasped, 
 most of the simpler uses of these words will 
 present no difficulty. 
 
 Out of the original distinction between shall 
 and will, the former expressing obligation and 
 the latter determination, have arisen many 
 subtle shades of distinction. It is in the expres- 
 sion of these refinements of meaning, — in inter- 
 rogative forms, in indirect discourse, and in 
 cases in which the words are used rather as inde- 
 pendent verbs than as auxiliaries, that most of 
 the real difficulties arise and that most of the 
 supposed lapses of good writers occur. When 
 better understood, however, these lapses are 
 often found to be no lapses at all, but strictly in 
 conformity with the correct use of the words. 
 These refinements, interesting as the study of 
 them is, it would be improper to try to present 
 here. My present purpose will be accom- 
 plished if I can induce my readers to give to 
 the simpler cases so much attention as will en- 
 able them to avoid the most conspicuous errors. 
 
60 Errors of Speech 
 
 The following are examples, from daily 
 papers, campaign speeches, and current liter- 
 ature, of the prevailing misuse of these words : 
 
 " Well, if the Legislature will agree to the amend- 
 ments which I have suggested I will be glad to 
 accept the charter." 
 
 " A few days ago, when he was asked why he did 
 not openly fight Mr. Croker on questions of policy, 
 he is reported to have replied that Mr. Croker had 
 put him in the leadership and he would be an in- 
 grate to turn against him." 
 
 " Ex-Secretary Whitney was asked if all the wit- 
 nesses had been examined, and he said : ' No. We 
 have not finished taking testimony, and I fear we 
 will not to-day.' " 
 
 " If free coinage means a ioo-cent dollar, equal 
 to a gold dollar, ... we will not then have 
 cheap dollars, but dollars just like those we now 
 have." 
 
 " We will be required to coin only that which is 
 not needed elsewhere." 
 
 " We would look in vain through the speech de- 
 livered here one week ago to find a true statement 
 of the issue . . ." 
 
 " If everything in the world be increased ten per 
 cent, in value, why, we would pay ten per cent. 
 in addition for what we would buy, and get ten 
 per cent, more for what we would sell, and we 
 
Grammar 61 
 
 would be in exactly the same place we occupied 
 before." 
 
 " The election of 1892 was a great misfortune. 
 It may be we would have had a collapse then, no 
 one can be quite sure. But if we had we should 
 never have gone so far or suffered so much." 
 
 Why the speaker should have repented him of 
 would and returned to should, from which he 
 ought not to have strayed, is not easy to 
 understand, unless, following the example of 
 some others, he is only trying to treat the rival 
 auxiliaries impartially. 
 
 " Free silver would put more gold out of circu- 
 lation than the mints of the United States could 
 possibly bring in in years of silver, and instead of 
 having more money we would have less. With 
 our six hundred and odd millions of gold driven 
 out of circulation, we will reduce the per capita 
 money of this country between eight and nine 
 dollars." 
 
 The speaker here uses both would and will 
 wrongly ; but he shows his willingness to be 
 right sometimes, by saying, in another place : 
 
 " If Mr. Bryan . . . were in the Presidential 
 
62 Errors of Speech 
 
 chair, without any legislation by Congress we should 
 be on a silver basis in a week's time." 
 
 23. After these shocking utterances it will 
 be a pleasure to note how the masters use 
 these words : 
 
 " ' We shall, 
 
 As I conceive the journey, be at the Mount 
 
 Before you, Lepidus.' " 
 
 Shakspere, Ant. and Cleop. y ii., 5. 
 
 " They know that we be hungry ; therefore are 
 they gone out of the camp to hide themselves in 
 the field, saying, when they come out of the city, 
 we shall catch them alive, and get into the city." 
 2 Kings vii., 12. 
 
 11 You need not offer me any inducements : I 
 shall be delighted to come if I can." William 
 Black, B rise is. 
 
 " All Valentines are not foolish, and I shall not 
 easily forget thine, my kind friend." Charles 
 Lamb, " Valentine's Day." 
 
 " As soon as I get settled I will write and let 
 you know, and I shall expect you immediately." 
 Dickens, Pickwick Papers. 
 
 " I was a coward on instinct. I shall think the 
 better of myself and thee during my life." Shak- 
 spere, Henry IV. , I., ii., 4. 
 
 " I should only like to see what they 'd say to 
 you if you were in a sponging-house ! Yes, I should 
 
Grammar 63 
 
 enjoy that, just to show that I 'm always right." 
 Jerrold, Curtain Lectures, No. 15. 
 
 " I know what men's two small glasses are. In a 
 little while you '11 have your face all over as if it 
 were made of red currant jam. And I should like 
 to know who is to endure you then ? " lb., No. 3. 
 
 "What do you say? I made her blush at my 
 manners ? I should like to have seen her blush." 
 Ib. y No. 18. 
 
 " . . . for which reason he shook him by the 
 hand, telling him he should be glad to see him at 
 his lodgings." Addison, Spectator. 
 
 ' Well, it may be all very fine and philosophical, 
 but should n't I just like to read you the end of the 
 second volume of Modem Painters." Ruskin, 
 The Ethics of the Dust, Lecture vii. 
 
 Well, Uncle,' said Tom, ' that is what I should 
 like to do.' " George Eliot, The Mill on the 
 Floss, Ch. v. 
 
 " I wish I could have those minutes over again. 
 I wonder if I should really do what I think I should. 
 I should like to drive back and try it." Burnand, 
 Happy Thoughts, Ch. xvii. 
 
 " I presented her with a book which I happened 
 to have with me, and I should not be pleased to 
 think that she forgot me." Johnson, A journey 
 to the Western Islands. 
 
 " ' I should like a turn with you, but it is a little 
 too late,' said he." Hope, The Prisoner of Zenda. 
 
 " In America I should as soon think of drinking 
 
64 Errors of Speech 
 
 pure alcohol directly after breakfast as a glass of 
 porter." Richard Grant White, England with- 
 in and without. 
 
 " ' You would n't like to sit to me for your por- 
 trait, should you ? ' said Piero." George Eliot, 
 Romola, Ch. xxv. 
 
 " In regard to the waistcoat, I would n't have a 
 man's waistcoat, much less a gentleman's waistcoat 
 on my mind for no consideration ; but the silk 
 handkerchief 's another thing ; and if you was sat- 
 isfied when we get to Hounslow, I should n't object 
 to that as a gift." Dickens, Martin Chuzzlewit, 
 Vol. II., Ch. xiii. 
 
 Dickens's lowest characters, if they are Eng- 
 lish, though they may be unable to manage 
 other parts of their grammar, are always right 
 in the use of shall and will. 
 
 " What ! Upon compulsion ? No ; were I at the 
 strappado, or all the racks in the world, I would 
 not tell you on compulsion." Shakspere, Henry 
 IV., I., ii., 4. 
 
 " ' I suppose I am dull about many things,' said 
 Dorothea, simply. ' I should like to make life 
 beautiful — I mean everybody's life.' " George 
 Eliot, Middlemarch, Ch. xxii. 
 
 " ' I hate grammar ! What 's the use of it ? ' 
 " ' To teach you to speak and write correctly . . . 
 Should you like to speak as old Job does ? ' " Ib. y 
 xxiv. 
 
Grammar 65 
 
 " ' I should not be surprised at anything in Bul- 
 strode, but I should be sorry to think it of Lyd- 
 gate.' " Middlemarch, Ch. xxvi. 
 
 " ' I should like to know when you left off,' said 
 Rosamund." lb., xxvii. 
 
 " I want to recall you to the subject of lotteries. 
 I should like to hear anybody maintain that they 
 are not very culpable transactions." Helps, Real- 
 tnah y Ch. vi. 
 
 24. Since Shakspere's day the use of the 
 
 possessive form where no possession is to be 
 
 expressed has been greatly extended. 
 Possessive. 
 
 For a long while " its was stoutly 
 
 resisted as a needless innovation ; now, not only 
 
 is this word thoroughly established, but our 
 
 ready-writers put almost any word into the 
 
 possessive form, without regard to possession 
 
 or to euphony either, and the preposition " of " 
 
 seems to be falling into disuse. We read 
 
 now — " Negotiations are pending between the 
 
 powers' representatives and the Porte," " The 
 
 Charter Commission's end," " The test of the 
 
 suggestion's efficiency might be made there," 
 
 " Sorosis' president," " The State of Georgia's 
 
66 Errors of Speech 
 
 loss," " The Administration's view of the 
 commission's make-up," and much more of 
 the same kind. 
 
 How unnecessary these harsh utterances are, 
 becomes plain when we note how easy it is to 
 avoid them. 
 
 Negotiations are pending between the 
 Porte and the representatives of the powers," 
 " The end of the Charter Commission," " The 
 efficiency (value) of the suggestion," " The 
 loss of the State of Georgia. " Surely all these 
 express the thought intended, and all more 
 euphoniously than the expressions cited. 
 
 The following it is hardly worth while to 
 correct : 
 
 " Rapid transit by the Elm Street underground 
 railroad is, we believe, assured by yesterday's con- 
 firmation by the Appellate Division of the Supreme 
 Court commission's report in approval of the Rapid 
 Transit Commission's plans. Despite the rejoicings 
 of the Manhattan Elevated Railway Company's 
 officials, we believe that the remarkable qualifica- 
 tions of the Division's judgment present no obstacle 
 to the project which time, patience, and the extraor- 
 
Grammar 67 
 
 dinary powers of the Rapid Transit Commission 
 may not surmount. 
 
 " Yet we believe that the Appellate Division's 
 additions to the law's restrictions will not be found 
 of paralyzing effect." 
 
 25. It will perhaps be thought by some 
 that such faults as I have illustrated are too 
 trifling to deserve attention. It is, of course, 
 true that they can be avoided only by waiting 
 and picking and choosing, and it is true that, 
 sometimes, there is not time for such care. 
 This is the apology for the writers of the news- 
 paper press and all who are compelled to write 
 in haste; and, though not a justification, it is 
 sometimes a fair excuse. It is indeed an occa- 
 sion for wonder, when one thinks how a daily 
 paper is prepared, that it is so well written as 
 it generally is. But after all, haste does not 
 excuse everything, and proper training, the 
 acquired habit of looking out constantly for 
 false references and false agreements, for well- 
 known improprieties, for vulgarisms and use- 
 less innovations, the habit of holding in the 
 
68 Errors of Speech 
 
 youthful pen (and the elderly pen too for that 
 matter) rather than give it free course, will en- 
 able the writer to avoid easily many an awk- 
 ward turn which he at first deems inevitable or 
 at least excusable. It is to assist in the for- 
 mation of this habit that this little work is 
 intended. 
 
 At the suggestion of my publishers, I append 
 the following Index, which contains, in addi- 
 tion to the expressions criticised in the preced- 
 ing chapters, others that in my opinion should 
 also be condemned. I strongly recommend to 
 every writer, and particularly to every young 
 writer, to keep such an Index on hand, and to 
 interest himself in making to it needful addi- 
 tions. 
 
INDEX EXPURGATORIUS. 
 
 Above, for more than. 
 
 Antagonize, for oppose. 
 
 Any, for at all : " She does not walk any if she can 
 
 avoid it." " I don't work any at night." 
 Apt, for liable or likely. 
 
 Balance, for rest or remainder. 
 Be done with, for have done with. 
 Bogus, for worthless, fraudulent. 
 But, for only : " others but nodded." 
 
 Cablegram, for cable despatch or message. 
 Calculated to, for likely to or lit to. 
 Carnival, as metaphor. 
 Claim, for assert or maintain. 
 Cyclone, for tornado or hurricane. 
 
 Deputize, for depute. 
 
 Develops, for turns out : " It develops that Senator 
 
 Hoar introduced the proposed amendment." 
 Due to, for owing to. 
 
 Electrocute, for kill by electricity. 
 Endorse, for approve. 
 En route, for on the way. 
 
 Enthuse over, for feel enthusiastic over, or admire. 
 
 69 
 
70 Errors of Speech 
 
 Every now and then, for now and then. 
 Every once in a while, for once in a while. 
 Expect, for think or suppose, relating to present 
 time. 
 
 Fix, for adjust, repair, and a hundred other words. 
 Folks, for folk or people : " the good folks at the 
 
 inn," for " the good people at the inn." 
 Fraud, for impostor. 
 
 Goes without saying, for is understood. 
 Gratuitous, for unnecessary. 
 
 Have got, for have. 
 
 Hire, let, lease. (See dictionaries.) 
 
 Inaugurate, for begin or open. 
 In evidence, for conspicuous. 
 In our midst, for in the midst of us, or among us. 
 Inside of, for within or in less than : " inside of 
 two weeks." 
 
 Jeopardize, for endanger. 
 
 Know as, for know that : " I do not know as I can 
 say much on that subject." 
 
 Learn, for teach. 
 
 Leave, for let. 
 
 Lengthy, for long. 
 
 Loan, for lend. 
 
 Locate, for settle or place. 
 
 Lurid, for bright or brilliant. 
 
Index Expurgatorius 71 
 
 Majority, for most : " The majority of the stock is 
 
 worthless." 
 Materialize, for appear. 
 
 Murderous, for deadly : " murderous weapons." 
 Mutual, for common. 
 
 Observe, for say (it means to heed or attend to). 
 Official, for officer. 
 
 Patron, for customer. 
 Posted, for informed. 
 Proven, for proved. 
 
 Quite, for very. 
 
 Reliable, for trustworthy. 
 
 Remains, for corpse. 
 
 Rendition, for performance. 
 
 Repudiate, for reject or disown. 
 
 Restive, for restless or frisky. 
 
 Resurrect, for bring back to life. 
 
 Retire, for go to bed. 
 
 Retire, for withdraw (active verb). 
 
 Role, for part. 
 
 Ruination, for ruin or destruction. 
 
 Since, for ago : " It happened more than a year 
 
 since." 
 Some, for somewhat or a little : " It thawed some." 
 State, for say : " He stated that he had no property 
 
 of his own." 
 Stop at, for stay at. 
 
J2 Errors of Speech 
 
 Those kind, for that kind. 
 Transference, for transfer. 
 Transpire, for occur or take place. 
 
 Ventilate, for expose or explain. 
 
 Will be able, for shall be able, in the first person. 
 Would like, for should like, in the first person. 
 
INDEX 
 
 Accusative for nominative, 23 
 
 Addison, 44 
 
 Apt, 6 
 
 Arnold, Matthew, 44 
 
 Auxiliaries, 53 
 
 Auxiliary without verb, 54 
 
 Benjamin, Park, 44 
 Bible, 45 
 
 Black, William, 62 
 Brewing, 14 
 Burke, Edmund, 45 
 Burnand, 63 
 
 Can, may, 53 
 Carlyle, Thomas, 9 
 Carnival, 17 
 Case-hardened, 19 
 Claim, 8 
 
 Common Prayer, 44 
 Compare with, 51 
 Connect with, 50 
 Constitution of the United 
 
 States, 45 
 Cyclone, 16 
 
 Definite, 6 
 Definitive, 6 
 Dickens, 62, 64 
 
 Dickson : Mommsen's Rome, 
 
 43 
 Differ from, 49 
 Divided infinitive, 40 
 Disagreement in number, 28 
 Due, 4 
 
 Electrical Conference, Re- 
 port of, 50 
 Eliot, George, 63, 64, 65 
 Evening Post, 43 
 
 Froude, 37 
 
 Gladstone, W. E., 8, 46 
 Godkin, vii 
 Grammar, 22 
 
 Handicap, 18 
 Helps, Sir Arthur, 65 
 Hodgson, 54 
 Hope, Anthony, 63 
 
 Improprieties, I 
 Index expurgatorius, 69 
 Infinitive, divided, 40 
 
 Jerrold, Douglas W., 46, 63 
 Johnson, Samuel, 63 
 
 73 
 
74 
 
 Index 
 
 Kirkwood, Daniel, 45 
 
 Lamb, Charles, 62 
 Liable, 1 
 
 Macaulay, Thomas B., 3S, 43 
 Metaphors, 13 
 McKinley, William, 44 
 Mivart, St. George, 5 
 
 Nation, The, 50 
 
 Number, disagreement in, 28 
 
 Orgy, 19 
 Owing, 4 
 
 Participial noun without gov- 
 ernment, 45 
 
 Participle as adjective, 47 
 
 Participle, wrong reference, 
 29 
 
 Passive voice, 31 
 
 Passive, with verbs of giving, 
 
 33 
 Phenomenal, 10 
 Pluperfect for past future, 37 
 Possessive, 65 
 
 Preposition with adjective, 52 
 Preposition with verb, 48 
 Preterit for perfect, 38 
 Preterit for pluperfect, 39 
 Pronoun without antecedent, 
 
 25 
 Pronoun, with wrong antece- 
 dent, 26 
 
 Ruskin, John, 44, 63 
 
 Shakspere, 62, 64 
 Shall and will, 55 
 Should and would, 58 
 Spencer, Herbert, 3, 11 
 Strong, W. L., 44 
 
 Thorn, 19 
 Tidal wave, 14 
 Trollope, Anthony, 50, 53 
 
 Wallace, Alfred R., 44 
 Weather Bureau, The, 5 
 Webster, Daniel, 9 
 Whateley, 46 
 
 White, Richard Grant, 37, 
 64 
 
LANGUAGE 
 
 THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND ENGLISH GRAMMAR. 
 
 An Historical Study of the Sources, Development, and Analogies of the 
 Language, and of the Principles Covering its Usages. Illustrated 
 by Copious Examples by Writers of all Periods. By Samuel 
 Ramsey. 8° $2.00 
 
 " Mr. Ramsey's work will appeal especially to those that desire to know something 
 more about the history and philology, the growth and mistakes of their native tongue 
 than is given in the ordinary text-books." — BaZthnore Sun. 
 
 " To have completed such a work is almost reward enough for the pains expended 
 upon it. The book will be regarded as an authority on the history of the English lan- 
 guage and English grammar." — N. V. Observer. 
 
 SOME COMMON ERRORS OF SPEECH. 
 
 By Alfred G. Compton, Professor in College of the City of New- 
 York. 12° % 
 
 Suggestions for the avoiding of certain classes of errors, with examples of bad and 
 of good usage. 
 
 A SIMPLE GRAMMAR OF ENGLISH NOW IN USE. 
 
 By John Earle, A.M., LL.D., Professor of Anglo-Saxon, University 
 of Oxford, author of " English Prose : Its Elements, History, and 
 Usage." 12 $1.50 
 
 ORTHOMETRY. 
 
 A Treatise on the Art of Versification and the Technicalities of Poetry, 
 with a New and Complete Rhyming Dictionary. By R. F. Brewer, 
 B.A. 12 , pp. xv. -f- 376 $2.00 
 
 " It is a good book for its purpose, lucid, compact, and well arranged. It lays bare, 
 we believe, the complete anatomy of poetry. It affords interesting quotations, in the 
 way of example, and interesting comments by distinguished critics upon certain pas- 
 sages from the distinguished poets." — N. Y. Sun. 
 
 MANUAL OF LINGUISTICS. 
 
 An Account of General and English Phonology. By John Clark, A.M. 
 
 8°, pp. lxiii. -f- 314 $2.00 
 
 "Mr. Clark has traced the English language back to its foundations in his work 
 1 Manual of Linguistics.' It is an interesting theme, and his book will prove very use- 
 ful for reference, for he has culled from many sources and gone over a wide territory." 
 — Detroit Free Press. 
 
 COMPOSITION IN THE SCHOOL-ROOM. 
 
 A Practical Treatise. By E. Galbraith. 16 , cloth . . $1.00 
 
 ''The author has drawn fully from the best writers on the subject, and her book is an 
 epitome of the best thought of all." — Boston Transcript. 
 
 G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS, New York and London, 
 
WORKS BY W. H. PHYFE 
 
 HOW SHOULD I PRONOUNCE ? 
 
 Or the Art of Correct Pronunciation. i6° . . . ^r.25 
 
 Popular edition, 16 ....... 75 cts. 
 
 " I appreciate its value, and indorse your work as a most serviceable aid to ali who 
 wish to speak our language correctly." — Edwin Booth. 
 
 THE SCHOOL PRONOUNCER. 
 
 Based on Webster's Unabridged Dictionary. 16 , pp. 366 . $'.25 
 
 "A scholarly and scientific presentation of a most difficult subject."— Prof. T. W. 
 Hunt, College of New Jersey. 
 
 SEVEN THOUSAND WORDS OFTEN 
 MISPRONOUNCED. 
 
 A guide to correct pronunciation. Fourth revised edition (43rd thousand), 
 
 with supplement of 1400 additional words. 16 . . $1.00 
 
 U A complete and conveniently arranged hand-book of the difficulties in English 
 pronunciation." — Cambridge Tribune. 
 
 "It is compiled with great industry and a careful study of authorities, as well as 
 an enlightened application to special and first-handed sources of information, and I am 
 confident that it will contribute, as you intend, toward a more accurate pronunciation 
 of our language." — Prof. W. D. Whitney, Yale College, editor of the Century 
 Dictionary. 
 
 THE TEST PRONOUNCER. 
 
 A companion volume to " 7000 Words Often Mispronounced," contain- 
 ing the identical list of words found in the larger work, arranged in 
 groups of ten, without diacritical marks for convenience in recita- 
 tions. 16 ......... 50 els. 
 
 " This last volume was prepared at the suggestion of many teachers, and it will be 
 found of great value to others as well. It is admirable in purpose, and supplements 
 completely the previous work." — Boston Times. 
 
 5000 WORDS COMMONLY MISSPELLED. 
 
 A carefully selected list of words difficult to spell, together with direc- 
 tions for spelling, and for the division of words into syllables ; 
 with an appendix containing the rules and list of amended spell- 
 ings recommended by the Philological Society of London, and the 
 American Philological Association. 16 . . . -75 c ts. 
 
 " This book is a work of reference, and will be found very useful. It contains a 
 carefully selected list of words difficult to spell. . . . The simple rules given, with 
 suggestions, are admirable." — Minneapolis Tribune. 
 
 u This list of words often misspelled has been selected with the utmost care."— 
 Detroit Free Press. 
 
 G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS, New York and London, 
 
— TO L D OAN DEPT. 
 
 , the ^ date stamped MOV.O. 
 
 Renewed bo^- 
 
 
 GeoeralUb^ry 
 UoiversityofCaWo 1 
 
GENmiU »»W-U.B £mLF 
 
..:;;:::.;:■ , ■ 
 ■ :