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HOW TO `
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SPEAK AND WRITE `
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CORRECTLY `
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By `
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JOSEPH DEVLIN, M.A. `
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Edited by `
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THEODORE WATERS `
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CONTENTS `
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CHAPTER I `
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REQUIREMENTS OF SPEECH `
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Vocabulary. Parts of speech. Requisites. `
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CHAPTER II `
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ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH GRAMMAR `
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Divisions of grammar. Definitions. Etymology. `
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CHAPTER III `
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THE SENTENCE `
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Different kinds. Arrangement of words Paragraph. `
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CHAPTER IV `
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FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE `
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Figures of speech. Definitions and examples. Use of figures. `
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CHAPTER V `
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PUNCTUATION `
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Principal points. Illustrations. Capital letters. `
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CHAPTER VI `
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LETTER WRITING `
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Principles of letter writing. Forms. Notes. `
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CHAPTER VII `
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ERRORS `
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Mistakes. Slips of authors. Examples and corrections. Errors of redundancy. `
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CHAPTER VIII `
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PITFALLS TO AVOID `
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Common stumbling blocks. Peculiar constructions. Misused forms. `
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CHAPTER IX `
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STYLE `
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Diction. Purity. Propriety. Precision. `
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CHAPTER X `
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SUGGESTIONS `
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How to write. What to write. Correct speaking and speakers. `
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CHAPTER XI `
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SLANG `
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Origin. American slang. Foreign slang. `
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CHAPTER XII `
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WRITING FOR NEWSPAPERS `
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Qualification. Appropriate subjects. Directions. `
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CHAPTER XIII `
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CHOICE OF WORDS `
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Small words. Their importance. The Anglo-Saxon element. `
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CHAPTER XIV `
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ENGLISH LANGUAGE `
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Beginning. Different Sources. The present. `
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CHAPTER XV `
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MASTERS AND MASTERPIECES OF LITERATURE `
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Great authors. Classification. The world's best books. `
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INTRODUCTION `
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In the preparation of this little work the writer has kept one end in `
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view, viz.: To make it serviceable for those for whom it is intended, `
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that is, for those who have neither the time nor the opportunity, the `
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learning nor the inclination, to peruse elaborate and abstruse treatises `
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on Rhetoric, Grammar, and Composition. To them such works are as gold `
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enclosed in chests of steel and locked beyond power of opening. This book `
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has no pretension about it whatever,--it is neither a Manual of Rhetoric, `
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expatiating on the dogmas of style, nor a Grammar full of arbitrary rules `
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and exceptions. It is merely an effort to help ordinary, everyday people `
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to express themselves in ordinary, everyday language, in a proper manner. `
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Some broad rules are laid down, the observance of which will enable the `
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reader to keep within the pale of propriety in oral and written language. `
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Many idiomatic words and expressions, peculiar to the language, have been `
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given, besides which a number of the common mistakes and pitfalls have `
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been placed before the reader so that he may know and avoid them. `
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The writer has to acknowledge his indebtedness to no one in _particular_, `
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but to all in _general_ who have ever written on the subject. `
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The little book goes forth--a finger-post on the road of language `
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pointing in the right direction. It is hoped that they who go according `
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to its index will arrive at the goal of correct speaking and writing. `
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CHAPTER I `
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REQUIREMENTS OF SPEECH `
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Vocabulary--Parts of Speech--Requisites `
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It is very easy to learn how to speak and write correctly, as for all `
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purposes of ordinary conversation and communication, only about 2,000 `
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different words are required. The mastery of just twenty hundred words, `
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the knowing where to place them, will make us not masters of the English `
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language, but masters of correct speaking and writing. Small number, you `
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will say, compared with what is in the dictionary! But nobody ever uses `
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all the words in the dictionary or could use them did he live to be the `
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age of Methuselah, and there is no necessity for using them. `
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There are upwards of 200,000 words in the recent editions of the large `
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dictionaries, but the one-hundredth part of this number will suffice for `
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all your wants. Of course you may think not, and you may not be content `
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to call things by their common names; you may be ambitious to show `
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superiority over others and display your learning or, rather, your `
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pedantry and lack of learning. For instance, you may not want to call a `
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spade a spade. You may prefer to call it a spatulous device for abrading `
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the surface of the soil. Better, however, to stick to the old familiar, `
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simple name that your grandfather called it. It has stood the test of `
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time, and old friends are always good friends. `
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To use a big word or a foreign word when a small one and a familiar one `
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will answer the same purpose, is a sign of ignorance. Great scholars and `
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writers and polite speakers use simple words. `
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To go back to the number necessary for all purposes of conversation `
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correspondence and writing, 2,000, we find that a great many people who `
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pass in society as being polished, refined and educated use less, for `
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they know less. The greatest scholar alive hasn't more than four thousand `
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different words at his command, and he never has occasion to use half the `
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number. `
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In the works of Shakespeare, the most wonderful genius the world has ever `
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known, there is the enormous number of 15,000 different words, but almost `
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10,000 of them are obsolete or meaningless today. `
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Every person of intelligence should be able to use his mother tongue `
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correctly. It only requires a little pains, a little care, a little study `
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to enable one to do so, and the recompense is great. `
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Consider the contrast between the well-bred, polite man who knows how to `
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choose and use his words correctly and the underbred, vulgar boor, whose `
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language grates upon the ear and jars the sensitiveness of the finer `
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feelings. The blunders of the latter, his infringement of all the canons `
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of grammar, his absurdities and monstrosities of language, make his very `
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presence a pain, and one is glad to escape from his company. `
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The proper grammatical formation of the English language, so that one may `
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acquit himself as a correct conversationalist in the best society or be `
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able to write and express his thoughts and ideas upon paper in the right `
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manner, may be acquired in a few lessons. `
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It is the purpose of this book, as briefly and concisely as possible, to `
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direct the reader along a straight course, pointing out the mistakes he `
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must avoid and giving him such assistance as will enable him to reach the `
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goal of a correct knowledge of the English language. It is not a Grammar `
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in any sense, but a guide, a silent signal-post pointing the way in the `
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right direction. `
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THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE IN A NUTSHELL `
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All the words in the English language are divided into nine great `
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classes. These classes are called the Parts of Speech. They are Article, `
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Noun, Adjective, Pronoun, Verb, Adverb, Preposition, Conjunction and `
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Interjection. Of these, the Noun is the most important, as all the others `
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are more or less dependent upon it. A Noun signifies the name of any `
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person, place or thing, in fact, anything of which we can have either `
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thought or idea. There are two kinds of Nouns, Proper and Common. Common `
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Nouns are names which belong in common to a race or class, as _man_, `
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_city_. Proper Nouns distinguish individual members of a race or class as `
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_John_, _Philadelphia_. In the former case _man_ is a name which belongs `
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in common to the whole race of mankind, and _city_ is also a name which `
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is common to all large centres of population, but _John_ signifies a `
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particular individual of the race, while _Philadelphia_ denotes a `
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particular one from among the cities of the world. `
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Nouns are varied by Person, Number, Gender, and Case. Person is that `
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relation existing between the speaker, those addressed and the subject `
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under consideration, whether by discourse or correspondence. The Persons `
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are _First_, _Second_ and _Third_ and they represent respectively the `
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speaker, the person addressed and the person or thing mentioned or under `
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consideration. `
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_Number_ is the distinction of one from more than one. There are two `
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