How to Say it: Helpful Hints on EnglishG.P. Putnam's sons, 1926 - 312 pages |
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Common terms and phrases
according adjective adverb agreeably American asked assert authorities on English better to say called colloquial common condemned convey correct to say correctly course criticism difference in meaning distinction employed English Grammar English language error example expression Fernald following sentence frequently Funk & Wagnalls G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS gives gram grammarians hear idea incorrect incorrectly Jones lady Latin lish misused never newspaper article noun object opinion person plural verb preposition pronoun proper form question recent refer reply Richard Grant White Robert Kinsey rule of grammar says Alfred Ayres says one authority seems seen sense sentence quoted sentence should read singular verb slang sometimes speaker or writer speech split infinitive Standard Dictionary says subjunctive mood synonyms tell tence tense term thing tion Ty Cobb usage Verbalist Wagnalls New Standard Webster Webster's Dictionary wish woman writer or speaker writers and speakers wrote
Popular passages
Page 282 - A noun's the name of anything, As school or garden, hoop or swing. Adjectives tell the kind of noun, As great, small, pretty, white or brown.
Page 279 - And he said unto them, This is that which the Lord hath said, Tomorrow is the rest of the holy Sabbath unto the Lord ; bake that which ye will bake today, and seethe that ye will seethe; and that which remaineth over lay up for you to be kept until the morning.
Page 147 - I PURPOSE to write the history of England from the accession of King James the Second down to a time which is within the memory of men still living.
Page 239 - And we said unto my lord, The lad cannot leave his father : for if he should leave his father, his father would die.
Page 247 - ... Christian will revenge himself on his enemies, and take vengeance on his foes. 13. Charlemagne found that his subjects were very ignorant, and therefore founded several seminaries of learning; but all his attempts and efforts were insufficient and unable to enlighten the darkness of his age. 14. No learning is generally so dearly bought, or so valuable when it is bought, as the learning that we learn in the school of experience.
Page 144 - And in these introductions, it is the younger who is introduced to the older; the lower to the higher in place or social position; the gentleman to the lady. A lady should say, as a rule, that Mr. Blank was introduced to her, not that she was introduced to Mr. Blank.
Page 15 - AUTHORESS. With regard to the use of this and certain other words of like formation, Mr. Gould, in his "Good English," says: "Poet means simply a person who writes poetry; and author, in the sense under consideration, a person who writes poetry or prose — not a man who writes, but a person who writes. Nothing in either word indicates sex; and everybody knows that the functions of both poets and authors are common to both sexes. Hence, authoress and poetess are superfluous.
Page 154 - But," says the defender of this phraseology, "rarely qualifies a verb — the verb to be." Not at all. The sentence, if written out in full, would be, "It is a very rare thing that," etc., or "The circumstance is a very rare one that," etc., or "It is a very rare occurrence that,
Page 282 - The interjection shows surprise, As, Oh, how pretty! Ah, how wise!
Page 43 - EVIDENCE— TESTIMONY. These words, though differing widely in meaning, are often used indiscriminately by careless speakers. Evidence is that which tends to convince; testimony is that which is intended to convince. In a judicial investigation, for example, there might be a great deal of testimony — a great deal of testifying — and very little evidence; and the evidence might be quite the reverse of the testimony. See PROOF. EXAGGERATION. "Weak minds, feeble writers and speakers delight in superlatives