Public Domain
For convenience' sake I have arranged in alphabetical order the subjects treated of, and for economy's sake I have kept in mind that "he that uses many words for the explaining of any subject doth, like the cuttle-fish, hide himself in his own ink."
PUNCTUATION. The importance of punctuation can not be overestimated; it not only helps to make plain the meaning of what one writes, but it may prevent one's being misconstrued....
6. Chapter 6"They who ridicule the phrase _grammatical errors_, and substitute the phrase _errors in grammar_, make an egregious mistake. Can there, it may be asked with some show of reason...
4. Chapter 4Page 161. "The boy studies ... geography and hates everything connected with the sea and land." Why _the_ boy? As there are few things besides seals and turtles that are connect...
15. Chapter 15The first paragraph of Mr. Emerson's "Essay on Art" reads: "All departments of life at the present day--Trade, Politics, Letters, Science, or Religion--seem to feel, and to labo...
14. Chapter 14SLANG. The slang that is heard among respectable people is made up of genuine words, to which an arbitrary meaning is given. It is always low, generally coarse, and not unfreque...
10. Chapter 10The position of the adverb should be as near as possible to the word it qualifies. Sometimes we place it before the auxiliary and sometimes after it, according to the thought we...
7. Chapter 7INDIVIDUAL. This word is often most improperly used for _person_; as, "The _individual_ I saw was not over forty"; "There were several _individuals_ on board that I had never se...
2. Chapter 2APPRECIATE. If any word in the language has cause to complain of ill-treatment, this one has. _Appreciate_ means, to estimate _justly_--to set the _true_ value on men or things,...
9. Chapter 9In a late number of the "London Queen" was the following: "The terms _ladies_ and _gentlemen_ become in themselves vulgarisms when misapplied, and the improper application of th...
3. Chapter 3Cobbett, in writing of the pronouns, says: "When the relatives are placed in the sentence at a distance from their antecedents or verbs or prepositions, the ear gives us no assi...
8. Chapter 8"In Mr. Marsh's estimation, _is being built_ illustrates 'corruption of language'; it is 'clumsy and unidiomatic'; it is 'at best but a philological coxcombry'; it 'is an awkwar...
13. Chapter 13PARENTHESIS.--This mark is comparatively little used nowadays. The dash is preferred, probably because it disfigures the page less. The office of the parenthesis is to isolate a...
11. Chapter 11"Two verbs are not unfrequently followed by a single preposition, which accords with one only; e. g., 'This duty _is repeated_ and inculcated _upon_ the reader.' 'Repeat _upon_'...
16. Chapter 16"'_They that_ told me the story said'; 'Blessed are _they that_ mourn'; 'and Simon and _they that_ were with him'; 'I love _them that_ love me, and _they that_ seek me early sha...
1. Chapter 1For convenience' sake I have arranged in alphabetical order the subjects treated of, and for economy's sake I have kept in mind that "he that uses many words for the explaining...
5. Chapter 5ENTHUSE. This is a word that is occasionally heard in conversation, and is sometimes met with in print; but it has not as yet made its appearance in the dictionaries. What its u...
17. Chapter 17[8] "L. W. K., CLK., LL. D., EX. SCH., T. C., D. Of this reverend gentleman's personality I know nothing. He does not say exactly what he means; but what he means is, yet, unmis...