's essay on delicacy the commonest error in the use of the verb is the disregard of the concord between the verb and its subject this occurs most frequently when the subject and the verb are widely separated especially if some other noun of a different number immediately precedes the verb false concords occur very often after either or neither nor and much more many everyone each here are a few authors slips the terms in which the sale of a patent were communicated to the public junius's letters the richness of her arms and apparel were conspicuous gibbons decline and fall everyone of this grotesque family were the creatures of national genius israeli he knows not what spleen langure or listlessness are blairs sermons each of these words imply some pursuit or object relinquished blairs sermons magnus with four thousand of his supposed accomplices were put to death given no nation gives greater encouragement to learning than we do yet at the same time none are so injudicious in the application goldsmith there's two or three of us have seen strange sights shakespeare the past participle should not be used for the past tense yet the learned byron overlooked this fact he thus writes in the lament of tasso and with my years my soul begun to pant with feeling of strange tumult and soft pain here is another example from savage wanderer in which there is double sinning from liberty each nobler science sprung a bacon brightened and a Spencer's song other breaches in regard to the participle's occur in the following every book ought to be read with the same spirit in the same manner as it is writ fieldings tom jones the court of augustus had not wore off the manners of the republic hewms essays moses tells us that the fountains of the earth were broke open or clove asunder or net a free constitution when it has been shook by the inequity of former administrations ballingbroke in this respect the seeds of future divisions were sewed abundantly ballingbroke in the following example the present participle is used for the infinitive mood it is easy distinguishing the rude fragment of a rock from the splinter of a statue gill fillins literary portraits distinguishing here should be replaced by to distinguish the rules regarding shall and will are violated in the following if we look within the rough and awkward outside we will be richly rewarded by its perusal gill fillins literary portraits if i should declare them and speak of them they should be more than i am able to express prayer book revision of psalm 11 if i would declare them and speak of them they are more than can be numbered prayer book revision of psalms 11 without having attended to this we will be at a loss in understanding several passages in the classics layers lectures we know to what cause our past reverses have been owing and we will have ourselves to blame if they are again incurred allison's history of europe adverbial mistakes often occur in the best writers the adverb rather is a word very frequently misplaced archbishop trench in his English past and present writes it rather modified the structure of our sentences than the elements of our vocabulary this should have been written it modified the structure of our sentences rather than the elements of our vocabulary so far as his mode of teaching goes he is rather a disciple of socrates than of st paul or westley thus writes leslie stevens of dr johnson he should have written so far as his mode of teaching goes he's a disciple of socrates rather than of st paul or westley's the preposition is a part of speech which is often wrongly used by some of the best writers certain nouns adjectives and verbs require particular prepositions after them for instance the word different always takes the preposition from after it prevail takes upon adverse takes to a chord takes with and so on in the following examples the prepositions in parentheses and emphasized are the ones that should have been used he found the greatest difficulty of in writing humes history of english if a policy can prevail upon over force adison he made the discovery and communicated to with his friends swiss tale of the tub every office of command should be entrusted to persons on in whom the parliament shall confide mccawley several of the most celebrated writers infringe the canons of style by placing prepositions at the end of sentences for instance carlyle in referring to the study of burns writes our own contributions to it we are aware can be but scanty and feeble but we offer them with goodwill and trust they may meet with acceptance from those they are intended for for whom they are intended he should have written most writers have some one vein which they peculiarly and obviously excel in william minto this sentence should read most writers have some one vein in which they peculiarly and obviously excel many authors use redundant words which repeat the same thought and idea this is called tautology not withstanding which however poor poly embraced them all around chickens i judged that they would mutually find each other crocket as having created a joint partnership between the two powers in the morocco question the times the only sensible position there seems to be is to frankly acknowledge our ignorance of what lies beyond daily telegraph lord rosemary has not budgeted from his position splendid no doubt of lonely isolation the time miss fox was often in the habit of assuring mrs chick chickens the deck it was their field of fame gamble he had come up one morning as was now frequently his wand trollop the counselors of the sultan continue to remain skeptical the times seriously and apart from jesting this is no light matter badge hot to go back to your own country with the consciousness that you go back with the sense of duty well done lord housebury the pares viet lost both her fighting tops and in appearance looked the most damaged of all the ships the times council admitted that that was a fair suggestion to make but he submitted that it was borne out by the surrounding circumstances the times another unnecessary use of words and phrases is that which is termed circumlocution going around the bush when there is no occasion for it safe to fill space it may be likened to a person walking the distance of two sides of a triangle to reach the objective point for instance in the quotation hope professed to have learned his poetry from driden whom whenever an opportunity was presented he prays through the whole period of his existence with unrivaled liberality and perhaps his character may receive some illustration of a comparison he instituted between him and the man whose pupil he was much of the verbiage may be eliminated in the sentence thus condensed hope professed himself the pupil of driden whom he lost no opportunity of praising and his character may be illustrated by a comparison with his master his life was brought to a close in 1910 at an age not far from the one fixed by the sacred writer is the term of human existence this in brevity can be put his life was brought to a close at the age of 70 or better yet he died at the age of 70 the day was intensely cold so cold in fact that the thermometer crept down to the zero mark can be expressed the day was so cold the thermometer registered zero many authors resort to circumlocution for the purpose of padding that is filling space or when they strike a snag in writing upon subjects of which they know little or nothing young writers should steer clear of it and learn to express his thoughts and ideas as briefly as possible commensurate with lucidity of expression volumes of errors in fact in grammar diction and general style could be selected from the works of the great writers a fact which eloquently testifies that no one is infallible and that the very best is liable to air at times however most of the airing in the case of these writers arises from carelessness or hurry not from lack of knowledge as a general rule it is in writing that the scholar is liable to slip in oral speech he seldom makes a blender in fact there are many people who are perfect masters of speech who never make a blender in conversation yet who are ignorant of the very principles of grammar and would not know how to write a sentence correctly on paper such persons have been accustomed from infancy to hear the language spoken correctly and so the use of the proper words and the forms becomes a second nature to them a child can learn what is right as easy as what is wrong and whatever impressions are made on the mind when it is plastic will remain there even a parrot can be taught the proper use of language repeat to a parrot two and two make four and it will never say two and two makes four in writing however it is different without a knowledge of the fundamentals of grammar we may be able to speak correctly from association with good speakers but without such a knowledge we cannot hope to write the language correctly to write even a common letter we must know the principles of construction the relationship of one word to another therefore it is necessary for everybody to understand at least the essentials of the grammar of his own language end of chapter seven chapter eight of how to speak and write correctly this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org how to speak and write correctly by Joseph Devlin chapter eight pitfalls to avoid common stumbling blocks peculiar constructions and misused forms attraction very often the verb is separated from its real nominative or subject by several intervening words and in such cases one is liable to make the verb agree with the subject nearest to it here are a few examples showing that the leading writers now and then take a tumble into this pitfall quote the partition which the two ministers made of the powers of government were singularly happy unquote Macaulay were should be was to agree with its subject partition quote one at least of the qualities which fit it for training ordinary men unfit it for training an extraordinary man unquote Agarho unfit should be unfits to agree with the subject one quote the Tibetans have engaged to exclude from their country those dangerous influences whose appearance were the chief cause of our action unquote the times were should be was to agree with appearance quote an immense amount of confusion and indifference prevail in these days unquote the telegraph prevail should be prevails to agree with amount ellipsis errors in ellipsis occur chiefly with prepositions his objection and condoning of the boy's course seemed to say the least paradoxical the preposition too should come after objection many men of brilliant parts are crushed by force of circumstances and their genius forever lost to the world some maintain that the missing verb after genius is are but such is ungrammatical in such cases the right verb should be always expressed as their genius is forever lost to the world the split infinitive even the best speakers and writers are in the habit of placing a modifying word or words between the two and the remaining part of the infinitive it is possible that such will come to be looked upon in time as the proper form but at present the splitting of the infinitive is decidedly wrong he was scarcely able to even talk she commenced to rapidly walk around the room to have really loved is better than not to have at all loved in these constructions it is much better not to split the infinitive in everyday speech the best speakers sin against this observance in new york city there is a certain magistrate a member of the 400 who prides himself on his diction in language he tells this story a prisoner a faded battered specimen of mankind on whose haggard face deeply lined with the marks of dissipation their still lingered faint reminders of better days long past stood dejected before the judge where are you from asked the magistrate from boston answered the accused indeed said the judge indeed yours is a sad case and yet you don't seem to thoroughly realize how low you have sunk the man stared as if struck your honor does me an injustice he said bitterly the disgrace of arrest for drunkenness the mortification of being thrust into a noisome dungeon the publicity and humiliation of trial in a crowded and dingy courtroom i can bear but to be sentenced by a police magistrate who splits his infinitives that is indeed the last blow one the indefinite adjective pronoun one when put in place of a personal substantive is liable to raise confusion when a sentence or expression is begun with the impersonal one the word must be used throughout in all references to the subject thus one must mind one's own business if one wishes to succeed may seem prolix and awkward nevertheless it is the proper form you must not say one must mind his business if he wishes to succeed for the subject is impersonal and therefore cannot exclusively take the masculine pronoun with anyone it is different you may say if anyone sins he should acknowledge it let him not try to hide it by another sin only this is a word that is a pitfall to the most of us whether learned or unlearned probably it is the most indiscriminately used word in the language from the different positions it is made to occupy in a sentence it can relatively change the meaning for instance in the sentence i only struck him that time the meaning to be inferred is that the only thing i did to him was to strike him not kick or otherwise abuse him but if the only is shifted so as to make the sentence read i struck him only that time the meaning conveyed is that only on that occasion and at no other time did i strike him if another shift is made to i struck only him that time the meaning is again altered so that it signifies he was the only person i struck in speaking we can by emphasis impress our meaning on our hearers but in writing we have nothing to depend upon but the position of the word in the sentence the best rule in regard to only is to place it immediately before the word or phrase it modifies or limits alone alone is another word which creates ambiguity and alters meaning if we substitute it for only in the preceding example the meaning of the sentence will depend upon the arrangement thus i alone struck him at that time signifies that i and no other struck him when the sentence reads i struck him alone at that time it must be interpreted that he was the only person that received a blow again if it is made to read i struck him at that time alone the sense conveyed is that that was the only occasion on which i struck him the rule which governs the correct use of only is also applicable to alone other and another these are words which often give to expressions a meaning far from that intended thus i have nothing to do with that other rascal across the street certainly means that i am a rascal myself i sent the dispatch to my friend but another villain intercepted it clearly signifies that my friend is a villain a good plan is to omit these words when they can be readily done without as in the above examples but when it is necessary to use them make your meaning clear you can do this by making each sentence or phrase in which they occur independent of contextual aid and with the relative never use and with the relative in this manner that is the dog i meant and which i know is of pure breed this is an error quite common the use of and is permissible when there is a parallel relative in the preceding sentence or clause thus there is the dog which i meant and which i know is of pure breed is quite correct loose participles a participle or participial phrase is naturally referred to the nearest nominative if only one nominative is expressed it claims all the participants that are not by the construction of the sentence otherwise fixed john working in the field all day and getting thirsty drank from the running stream here the participants working and getting clearly referred to john but in the sentence swept along by the mob i could not save him the participle as it were is lying around loose and may be taken to refer to either the person speaking or to the person spoken about it may mean that i was swept along by the mob or the individual whom i tried to save was swept along going into the store the roof fell can be taken that it was the roof which was going into the store when it fell of course the meaning intended is that some person or persons were going into the store just as the roof fell in all sentence construction with participles there should be such clearness as to preclude all possibility of ambiguity the participle should be so placed that there can be no doubt as to the noun to which it refers often it is advisable to supply such words as will make the meaning obvious broken construction sometimes the beginning of a sentence presents quite a different grammatical construction from its end this arises from the fact probably that the beginning is lost sight of before the end is reached this occurs frequently in long sentences thus honesty integrity and square dealing will bring anybody much better through life than the absence of either here the construction is broken at than the use of either only used in referring to one of two shows that the fact is forgotten that three qualities and not two are under consideration any one of the three meanings might be intended in the sentence this absence of any one quality absence of any two of the qualities or absence of the whole three qualities either denotes one or the other of two and should never be applied to any one of more than two when we fall into the error of constructing such sentences as above we should take them apart and reconstruct them in a different grammatical form thus honesty integrity and square dealing will bring a man much better through life than a lack of these qualities which are almost essential to success double negative it must be remembered that two negatives in the english language destroy each other and are equivalent to an affirmative thus i don't know nothing about it is intended to convey that i am ignorant of the matter under consideration but it defeats its own purpose in as much as the use of nothing implies that i know something about it the sentence should read i don't know anything about it often we hear such expressions as he was not asked to give no opinion expressing the very opposite of what is intended this sentence implies that he was asked to give his opinion the double negative therefore should be carefully avoided for it is insidious and is liable to slip in and the writer remain unconscious of its presence until the eye of the critic detects it first personal pronoun the use of the first personal pronoun should be avoided as much as possible in composition don't introduce it by way of apology and never use such expressions as in my opinion as far as i can see it appears to me i believe etc in what you write the whole composition is expressive of your views since you are the author therefore there is no necessity for you to accentuate or emphasize yourself at certain portions of it moreover the big eyes savor of egotism steer clear of them as far as you can the only place where the first person is permissible is in passages where you are stating a view that is not generally held and which is likely to meet with opposition sequence of tenses when two verbs depend on each other their tenses must have a definite relation to each other i shall have the pleasure in accepting your kind invitation is wrong unless you really mean that just now you decline though by and by you intend to accept or unless you mean that you do accept now though you have no pleasure in doing so but look forward to be more pleased by and by in fact the sequence of the compound tenses puzzles experienced writers the best plan is to go back in thought to the time in question and use the tense you would then naturally use now in the sentence i should have liked to have gone to see the circus the way to find out the proper sequence is to ask yourself the question what is it i should have liked to do and the plain answer is to go to see the circus i cannot answer to have gone to see the circus for that would imply that at a certain moment i would have liked to be in the position of having gone to the circus but i do not mean this i mean that at the moment at which i'm speaking i wish i had gone to see the circus the verbal phrase i should have liked carries me back to the time when there was a chance of seeing the circus and once back at the time the going to the circus is a thing of the present this whole explanation resolves itself into the simple question what should i have liked at that time and the answer is to go to see the circus therefore this is the proper sequence and the expression should be i should have liked to go to see the circus if we wish to speak of something relating to a time prior to that indicated in the past tense we must use the perfect tense of the infinitive as he appeared to have seen better days we should say i expected to meet him not i expected to have met him we intended to visit you not to have visited you i hoped they would arrive not i hoped they would have arrived i thought i should catch the bird not i thought i should have caught the bird i had intended to go to the meeting not i had intended to have gone to the meeting between among these prepositions are often carelessly interchanged between has reference to two objects only among two more than two the money was equally divided between them is right when there are only two but if there are more than two it should be the money was equally divided among them less fewer less refers to quantity fewer to number no man has less virtues should be no man has fewer virtues the farmer had some oats and a fewer quantity of wheat should be the farmer had some oats and a less quantity of wheat further father further is commonly used to denote quantity father to denote distance i have walked farther than you i need no further supply are correct each other one another each other refers to two one another two more than two jones and smith quarrelled they struck each other is correct jones smith and brown quarrelled they struck one another is also correct don't say the two boys teach one another or the three girls love each other each every either neither these words are continually misapplied each can be applied to two or any higher number of objects to signify every one of the number independently every requires more than two to be spoken of and denotes all the persons or things taken separately either denotes one or the other of two and should not be used to include both neither is the negative of either denoting not the other and not the one and relating to two persons or things considered separately the following examples illustrate the correct usage of these words each man of the crew received a reward every man in the regiment displayed bravery we can walk on either side of the street neither of the two is to blame neither nor when two singular subjects are connected by neither nor use a singular verb as neither john nor james was there not were there none custom has sanctioned the use of this word both with a singular and plural as none is so blind as he who will not see and none are so blind as they who will not see however as it is a contraction of no one it is better to use the singular verb rise raise these verbs are very often confounded rise is to move or pass upward in any manner as to rise from bed to increase in value to improve in position or rank as stocks rise politicians rise they have risen to honor raise is to lift up to exalt to enhance as i raise the table he raised his servant the baker raised the price of bread lay lie the transitive verb lay and lay the past tense of the neuter verb lie are often confounded though quite different in meaning the neuter verb to lie meaning to lie down or rest cannot take the objective after it except with the preposition we can say he lies on the ground but we cannot say he lies the ground since the verb is neuter and intransitive and as such cannot have a direct object with lay it is different lay is a transitive verb therefore it takes a direct object after it as i lay a wager i laid the carpet etc of a carpet or any inanimate subject we should say it lies on the floor a knife lies on the table not lays but if a person we say he lays the knife on the table not he lies lay being the past tense of the neuter to lie down we should say he lay on the bed and lain being its past participle we must also say he has lain on the bed we can say i lay myself down he laid himself down and such expressions it is imperative to remember in using these verbs that to lay means to do something and to lie means to be in a state of rest says i i said says i is a vulgarism don't use it i said is the correct form in into be careful to distinguish the meaning of these two little prepositions and don't interchange them don't say he went in the room nor my brother is into the navy in denotes the place where a person or thing whether at rest or in motion is present and into denotes entrance he went into the room my brother is in the navy are correct eat eight don't confound the two eat is present eight is past i eat the bread means that i'm continuing the eating i ate the bread means that the act of eating is past eaten is the perfect participle but often eat is used instead and as it has the same pronunciation of et care should be taken to distinguish the past tense i ate from the perfect i have eaten sequence of person remember that the first person takes precedence of the second and the second takes precedence of the third when cardinal walls he said ego et rex i and the king he showed he was a good grammarian but a bad courtier am come have come i am come points to my being here while i have come intimates that i have just arrived when the subject is not a person the verb to be should be used in preference to the verb to have as the box is come instead of the box has come past tense past participle the interchange of these two parts of the irregular or so-called strong verbs is perhaps the breach often is committed by careless speakers and writers to avoid mistakes it is requisite to know the principal parts of these verbs and this knowledge is very easy of requirement as there are not more than a couple of hundred of such verbs and of this number but a small part is in daily use here are some of the most common blunders i seen for i saw i done it for i did it i drunk for i drank i begun for i began i rung for i rang i run for i ran i sung for i sang i have chose for i have chosen i have drove for i have driven i have wore for i have worn i have trod for i have trodden i have shook for i have shaken i have fell for i have fallen i have drank for i have drunk i have began for i have begun i have rang for i have rung i have rose for i have risen i have spoke for i have spoken i have broke for i have broken it has froze for it has frozen it has blowed for it has blown it has flowed of a bird for it has flown nb the past tense and past participle of to hang is hanged or hung when you are talking about a man meeting death on the gallows say he was hanged when you are talking about the carcass of an animal say it was hung as the beef was hung dry also say your coat was hung on a hook prepositions and the objective case don't forget that prepositions always take the objective case don't say between you and i say between you and me two prepositions should not govern one objective unless there is an immediate connection between them he was refused admission to and forcibly ejected from the school should be he was refused admission to the school and forcibly ejected from it summon summons don't say i shall summons him but i shall summon him summon is a verb summons a noun it is correct to say i shall get a summons for him but not a summon undeniable unexceptionable my brother has an undeniable character is wrong if i wish to convey the idea that he has a good character the expression should be in that case my brother has an unexceptionable character an undeniable character is a character that cannot be denied whether good or bad an unexceptionable character is one to which no one can take exception the pronouns very many mistakes occur in the use of the pronouns let you and i go should be let you and me go let them and we go should be let them and us go the verb let is transitive and therefore takes the objective case give me them flowers should be give me those flowers i mean them three should be i mean those three them is the objective case of the personal pronoun and cannot be used adjectively like the demonstrative adjective pronoun i am as strong as him should be i am as strong as he i am younger than her should be i am younger than she he can write better than me should be he can write better than i for in these examples the objective cases him her and me are used wrongfully for the nominatives after each of the misapplied pronouns a verb is understood of which each pronoun is the subject thus i am as strong as he is i am younger than she is he can write better than i can don't say it is me say it is i the verb to be of which is is a part takes the same case after it that it has before it this holds good in all situations as well as with pronouns the verb to be also requires the pronouns joined to it to be in the same case as a pronoun asking a question the nominative i requires the nominative who and the objectives me him her it's you and them require the objective whom whom do you think i am should be who do you think i am and who do they suppose me to be should be whom do they suppose me to be the objective form of the relative should be always used in connection with the preposition who do you take me for should be whom do etc who did you give the apple to should be whom did you give the apple to but as pointed out elsewhere the preposition should never end a sentence therefore it is better to say to whom did you give the apple after transitive verbs always use the objective cases of the pronouns for he and they we have seen say him and them we have seen that for so the hurt it was that painful it made me cry say so painful these those don't say these kind those sort kind and sort are each singular and require the singular pronouns this and that in connection with these demonstrative adjective pronouns remember that this and these refer to what is near at hand that and those to what is more distant as this book near me that book over there these boys near those boys at a distance this much thus much this much is certain should be thus much or so much is certain flee fly these are two separate verbs and must not be interchanged the principle parts of flee are flee fled fled those of fly are fly flew flown to flee is generally used in the meaning of getting out of danger to fly means to saw as a bird to say of a man he has flown from the place is wrong it should be he has fled from the place we can say with propriety that a bird has flown from the place through throughout don't say he is well known through the land but he is well known throughout the land vocation and avocation don't mistake these two words so nearly alike vocation is the employment business or profession one follows for a living avocation is some pursuit or occupation which diverts the person from such employment business or profession thus his vocation was the law his avocation farming was were in the subjunctive mood the plural form were should be used with a singular subject as if i were not was remember the plural form of the personal pronoun you always takes were though it may denote but one thus you were never you was if i was him is a very common expression note the two mistakes in it that of the verb implying a condition and that of the objective case of the pronoun it should read if i were he this is another illustration of the rule regarding the verb to be taking the same case after it as before it were is part of the verb to be therefore as the nominative i goes before it the nominative he should come after it a or an a becomes an before a vowel or before h mute for the sake of euphony or agreeable sound to the ear an apple an orange an air an honor etc end of chapter eight this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recording by Andrew Lebrun Boston Massachusetts how to speak and write correctly by Joseph Delvin chapter nine style diction purity propriety precision it is the object of every writer to put his thoughts into as effective form as possible so as to make a good impression on the reader a person may have noble thoughts and ideas but be unable to express them in such a way as to appeal to others consequently he cannot exert the full force of his intellectuality nor leave the imprint of his character upon his time whereas many a man but indifferently gifted may wield such a facile pen as to attract attention and win for himself an envious place among his contemporaries in everyday life one sees illustrations of men of excellent mentality being cast aside and ones of mediocre or in some cases little if any ability chosen to fill important places the former are unable to impress their personality they have great thoughts great ideas but these thoughts and ideas are locked up in their brains and are like prisoners behind the bars struggling to get free the key of language which would open the door is wanting hence they have to remain locked up many a man has to pass through the world unheard of and of little benefit to it or himself simply because he cannot bring out what is in him and make it subservient to his will it is the duty of everyone to develop his best not only for the benefit of himself but for the good of his fellow men it is not at all necessary to have great learning or requirements the laborer is as useful in his own place as the philosopher in his nor is it necessary to have many talents one talent rightly used is much better than 10 wrongly used often a man can do more with one than his contemporary can do with 10 often a man can make one dollar go farther than 20 in the hands of his neighbor often the poor man lives more comfortably than the millionaire all depends on the individual himself if he make right use of what the creator has given him and live according to the laws of god and nature he is fulfilling his allotted place in the universal scheme of creation in other words when he does his best he is living up to the standard of a useful manhood now in order to do his best a man of ordinary intelligence and education should be able to express himself correctly both in speaking and in writing that is he should be able to convey his thoughts in an intelligent manner which the simplest can understand the manner in which a speaker or writer conveys his thoughts is known as his style in other words style may be defined as the peculiar manner in which a man expresses his conceptions through the medium of language it depends upon the choice of words and their arrangement to convey a meaning scarcely any two writers have exactly the same style that is to say express their ideas after the same peculiar form just as no two mortals are fashioned by nature in the same mold so that one is an exact counterpart of the other just as men differ in the accent and tones of their voices so do they differ in the construction of their language two reporters sent out on the same mission say to report a fire will verbally differ in their accounts though materially both descriptions will be the same as far as the leading facts are concerned one will express himself in a style different from the other if you are asked to describe the dancing of a red-haired lady at the last charity ball you can either say the ruby sursey with the titan locks glowing like the oriflam which surrounds the golden god of day as he sinks to rest amid the crimson glory of the burnished west gave a divine exhibition of the terpsichorean art which thrilled the souls of the multitude or you can simply say the red-haired lady danced very well and pleased the audience the former is a specimen of the ultra florid or bombastic style which may be said to depend upon the pomposity of verbosity for its effect the latter is a specimen of simple natural style needless to say it is to be preferred the other should be avoided it stamps the writer as a person of shallowness ignorance and inexperience it has been eliminated from the newspapers even the most flatulent of yellow sheets no longer tolerated in their columns affectation and pedantry in style are now universally condemned it is the duty of every speaker and writer to labor after a pleasing style it gains him an entrance where he would otherwise be debarred often the interest of a subject depends as much on the way it is presented as on the subject itself one writer will make it attractive another repulsive for instance take a passage in history treated by one historian it is like a desiccated mummy dry dull disgusting while under the spell of another it is as it were galvanized into a virile living thing which not only pleases but captivates the reader diction the first requisite of style is choice of words and this comes under the head of diction the property of style which has reference to the words and phrases used in speaking and writing the secret of literary skill from any standpoint consists in putting the right word in the right place in order to do this it is imperative to know the meaning of the words we use their exact literal meaning many synonymous words are seemingly interchangeable and appear as if the same meaning were applicable to three or four of them at the same time but when all such words are reduced to a final analysis it is clearly seen that there is a marked difference in their meaning for instance grief and sorrow seem to be identical but they are not grief is active sorrow is more or less passive grief is caused by troubles and misfortunes which come to us from the outside while sorrow is often the consequence of our own acts grief is frequently loud and violent sorrow is always quiet and retiring grief shouts sorrow remains calm if you are not sure of the exact meaning of a word look it up immediately in the dictionary sometimes some of our great scholars are puzzled over simple words in regard to meaning spelling or pronunciation whenever you meet a strange word note it down until you discover its meaning and use read the best books you can get books written by men and women who are acknowledged masters of language and study how they use their words where they placed them in sentences and the meanings they convey to the readers mix in good society listen attentively to good talkers and try to imitate their manner of expression if a word is used you do not understand don't be ashamed to ask its meaning true a small vocabulary will carry you through but it is an advantage to have a large one when you live alone a little pot serves just as well as a large one to cook your victuals and it is handy and convenient but when your friends or neighbors come to dine with you you will need a much larger pot and it is better to have it in store so that you will not be put to shame for your scantiness of furnishings get as many words as you possibly can if you don't need them now pack them away in the garrets of your brain so that you can call upon them if you require them keep a notebook jot down the words you don't understand or clearly understand and consult the dictionary when you get time purity purity of style consists in using words which are reputable national and present which means that the words are in current use by the best authorities that they are used throughout the nation and not confined to one particular part and that they are words in constant use at the present time there are two guiding principles in the choice of words good use and good taste good use tells us whether a word is right or wrong good taste whether it is adapted to our purpose or not a word that is obsolete or too new to have gained a place in the language or that is a provincialism should not be used here are the ten commandments of english style one do not use foreign words two do not use a long word when a short one will serve your purpose fire is much better than conflagration three do not use technical words or those understood only by specialists in their respective lines except when you are writing especially for such people four do not use slang five do not use provincialisms as i guess for i think i reckon for i know etc six do not in writing prose use poetical or antiquated words as lore air mourn yay nay verily per adventure seven do not use trite and hacknate words and expressions as on the job up and in down and out eight do not use newspaper words which have not established a place in the language as to bugle to suicide etc nine do not use ungrammatical words and forms as i ain't he don't ten do not use ambiguous words or phrases as he showed me all about the house trite words similes and metaphors which have become hackneyed and worn out should be allowed to rest in the oblivion of past usage such expressions and phrases as sweet 16 the almighty dollar uncle sam on the fence the glorious fourth young america the lords of creation the rising generation the weaker sex the weaker vessel sweetness long drawn out and chief cook and bottle washer should be put on the shelf as they are utterly worn out from too much usage some of the old similes which have outlived their usefulness and should be penchant off are sweet as sugar bold as a lion strong as an ox quick as a flash cold as ice stiff as a poker white as snow busy as a bee hail as a ghost rich as crisis cross as a bear and a great many more far too numerous to mention be as original as possible in the use of expression don't follow in the old rut but try and strike out for yourself this does not mean that you should try to set the style or do anything outlandish or out of the way or be an innovator on the prevailing custom in order to be original there is no necessity for you to introduce something novel or establish precedent the probability is you are not fit to do either by education or talent while following the style of those who are acknowledged leaders you can be original in your language try and clothe an idea different from what it has been clothed and better if you are speaking or writing of dancing don't talk or write about tripping the light fantastic toe it is over 200 years since Milton expressed it that way in la legro you're not a Milton and besides over a million have stolen it from Milton until it is now no longer worth stealing don't resurrect obsolete words such as willow eclipt whiz etc and be careful in regard to obsolescent words that is words that are at the present time gradually passing from use such as quote trial betwixt amongst fro word etc and beware of new words be original in the construction and arrangement of your language but don't try to originate words leave that to the masters of language and don't be the first to try such words wait until the chemists of speech have tested them and passed upon their merits quintillion said prefer the oldest of the new and the newest of the old hope put this in rhyme and it still holds good in words as fashions the same rule will hold alike fantastic if too new or old be not the first by whom the new are tried nor yet the last to lay the old aside propriety propriety of style consists in using words in their proper sense and as in the case of purity good usage is the principal test many words have acquired in actual use a meaning very different from what they once possessed prevent formally meant to go before and that meaning is implied in its latin derivation now it means to put a stop to to hinder to attain propriety of style it is necessary to avoid confounding words derived from the same root as respectfully and respectively it is necessary to use words in their accepted sense or the sense which everyday use sanctions simplicity simplicity of style has reference to the choice of simple words and their unaffected presentation simple words should always be used in preference to compound and complicated ones when they express the same or almost the same meaning the Anglo-Saxon element in our language comprises the simple words which express the relations of everyday life strong terse vigorous the language of the fireside street market and farm it is this style which characterizes the bible and many of the great english classics such as the pilgrims progress robinson crusoe and gulliver's travels clearness clearness of style should be one of the leading considerations with the beginner in composition he must avoid all obscurity and ambiguous phrases if he write a sentence or phrase and say that a meaning might be inferred from it otherwise than intended he should rewrite it in such a way that there can be no possible doubt words phrases or clauses that are closely related should be placed as near to each other as possible that their mutual relation may clearly appear and no word should be omitted that is necessary to the complete expression of thought unity unity is that property of style which keeps all parts of a sentence in connection with the principal thought and logically subordinate to it a sentence may be constructed as to suggest the idea of oneness to the mind or it may be so loosely put together as to produce a confused and indefinite impression ideas that have but little connection should be expressed in separate sentences and not crowded into one keep long parentheses out of the middle of your sentences and when you have apparently brought your sentences to a close don't try to continue the thought or idea by adding supplementary clauses strength strength is that property of style which gives animation energy and a vivacity to language and sustains the interest of the reader it is as necessary to language as good food is to the body without it the words are weak and feeble and create little or no impression on the mind in order to have strength the language must be concise that is much expressed in little compass you must hit the nail fairly on the head and drive it in straight go critically over what you write and strike out every word phrase and clause the omission of which impairs neither the clearness nor force of the sentence and so avoid redundancy tautology and circumlocution give the most important words the most prominent places which as has been pointed out elsewhere are the beginning and end of the sentence harmony harmony is that property of style which gives a smoothness to the sentence so that when the words are sounded their connection becomes pleasing to the ear it adapts sound to sense most people construct their sentences without giving thought to the way they will sound and as a consequence we have many jarring and discordant combinations such as though strengthened it's thy position and acted arbitrarily and derogatorily to my interests harsh disagreeable verbs are liable to occur with the quaker form thou of the personal pronoun this form is now nearly obsolete the plural you being almost universally used to obtain harmony in the sentence long words that are hard to pronounce and combinations of letters of one kind should be avoided expressive of writer style is expressive of the writer as to who he is and what he is as a matter of structure in composition it is the indication of what a man can do as a matter of quality it is an indication of what he is kinds of style style has been classified in different ways but it admits of so many designations that it is very hard to enumerate a table in fact there are as many styles as there are writers for no two authors write exactly after the same form however we may classify the styles of the various authors in broad divisions as one dry two plain three neat four elegant five florid six bombastic the dry style excludes all ornament and makes no effort to appeal to any sense of beauty its object is simply to express the thoughts in a correct manner this style is exemplified by berkeley the plain style does not seek ornamentation either but aims to make clear and concise statements without any elaboration or embellishment lock and waitly illustrates the plain style the neat style only aspires after ornament sparingly its object is to have correct figures pure diction and clear and harmonious sentences goldsmith and gray are the acknowledged leaders in this kind of style the elegant style uses every ornament that can beautify and avoids every excess which would degrade makali and adison have been enthroned as the kings of this style to them all writers bend the knee in homage the florid style goes to excess in superfluous and superficial ornamentation and strains after a highly colored imagery the poems of ossean typify this style the bombastic is characterized by such an excess of words figures and ornaments as to be ridiculous and disgusting it is like a circus clown dressed up in gold tinsel dickens gives a fine example of it in sergeant buzzfuzz's speech in the pickwick papers among other varieties of style may be mentioned the colloquial the laconic the concise the diffuse the abrupt the flowing the quaint the epigrammatic the flowery the feeble the nervous the vehement and the affected the manner of these is sufficiently indicated by the adjective used to describe them in fact style is as various as character and expresses the individuality of the writer or in other words as the french writer buffon very aptly remarks the style is the man himself end of chapter nine this is a livervox recording all livervox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit livervox.org how to speak and write correctly by joseph devlin chapter 10 suggestions how to write what to write correct speaking and speakers rules of grammar and rhetoric are good in their own place their laws must be observed in order to express thoughts and ideas in the right way so that they shall convey a determinant sense and meaning in a pleasing and acceptable manner hard and fast rules however can never make a writer or author that is the business of old mother nature and nothing can take her place if nature has not endowed a man with faculties to put his ideas into proper composition he cannot do so he may have no ideas worthy of the recording if a person has not a thought to express it cannot be expressed something cannot be manufactured out of nothing the author must have thoughts and ideas before he can express them on paper these come to him by nature and environment and are developed and strengthened by study there is an old latin quotation in regard to the poet which says poeta nasseter non fit the translation of which the poet is born not made to a degree the same applies to the author some men are great scholars as far as book learning is concerned yet they cannot express themselves in passable composition their knowledge is like gold locked up in a chest where it is of no value to themselves or the rest of the world the best way to learn to write is to sit down and write just as the best way to learn to ride a bicycle is to mount the wheel and pedal away right first about common things subjects that are familiar to you try for instance an essay on a cat say something original about her don't say she is very playful when young but becomes grave as she grows old that has been said more than 50 000 times before tell what you have seen the family cat doing how she caught a mouse in the garret and what she did after catching it familiar themes are always the best for the beginner don't attempt to describe a scene in australia if you have never been there and know nothing of the country never hunt for subjects there are thousands around you describe what you saw yesterday a fire a runaway horse a dogfight on the street and be original in your description imitate the best writers in their style but not in their exact words get out of the beaten path make a pathway of your own know what you write about write what you know this is a golden rule to which you must adhere to know you must study the world is an open book in which all who run may read nature is one great volume the pages of which are open to the peasant as well as to the peer study nature's moods and tenses for they are vastly more important than those of the grammar book learning is most desirable but after all it is only theory and not practice the grandest allegory in the English in fact in any language was written by an ignorant so-called ignorant tinker named John Bunyan Shakespeare was not a scholar in the sense we regard the term today yet no man ever lived or probably ever will live that equalled or will equal him in the expression of thought he simply read the book of nature and interpreted from the standpoint of his own magnificent genius don't imagine that a college education is necessary to success as a writer far from it some of our college men are deadheads drones parasites on the body social not alone useless to the world but to themselves a person may be so ornamental that he is valueless from any other standpoint as a general rule ornamental things serve but little purpose a man may know so much of everything that he knows little of anything this may sound paradoxical but nevertheless experience proves its truth if you are poor that is not a detriment but an advantage poverty is an incentive to endeavor not a drawback better to be born with a good working brain in your head than with a gold spoon in your mouth if the world had been depending on the so-called pets of fortune it would have deteriorated long ago from the pits of poverty from the arenas of suffering from the hovels of neglect from the backward cabins of obscurity from the lanes and byways of oppression from the dingy garrots and basements of unending toil and drudgery have come men and women who have made history made the world brighter better higher holier for their existence in it made of it a place good to live in and worthy to die in men and women who have hallowed it by their footsteps and sanctified it with their presence and in many cases consecrated it with their blood poverty is a blessing not an evil a venison from the father's hand if accepted in the right spirit instead of retarding it has elevated literature in all ages Homer was a blind beggar man singing his snatches of song for the dole of charity grand old Socrates oracle of wisdom many a day went without his dinner because he had not the wherewithal to get it while teaching the youth of Athens the divine Dante was nothing better than a beggar houseless homeless friendless wandering through Italy while he composed his immortal cantos Milton who in his blindness looked were angels fear to tread was steeped in poverty while writing his sublime conception paradise lost Shakespeare was glad to hold and water the horses of patrons outside the Whitehorse theater for a few pennies in order to buy bread Burns burst forth in never dying song while guiding the plowshare for Heinrich Hein neglected and in poverty from his mattress grave of suffering in Paris added literary laurels to the wealth of his German fatherland in America Elihu Burrett while attending the anvil made himself a master of a score of languages and became the literary lion of his age and country in other fields of endeavor poverty has been the spur to action Napoleon was born in obscurity the son of a hand-to-mouth scrivener in the backward island of Corsica Abraham Lincoln the boast and pride of America the man who made this land too hot for the feet of slaves came from a log cabin in the Ohio backwards so did James A. Garfield Ulysses Grant came from a tanyard to become the world's greatest general Thomas A. Edison commenced as a newsboy on a railway train the examples of these men are incentives to action poverty thrust them forward instead of keeping them back therefore if you are poor make your circumstances a means to an end have ambition keep a goal in sight and bend every energy to reach that goal a story is told of Thomas Carlyle the day he attained the highest honor the literary world could confer upon him when he was elected Lord Rector of Edinburgh University after his installation speech and going through the halls he met a student seemingly deep in study in his own peculiar abrupt crusty way the sage of Chelsea interrogated the young man for what profession are you studying I don't know return the youth you don't know thundered Carlyle young man you are a fool then he went on to qualify his vehement remark my boy when I was your age I was stooped in the grinding gripping poverty in a little village of Echelfecken in the wilds of Blankfrasher wherein all the place only the minister and myself could read the bible yet poor and obscure as I was in my mind's eye I saw a chair awaiting for me in the temple of fame and day and night and night and day I studied until I sat in that chair today as Lord Rector of Edinburgh University another Scotchman Robert Buchanan the famous novelist set out for London from Glasgow with but a half crown in his pocket here goes said he for a grave in Westminster Abbey he was not much of a scholar but his ambition carried him on and he became one of the great literary lions of the world's metropolis Henry M. Stanley was a poor house waif whose real name was John Rowlands he was brought up in a Welsh workhouse but he had ambition so he rose to be a great explorer a great writer became a member of parliament and was knighted by the British sovereign have ambition to succeed and you will succeed cut the word failure out of your lexicon don't acknowledge it remember quote in life's earnest battle they only prevail who daily march onward and never say fail end quote let every obstacle you encounter be but a stepping stone in the path of onward progress to the goal of success if untoward circumstances surround you resolve to overcome them Bunyan wrote the pilgrims progress in Bedford jail on scraps of wrapping paper while he was half starved on a diet of bread and water that unfortunate American genius Edgar Allen Poe wrote the Raven the most wonderful conception as well as the most highly artistic poem in all English literature in a little cottage in the Fordham section of New York while he was in the direst straits of want throughout all his short and wonderfully brilliant career poor Poe never had a dollar he could call his own such however was both his fault and his misfortune and he is a bad exemplar don't think that the knowledge of a library of books is essential to success as a writer often a multiplicity of books is confusing master a few good books and master them well and you will have all that is necessary a great authority has said beware of the man of one book which means that a man of one book is a master of the craft it is claimed that a thorough knowledge of the bible alone will make any person a master of literature certain it is that the bible and Shakespeare constitute an epitome of the essentials of knowledge Shakespeare gathered the fruitage of all who went before him he has sown the seeds for all who shall ever come after him he was the great intellectual ocean whose waves touch the continents of all thought books are cheap nowadays the greatest works thanks to the printing press are within the reach of all and the more you read the better providing they are worth reading sometimes a man takes poison into a system unconscious of the fact that it is poison as in the case of certain foods and it is very hard to throw off its effects therefore be careful in your choice of reading matter if you cannot afford a full library and as has been said such is not necessary select a few of the great works of the master minds assimilate and digest them so that they will be of advantage to your literary system elsewhere in this volume is given a list of some of the world's masterpieces from which you can make a selection your brain is a storehouse don't put useless furniture into it to crowd it to the exclusion of what is useful lay up only the valuable and serviceable kind which you can call into requisition at any moment as it is necessary to study the best authors in order to be a writer so it is necessary to study the best speakers in order to talk with correctness and in good style to talk rightly you must imitate the masters of oral speech listen to the best conversational lists and how they express themselves go to hear the leading lectures speeches and sermons no need to imitate the gestures of elocution it is nature not art that makes the elocutionist and the orator it is not how a speaker expresses himself but the language which he uses and the manner of its use which should interest you have you heard the present day masters of speech there have been pastime masters but their tongues are stilled in the dust of the grave and you can only read their eloquence now you can however listen to the charm of the living to many of us voices still speak from the grave voices to which we have listened when fired with the divine essence of speech perhaps you have hung with rapture on the words of Beecher and Talmadge both thrilled the souls of men and won countless thousands over to a living gospel both were masters of the word they scattered the flowers of rhetoric on the shrine of elegance and hurled veritable bouquets at their audiences which were eagerly seized by the latter and treasured in the storehouse of memory both were scholars and philosophers yet they were far surpassed by Spurgeon a plain man of the people with little or no claim to education in the modern sense of the word Spurgeon by his speech attracted thousands to his tabernacle the Protestant and Catholic Turk Jew and Mohammedan rushed to hear him and listened and tranced to his language such another was Dwight L. Moody the greatest evangelist the world has ever known Moody was not a man of learning he commenced life as a shoe salesman in Chicago yet no man ever lived who drew such audiences and so fascinated them with the spell of his speech oh that was personal magnetism you will say but it was nothing of the kind it was the burning words that fell from the lips of these men and the way the manner the force with which they use those words that counted and attracted the crowds to listen on to them personal magnetism or personal appearance entered not as factors into their success indeed as far as physique were concerned some of them were handicapped Spurgeon was a short paugie fat little man Moody was like a country farmer Talmadge in his big cloak was one of the most lovingly of men and only Beecher was passable in the way of refinement and gentlemanly bearing physical appearance as so many think is not the sesame to the interest of an audience Daniel O'Connell the Irish Tribune was a homely ugly awkward ungainly man yet his words attracted millions to his side and gained for him the hostile ear of the British Parliament he was a master of verbiage and knew just what to say to captivate his audiences it is words and they're placing that count on almost all occasions no matter how refined in our respects the person may be if he use words wrongly and express himself in language not in accordance with proper construction he will repel you whereas the man who places his words correctly and employs language and harmony with the laws of good speech let him be ever so humble will attract and have an influence over you the good speaker the correct speaker is always able to command attention and doors are thrown open to him which remain closed to others not equipped with a like facility of expression the man who can talk well and to the point need never fear to go idle he is required in nearly every walk of life and field of human endeavor the world wants him at every turn employers are constantly on the lookout for good talkers those who are able to attract the public and convince others by the force of their language a man may be able educated refined of unblemished character nevertheless if he lacked the power to express himself put forth his views and good and appropriate speech he has yet to take a back seat while someone with much less ability gets the opportunity to come to the front because he can clothe his ideas in ready words and talk effectively you may again say that nature not art makes a man a fluent speaker to a degree this is true but it is art that makes him a correct speaker and correctness leads to fluency it is possible for everyone to become a correct speaker if he will but persevere and take a little pains and care at the risk of repetition good advice may be here emphasized listen to the best speakers and note carefully the words which impress you most keep a notebook and jot down words phrases sentences that are in any way striking or out of the ordinary run if you do not understand the exact meaning of words you have heard look it up in the dictionary there are many words called synonyms which have almost a like signification nevertheless when examined they express different shades of meaning and in some cases instead of being close related are widely divergent beware of such words find the exact meaning and learn to use them in the right places be open to criticism don't resent it but rather invite it and look upon those as friends who point out your defects in order that you may remedy them end of chapter 10 this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org how to speak and write correctly by Joseph Devlin chapter 11 slang origin American slang foreign slang slang is more or less common in nearly all ranks of society and in every walk of life at the present day slang words and expressions have crept into our everyday language and so insidiously that they have not been detected by the great majority of speakers and so have become part and parcel of their vocabulary on an equal footing with the legitimate words of speech they are called upon to do similar service as the ordinary words used in everyday conversation to express thoughts and desires and convey meaning from one to another in fact in some cases slang has become so useful that it has far out stripped classic speech and made for itself such a position in the vernacular that it would be very hard in some cases to get along without it slang words have usurped the place of regular words of language in very many instances and reign supreme in their own strength and influence cant and slang are often confused in the popular mind yet they are not synonymous though very closely allied and proceeding from a common gypsy origin cant is the language of a certain class the peculiar phraseology or dialect of a certain craft trade or profession and is not readily understood saved by the initiated of such craft trade or profession it may be correct according to the rules of grammar but it is not universal it is confined to certain parts and localities and is only intelligible to those for whom it is intended in short it is an esoteric language which only the initiated can understand the jargon or pattern of thieves is cant and is only understood by thieves who have been let into its significance the initiated language of professional gamblers is cant and is only intelligible to gamblers on the other hand slang as it is nowadays belongs to no particular class but is scattered all over and gets on train to every kind of society and is understood by all where it passes current and everyday expression of course the nature of slang to a great extent depends upon the locality as it chiefly is concerned with colloquialisms or words and phrases common to a particular section for instance the slang of london is slightly different from that of new york and some words in the one city may be unintelligible in the other they're well understood in that which they are current nevertheless slang may be said to be universally understood to kick the bucket to cross the jordan to hop the twig are just as expressive of the departing from life in the backwoods of america or the wilds of australia as they are in london or dublin slang simply consists of words and phrases which pass current but are not refined nor elegant enough to be admitted into polite speech or literature whenever they are recognized as such but as has been said a great many use slang without their knowing it is slang and incorporate it into their everyday speech and conversation some authors purposely use slang to give emphasis and spice and familiar and humorous writing but they should not be imitated by the tyro a master such as dickens is forgivable but in the novice it is unpardonable there are several kinds of slang attached to different professions in classes of society for instance there is college slang political slang sporting slang etc it is the nature of slang to circulate freely among all classes yet there are several kinds of this current form of language corresponding to the several classes of society the two great divisions of slang are the vulgar of the uneducated and course-minded and the high-toned slang of the so-called upper classes the educated and the wealthy the hoidon of the gutter does not use the same slang as my lady in her boudoir but both use it and so expressive is it that the one might readily understand the other if brought in contact therefore there are what may be styled an ignorant slang and an educated slang the one common to the perlouze in the alleys the other to the parlour in the drawing room in all cases the object of slang is to express an idea in a more vigorous peckant and terse manner than standard usage ordinarily admits a schoolgirl when she wants to praise a baby exclaims oh isn't he awfully cute to say that he is very nice would be too weak a way to express her admiration when a handsome girl appears on the street an enthusiastic masculine admirer to express his appreciation of her beauty tells you she is a peach a bird a cuckoo any of which accentuates his estimation of the young lady and is much more emphatic than saying she is a beautiful girl a handsome maiden or a lovely young woman when a politician defeats his rival he will tell you it was a cinch he had a walkover to impress you how easy it was to gain victory some slang expressions are of the nature of metaphors and are highly figurative such are to pass in your checks to hold up to pull the wool over your eyes to talk through your hat to fire out to go back on to make yourself solid with to have a jag on to be loaded to freeze on to to bark up the wrong tree don't monkey with the buzz saw and in the soup most slang had a bad origin the greater part originated in the cante of thieves latin but it broke away from this cante of malefactors in time and gradually evolved itself from its unsavory past until it developed into a current form of expressive speech some slang however can trace its origin back to very respectable sources stolen fruits are sweet may be traced to the bible in sentiment provibs 917 has it stolen waters are sweet what are you giving me supposed to be a thorough americanism is based upon genesis 3816 the common slang a bad man in referring to western desperados in almost the identical sense now used is found in spencer's fairy queen massingers play a new way to pay old debts and in shakespeare's king henry the eighth the expression to blow on meaning to inform is in shakespeare's as you like it it's all greek to me is traceable to the play of julia caesar all cry and no wool is in butler's hoodabras highest frauds meaning hypocrites is from the same source too thin referring to an excuse is from smollett's harrigan pickle shakespeare also used it america has had a large share in contributing to modern slang the heathen shiny and ways that are dark and tricks that are vain are from brethart's truthful james not for joe arose during the civil war when one soldier refused to give a drink to another not if i know myself had its origin in chicago what's the matter with blank he's all right had its beginning in chicago also and first was what's the matter with hannah referring to a lazy domestic servant there's millions in it and by a large majority came from mark twain's gilded age pull down your vest jim jams got him bad that's what's the matter go hire a hall take in your sign dry up hump yourself it's the man around the corner putting up a job put a head on him no back talk bottom dollar went off on his ear chalk it down staving him off making it warm dropping him gently dead gone busted counter-jump put up a shut up bang up smart alec too much jaw chin music top heavy barefooted on the top of the head a little too fresh champion liar chief cook and bottle washer bag in baggage as fine as silk name your poison died with his boots on old horse hunky dory hold your horses galute and many others in use at present are all americanisms and slang california especially has been most fecundin's class of figurative language to this state we owe go off and die don't you forget it rough deal square deal flush times pool your issues go bury yourself go drown yourself give your tongue a vacation a bad egg go climb a tree plug hats dolly vardens well fixed down to bedrock hard pan pay dirt petered out it won't wash slug of whiskey it pans out well and i should smile small potatoes and a few in the hill soft snap all fired gold jurnit an uphill job slick shortcut guess not correct thing are bostonisms the terms innocent acknowledge the corn bark up the wrong tree great snakes i reckon playing possum dead shot had their origins in the southern states dog gone it that beats the dutch you bet you bet your boots sprang from new york step down and out originated in the beecher trial just as brainstorm originated in the thaw trial among the slang phrases that have come directly to us from england maybe mentioned throw up the sponge draw it mild give us a rest deadbeat on the shelf up the spout stunning gift of the gab etc the newspapers are responsible for a large part of the slang reporters staff writers and even editors put words and phrases into the mouths of individuals which they never utter new york is supposed to be the headquarters of slang particularly that portion of it known as the bowery all transgressions and corruptions of language are supposed to originate in that unclassic section while the truth is that the laws of polite english are as much violated on fifth avenue of course the foreign element mincing their pigeon english have given the bowery an unenviable reputation but there are just as good speakers of the vernacular on the bowery as elsewhere in the greater city yet every inexperienced newspaper reporter thinks that it is incumbent on him to hold the bowery up to ridicule and laughter so he sits down and out of his circumscribed brain mutilates the english tongue he can rarely coin a word and blames the mutilation on the bowery he's the same with newspapers and authors too detracting the irish race men and women who have never seen the green hills of ireland paint irish characters as boors and blunderers and make them say ludicrous things and use such language as is never heard within the four walls of ireland it is very well known that ireland is the most learned country on the face of the earth is and has been the school master has been abroad there for hundreds almost thousands of years and nowhere else in the world today is the king's english spoken so purely as in the cities and towns of the little western isle current events happenings of everyday life often give rise to slang words and these after a time come into such general use that they take their places in everyday speech like ordinary words and as has been said their users forget that they were once slang for instance the days of the land league in ireland originated the word boycott which was the name of a very unpopular landlord captain boycott the people refused to work for him and his crops rotted on the ground from this time anyone who came into disfavor and whom his neighbors refused to assist in any way was said to be boycotted therefore to boycott means to punish by abandoning or depriving a person of the assistance of others at first it was a notoriously slang word but now it is standard in the english dictionaries politics add to our slang words and phrases from this source we get dark horse the gray mare is the better horse barrel of money buncombe gerrymander scallowag henchmen log rolling pulling the wires taking the stump machine slate etc the money market furnishes us with corner bull bear lamb slump and several others the custom of the times and the requirements of current expression require the best of us to use slang words and phrases on occasion often we do not know they are slang just as a child often uses profane words without consciousness of their being so we should avoid the use of slang as much as possible even when it serves to convey our ideas in a forceful manner and when it has not gained a firm foothold in current speech it should be used not at all remember that most all slang is a vulgar origin and bears upon its face the bend sinister of vulgarity of the slang that is of good birth pass it by if you can for it is like a broken down gentleman of little good to anyone imitate the great masters as much as you will in classical literature but when it comes to their slang draw the line deans swift the great irish satirist coined the word fizz for face don't imitate him if you are speaking or writing of the beauty of a lady's face don't call it her fizz the dean as an intellectual giant had a license to do so you haven't Shakespeare used the word flush to indicate plenty of money well just remember there was only one Shakespeare and he was the only one that had a right to use that word in that sense you'll never be a Shakespeare there will never be such another nature exhausted herself and producing him bull were use the word stretch for hang as to stretch his neck don't follow his example in such use of the word above all avoid the low coarse vulgar slang which is made to pass for wit among the riffraff of the street if you are speaking or writing of a person having died last night don't say all right he hopped the twig or he kicked the bucket if you are compelled to listen to a person discoursing on a subject of which he knows little or nothing don't say he is talking through his hat if you are telling of having shaken hands with mr. Roosevelt don't say he tipped me his flipper if you are speaking of a wealthy man don't say he has plenty of spondulics or the long green all such slang is low coarse and vulgar and is to be frowned upon on any and every occasion if you use slang use the refined kind and use it like a gentleman that it will not hurt or give offense to anyone cardinal Newman defined gentlemen as he who never inflicts pain be a gentleman in your slang never inflict pain end of chapter 11 this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recording by Andrew Lebrun Boston Massachusetts how to speak and write correctly by Joseph Devlin chapter 12 writing for newspapers qualification appropriate subjects directions the newspaper nowadays goes into every home in the land what was formally regarded as a luxury is now looked upon as a necessity no matter how poor the individual he is not too poor to afford a penny to learn not only what is taking place around him in his own immediate vicinity but also what is happening in every quarter of the globe the laborer on the street can be as well posted on the news of the day as the banker in his office through the newspaper he can feel the pulse of the country and find whether its vitality is increasing or diminishing he can read the signs of the times and scan the political horizon for what concerns his own interests the doings of foreign countries are spread before him and he can see at a glance the occurrences in the remotest corners of the earth if a fire occurred in London last night he can read about it at his breakfast table in New York this morning and probably get a better account than the Londoners themselves if a duel takes place in Paris he can read all about it even before the contestants have left the field there are upwards of 3 000 daily newspapers in the united states more than 2 000 of which are published in towns containing less than 100 000 inhabitants in fact many places of less than 10 000 population can boast the publishing of a daily newspaper there are more than 15 000 weekly published some of the so-called country papers wield quite an influence in their localities and even outside and are money making agencies for their owners and those connected with them both by way of circulation and advertisements it is surprising the number of people in this country who make a living in the newspaper field apart from the regular toilets there are thousands of men and women who make newspaper work a side issue who add tiny sums of pin money to their incomes by occasional contributions to the daily weekly and monthly press most of these people are only persons of ordinary everyday ability having just enough education to express themselves intelligently in writing it is a mistake to imagine as so many do that an extended education is necessary for newspaper work not at all on the contrary in some cases a high-class education is a hindrance not a help in this direction the general newspaper does not want learned disquisitions nor philosophical theses as its name implies it wants news current news interesting news something to appeal to its readers to arouse them and rivet their attention in this respect very often a boy can write a better article than a college professor the professor would be apt to use words beyond the capacity of most of the readers while the boy not knowing such words would probably simply tell what he saw how great the damage was who were killed or injured etc and use language which all would understand of course there are some brilliant scholars deeply read men and women in the newspaper realm but on the whole those who have made the greatest names commenced ignorant enough and most of them graduated by way of the country paper some of the leading writers of England and America at the present time started their literary careers by contributing to the rural press they perfected and polished themselves as they went along until they were able to make names for themselves in universal literature if you want to contribute to newspapers or enter the newspaper field as a means of livelihood don't let lack of a college or university education stand in your way as has been said elsewhere in this book some of the greatest masters of English literature were men who had but little advantage in the way of book learning Shakespeare Bonion Burns and scores of others who have left their names indelibly inscribed on the tablets of fame had little to boast in the way of book education but they had what is popularly known as horse sense and a good working knowledge of the world in other words they understood human nature and were natural themselves Shakespeare understood mankind because he was himself a man hence he has portrayed the feelings the emotions the passions with a master's touch delineating the king in his place as true to nature as he has done the peasant in his hut the monitor within his own breast gave him warning as to what was right and what was wrong just as the daemon ever by the side of old Socrates whispered in his ear the course to pursue under any and all circumstances burns guiding the plow conceived thoughts and clothed them in a language which has never more probably ever will be surpassed by all the learning which art can confer these men were natural and it was the perfection of this naturality that reathed their brows with the never fading laurels of undying fame if you would essay to write for the newspaper you must be natural and express yourself in your accustomed way without putting on airs or frills you must not ape ornaments and indulge in bombast or rudimentaid which stamp a writer as not only superficial but silly there is no room for such in the everyday newspaper it wants facts stated in plain unvarnished unadorned language true you should read the best authors and as far as possible imitate their style but don't try to literally copy them be yourself on every occasion no one else not like Homer would I write not like Dante if I might not like Shakespeare at his best not like Goethe or the rest like myself however small like myself or not at all put yourself in the place of the reader and write what will interest yourself and in such a way that your language will appeal to your own ideas of the fitness of things you belong to the great commonplace majority therefore don't forget that in writing for the newspapers you are writing for that majority and not for the learned and aesthetic minority remember you are writing for the man on the street and in the streetcar you want to interest him to compel him to read what you have to say he does not want a display of learning he wants news about something which concerns himself and you must tell it to him in a plain simple manner just as you would do if you were face to face with him what can you write about why about anything that will constitute current news some leading event of the day anything that will appeal to the readers of the paper to which you wish to submit it no matter in what locality you may live however backward it may be you can always find something of genuine human interest to others if there is no news happening write of something that appeals to yourself we are all constituted alike and the chances are that what will interest you will interest others descriptions of adventure are generally acceptable tell of a fox hunt or a badger hunt or a bear chase if there is any important manufacturing plant in your neighborhood describe it and if possible get photographs for photography plays a very important part in the news items of today if a great man lives near you one whose name is on the tip of every tongue go and get an interview with him obtain his views on the public questions of the day describe his home life and his surroundings and how he spends his time try and strike something germane to the moment something that stands out prominently in the limelight of the passing show if a noted personage some famous man or woman is visiting the country it is a good time to write up the place from which he or she comes and the record he or she has made there for instance it was opportune to write of sulu and the little pacific archipelago during the sultan's trip through the country if an attempt is made to blow up an american battleship say in the harbor of apia in samoa it affords a chance to write about samoa and robert louis stevensson when manuel was hurled from the throne of portugal it was a ripe time to write of portugal and portuguese affairs if any great occurrence is taking place in a foreign country such as the crowning of a king or the dethronement of a monarch it is a good time to write up the history of the country and describe the events leading up to the main issue when a particularly savage outbreak occurs amongst wild tribes in the dependencies such as arising of the manobos in the philippines it is opportune to write of such tribes and their surroundings and the causes leading up to the revolt be constantly on the lookout for something that will suit the passing hour read the daily papers and probably in some obscure corner you may find something that will serve you as a foundation for a good article something at least that will give you a clue be circumspect in your selection of a paper to which to submit your copy know the tone and general import of the paper its social leanings and political affiliations also its religious sentiments and in fact all the particulars you can regarding it it would be injudicious for you to send an article on a prize fight to a religious paper or vice versa an account of a church meeting to the editor of a sporting sheet if you get your copy back don't be disappointed nor yet disinherited perseverance counts more in the newspaper field than anywhere else and only perseverance wins in the long run you must become resilient if you are pressed down spring up again no matter how many rebuffs you may receive do not be discouraged but call fresh energy to your assistance and make another stand if the right stuff is in you it is sure to be discovered your light will not remain long hidden under a bushel in the newspaper domain if you can deliver the goods editors will soon be begging you instead of your begging them those men are constantly on the lookout for persons who can make good once you get into print the battle is won for it will be an incentive to you to persevere and improve yourself at every turn go over everything you write cut and slash and prone until you get it into as perfect form as possible eliminate every superfluous word and be careful to strike out all ambiguous expressions and references if you are writing for a weekly paper remember it differs from a daily one weeklies want what will not alone interest the man on the street but the woman at the fireside they want out of the way facts curious scraps of lore personal notes of famous or eccentric people reminiscences of exciting experiences interesting gleaning's in life's numberless byways in short anything that will entertain amuse instruct the home circle there is always something occurring in your immediate surroundings some curious event or thrilling episode that will furnish you with the data for an article you must know the nature of the weekly to which you submit your copy the same as you must know the daily for instance the christian herald while avowedly a religious weekly treats such secular matters as makes the paper appeal to all on its religious side it is non-sectarian covering the broad field of christianity throughout the world on its secular side it deals with human events in such an impartial way that everyone no matter to what class they may belong or to what creed they may subscribe can take a living personal interest the monthly's offer another attractive field for the literary aspirant here again don't think that you must be a university professor to write for a monthly magazine many indeed most of the foremost magazine contributors are men and women who have never passed through college except by going into the front door and emerging from the back one however for the most part they are individuals of wide experience who know the practical side of life as distinguished from the theoretical the ordinary monthly magazine treats of the leading questions and issues which are engaging the attention of the world for the moment great inventions great discoveries whatever is engrossing the popular mind for the time being such as flying machines battleships skyscrapers the opening of minds the development of new lands political issues views of party leaders character sketches of distinguished personages etc however before trying your skill for a monthly magazine it would be well for you to have a good apprenticeship in writing for the daily press above all things remember that perseverance is the key that opens the door of success persevere if you are turned down don't get disheartened on the contrary let the rebuff act as a stimulant to further effort many of the most successful writers of our time have been turned down again and again for days and months even years some of them have hawked their wares from one literary door to another until they found a purchaser you may be a great writer in embryo but you will never develop into a fetus not to speak of full maturity unless you bring out what is in you give yourself a chance to grow and seize upon everything that will enlarge the scope of your horizon keep your eyes wide open and there is not a moment of the day in which you will not see something to interest you and in which you may be able to interest others learn to how to read nature's book there's a lesson in everything in the stones the grass the trees the babbling brooks and the singing birds interpret the lesson for yourself then teach it to others always be in earnest in your writing go about it in a determined kind of way don't be faint-hearted or backward be brave be brave and evermore be brave on the wide-tended field in the battle of life with an army of millions before you like a hero of old gird your soul for the strife and let not the fomen trample over you act act like a soldier and proudly rush on the most valiant in bravery's van with keen flashing sword cut your way to the front and show to the world you're a man if you are of the masculine gender be a man in all things in the highest and best acceptation of the word that is the noblest title you can boast higher far than that of earl or duke emperor or king in the same way womanhood is the grandest crown the feminine head can wear when the world frowns on you and everything seems to go wrong possess your soul in patience and hope for the dawn of a brighter day it will come the sun is always shining behind the darkest clouds when you get your manuscripts back again and again don't despair nor think the editor cruel and unkind he too has troubles of his own keep up your spirits until you have made the final test and put your talents to a last analysis then if you find you cannot get into print be sure that newspaper writing or literary work is not your forte and turn to something else if nothing better presents itself try shoemaking or digging ditches remember honest labor no matter how humble is ever dignified if you are a woman throw aside the pen sit down and darn your brothers your fathers or your husband socks or put on a calico apron take soap and water and scrub the floor no matter who you are do something useful that old sophistry about the world owing you a living has been exploded long ago the world does not owe you a living but you owe it servitude and if you do not pay the debt you are not serving the purpose of an all wise providence and filling the place for which you were created it is for you to serve the world to make it better brighter higher holier grander nobler richer for your having lived in it this you can do in no matter what position fortune has cast you whether it be that of street laborer or president fight the good fight and gain the victory above all to thine own self be true and twill follow as the night the day thou canst not then be false to any man end of chapter 12 writing for newspapers this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org this reading by Kara Schellenberg how to speak and write correctly by Joseph Devlin chapter 13 choice of words small words very importance the Anglo-Saxon element in another place in this book advice has been given to never use a long word when a short one will serve the same purpose this advice is to be emphasized words of learned length and thundering sound should be avoided on all possible occasions they proclaim shallowness of intellect and vanity of mind the great purists the masters of diction the exemplars of style used short simple words that all could understand words about which there could be no ambiguity as to meaning it must be remembered that by our words we teach others therefore a very great responsibility rests upon us in regard to the use of a right language we must take care that we think and speak in a way so clear that there may be no misapprehension or danger of conveying wrong impressions by vague and misty ideas enunciated in terms which are liable to be misunderstood by those whom we address words give a body or form to our ideas without which they are apt to be so foggy that we do not see where they are weak or false we must make the endeavor to employ such words as will put the idea we have in our own mind into the mind of another this is the greatest art in the world to clothe our ideas in words clear and comprehensive to the intelligence of others it is the art which the teacher the minister the lawyer the orator the businessman must master if they would command success in their various fields of endeavor it is very hard to convey an idea to and impress it on another when he has but a faint conception of the language in which the idea is expressed but it is impossible to convey it at all when the words in which it is clothed are unintelligible to the listener if we address an audience of ordinary men and women in the english language but use such words as they cannot comprehend we might as well speak to them in coptic or chinese for they will derive no benefit from our address in as much as the ideas we wish to convey are expressed in words which communicate no intelligent meaning to their minds long words learned words words directly derived from other languages are only understood by those who have had the advantages of an extended education all have not had such advantages the great majority in this grand and glorious country of ours have to hustle for a living from an early age though education is free and compulsory also very many never get further than the three ours these are the men with whom we have to deal most in the arena of life the men with the horny palms and the iron muscles the men who build our houses construct our railroads drive our streetcars and trains till our fields harvest our crops in a word the men who form the foundation of all society the men on whom the world depends to make its wheels go around the language of the colleges and universities is not for them and they can get along very well without it they have no need for it at all in their respective callings the plain simple words of everyday life to which the common people have been used around their own firesides from childhood are the words we must use in our dealings with them such words are understood by them and understood by the learned as well why then not use them universally and all the time why make a one sided affair of language by using words which only one class of the people the so-called learned class can understand would it not be better to use on all occasions language which the both classes can understand if we take the trouble to investigate we shall find that the men who exerted the greatest sway over the masses and the multitude as orators lawyers preachers and in other public capacities were men who used very simple language daniel webster was among the greatest orators this country has produced he touched the hearts of senates and assemblages of men and women with the burning eloquence of his words he never used a long word when he could convey the same or nearly the same meaning with a short one when he made a speech he always told those who put it in form for the press to strike out every long word study his speeches go overall he ever said or wrote and you will find that his language was always made up of short clear strong terms although at times for the sake of sound and oratorical effect he was compelled to use a rather long word but it was always against his inclination to do so and where was the man who could paint with words as webster painted he could picture things in a way so clear that those who heard him felt that they had seen that of which he spoke abraham lincoln was another who stirred the souls of men yet he was not an orator not a scholar he did not write ma or phd after his name or any other college degree for he had none he graduated from the university of hard knocks and he never forgot this severe alma mater when he became president of the united states he was just as plain just as humble as in the days when he split rails or applied a boat on the sanghamon he did not use big words but he used the words of the people and in such a way as to make them beautiful his gettysburg address is an english classic one of the great masterpieces of the language from the mere fact that a word is short it does not follow that it is always clear but it is true that nearly all clear words are short and that most of the long words especially those which we get from other languages are misunderstood to a great extent by the ordinary rank and file of the people indeed it is to be doubted if some of the scholars using them fully understand their import on occasions a great many such words admit of several interpretations a word has to be in use a great deal before people get thoroughly familiar with its meaning long words not alone obscure thought and make the ideas hazy but at times they tend to mix up things in such a way that positively harmful results follow from their use for instance crime can be so covered with the folds of long words as to give it a different appearance even the hideousness of sin can be cloaked with such words until its outlines look like a thing of beauty when a bank cashier makes off with a hundred thousand dollars we politely term his crime defocation instead of plain theft and instead of calling himself a thief we grandiosly allude to him as a defaulter when we see a wealthy man staggering along a fashionable thoroughfare under the influence of alcohol waving his arms in the air and shouting boisterously we smile and say poor gentleman he is somewhat exhilarated or at worst we say he is slightly inebriated but when we see a poor man who has fallen from grace by putting an enemy into his mouth to steal away his brain we express our indignation in the simple language of the words look at the wretch he is dead drunk when we find a person in downright lying we cover the falsehood with the finally spun cloak of the word prevarication shakespeare says a rose by any other name would smell as sweet and by a similar sequence a lie no matter by what name you may call it is always a lie and should be condemned then why not simply call it a lie mean what you say and say what you mean call a spade a spade it is the best term you can apply to the implement when you try to use short words and shun long ones in a little while you will find that you can do so with ease a farmer was showing a horse to a city bread gentleman the animal was led into a paddock in which an old sow pig was rooting what a fine quadruped exclaimed the city man which of the two do you mean the pig or the horse queried the farmer for in my opinion both of them are fine quadrupeds of course the visitor meant the horse so it would have been much better had he called the animal by its simple ordinary name there would have been no room for ambiguity in his remark he profited however by the incident and never called a horse a quadruped again most of the small words the simple words the beautiful words which express so much within small bounds belong to the pure anglo-saxon element of our language this element has given names to the heavenly bodies the sun moon and stars to three out of the four elements earth fire and water three out of the four seasons spring summer and winter its simple words are applied to all the natural divisions of time except one as day night morning evening twilight noon midday midnight sunrise and sunset the names of light heat cold frost rain snow hail sleep thunder lightning as well as almost all those objects which form the component parts of the beautiful as expressed in external scenery such as sea and land hill and dale wood and stream etc our anglo-saxon to this same language we are indebted for those words which express the earliest and dearest connections and the strongest and most powerful feelings of nature and which as a consequence are interwoven with the fondest and most hallowed associations of such words are father mother husband wife brother sister son daughter child home kindred friend hearth roof and fireside the chief emotions of which we are susceptible are expressed in the same language love hope fear sorrow shame and also the outward signs by which these emotions are indicated as tear smile laugh blush weep sigh groan nearly all our national proverbs are anglo-saxon almost all the terms and phrases by which we most energetically express anger contempt and indignation are of the same origin what are known as the smart set and so called polite society are relegating a great many of our old anglo-saxon words into the shade faithful friends who served their ancestors well these self-appointed arbiters of diction regard some of the anglo-saxon words as too coarse too plebeian for their aesthetic tastes and refined ears so they are eliminating them from their vocabulary and replacing them with mongrels of foreign birth and hybrids of unknown origin for the ordinary people however the man in the street or in the field the woman in the kitchen or in the factory they are still tried and true and like old friends should be cherished and preferred to all strangers no matter from what source the latter may spring end of chapter 13 read by Kara Schellenberg www.kra.org on November 10th 2006 in Oceanside California chapter 14 the English language this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer visit LibriVox.org how to speak and write correctly by Joseph Devlin chapter 14 the English language beginning different sources the present the English language is the tongue now current in England and her colonies throughout the world and also throughout the greater part of the United States of America it sprang from the German tongue spoken by the two tongues who came over to Britain after the conquest of that country by the Romans these two times comprised Angles Saxons Jutes and several other tribes from the northern part of Germany they spoke different dialects but these became blended in the new country and the composite tongue came to be known as the Anglo-Saxon which has been the main basis for the language as at present constituted and is still the prevailing element therefore those who are trying to do away with some of the purely Anglo-Saxon words on the ground that they are not refined enough to express their aesthetic ideas are undermining main props which are necessary for the support of some important parts in the edifice of the language the Anglo-Saxon element supplies the essential parts of speech the article pronoun of all kinds the preposition the auxiliary verbs the conjunctions and the little particles which bind words into sentences and form the joints sinews and ligaments of the language it furnishes the most indispensable words of the vocabulary nowhere is the beauty of Anglo-Saxon better illustrated than in the Lord's prayer 54 words are pure Saxon and the remaining ones could easily be replaced by Saxon words the gospel of st. John is another illustration of the almost exclusive use of Anglo-Saxon words Shakespeare at his best is Anglo-Saxon here is a quotation from the merchant of Venice and of the 55 words 52 or Anglo-Saxon the remaining three French all that glitters is not gold often have you heard that told many a man his life hath sold but my outside to behold gilded tombs do worms in fold had you been as wise as bold young and limbs in judgment old your answer had not been in scrolled very well your suit is cold the lines put into the mouth of Hamlet's father in fierce intenseness second only to Dante's inscription on the gate of hell have 108 Anglo-Saxon and but 15 Latin words the second constituent element of present English is Latin which comprises those words derived directly from the old Roman and those which came indirectly through the French the former were introduced by the Roman Christians who came to England at the close of the sixth century under Augustine and relate chiefly to ecclesiastical affairs such as Saint from Sanctus religion from religio chalice from colleagues mass from Misa etc some of them had origin in Greek as priest from presbyter which in turn was a direct derivative from the Greek presbyteros also deacon from the Greek diaconos the largest class of Latin words are those which came through the Norman French or romance the Normans had adopted with the Christian religion the language laws and arts of the Romanized Gauls and Romanized Franks and after a residence of more than a century in France they successfully invaded England in 1066 under William the Conqueror and a new era began the French Latin isms can be distinguished by the spelling thus savior comes from the Latin salvator through the French Sauver judgment from the Latin judicum through the French jugement people from the Latin populace through the French peuple etc for a long time the Saxon and Norman tongues refused to coalesce and were like two distinct currents flowing in different directions Norman was spoken by the lords and barons in their feudal castles in parliament and in the courts of justice Saxon by the people in their rural homes fields and workshops for more than 300 years the streams flowed apart but finally they blended taking in the Celtic and Danish elements and as a result came the English language with its simple system of grammatical inflection and its rich vocabulary the father of English prose is generally regarded as Wycliffe who translated the bible in 1380 while the paternal laurels and the secular poetical field are twined around the brows of Chaucer besides the Germanic and Romantic which constitute the greater part of the English language many other tongues have furnished their quota of these the Celtic is perhaps the oldest the Britons at Caesar's invasion were a part of the Celtic family the Celtic idiom is still spoken in two dialects the Welsh in Wales and the Gaelic in Ireland and the Highlands of Scotland the Celtic words in English are comparatively few cart dock wire rail rug cradle babe groan griddle lad lass are some in most common use the Danish element dates from the piratical invasions of the 9th and 10th centuries it includes anger awe baffle bang bark ball blunder boulder box club crash dairy dazzle fellow gable gain ill jam kidnap kill kidney kneel limber litter dog lull lump mast mistake nag nasty niggered horse plow rug rump sail scald shriek skin skull sledge sleigh tackle tangle tipple trust Viking window wing etc from the Hebrew we have a large number of proper names from Adam and Eve down to John and Mary in such words as Messiah Rabbi hallelujah cherub seraph hosanna manna satan Sabbath etc many technical terms and names of branches of learning come from the greek in fact nearly all the terms of learning and art from the alphabet to the highest peaks of metaphysics and theology come directly from the greek philosophy logic anthropology psychology aesthetics grammar rhetoric history philology mathematics arithmetic astronomy anatomy geography stenography physiology architecture and hundreds more in similar domains the subdivisions and ramifications of theology as exegesis hermeneutics apologetics polemics dogmatics ethics homiletics etc are all greek the dutch have given us some modern c terms as sloop schooner yacht and also a number of others as boom bush bore brandy duck reef skate wagon the dutch of manhattan gave us boss the name for employer or overseer also cold slaw cut cabbage and vinegar and a number of geographical terms many of our most pleasing euphonic words especially in the realm of music have been given to us directly from the italian of these are piano violin orchestra kanto allegro piazza gazette umbrella gondola bandit etc spanish has furnished us with alligator alpaca bigot cannibal cargo filibuster freebooter guano hurricane mosquito negro stampede potato tobacco tomato tariff etc from arabic we have several mathematical astronomical medical and chemical terms as alcohol alcove olympic algebra alkali almanac assassin azure cypher elixir harem hijira sofa talisman zenith and zero bazaar dervish lilac pagoda caravan scarlet shawl tartar tiara and peach have come to us from the persian turban tulip divan and firman are turkish draski naut ruble step yukazi are russian the indians have helped us considerably and the words they have given us are extremely euphonic as exemplified in the names of many of our rivers and states as mississippi Missouri mini ha ha sus quenna monongahila niagra ohio massachusetts canadian iowa nebraska dakota etc in addition to these proper names we have from the indians wigwam squaw hammock tomahawk canoe moccasin hominy etc there are many hybrid words in english that is words springing from two or more different languages in fact english has drawn from all sources and it is daily adding to its already large family and not alone is it adding to itself but it is spreading all over the world and promises to take in the entire human family beneath its folds air long it is the opinion of many that english in a short time will become the universal language it is now being taught as a branch of the higher education in the best colleges and universities in europe and in all commercial cities in every land throughout the world in asia it follows the british sway and the highways of commerce through the vast empire of east india with its 250 millions of heathen and mohammedan inhabitants it is largely used in the seaports of japan and china and the number of natives of these countries who are learning is increasing every day it is firmly established in south africa liberia seara leone and in many of the islands of the indian and south seas it is the language of australia new zealand tazmania and christian missionaries are introducing it into all the islands of polonisia it may be said to be the living commercial language of the north american continent from baffins bay to the gulf of mexico and from the atlantic to the pacific and it is spoken largely in many of the republics of south america it is not limited by parallels of latitude or meridians of longitude the two great english-speaking countries england and the united states are disseminating it north south east and west over the entire world end of chapter 14 read by denis sears and madesto california for libervox winter 2007 this is a libervox recording all libervox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer visit libervox.org how to speak and write correctly by joseph deflan chapter 15 masters and masterpieces of literature great authors classification the world's best books the bible is the world's greatest book apart from its character as a work of divine revelation it is the most perfect literature extant leaving out the bible the three greatest works are those of homer dante and shakespeare these are closely followed by the works of virgil and milton indispensable books homer dante servantes shakespeare and girtha the best translation of homer for the ordinary reader is by chatman norton's translation of dante and taylor's translation of girtha's foust are recommended a good library besides the works mentioned everyone should endeavor to have the following clutarch's lives meditations of marcus her alias chaucer imitation of christ by tomas akampus holy living and holy dying by jeremy taylor pilgrim's progress mccally's essays bacon's essays addison's essays essays of alia or charles lamb lame is rob by hugo heroes and hero worship by carlyle paul grave's golden treasury wordsworth the vicar of wakefield adam bead by george elliott vanity fair by thackeray ivanhoe by scott on the heights by arabak eugenie grande by balzac scarlet letter by hawthorne emerson's essays bozwell's life of johnson history of the english people by green outlines of universal history the origin of species montaigne's essays longfellow tenison browning wittier ruskin and herbert spencer a good encyclopedia is very desirable and a reliable dictionary indispensable masterpieces of american literature the scarlet letter parkman's histories motley's dutch republic grant's memoirs franklin's autobiography webster's speeches lol's bigelow papers also his critical essays the rose walden leaves of grass by wittman leather stocking tails by cooper autocrat of the breakfast table ben hur and uncle tom's cabin the ten greatest american poets bryant poe whittier longfellow lull emerson wittman laniere aldrich and stoddard the ten greatest english poets chaucer spencer shakespeare milton burns wordsworth keats shelly tenison and browning the ten greatest english essays bacon adison steel mccawley lamb jeffrey jequincey carlyle thackeray and matthew arnold the best plays of shakespeare in order of merit are hamlet king lear othello antony and cleopatra macbeth the merchant of venice henry the fourth as you like it winter's tale romeo and juliet the midst of a night's dream 12 night and the tempest only the good if you are not able to procure a library of the great masterpieces get at least a few read them carefully intelligently and with a view to enlarging your own literary horizon remember a good book cannot be read too often one of a deteriorating influence should not be read at all in literature as in all things else the good alone should prevail end of chapter 15 end of how to speak and write correctly by joseph deblin