Mineral Point tribune. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1854-1858, 1858-03-02

y I'A1NN4"n eopdiatlSe unites them; and As b
: separately and singly to the conprebers;or -
'efoof pronoun must be rendered In the si, on
; iA number also; AS, Henry or John is 10 o
10 the Lecture; his son or his nepbey 5o
since put IN his claim" neither one nor IN
o'her Ha' the least chance of success"
VII.
Nany people improperly substitute the d;.
Iuhcti'e o'a Tor the comparative than; as, tn,
.nIhd no sooner enter'ains aey Proposition h.,
II presently hastens 10 some hypothesis to bot
ooin u on -Loche- No other resource b,st TIN.
% aitowed Nun; Ny behavior" saws She
Gas, lear been the death of a man WHO had
he other fault bet that Of loving me too much.
/ Spectator.
VIII
sometimes relative pronoun is used ius,e,,3
OF conjunction, In such sentences as IN. foI.
! lowing 3" do not know bnt nAot shall po to
sew ork tomorrow !" insteat of q do no,
/ know but ha:," etc
| Never sly "cut 1t in half for thi. you can
not do unless you could annihilate one half
You may say "cut il in two" or .cu,; :;
halves, or cut it through" or divide !, >, hn,
halt. -
There are speakers who are too retneI 70 use
zoe pas1 (or perfect partlciTie of the verbs 10
dEiRk, 10 run, Ito begin" etc, and sub,ti-
tute the inaperfet tense; thus instead of SAVING
" have drunk, " be has run" "they have ha
gun, they say. | have drank" "he has ran :"
| they have began. etc. Some of the dictioua-
Ties Tolerate drank as past participle bat drunk
uhques'ioAaoiy correct English. Propably
IL Is from an unpleasant association with the
word dru1k that modern refinement has changed
At to drank.
IL Is very easy to mistake the nominative
when another noun comes between il and the
- htei IL
the indefinite .ad dlstributive pronouns; as
" One Oi those houses toere sold last veek-"
Each oil The daughter ore to have a separate
snare Every tree IL those Plantations hare
been injured by the Storm =" Either OF the chill
dren are al liberty TO claim IL" Here II viii
be percei. ed that the prounouns. zone y" each ;,
every. either, are the true norninatives TO
tle FeTos; but the Intervening noun in the plu-
raj number, IN each -entence deIudes the ear
ana the speaker, without reflection, renders the
verb ID the plural instead OF the singular num-
Der. The same error is often committed whom
no second noun appears to plead ali apology for
ife iaut As, Every body has a right to look
after heiT oTn Interest" Either are at liberty
to claim II This IS the effect of pure careless
ness.
There is another common error. the reverse of
The last-roeniIoned, which Is that of rendering
the adjective prunoan In the IIlsro! number IN.
stead of the singular, IN such sentences as the
following These sort of experiments are often
dangerous ms error seems - originate in
the habit which people insenslolv acquire of
surprising the prominent noun in the sentence
such as % entertainments or .experImsnts L
10 De the noun qualified by the adjective I ese
or those instead of which, 1t is kind =" ~so-t
or any word Of that description iuarrod 1telv fol-
fo'cin9 the adjective, which should be 30 15=Ii
he'd. and the &C ecrIve must be made. 10 aoYee
with II IN the singular number. We confess. il
Is not so agreeable 10 the ear 10 saw This kind
OF entertainments, thai sort of experiment."
but il would be easy 10 give sentence a different
form. and s7y "EnTertainmeus Of this klnd -
g s:'srfn'enis of that sort:' by which th, re-
ga iuns of grammar would be satisfied and
d.. ~ II euphuny too.
Sha'cEer Is worth doing - wo.,h doing wei!
Ii our native Language Is worth studying. II i
worth speaking well. Youth tAe time Tor
forming correct habits of speech.
XIII.
A common error may be observed in the Oh
tectire case OF personal pronouns instead of the
'oani'tative A lady inquiries OF a friend, &" " no
was that gentleman walking with YOU yester-
day = q Ii was my brother, who has lust re-
turned from Europe" " 1 thought ii was ham
[he). from his resemblance To Your father
Mary attempted 10 surprise this evening,
but a. soon as heard iady's step | knew II
was her (sae)." The words in parenthesis ars
of course the proper ones 20 be used IN these
expressions.
4 very common blunder Is the Substitution,
o; the transiiIve verb Eay for the iutrarstIre ee
iie Ito lie DOWN." Nothing can be more e..s-
neeus than to say, as persons Who ought 10 know
better constantly do, :. / shall 90 and idr down
What are you going To- lay down-money, car
pets, plans. or what for, transitIye verb i,
used an object Is wanted 10 complete the sens
The speaker means. II fact, TO tell Us that 4
(himseif) IS gong TO lie doar's instead of which
he gives US 10 understand that he Is going to "a,
Z -. Il Il
named, but which Ii Is necessary 10 name befor,
we can understand The sentence; and this ser.
tence, when completed according 10 the rule,
OF grammar -.l never convey the meaning he
IuJends-
! How often are critical ears vornded bv such
/ expressions the following = My brother lav,
+ (Hes) al OF a ierer;' Tne ship lays lie.) d,
the end of Long " harf :" After [ had isla
/ (Iain) down, | remembered that left nv pis-
lols laying (ying) on the liable" You must
perceive that IL every one Of these Instances the
wrong verb IS used, the right one being gIvcr
/ in psrentbesis. The error probably originate.
/ III The circumstance of the present tense OF The
verb "to lay" being similar 10 The past tense O
/ the verb "to lie"
! Ia such sentences as the following wherein
! the verb is used refiectIvely,-" Now l iay ms
down to sleep" " Ii | lay myself down oa iLt
grass. shall catch coli," tie l;.id hlmsei
down Oh the four,'-t verb -fto lay" is coz,
recrly substituted for the verb ito lie " for tb,
addition Of he emphatic pTonoun IA self or him
seif, constituting an objective case, and coming
( immediately after the verb without the inter
veatIon OF proposition, renders il ueces~ary
ihas the verb employed should be transltive
that i, VeTo Ii which the sense passes across
/ from IL 20 some noun.
XIV
L similar Confusion o.Ie2 arises In the use o
the verbs SIT and set. SIT Is aa intraus!tive A.
traasltive verb; vet how often do we hea
such expressions as. / 5ave 81 sat1 with hin
Tor hours; She 81 satl three nights by til,
patients bedside nat dld shey sei:-pIanis
trees, traps, or wha; for, as a. objective cas-,
is evidently implied by the use OF al activ,
verb aa object Is indispensable to complete the
sense No tense whatever OF the verb to ST
Is rsuderrd =" set ;; and this last has but on
word throughout the whole verb except the a.
I've PaTucIple setting :: and "sIt' has bU
two words, sit ana " sal. excep: the active
paruclpie sitting therefore IL l. easy 20 cor
rect thIs erro. by the help Of ..-:Ie attention.
XVI