American union. [volume] (Morgantown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1855-1859, 1858-04-02
VOL .sN0$4l.:ss.,.,..s n. \. .'.s1. ...ss :ss
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ISargsnt's ScIlooie sionthIy.

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% SarssntS Scliooie Monthly. of
This IS thentitle Of as.handsome aud
interesting Mpgsxineip salblished month
Iyqat Boston, Mass. byEpes Sargent,
,ats0ne Doil,iria 9yearso Itlis lispdmmablyI
adapted TO- tee i1strdotiontsof YOUTH
ana cohtai,is many hints which might
bspfoRtatbll 70 persons qf ripe years.
Instance the folloWing:r-s ,sra;tror
,aoi3aslmproprieties Of Speech. goi,,n
.saigi aRo slcoegtii2qqaafd Jrop, ,Rags 2S 1a
'i,saE5Tos od AIlT;G3gaas snsm sigiI
.Ascomlaon, ,ernorlaay be obscrYelin
the use OF ofithesohieetteer case of person
al pronouns instead of the nonainatige.l
Alla,ly inquiries of her friend, g''fWho
wassthat gentleman Walking with you
yestepdayPpS SILT was my brother, who
has just returned from Europe I" |
thopght it was him (he) from his, re-,
semblance to your. father = /" Mary
attempted to surprise me. this evening,
but as soon as / heard a a1ady's Step
knew itWas,her lshSs)}.ss''i5S 7 The words in
parenthesis are of course the proper
ontsto be used in these expressions. Z
.sflasa sfj ~ aas ,HIN.a8i sy 6ooid 3S ,lsa, :,
"a very commons blmder is the sub
aituti0n of, the transitiye very Ian for
tkeointransitivesverb lie (tollic down J
Nothing can be more erroneous than to
say, as persons who ought to. know bet
ter constantly do, Il shall go and ,ldy
doWnsai bIVhat are you going to lay
down-money, carpets, plans, or whats?
for, as a transitive verb is used, an OBJ
ject isiwantedsto complete, the sense.
The speaker means, nqfact, to tell us
that tihe (himself) is going to lie down;
instead of which lie gives us to UNDER
stand that he is going to lay down or
put down something which he has not
named, but, which it is necessary to
name before we can understand the
sentence, I; and this cntence, when it is
completed according to the rules of
grammar, willneyer convey the emean,
ing he,intends. ~ ssslsrg- D, 4 -sa.,., I
.li1oW often are critical ears wounded
by such expressions as the following !:
My brother lays (lies) i'll of fever"
"The ship lays Qios) at the end of
Long Wharf," 1.-The books were lay.
ing Qying) on the foor;'' q" He laid
Gay) on sofa three weeks - After
Ihad laid Qain) down, / remembered
that | had left my pistols laying (y-
ang) on the table, You must perceive
that in every one of these instances
the wrong verb is used, the right one
being given in the parcnthesis. The
error probably originates in the cir
cumstance of the present tense of the
verb "ato lay being similar to the past
tense ofthe verb "to lie. .'.a. a ,a5aa
In such sentences as the following,
wherein the verb is used retlectively-
.Now | lay me down to sleep,' "If l
lay myself down on the grass, | shall
catch cold, - lie laid himself down on
the floor, "--the verb to lay is corr
rectly substituted for the verb "to
lie;R for the addition of the emphatic
pronoun nsySeF or himseT, constitute
ing an objective case, and coming inn
mediately after the verb without the
intervention of a proposition, renders
1T necessary that the verb employed
should be ransitive, that is, a verb in
which the sense passes across from it
TO some noun. atIi3un .atqraiFnr3 sHa
Et9atoH 3 10 gEg Ky. sgFaEgsr sod
Asimilar confusion often arises in
the use of the verbs SIT and set. SIT
IS an intransitive, set q transitiye verb,
yet how often do we hear snch express
sions as, y" 4 have set (saD with him for
hours - She set (satJ nights by
the PATIENTS bedside" What did they
set ?--plants, trees, traps, or what?---
Tor, as an objective case is evidently
implied by the~use of an active verb,
an object is Indispensable to complete
tho sense. No tense whatever of the
verb ",tp sit is rendered "sct.;", and
this last has but one ,uord throughout
the whole verb, except the active pdf-
tlciple "setting;" and :" sit" has but
two words, "sit" and "sat," except
the active participlc "sitting !" there
fore it is easy to correct this error, by
the help Of a little attention.
e6s.tes XVI.
II will not suppose that you are SO
ijlitcrate as to say :" I'VE done this, -
Z" You done that" instead Of "We did
this, you did that" and yet this
gross blunder is too common even a.
mong persons claiming 70 have some
education. II did il, or q" have
done it," is a phrase correct i'll its for
nation, its application being, Of course,
dependant on other circumstances. =.
ttYou hadn't ought to do it. is another
blunder that we sometimes hear. 'You
ought not to do it is the correct form
Of expression. BE on your guard q.
n n .