St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1870-04-22


, ing lesson in Engli-h grammar, whicl
! afforded me no little amusement at til,
l time, and some food for reflection after
r wards. 1t was i'll the old town of South
ampton. The morning was dark and
gloomy, and thick mist amounting al
most to drizzliug rain, had set in fo
the day.
by way Of morning salutation to my
good landlady, who made her appear.
ance as usual at the sitting room dool
to receive orders for the meals of the
day, l made the very commonplace re-
mark, Il think it rains this morning, ''
Yes it do, Sir," WAS her reply.
Subsequent observation in different
parts OF the kingdom showed that 50 lar
from this moGe OF expression being an
exceptional one, it was quite the rule
among that class Of people to which this
woman belonged.
~ WIS then fresh from America,
my national pride cave rise to compari-
So'S not altogether favorable to 'Ae
mother country: and was beginning to
tc soothcd hr the fiattering unction that
nowhere, throughout the length and
breadth of the United States, could a
native American have made use "t such
an lnrNcu-abl" expression a. this "1's,
1t DO. But little further reflection
suggested tie query whether. under a
slight change Of lJcuion-unlcr Il mrgt-
tive t"rm-wr are not h;bl'ually guilty
"i the same error suppose for instance
that the rem 'rN---"l think It rains -
had required negative answer, how
many Americans would n" have sari-
No II ""'tf winch i Just aS ungrammat-
i'aI HS, y -, 1t "'. y sight cNlml-
nation OF the present tense Of the verb Ip
do shows that the .orm ITO Is used only in
the first person singular number. / do.
and in all three persons if the plural
'ic do, Iou @n, tNr. The NEGATIVE Of
this i do loot. which. btiug contracted.
makes "oHL d1nt, Ii'e doiit, a..
"e form tHr ihr third person singular
/ "".S. NE "oe>, SITE "".". II d1t>. The
nc2a l'r Is F''S not, which IN the con
tr'ric5 form "lvea d"a<'tt, and 10; donL
II should therefore hc liz h"c>ht, Ii
"'.'" T. Nr-, and never 1T ""Ht, II doHt
a. "ni'~" we are prepared 10 accept the
''f,>P'ninI ioIm IN III" affirmative,
III do, II do. DC.
1t may not be lnoPportune to mention
here one or TWO other errors It speech
which are more diStinctiyclv American-
first the erroneous Use Of the words, ,u,y
and >OHte aS aiyyrls. Webster does IN
,
decd give qUtS sanction To the Use OF
any as culloqulai word. IN such an cN-
preston rs "Arc YOU am better? ? but !,
is not good ENGLISH. and had better h
discarded, especially rs it lead, to its fur
thcr use, advcrbially. as 81 decided bar
bari>m.
Take an ilu,traiion-A native Of one
of onr New Eaoland yilIagcs. after mn
absence. ot several wears. returned ON =
visit to his torncr friend. and cnc,ur-
tered anon. other arquaintances the accd
choriStcr of the chIrch After the u-ua!
salutations were over. he a,keJ ..WcU
Mr.. Y. do Won >inn ann nowodovs =,
..Oh. vc.," was the rcpIv. 81 work at il
same"
After the query .do YOU sine a,,g'' ?
comes another query-Any ,rhats With
regard to the word Some, we will refer
to U'eJstey's Diction,oy Toab,7,I0 d.
THE icrat in The United States often use >,,c Is
pesoa; as aIn r tired he IL IL ss ' 'iyt' T ter IN it
l:ngI,nd; and is a decided Amcrieuni,m III
There Is another grammatical error
winch 'S not only an Amellcanlsm bui
winch mas lis stronghold, II not ITS orr
gln' IN oar glorious New England |
refer to the use Of the word as in the
place oil h'a, IN such expressions as
don't know as l shall. l don't know
rs he Is at home, am not sure rs lie
Will ceme' &c. I
lhe l"dicrousneSs OF this mistake is
detected at once by changing the above