The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1885-07-30
coMMoH ERRORS IN SPEECH.

The following, collected from many
sources, are by no means all the common
errors met with in speech, but there are
quite enough to- put you onsyour guard.
Wien people set about numbering the
English language, they usually begin
with the small words: thus we find a
great many efrors arising from the wrong
use Of prononns.
You are stronger than her, says
Mary, asand she is taller than me-
Here are two common errors in one
sentsnce-her should be she, and me
should be I.
s'This is secret" says Alice, "between
syou and II, Wrong, Alice; you should
say, abetween you and M"
ssEliza went with Kate and L" Here,
again I should be me. i:
stWas it her who called met" Her
should be she. .5
ut is me who am 70 blame" Ne
should be I.
In slet each of you mind their OWN
business" the their should of course be.
her or his.
Who and aohich are often confused.
Long ago both words used to be employed
to stand for persons; but nowadays a0ho
is used when speaking of persons, and
soh;ch when ilnding to things. Thus,
.sthe lady which Ispoke to" ought to be
fthe lady to auhons ! spoke.
Who do you think / saw to-day p, is
phrase often heard. WHO should be:
yhom. g Who do you mean Z" Say,
8 Rhom dc. you mean =
Many Of our errors arise from attach
ing wrong meanings to- words. :s
Reverend and reuerent are very different
words, but they are often confused. Rev
erend is the subjective word, describing
the feeling within a man as its subject;
reverent is the objective word, describing
the feeling with which man isregarded
-of which he is the object.
The words lie and lay are very often
Wrongfnlly used The first Is nenter
yerbsssa vessel lies in a harbor." The
other is an active transitiye yerb-"a hen
lays an egg" It is decidedly bad gram;
mar, then, to say, "My cousin lays i'll OF
fever; "The books were laying on the
table,; 1.-THE boat was laying outside the
bar"
Another common error in the mean
ings of words is found in such sentences
as elena walked down the centre of the
street,, and athe stream ran down the
centre of the town." Both Lena's walk.
ing and the streams running are impos'
sible, for q centre is point.
Some people fail to distinguish between
qadat;ty and number, aud say, "There
was quantity of people present" in
stead of, "There were number" Thack-
cry and Sir Walter Scott have both fallen
into this error. !,
I'M nTconaectionwith numbers, one fire.
quently hears the taoo first used, when it
ought to be the first taoo. 1t is by no
means a matter of indifference which
YOU say. The girls at the top of two diff.
ferent classes would be the two first girls.
The first and second girls of the same
class would be the first two girls.
There are also errors connected with
superAuous words. "Open out the par
cell" is one of these. The out is not
needed.
aLead sinks doom in water" D0tcn is
superauous.,
s.Eqnally as we'll" Omit the as.
"Whose are these here pins 2" is very
common phrase, to be mended by omit,
ting the here ~.
For is often employed unnecessarily
as in "She came to Saratoga for to drink
the waters" This would have passed q:
good grammar in old English, but it will
uot do in these times.
zone Of my great difficulties" says
Annie, "is in connection with verbs
Should say news. is or .news are r."
That depends entirely upon circum
stances. Sometimes the verb should bs
in the plural, sometimes in the singular
aAnother difficultyl Should you say
Either you or are wrong? or 'Efhel
you or / am wrong?"
The latter is grammatically correct.
We have an example of the verb in
wrong number in the sentence, Zone o