The Bennington banner. [volume] (Bennington, Vt.) 1858-1894, 1890-09-18
SPEAKING ENGLISH.

A bright young Boston girl, who has
returned from summer travels, has sur
prised her friends by declaring that she
is about to enter a new field of mission
ary labor, suggested by an evident and
untulfilled need. Her plan consists in
he distribution of tracts, not upon any
moral or religious subject, but upon the
every day topic of common speech.
Eacn tract is 10 he labeled "EngffslI as
she ought to be spoken" and there shall
be no Elimination to the distribution.
Every passenger in the cars and steam
ers shall receive tract; every house
shall be visited by the distributor. Col
lege gradu' les shall not be forgotten,
and even High school teachers shall be
considered part of the work. In the
preparation of the tract, it is proposed
that all the best philologists and gram
mariaus of the country shall form an ac-
ademy for the purpose of deciding upon
the accurate forms of colloquial English.
The editor of the Century dictionary
shall be president of the academy, and
the tract committee shall consist of the
most influential English scholars in the
county.
The young missionary gives many il.
lusuIations of the manner in which our
speech is daily corrupted even by people
who have graduated from our common
schools. The misuse of the double neg.
alive is undoubtedly well understood tO
be fault, yet few days ago we'll
dressed, intelligent appearing woman
was heard to say to two children,
Neither of you hain'tgot no headache, y
al parently not realizing that such sen
tence might well produce the worst kind
of heaGache. "She amt got no causC
to be mad at him." was a remark thai
floated from tie lips of sweet young
creature who was walking on the decl
of a harbOr steamer. Among the words
which are twisted out OF place in com
mon parlance are parts of the verb 'tC
be-" adverbs and pronouns. "When {
man gets 10 his its" says Cobbett, 81
tremble for him." The precise use O.
language is disregarded even by college
graduates, who are careful enough Il
speak according to the grammar, yet no
after the dictionary. Among the host o.
words misused are reliable" for trust
worthy, balance for remainder, repudi
ate for reject, indorse for approve, com
mence for begin, past for last, iufiexiblI
for inexorable, heaviness for weight, ex
press for explicit. Few people arr
/ NhOlig dCCuTdIt Ill COIN6TSdJlOH. w Hcl
careless pronunciation is added to tht
misuse of words, all appearance of ele
gance is destroyed and English loses al
its distinctive features. 1t might b'
VOlapuk o. any other strange language
whether universal or otherwise.
The missionary whose aim is the i'm
provement of the speech of the people il
careful not to encourage artificial con
versation or such a preciseness tina
makes talk painfully priggish. Sh'
holds that the people who are so anx
ious TO pronounce distinctly all the "r's'
in word are not only foolish but moor
rect, as the genius of the language show
that the letter ''r'' after vowel is silent
New Englanders, especially, ought +,
know better than to try against natur
to say 'better-r-r." If it is true tina
conversation reacts upon thought II
clear sentences without striving after ef
feet "Be NATURAL" is well-knowl
rule in diction that might be applied {,
conversation, especially if it is natural h
be correct