Middletown transcript., 1899-02-18
sLIPsHoD ENGLISH.

| GARELESSNESS in grammer and in
u rhetoric is not by any means con-
lined to the uneducated.
81 will try and do you no harm, ,
says one of the leading characters in
Marcella. And again, "You will try
and make hin. alter his mind" 81
will go and see her soon," is another
example of making "and" take the
place of ito"
| The use of verb in the plural num-
ber after neither" is frequent error
"Neither Of the girls are going.
Neither of them tCere really gay"
The adjective "real" is often made
to do duty as an adverb by careless
speakers: 1--WE had real nice time
"Oh, that's real good book.''
"Such" for ''so' is still more COM
mon, and though we know perfectly
we'll that it is incorrect, most of us
persist in perpetuating the error, the
adyerb makes sometimes so roundabout
a sentence. s'She is such dear good
woman" for instance, seems so much
more hearty and direct than, ''She is
so dear and good woman"
TO say 'the mother insisted on May
going," instead Of "May's going" is as
far from right as to say, ''they depend
ed on him going" Yet some of our
best writers are guilty of this omission
of the possessive case.
"She plays some," 'It rained some
yesterday" "E had rather you staid at
home," He wants | should go to the
city," "You ought TO do like Mrs. B, "
81 intended to have written" ''SLe
sent for Annie and l." Tine one of
all others" /" Sat length" for ''at last, "
and "beside" for besides" are exam
Piles of some of the many errors that
are being constantly made.
"Funny," in the sense of singular
or peculiar, is word that is often
head in connection with very serious
matters: "It is funny that 20 notice
was given of the funeral" sit is
funny that none Of them wore Grape"
And even some of our 'sweet girl
graduates" are guilty of saying "kind
o. on occasion: "It was kind o. dull, !"
ut was kind O. damp" etc.
The use of superlatives, as "most
happy" for livery happy" "a most
charming woman" "a most enjoyable
evening"" is at least open to criticism; !;
and the same is true of tie use Of "as"
for 'that"-''I do not know as can
CO." While in using ''try" for ''make,"
in connection with an experimental
will try the experimeDt'-We are verg-
ing on tautology, an experiment being
in itself "try."
But one of the most common of
errors, and one of which even college
professors are sometimes guilty, is the
use of ''badly" for "bad." HE felt
badly about it" is as incorrect as to
say "he felt gladly about it," and ''he
looked badly" as iradmissible as ''he
looked sadly" for she looked sad;'
and surely no Que would think of say
ing "he looked happily' for she looked
happy,'' nor ''he felt irritdbIy" for ''he
felt irritable"
A well-known writer tells US that
"the speaker intended to make his
voice sound pleasantly" Now if she
had said that she intended to speak
pleasantly" no fault cluld have been
found; as it is, she might with equal
propriety have said that "he meant to
have it seem pleasantly" or that he
meant to have it sound strongly or
grandly.
When speaking Of feeling bad or
looking bad we use the adjective to
describe condition and not an act; he
may act badly, but he looks bad. One
may look quickly or keenly at an Oh
ject, but be looks quick and keen by
nature; he feels keenIy the coldness of
friend; blind man may feel groy.
inely along the wall; but always when
we wish to say that one is feeling
either i'll or unhappy, an adjective
should be used.
Many lapse made by educated peo-
pie is simply barking back to the
modes of speech familiar to them in
childhood, and for this their critics
sometimes fail to make due allowance.
81 don't see how it is," said Ted,
coming in from school one day with
perplexed face, ''that people who know
better make SO many mistakes. Now
there's Bob Smith; he always knows
his grammar lesson, and never makes
bluDder in parsing, yet he'll go straight
out of the school-room and say, "Look
at them trees" But if Ted had been
familiar with Bob Smiths social en-
vironments, he would probably have
had no trouble in understanding it.
The grammar used by most of US is
largely matter of association, and if
young people are accustomed to hear
ing slipshod English at home, it will
not he surprising if they tiud them
selves lapsing into the old manner of
speech even after they are college grad
yates.
.war Against Wars
DIR. William Stead's new paper, in
tended to be the mouthpiece of his dis