The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-11-10
! The Globes Jfome Study Course

Latin origin is traceable not to the
Roman conquest, but to that of William
the Conqueror, which introduced Nor
man French. But it must be borne in
mind that the ancient French language
was simply a corrupt form of Latin.
The Romans, under Julius Caesar, hav-
ing conquered France, or what was then
known as Gaul, imposed their language
upon the Inhabitants. These people We're
OF Celtic origin, but called themselves
Gauis, and in trying to speak the Latin
language they corrupted it. For exam
pie, the Latin word studio study was
changed by the Gallo tongue to estude
and later to etude.
The English language as we find it
today is, and always has been (philolog-
icahy speaking) Teutonic language,
plus a large number of French words
that were introduced into it through the
Norman conquest, plus some Danish
words (mOstly names of places, intro
duced through the Danish invasion, plus
a number of Latin words relative to the
church and monastery that crept into
it through the conversion of the Anglo
Saxons to Christianity. plus a few Morse
words (mostly the names of places that
through the Norman conquest.
1t is the careless speaker who says. 81
know [ make many mistakes. but one
dislikes to be told of their mistakes
1t makes one think of the Siamese twins
to hear a person refer to himself as
they" One wonders how many. there
an indefinite nuInber-at the least never
less thar two. Instead of the plural
number their following the singular
number zone, let the offender remem-
Der this simple rule that the ''mascu-
line" embraces the feminine" even in
grammar, and hereafter let him say, II
know [ make many mistakes. but one
dlsllkes to be told of ones mistakes"
Il am very pleased to see you" is an
other error of speech. One should say
I am pleased or II am very much
pleased" One never says 4 am very
loSeG by my friends He would say II
am loved or 81 am very much loved.'
Very is an adverb that must first quail
~ all adjective or another adverb in or
der to express meaning. 1t cannot quail
ify a verb directly, and hence not its
past participle. Il am very glad. Il
am very happy 81 am very sorry" are
correct forms. because glad, happy and
sorry are adjectives, but one must. say L
am pleased or Il am Very much pleas
ed II am d lighted or 81 am verymrch
delighted remembering that one can be
neither pleased very nor delighted very.
The careful speaker frequently makes
an error in using II for me in such
exp. essions. as There was no one at
home but mother and l." and EVERY
one but she was present at the time,
forgetting that the objective case fol-
lows the proposition but One would
nor be apt to say There was no one at
home but l. and it certainly does not
alter the case if ones mother happens to
be at home at the same time 'TheTe
was no one at home but mother and me-
fand every one but her was present at
the time are the correct forms
! meant to have written.
When one offers an apology for not
answering q friends letter and says II
meant to have written before" one feels
assured of having said the proper thing.
An uneducated person would say Il
meant to write and he would be cor
rect 1t is well to remember the simple
rule that one cannot mean Intend,
expect nor hope to do anything in
the past. 1t is too late.
Copyright 1909