Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1903-09-11
Atiseeltaueu,ls 8eading.
HINTS ON GOOD ENGLISH.
Mistakes Commonly Made BY Writers
and Speakers.

Mistakes Commonly Made BY Writers
and Speakers.
Numbers Of people who ought to
know better speak Of this paper as a
journal" It Is not, for 1t is published
weekly, and there can be no such
thing as a weekly journal. The origi-
nal form Of the word journal was
"diurnal" the Latin dies"
day-and 1t meant a sheet published
or written every day. A dairy-also
from "dies"-is often called jour-
nal, because you are supposed to en-
ter up the record of each day, and
generally don't. Remembering that
Jour" in French means day" might
aid in preventing one from speaking
about weekly journal"
Reading the account Of fashionable
wedding in a fashionable paper the
other day. I noticed that "the centre
aisle was lined with non commissioned
officers and men Of the bridegroom's
regiment" Very nice; but there hap
pens IO De Ilo SUCH liiilS dS q Scisie
aisle in church. The aisles are in
variably at the sides; and what the
reporter meant by the centre aisle"
was the nave. Aisle comes. from a
Latin word meaning wing, and 1t Is
obvious that wings are at the sides.
Lots of people just now are adver-
tising In the papers for paying
guests" The essence Of being a guest
is that you do not pay for anything;
and If you do so pay, you certainly
cannot be deemed a guest.
If a man introduces me into his club
as his guest, I do not expect to pay
for what may consume there; and
when I read that Lady -So-and-So's
riverside residence is full Of guests for
the week-end, I do not understand that
the charming hostess will present
little bill ere her friends set out to
catch the train to town on Monday.
This expression, "paying-gu is
justified on no grounds whatever, and
Is as much a contradiction as the hide
OuS lliAup, Ills "ioh6 SiuS oA sAA~
road" which one often hears in con-
nection with street happenings" Mo-
torists, coachmen, cyclists and pedes-
trians, in discussing the rule Of the
road, are very prone to make use OF
this obviously contradictory phrase.
If a man is on "his" side of the
road. how can it be "wrong?"> And II
it is wrong" it certainly Is not his"
I once heard worried cloak room at
tendant calling out: Has any gentle
man got his wrong hat?" The same
thing applies; but 1 am afraid the mis-
take Is too firmly welded into our ma
tional speech ever to be uprooted.
Another common mistake is to speak
of any object as most unique" There
can be no degrees in uniqueness. for II
thing is unique there Is only one Of
| it.
Some speakers and writer's seem to
have deal Of trouble with the sim
pie looking little word "nee." If they
would remember thatSsit Is simply
French for born" rH1eE confusion
might be spared them. To speak of
Mrs. Henry Brown, nee Miss Mary
Smith," is obviously wrong, for no
body in this world was ever born with
Christian name all complete.
The most gorgeous blunder on rec
ord in this connection was made by a
| writer who mentioned Mrs. Corn
wallis West, nee Lady Randolph
Churchill" We all know that the lady
| in question is a most brilliant woman;
but even she would hardly be clever
enough to be born already married to
the late inventor Of Tory Democracy.
You very frequently hear young la
dies who ought to know better say
things like this: Father is going to
take Eva and I to the theatre" One
has even seen a sentence like this in
print, but it is obviously wrong. You
would not say. Father Is going to
take to the theatre" And though
you are polite enough to put Eva be-
fore yourself. the verb take" still gov
erns the accusative, as those tiresome
old grammarians call it. and therefore
Father is going to take Eva and me
to the theatre" is the correct form.
| Neither of us has been" sounds
clumsy somehow, but, nevertheless, 1t
is perfectly correct, as neither must
be singular, and not plural. In COM
mon speech we often put our preposi-
tons at the end of the sentence, where
they have no business, thus producing
such an amazing query as this: What
would you like to be read to out OFF,
London Answers.