The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1903-10-08
GRAMMAR IS EASY
The Subject Simple One Says Pres
ident Northrop Of the Uni
versity.
Question that Many Won't Find So
Easy-spelling Test and
Offer.

world, know. nothing about correct
English 90 5ss5ss rs. HI
.sThe reason is said he, that the
public in general, school teachers in
cluded, have an idea that grammar is
the driest, most confused, and useless
fact, English grammar is a simple sub
ject, and it can be made very interest
ing. enjoyed grammar when r was
a boy in school years ago.
AS matter OF fact, If one masters
seven parts Of speech, which represent
seven different logical relationships
which a word may have in a sentence,
case of pronouns, person and mum Der
Of verbs, the difference between ad-
verbs and adjectiyes, he has a little set
of rules, or rather general principles,
by which he can. test the correctness
of almost any sentence, as he writes.
Here is a question in grammar
which I once put to the faculty of
Yale university said DR.. Northrop,
land I didn't get much satisfaction
from the replies:
Would you say, I thought of it's
being he or I thought Of it's being
him or 7 thought of it being him p .
Anyone who has studied grammar,
may think few moments Of this sim
pie problem.
How Do You Spell 1t?
If you met a strange word you had
never seen or heard before, how would
you spell it? s
"As we'll as possible according to the
sound you might answer,-that is,
according to the principles of word
formation of the language. But do
On reflection, you might say that
English is spelled SO irregularly that
it would be impossible to say how any
word was spelled till you had looked
it UP, in the dictionary and mem
orized it. .ss.r.-.s~ I'LL F. LIFT
The fact is, there are four or. five
thousand common irregular words
which make up nine-tenths of all the
words we use in everyday life; but that
other tenth is drawn from the 100000
other words found in the dictionaries
any one of which we may have to-
write at any time, but the greater part
OF which we shall never use. Those
100000 uncommon words are spelled.
regularly or are8sregularly formed
from the common irregular words
so II we mem orize the comparatively
few Irregular words, and learn the
principles of regular transformation,
we can spell any English word we
must spell every word correctly, not
nine-tenths. ,s 5.l~ 81
~ .- D.. De E
~. Test on Business Letters. :
Yesterday he urnale pub
hshed an interesting test on business
letter writing, and an amusing prize;
examination in spslsing for. it's readers
to try their wits Upon. For the bene-.
fit of. those WHIP missed the column
yesterday, itsis Nrepe ate d to-day, also.
the offer raade.i M d,i2 VI
A Busineas T,,tta,. r,as+
h e j o u al lfsis Interested to
learn whether theastandard OF bust.
ness letter writing in Minneapolis is as
hlgh as that of Chicago and submits
the following actual business letter
sent out by a leading Chicago firm, in
which our literary editor has simply
indicated fifteen errors Of punctua-
ton, grammar or phrasing to be cor
rected. We should be glad to have
you send us a corrected version: and
to all such we will mail a brief de-
tailed criticism of the letter, prepared
by one of the best letter writer's in the
west. '9F-l
.-~~ ~ 1856 Wabash Ave-, Chicago, 4
~G July, (1) 80, 1903.
MIR. Henry Adams ~ -1e...,-@., H.
Is sedalia St., St. Louis, Mo-, ~
Dear Sir a. ,.z s-9I
Replying to your esteemed favors (5) of
the 18TH and Goth insts. (6), if you will
return tne, goods to u.s. we will refund
your money CD. We guarantee that the
material and workmanship of every gun
we send out is go of the best
Replying to another letter Of yours
Which seems to have no date please 90
send us full description Of the camping
| outfit you want, and we will (10) be very
E(ll) pleased to quote you prices. You will
find some excellent outfits described in
our catalogue on pages 1920.
| We note that you do not seem to under
stand very well our methods Of handling
orders. Q2) If you will look on pages
and 10 of our catalogue (13) you will FIND
some useful suggestions, which we would
be pleased to have you follow.
| We are always very pleased (14) to re-
fund money if goods are not satisfactory
and to answer all inquiries promptly. Dc
not hesitate to write us freely.
| Trusting we can arrange the matter Oh
| the gun to your satisfaction, and meet
your desires for camping outfits, ETC., we
remain
Very respectfully (15) yours,
| Simpkins 6 Co.
! Examination in Spelling.
| The following passage is correct in
every way, except that the spelling OF
the words does not correspond to the
| meaning required. Write the passage
out as it ought to be written:
| Know won knead weight two bee tolled
l &t,oo xry1fr ~ n nxvvFc . +