The Marshall republican., 1907-03-22
FAULTY ENGLISH.
Isy Clara Sterling oool,,ls.


Our faults In speech are classified for
convenience IN three groups -~sbarbarisms,
improrrictics n soiecisms.
Parbarisms tfrom the Greek word f.s
foreisn 30 stranger are words or phrases
that for some reason are not E~nxl.sh-that
In. not eood English. They may be e. sew
etni ~kinds-aetual foreign words mr.
phrn ses that have not been adopted rs
TODD English. iike artistic ~"moucholr,'
"ltie nolr"." coined words that hive not
ZONE Into general circulation. like thus
~" lilly" ~''ebthus-." nnd obsoIet. words
like ''rathe.' which formerly .n.nnt
'-aily." aud "an' uaed In the sense of
~"
improptictiss are EpsIish words or
rhrs's that ARE correct IN form but nrc
i-~j IN wrong s-nS.R. Eor example. ~
stopped az the hotel n month"; stop" II
= good English word. meaning TO cease Ia
roN" u represents. however. not nm net
~ u condition, BIT the cessation of an
,ct. ana therefor cannot he n continuous
iroccss ! err i.,p nj . hotel any num-
sr OF times al ! am walking past. but ]
nnbot keep ste Jping there "a month. any
nor. ihnn a train without startling IN
gain cnn keep stopping after IL has once
uorp"d. ~ course the person who says
hat he II stopping With a friend or ~ "a
iotcl means That he IL visiting a fricnd
" boarding AT n hotel. The verb that
means Ia remsin Ia a place II ''rtny."
The impiopri"iy In avoided 10y saying "
stayed M the hotel n month";" ar II am
staying ut my friends for q month";
soiecISnir have 10 10 with grammsN nnd
syntnx. The SoiI were a tribe of the
ireeks ~ho moved away from Greece to
ciiicia. and whose speech became incor-
rect and corrupted, Their ungrammniicai
A.- L.. -
name. rolcclsTa; now the term applics 10
such false contradictions IN other lam
susses as we'll rs the Greek. iixa mples of
solecismr IN English are: 1T IN HIM for
q In he" they was for they were.' 1T
son't' for 1T doesn't" and "they asked
iohn and 60 20" for they asked John
md mo to TO-
or the, three rinrses OF mIstakes-bnr-
, - isns. improprieties and soieclsmr-b by
the largest In the SECOND. Few 81 us
words that are MOI English unless We
occasionally forget and '~'enthuse" or arc
tempted 70 drop Into French. Most 81 us
nndei stand the rudimeptr Of grammar and
mn avoid solecisms. hut when II comes
10 using words IN their accepted senses
md Ia those senses only, that In a much
note dinicult matter, Prof. Herrick OF
The Universally OF Chicago IN his rhetoric
fays OF improprieties: They are the
most comfnoH n the most harmful err
'ofs IN thu use OF the words; they rob
he language OF denniteness and cause OBJ
s,urity.'' He mentions as nm example the
word mad" which means crazy" hut
II commonly used In place OF ,s'angry. %
"she wal mad" may mean either ''rhe
wes angry or she wa crazy" according
10 the CONTEXT. and n cannot tell with
nut the context which II does mean.
4 lffe furaulI ~ a. uunA ar.Ilsals. - -.
limited the word TO is proper sense Of
fnsane,"
Among the hundreds Of improprieties
certain ones ztand out prominently ms be-
ing Especially popular or objectionable.
|;'c1aim" 10 one al theee. II means props
ely 10 demand al mes own or ones due,
We may claim properly. an Inheritance.
rights, children. that belong to un. But
''clnim" doss not mean ''asrcrt'' or ''say."
Fin which senses ~ II frequently used. we
read ''she clnimed that she was innocent"
vhsrs 'sssert' = plainly the proper word,
" b cla,med that he ;ha done TIM
WORK" wheo ffsal6. '1nslsted. or 'dc-
slared" Expresses The idss of tho sentences.
correctly us<d II ths nature 81 IL ssxm-
matical object. ,'claimr ~ 3 transitivs
VERT ana takes - ~ object o 4 clsuae,
but : posn We should ~ thsu not ne
claimed That the Wxtcht was HIS hit fhs
clntmpd tho WATCH mot "he claimed that
|bs uaG thu helr.'t, but "ks cIairnSd che
propeSty"; mol. ne clalansd that "a had
\ rt4nt y -" but ne clatmsd sths sisht
r: s.sss \ asslv ~.
|';:' !; !; Y: Il; u n / :; ;;';'; l; i'1E NJ