Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1921-04-13
COMMON ERRORS OF spEEtyH.
Use Of Wrong Form Of Vcrb One OF
Most Common Errors.
Editor Keowee Courier:

! Editor KeOwee Courier:
The most common errors OF speech
probably arc those in using the
| wrong forms Of verbs--that Is. in
| using the past tence for the pas,
| participlt, or vice versa. The nast
| tcnce expresses that which took place
| III inc past, as saw, | wrote, | took,
| etc. The past plrticiplc is the form
or verb after have or had, MS. b,vc
seen, | have written, had taken,
etc. The following are some of The
verbs most commonly misused. Civ
ing the present tencc, past tencc and
past participle of each: See. saw
seen; write, wrote. writtcn: take.
'ook' taken; go went, gone; lie,
lay. lain; lay, laid, laid: sit. sat,
sat- set, set, set. The correct use of
these verbs is as used in the follow
ing sentences: see q man in the
house; saw my brother yesterday;
! nave seen many things in my life;
write you this letter to let you
know, etc.; | wrote to him last
week; | have written to him twice
already, and so on through the list.
Inc words lie and lay are correctly
used in the following sentences: |
lay book on the table now; laid
book on the table yesterday; |
nave laid the books on the table al
ready; | lie on the couch; lay on
the couch yesterday; have lain on
the couch all day. and similarly with
sit and set.
Another common error is the eX-
preston, those kind Of things. The
word "kind" is singular and not plu-
raj, and the expression should be
that kind Of things. If more than
one kind Of things is referred to, as
two or more kinds of things, those
kinds of things would be correct.
The word molasses is singular and
not plural, and we should say this
molasses Is good" and not those
molasses are good" or, as some
times expressed, them molasses."
Many words are mispronounced
by accenting the wrong syllable, as
"armistice,' which should be ac-
cented on the first syllable, (ar)
and not on the second, (mis), and
many are mispronounced by giving
the vowel in the accented syllable
| the wrong sound, as in such words
as aunt, calf, half, laugh, psalm,
! etc, are mispronounced with the
fiat sound. as in hat. instead Of the
broad sound. as in arm.
Use your dictionary regularly, and
note there are six things in regard
! to many classes Of words to be OBJ
served. viz: First. the spelling: sec
ond, the pronunciation; third, the
derivation; fourth, the division into
syllables; fifth, the different forms
of spcech--if a noun, the singular
and plural. as child, children; If a
verb, the three forms, as defined
above: IL an adjective or adverb, the
three degrees Of comparison, as
good, better, best; and, sixth, the
| iiicdHlHS. Ill regard 10 DrOnunC1a-
ton, learn to use the diacritical
marks as used with the words
printed along the lower edge Of each
page in the dictionary. In regard to
the division into syllables in words
Of more than one syllable, it is nee
essary, If part Of a word Is written
AT the end Of line and the remain
der on the next line, to divide it by
syllables. and not divide syllable.
In regard to the derivation, 1t Is
usually not Of much benefit to those
who have not studied any foreign
language to consider the derivation,
but Is Of great assistance in many in
stances in obtaining a correct under
standing Of its meaning to those
who have studied such languages as
Latin, Greek, French, etc.
A careful observance of the three
forms Of verbs Is the most import
ant. as it Is impossible to speak cor
rectly without this knowledge.
| His x Mark.