The weekly times-record. (Valley City, N.D.) 1912-1922, 1921-11-17

lEACHESS PEAk
| ON GOOD ENGLISH
This being Better Speech Week."
Tuesday s chapel exercises We're given
over. to talks on Good English"
Miss L. Elizabeth Evans gave an
interesting talk on "The Object of
Better Speech Week." She first told
US how Better Speech Week" had
been brought about. Europe accused
America of having no national Ian
guage. Whether their accusation was
true or not, it had proved serious
enough to bring about the establish
ment of Better Speech Week." The
hope of this agitation is first of all to
create pride in our language.
AS an illustration of true pride in
language, Miss Evans pictured an
old English peasants reverence for
his language as he recited, "Grey's
Elegy Written in Country Church.
yard" If America will arouse pride
| and reverence for her language like
that Of the old English peasant one of
Americas big problems will be solved.
Miss Evans went further to state
that no person is hundred per cent
American until he has pride in his own
language.
Another object of "Better Speech
Week" is to make us see that good
language is a social necessity. Note
how essential it is to be able to join
! with ease in conversation with other
people. No one wants to stand in
dread of social engagements. How
ever, since man is a slave to habit. he
will feel the pressure of guarding his
English on such occasions if he uses
poor slovenly speech in his daily con-
versations. Opportunities are. at
hand for every person to improve his
habits Of speech and further develop
his conversational powers. Since
these factors are to figure so largely
in our lives care should be taken to
cultivate them upon every opportun-
ity.
The third item of "Better Speech
Week" is. now that the business world
has recognized the Importance of good
English. that we must not handicap
our business efficiency by using poor
English. The promotions of many
young men and women in the bust
ness world have been hindered simply
because they had not learned effective
speaking and writing.
Miss Evans concluded her talk by
saying, that as teachers one Of the
great missions we have is to arouse
great pride in the American language
and in American literature For in
doing this we shall help to relieve the
social and business handicap of the
inability to use the English language
correctly and effectively.
Following the talk by Miss Evans:
Miss Paula Kittel, another member
of the faculty: gave an interesting
and beneficial exercise on the correc-
ton of common errors in words which
we use daily.
Miss Kittel made her drill effective
by having the student body pronounce
the words after her, articulating and
accenting them properly. This
was as she said, Ito fix them in the
tongue as we'll as in the ear"
The first group of words repeated
"un" as unable" under" etc. Spe-
cial attention was called to the "un"
sound of these words. Our common
error is to pronounce Gun as "on."
The next two words that were pre-
scented as being frequently mispro-
nonnced because We insert an extra
-v]'able in them are "mischievous"
and "axtra ordinary"
After these two words there fol- |
lowed list of words commonly ac-
cented on the wrong syllable. such !
words as advertisement" "accli-
mate" etc.
The words next dwelt upon are
words used in connection with school /,
activities. Some of the words are:
library, history, laboratory, geog-
raphy, and zoology
Some time was spent on words that |
have the wrong syllable stressed as
address" and "romance." Words
with and without the "h" sound were
repeated. Some of these words were:
Watt, what; were, where: wine, whine
Words were pronounced containing
the 9Th" syllable. We were reminded
that there are two kinds of "th's" in |
our language. One we voice, while
the other is voiceless. EXAMPLES of
these are found IN the following
words: thin. then; theme, these;
through, throw; breath, breathe.
Then came an effective drill in COR
recting the IS" and ~" sound in words
such as "hiss," "his," etc. Special at
tention was given to the pronuncia-
ton of the verb els" and "was" Also.
our attention was called to the fact
that eyes" is the English affirmative
never "yah."
The last group of words drilled
upon for pronunciation was French |!
words that originated during the re-
cent war. Some of these words so /,
often mispronounced are: aeroplane,
garage, hangar. chauffeur, and allies
All who were present appreciated
and felt the benefit of this exercise
that Miss Killet presented so pleas
ingly.
K. B.