WITH EXPLANATIONS OF LATIN AND FRENCH WORDS AND PHRASES CONTAINING EXAMPLES OF ONE THOUSAND MISTAKES OF DAILY OCCURRENCE, IN SPEAKING, WRITING, AND PRONUNCIATION ; TOGETHER WITH DETAILED INSTRUCTIONS FOR WRITING FOR THE PRESS, AND FORMS NEWSPAPER LITERATURE. “There are hundreds of persons, engaged in professional and commer- tongue?”-CONDORCET. NEW YORK : NO 18 ANN STREET. Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1856, by GARRETT & CO., In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern District of New York. PREFACE. Of the practical value of a pocket manual, to which we can refer in cases of grammatical embarrassment, as well as for literary information and suggestions, there can be no doubt. In the preparation of the present volume it has been the aim of the author to make such a work. Whether he has succeeded, is a question to be decided by the reader. There are hundreds of persons engaged in professional and commercial pursuits, who are sensible of their deficiencies on many points connected with the grammar of their own tongue, and who, by selftuition, are anxious to correct such deficiencies, and to acquire the means of writing and speaking, if not with elegance, at any rate with a due regard to grammatical accuracy. For such persons this little volume is more particularly intended, though it is believed that few can peruse it without deriving advantage, and also acquiring some additional knowledge. It is a conventional, and, unfortunately, a widelyspread error, that correctness in speaking and writing comes as a matter of course, and especially when the individual has received what is called “a CLASS 3 ICAL education.”—A glance at the article on “ Instances of False Syntax, Errors, &c., &c., (see page 73,) occurring in the writings of authors of eminence," [men educated at the Public Schools and Universities,] will at once prove the fallacy of this impression. Our little volume will also be found useful by those who desire to write for the press. To all such, the forms of department articles will prove both interesting and valuable. A careful examination of these forms will enable the student to obtain an intelligent understanding of the various departments in newspaper literature, and also furnish him with materials for deciding for which to qualify himself -editing or reporting. PAGE 1. Rules for the Use of Capitals and Italics 2. Division of Words into Syllables 7. On the Formation of the Plural Number of Nouns 21 12. Corresponding Conjunctions 13. Miscellaneous Observations on Points that occasion On the letters w and y: see No. 1. On a and an: see Nos. 2, 10, and 13. On the possessive case; see No. 3. On the degrees of comparison : see Nos. 4, 14, On the pronouns you, thou, your, thy, &c. : see On the pronouns who, that, which, and what : see Nos. 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 30, 31, 34, and 88. On each, every, either, and neither : see Nos. 28, On the participles : see Nos. 44, 48, 50, and 51. On the omission of the sign to before certain On negatives; see Nos. 55, 56, 57, and 58. |