LIVE AND LEARN: A GUIDE FOR ALL WHO WISH TO SPEAK AND WRITE CORRECTLY: PARTICULARLY INTENDED AS A BOOK OF REFERENCE FOR THE SOLUTION OF DIFFICULTIES CONNECTED WITH GRAMMAR, COMPOSITION, PUNCTUATION, ETC. ETC. WITH EXPLANATIONS OF LATIN AND FRENCH WORDS AND ENDING, AND ADDRESSING LETTERS TO PERSONS OF EVERY DEGREE OF RANK. LONDON: JOHN FARQUHAR SHAW, 27, SOUTHAMPTON ROW, AND 36, PATERNOSTER ROW. PREFACE. THE following pages have been written to supply a want, that has long been felt. 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 CLASSICAL 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 the idea. To render the Work more useful, a Key to the "Instances of False Syntax, &c., &c.," is in preparation. POSTSCRIPT.-It is taken for granted that the purchaser of this little Work has some knowledge of the Principles of grammar, grammatical terms, &c., &c.; but to those, whose knowledge is more limited, the Author would strongly recommend the Reverend Doctor Macculloch's "Manual of English Grammar," a work, which has been highly and deservedly eulogised, and which is, indeed, above all praise. LONDON: June, 1855. CONTENTS. 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 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. 39 |