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preterites or two past participles, of which one is a little more commonly used than another; e.g. "he dived (dove)," "he was hanged (hung) for murder.” The lists of principal parts in most grammars are incomplete and misleading. Consult a good dictionary whenever

you are in doubt.

Sit, set. See page 46.

Some. Not to be used as an adverb, as in "I am some better," nor with quite, as in "I have quite some books."

Stop. It is proper to say that we stopped at an inn for supper, or for the night, or for a week, and then continued our journey. But the purists are right in preferring stay unless the intention is merely to indicate a break in a journey; e.g. "I am staying (not stopping) for the present at the Hotel St. George."

Team. A set of animals or men, not a horse and wagon.

Telegram. See page 29.

These kind or sort. An old-fashioned expression, now al

most or quite a vulgarism.

Transpire. To escape from secrecy, to ooze out; not simply to happen or to occur.

Very. Very is not properly used alone with passive participles; i.e. we say "I was very glad to see him," but "I was very much pleased to find him at home."

Ways. A colloquialism or vulgarism; e.g. "I am going a ways further."

Whatever. Improperly used as an interrogative pronoun; e.g. "whatever do you mean by coming here?"

Wire. See Telegram, Cablegram, Automobile, 'Phone, etc. One of the words forced upon the language by modern inventions. It should be noticed that this word, like 'phone, has remained in commercial and colloquial use, without reaching literary use.

SIGNS SUGGESTED FOR USE IN COR

RECTING COMPOSITIONS

MS.- Bad manuscript.

Sp.- Bad spelling.

p.-Fault in punctuation.

cap. Fault in the use of a capital letter.

1, 2, 3, etc.—Words, clauses, or sentences to be rearranged in con

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Against a clause, sentence, or paragraph incurable by correction,

and requiring to be recast.

x- - Some fault too obvious to require particularizing.

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INDEX

[The numbers refer to pages]

I. SUBJECTS TREATED

Climax, 230.

Accuracy, importance of, 19, 239. Coherence, of sentence, 143–9; of

Abbreviations, 76.

[blocks in formation]

Force, 220, 229-37; devices for
securing, 230-7; emphasis, cli-
max, antithesis, 230; figures for
the sake of, 232.

Grammar, how different from
rhetoric, 6; incorrect, 33-48;
grammatical structure of the
sentence, 59-72.

Hyphen, 87.

Improprieties, 30.

Infinitive, split, 47.
Italics, 87.

Latin, words derived from, 168.

Metaphors, 224, 232.

Metonomy, 235.

Negative, double, 47.

Nominative case of pronouns, 37;
nominative absolute, 147.

Nouns, plural of, 34; possessive
of, 35.

Number of pronouns, 41; of verbs,
43.

Objective case of pronouns, 37.
Obscurity, 225.

Omission of verb or principal
clause, 70.

Paragraphs, indentation of, 12;
general instructions concerning,
19; importance of, 181; the
paragraph by itself, 182; unity
of, 183; test of unity of, 185;
emphasis in, 192; topic sentence
in, 192; summary sentence in,
195; development of, 197;
coherence in, 201; lack of co-
herence in, 207.

S

Parentheses, 85.

Participial construction, false, 48,
71, 146.
Period, 75.

Personification, 235.
Phrase, 60.

Plan, of the paragraph, 202; of
the whole composition, 216.
Plural of nouns, 34.

Possessive, of nouns, 35; use of,
36; of pronouns, 39.
Precision, 221.

Pronouns, nominative and objective
cases of, 37; possessive case of,
39; number of, 41; false refer-
ence, 145.
Punctuation, 75.

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Sequence of tenses, 45.
Simile, 224, 232.

Spelling, hints as to, 15-17.
Structure of the sentence, gram-
matical, 59-72; rhetorical, 90-
149.

Subjects for compositions, 8-10,

209.

Summary sentence, 195.
Synecdoche, 235.

Tenses, sequence of, 45.
Titles, capitals in, 12; for compo-
sitions, 210.

Topic sentence, 192.

Unity, of sentence, 131; of para-
graph, 183; of the whole com-
position, 209.

Usage, importance of, in language,

gar, 22; correct, 23; local, 24;
authority as to, 24.

Vagueness, 225.
Verbs, number of, 43; sequence
of tenses, 45; omission of, 70.
Vocabulary, extent of the English,
152; extent of the individual,
153; how to increase the indi-
vidual, 154.

Whole composition, 209-19; unity
of, 209; emphasis in, 211; co-
herence in, 214; plan of, 216;
details of, 217; formula for, 218.
Words, new, 27; misused, 30; dis-

puted, 32; too many, 158; too
few, 160; long and short, 166;
Anglo-Saxon and Latin, 167;
simple and affected, 172; spe-
cific or definite, 177.

21; literary, colloquial, and vul- | Writing, "fine,” 172.

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