had rather do it now:” say, I would rather do. The incorrectness of the first form of expression is very clearly seen by cutting out rather, leaving “I had do,” which is ungrammatical and meaningless.

97. An obituary notice contained the following ludicrous statement: “He left a large circle of mourners, embracing his amiable wife and children!” Comprising should have been used, instead of embracing.

98. “His court-of-arms is very splendid:” say, coat-of-arms.

99. “They ride about in small carriages, which are called flies:” write the last word flys; flies is the plural of fly, the insect.

100. “Victoria is Queen of the United Kingdom:” say, United Kingdoms. Who ever speaks of the United State of America?

101. “I have not traveled this twenty years:” say, these twenty years.

102. “Soldier arms!” Say, “Shoulder arms!” The latter is frequently corrupted into “Sojer arms!”

103. “He is very much the gentleman:” say, He is a very gentlemanly man, or, He is very gentlemanly.

104. “The yellow part of an egg is very nourishing:” never pronounce yellow so as to rhyme with tallow, as we so often hear.

105. “We are going to the Zoological Gardens:” pronounce Zoological in five syllables, and place the accent on log in logical; sound log like lodge, and the first two o’s in distinct syllables; never make Zool one syllable.

106. “He strived to obtain an appointment:” say, strove.

107. “He always preaches extempore:” pronounce extempore in four syllables, with the accent on tem, and never in three, making pore to rhyme with sore—but with story.

108. “Allow me to suggest:” pronounce sug as to rhyme with mug, and gest like jest; never say sudjest.

109. “That building is an episcopal chapel:” pronounce episcopal with the accent on the second syllable, and not on co.

110. “The Emperor of Russia is a formidable sovereign:” pronounce formidable with the accent on for, and not on mid.

111. Before the words heir, herb, honest, honor, and hour, and their compounds, instead of the article a, we make use of an, as the h is not sounded; likewise before words beginning with h, that are not accented on the first syllable: such as heroic, historical, hypothesis, &c., as, “an heroic action;” “an historical work;” “an hypothesis that can scarcely be allowed.” The letter h is seldom mute at the beginning of a word; but from the negligence of tutors, and the inattention of pupils, many persons have become almost incapable of acquiring its just and full pronunciation. It is, therefore, incumbent on teachers to be particularly careful to inculcate a clear and distinct utterance of this sound.

112. “He was such an extravagant young man, that he soon spent his whole patrimony.” This construction, which is much used, is not so elegant as, “He was so extravagant a young man,” &c.

113. “The girl speaks distinct:” say, distinctly. Never use Adjectives as Adverbs.

114. “The accident of which he was reading, occurred not far from Reading:” pronounced the first italicized word to rhyme with feeding, and the other, with wedding.

115. The combination of letters ough is pronounced in eight different ways, as follows: 1. Though, in which it is pronounced o; 2. Through, pronounced oo; 3. Plough, ow; 4. Sought, awe; 5. Cough, off; 6. Rough, uff; 7. Borough, ugh; 8. Lough, ok. The following sentence, which is of doubtful authorship, affords an example of each of these eight modes of pronunciation: “I put (1) dough (6) enough in the (5) trough near the (3) slough by the (8) lough, to last the ducks that I (4) bought at the (7) borough (2) through the day.”

116. “I saw his august majesty, the Emperor of Hayti, last August:” pronounce the former word with the accent on gust; the latter, on Au.

117. “She is quite the lady:” say, She is very lady-like in her demeanor.

118. “He is seldom or ever out of town:” say, seldom or never, or, seldom if ever.

119. “We laid down to sleep:” say, we lay down, &c. We can say, however, “we laid him down to sleep.”

120. It is somewhat singular, that while tie and untie convey meanings directly opposite, loose and unloose signify precisely the same thing. Loose is the original word, and unloose is a corruption; both words, however, are now sanctioned by good usage, and may be indiscriminately employed, without offence against propriety.

121. “It is dangerous to walk of a slippery morning:” say, on a slippery morning. But the expression, “walking on a slippery morning,” and all others like it, of which a strictly literal interpretation will not give the designed signification, are to be avoided. They often excite a smile when seriousness is intended.

122. “He who makes himself famous by his eloquence, makes illustrious his origin, let it be never so mean:” say, ever so mean. The practice of using never in such phrases was anciently in vogue, but is now becoming obsolete. (See Introduction.)

123. “His reputation is acknowledged through Europe:” say, throughout Europe.

124. “The bank of the river is frequently overflown:” say, overflowed. Flown is the perfect participle of fly, flying; flowed, of flow, flowing.

125. “I doubt if this will ever reach you:” say, whether this, &c.

126. “It is not improbable but I may be able to procure you a copy:” say, that I may, &c.

127. “He was exceeding kind to me:” say, exceedingly kind.

128. “I doubt not but I shall be able:” say, that I shall.

129. “I lost near twenty pounds:” say, nearly, or almost.

130. “There were not over twenty persons present:” say, more than. Such a use of this word is not frequent among writers of reputation. It may, however, be less improperly employed, where the sense invests it with more of a semblance to its literal signification: as, “This pair of chickens will weigh over seven pounds.” Even in this case, it is better to say more than.

131. “Bills are requested to be paid quarterly:” the bills are not requested, but the persons who owe them. Say instead, It is requested that bills be paid quarterly.

132. “There can be no doubt but that he will succeed:” omit but.

133. “It was no use asking him any more questions:” say, of no use to ask him, or there was no use in asking, &c.

134. “The Americans said they had no right to pay taxes.” [From a Fourth of July Oration.] They certainly had