How to Speak and Write Correctly

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How to Speak and Write Correctly

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Title: How to Speak and Write Correctly
Author: Joseph Devlin
Release Date: September, 2004 [EBook #6409] [Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] [This file was first posted on December 8, 2002] [Date last updated: December 14, 2005]
Edition: 10
Language: English
Character set encoding: ASCII
*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HOW TO SPEAK AND WRITE ***

Produced by Tom Allen, Charles Franks and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team.

HOW TO SPEAK AND WRITE CORRECTLY
By JOSEPH DEVLIN, M.A.
Edited by THEODORE WATERS

CONTENTS




CHAPTER I
REQUIREMENTS OF SPEECH Vocabulary. Parts of speech. Requisites.




CHAPTER II
ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH GRAMMAR Divisions of grammar. Definitions. Etymology.




CHAPTER III
THE SENTENCE Different kinds. Arrangement of words Paragraph.




CHAPTER IV
FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE Figures of speech. Definitions and examples. Use of figures.




CHAPTER V
PUNCTUATION Principal points. Illustrations. Capital letters.




CHAPTER VI
LETTER WRITING Principles of letter writing. Forms. Notes.




CHAPTER VII
ERRORS Mistakes. Slips of authors. Examples and corrections. Errors of redundancy.




CHAPTER VIII
PITFALLS TO AVOID Common stumbling blocks. Peculiar constructions. Misused forms.




CHAPTER IX
STYLE Diction. Purity. Propriety. Precision.




CHAPTER X
SUGGESTIONS How to write. What to write. Correct speaking and speakers.




CHAPTER XI
SLANG Origin. American slang. Foreign slang.




CHAPTER XII
WRITING FOR NEWSPAPERS Qualification. Appropriate subjects. Directions.




CHAPTER XIII
CHOICE OF WORDS Small words. Their importance. The Anglo-Saxon element.




CHAPTER XIV
ENGLISH LANGUAGE Beginning. Different Sources. The present.




CHAPTER XV
MASTERS AND MASTERPIECES OF LITERATURE Great authors. Classification. The world's best books.

INTRODUCTION
In the preparation of this little work the writer has kept one end in view, viz.: To make it serviceable for those for whom it is intended, that is, for those who have neither the time nor the opportunity, the learning nor the inclination, to peruse elaborate and abstruse treatises on Rhetoric, Grammar, and Composition. To them such works are as gold enclosed in chests of steel and locked beyond power of opening. This book has no pretension about it whatever,--it is neither a Manual of Rhetoric, expatiating on the dogmas of style, nor a Grammar full of arbitrary rules and exceptions. It is merely an effort to help ordinary, everyday people to express themselves in ordinary, everyday language, in a proper manner. Some broad rules are laid down, the observance of which will enable the reader to keep within the pale of propriety in oral and written language. Many idiomatic words and expressions, peculiar to the language, have been given, besides which a number of the common mistakes and pitfalls have been placed before the reader so that he may know and avoid them.
The writer has to acknowledge his indebtedness to no one in particular, but to all in general who have ever written on the subject.
The little book goes forth--a finger-post on the road of language pointing in the right direction. It is hoped that they who go according to its index will arrive at the goal of correct speaking and writing.




CHAPTER I
REQUIREMENTS OF SPEECH
Vocabulary--Parts of Speech--Requisites
It is very easy to learn how to speak and write correctly, as for all purposes of ordinary conversation and communication, only about 2,000 different words are required. The mastery of just twenty hundred words, the knowing where to place them, will make us not masters of the English language, but masters of correct speaking and writing. Small number, you will say, compared with what is in the dictionary! But nobody ever uses all the words in the dictionary or could use them did he live to be the age of Methuselah, and there is no necessity for using them.
There are upwards of 200,000 words in the recent editions of the large dictionaries, but the one-hundredth part of this number will suffice for all your wants. Of course you may think not, and you may not be content to call things by their common names; you may be ambitious to show superiority over others and display your learning or, rather, your pedantry and lack of learning. For instance, you may not want to call a spade a spade. You may prefer to call it a spatulous