26. I seek one man, and one alone

Rustum, my father.

27. I am no girl, to be made pale by words.

Yet this thou hast said well, did Rustum stand

Here on this field, there were no fighting then.

28. For nearly twenty years it has been a crime against the United States to make a contract which shall in any degree restrain trade among the several states.

29. They went forth conquering and to conquer.

30. Softly the evening came. The sun from the western horizon Like a magician extended his golden wand o'er the landscape;

Twinkling vapors arose; and sky and water and forest Seemed all on fire at the touch; and melted and mingled together.

31. Sir Launfal turned from his

own hard gate,

For another heir in his earldom sate.

32. The sight of this wreck, as usual, gave rise to many dismal anecdotes.

33. To one given to day dreaming, and fond of losing himself in reveries, a sea voyage is full of subjects for meditation.

34. To an American visiting Europe, the long voyage he has to make is an excellent preparative.

35. Although one tires of the sea, and in spite of its utter loneliness, an ocean voyage has peculiar attractions.

36. I dare assure thee that no enemy.

Shall ever take alive the noble Brutus.

37. Bring him with triumph home unto his house. 38. Let me have men about me that are fat,

Sleek-headed men, and such as sleep o' nights.

39. The schoolhouse stood in a rather lonely but pleasant situation, just at the foot of a woody hill, with a brook running close by, and a formidable birch tree growing at one end of it.

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CHAPTER XXVII

PECULIARITIES OF SPEECH

220. Errors of language are most frequent in conversation. This is due to carelessness and familiarity, and to the influence of the uneducated upon spoken language. You should study the exact use of all peculiarities of speech called idioms; you should learn to distinguish instinctively between correct speech forms and incorrect but picturesque forms commonly called slang; and above all, you should reject all colloquialisms that are ungrammatical.

Below are given some common errors, and a few idioms and colloquialisms. You can readily supply

others.

221. The present tense is regularly and correctly used with a future meaning; as,

1. To-morrow is Sunday.

2. We sail next Saturday morning.

222. So as and as

as.

In comparisons so- as is used in negative sentences; as,

As

1. Our winters are not so cold as they used to be.

- as is used in affirmative statements; as,

2. The snow is as deep here as in the meadow.

223. In elliptical or contracted statements, be careful to omit nothing that is essential to the grammatical construction or to the completeness of the thought; as,

1. [I have seen him and shall not again.]

I have seen him and shall not see him again. 2. [He rode in but did not buy the automobile.] He rode in the automobile but did not buy it.

224. The infinitive expresses time relative to the time of the verb with which it is used. It is therefore proper to use the perfect infinitive with verbs in the present tense only (the present infinitive with verbs of any tense. It is incorrect to say

1. [I was happy to have seen you.]

2. [I should have asked to have seen you.]
3. [I used to have faced danger calmly.]
4. [He would have been pleased to have gone.]

The correct forms are

1. I am happy to have seen you.

2. I should have asked to see you.

3. I have been used to face danger calmly.
4. He would have been pleased to go.

225. Hardly, scarcely, but.

Disguised negatives as hardly, scarcely, but, must be watched that double negative constructions may be avoided. It is incorrect to say

1. [There weren't hardly enough to form two teams.] 2. [We had n't scarcely arrived when the exercises began.] 3. [He has n't been gone but a minute.]

The correct forms are

1. There were hardly enough to form two teams.

2. We had scarcely arrived when the exercises began.

226. And which; but which.

In the sentence, "Then came a blizzard, generous and all-pervading, spreading a thick blanket of snow over all and which continued many hours," there is a relative clause connected with a principal statement by and. This is ungrammatical. The relative which is itself the connective. The correct form is,

Then came a generous blizzard which spread a thick blanket of snow over all and continued many hours.

Do not confuse this use with the correct use of a coördinate conjunction connecting two clauses of equal rank; as, A man who looked ill and who asked for aid, called on me to-day.

227. Kind of and sort of.

Avoid the use of kind of a or sort of a as in "We saw two kinds of an apple or "He sent me a sort of a note book." Omit the article; as,

1. We saw two kinds of apples.

2. He sent me a sort of note book.

228. These kinds and those kinds.

These and those can be used with plural nouns only. Do not say these kind or those kind. The correct forms are this kind, these kinds, those kinds.

229. Your coming; my playing.

The gerund and verbal noun are never correctly used in apposition with a pronoun. Such expressions as, “We heard of you coming," and "They had told him about me playing," are incorrect. The pronoun should be changed to a possessive adjective; as,

1. We heard of your coming.

2. They had told him about my playing.

230. But what.

The expression but what is used correctly when but is a preposition and what a relative pronoun; as,

I heard nothing but what pleased me.

It is incorrect to use the two words as a sort of compound conjunction, as in "I do not know but what you are right." It is better to say,

I do not know but you are right.

231. Different from.

Since different is not the comparative form of the adjective, it is never correct to use than with it. Do not say Poetry is different than prose," but,

66

Poetry is different from prose.

232. As far as.

The colloquial expression, "all the farther," is ungrammatical. Do not say, "Page 100 is all the farther I read," but,

Page 100 is as far as I read.

233. The, as, but, since, fast, like, near.

Some words are used correctly as several parts of speech. Their use must be carefully watched.

1. The may be adjective or adverb.

(1) Adjective: The house. The man.

(2) Adverb: The more haste, the less speed.

2. As may be conjunction or pronoun.

(1) Conjunction: Truth is as free as the air.

(2) Relative pronoun: We purchased such things as were for sale.

3. But may be conjunction, pronoun, adverb, or preposition.