Speaking Writing

An interjection is a word used to express some sudden emotion of the mind. Thus in the examples,--"Ah! there he comes; alas! what shall I do?" ah, expresses surprise, and alas, dis...

The first requisite of style is choice of words, and this comes under the head of Diction, the property of style which has reference to the words and phrases used in speaking and w...

Interruption, more surely than anything else, kills conversation. The effusive talker who, in spite of his facility for words, is in no sense a conversationalist, refuses to recogn...

The Subscription or ending of a letter consists of the term of respect or affection and the signature. The term depends upon the relation of the person addressed. Letters of friend...

Of course in simple sentences the natural order of arrangement is subject--verb--object. In many cases no other form is possible. Thus in the sentence "The cat has caught a mouse,"...

Lindley Murray and Goold Brown laid down cast-iron rules for punctuation, but most of them have been broken long since and thrown into the junk-heap of disuse. They were too rigid,...

The paragraph may be defined as a group of sentences that are closely related in thought and which serve one common purpose. Not only do they preserve the sequence of the different...

Good conversation, then, is like a well-played game of whist. Each has to give and take; each has to deal regularly round to all the players; to signal and respond to signals; to f...

Clearness of style should be one of the leading considerations with the beginner in composition. He must avoid all obscurity and ambiguous phrases. If he write a sentence or phrase...

There are two great classes of sentences according to the general principles upon which they are founded. These are termed the loose and the periodic. In the loose sentence the mai...

In Figurative Language we employ words in such a way that they differ somewhat from their ordinary signification in commonplace speech and convey our meaning in a more vivid and im...

Many people seem to regard letter-writing as a very simple and easily acquired branch, but on the contrary it is one of the most difficult forms of composition and requires much pa...

Sing. Plural 1st person If I have been loved If we have been loved 2nd person If you have been loved If you have been loved 3rd person If he has been loved If they have been loved

Chaucer, Spenser, Shakespeare, Milton, Burns, Wordsworth, Keats, Shelley, Tennyson, Browning.

Style has been classified in different ways, but it admits of so many designations that it is very hard to enumerate a table. In fact there are as many styles as there are writers,...

Sing. Plural 1st person If I had been loved If we had been loved 2nd person If you had been loved If you had been loved 3rd person If he had been loved If they had been loved

Sing. Plural 1st person If I had loved If we had loved 2nd person If you had loved If you had loved 3rd person If he had loved If they had loved

A syllable is a distinct sound produced by a single effort of [Transcriber's note: 1-2 words illegible] shall, pig, dog. In every syllable there must be at least one vowel. A word...

An adjective is a word which qualifies a noun, that is, shows or points out some distinguishing mark or feature of the noun; as, A black dog. Adjectives have three forms called deg...

Bacon, Addison, Steele, Macaulay, Lamb, Jeffrey, De Quincey, Carlyle, Thackeray and Matthew Arnold.

In another place in this book advice has been given to never use a long word when a short one will serve the same purpose. This advice is to be emphasized. Words of "learned length...

It must be remembered that two negatives in the English language destroy each other and are equivalent to an affirmative. Thus "I don't know nothing about it" is intended to convey...

A conjunction joins words, clauses and sentences; as "John and James." "My father and mother have come, but I have not seen them." The conjunctions in most general use are and, als...

A becomes an before a vowel or before h mute for the sake of euphony or agreeable sound to the ear. An apple, an orange, an heir, an honor, etc. STYLE It is the object of every wri...

"My brother has an undeniable character" is wrong if I wish to convey the idea that he has a good character. The expression should be in that case "My brother has an unexceptionabl...

There are four great divisions of Grammar, viz.: Orthography, Etymology, Syntax, and Prosody. Orthography treats of letters and the mode of combining them into words. Etymology tre...

A letter is a mark or character used to represent an articulate sound. Letters are divided into vowels and consonants. A vowel is a letter which makes a distinct sound by itself. C...

A verb is a word which implies action or the doing of something, or it may be defined as a word which affirms, commands or asks a question. Thus, the words John the table, contain...

Capital letters are used to give emphasis to or call attention to certain words to distinguish them from the context. In manuscripts they may be written small or large and are indi...

The address of a letter consists of the name, the title and the residence. Mr. Hugh Black, 112 Southgate Street, Altoona, Pa. Intimate friends have often familiar names for each ot...