Speaking Writing
From Speaking Writing. 113 indexed articles.
Visit speakingwriting.informational.caThere is an aspect of business words which has to do with social tact. "The social tact of business words" sounds incongruous on first thought. Business is largely force, to be sur...
When two singular subjects are connected by neither, nor use a singular verb; as, "Neither John nor James was there," not were there. NONE Custom Has sanctioned the use of this wor...
Sydney Smith, by all accounts a great master of the social art, said of himself: "There is one talent I think I have to a remarkable degree: there are substances in nature called a...
Harmony is that property of style which gives a smoothness to the sentence, so that when the words are sounded their connection becomes pleasing to the ear. It adapts sound to sens...
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 master...
Sing. Plural. N. He They P. His Theirs O. Him Them Third Person.
Less refers is quantity, fewer to number. "No man has less virtues" should be "No man has fewer virtues." "The farmer had some oats and a fewer quantity of wheat" should be "the fa...
Be careful to distinguish the meaning of these two little prepositions and don't interchange them. Don't say "He went in the room" nor "My brother is into the navy." In denotes the...
Each other refers to two, one another to more than two. "Jones and Smith quarreled; they struck each other" is correct. "Jones, Smith and Brown quarreled; they struck one another"...
Sing. Plural 1st person I shall be loved We shall be loved 2nd person You will be loved You will be loved 3rd person He will be loved They will be loved
"Good talk is not to be had for the asking. Humors must first be accorded in a kind of overture for prolog; hour, company, and circumstances be suited; and then at a fit juncture,...
In writing to the President the superscription on the envelope should be To the President, Executive Mansion, Washington, D. C. Professional men such as doctors and lawyers as well...
The English language is the tongue now current in England and her colonies throughout the world and also throughout the greater part of the United States of America. It sprang from...
Present Perfect To be loved To have been loved
Style is expressive of the writer, as to who he is and what he is. As a matter of structure in composition it is the indication of what a man can do; as a matter of quality it is a...
When two verbs depend on each other their tenses must have a definite relation to each other. "I shall have much pleasure in accepting your kind invitation" is wrong, unless you re...
These verbs are very often confounded. Rise is to move or pass upward in any manner; as to "rise from bed;" to increase in value, to improve in position or rank, as "stocks rise;"...
Errors in ellipsis occur chiefly with prepositions. His objection and condoning of the boy's course, seemed to say the least, paradoxical. (The preposition to should come after obj...
Notes of introduction should be very circumspect as the writers are in reality vouching for those whom they introduce. Here is a specimen of such a note. 603 Lexington Ave., New Yo...
(9) Proper names begin with a capital; as, "Jones, Johnson, Caesar, Mark Antony, England, Pacific, Christmas." Such words as river, sea, mountain, etc., when used generally are com...
The interchange of these two parts of the irregular or so-called strong verbs is, perhaps, the breach oftenest committed by careless speakers and writers. To avoid mistakes it is r...
A participle or participial phrase is naturally referred to the nearest nominative. If only one nominative is expressed it claims all the participles that are not by the constructi...
In the subjunctive mood the plural form were should be used with a singular subject; as, "If I were," not was. Remember the plural form of the personal pronoun you always takes wer...
Don't say "I shall summons him," but "I shall summon him." Summon is a verb, summons, a noun. It is correct to say "I shall get a summons for him," not a summon.
Remember that the first person takes precedence of the second and the second takes precedence of the third. When Cardinal Wolsey said Ego et Rex (I and the King), he showed he was...
Besides the works mentioned everyone should endeavor to have the following: Plutarch's Lives, Meditations of Marcus Aurelius, Chaucer, Imitation of Christ (Thomas a Kempis), Holy L...
The three essentials of the English language are: Purity, Perspicuity and Precision. By Purity is signified the use of good English. It precludes the use of all slang words, vulgar...
Sing. Plural 1st person I shall have been loved We shall have been loved 2nd person You will have been loved You will have been loved 3rd person He will have been loved They will h...
Bryant, Poe, Whittier, Longfellow, Lowell, Emerson, Whitman, Lanier, Aldrich and Stoddard.
Don't mistake these two words so nearly alike. Vocation is the employment, business or profession one follows for a living; avocation is some pursuit or occupation which diverts th...