Rensselaer Republican, Volume 27, Number 26, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 21 February 1895 — MISTAKES IN GRAMMAR. [ARTICLE]

MISTAKES IN GRAMMAR.

Every Day Blunders Pointed OutHow They May Be Avoided. Faults are pardonable in converse- • * 'A tion which are not pardonable in written compositions. But wo must be careful not to take too much leeway in this regard, and not to make many mistakes in grammar or pronunciatioti. b ome people are guilty of grammatical blunders, through sheer carelessness. Xhus, a.lady, of my acquaintance, .who understands —trigonometry, and can translate Virgil, often says to mo, “you w s, ” and yet she knows perfectly well that this is an inexcusable mistake. Other people who ought to Know better, say “he don’t ” for “he doesn’t,” “I don't know as I do,” instead of “I don’t know that I do.” “Aft't" and “lain’t” are not often used now by educated people, unless in a jesting way. It is ah unwise thing, however, to be careless or inaccurate in one's pronunciations or use of ran gunge, sinee t ricks jf speech are easily caught and very hard to get rid of. Thus, when one is talking to servants, or other uneducated people, one is often tempted to adopt their phraseology, in order to be readily understood by them, but it is better to withstand the temptation, even if one should be obliged in consequence to take more trouble to express i>ne!s meaning clearly. What shall be said or the woman who says “I done it?" She has certainly placed herself between the horns of a dilemma. Her hearers will infer, either that her education was neglected, or that she associated with imeducated people during her childhood. And yet this is a grammatical fault which seems bard to get rid of. Persons who never say “1 seen it," or “he has went,” or “them things,” will occasionally betray themselves by letting slip the fatal “I done it.’’ It is quite an incorrect co use “he” md “1” for “him" and “me,” or vice vessa, as it is to say “I done it," and jet the rirst-named class of faults that of using the wrong pronouns—is sometimes committed by educated people. Indeed, I have heard the phrase “it U me,” justified on the ground that it was a literal translation of the French * e’est moi." But our English grammar, does not, like its French namenike, justify the employmentof certain pronuncial forms, merely for theYalue >f euphony. “He is older than I" may not sound as well as “he is older than me,” yet the former is the correct form, it is a very common mistake to »ay “between you and I,” nnd yet a moment’s reflection should convince iny one who ever studied grammar, I hat he should say “between you and me.”—Ladies.\ Journal.