Rensselaer Union, Volume 3, Number 22, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 23 February 1871 — Weeds and Words [ARTICLE]

Weeds and Words

BY A. NEWBURY.

Last summer a friend of ours brought in to his house a handful of weeds plucked from his side-yard, and turned to the different members of his family with the question, “ What is this ? Can you tell me the name of that plant.” It was pronounced to be a sort of grass. “ But what kind is it? How is it classed?” he asked. “O, I don’t know; it is something very common." “What is this plant?" he said, pulling another from his handful. “ You can tell me something about this one, for I have seen it at almost every roadside.” » “ Yes, so have I, but I never minded what it was. All those things in your hand are worthless weeds, ana I cannot conceive why you should care anything about them.” “I do care, for this reason. I am determined to have no more guests whom I cannot call by name. These “ worthless weeds,” as you style them, are all over my premises, and they shall no lopger be entire strangers to me. So I am going to consult Gray and other botanical authorities, and make these weeds my summer’s study.” — —• And so he did; and he was amply repaid for the time given to such investigations. There are many weeds which overrun our common conversation, and make themselves familiar in our homes, which we had better recognize and classify a little. Let us look at a few of them. The preposition “ without ” is sometimes substituted for “unless.” Without may be used before nouns, but it ghould not be used to connect verbs. We ought not to say, “ I cannot tell without I go,’’ etc., but ‘ unless I go,” etc. “ Good ’’ is never an adverb; hence it is not right to say, “ My dress fits good,” but “My dress fits well.” “ Real ” is not to be forced into the rank of adverbs, although school girls have conspired to make it one. Such expressions as “ real pretty,” “ real ugly,” and “ real good ” are not really correct. “Had ought” is a wrong combination, heard oftener in New England than in other sections of our country. Even those who would not use the entire phrase sometimes leave it carelessly to be understood; as, “ She ought to tell him frankly what she thinks.” “ Yes, so she/uwi.” “ Got ” is a poor, ill-used servant made to do the work of other words. “ I have got to do it ” persons say, instead of “ I ought to do it, or “I must do it” “He has got his lesson ” they’ say, when they mean “ learned his lesson.” In most cases when “ I have got ” is used, the simple “ I have” would bettar. answer the purpose. We advise our young friends to weed out this word “got” as much as possible from conversation, and see how much more clearness and force this process adds to their expression. “ Well" is an Inelegant and useless expletive when used at the commencement of a question or remark. “ Well, what do you think of it?” “ Well, I hardly know what to think of it.” This is a weed universally found in New England, and the sooner it is expelled the better. A Yankee may be known the world over by passing through this gate ’’well” before he enters on what he wishes to say. It does not belong to the “ pure well oi English undeflhsd,” of which we read; but rather we shoirid beware of “ Dropping buckets into empty wells. And growing old in drawing nothing up.” In some of the Southern States “indeed’’ is heard so frequently that it loses all its force. “ I do, indeed, ’ or, “ Indeed, I do,” salutes the ear on every turn, until the otherwise emphatic word becomes utterly insignificant. In the Southern States “ like” is often substituted for “as.” “Like” should be used before nouns, but not before verbs. Like we do,” and similar expressions, have no good sanction. ~ is som6ti mes incorrectly used for L th t- "Do you rememNo, I do not know aaldo.” The adjective “some" is occasionally “- verb somewhat. ’* They criticised the book some." The verb “ want" has a provincial use which is hardly sanctioned. It is made a constant synonym for “ wish.” “ I want to see you, etc. We should try to limit such wants as much as possible. Many of the prevailing contractions are very carelessly used. “ Don’t" is a contraction for “do not," and not for “ does not” (does n’t), hence it requires a plural 1 nominative. “ Were not" and “ was not" should never be contracted into “ wa’ n’t," bit into were n’t” and was n’t," " Ain’t," f r " are n’t" or " is n’t," and “ haln’t,” for • have n’t" or “has n’t,” are of course 6 ver found In good society. It should be

said in passing, that the contraction “ won’t" has the sound of o in “ don’t.” As the beauty of a garden depends not so much on its few rare plants, scattered here and there, as ou its neat borders and common groups and grass-plots, so conversation owes its merit not so niuch to the selection of especial words Ils to the correct use of connectives, and of those insignificant words which are of common use. — Our Young Folks.