Frederick W. Hamilton

“ Retire should not be used in the sense of "go to bed."
Right should not be used in the sense of duty. "You had a right to warn me," should be "It was your duty to warn me, or you ought to have warned me." Right should not be used in the sense of very. Such expressions as right now, right off, right away, right here are not now in good use.
Same should not be used as a pronoun. This is a common usage in business correspondence but it is not good English and can be easily avoided without sacrificing either brevity or sense. Same as in the sense of just as, in the same manner should be avoided. ”

“ A verb is a word which asserts or declares. In other words, it makes a noun or pronoun tell something. John paper tells nothing. John wastes paper tells something. Verbs are the most difficult of all the parts of speech to understand and to use properly. As a rule, an English verb has something more than fifty parts which, with their uses, should be thoroughly learned from a grammar. ”

“ A simple sentence consists of a verb, its subject, and its object. The verb indicates the action, the subject is the noun (name of a person or thing) which does the act, the object is the noun to which the thing is done. Verbs have forms denoting person and number, for example:
Verbs agree with their subjects in person and number. ”

“ Crime is often used for offenses against the speaker's sense of right. Properly crime is a technical word meaning "offenses against law." A most innocent action may be a crime if it is contrary to a statute. The most sinful, cruel, or dishonest action is no crime unless prohibited by a statute.
Dangerous should not be used for dangerously ill.
Data is plural.
Deadly, "that which inflicts death" should not be confused with deathly, "that which resembles death." ”

“ Care must be taken in the use of these nouns, as in some cases their appearance is misleading, e. g., mathematics, physics, and the like are singular nouns having no plural, but owing to their form they are often mistaken for plurals.
Compound nouns, that is to say, nouns formed by the combination of two or three words which jointly express a single idea, generally change the principal word in the forming of the plural, hangers-on, ink rollers, but in a few cases both words change, for example, men-servants. These forms must be learned by observation and practice. ”

“ A noun is a word used as the name of anything that can be thought of, John, boy, paper, cold, fear, crowd. There are three things about a noun which indicate its relation to other words, its number, its gender, and its case. There are two numbers, singular meaning one, and plural meaning more than one. ”

“ Raise is a much abused word. It is never a noun. As a verb it should be distinguished from rear and increase, as in such phrases as "He was raised in Texas." "The landlord raised my rent."
Rarely ever should not be used for rarely or hardly ever.
Real should not be used in the sense of very. ”

“ WORD STUDY AND ENGLISH GRAMMAR Importance of the Subject
Word study and English grammar are important to the young printer for several reasons. In the first place, disregard of the correct use and combination of words is a distinct mark of inferiority and a serious bar to business and social advancement. A man's use of words is commonly taken as a measure of his knowledge and even of his intelligence. Carelessness in this regard often causes a man to be held in much less esteem than he really deserves. ”

“ All day and all night are recognized as good expressions sanctioned by long usage. All morning and all afternoon are not yet sanctioned by good usage and give a decided impression of slovenliness.
Another objectionable omission is that of to before place and similar words in such expressions as "Let's go some place" and the like. It should be to some place or, generally better, somewhere.
A decidedly offensive abbreviation is the phrase Rev. Smith. It should be Rev. John Smith or Rev. Mr. Smith. Rev. is not a title, or a noun in apposition, but an adjective. ”

“ The young student should not permit himself to be discouraged by the apparent difficulty of the task of forming the habit of correct speech. It is habit and rapidly becomes easier after the first efforts.
The relation of a noun to a verb, to another noun, or to a preposition is called its case. There are three cases called the nominative, objective, and possessive. When the noun does something it is in the nominative case and is called the subject of the verb. ”

“ All the participles are wanting in defective verbs.
The verb ought, when used to express past duty or obligation, is followed by what is called the perfect infinitive—a use peculiar to itself because ought has no past form. ”

“ The position of words in a sentence is often very important. Misplacement will frequently cause ambiguities and absurdities which punctuation will not remove. What does the phrase "I only saw him" mean? A newspaper advertisement describing a certain dog which was offered for sale says "He is thoroughly house-broken, will eat anything, is very fond of children." As a rule modifiers should be kept close to the words, clauses, or phrases which they modify, but due regard should be given to sense and to ease of expression. ”

“ The student is recommended to study some good grammar with great care. There are many good grammars. The one used in the schools in the apprentice's locality will probably do as well as any.
The student should learn to use the dictionary intelligently and should accustom himself to using it freely and frequently.
The student should also learn to use words correctly and freely. There are many good books devoted to the study of words, some of which ought to be easily available. ”

“ Collective nouns, that is the nouns which indicate a considerable number of units considered as a whole, such as herd, crowd, congress, present some difficulties because the idea of the individuals in the collection interferes with the idea of the collection itself. ”

“ Each publication has been compiled by a competent author or group of authors, and carefully edited, the purpose being to provide the printers of the United States—employers, journeymen, and apprentices—with a comprehensive series of handy and inexpensive compendiums of reliable, up-to-date information upon the various branches and specialties of the printing craft, all arranged in orderly fashion for progressive study. ”

“ Care should be taken in forming the possessives of phrases containing nouns in apposition, or similar compound phrases. We should say "I called at Brown the printer's" or "since William the Conqueror's time."
Adjectives
An adjective is a word used to qualify, limit, or define a noun, or a word or phrase which has the value of a noun. Nouns are ordinarily very general and indefinite in meaning, for example, man conveys only a very general idea. ”

“ When adjectives indicate a quality they have three forms called degrees indicating the extent or amount of the quality possessed by the noun especially as compared with other objects of the same sort, a big man, a bigger man, the biggest man. ”

“ Few, which emphasizes the fact that the number is small should be distinguished from a few which emphasizes the fact that there is a number though it be small. "Few shall part where many meet." "A few persons were saved in the ark." ”

“ There are some nouns which have no singular, such as cattle, clothes, some which have no plural, such as physics, honesty, news, and some which are the same in both singular and plural, such as deer, trout, series. ”

“ A knowledge of the correct use and combination of words is fully as important as a knowledge of their grammatical forms and their relations. This knowledge should be acquired by the use of books on rhetoric and by careful study of words themselves. ”

“ Use words in their proper sense.
2. Avoid useless circumlocution and "fine writing."
3. Avoid exaggerations.
4. Be careful in the use of not ... and, any, but, only, not ... or, that.
5. Be careful in the use of ambiguous words, e. g., certain.
6. Be careful in the use of he, it, they, these, etc.
7. Report a speech in the first person where necessary to avoid ambiguity.
8. Use the third person where the exact words of the speaker are not intended to be given.
[Pg 23] 9. When you use a participle implying when, while, though, or that, show clearly by the context what is implied. ”

“ It will be noted that these descriptive words have a way of forming combinations among themselves. It must be remembered, however, that all the words thus used describe the noun. Adjectives are sometimes used as substitutes for nouns. This is one of the many verbal short cuts in which the English language abounds.
The good die young
means good people die young.
We should seek the good and beautiful
means we should seek good or beautiful things, or persons, or qualities, or perhaps everything good and beautiful. ”

“ Such expressions should be used with great care and avoided as far as possible. None but the very ignorant would say onliest, but one often sees the expressions more and most unique. This is particularly bad English. Unique does not mean rare, unusual; it means one of a kind, absolutely unlike anything else. Clearly this is a quality which cannot be possessed in degrees. An object either does or does not have it.
Articles
An article is a little adjective which individualizes the noun, a boy, an apple, the crowd. ”

“ Do not use inflated or exaggerated words.
A heavy shower is not a cloud burst; a gale is not a blizzard; a fire is not a conflagration; an accident or a defeat is not a disaster; a fatal accident is not a holocaust; a sharp criticism is not an excoriation or flaying, and so on.
Rules for Correct Writing
More than a century ago the great Scotch rhetorician Campbell framed five canons or rules for correct writing. They have never been improved. They should be learned by heart, thoroughly mastered, and constantly practiced by every writer and speaker. ”

“ Ability, power to do something, should be distinguished from capacity, power to receive something.
Above should not be used as an adjective, e. g., "The statement made in above paragraph." Substitute preceding, foregoing, or some similar adjective.
Accept, not accept of.
Accredit, to give one credentials should be distinguished from credit, to believe what one says.
Administer is often misused. One administers a dose of medicine, the laws, an oath, or the government; one does not administer a blow. ”

“ The books prepared for school use are too academic and too little related to the specific needs of the apprentice to serve the turn of those for whom this book is intended. On the other hand the books for writers and printers are as a rule too advanced for the best service to the beginner. ”

“ Note that when the statement in the subordinate clause is of universal application the present tense is always used whatever the tense of the principal verb. "The lecturer said that warm weather always softens rollers." ”

“ Do not multiply negatives. They cancel each other like the factors in an arithmetical problem. "He never did wrong" is correct in statement and clear in meaning. "He never did nothing wrong" does not add force, it reverses the meaning. ”

“ The second phrase would indicate the individual opinions of the members of the [Pg 4] committee which might be in agreement but had not been expressed in formal action. In doubtful cases it is safer to use the plural.
Entire accuracy in these cases is not altogether easy. As in the case with all the nice points of usage it requires practice and continual self-observation. By these means a sort of language sense is developed which makes the use of the right word instinctive. ”

“ Near (to) the press.
He was ten minutes late (late by ten minutes) .
He is 18 years old (old by or to the extent of 18 years) .
The nominative and objective cases of nouns do not differ [Pg 5] in form. They are distinguished by their positions in the sentence and their relations to other words.
When one noun owns another the one owning is in the possessive case.
The man's paper is cut.
The possessive case is shown by the form of the noun. It is formed by adding s preceded by an apostrophe to the nominative case, thus,
John's hat. ”

“ Brief history and non-technical description of modern methods of engraving; woodcut, zinc plate, halftone; kind of copy for reproduction; things to remember when ordering engravings. Illustrated; review questions; glossary.
A primer of information about the processes of electrotyping and stereotyping. 94 pp.; illustrated; 129 review questions; glossaries.
PART II—Hand and Machine Composition
A handbook for beginners, giving information about justifying, spacing, correcting, and other matters relating to typesetting. ”