 |
Learn How To
Write
and Speak Correctly
"If you're looking
for writing and speaking guide and resources, look no further!"
A complete copy of
this guide is available from our Handbook on
How To Write Special
Feature Articles.
|
Previous Write & Speak Correctly Tips (2) Next Write & Speak Correctly Tips (4)
relation existing between the speaker, those addressed and the subject
under consideration, whether by discourse or correspondence. The Persons
are _First_, _Second_ and _Third_ and they represent respectively the
speaker, the person addressed and the person or thing mentioned or under
consideration.
_Number_ is the distinction of one from more than one. There are two
numbers, singular and plural; the singular denotes one, the plural two or
more. The plural is generally formed from the singular by the addition of
_s_ or _es_.
_Gender_ has the same relation to nouns that sex has to individuals, but
while there are only two sexes, there are four genders, viz., masculine,
feminine, neuter and common. The masculine gender denotes all those of
the male kind, the feminine gender all those of the female kind, the
neuter gender denotes inanimate things or whatever is without life, and
common gender is applied to animate beings, the sex of which for the time
being is indeterminable, such as fish, mouse, bird, etc. Sometimes things
which are without life as we conceive it and which, properly speaking,
belong to the neuter gender, are, by a figure of speech called
Personification, changed into either the masculine or feminine gender,
as, for instance, we say of the sun, _He_ is rising; of the moon, _She_
is setting.
_Case_ is the relation one noun bears to another or to a verb or to a
preposition. There are three cases, the _Nominative_, the _Possessive_
and the _Objective_. The nominative is the subject of which we are
speaking or the agent which directs the action of the verb; the
possessive case denotes possession, while the objective indicates the
person or thing which is affected by the action of the verb.
An _Article_ is a word placed before a noun to show whether the latter is
used in a particular or general sense. There are but two articles, _a_ or
_an_ and _the_.
An _Adjective_ is a word which qualifies a noun, that is, which shows
some distinguishing mark or characteristic belonging to the noun.
DEFINITIONS
A _Pronoun_ is a word used for or instead of a noun to keep us from
repeating the same noun too often. Pronouns, like nouns, have case,
number, gender and person. There are three kinds of pronouns, _personal_,
_relative_ and _adjective_.
A _verb_ is a word which signifies action or the doing of something. A
verb is inflected by tense and mood and by number and person, though the
latter two belong strictly to the subject of the verb.
An _adverb_ is a word which modifies a verb, an adjective and sometimes
another adverb.
A _preposition_ serves to connect words and to show the relation between
the objects which the words express.
A _conjunction_ is a word which joins words, phrases, clauses and
sentences together.
An _interjection_ is a word which expresses surprise or some sudden
emotion of the mind.
THREE ESSENTIALS
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 phrases, obsolete terms, foreign idioms, ambiguous
expressions or any ungrammatical language whatsoever. Neither does it
sanction the use of any newly coined word until such word is adopted by
the best writers and speakers.
_Perspicuity_ demands the clearest expression of thought conveyed in
unequivocal language, so that there may be no misunderstanding whatever
of the thought or idea the speaker or writer wishes to convey. All
ambiguous words, words of double meaning and words that might possibly be
construed in a sense different from that intended, are strictly
Previous Write & Speak Correctly Tips (2) Next Write & Speak Correctly Tips (4)
Go back to Home of How To Write And Speak Correctly Tips
