Chapter III: Of Words

A _Word_ is one or more syllables spoken or written as the sign of some idea, or of some manner of thought. Words are distinguished as _primitive_ or _derivative_, and as _simple_ or _compound_. The former division is called their _species_; the latter, their _figure_.

A _primitive_ word is one that is not formed from any simpler word in the language; as, _harm, great, connect_.

A _derivative_ word is one that is formed from some simpler word in the language; as, _harmless, greatly, connected, disconnect, unconnected_.

A _simple_ word is one that is not compounded, not composed of other words; as, _watch, man, house, tower, never, the, less_.

A _compound_ word is one that is composed of two or more simple words; as, _watchman, watchhouse, watchtower, nevertheless_.

Permanent compounds are consolidated; as, _bookseller, schoolmaster_: others, which may be called temporary compounds, are formed by the hyphen; as, _good-natured, negro-merchant_.

_RULES FOR THE FIGURE OF WORDS_.

RULE I.--COMPOUNDS.

Words regularly or analogically united, and commonly known as forming a compound, should never be needlessly broken apart. Thus, _steamboat, railroad, red-hot, well-being, new-coined_, are preferable to the phrases, _steam boat, rail road, red hot, well being, new coined_; and _toward us_ is better than the old phrase, _to us ward_.

RULE II.--SIMPLES.

When the simple words would only form a regular phrase, of the same meaning, the compounding of any of them ought to be avoided. Thus, the compound _instead_ is not to be commended, because the simple phrase, _in stead of_, is exactly like the other phrases, _in lieu of, in place of, in room of_, in which we write no compound.

RULE III.--THE SENSE.

Words otherwise liable to be misunderstood, must be joined together or written separately, as the sense and construction may happen to require. Thus, a _glass house_ is a house made of glass, but a _glasshouse_ is a house in which glass is made; so a _negro merchant_ is a coloured trader, but a _negro-merchant_ is a man who buys and sells negroes.

RULE IV.--ELLIPSES.

When two or more compounds are connected in one sentence, none of them should be split to make an ellipsis of half a word. Thus, "_six or seventeen_" should not be said for "_sixteen or seventeen_;" nor ought we to say, "_calf, goat, and sheepskins_" for "_calfskins, goatskins, and sheepskins_" In the latter instance, however, it might be right to separate all the words; as in the phrase, "_soup, coffee_, and _tea_ houses."--_Liberator_, x, 40.

RULE V.--THE HYPHEN.

When the parts of a compound do not fully coalesce, as _to-day, to-night, to-morrow_; or when each retains its original accent, so that the compound has more than one, or one that is movable, as _first-born, hanger-on, laughter-loving, garlic-eater, butterfly-shell_, the hyphen should be inserted between them.

RULE VI.--NO HYPHEN.

When a compound has but one accented syllable in pronunciation, as _watchword, statesman, gentleman_, and the parts are such as admit of a complete coalescence, no hyphen should be inserted between them. Churchill, after much attention to this subject, writes thus: "The practical instruction of the _countinghouse_ imparts a more thorough knowledge of _bookkeeping_, than all the fictitious transactions of a mere _schoolbook_, however carefully constructed to suit particular purposes."--_New Gram._, p. vii. But _counting-house_, having more stress on the last syllable than on the middle one, is usually written with the hyphen; and _book-keeping_ and _school-book_, though they may not need it, are oftener so formed than otherwise.

OBSERVATIONS.

OBS. 1.--Words are the least parts of significant language; that is, of language significant in each part; for, to syllables, taken merely as syllables, no meaning belongs. But, to a word, signification of some sort or other, is essential; there can be no word without it; for a sign or symbol must needs represent or signify something. And as I cannot suppose words to represent external things, I have said "A _Word_ is one or more syllables spoken or written as the sign of some _idea_." But of _what_ ideas are the words of our language significant? Are we to say, "Of _all_ ideas;" and to recognize as an English word every syllable, or combination of syllables, to which we know a meaning is attached? No. For this, in the first place, would confound one language with an other; and destroy a distinction which must ever be practically recognized, till all men shall again speak one language. In the next place, it would compel us to embrace among our words an infinitude of terms that are significant only of _local_ ideas, such as men any where or at any time may have had concerning any of the individuals they have known, whether persons, places, or things. But, however important they may be in the eyes of men, the names of particular persons, places, or things, because they convey only particular ideas, do not properly belong to what we call _our language_. Lexicographers do not collect and define proper names, because they are beyond the limits of their art, and can be explained only from history. I do not say that proper names are to be excluded from grammar; but I would show wherein consists the superiority of general terms over these. For if our common words did not differ essentially from proper names, we could demonstrate nothing in science: we could not frame from them any general or affirmative proposition at all; because all our terms would be particular, and not general; and because every individual thing in nature must necessarily be for ever itself only, and not an other.

OBS. 2.--Our common words, then, are the symbols neither of external particulars, nor merely of the sensible ideas which external particulars excite in our minds, but mainly of those general or universal ideas which belong rather to the intellect than to the senses. For intellection differs from sensation, somewhat as the understanding of a man differs from the perceptive faculty of a brute; and language, being framed for the reciprocal commerce of human minds, whose perceptions include both, is made to consist of signs of ideas both general and particular, yet without placing them on equal ground. Our general ideas--that is, our ideas conceived as common to many individuals, existing in any part of time, past, present, or future--such, for example, as belong to the words _man, horse, tree, cedar, wave, motion, strength, resist_--such ideas, I say, constitute that most excellent significance which belongs to words primarily, essentially, and immediately; whereas, our particular ideas, such as are conceived only of individual objects, which arc infinite in number and ever fleeting, constitute a significance which belongs to language only secondarily, accidentally, and mediately. If we express the latter at all, we do it either by proper names, of which but very few ever become generally known, or by means of certain changeable limitations which are added to our general terms; whereby language, as Harris observes, "without wandering into infinitude, contrives how to denote things infinite."--_Hermes_, p. 345. The particular manner in which this is done, I shall show hereafter, in Etymology, when I come to treat of articles and definitives.

OBS. 3.--If we examine the structure of proper names, we shall find that most of them are compounds, the parts of which have, in very many instances, some general signification. Now a complete phrase commonly conveys some particular notion or conception of the mind; but, in this case, the signification of the general terms is restricted by the other words which are added to them. Thus _smith_ is a more general term than _goldsmith_; and _goldsmith_ is more general than a _goldsmith_; _a goldsmith_, than _the goldsmith_; _the goldsmith_, than _one Goldsmith_; _one Goldsmith_, than _Mr. Goldsmith_; _Mr. Goldsmith_, than _Oliver Goldsmith_. Thus we see that the simplest mode of designating particular persons or objects, is that of giving them _proper names_; but proper names must needs be so written, that they may be known as proper names, and not be mistaken for common terms. I have before observed, that we have some names which are both proper and common; and that these should be written with capitals, and should form the plural regularly. It is surprising that _the Friends_, who are in some respects particularly scrupulous about language, should so generally have overlooked the necessity there is, of _compounding_ their numerical names of the months and days, and writing them uniformly with capitals, as proper names. For proper names they certainly are, in every thing but the form, whenever they are used without the article, and without those other terms which render their general idea particular. And the compound form with a capital, is as necessary for _Firstday, Secondday, Thirdday_, &c., as for _Sunday, Monday, Tuesday_, &c. "The first day of the week,"--"The seventh day of the month,"--"The second month of summer,"--"The second month in the year," &c., are good English phrases, in which any compounding of the terms, or any additional use of capitals, would be improper; but, for common use, these phrases are found too long and too artificial. We must have a less cumbersome mode of specifying the months of the year and the days of the week. What then? Shall we merely throw away the terms of particularity, and, without substituting in their place the form of proper names, apply general terms to particular thoughts, and insist on it that this is right? And is not this precisely what is done by those who reject as heathenish the ordinary names of the months and days, and write "_first day_," for _Sunday_, in stead of "the first day of the week;" or "_second month_," for _February_, in stead of "the second month in the year;" and so forth? This phraseology may perhaps be well understood by those to whom it is familiar, but still it is an abuse of language, because it is inconsistent with the common acceptation of the terms. Example: "The departure of a ship will take place _every sixth day_ with punctuality."--_Philadelphia Weekly Messenger_. The writer of this did not mean, "_every Friday_;" and it is absurd for the Friends so to understand it, or so to write, when that is what they mean.

OBS. 4.--In the ordinary business of life, it is generally desirable to express our meaning as briefly as possible; but legal phraseology is always full to the letter, and often redundant. Hence a merchant will write, "Nov. 24, 1837," or, "11 mo. 24th, 1837;" but a conveyancer will have it, "On the twenty-fourth day of November, one thousand eight hundred and thirty-seven;"--or, perhaps, "On the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and thirty-seven." Accordingly we find that, in common daily use, all the names of the months, except _March, May, June_, and _July_, are abbreviated; thus, _Jan., Feb., Apr., Aug., Sept., Oct., Nov., Dec_. And sometimes even the Arabic number of the year is made yet shorter; as '37 for 1837; or 1835-6-7, for 1835, 1836, and 1837. In like manner, in constructing tables of time, we sometimes denote the days of the week by the simple initials of their names; as, S. for Sunday, M. for Monday, &c. But, for facility of abbreviation, the numerical names, whether of the months or of the days, are perhaps still more convenient. For, if we please, we may put the simple Arabic figures for them; though it is better to add _d_. for _day_, and _mo._ for _month_: as, 1 d., 2 d., 3 d., &c.;--1 mo., 2 mo., 3 mo., &c.:--or more compactly thus: 1d., 2d., 3d., &c.;--1mo., 2mo., 3mo., &c. But, take which mode of naming we will, our ordinary expression of these things should be in neither extreme, but should avoid alike too great brevity and too great prolixity; and, therefore, it is best to make it a general rule in our literary compositions, to use the full form of proper names for the months and days, and to denote the years by Arabic figures written in full.

OBS. 5.--In considering the nature of words, I was once a little puzzled with a curious speculation, if I may not term it an important inquiry, concerning the _principle of their identity_. We often speak of "_the same words_," and of "_different words_;" but wherein does the sameness or the difference of words consist? Not in their pronunciation; for the same word may be differently pronounced; as, _p=at'ron_ or _p=a'tron, m=at'ron_ or _m=a'tron_. Not in their orthography; for the same word may be differently spelled; as, _favour_ or _favor, music_ or _musick, connexion_ or _connection_. Not in their form of presentation; for the same word may be either spoken or written; and speech and writing present what we call _the same words_, in two ways totally different. Not in their meaning; for the same word may have different meanings, and different words may signify precisely the same thing. This sameness of words, then, must consist in something which is to be reconciled with great diversity. Yet every word is itself, and not an other: and every word must necessarily have some property peculiar to itself, by which it may be easily distinguished from every other. Were it not so, language would be unintelligible. But it _is_ so; and, therefore, to mistake one word for an other, is universally thought to betray great ignorance or great negligence, though such mistakes are by no means of uncommon occurrence. But that the question about the identity of words is not a very easy one, may appear from the fact, that the learned often disagree about it in practice; as when one grammarian will have _an_ and _a_ to be two words, and an other will affirm them to be only different forms of one and the same word.

OBS. 6.--Let us see, then, if amidst all this diversity we can find that principle of sameness, by which a dispute of this kind ought to be settled. Now, although different words do generally differ in orthography, in pronunciation, and in meaning, so that an entire sameness implies one orthography, one pronunciation, and one meaning; yet some diversity is allowed in each of these respects, so that a sign differing from an other only in one, is not therefore a different word, or a sign agreeing with an other only in one, is not therefore the same word. It follows thence, that the principle of verbal identity, the principle which distinguishes every word from every other, lies in neither extreme: it lies in a narrower compass than in all three, and yet not singly in any one, but jointly in any two. So that signs differing in any two of these characteristics of a word, are different words; and signs agreeing in any two, are the same word. Consequently, if to any difference either of spelling or of sound we add a difference of signification everybody will immediately say, that we speak or write different words, and not the same: thus _dear_, beloved, and _deer_, an animal, are two such words as no one would think to be the same; and, in like manner, _use_, advantage, and _use_, to employ, will readily be called different words. Upon this principle, _an_ and _a_ are different words; yet, in conformity to old usage, and because the latter is in fact but an abridgement of the former, I have always treated them as one and the same article, though I have nowhere expressly called them the same word. But, to establish the principle above named, which appears to me the only one on which any such question can be resolved, or the identity of words be fixed at all, we must assume that every word has one right pronunciation, and only one; one just orthography, and only one; and some proper signification, which, though perhaps not always the same, is always a part of its essence. For when two words of different meaning are spelled or pronounced alike, not to maintain the second point of difference, against the double orthography or the double pronunciation of either, is to confound their identity at once, and to prove by the rule that two different words are one and the same, by first absurdly making them so.

OBS. 7.--In no part of grammar is usage more unsettled and variable than in that which relates to the _figure of words_. It is a point of which modern writers have taken but very little notice. Lily, and other ancient Latin grammarians, reckoned both species and figure among the grammatical accidents of nearly all the different parts of speech; and accordingly noticed them, in their Etymology, as things worthy to be thus made distinct topics, like numbers, genders, cases, moods, tenses, &c. But the manner of compounding words in Latin, and also in Greek, is always by consolidation. No use appears to have been made of the _hyphen_, in joining the words of those languages, though the name of the mark is a Greek compound, meaning "_under one_." The compounding of words is one principal means of increasing their number; and the arbitrariness with which that is done or neglected in English, is sufficient of itself to make the number of our words a matter of great uncertainty. Such terms, however, having the advantage of explaining themselves in a much greater degree than others, have little need of definition; and when new things are formed, it is very natural and proper to give them new names of this sort: as, _steamboat, railroad_. The propriety or impropriety of these additions to the language, is not to be determined by dictionaries; for that must be settled by usage before any lexicographer will insert them. And so numerous, after all, are the discrepancies found in our best dictionaries, that many a word may have its day and grow obsolete, before a nation can learn from them the right way of spelling it; and many a fashionable thing may go entirely out of use, before a man can thus determine how to name it. _Railroads_ are of so recent invention that I find the word in only one dictionary; and that one is wrong, in giving the word a hyphen, while half our printers are wrong, in keeping the words separate because _Johnson_ did not compound them. But is it not more important, to know whether we ought to write _railroad_, or _rail-road_, or _rail road_, which we cannot learn from any of our dictionaries, than to find out whether we ought to write _rocklo_, or _roquelo_, or _roquelaur_, or _roquelaure_, which, in some form or other, is found in them all? The duke of Roquelaure is now forgotten, and his cloak is out of fashion.

OBS. 8.--No regular phrase, as I have taught in the second rule above, should be needlessly converted into a compound word, either by tacking its parts together with the hyphen, or by uniting them without a hyphen; for, in general, a phrase is one thing, and a word is an other: and they ought to be kept as distinct as possible.[113] But, when a whole phrase takes the relation of an _adjective_, the words must be compounded, and the hyphen becomes necessary; as, "An inexpressibly apt _bottle-of-small-beer_ comparison."--_Peter Pindar_. The occasions for the compounding of words, are in general sufficiently plain, to any one who knows what is intended to be said; but, as we compound words, sometimes with the hyphen, and sometimes without, there is no small difficulty in ascertaining when to use this mark, and when to omit it. "Some settled rule for the use of the hyphen on these occasions, is much wanted. Modern printers have a strange predilection for it; using it on almost every possible occasion. Mr. L. Murray, who has only three lines on the subject, seems inclined to countenance this practice; which is, no doubt, convenient enough for those who do not like trouble. His words are: 'A Hyphen, marked thus - is employed in connecting compounded words: as, Lap-dog, tea-pot, pre-existence, self-love, to-morrow, mother-in-law.' Of his six examples, Johnson, our only acknowledged standard, gives the first and third without any separation between the syllables, _lapdog, preexistence_; his second and fifth as two distinct words each, _tea pot, to morrow_; and his sixth as three words, _mother in law_: so that only his fourth has the sanction of the lexicographer. There certainly can be no more reason for putting a hyphen after the common prefixes, than before the common affixes, _ness, ly_, and the rest."--_Churchill's Gram._, p. 374.

OBS. 9.--Again: "While it would be absurd, to sacrifice the established practice of all good authors to the ignorance of such readers [as could possibly mistake for a diphthong the two contiguous vowels in such words as _preexistence, cooperate_, and _reenter_]; it would unquestionably be advantageous, to have some principle to guide us in that labyrinth of words, in which the hyphen appears to have been admitted or rejected arbitrarily, or at hap-hazard. Thus, though we find in Johnson, _alms-basket, alms-giver_, with the hyphen; we have _almsdeed, almshouse, almsman_, without: and many similar examples of an unsettled practice might be adduced, sufficient to fill several pages. In this perplexity, is not the pronunciation of the words the best guide? In the English language, every word of more than one syllable is marked by an accent on some particular syllable. Some very long words indeed admit a secondary accent on _another_ syllable; but still this is much inferior, and leaves one leading accent prominent: as in _expos'tulatory_. Accordingly, when a compound has but one accented syllable in pronunciation, as _night'cap, bed'stead, broad'sword_, the two words have coalesced completely into one, and no hyphen should be admitted. On the other hand, when each of the radical words has an accent, as _Chris'tian-name', broad'-shoul'dered_, I think the hyphen should be used. _Good'-na'tured_ is a compound epithet with two accents, and therefore requires the hyphen: in _good nature, good will_, and similar expressions, _good_ is used simply as an adjective, and of course should remain distinct from the noun. Thus, too, when a noun is used adjectively, it should remain separate from the noun it modifies; as, a _gold ring_, a _silver buckle_. When two numerals are employed to express a number, without a conjunction between them, it is usual to connect them by a hyphen; as, _twenty-five, eighty-four_: but when the conjunction is inserted, the hyphen is as improper as it would be between other words connected by the conjunction. This, however, is a common abuse; and we often meet with _five-&-twenty, six-&-thirty_, and the like."--_Ib._, p. 376. Thus far Churchill: who appears to me, however, too hasty about the hyphen in compound numerals. For we write _one hundred, two hundred, three thousand_, &c., without either hyphen or conjunction; and as _five-and-twenty_ is equivalent to _twenty-five_, and virtually but one word, the hyphen, if not absolutely necessary to the sense, is certainly not so very improper as he alleges. "_Christian name_" is as often written without the hyphen as with it, and perhaps as accurately.

IMPROPRIETIES FOR CORRECTION.

ERRORS IN THE FIGURE, OR FORM, OF WORDS.

UNDER RULE I.--OF COMPOUNDS.

"Professing to imitate Timon, the man hater."--_Goldsmith's Rome_, p. 161.

[FORMULE.--Not proper, because the compound term _manhater_ is here made two words. But, according to Rule 1st, "Words regularly or analogically united, and commonly known as forming a compound, should never be needlessly broken apart." Therefore, _manhater_ should be written as one word.]

"Men load hay with a pitch fork."--_Webster's New Spelling-Book_, p. 40. "A pear tree grows from the seed of a pear."--_Ib._, p. 33. "A tooth brush is good to brush your teeth."--_Ib._, p. 85. "The mail is opened at the post office."--_Ib._, p. 151. "The error seems to me two fold."--_Sanborn's Gram._, p. 230. "To pre-engage means to engage before hand."--_Webster's New Spelling-Book_, p. 82. "It is a mean act to deface the figures on a mile stone."--_Ib._, p. 88. "A grange is a farm and farm house."--_Ib._, p. 118. "It is no more right to steal apples or water melons, than money."--_Ib._, p. 118. "The awl is a tool used by shoemakers, and harness makers."--_Ib._, p. 150. "Twenty five cents are equal to one quarter of a dollar."--_Ib._, p. 107. "The blowing up of the Fulton at New York was a terrible disaster."--_Ib._, p. 54. "The elders also, and the bringers up of the children, sent to Jehu."--SCOTT: 2 _Kings_, x, 5. "Not with eye service, as men pleasers."--_Bickersteth, on Prayer_, p. 64. "A good natured and equitable construction of cases."--_Ash's Gram._, p. 138. "And purify your hearts, ye double minded."--_Gurney's Portable Evidences_, p. 115. "It is a mean spirited action to steal; i. e. to steal is a mean spirited action."--_Grammar of Alex. Murray, the schoolmaster_, p. 124. "There is, indeed, one form of orthography which is a kin to the subjunctive mood of the Latin tongue."--_Booth's Introd. to Dict._, p. 71. "To bring him into nearer connexion with real and everyday life."--_Philological Museum_, Vol. i, p. 459. "The common place, stale declamation of its revilers would be silenced."--_Ib._, i, 494. "She formed a very singular and unheard of project."--_Goldsmith's Rome_, p. 160. "He had many vigilant, though feeble talented, and mean spirited enemies."--ROBERTS VAUX: _The Friend_, Vol. vii, p. 74. "These old fashioned people would level our psalmody," &c.--_Music of Nature_, p. 292. "This slow shifting scenery in the theatre of harmony."--_Ib._, p. 398. "So we are assured from Scripture it self."--_Harris's Hermes_, p. 300. "The mind, being disheartened, then betakes its self to trifling."--_R. Johnson's Pref. to Gram. Com._ "Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them."--_Beacon_, p. 115: SCOTT, ALGER, FRIENDS: _John_, xx, 23. "Tarry we our selves how we will."--_Walker's English Particles_, p. 161. "Manage your credit so, that you need neither swear your self, nor want a voucher."--_Collier's Antoninus_, p. 33. "Whereas song never conveys any of the above named sentiments."--_Rush, on the Voice_, p. 424. "I go on horse back."--_Guy's Gram._, p. 54. "This requires _purity_, in opposition to barbarous, obsolete, or new coined words."--_Adam's Gram._, p. 242; _Gould's_, 234. "May the Plough share shine."--_White's Eng. Verb_, p. 161. "Which way ever we consider it."--_Locke, on Ed._, p. 83.

"Where e'er the silent (e) a Place obtains,
The Voice foregoing, Length and softness gains."
--_Brightland's Gr._, p. 15.

UNDER RULE II.--OF SIMPLES.

"It qualifies any of the four parts of speech abovenamed."--_Kirkham's Gram._, p. 83.

[FORMULE.--Not proper, because _abovenamed_ is here unnecessarily made a compound. But, according to Rule 2d, "When the simple words would only form a regular phrase, of the same meaning, the compounding of any of them ought to be avoided." Therefore, _above_ and _named_ should here have been written as two words.]

"After awhile they put us out among the rude multitude."--_Fox's Journal_. Vol. i, p. 169. "It would be ashame, if your mind should falter and give in."--_Collier's Meditations of Antoninus_, p. 94. "They stared awhile in silence one upon another."--_Rasselas_, p. 73. "After passion has for awhile exercised its tyrannical sway."--_Murray's Gram._, ii, 135 and 267. "Though set within the same general-frame of intonation."--_Rush, on the Voice_, p. 339. "Which do not carry any of the natural vocal-signs of expression."--_Ib._, p. 329. "The measurable constructive-powers of a few associable constituents."--_Ib._, p. 343. "Before each accented syllable or emphatic monosyllabic-word."--_Ib._, p. 364. "One should not think too favourably of oneself."--See _Murray's Gram._, Vol. i, p. 154. "Know ye not your ownselves, how that Jesus Christ is in you."--_Barclay's Works_, Vol. i, p. 355. "I judge not my ownself, for I know nothing of my ownself."-- _Wayland's Moral Science_, p. 84. "Though they were in such a rage, I desired them to tarry awhile."--_Josephus_, Vol. v, p. 179. "_A_ instead of _an_ is now used before words beginning with _a_ long."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 31. "John will have earned his wages the next new-year's day."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 82. "A new-year's-gift is a present made on the first day of the year."--See _Johnson, Walker, Webster, et al._ "When he sat on the throne, distributing new-year's-gifts."--STILLINGFLEET, _in Johnson's Dict._ "St. Paul admonishes Timothy to refuse old-wives'- fables."--_Author_. "The world, take it altogether, is but one."-- _Collier's Antoninus_, B. vii, Sec. 9. "In writings of this stamp we must accept of sound instead of sense."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 298. "A male-child, A female-child, Male-descendants, Female-descendants."-- _Goldsbury's C. S. Gram._, p. 13; _Rev. T. Smith's Gram._, p. 15. "Male-servants, Female-servants. Male-relations, Female-relations."-- _Felton's Gram._, p. 15.

"Reserved and cautious, with no partial aim,
My muse e'er sought to blast another's fame."--_Lloyd_, p. 162.

UNDER RULE III.--THE SENSE.

"Our discriminations of this matter have been but four footed instincts."--_Rush, on the Voice_, p. 291.

[FORMULE.--Not proper, because the term _four footed_ is made two words, as if the instincts were four and footed. But, according to Rule 3d, "Words otherwise liable to be misunderstood, must be joined together, or written separately, as the sense and construction may happen to require." Therefore, _four-footed_, as it here means _quadruped_, or _having four feet_, should be one word.]

"He is in the right, (says Clytus,) not to bear free born men at his table."--_Goldsmith's Greece_, Vol. ii, p. 128. "To the short seeing eye of man, the progress may appear little."--_The Friend_, Vol. ix, p. 377. "Knowledge and virtue are, emphatically, the stepping stone to individual distinction."--_Town's Analysis_, p. 5. "A tin peddler will sell tin vessels as he travels."--_Webster's New Spelling-Book_, p. 44. "The beams of a wood-house are held up by the posts and joists."--_Ib._, p. 39. "What you mean by _future tense adjective_, I can easily understand."--_Tooke's Diversions_, Vol. ii, p. 450. "The town has been for several days very well behaved."--_Spectator_, No. 532. "A _rounce_ is the handle of a printing press."--_Webster's' Dict._; also _El. Spelling-Book_, p. 118. "The phraseology we call _thee and thouing_ is not in so common use with us, as the _tutoyant_ among the French."--_Walker's Dict., w. Thy._ "Hunting, and other out door sports, are generally pursued."--_Balbi's Geog._, p. 227. "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden."--SCOTT, ALGER, FRIENDS: _Matt._, xi, 28. "God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son to save it."--_Barclay's Works_, i, p. 71. See SCOTT'S BIBLE: _John_, iii, 16. "Jehovah is a prayer hearing God: Nineveh repented, and was spared."--_N. Y. Observer_, Vol. x, p. 90. "These are well pleasing to God, in all ranks and relations."--_Barclay's Works_, Vol. i, p. 73. "Whosoever cometh any thing near unto the tabernacle."--_Numb._, xvii, 13. "The words coalesce, when they have a long established association."-- _Murray's Gram._, p. 169. "Open to me the gates of righteousness: I will go in to them."--OLD BIBLE: _Ps._, cxviii, 19. "He saw an angel of God coming into him."--See _Acts_, x, 3. "The consequences of any action are to be considered in a two fold light."--_Wayland's Moral Science_, p. 108. "We commonly write two fold, three fold, four fold, and so on up to ten fold, without a hyphen; and, after that, we use one."--_Author._ See _Matt._, xiii, 8. "When the first mark is going off, he cries _turn!_ the glass holder answers _done!_"--_Bowditch's Nav._, p. 128. "It is a kind of familiar shaking hands with all the vices."--_Maturin's Sermons_, p. 170. "She is a good natured woman;" "James is self opinionated;" "He is broken hearted."--_Wright's Gram._, p. 147. "These three examples apply to the _present tense_ construction only."--_Ib._, p. 65. "So that it was like a game of hide and go seek."--_Edward's First Lessons in Grammar_, p. 90.

"That lowliness is young ambition's ladder,
Whereto the climber upward turns his face."--_Bucke's Gram._, p. 97.

UNDER RULE IV.--OF ELLIPSES.

"This building serves yet for a school and a meeting-house."

[FORMULE.--Not proper, because the compound word _schoolhouse_ is here divided to avoid a repetition of the last half. But, according to Rule 4th, "When two or more compounds are connected in one sentence, none of them should be split to make an ellipsis of half a word." Therefore, "_school_" should be "_schoolhouse_;" thus, "This building serves yet for a _schoolhouse_ and a meeting-house."]

"Schoolmasters and mistresses of honest friends [are] to be encouraged."--_N. E. Discipline_, p. xv. "We never assumed to ourselves a faith or worship-making-power."--_Barclay's Works_, Vol. i, p. 83. "Pot and pearl ashes are made from common ashes."--_Webster's New Spelling-Book_, p. 69. "Both the ten and eight syllable verses are iambics."--_Blair's Gram._, p. 121. "I say to myself, thou, he says to thy, to his self; &c."--_Dr. Murray's Hist. of Europ. Lang._, Vol. ii p. 121. "Or those who have esteemed themselves skilful, have tried for the mastery in two or four horse chariots."--_Zenobia_, Vol. i, p. 152. "I remember him barefooted and headed, running through the streets."--_Castle Rackrent_, p. 68. "Friends have the entire control of the school and dwelling-houses."--_The Friend_, Vol. vii, p. 231. "The meeting is held at the first mentioned place in the first month, at the last in the second, and so on."--_Ib._, p. 167. "Meetings for worship are held at the same hour on first and fourth days."--_Ib._, p. 230. "Every part of it, inside and out, is covered with gold leaf."--_Ib._, p. 404. "The Eastern Quarterly Meeting is held on the last seventh day in second, fifth, eighth, and eleventh month."--_Ib._, p. 87. "Trenton Preparative Meeting is held on the third fifth day in each month, at ten o'clock; meetings for worship at the same hour on first and fifth days."--_Ib._, p. 231. "Ketch, a vessel with two masts, a main and mizzen-mast."--_Webster's Dict._, "I only mean to suggest a doubt, whether nature has enlisted herself as a Cis or Trans-Atlantic partisan?"-- _Jefferson's Notes_, p. 97. "By large hammers, like those used for paper and fullingmills, they beat their hemp."--MORTIMER: _in Johnson's Dict._ "Ant-hill, or Hillock, _n. s._ The small protuberances of earth, in which ants make their nests."--_Ib._ "It became necessary to substitute simple indicative terms called _pro-names_ or _nouns._"--_Enclytica_, p. 16.

"Obscur'd, where highest woods, impenetrable
To star or sun-light, spread their umbrage broad."--_Milton._

UNDER RULE V.--THE HYPHEN.

"_Evilthinking_; a noun, compounded of the noun _evil_ and the imperfect participle _thinking_; singular number;" &c.--_Churchill's Gram._, p. 180.

[FORMULE--Not proper, because the word _evilthinking_, which has more than one accented syllable, is here compounded without the hyphen. But, according to Rule 5th, "When the parts of a compound do not fully coalesce, or when each retains its original accent, so that the compound has more than one, or one that is movable, the hyphen should be inserted between them." Therefore, the hyphen should be used in this word; thus, _evil-thinking._]

"_Evilspeaking_; a noun, compounded of the noun _evil_ and the imperfect participle _speaking._"--_Ib._ "I am a tall, broadshouldered, impudent, black fellow."--SPECTATOR: _in Johnson's Dict._ "Ingratitude! thou marblehearted fiend."--SHAK.: _ib._ "A popular licence is indeed the manyheaded tyranny."--SIDNEY: _ib._ "He from the manypeopled city flies."--SANDYS: _ib._ "He manylanguaged nations has surveyed."--POPE: _ib._ "The horsecucumber is the large green cucumber, and the best for the table."--MORTIMER: _ib._ "The bird of night did sit, even at noonday, upon the market-place."--SHAK.: _ib._ "These make a general gaoldelivery of souls, not for punishment."--SOUTH: _ib._ "Thy air, thou other goldbound brow, is like the first."--SHAK.: _ib._ "His person was deformed to the highest degree; flatnosed, and blobberlipped."--L'ESTRANGE: _ib._ "He that defraudeth the labourer of his hire, is a bloodshedder."--ECCLUS., xxxiv, 22: _ib._ "Bloodyminded, _adj._ from _bloody_ and _mind._ Cruel; inclined to blood-shed."--See _Johnson's Dict._ "Bluntwitted lord, ignoble in demeanour."--SHAK.: _ib._ "A young fellow with a bobwig and a black silken bag tied to it."--SPECTATOR: _ib._ "I have seen enough to confute all the boldfaced atheists of this age."--BRAMHALL: _ib._ "Before milkwhite, now purple with love's wound."--SHAK: _ib._ "For what else is a redhot iron than fire? and what else is a burning coal than redhot wood?"--NEWTON: _ib._ "Pollevil is a large swelling, inflammation, or imposthume in the horse's poll, or nape of the neck just between the ears."--FARRIER: _ib._

"Quick-witted, brazenfac'd, with fluent tongues,
Patient of labours, and dissembling wrongs."--DRYDEN: _ib._

UNDER RULE VI.--NO HYPHEN.

"From his fond parent's eye a tear-drop fell."--_Snelling's Gift for Scribblers_, p. 43.

[FORMULE--Not proper, because the word _tear-drop_, which has never any other than a full accent on the first syllable, is here compounded with the hyphen. But, according to Rule 6th, "When a compound has but one accented syllable in pronunciation, and the parts are such as admit of a complete coalescence, no hyphen should be inserted between them." Therefore, _teardrop_ should be made a close compound.]

"How great, poor jack-daw, would thy sufferings be!"--_Ib._, p. 29. "Placed like a scare-crow in a field of corn."--_Ib._, p. 39. "Soup for the alms-house at a cent a quart."--_Ib._, p. 23. "Up into the watch-tower get, and see all things despoiled of fallacies."--DONNE: _Johnson's Dict., w. Lattice._ "In the day-time she sitteth in a watchtower, and flieth most by night."--BACON: _ib., w. Watchtower._ "In the daytime Fame sitteth in a watch-tower, and flieth most by night."--ID.: _ib., w. Daytime._ "The moral is the first business of the poet, as being the ground-work of his instruction."--DRYDEN: _ib., w. Moral._ "Madam's own hand the mouse-trap baited."--PRIOR: _ib., w. Mouse-trap._ "By the sinking of the air-shaft the air hath liberty to circulate."--RAY: _ib., w. Airshaft._ "The multiform and amazing operations of the air-pump and the loadstone."--WATTS: _ib., w. Multiform._ "Many of the fire-arms are named from animals."--_Ib., w. Musket._ "You might have trussed him and all his apparel into an eel-skin."--SHAK.: _ib., w. Truss._ "They may serve as land-marks to shew what lies in the direct way of truth."--LOCKE: _ib., w. Landmark._ "A pack-horse is driven constantly in a narrow lane and dirty road."--_Id. ib., w. Lane._ "A mill-horse, still bound to go in one circle."--SIDNEY: _ib., w. Mill-horse._ "Of singing birds they have linnets, goldfinches, ruddocks, Canary-birds, black-birds, thrushes, and divers others."--CAREW: _ib., w. Goldfinch._ "Of singing birds, they have linnets, gold-finches, blackbirds, thrushes, and divers others."--ID.: _ib., w. Blackbird._ "Of singing birds, they have linnets, gold-finches, ruddocks, canary birds, blackbirds, thrushes, and divers other."--ID.: _ib., w. Canary bird._ "Cartrage, or Cartridge, a case of paper or parchment filled with gun-powder."--_Johnson's Dict._, 4to.

"Deep night, dark night, the silent of the night,
The time of night when Troy was set on fire,
The tune when screech-owls cry, and ban-dogs howl."
SHAKSPEARE: _ib., w. Silent._

"The time when screech-owls cry, and bandogs howl."
IDEM.: _ib., w. Bandog._

PROMISCUOUS ERRORS IN THE FIGURE OF WORDS.

LESSON I.--MIXED.

"They that live in glass-houses, should not throw stones."--_Old Adage._ "If a man profess Christianity in any manner or form soever."--_Watts_, p. 5. "For Cassius is a weary of the world."--SHAKSPEARE: _in Kirkham's Elocution_, p. 67. "By the coming together of more, the chains were fastened on."--_Walker's Particles_, p. 223. "Unto the carrying away of Jerusalem captive in the fifth month."--_Jer._, i, 3. "And the goings forth of the border shall be to Zedad."--_Numbers_, xxxiv, 8. "And the goings out of it shall be at Hazar-enan."--_Ib._, ver. 9. "For the taking place of effects, in a certain particular series."--_Dr. West, on Agency_, p. 39. "The letting go of which was the occasion of all that corruption."--_Dr. J. Owen._ "A falling off at the end always hurts greatly."--_Blair's Lect._, p. 126. "A falling off at the end is always injurious."--_Jamieson's Rhetoric_, p. 127. "As all holdings forth were courteously supposed to be trains of reasoning."--_Dr. Murray's Hist. of Europ. Lang._, Vol. i, p. 333. "Whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting."-- _Micah_, v, 2. "Some times the adjective becomes a substantive."-- _Bradley's Gram._, p. 104. "It is very plain, I consider man as visited a new."--_Barclay's Works_, Vol. iii, p. 331. "Nor do I any where say, as he falsely insinuates."--_Ib._, p. 331. "Every where, any where, some where, no where."--_Alex. Murray's Gram._, p. 55. "The world hurries off a pace, and time is like a rapid river."--_Collier's Antoninus_, p. 58. "But to now model the paradoxes of ancient skepticism."--_Brown's Estimate_, Vol. i, p. 102. "The south east winds from the ocean invariably produce rain."--_Webster's Essays_, p. 369. "North west winds from the high lands produce cold clear weather."--_Ib._ "The greatest part of such tables would be of little use to English men."--_Priestley's Gram._, p. 155. "The ground floor of the east wing of Mulberry street meeting house was filled."--_The Friend_, vii, 232. "Prince Rupert's Drop. This singular production is made at the glass houses."--_Red Book_, p. 131.

"The lights and shades, whose well accorded strife
Gives all the strength and colour of our life."
--_Murray's Gram._, p. 54; _Fisk's_, 65.

LESSON II.--MIXED.

"In the twenty and seventh year of Asa king of Judah did Zimri reign seven days in Tirzah."--_1 Kings_, xvi, 15. "In the thirty and first year of Asa king of Judah, began Omri to reign over Israel."--_Ib._, xvi, 23. "He cannot so deceive himself as to fancy that he is able to do a rule of three sum."--_Foreign Quarterly Review_. "The best cod are those known under the name of Isle of Shoals dun fish."--_Balbi's Geog._, p. 26. "The soldiers, with down cast eyes, seemed to beg for mercy."--_Goldsmith's Greece_, Vol. ii, p. 142. "His head was covered with a coarse worn out piece of cloth."--_Ib._, p. 124. "Though they had lately received a reinforcement of a thousand heavy armed Spartans."--_Ib._, p. 38. "But he laid them by unopened; and, with a smile, said, 'Business to morrow.'"--_Ib._, p. 7. "Chester monthly meeting is held at Moore's town, the third day following the second second day."--_The Friend_, Vol. vii, p. 124. "Eggharbour monthly meeting is held the first second day."--_Ib._, p. 124. "Little Egg Harbour Monthly Meeting is held at Tuckerton on the second fifth day in each month."--_Ib._, p. 231. "At three o'clock, on first day morning the 24th of eleventh month, 1834," &c.--_Ib._, p. 64. "In less than one-fourth part of the time usually devoted."--_Kirkham's Gram._, p. 4. "The pupil will not have occasion to use it one-tenth part as much."--_Ib._, p. 11. "The painter dips his paint brush in paint, to paint the carriage."--_Ib._, p. 28. "In an ancient English version of the New-Testament."--_Ib._, p. 74. "The little boy was bare headed."--_Red Book_, p. 36. "The man, being a little short sighted, did not immediately know him."--_Ib._, p. 40. "Picture frames are gilt with gold."--_Ib._, p. 44. "The park keeper killed one of the deer."--_Ib._, p. 44. "The fox was killed near the brick kiln."--_Ib._, p. 46. "Here comes Esther, with her milk pail."--_Ib._, p. 50. "The cabinet maker would not tell us."--_Ib._, p. 60. "A fine thorn hedge extended along the edge of the hill."--_Ib._, p. 65. "If their private interests should be ever so little affected."--_Ib._, p. 73. "Unios are fresh water shells, vulgarly called fresh water clams."--_Ib._, p. 102.

"Did not each poet mourn his luckless doom,
Jostled by pedants out of elbow room."--_Lloyd_, p. 163.

LESSON III.--MIXED.

"The captive hovers a-while upon the sad remains."--PRIOR: _in Johnson's Dict., w. Hover._ "Constantia saw that the hand writing agreed with the contents of the letter."--ADDISON: _ib., w. Hand_. "They have put me in a silk night-gown, and a gaudy fool's cap."--ID.: _ib., w. Nightgown_. "Have you no more manners than to rail at Hocus, that has saved that clod-pated, numskull'd ninnyhammer of yours from ruin, and all his family?"--ARBUTHNOT: _ib., w. Ninnyhammer_. "A noble, that is, six, shillings and eightpence, is, and usually hath been paid."--BACON: _ib., w. Noble_. "The king of birds thick feather'd and with full-summed wings, fastened his talons east and west."--HOWELL: _ib., w. Full-summed_. "To morrow. This is an idiom of the same kind, supposing _morrow_ to mean originally _morning_: as, _to night, to day_."--_Johnson's Dict._, 4to. "To-day goes away and to-morrow comes."--_Id., ib., w. Go_, No. 70. "Young children, who are try'd in Go carts, to keep their steps from sliding."--PRIOR: _ib., w. Go-cart_. "Which, followed well, would demonstrate them but goers backward."--SHAK.: _ ib., w. Goer_. "Heaven's golden winged herald late he saw, to a poor Galilean virgin sent."--CRASHAW: _ib., w. Golden_. "My penthouse eye-brows and my shaggy beard offend your sight."--DRYDEN: _ib., w. Penthouse_. "The hungry lion would fain have been dealing with good horse-flesh."-- L'ESTRANGE: _ib., w. Nag_. "A broad brimmed hat ensconced each careful head."--_Snelling's Gift_, p. 63. "With harsh vibrations of his three stringed lute."--_Ib._, p. 42. "They magnify a hundred fold an author's merit."--_Ib._, p. 14. "I'll nail them fast to some oft opened door."--_Ib._, p. 10. "Glossed over only with a saint-like show, still thou art bound to vice."--DRYDEN: in _Johnson's Dict., w. Gloss_. "Take of aqua-fortis two ounces, of quick-silver two drachms."--BACON: _ib., w. Charge_. "This rainbow never appears but when it rains in the sun-shine."--NEWTON: _ib., w. Rainbow_.

"Not but there are, who merit other palms;
Hopkins and Stern hold glad the heart with Psalms."
_British Poets_, Lond., 1800, Vol. vi, p. 405.