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Bechtel, John Hendricks, 1841-

"Slips of Speech : a Helpful Book for Everyone Who Aspires to Correct the Everyday Errors of Speaking"

"
Whereabouts
"The whereabouts of his cousins were not known to him." The plural
form of this word is misleading. The verb should be was.
Phenomena, Effluvia
"A strange phenomena," "A disagreeable effluvia" are incorrect forms
not infrequently met with. Both words are plural, and require plural
verbs and also the omission of the article a.
You was
This very incorrect form is often employed by those who know better,
and who use it, seemingly, out of courtesy to the uneducated people
with whom they are brought in contact. If it be a courtesy, it is one
that is "more honored in the breach than in the observance."
Those who use the expression ignorantly are not likely to read this
book, or any other of a similar character, and need scarcely be told
that was should be were.
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INDEX
_______
A, An, 181.
Aberration of intellect, 87.
A 1,83.
A hundred others' woes-- Pronouns, 126.
Ability, Capacity, 27.
About, Almost, 28.
About, Around, 95.


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