Five Hundred Mistakes Corrected

Elder and eldest are applied to persons--older and oldest to things

100. "Victoria is Queen of the United Kingdom:" say, United Kingdoms. Who ever speaks of the United State of America?

WORDS TO BE CAREFULLY DISTINGUISHED.--Be very careful to distinguish between indite and indict (the former meaning to write, and the latter to accuse); key and quay; principle and principal; marshal and martial; counsel and council; counsellor and councillor; fort and forte; draft and draught; place and plaice (the latter being the name of a fish); stake and steak; satire and satyr; stationery and stationary; ton and tun; levy and levee; foment and ferment; fomentation and fermentation; petition and partition; Francis and Frances; dose and doze; diverse and divers; device and devise; wary and weary; salary and celery; radish and reddish; treble and triple; broach and brooch; ingenious and ingenuous; prophesy and prophecy (some clergymen sounding the final syllable of the latter word long, like the former); fondling and foundling; lightning and lightening; genus and genius; desert and dessert; currier and courier; pillow and pillar; executer and executor (the former being the regular noun from the verb "to execute," and the latter a strictly legal term); ridicule and reticule; lineament and liniment; track and tract, lickerish and licorice (lickerish signifying dainty, and licorice being a plant, or preparation from it); statute and statue; ordinance and ordnance; lease and leash; recourse and resource; straight and strait (straight meaning direct, and strait, narrow); immerge and emerge; style and stile; compliment and complement; bass and base; contagious and contiguous; eminent and imminent; eruption and irruption; precedent and president; relic and relict.

t was no use asking him any more questions:" say, of no use to ask him, or there was no use in asking, &c.

Bills are requested to be paid quarterly:" the bills are not requested, but the persons who owe them. Say instead, It is requested that bills be paid quarterly.

doubt if this will ever reach you:" say, whether this, &c.

The bank of the river is frequently overflown:" say, overflowed. Flown is the perfect participle of fly, flying; flowed, of flow, flowing.

"His reputation is acknowledged through Europe:" say, throughout Europe.

The girl speaks distinct:" say, distinctly. Never use Adjectives as Adverbs.

efore the words heir, herb, honest, honor, and hour, and their compounds, instead of the article a, we make use of an, as the h is not sounded; likewise before words beginning with h, that are not accented on the first syllable: such as heroic, historical, hypothesis, &c., as, "an heroic action;" "an historical work;" "an hypothesis that can scarcely be allowed." The letter h is seldom mute at the beginni