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

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 164 pages of information about Slips of Speech .

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

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 164 pages of information about Slips of Speech .

The word flown is sometimes used erroneously as the past tense or perfect participle of the verb flow.  The parts of this verb are flow, flowed, flowed.  “The river has overflowed (not overflown) its banks.”

Get, Got

Because a horse is willing is no reason why he should be ridden to death.  The verb get and its past-tense form got admit of many meanings, as the following, from an old English publication, fully proves:  “I got on horseback within ten minutes after I got your letter.  When I got to Canterbury I got a chaise for town; but I got wet through before I got to Canterbury, and I have got such a cold as I shall not be able to get rid of in a hurry.  I got to the Treasury about noon, but, first of all, I got shaved and dressed.  I soon got into the secret of getting a memorial before the Board, but I could not get an answer then.  However, I got intelligence from the messenger that I should most likely get an answer the next morning.  As soon as I got back to my inn I got my supper and got to bed.  It was not long before I got to sleep.
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When I got up in the morning I got myself dressed, and then got my breakfast, that I might get out in time to get an answer to my memorial.  As soon as I got it I got into the chaise and got to Canterbury by three, and about teatime I got home.  I have got nothing more to say.”

Those who are disposed to overwork the words get and got will find it interesting and profitable to read the foregoing exercise, substituting other words for those in italics.

With have the word got is generally superfluous; as, “I have got a cold,” “I have got to go to Boston this evening,” “Have you got Hires’s root-beer on draught?” For “I did not get to meet your cousin,” say “I had no opportunity,” or “I was prevented,” etc.

Another very faulty use of got is heard in such expressions as “He got killed,” “They got beaten,” “She got cured,” etc.  Was or were would be more appropriate.

Since to get means to obtain, to procure, to gain, the use of the word is justified in such expressions as “I have got a larger farm than you have, because I have worked harder for it.”  “I have got a better knowledge of the Pacific coast than he has, because I traveled extensively through that region.”  And yet, when we have been overworked, the physician usually prescribes a period of absolute rest; so, in
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view of the multifarious uses to which get has been applied, would it not be well to permit it to retire for a time, in order that it may the more quickly be rejuvenated.

Guess, Reckon, Calculate, Allow

“I guess he is not going to vote to-day.”  “I reckon we are going to have fair weather now.”  “I calculate this ground would grow good potatoes.”  “I allow she’s the prettiest girl that ever visited these parts.”  The foregoing sentences may be improved by recasting them.  “I think he is not going to (or will not) vote to-day.”  “I believe we shall now have fair weather.”  “I suppose this ground would yield fine potatoes.”  “I regard her as the handsomest lady that has ever visited this place (or neighborhood, or locality).

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Project Gutenberg
Slips of Speech : a Helpful Book for Everyone Who Aspires to Correct the Everyday Errors of Speaking from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.