398. The following sentences may be studied: “The dyer dyes daily, yet he dies not.” “The miner minds the minor mines.” “It is not meet to mete out such meat.” “He performed a great feat with his feet at the fête.” (Fête is pronounced fate.)
399. “Lower the sails, as the sky begins to lower:” pronounce low in the former so as to rhyme with mow, and low in the latter so as to rhyme with cow.
400. “There was a great row on Monday, in Tryon Row:” pronounce the former row so as to rhyme with cow—the latter row, so as to rhyme with mo.
401. “His surname is Clifford:” never spell the sur in “surname” sir, which shows an ignorance of its true derivation, which is from the Latin.
402. “The buildings are so old that they pay almost no rent now:” scarcely any rent, is better.
403. “His mamma sent him to a preparatory school:” mamma is often written with one m only, which is not, as may at first be supposed, in imitation of the French maman, but in sheer ignorance.
404. Active verbs often take a neuter sense; as, “The house is building:” here, is building is used in a neuter signification, because it has no object after it. By this rule are explained such sentences as, “Application is wanting;” “The Grammar is printing,” &c.
405. “He attackted me without the slightest provocation:” say, attacked.
406. “I called on him every day in the week successfully:” very common, but incorrect; say, successively.
407. “I fear I shall discommode you:” it is better to say, incommode.