Haphazard studies in the English language

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Part of The American Chamber of Commerce Journal

Title: Haphazard studies in the English language
Language: English
Source: The American Chamber of Commerce Journal Volume 9 (No. 8) August 1929
Year: 1929
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Fulltext: 26 1 HE AMERICAN' CHAMBERS Of CUMMERCE^JUUI^iAL Atig’ aV29 Haphazard Studies in the English Language The University Dictionary which is sold by the Manila Daily Bulletin at two pesos the copy, contains an essay on Common Errors in English by Dr. Farquson Johnson that will be run in installments in this department, commencing with this issue. For it is at once interesting and instructive; indeed, the editor of the Journal, benefited by it greatly in his own diction, has seen nothing comparable to it any where. For this essay alone, he would not part with his own copy of this convenient English vocabulary at any price—unless he might, for the pittance at which it sells, obtain another. Dr. Johnson’s pages fairly glow with linguistic erudition, as the student will observe. But the original was proof-read carelessly, and the errors which therefore appear in it have here been corrected. Where there are references to the main vocabulary, etc., any standard English dictionary may be consulted.—Ed. (Continued) any. Often improperly used for “at all,” as in “He cannot swim any,” “She does not learn any.” Such usage should be avoided. “He is not any better” is permissible, though most writers prefer “no” to “not any.” anyhow, anyway. These colloquialisms appear to be strongly intrenched in American speech, though objected to by certain writers. In formal diction they are replaced by “in any event, at any rate,” etc. any manner of means. Used improperly for “any means.” It is a redundancy, owing a certain popularity to its alliterativeness. any place. “Are you going any place?” should be “Are you going anywhere?” anyways, anywheres. Unnecessary variants of anyway, anywhere. apt. Frequently misused for likely and liable. “He is apt to fall” should be “He is liable to fall,” or “likely to fall.” Apt is correctly used when the meaning to be conveyed is “inclined or disposed customarily.” appreciate. A common error is to “appreciate a person highly,” which is an impossibility, since to appreciate is to set a true value on, to estimate justly. In the sentence quoted “esteem” should be substituted for “appre ciate.” The word is also now used with the meaning “to rise or increase in value” and is widely applied to prices of commodities, real estate, etc. . In this sense it is the opposite of “de preciate,” and this use is well established. apprehend. Do not confuse this word with comprehend, as is so often done. Look up these words in the main vocabulary of this dictionary and compare their meanings. approach. Incorrectly used to mean to ad dress, petition, or appeal to, as in “The police men approached the council for more pay,” which should be “petitioned.” Approach is being used to imply bribery or underhand methods; as, “Meanwhile the senators were approached by a powerful lobby.” One can approach a subject by sug gesting it, or approach a person in any sense involving bodily proximity. aqueduct. Be sure to sound the final t in pronouncing this word. So many times it is erroneously omitted by those who should know better. Arab. Pronounced Ar'ab, not A'rab. arabic. Mispronounced a-ra'bic. Should be ar'a-bic. arctic. The first hard c sound is often wrongly omitted. The proper pronunciation is ark'tik. area. Pronounced a'rea, not a'ri. aren’t. Colloquial contraction of “are not,” but undesirable. argue. Should be distinguished from dispute. To dispute is to disagree. To argue is to adduce reasons. We may dispute a bill, but do not argue it. Argue is properly used in the sense of mani festing by inference; to imply. Arkansas. Mispronounced Ar-kan'zas. It is Ar'kan-saw according to the law of that State, arraign. Prepositions are often wrongly used with this verb. A man is not arraigned at a court, but in a court, at the bar, before a judge, on indictment, for crime, upon his arrest. articles. In every sentence clearness of mean ing is the first requisite. Too much atten tion cannot be paid to the correct use of arti cles, upon which the meaning often depends. “The president sent for the secretary and treasurer” may mean that he sent for one or two persons. If two persons are intended, all ambiguity would be removed by saying “the secretary and the treasurer.” artist. A much-abused word with which the “doctor” and the “professor” can sympathize. Properly applied to those wTho practice the fine arts, its use has been commonly extended to include “artists” in hair dressing, on the tight-rope, and at the soda fountain, and the bootblack “artist” barber’s hop. The original artists now prefer to be called painters, sculp tors, etc., rather than share the glory of the term with its modern claimants. as ... as so. . . as. The former is used in affirmative statements—“I am as good as he,” the latter in negative propositions—“She is not so young as you.” This distinction, however, is too frequently overlooked. So. . . as, in negative sentences, conveys an impression that one of the persons or things compared possesses some characteristic in a considerable degree, as in the sentence, “Mary is not so good looking as John.” Here it is implied that John has a high degree of good looks. This suggestion is lacking when as. . . as are used. Philippine National Bank’s Present Position Press verbosity has obscured the actual situa tion of the Philippine National Bank to an extent which justifies a statement of salient facts regarding it. The reorganization act went into effect Jan uary 1, 1925. The bank’s total profits from that date to June 30 this year have been P14,701,000, distributed according to law: Reserve for redemption of circulating notes, P3,500,000; surplus, P6,176,000; to the government on indebtedness, P5,025,000. At the time of reorganization, to enable the The Philippine Guaranty Company, Incorporated (Accepted by all the Bureaus of the Insular Government) Executes bonds of all kinds for Customs, Immigration and Internal Revenue. DOCUMENTS SURETYSHIPS For Executors, Administrators, Receivers, Guardians, etc. We also write Fire and Marine Insurance Low rates iberal conditions ocal investments oans on real estate repayable by monthly or quarterly instal ments at low interest Call or write for particulars Room 403, Filipinas Bldg. P. O. Box 128 Manila, P. I. as far as. Used interchangeably wit?ls^or“ as,” except that the latter prevails wT^anphasis is to be laid upon the degree or1 &s implied in the phrase. The rule applies^ to as great as, as long as, as soon as, etc. aside. Sometimes misused for apart. Prof. J. S. Blackwell writes, “Aside, in the sense of separately, as a subject of thought, is an Ame ricanism, and is unknown and altogether un exemplified in correct and classical English.” In spite of which Dr. William Mathews boldly uses “aside” and says: “Words have a po tency of association aside from their signific ance as representative signs.” asperse. Often confounded in meaning and use with detract, defame, slander, and calum niate. “Asperse” has a meaning all its own; it fixes a moral stain on the character. If we speak slightingly of our neighbor, we asperse him, though we may not defame, slander, or calumniate him. The correct use of “asper sion” is seen in the words of Steele: “Let those who may be apt to raise aspersions upon our family please to give us an impartial ac count of their own, and we shall be satisfied.” astonish. Do not confuse this word with surprise. When Mrs. Blank discovered her son taking a glass of milk from the cupboard late at night, she said she was surprised. Having studied the dictionary, he replied, “No, you are astonished; I’m surprised.” Look up the definition of these words in this dictionary at and in. “At” is less definite than “in” and may indicate mere proximity to a place. It is proper to use “at” before the names of small towns, foreign cities far remote, and houses. “In” should be used before the names of the great geographical or political divisions of the globe, countries and large cities; as, “He teaches in Paris; she sings in New York.” “At” should be used before the number of a street and “in” or “on” before the name of the street; as “The officer was found at 427 Jay Street.” “At” and “in” may often be used interchangeably, as, “He was bank to adjust its bills receivable to a sound basis, with bad accounts written off, the govern ment cancelled the bank’s indebtedness to it in the sum of about P62,000,000, capital and de posits, reorganization providing, however, for the redemption of this debt with future profits. To date, P5,025,000 has been so redeemed, and the amount remaining to be balanced off is P57,000,000. The bank is a heavy taxpayer, paying some P800,000 annually in taxes on its circulating notes, deposits and capital, and in income taxes. Last year the bank’s net profits were well over two millions, and a better showing has been made during the first half of this year, net pro fits for the six months being Pl,584,000—to surplus, P396,000; to the government (included in the P5,025,000 above), Pl, 188,000. More than 50% of the bank’s business is with the sugar industry, whence derives the bulk of its profits. Its loans to sugar planters appro ximate P25,000,000; those to sugar niills (as industrial capital, used in the main to build the five bank sugar centrals in Negros), P29,000,000. Four and a half years ago, when the re organization act took effect, this latter sum stood at P48,000,000; during 4x/2 years, that is to say, the mills have repaid the bank P19,000,000. As the stockholders, Filipinos, pay the bank, they increase their paid-up shares in the mills. Both the loans to sugar planters and to sugar mills are classified apart from agricultural loans, yet in effect they do aid agriculture materially and directly. Since February it has been the bank’s policy to undertake no new obligations in sugar, owing to this commodity’s position in the world markets. No loans for new centrals are made, nor loans for planting additional cane areas not connected with any existing central. Crop loans are made, on the other hand, to maintain the existing mills at their maximum capacity during the grinding season. It is said that this arbitrary restriction of the sugar industry (so far as the National is conIN RESPONDING TO ADVERTISEMENTS PLEASE MENTION THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL v viinxn: rXA. V/X’ y^vivxYni^ born in or at Paris.” “At” is used after the rr verb touch; as, “The vessel touched at Queensii’ town.” Either may be used after the verb U a arrive; as, “They arrived at or in Liverpool.” In the phrase, “Where am I at?” born in Congress, “at” is redundant and unnecessary. “In the South” is to be preferred to “at the South,” though there is authority for the latter. Say, “He is at home,” not “to” home —a common error. at all. This phrase is unobjectionable, though usually superfluous. “I saw no birds at all” would suffer no loss by the deletion of ,“at all,” but the latter phrase is sometimes a con venient addition and is used by some writers. THE MANILA HOTEL LEADING HOTEL IN THE ORIENT Designed and constructed to secure coolness, sanitation and comfort under tropic climatic conditions Provides every Western convenience combined with every Oriental luxury Finest Dance Orchestra in the Far East Management - - WALTER E. ANTRIM cerned) is based solely on the bank’s judgment that sugar loans are extraordinarily hazardous while sugar is selling at such low prices. As to the other banks, there is effective supervision through the bank examiner; the government has means, in short, of making its restriction policy felt. Tolling the planters’ crops 40% to 50%, sugar centrals in the Philippines, on the long-term milling contracis they have, are faring satisfac torily during the present period of market de pression. But the planters aren’t doing so well at their end of the industry. Renters partic ularly are in a bad way, while a small profit still remains to the owner-planter who is a thrifty manager. While the present govern mental policy continues in force, production of centrifugal sugar in the Philippines will be quite effectively limited, in so far as banking can con trol the. situation and the government’s fiat can be enforced. Frequent items appear in the Manila press about steps being taken to convert the National into an agricultural bank, the urge behind such statements not being readily apparent. In effect, it seems that the bank’s commercial business derives directly from its agriculturalbank character. It markets large quantities of sugar in America every year, for the centrals it has financed; it has the proceeds to bring back to the Philippines, and does this through the medium of exchange. This is the basis of its business as a commercial bank. Sugar loans aside, the National now has out on long-term agricultural loans nearly the maxi mum share of its capital and surplus, 70%, which the law authorizes to be used in this way, the loans amounting approximately to Pl 1,300,000, and terms ranging from one to ten years. There are more demands, and the bank is preparing to make use of its legal privilege and float real estate bonds in the United States to meet these demands. The bank is authorized under the law to issue real estate bonds secured by exist ing loans and mortgages, the proceeds of the bonds to go into other agricultural loans. This is the proposed next step in aid of Philippine agriculture. INFORMATION FOR INVESTORS Expert, conñdential reports made on Philippine projects ENGINEERING, MINING, AGRICULTURE, FORESTRY, LUMBER, ETC. Hydroelectric projects OTHER COMMERCIAL AND INDUSTRIAL ENTERPRISES BRYAN, LANDON CO. Cebu, P. I. Cable address: "YPIL” Cebu. A Pair of Land Act Secrets The extracts of land law in the Philippines about to be quoted are from Act 11517, passed in the first session of the eighth Philippine Legisla ture and approved January 30, 1929. Secrecy veiled the course of the act here; if any section of the press was aware of what was transpiring between the legislature and the executive (Stim son at that time), a discreet silence was main tained. The first news Manila had of the act came from Washington and announced that President Coolidge had given the act his ap proval. The islands’ organic act required this. The act purports to be an act to amend certain sections of Act Numbered Twenty-eight Hundred and Seventy-four, knownas “The Public Land Act.” Legislation concerning the public domain in the Philippines now embraces four or five acts and is quite a muddle even to men of legal train ing and experience. Whether designed delib erately to do so or not (at least much of it), it confronts the pioneer homesteader with a prob lem beyond his ability to solve; he therefore has no security in applying for and attempting to develop a homestead, from which, by the device of the law’s intricate procrastinations, he might, when improvements were made and crops plant ed, be summarily ejected. In an early issue, a digest of the public-lands AREA IN HECTARES AND POPULATION OF PHILIPPINES PROVINCES Population Commercial Forest Non-Commercial Forest Cultivated Land Cogon and Open Land Add 1.75% Total for each year since 1918 Provinces % % % % Abra........................... . 46.3 177,025 8.9 33,910 3.7 14,150 41.1 156,940 382,025 71,721 Agusan....................... . 86.5 961,830 6.7 74,965 5.2 57,935 1.3 14,595 1,112,146 44,358 Albay......................... . 41.4 165,550 25.4 101,604 29.6 117,994 3.4 13,724 399,637 258,770 Ambos Camarines.. . 45.2 333,996 19.5 143,836 22.0 162,541 12.5 92,121 738,409 271,347 Antique..................... . 10.8 28,250 17.7 46,555 11.7 30,625 59.5 155,819 261,849 159,644 Bataan....................... . 66.0 82,000 8.1 10,060 20.1 25,000 5.8 7,260 124,320 583,380 Batangas.................. . 10.3 33,960 19.5 64,005 34.1 112,290 36.0 118,375 328,930 340,195 Batanes..................... . 13.5 2,590 21.1 4,050 18.7 3,587 46.7 8,939 19,166 8,214 Bohol......................... . 21.4 85,000 4.2 16,740 27.3 108,790 43.7 173,774 397,824 359,600 Bukidnon.................. . 45.4 454,980 3.3 33,23 2.2 21,660 28.6 287,123 1,002,589 47,811 Bulacan..................... . 30.4 79,393 14.1 36,765 43.1 112,470 12.3 31,965 260,813 248,863 Cagayan.................... . 49.8 387,983 5.8 44,578 25.9 •201,253 17.1 134,056 778,813 199,938 Capiz......................... . 11.4 50,420 17.5 77,400 21.7 96,130 44.2 195,800 442,890 292,496 Cavite....................... 9.3 11,215 8.2 9,895 40.7 48,815 41.8 50,251 120,176 157,347 Cebu.......................... 4.6 23,000 7.2 34,345 43.0 208,015 44.5 214,780 483,553 857,410 Cotabato................... . 78.7 1,960,530 1.6 39,685 0.6 14,130 2.9 72,640 2,491,580 169,191 Davao....................... . 65.0 1,260,502 25.5 494,622 5.5 106,567 1.5 29,183 1,938,874 119,304 llocos Norte............ . 31.0 103,717 12.5 41,845 19.6 65,570 36.9 123,755 334,887 218,951 llocos Sur................. 1.6 1,860 59.6 68,263 38.8 44,355 114,478 217,410 Iloilo.......................... 7.2 38,339 7.9 41,790 27.5 145,398 55.5 292,990 528,360 508,272 Isabela....................... . 61.4 644,180 0.6 6,968 18.5 193,860 19.5 204,460 1,049,468 112,965 Laguna...................... . 15.4 28,836 21.7 40,544 36.3 67,878 26.6 49,740 186,998 195,371 Lanao......................... . 65.4 412,890 4.1 25,970 1.5 9,090 7.9 50,730 631,701 94,946 La Union.................. 1.0 926 6.1 5,554 54.4 49,330 38.5 34,840 90,650 160,575 Leyte......................... . 50.0 388,860 6.1 47,518 26.3 205,026 17.0 132,444 778,295 597,995 Manila....................... 100.0 3,626 3,626 283,613 Mindoro.................... . 49.0 499,296 13.4 136,456 1.7 17,761 34.5 351,975 1,019,424 73,822 Misamis..................... . 47.9 127,902 0.2 515 3.1 8,244 2.7 7,214 266,770 198,981 Mountain.................. . 56.8 949,095 0.7 11,339 3.3 54,389 39.2 654,950 1,669,773 250,023 Nueva Ecija............. . 35.6 190,823 34.5 184,947 12.1 64,944 17.8 95,157 535,871 227,636 Nueva Vizcaya........ . 79.2 724,190 0.7 6,420 3.2 29,590 16.9 154,070 914,270 35,819 Occidental Negros.. . 47.3 383,205 2.3 18,505 19.3 155,925 30.0 242,740 809,375 397'325 Oriental Negros.. . . . 51.2 252,305 6.2 30,730 18.3 89,920 24.1 118,573 492,618 215,541 Palawan..................... . 88.1 1,282,585 4.2 61,607 2.8 40,260 4.4 64,038 1,455,321 69,061 Pampanga................. 9.2 19,555 13.0 27,755 49.7 105,975 28.1 59,872 213,157 257,641 Pangasinan.............. . 18.1 91,026 18.0 90,895 36.8 185,383 26.2 131,754 503,496 567.644 Rizal........................... . 37.6 87,520 12.1 28,130 14.4 33,600 36.9 83,591 232,841 230,20o Romblon................... . 48.7 62,670 4.4 5,677 18.5 23,850 27.8 35,746 128,723 64,576 Samar........................ 65.0 881,366 14.5 196,033 13.6 184,880 5.1 68,475 1,355,606 380,211 Sorsogon................... . 28.4 167,287 9.2 53,862 24.3 143,349 36.9 217,222 588,966 178,362 Sulu........................... . 25.1 70,297 2.3 6,549 6.3 17,580 11.4 31,902 280,238 167,915 Surigao...................... . 73.3 548,406 3.0 22,260 5.6 41,825 1.4 10,610 748,251 122,022 Tayabas.................... 14.9 45,382 21.8 66,505 24.5 74,940 38.8 118,275 305,102 211,596 Tarlac........................ . 51.2 556,480 14.8 160,755 11.8 128,500 18.5 201,255 1,086,505 172,022 Zamboanga............... . 79.9 1,320,233 3.9 65,132 1.9 31,906 4.8 78,924 1,653,197 147,991 Zambales................... . 39.3 144,595 14.2 52,228 10.9 40,277 34.8 128,210 368,039 83,620 Total..................... . 54.5%16,120,190 9. l%2,704,602 12.5%3,719,465 18.7%5,548,838 29,629,600 10,350,640 legislation as it now stands in the law will be published, for the purpose of giving our readers as much light on the subject as possible. Mean time, here are a pair of secrets belatedly divulged in the complicated phraseology of act 3517: “No member, stockholder, officer, represen tative, attorney, agent, employee or bondholder of any corporation or association holding or con trolling under lease or otherwise agricultural land in excess of one hundred and forty-four hectares shall apply, directly or indirectly, for agricultural public land except under the home stead and free patent provisions of this act.” “Upon the final expiration of the lease, all buildings and other permanent improvements made by the lessee, his heirs, executors, adminis trators, successors, or assigns (,) shall become the property of the Government.” A paramount reason for attempting a clarify ing digest of the land laws of these islands derives from other conditions. The sugar industry pegged at its present position, and emigration drastically curtailed by exercise of the Federal police power, more than ever before it becomes imperative to establish settlers on the public domain, and to mitigate the poverty which re striction of industry and freedom of movement will entail.—Ed. IN RESPONDING TO ADVERTISEMENTS PLEASE MENTION THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL