Page:Primary Lessons In Swatow Grammar.djvu/4

 EXPLANATIONS AND ERRATA.

In making translations of the Chinese sentences a uniform rule has not been adhered to. In some cases literal renderings are given. In others when the Chinese construction is readily apprehended, ordinary idiomatic English equivalents are preferred. To have given both literal and idiomatic English equivalents to the same Chinese sentence would have taken too much space.

The lists of Chinese equivalents for English Prepositions, Adverbs, and Interjections are meagre, but the pupil can largely add to the number by looking under the proper words in Mr. Duffus’, Vocabulary.

It is to be regretted that so many errata are to be found. In addition to those that follow are some minor ones, some of which could not be avoided. Thus, under “Interjections” there is a deficiency of exclamation points, owing to incompleteness in the font. Some others are found in connection with the use of capitals, and hyphen and punctuation marks. Lesson does not appear under its own proper designation. Through some oversight, it was incorporated in Lesson. Blemishes of this kind may be pardoned when it is stated that, owing to absences in the country of proof readers, the final proof, in a few instances, was not seen at all before the sheets were struck off; and, that the two young Chinese compositors who set up the type do not know a word of English. They follow copy without knowing what it means. That they do their work so creditably is owing to the pains taken to train them by Mr. Duffus and Mr. Gibson.