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Tous les autres exemplaires originaux sont film6s en commenqant par la premiere page qui comporte une empreinte d'impression ou d'illustration et en terminant par la dernidre page qui comporte une telle empreinte. Un des symboles suivants apparaitra sur la dernidre image de cheque microfiche, selon le cas: le symbole — ♦■ signifie "A SUIVRE", le symbole V signifie "FIN". Les cartes, planches, tableaux, etc., peuvent dtre film6s A des taux de reduction diffdrents. Lorsque le document est trop grand pour iltre reproduit en un seul clich6, il est filmd A partir de Tangle supdrieur gauche, de gauche A droite, et de haiit en bas, en prenant le nombre d'images ndcessaire. Les diagrammes suivants illustrent la mdthode. V - 1 2 3 4 5 6 Stl. J. (Giigc 1^' €o.'s (Ebucatioitrtl ^eriea. THE VERBALIST: A MANUAL DEVOTED TO BRIKF DISCUSSIONS OF THE RIGHT AND THE WIIONG USE OF WORDS, AWD TO SOME OTHER MATTERS OF INTEREST TO THOSE WHO WOULD SPEAK AND \VaiTE WITH PROPBIETY. We remain shackled by tinfldity till we have learned to speak with propriety.— JoiiNHCJ*. As a man is known by his company, so a man's company may be known by his manner of expressing himself.— Swin. Bt ALFRED AYRFS. T^it i^<^ »^*~ r FIITH EDITION. TO WlllCa IS ADDKD A PRIMER OF ENGLISH LITERATURE By Jou.v Millar, M.A., St. Thomas CoUet/iate Institute. i'llICK, COMP'IL.KTIi;, 30 OKISTftJ. TORONTO : W. J. GAGE & COMPANY. VICTORIA COLLEGE LIBRARY VICTORIA, B, C. rnEFATOEY ISTOTE. TriE title pnj^e sufficiently sets forth the end this liule book is intended to serve. For convenience' sake I have arranged in alpha- betical order the sul)jects treated of, and for economy's sake I have kept in mind that "he that uses many words for the explaining of any subject doth, like the cuttle-fish, hide himself in his own ink." The curious inquirer who sets himself to look for the learning in the book is advised that he will best find it \n such works as George P. Marsh's "Txrtures on the Eiiglish T,anguage," Fitzcdward M.-dl's "Recent Exemplifications of False Philology" and "Modern I^nglish," Richard Grant White's "Words and Their Uses," iul ward S. Gould's "Good En;:;!! ;h," William Mnthews' "Words: their Use and Abuse," Dean Alford's "The ()ueen s I' long as 1 continue to aspiiate tlio h'n in such words as licrui-, linntiKjue, :iu(lhi.st(jfica/, I sliall cDntinne to use n !)ef()re them; and when 1 ach^pt tlie Ctrvt!il l»y tlioso vvlio use them. "Cd/xtrittf i^ tlio power of receiving and retaining knowleiigc with iacility ; 'ilniiti/ is tlie power of applying knowledge to practical pim)o;ji'S. llotii tiicjc facultie.'uire rciiiiisite to form a great cliaractcr : capacity to conceive, and ability to execute tlcsigns. Capacity ia aliown in (piicUncs.s of api)rclicn.sion. Ability supposes aonietiiing done ; stjnietliing by which thrj mental power is exei'cised in executing, or performing, wliat has been perceived by the capacity."— lirahain., "English Synonynics." Abortive. An outlandish use of this woi-tl may bo oc- casionally m3t with, especially in the new ^papers. " A lad was yestertlay caught in the act of (I'i'ffau/i/ appropriating a pair of slioes." Tluit is abortive that is untiniely, tiiat has not beon Ijornc its full time, that is imni;iture. We often hear -l'i/f liliie sky.' Sometimes the corresponding adverb is useil, but with a dill'crent meaning; as, ' I found the way C(Hgatcd rehUivp to that circumstance,* shouhl be ri'latu'ehi, or in relation to. It is not unusual to sy man onh/" See also OxLY. Amateur —Novice. Tliero is much confusion in the use of these two words, although tliey are entirely distinct from each other in moaning. An anuiteur is one versed in, or a lover and practicer of, any particular pmsuit, art, or science, but not engaged in it prof<'s^^i"na]ly. A noric- is one who ia 14 THE VERBALIST. new or inexperienced in any art or business — a beginner, a tyro. A professional actor, then, who is new and nnakilled in his art, ia a novice and not an (tmatcKr. An amateur may b'i an avtist of great experience and extraordinary skill. Amclioiilte. "Tlie health of tlie Empress of Germany is greatly (di^liurated." Wliy not say improved? Among. See Bktwkkn. Amount of Perfection. The observant reader ot pe- riodical literature often notes forms of expression which are perhaps best characterized by the word bizarre. Of tliese queer locutions, amount of per/eclioii is a very good example. Mr. G. F. Watts, in the "Nineteenth Century," says, "An amount of prrfectlon has been reached which I wa^ by no means prepared for." What Mr. Watts meant to say Wiis, doubtless, that a deijree o/excel/eucehad b»en reached. There are not a few m'Iio, in their prepossession for everything transatlantic, seem to be of opinion that the English language is generally better written in England than it is m America. Those who think so are counselled to examine the diotion of some of the most noted English critics and essayists, begin- ning, if they will, with Mattliew Arn<}ld. And. Few vulgarisms are more common than the use of and for fo. Exdinples: "Come and see me before you go"" : "Try and do what you can for him"; "Go a/ht see your brother, if you can."' in such sentences as these, the proper participle to use is cli';:vly tn and not (oid. And is sometimes improperly used instead of or; thus. "It is obvious that a language like the Greek and Latin" (langua.^'c?), etc., should be, "a language like the Greek nr the Lathi" (language), etc. There is no such thing as a Grecl: and Latin language. Answer— Reply. These two words shouhl not be used indiscriminately. An aniwer is given to a question ; a reply, \ THE VERBALIST. 16 to an assertion. When we are addressed, we anstcer ; when we are accused, we rephj. We aiXMoer letters, and reply to any argiiiaents, statements, or accusations they may contain. Crabh is in error in saying that replies " are used in personal discourse only." Iicjilirn, as well as answers, are written. We very properly write, "I have now, I believe, ansivei-er^ 11 your (jucstions and replied to all your arguments." A rejoinder is mixtXQ to & replii. "Who goes there?" he cried; and, receiving no anf^iner, he fired. "The advocate replied to the charges made against his client." Anticipate. Lovers of big words have a fondness for making this verb do duty for expect. Anticipate is derived from two Latin words meaning before and to take, and, when properly used, means, to ta! beforehand ; to go before so as to preclude another; to get the start or ahead of ; to enjoy, possess, or suffer, in expectation ; to foretaste. It is, there- fore, misused in such sentences as, "Her death is hourly anticipated" ; " J ?y this means it is anticipated that the time from Europe will be lessened two days," Antithesis. A phrase that opposes contrarfts is called an antithesis. " I see a chief wlio leads my chosen sons, All armed with points, antitheses, and puns." The following are examples : *• Though gentle, yet not dull ; Strong, without rage; without o'erflowtng, full." ** Contrasted faults through all their manners reign ; Tliough poor, luxurious ; though submissive, vain ; Though grave, yet trifling ; zealous, yet untrue ; And e'en in penance planning sins anew." The following is an excellent example of personification and antithenis combined : Iti TIIK VElUiALIST. '* 'I'uleiit convinces; (jicnius i)nt excites: / That tasks the reason; this the soul (leliiTlits, Talent from sober judgment takes its birth, And reconciles the pinion to the earth ; Genius unsettles with desires the mind, Contented not till earth be left behind." In the following extract from Jolinson's "Life of Pope," individual peculiarities are contrasted l)y means of antitheses : "Of genius— that power which constitutes a poet; that quality without which judgment is cold, and knowledge is inert ; that energy which collects, comlnncs, ampliiies, anfl animates — the superiority must, with some hesitation, bo allowed to Dryden. It is not to be inferred that of this poetical vigor i'upe had only a little, because Dryden had more; for every other writer, since Milton, must give place to Pope; and even of Dryden it must be said that, if he has brighter paragraphs, he has not better poems. Dryden's per- formances were always hasty, either excited by some ext' mal occasion pr extorted by domestic necessity; lie com] oie I without consideration and pul)lished without correction. What his mind could supply at call or gather in one exciirsion was all that he sought and all that he gave. Tlic dilatory can lion of Pope enabled him to condense his sentiments, to multiply his images, and to accumulate all tliat study might produce or chance might supply. If the flights of Dryden, therefore, are higher. Pope continues longer on tlie wing. If of Dryden's fire the blaze is brighter, of Pope's the heat is more regular and constant. Dryden often surpasses expecta- tion, antl Pope never falls below it. Dryden is read with frequent astonishment, and Pope with .purpctual delight. Dryden's page ia a natural field, rising into inequalities, and diversified by the varied exuberance of abundant vegetation; Till'] VEUliA LIST. 17 Pope's is a velvet lawn, shaven by tlic scythe, and leveled by the roller." Tliere are forms of antithesis in ■which the contrast is only of a secondary kind. Any. Tliis word is somctinu'S made to do service for at a'l. We say properly, "She is not unif I)etter"; but we can not properly say, " She does not see any" meaning that she is blind. AilJ'body else. ''Public School Teachers are informed that auyhody e/ae'-s is correct." — ^"Xew York Tunes," Sunday, July 31, ISSl. An l"]n dish writer says: "In such phrases as anybody else, and tlie like, c'xi' is often put in the possessive case; as, "anybody else's servant'; and some grammarians defend this use of the possessive case, arguing that somebodji else, is a compound noun." It is better grammar and more euphonious to consider elae as being an adjective, and to form the possessive l>y adding the apostrophe and n to the word liuit else, tpudilica; thus, anybody's else, nobody's else, some- Ijody's else. Anyhow. "An cxceelingly vulgar phrase," says Pro- fessor Mathews, in his "Wor^ls: Dunr Use and Abuse." "Its use, in auy manner, by one who profcssos to write and speak the English tongue with purity, is unpardonable." Professor Matiiews seems to Iiave a special dislike for this colloquialism. It is recognized by the lexicographers, and I think is generally accounted, even by the earcfid, permissible in conversation, tliough incompatible with dignified diction. Anxiety of Mind. See EQO.vxiMtTv of Mind. Apostrophe. Turning from the person or parsons to whom a discourse is addressed and appealing to some person or thing absent, constitutes what, in rhetoric, is called the aponlrophe. The following are some examples : 18 THE VEIinALIsrr. " O gentle sleep, Nature's soft nurse, liow have I friglited the?, That tliou no moi-e wilt weiyh my eyelids down; And steep my senses in forgetf illness?" " Sail on, thou lone impisrial hird Of quenchless eye and tireless wing!" "Help, angels, nrike assay ! Bow, stubborn knees! and lijart witii strings of steel, Bo soft as sinews of the new-boi-n babe : All may yet be well ! " Appea*. See Ski.m. Appreciate. If any word in the language ha^ cause to ''omjilain of ill-treatment, this one has. Apprecintv means, to estimate _/(/«rehend is fii^ii/ to understand. We are dull or (piick of appre.'iension. Children apprehend much that they do not comprehend. Trench says : " VV« apprehend many THE VERBALIST. 19 tnitlia wliloli we do mt comprehpinL" "Apprehend," says Cnihl), "uxpro-nui tiie wuikest kind of holicf, the having [of J the ly:v.st i(le;i ot' t\ui [)fowi».^(j oi a thitii;." Apt. Often niHinoil for li/cfJi/, aul so:netimo-i fo; /Idhlr. "Wluit is he apt to \m doing?" "Where shall I be «/;< to find him?" "If properly dii'ected, it will be <(/d to reach me." In sucli sentences as these, /iL-c/;j is tiie prf)pcr word to use. " If you go there, you will be apt to get int> trouble." Hero cither fike/i/ or liable is the proper word, aecurdiiig to the thought the speaker would convey. Arctics. See RuiinERS, Artist. Of late years this word has been appropriated l)y tlie members of so many ou.iffcs, that it had wellnigh been despoiled of its meaning. Vour cook, your barber, your tailor, your boot-maker, and so on to satiety, are all arliMtn. Painters, sculptors, architects, actors, and singers, nowadays, generally prefer being thus called, rather than to be spoken of as artitita. As. "Not as I know": read, "not that I know." " This is not as good as tlie last" : read, " not .so good." "It may be complete so far as the specificatiou is concerned " : correctly, "a» far as." ^l.s, preceded by such or by same, has the force of a rela- tive applying to persons or to things. "He offered me the same conditions a.s' he ofifi-red you." " The aame couditioii., that " would be equally proper. See, also. Like. Ascribe. See iMiurii. At. Things are sold bif, not at, auction. "The scene is more beautiful at night tli.wi l)y day ": .sa\', " hi/ night."' At all. "It is not strange, for my uncle is King of Denmark." Had Shakespeare written, "It is not at aH. strange," it is clear that his iliction would have been much less forcible. "I do not wish for any at all"^ "I saw uo one 20 HIE VERBA LIST. utall": "If Jk! hnd uny desire nt all to see me, he would couKj where 1 am." The at nil in scntenc-os lilio tlieso is auporlluous. Yet there are instances in wliicli tlio phrase is certainly a very convenient one, and seoins to be unobjection- able. It i.s ninoli used, and by good writers. At ba.'^t, Instnid of nt bed and at word, wo fdiould say at tlif ))est and at llie worst. All last. See At length. At least. Tiii.s adverl)ial phrase is often misplaced. "'The liomans understood liljorty at least as well as we.' This must be interpreted to meiui, 'The Romans understood liberty an locU as we understand liberty.' Tlie intended meaning is, 'that whatever things tlie iJuinans failed to understand, they understood Uhfii;/.'' To express this meaning we might put it tlnis : 'T!ie Ronrins understood at lend libert}^ as well as we (/o'; liberty, at least, the Romans understood as well as we do.' 'A tear, at lead, is due to the unhappy'; 'at lea,d, a te ir is due to t!ie unhippy'; 'a tear is due a< /«««< to the unhappy' ; 'a tear is due to the unhappy at lead ' — all express diiTorent meanings. ' This can not, often at least, ha ([qwq'; 'this can not bo done oz/r^rt, at leat^t.' (1. ' It often happens thai this can not be done.' 2. 'It does not often happen that this can be done.') So, 'man is alica'fs capable of laughing'; 'man is capable of laughing alinauii.^ " — F3ain. 'At length. This phrase is often used instead of at last. " At leii'jtk we muiaged to get away " : read, ''at lad." "At le.ii'jth w-i heard from him." To hear from any one at length is to hear fully; i. e., in detail. Authoress. Witli regard to the use of this and certain other words of like formation, Mr. Gould, in his "Good English," says: "Poet means simply a person who writes poetry ; and a.ui>lioi\ in the sense under consideration, a penion to TIIK VERB A LIST. 21 say who writes poetry or prose— not a inn:i who writes, but a ^lio writes. Xothincj in oitliur word indicates pt'lSOll wl sex : and eveiyh'idy knows tlmt tlio t'uii(.'tions of iMjtli pouti and authors are common to l)oth sexes, lleiiuc, auf/iorci-H and poefcM are supurUnous. And they are supt-rihious, also, in another respect — that they are very r.ii'ely used, indeed they hardly c'a« be used, in Icpijndantly of tiie iiamn of tiie writer, as Mrs., or Miss, or a female Christian name. They arc, besides, pliilologioal absurdities, buLiiiisj they aro faljrioated on the false assiiinptioii tliat their pi'imiries inilieate vieii. They are, moreover, liable to the cliarge of affectation and pretline s, to say nothing of pedantic pretension to accuracy. " If the ess is to be permitted, there is no reason for ex- cluding it from anji notiii tha.t indicates a p;;rson; and the next editions of our dictionaries may be made complete by the addition of torlfress, ojjicei'd-'i.'i, ///, '//'/-.y.'/vsv, .-tnpei'inteml' enfc'ii, tedt writers. Tiiereis, how- over, a tendency in present usage to make the following distinction between tliein: 1. Tliat J>c.-f'.s7"f/(; tliy.self.' The ad vorl)ial sense to bo wholly transferred to the cognate woi'd. 2. Tiiat besides, as a pieposition, take the remaining seiit.e, in addition to ; as, besid 's all tliis ; besides the consideration here ollered* 'Tiioro was a famine in tlio land besides the tirst famine.' And that it also tal'.e the adverbial sense of moreover, beyond, THE V Kit IIA LIST. etc., which had ht'cii dividuil hotween the words; as, hpmles, there arc otlier considerations whidi holon;^ to tliis case." Best, ^ce At bkst. Between. 'I'his word is often misused for nmnnrj ,• thus, " Tiic word yi //»»/•, liowcver much in use it may he licfir'Hi men, sounds very ohjccti<»iiahle from tlic \i\r^ of women." — " Loudon Queen." Sliouhl he. amoiiL;-'' men." llftwcen is used in referenc(! to two things, parties, or persons ; atnoiiff, in reference toth alike"; "They hol/i met in the street." Both is likewise re- dundant in the folhjwing sentence : "It performs at the same time the ollices fioth of the nominative and rd)jective eases." Bound. The use of this word in the sense of (Irternunnl is not only inele-ant but indcienslKle. "I am hound to have it," should be, " I am ifi fi rniiiK d to have it." Bravery Courage. '1 he careless often use these two' wonls as though they were interchangeable. Drarrrt/ is in- born, is instinctive ; co'irai/e is tlie product of reason, calcula- tion, 'i'here is much merit in being cour igenus, little merit- in being brave. Meti who are simply brare are careless, while the courageous man is always cautious. Braveri/ often degenerates into temerity. J/wn.V courage is that firmness of 24 THE VERBA 1. 1 ST. principle which eiuiblos a in;ui to do \vh;it he deems to be liis duty, although his action may subject him to adverse ci'iticisni. True montl coiirw/c ia one of the rarest and most admirable of virtues. Alfred the Great, in resisting tlie attacks of the Danes, displayed bravery ; in entering their camp as a spy, he dis- played couraije. Bring — Fetch — Carry. The indiscriminate use of these three words is very common. To brimj is to convey to or toward — a simple act ; to fetch means to r/o and bring — a com- pound act; to cvov// often implies motion from the speaker, and ia followed by aivay or off, and thus is opposed to biinr/ and fetch. Yet one hears such expiessions as, "Go to Mrs. D.'s and briiKj her this bundle; and here, you may fetch her this book also." We use the words correctly tlms : " letch, or go briivf, me an apple from the cellar"; "When you come home brimj some lomojis " ; ^^ Carry this book borne with you." British against American English. "The most im- portant peculiarity of American English ir; a laxity, irregu- larity, and confusion in tlie use of particles. Tlie samo thing is, indeed, observable in England, but not to the same extent, tliough some gross departures from idiomatic pro- priety, such as (liferent to for different from, are common in England, which none but very ignorant persons would be guilty of in America. ... In the tenses of the verbs, I am inclined to think that well-educated Americans conform more closely to grammatical propriety than the corrcupoiuling class in England. ... In general, I tlunk we may &ay that, ii? point of naked syntactical accuracy, the English of America is not at all inferior to that of England; but we do not dis- criminate so precisely in the moaning of words, nor )t only a g'.'eatcr distinetuess of articulation, but a strong tendency to assimihite the spoken to the written language. Thus, Americans incline to give to every syllable of a written word a distinct enunciation ; and the popular hal)it is to s;iy dic-tion-ar-}/, mil-it-ar-y, with a secondary accent on the penultimate, instead of siidving the third syllable, as is so common in Enghmd. There is, no doubt, something disagreeably still' in an anxious and affected conformity to the very letter of ortliography ; and to those accustomed to a more hurried utterance we may seem to drawl, when we are only giving a full expression to letters THE VERBALIST. which, though etymologic.iUy impo; hint, the English i)abit- ixally slur over, Rputtering out, as a S^vedish satirist says, one half of tlie word, and swallowing the other. Tiio tendency to make tlio long vowels diphthongal is noticed by fon;igners as a peculiarity of tlie orthoepy of our language ; and this tendency will, of course, he strengthened by any cause which produces greater si )Wnesb and fullucaa of articulation. Besides the inlluence of ttiu Jiabit of reading, there is some reason to tliink tliat climate is atloctiug our articulation. In spite of the coldness of our winters, our Ho:a shows that the climate of even our Nortiierii States belongs, upon the wliole, to a more southern type than that ol England. In southern latitudes, at least within the temperate zone, luticulatiou is generally much more distinct than in the ncn'thern region". Witness the pronunciation uf Spanish, Italian, Turkish, as compared with English, Danish, and German. Participating, then, in the physical influences of a southern climate, we have contracted something of the more distinct articulation that belongs to a dry atm()s[)here aud%a clear sky. And this view of tlie case is confirmed by tiie fact that the inhabitants of the Southern States ineline, liko the people of t;outhern Europe, to throw tlie accent towaril the end of the word, and thus, like all nations that use that accentuation, bring out all the syllables. This we observe very eonunoiily in the com- parative Northern and Soutliern pronunciation of proper names. I might exemplify by citing familiar instances ; but, lest that should aeeni invidious, it may suflice to say that, not to mentio. more important changes, many a Northern member of Congress goes to W'a^ihii.gton a dactijl or a trochee, and comes home an amphlhrack or an imnhiis. Why or how external physical eaiLses, aw climate and modes of life, should afl'ect pronunciation, we can not say ; but it is evident that material intluencea of some sort are producing a change in our rilE VKRIiAlJST. 27 one bodily constitution, and we are fast acquiring a distinct national Anglo-American type. That the delicate organs of articulation should participate in such tendencies is alto- gether natural ; and the operation of the c;iuscs which give rise to them is palpable even in our handwriting, which, if not uniform with it-tlf, is generally, nevertheless, so unlike common English script as to be readily dislinguitihcd from it. " To the joint operation, then, of these two causes — universal reading and cliniatic influences — we must ascribe our habit of dwelling u[ion vowel ami diplithongal sounds, or of drawling, if that term is insisted upon. . . . But it is often noticed by foreigners as both making us more readily understood l)y them when speaking our own tongue, and as connected with a flexibility of oi L:an, which enables us to acquire a better jironunciation of otlier languages than is usual with I'^ngliylimcn. In any ca.se, as, in spite of the old adage, speech is given us that we may make ourselves under- stood, our drawling, however prolonged, is preferable to the nauseous, foggy, mumbling thickness of articulation which characterizes the cockney, and is not unfrcquently allected by Knglishmen of a better class." — George P. Marsh. Bryant's Prohibited Words. See I.vdex Expuroa- TORIUS. But. This word is misused in various ways. "I do not doubt hut he will be here" : reail, doubt ///'(/. "I sliould not wonder />»<" : read, *7". "I have no doubt hiil that he will go": suppress 6«/. "1 do not doa))t but that it is true"; suppress but. "There can be no doubt but that the burglary is the work of professional cracksmen." — " Xlw York Herald." I^oubt t/nif. and not hut that. "A canMul canvass leaves no doubt hut that tho nonunation," etc. : suppress but, "There is no reasonable doubt but that it is all it professes to be": suppress hut. "The mind no sooner entertains any 28 THE VERBALIST. proposition 6m< it priisiMitly liMstcns," etc, : vea.^ than. "No other resource but tliia was allmvod him" : read, than. By. See At. Calculate. This word means to ascertain by computa- tion, to reckon, to estimate ; and, say some of the purists, it never means anything else when properly used. Jf tluH is true, we can not say a thing is cnkuhUod to do harm, but must, if we are amhitious to liavo our Kii<,'lish irreproachable choose Fomc other farm of expression, or at least some other word, likely or apt, for example. Cubhett, however, says, "That, to Her, whoso great exampfe is so well calculated to inspire," etc.; and, "Tlie first two of the three sentences are well enough calculated for uslioriug," etc. Calculate is some- times vulgarly used for Infrnd, jnwpose, expect ; aa, "He calculates to get ofi" to-morrow." Caliber. This word is sometimes used very absurdly ; as, "Brown's Essays are of a nmch higher caliber than Smith's." It is plain that the proper word to use here is order. Cant. Cant is a kind of affectation ; affectation is an effort to sail under false colors ; an eilbrt to sail under false colors is a kind of falsehood ; and falsehood is a term of Latin origin vdiich we often use instead of the stronger Saxon term LYING 1 "Who is not familiar," writes Dr. William Matthews, "with scores of pet phi-asos and cant terms which are re- peated at this day apparently without a thought of their meaning ? Who ever attended a missionary meeting without hearing 'the Macedonian cry,' and an account of t-ome 'little interest' and 'fields white for the harvest'? Who is not weary of the ding-dong of ' our Zion,' and the solecism of * in our midst' ; and who does not long for a verbal millennium THE VERBALIST. 29 wiien Christians siiall no longer ' feel to take ' and ' j,'!nnt to Sive'?" "How inuch I reyiet," says Coleridge, "that so many religious persons of the present day tliiak it necessaiy to adopt a certain cant of manner and pliraseology [and of tone of voice] as a token to each other [one anotlier] ! They Im- prove this and that text, and they must do so and so in a prayerful way ; and so on." Capacity. SeeAiiinTY, Caption. This word is often used for hcafHu^, bnt, thus used, it is conilenmed by careful writei's. Tlie true meaning of caption is a seizure, an airest. It does not con:e from a Latin word meaning a head, but from a Latin word meaning to « ize. Caret. Col )bett writes of the caret to his son: "The last thing I shall mention under this head is the caret [a], which is used to point upward to a part which has been omitted, and which is inserte;! between t!ie line where the caret is placed and tlie line above it. Things should be called by their right names, and this shouUl be called the blunder-mark. I would have you, my dear James, scorn the use of the thing. Think before you write ; lot it be your custom to ii'rife. cor- rectly and in a }i(ain hand, lie careful that neatness, granmiar, and sense prevail when you write to a blacksmith about shoeing a horse as when you write on the nio-t important subjects. Habit is powerful in all cases; but its power in this case is truly wonderful. When you write, bear con- stantly in mind that some one is to ri-ad ai\(\. io nmh'ratand what you write. This will make your hand-writing and also your meaning plain. Far, I hope, from my dear James will be the ridiculous, the contemptible affectation cf writing in a 30 THE VEUnALlST. slovenly or illegible hand, or that of signing his name other- wise tlian in pkiia Utters." Carry. >^ee Biuxo. Case. Many persons of considerable cnlture continually make mistakes in conversation in tlie viso of the cases, and we sometimes meet witli gross errors of this kind in tlie writings of authors of repute. Witness the following: "And every- body is to know him except /." — George Merideth in " The Tragic Comedies," Eng. ed., vol. i, p. 33. "Let's you and / go " : say, me. We can not say, Let / go. Properly, Let's go, i. e., let us go, or, let. yoii and mc go. *' He is as good as me": say, as /. " She is as tallas liim": say, as Ae. "You are older than me'''' : say, tlian /. "Nobody said so but he" : say, but////M. "Every one can master a grief but /ic that hath it": correctly, but /dm. "John went out with James and /" : say, and me. "You are stronger than /ihn" : say, than//'. "Btrtween you and 7": say, and me. "Between you and (hc)/" : say, ami fhem. " Ho gave it to John and /" : say, and tiic. "You told John and /": say, and mc. "He sat between him and /": say, and me. "He expects to see you and /" : say, and mc. "You were a dunce to do it. Who? ?«('/" say,/. Supply the ellipsis, and v/e should have, Who ? me a dunce to do it ? " Wiiere are you going? Who? mef say,/. We can't saj^ me going. " )l7/odo you ni "an?" say, v'hnm. "Was it t/i'-m?'' H;iy, iJic//. "If I wa-i him, I would d(j it": say, were he. "ii 1 lOita her, I would not go": say, were ii50 whum were his friends." THE VKHnAfJST. m "On the siippnsitioa,"gays llain, " that the intorrogativo mho has whom for its ohjoctive, the foUawiii',' arc errors : who do you take ine to be?' '?«/to should [ meet the other day?' 'who is it V)y?' ' ir'io dii' yoii give it to?' ' viho to? 'who for?' But, onsiU'riiig that thes»e expressions occur irith ilia best inriters and Hpeaker.-<, that tliey are more, eacrtjctlc tlian the other form, and that they lead to no ainlji'ju'di/, it may be doulited whether grammavians liave not exceeded tlieir prov'nce in condemning them.' Cobbctt, in writing of the pronouns, says : " When the re- latives are placed in the sentence at a distance from their antecedents or verbs or prepositions, the ear gives us no assistance. ' Who, of all the men in the world, du you think I xdiv to-day?' ' ITAo, for the sake of numerous ser sices, the office was given to.' In both these cases it should be whom. Bring the verb in the first and the preposition in the second case closer to the relative, as, irfio I snir, to who (he ojJire teas (jlrcn, and you see the error at once. I'ut take care I ' Whom, of all the men in the world, do you thiidv, wa-s chosen to be sent as anamba.ssador?' ' Whom, for the sake of his numerous services, hail an otfice of honour bcatowe I upon him.' These are nominative cases, and ouglit to liave who ; that is to say, who wan chosen, who hail an qlflce." "Most grammarians," says Dr. Bain, in his "Higher English Grammar," "have laid down this rule: 'The v^erb to be has the same case after as before it.' Macaulay censures the following as a solecism : ' It wa^ hhn that Horac^Walpole called a man who never made a bad ligure but as an author.' Thajkeray similarly adverts to the same deviation from the rule ; ' "Is tliat him?" said tlie lady in quei^tionable grammar,'' But, notwithstanding this," continues Dr. Bain, "we certainly hear in the actual .speech of all classes of S" ■iety such ex- pressions w *it was me,' 'it was him,'' 'it was her,' uiore '•- (il been /<£'/•,' etc. The authority of good wriLcis is .strong (/ii tlie side of objective forms. Tiicre is also the analogy of ilie French langna/,'e ; for while 'I am hero' in jc xiiin ici, the answer to ' who is there?' is moi (me) ; auvl cc.it moi (it is me) is the legitimate phrase — never ccntjt (it is I)." But viol, according to all French grammarians, is very often in the nominative case, j/oj is in the nominative case when used in reply to "Who is there?" and also in the phrase "C'est moi," which makes "It is /" the correct trans- lation of the phrase, and not "It is me." The French equivalent of "I! I am here," is "Moi! je suis ici." The Frencliman uses moi in the nominative case when ;e would be inharmonious. Euphony witli him is a matter of more im- portance than grammatical correctness. Besclicrelle gives many examples of mot in the nominati\e. Here are tM'o of tlicni : "Mon avocat et moi sommcs de cet avis. Qui vent aller avec lui ? Moi.'' If we use such phra.seology as "It is me," we must do as the French do — consitler vie as being in the nominative case, and offer euplionij as our reason for thus using it. When shall we pnt nouns (or pronouns) preceding verbal, or participial, nouns, as tliey are called by some grannnariaus * If til is is tr\ie in Kni,'laiid, it is not true in Amcicn. Nowhere in thie UtiitL'il St.atcs is sucli " (lucbtionaljlu gnuiiniar" as tliis frcquciitiy heard in cultivaieJ circles. t " It may be conndontly allirnieil tliat witli ffood speakers, in the paso of neji'ution, not im- is the ii.sual practice." — Bam. This, 1 confldenlly aflinii, is not true in America.- A. A. Tin: VLi: I: r* -- inriiiilives in iinj^ as tlicy are culicil liy others- in the posv HLai~i\ e caso ? *' ' I am surpiisecl at Johns (or ///>-, your, etc.) re/using to go.' ' I am siirpiised at John (or /iliti, i/ou, etc.) reJuKinr/ to go.' [In the latter sentence rcjii.^uH/ is a particii:)le.] Tl)e latter construction is not so coiiiiiidn uith pronouns as with nouns, Cbpccially ^vith such noun.s as do not readily take the possessive form. 'Tliey prevented hi/n j/oi/zf/ forward ' : better, ' Tliey prevented his (jo'auj forward.' 'lie was di.smisseosugh t 1 1 o t,,to J.'e J nade t he ad junct in ^construc tioit.'j ' — ^'O'lTlTl Urow n . Casualty. This word is often heard with the incorrect a/is, according to the English idiom, or chcnihlm and nrraphirn, according to the Oriental. The former suits better the familiar, the hitter the solemn, style. As the words cherubim and seraphim are plural, the terms cheruhivit> and ftfrajihinis, as expre^^sing the plural, are quite improper.'' — " Pliilosophy of Rhetoric." Citizen. Tliis word properly means one who has certain political rights ; when, therefore, it is used, as it often is, to designate persons who may be aliens, it^, to say the least, be- trays a want of care in the selection of words, ' ' Several citizens were injured by the explosion." Here some other word — personti, for example — should be used. Clever. In this country the word cleirr is most impro- perly used in the sense of good-natured, well-disposed, good- hearted. It is properly used in the sense in which we are wont most inelegantly to use the word smart, though it is a less colloijuiul term, and is of wider applicatioa. In England the phrase "a rlcrer man" is the equivalent of the Fiench phrase, " uu /loiniiie f/V',s;^/v7." The word i.s propeily used in the following sentences : "ICvery work of Archbishop Whately must be an ol/ject of interest to the .odjnirer>- of clever reason- 30 Till'] VF.IHiALIST ing"; *'Col)l)ott'8 letter . . . very e.Vfvr, but very tni*?olu*ev- ous"; "llon.'ipMitc \\ :is"oitainly as direr a man na ever lived." Climax. A cliuise, a f tiitcnce, a iiniagriiph, or any liter- ary coniposiLioii wluitsoever, is said to end .'th a climax when, by an artistic arranyeinent, the more efTc ;tivc is made to follow the less efT-jctive m regular gradation. Any great departure from the order of ascending strength is calloil an anti-dimax. Hero are some examples of climax : "Give all diligence; add to your faith, virtue; and to virtue, knowledge ; and to knowledge, temperance ; and to temperance, patience ; and to patience, godliness ; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, charity." "What is every year of a wise man's life but a criticism on the past ! Those whose life is the shortest live long enough to laugh at one-half of it ; the boy despises the infant, t!ic man the boy, the sage both, and the Christian all." " What a piece of work is man ! how noble in reason ! how infinite in faculties ! in foi-m and moving, how express and admirable ! in action, how like an angel J iu apprehension, hoT7 like a god ! " Oo. The prcfiec rn sliould be used only when the word to which it is joineil begins with a vowel, as in co-cval, co- inddetitf co-operate, etc. Con ia used when the word begins with a consonant, as in con-temporary^ con-junction, eto. Co- partner is an exception to the rule. Commcnco. Tlie Britons use or misuse this word in a manner peculiar to themselves. Tliey say, for example, "commenced merchant," "conu)U!ncei. Cruslied out. "The rebellion vy ■ ^i- .• -r crushed out." Out of what? We may crush the life ./\it ui a man, or crush a man to death, atid crush, not crush out, a rebellion. Cultured. This word is said to be a product of Boston — an excellent place for anybody or anytlr.Dg to come froin. Many persons object to its use on the ground that tiicre can be no such participial adjective, because there is no verb in use from which to form it. We have in use the substautiv« culture, but, though the dictionaries recognize the verb t/ culture, we do not use it. Be this objection valid or be itnac, cu'fured having but two syllables, while its synonynx cuUiru ^d has four, it is likely to tind favor with those who i-ui/zloy short words when they convey their meaning as wc" ;i long ones. Other adjectives of this kind are, moneyed, ^ -'s'.e. '.h1, slippered, lettered, talented, cottaged, lilied, ,.' .\*,';«d, gifted, and so forth. Curious. Tids word is often used instead of stri(/.j". ; rcviarhthle. ^' A curious iAcV : better, " a ?vm(u-''H(Ve fact." "A curlohs proceeding" : better, "a strunr/e proceeding." Dangerous, "lie is pretty sick, but not dani/crous." DangerouH people are generally mo.st dangerous when they arc most vigorous. Say, rather, "lie is sick, but not in dmujer." Deare.st. *' A gentleman oiieo began a letter to his bride thus: 'My deepest Maria.' The hidy repliii. 'My dear John, I beg that you will mend eitlutr your iii> '. ' ov your grammar. Vou call mo your " dcdrcst iNIarla'"; am 1 to understand tliat you have otlier Marias?'" — Moon's "Bad Kuglish." THE VERBA us T. 41' Leceiving. "You are decfimnfjme.^' Not unfreqnently ''•reiving is used when the speaker means trijinrj to deceive. It (i wlicn we do not expect deception that we are deceived. Decimate. Tliis word, meaning as it properly does to • ithe, to take tlic tcntli part, is hai'dly perinissible in the dense in which it is used in such sentences as, " The regiment lield its position, though terribly decimated by the enemy's irtillery." " Tliongh toiribly tithed " would })e ecjually correct. Demean. This word is .sometimes erroneou.--ly used in the sense of (o dchciAe, to dis/jrace, to hianhle. It is a reflexive verb, and its true meaning is to behave, to carrii, to conduct ; as, "He demeans himsej/in a gentlemanly manner," i.e., He behaves, or carries, or conducts, himself in a gentlemanly manner. Denude. " The vulture," says Brande, "has some part of the head and sometimes of the neck denuded of feathers." Most birds might be denuded of the feathers on their heads ; not so, however, the vulture, for his head is always feather- less. A thing can not be denudul of what it does not have. Denuding a vulture's head and neck of the feathers is like denudinff an eel of its scales. Deprecate. Strangely enough, this word is often used in the sense of disapprove, censure, condemn ; as, " He depre- cates the whole proceeding"; " Your course, from first to last, is universally deprccited." But, according to the authorities, the word really means, to endeavor to avert by prayer ; to ]U'ay exemption or deliveranoo from ; to beg off; to entreat ; to urge against. " Daniel kneeled upon his knees to deprecate the captivity of his people." — Hewyt. Despite. This word is often incorrectly preceded by in and followed by of; thus, " fn despite o/'all our efforts to de- tain him, he set out"; which should bo, "Despite all our effVjvts,"' etc.. or, " In spite oj all our eCuits," etc. 42 THE VERBALIST. Determined. See Bound. Diction. This is a general term, and is applicable to a single sentence or to a connected composition. Bad diction may be due to errors in grammar, to a confused disposition of words, or to an improper use of wox'ds. Diction, to be good, requires to be only correct and clear. Of excellent examples of bad diction there are very many in a little work by Dr. L. T. Townsend, Professor of Sacred Rhetoric in Boston Univer- sity, the first volume of which has lately come under my notice. The first ten lines of Dr. Townsend's preface are : "The leading genius ^ of the People's C(dlege at Chautauqua Lake, with a [the?] view of providing for las coui'se a text book, asked for the publication of the following laws ano principles of speech.^ " The author, not seeing sufficient reason •• for witlilaolding what had been of much practical benefit '' to himself, con- sented. s "The subject-matter herein contained is an outgrowth from ' occasional instructions* given ^ while occupying the chair'" of Sacred Pk-hetoric." 1. The phrase /^'ff/iwf/ gniitis is badly chosen. Founder, projector, head, organizer, principal, or president- -some one of tliese terms would probably have been appropriate. 2. What course? Race-course, course of ethics, ajsthctics, rhetoric, or what?* 3. "The following laws and prin- ciples of speech." And how came tht'sc ]a\v.s iind principles in existence ? Who made them ? AVe are to infer, it would fiecm, that Professor Townsend miule tlieni, and tiiat the world would have had to go without the laws that govern language and the principles on which language is formcil had it plea.sod Professor Town.icnd to withhold tlieui. 4. ".S' Jji- * Should bo, a ti^xt-book for his courac, lind not, for his ciiinti' a t.-x'' boo'r. • THE VERBALIST. 43 dent reason" ! Then there were reasons why Professor Towns- end ought to have kept these good things all to himself ; only, they were not snffiricnt. 5. "Practical beneiit"! Is there any such thing as impractical beneiit? Are not all benefits practical ? and, if they are, what purpose does the epithet practical serve? 6. Consented to what? It is easy to see that the Doctor means acceded to the reqvcist, but he is a long way from saying so. The object writers usually have in view is to convey thought, not to set their readers to guessing. 7. 7V//p. is an awkward expiession, to say the least. A sinij!e hadhi-ti'ritttn book would have been unobjectionable. Rigo 1(50. "The presented picture produces instantly a deiinite eil'ect." Why this unusual disposition of words? Why not say, in accordance with the idiom of the language, "The picture presented instantly produces," etc. ? Page 161. "The boy studies . . . geography and hates every tiling connected with the sea and land." Why the boy? As there are few things besides seals and turtles that are connected with the sea and land, the boy in question has few things to hate. On page IT-J, Dr. T(jwn.-end heads a chapter thus: ** Art of acquiring Skill in thf^ use oi Poetic Speech." This reminds one ot the nuin who tried to lift himself over a fence by taking hold of the scat of his breeches. ''How to acquire skill" is probal)ly what is meant." On page '23'J, "Jeremy Taylor is amour;; the best models of long seutences wliich are both clear and logical." Jeremy Taylor is a clear and logical long sentence ? ! True, our learned rhetorician says so, but he doesn't mean it. lie means, " In Jeremy Taylor we lind some of the liestcxauiples of long sentences which are at once clear and logical." Since tlie foregoing was written, the second volume of Professor Townsend's " Art of Speech" has been pul)lished. In tlic brief preface to this volume we lind this characteristic sentence: "The author has felt that clirijurnfii more than tliOAi of other professions will study this treatise." The ante. : edent of. the relative (hone hmhig clerj'piK'ii, the sentence, it THE VERBALIST. 45 will bo porceivetl, says: "Tlie author has felt that clerijyraen uioro iluin cler(/!/infn of other profta.-iions will study this treatise." Coniincnt on such "art" aa Professor Towusend's is nut nccesanry. I find ijeveral noteworthy examples of bad diction in an article in a recent numljcr of an Australian magazine. The foUiiwing ixre some of them : " Lartje atpUal always manages to make i!.S'^'//' master of the situation ; it is the small capitalist and the small lamiholdor that would sulTer," etc. Shoul»ll>e, " The htrife cap'Uali-it . . . himself," etc. Again: "The small farmer would ... he despoiled ... of the meagre profit which ii(renuou.s labor lia 1 conquered from tlie reluctant soil." Not only are the epitiiets in italics superfluous, and conae- ([Uently weakening in tlicir effect, but idiom do(!S not permit strenuon.'^ to bo used to qualify labor : hard lahov iind strcmtous (sliort. Again: "Capital has always the choice 0/ a large field " Should be, "the choice offi-red hii a large field." Again: "Should capital be witlulrawn, tenements would soon prove insutiicient." Should be: "//ic number 0/ tene- ments would," etc. Again: "Men of wealth, therefore, would find tlicir I'ifth Avenue mansions and their summer villas a little more Inirdened with taxes, but with this in- crease happily balanced by the exemption of their bonds and mortgages, tlieir plate and furniture." The thought here is so simple tuat wo easily divine it; but, if we look at the Bentence at all carefully, wo find that, though we supply the ellipses in the most charitable mamiur possible, the sentence really says : "Men would find their luansiuus more burduned, but would find them with this increased burden happily balanced by the exemption," etc. The sentence should have been framed somewhat in this wise : "Men . . . would find their . . . mansions . . . more burfloned with taxoKj, but this increase in tlie taxes on their real estate would lie happily THE VERBALIST. i'llivnced by thn exemption from taxation of their bonds, iiiortgages, plate, and furniture." Again : " Men generally . . . would bo inclined to laugh at the idea of intrusting the modem i)olitician witli such gigantic opportunities for en- riching his favorites." We do not intrust one another with oppurlunUies. 2'o enrich would better the diction. Again: "The value of land that has accrued from labor is not ... a just object for confiscation." Correctly : " The value of land that has resulted from labor is not jnsUji ... an object of confiscation." Accrue, is properly used more in the .sense of apontaneoiis (jrowth. Again: "If the state attempts to con- fiscate this increase by means of taxes, either rentals -(vill increase correspondingly, or such a check will be put upon ^/te growth of each place, and all the enterprises connecUU with it that greater injui-y would be done than if things had l)een left untouched." We have here, it will be observed, a con- fusion of moods ; the sentence begins in the indicative and ends in the conditional. The words in italics are worse than superfluous. Rewritten: "If the state should attempt to confiscate tliis increase by means of taxes, cither rentals it'ouhl increase cornspondingly, or such a check would be put upon gL-owth and enterprise that greater injury would," etc. Again: "The theorij that land . . . i;< a boon oi Nature, to which every person has au iualienalde right equal to every other person, ia not new." The words theorij and boon are here misused. A flieori/ is a system of supposi lions. Tlie things man r-eceives from Nature are i/i/ts, not boons: the gift of reason, tlio gift of speech, etc. The .sentence should be : "The declariition (or (issrlion) that land ... is a gift of Nature, to which every person has an inalienable right equal to that of anij other person, is not new." Or, more simply and ([uite as forcibly : "... to which one person has an in- ilienable right equal to that of ar\other, is not new." Or, THE V Eli B'A LIST. 47 more simply still, and more, forcibly: "... to which one man has as good a riglit as another, is not new." By sul)sti tilting the word man for person, we have a word of one syllable that exjiresses, in this connection, all that the longer word expresses. The fewer the syllables, if the thought be fully expressed, the more vigorous the diction. Inalienabilit v being foreign to the discussion, the long word iiialienabla only encumbers the sentence. " We have tlius^ passed in review the changes and im- provements'' which the revision contains ^ in the First Epistle to tlie Corintliians. It has", not, indeed,'' been possible to re- fer to" them all ; but so many illustrations have been given in » the several classes described that the reader will have i" a satisfactory " survey of the whole subject. Whatever may be said of other portions" of the New Testament, we think it will be generally admitted that in this Epistle the change-s have improved the old •* translation. They are such asi-* make the English version'-' conform more completely'^ to the Greek original. If this be^' true, the \evisers have done a good work for t!ie Cl-arch." If it be true '^ with regard to all the New Testament bouks, the work which th(;y have done will remain "o a blessing to the readers of those books for 21 generations to come. But the bies-;ing will be only in the clearer presentation of the Divine truth, and, therefore, it v'ill be only to the glory of God." This astonishin;.jdy slipshod bit of composition is from the pen of the Rev. L>i-. Timothy Dwight. If the learned Pro- fessor of Divinity in Yale College deemed it worth while to give a little thought to manner as well as to matter, it is probable that his diction would be very dillercnt from what it is; and, if he were to give a few minutes to the m.'iking of verbal corrections in the foregoing paragrnph, he would per- haps, do something like this : 1, cliange thus to note ; 2, write 48 THE VERBA IJtiT. 80w?3 o/" the changes ; .), strike out and improrcmcnf.H ; 4, for contains clu..i(je8 substitute souic otiier form of expression ; 5, instead of has bcciiy wri*-"' iras ; (i, strike out indeed; 7, in- stead of 7'e/er to, write c'e ; 8, cliMuge i/lusuir./iun-'^ tr rampfa^ ; 9, instead of in, write of ; 10, instead of the readt-r idll have, write the reader will he able to r/cf ; l\, chatigo satis/dctoy'ij to tolerable; 12, cliange jwHons to jh .tr ; 13, not talk of tlie old translation, as we have no pew one; 14, strike out iirj superfluous tlic M'ords are yueh oi ; 15, cliange ver.-ion to te i ; 16, rubstitute nearly for comptetr^lif, wli'.ch docs not adniit of comparison; 17, substitute the indicative /or the condi- tional ; IS, end sentence with the word zvork ; 19, introduce also after be ; 20, instead of remain, in the sense (;f be, use be; 21, introduce the after for. As for +hc hmt sentence, it re- minds one of Mendelssolin's ' Songs withr it Words," though here we have, instead of a song and no words, words and no song, c: rather no meaning. x\s is often truo of cant, we have here simply a syntactical ari-angemcnt of words signify- ing — nothing. Ti Proressor Dwight were of tliose who, in common with t' J Addisons and Macaulays and Newmans, thiidi it worth while to give some attention to diction, the thought conveyed in the paragrapli under consideration would, perluips, have been expressed somewhat in this wise : "We Lave now passed in review some of the changes that, in the i^evisioii, have been made in the Firbi Epistle to the Corintliians. It was not post-'blc to c:te them all, but a suffi- cient number of examples c*" the several classes described have been given to enable the rcadc to get a tolerable survey of the whole subject. Whatever i.my be said of the other parts of the New Testament, we think it will be generally admitted tbat in this Epistle thr chnnges have improved the transliition. 'i'iuy uv.\\:i- tiic lv';.!i.>!i lc:;t c'ir;nii;i in' r? 77/ A' VERBALIST. 49 nearly to the Crci^k. This being true,. the revisers have done a good work ; and, if it he also true with icgard to all the New Testament hooks, the v.'ork \vhi^;h tliey have done Mill be a blessing to tlie readers of those books for the generations to come. " Die with. Man and brute die of, and not ?'///', fevera, eonsiiniption, the plague, pneumonia, old age, and so on. Differ. Writers i\\\ic\- from one another in opinion with regai'd to the partiele we should use with tin's veib. Snme say they diller icllh, others that tliey differ from, their neigh- bors in opinion. The weight of authority is on the side of always using /'rora, though A may differ irllh C from D in opinion witli regard, say, to the size of the fixed stars. "I differ, as to this matter, from Bisliop Lowth.' — Cobbett. Different to is heard sometime.-* instead of lUff'rent from. Directly, Tlie Britons have a way of ushig this word in the sense of when, ns soon as. This is quite foreign to its true moaiung, whicli is immediately, at onee, straightway. They say, for example, ^'D/rcrth/ he readied the city, he went to his brother's." "Directly [the saint] was dead, the Aral)3 sent his woollen shirt to the sovereign." — "London News." Dr. Hall says of its use in tlie sense of no soon as: " But, after all, it may simply anticipate on the Englisli of the future." Dirt. This word means tilt or anytiiing that renders foul and unclean, and meai^s nothing else. It is often im- properly usol for earth or loam, and sometimes even for sand or gravel. We not uufroque:uly liear of a dirt road when an unpaved road i.n meant. Discommode. Tlii;i word is rarely used ; incommode is accounted the better form, Disromembor, This is, a woi-d vulgarly used in the sense offorgrf. It i? said to bn more frequently hcai'd in tiia South tii;\u in fhc Ni'ith. 00 rHK VEliliALlST. Distinguish. Tliis verb ia sometiiues impntiierly used fot discriininate. We didinguiKh by means of tlie senses as well aa of the uiidei;jtaiuliiig ; we diKrriminnle. by means of the understanding only. "It is f further. This same verl) to end is sometimes an active verb : ^ 1 end my sentence'; then the verb to do m:^y supply it^ place; as, 'I have not ended my senten-^e so well as I might have done\- that is, done it ; tiiat is, done, or perforir..- :1, the act of ending. lint the Nund)er of the ' Spectator' was no actor ; it was ex- pected to perform nothing; it was, by the Doctor, wi-lied to have ceased to proceed. ' Did not end as it very well might have ended. . •' This Mould have been coirect ; but the Doctor wished to avoid the repetition, anil thus he fell into bad grammar. ' Mr. Speaker, I do not feel, so well satisfied 62 THE VERBALIST. aa I should have dont if the Right Houoi-able Geiitlomaii . „d explained the matter more fully.' To feel satisHed is— when the satisfaction is to arise from conviction produced by fact or reasoning — a senseless expression; and to supply its place, when it is, as in this case, a neuter verb, by to do, is as sense- less. Done what ? Done the act of feeling I ' 1 do iwt feel so well satisfied as I should have done, or exccnle.d, or performed the «c'. at feclintf^ ! \Vha^ inconiprehen8il)lo words !" Don't. Everybody knows that don't is a contraction of do not, and that doeHn''t is a contraction of does not ; and yet nearhj everybody is guilty of using don''t when he should use doesn't. "So yuu don't go ; Jolin doesn't either, I hear." Double Genitive. An anecdote of Air. Lincoln— an anec- dote of Mr. Lincoln's. We see at a glance that these two phrases are very dilFui-cnt in meaning. So, also, a portrait of Brown — a portrait of Drown's. No precise rule has ever been given to guide us in our choice between these two furms of the possessive case. Sometimes it is not m{i*-,erial which form is employed ; where, however, it is material — and it generally is — we must consider the thought we w i^h to express, and rely on our discrimination. Dramatize. See Aoai-t. Drawing-room. See 1*arlor. Dress— Gown. Within the memory of many persons the outer garment worn by women was pi'opirly called a ;fown by everybody, instead of being improperly called a dress, as it now ia by nearly evet yboely. Drive. See Ride. Due — Owing. These two words, thongli close synonyms, should not be used indiscriminately. The mistake usually made is in using due instead of oirimi. That is due which ought to be paid as a debt ; that is oic'iifj wjiich is to be re- ferred to as a source. "It was oivlng to his exertions tliat THE VERBA LIST. the scheme succeode.l." "It wa.s oiiHiif/ to your negligcixi that tlie accident happened." "A certain nspect is due !■ men's prejudices." "'iliia was oicb)yidu[)hf, or vmnder/ully, or ahniHlitnthj, or the like. Tlie notion of such writers is that thcKe woi'ds give strength to what thty are saying. This is a great error. Strength nuist be found in the t/tomjlit, or it will never be fouml in the words. Big-sounding Avords, without thoughts corre.s{)onding, are efTort without ellect." — William Cobbett. See FuKCinLE-i'tKJJLE. Egoist. "One of a class of philosophers who professed to be fcuio of nothing but their own existence." — iieid. Egotist. "One who talks much of himself." " A tribe of etjolislH for whom 1 have always had a nioi tul aversion." — "Si.cctatoi-." THE VERBALIST. Iff Either. This word means, strictly, the one or the other of two. Unlike hnth, wliich means two taken collectively, either, like each, may mean two considered separately ; but in this sense each is the better word to use. "Give me eUlier of them" means, Give me tlio one or the other of two. "He haa a farm on either side of the river" would mean that ho lias two farms, one on each (or either) side of the river. "He has a farm on both sides of the river" would mean that his farm lies partly on the one side of the river and partly on the other. Tlie use of either in the sense of each, thougli biblical and defensible, may be accounted little if any better than an affectation. Neither is the negative of either. Either is re- sponded to by or, vdlher by nor; as, "ei/Acr this or that," ^^neither this nor that." Either aiv] m it her shouhl not — strictly — be used in ri ' ion to more than two objects. But, though both either ami " if'ier are strictly applicable to two only, they have been fui a very long time used in r( lati^n to more than tAVoby many good wi Jiers ; and, as it is often convenient so to use them, it seems prol>a'ilo that th ustom will prevail. When more than two things are referred to, anij and none sliould be used instead of either and nrither ; a-;, " (inij of the tlirf'o," not, ^^ either of the tiiree"; '' -h*/ of the four,'" not, "neither of tlie four." Either Alternative. Tlie word aitrmntitv. means a choice olicred boUvecu two things. An < ''rnatire writ, foi example, offer.s the alternative of chooii' between the doing of a specified act or of shoM ing cau.^c why it is not done. Such propositions, therefore, as, "You are at liberty to c\\oo&(.\ either alternative," " Tiro alternatives are preseutcr part of Xew York with a distinguished Soutlicrn poet and journalist. It was the gentleman's lir.st ride over an elevated road. When we were fairly under way, in ad- miration of the rate of si)eed at which the ears were moving, he exclaimed, "Well, they do just eirrluatiu;//// aliuot along, don't they!" THE VERBALIST. 59 Every. Tins word, which means simply each or all thts ultra, : nolliing beyond; the utmost point, isolens volens : willing or unwilling. Kota bene: mark well ; take particular notice. Vmnrs: all. O tcmpora, O mores! O the times and the manners! Otiutn cum dignitutc : ease with dignity. Oliwm sine dignitate: ease without dignitj'. Parti- cep8 criminis: uu accomplice. Peccarl: I have sinned. Per CO THE VERBALIST. se: by itself. Prima fat' ic: on the tirst view or appearam-e : at first siglit. Pro bono publico: for tlie public good. Quid nunc: what now? Quid j/ro quo: one thing for another; an equivalent. Quondam: formorly. J'ara avis : a i"ire bird ; a prodigy. Jicsnrjam: I shall rise again. Seriatim: in order. Sine die: without specifying any puticular day ; to aTi in- definite time. Sine qua non: an indispensable condition. Sui generis: of its own kind. Fade meciim: go with me. IVr- batini: word by word. Fersun : against. Vale: farewell. Via: by the way of. Vice: in the place of. Vide: sou. Vi et armis: by main force. Viva voce: orally; by word of mouth. Vox populi, vox Dei: the voice of the people is the voice of God. Evidence— Testimony. These words, though difTcring widely in meaning, are often used indisi.triminately by careless speakers. Ecidence is that which lends to convince ; testi many is that which is intended to convince. In a judicial in- vestigation, for example, there might be a great deal of testimony — a great deal of ie.'(fi///ini/~and very little eri'lcnce ; and the evidence might be quite the reverse of the ttstimony. See Proof. Exaggeration. "Weak minds, feeble writers and speakers, delight in superlatives." See IiIffout without Effect. Except. "No one need apply excrpt lie is thoronizhly familiar with the business," should be, "No one need apply unless,'" etc. • ■ Excessively. That class of persons who are never con- tent with any form of expression that falls .'^hortof the super- lative, frequently use excessirch/ when cxceedin;fli/ or even the little word very would serve their turn better. They say, for example, that the weather is eJLrfi.'},si('e/)//.s^ I'ate; if I fJidn't, 'you bet I'd just give liim 'hail Columliia' for 'blowing' the thing all round town like the big fool tliat he is." Firstly. Goorgo Washington Moon . aaya in defense of firnth/: " I do not object to the occasional use oi Jird as an adverb; l)ut, in sentences whore it would be followed by secoiidli/, lhii'dl;i, etc., I think that the adverbial form is pre- ferable." To this, one of Mr. Moon's critics replies: "How ever desirable it may be to employ the wordytV.s^ y on certair occasions, the fact remains that the employment of it on any occasion is not the best usag(!." Webster inscvtH firstly, b\it remarks, "Improperly used iov first." Flee — Fly. riiese verbs, though near of kin, aro not iuterchangca))le. For example, we c;«i not say, "He//e?'; the city," " \\<.i ileto from his enemies," ^'llcfieio at the approacn of dan,L,'or,".//e((' being the imperfecf tense of to fiij, whiea is CI THE Vr.lH'.M.ir.T. properly used to express tlie notion of bird.-} on tlie winj^, ol kitt!>», arrows, etc The imperfect tense of to Jh'/ tliL' i.'ity," etc. Forcible-feoble. This la a "noviey" kind of diction in which tlie wonld-he fcreihle writer defeats his object by the overuse of expletives. Examples : " And yet the (jreat cen- tralization of wealth is one (if the [great] evils of the day. All thiit Mr. iif/cr- [says] np.jri this point isy'^/v il/le and just. Tliis cenlrali/ation is due to the eiinrinous reproductive P'lwor cf capital, to the vH)ntn,'^e advantage that '■o.' to a?!pirate more ^/ta7i less "; slunild be, "to aspirate more rather than less." 9. "It is said also uiiii/ to occur three times," etc.; read, occur only three times." 41-, "This doubling only taken place in a syllable, etc.; read, '•'■taken place only." 142. "Which can only bo decided when those circum- stances are known"; read, " can be decliled only when," etc. 106. " I will 6»M/y say that it produces," etc. ; read, "Iwill eay only," etc. 170. "It is said that this can only be lillod in thus"; read, " can hojUled in. only tlius." 308. "I c:in only deal with the com])laint in a general way"; rc.nd, " deal icith the conijilaint only," etc. 80. " Jn so far as they are idiom;itic," etc. What is the use of in '/ 171. "Try the exporiment"' ; ''tried tlio experiment." Read, 'ninliC and made. 345. "It in mont generally used of that very jvct," etc. Why inont f .%'2. "The joining together two clauses witii a third," etc.; read, "q/' two clauses," etc. •Belter, "to revise it." \ "Id Iu jiiit lluin ill tiibulixi- I'nnn." THE V En DA J. I ST. 60 Gown. See DxiESS. Graduated. Students do not (jnuhiate ; they are gradu- ated, llunce most writers nowadays say, "!*'■«<, he ■was, or they verc gniduated"; and ask, " When icere yuu, or itas he, graduated ?" Grammatical Errors. "The correctness of the expres- sion grammatical errors has been disputed. ' ilow, ' it has been asked, ' can an error be grammatical ?' How, it may be re- plied, can we with propriety say, grammatically incorrect? Yet we can do so. "No one will question the propriety of saying granimrdi- cally correct. Yet tlie expression is the acknowledgment of things gramviaticallji iscorrect. Likewise the phrase ijram- madcal correctness implies the existence of gra.nmatical iscor- rcctness. If, then, a seutenco is gram,maticaUij incorrect, or, what is the same* tiling, has grammatical incorrectness, it includes a grammatical krrok. GrammaticaUtj incorrect signifies inx'ouiiect with relation to the RrLEs oii- OUAMMAR. Llrammutical errors signifies Eituous witic uiiLA- TION TO THE RULES OF GRAMMAR. " They who ridicule the phrase grammatical errors, and substitute the pliraso errors in grammar, make an egregious mistake. Can tlicre, it may be asked with some show of reason, be an error in granunar ? Why, graramar is a science founded in ournature, refci-ablo to our ideas of time, rclatiun, metliod ; imperfect, doubtless, as to the system by wliiL'li it is represented ; but surely wu can speak cf error in that which is crror'tt criterion ! All tlus is hypercritical, but liypercriti-' cism must be met with its own weapons. "Of the two expiw-sions— rt graiuntalical error, nvd an error in grammar — tiio former is preferable. If one's judg- ment can accept neither, one must reliiujuish the belief in the possibility of tersely expressing the iilea of au oU'ence again.st 70 THE VERBALIST- gramtnatical rules. Imleerl, it would be difficult to express the idea even by circumlocution. Sliould some one say, 'This sentence is, according to the rales of giammar, incorrect.' 'What!' the hypercritic may exclaim, 'incorrect! and ac- cording to the rules of grammar !' 'This sentence, then,' the corrected person would reply, ' contains an error in grammar.' *Non.^en?e!' the hypercritic may shout, 'grammar is a science ; you may be wrong in its interpretation, but prin- ciples are immutable !' ** After this, it need scarcely be added that, grammatically, no one can make a mistake, that there can be no grammatical mistakes, that there can be no bad grammar, and, conse- quently, no bad English ; a very pleasant conclusion, which would save us a great amount of trouble if it did not lack the insignificnnt quality of being true." — •' Vulgarisms and Otlier Errors of Speech." . • Gratuitous. There are those who object to the nee of this word in the sense of unfounded, unwarranted, unreason- able, untrue. Its use in this sense, however, has the sanction of abundant authority. " Weak and gratuitous conjectures." — Person. "A (jrafvifons assumption." — Godwin. "The gratuitou'^ theory." — Southoy. "A gratuitous invention."— De Quincpy. "r.ut it is needless to dwell on the improba- bility of a hyp'tljesis which has been shown to be altogether gratuitous," — Dr. Newman. Grow. This verb originally meant to increase in size, bnt has normally come to be also used to express a change from one state or condition to another: as, to j/r"o?« dark, to grow weak or strong, to grow faint, etc. But it is doubtful whether what is large can properly be said to groo) small. lu this eense, become would seem to be the better word. Gums. See RuBBKUs. THE VERBALIST. 71 Had have. Nothing could be more incorrect than the bringing together of the-e two auxiliary verbs in this manner; and yet we occasionally find it in writers of repute. Instead of "Had I known it," "Had you seen it," "Had we been there," we hear, "Had I haix known it," ''Had you have seen it," "Had we have been there." Had ought. This is a vulgarism of the worst desovip- tion, }et we hear people, who would be highly indignant if any one should intimate that they were not ladies and g(;ntle- men, say, "He had ought to go.." A fitting reply would be, "Yes, I think he better had." Oayht says all Xhut had oujht says. Had rather. This expression and had better are much used, but, in the opinion of many, are indefensible. Wq hear them in such senteneea as, "I had rather not do it," "You had better go home." "Now, what tense," it is asked, "is had do and had ijoi If we transpose the words thus, " You had do better (to) go home," it becomes at once apparent, it is asserted, that tae proper word to use in connection with rather and better is not had, but would ; thus, "I would rather not do it,' " You would better go home ." Examples of this use of had can be foimd in the writing of our best authors. For what Professor Uaiii has to say on this suhjcot lu his "Composition Grammar," see Subjdxctive Mooo. Half. "It might liave been expressed in one half the space." We see at a glance that one here is superfluous. Hanged — Hung. The irregular form, hnmj, of the past participle ol the verb to hawj is most used ; but, when the word denotes suspension by the neck for the purpose of de- stroying life, the regular form, haujtdf is always used by careful writers and speakers. HasLo. -iSee Hl'KRV. Heading. See CArrioN. I 72 THE VERBALIST. Healthy — WholesoniO. Tlu- first of these two •words iH of U u iinpropcily used for tlie second; as, "Onions are a heidlhy vegetable." A ma.i),if he is in good health, is JicaJtliif ; tl»e food he eats, if it is nut 'lelcterious, is wholesome. A healthy ox Aiakes wholesome food. We speak of healthy sur- ronmlings, a healthy climate, situation, employment, and of wliolf^ome food, advice, exinn^ilcs. llea'riu'id is generally used in the sense of conducive to health, virtue, morality; as, healthful exercise, the heu'thj'ul spirit of the community — meaning that the spirit that prevails in the community is conducive to virtue and good morals. Helpmate. The — have licen comnullod by the states of Europe in modern times.' And not long since a worthy Scotch minister, at the close of tlie services, intimated his intention of visiting some of his pef>ple as follows : ' I intend, during this week, to visit in Mr. M 's district, and will on tliis occa.-ion take the opportunity of embracinrj all the servants in the district.* When worthies such as these od'end, wlio shall call the bell- man in quc-^tiou as he cries, ' Lost, a silver-handled silk lady's parasol ' ' THE VERBALIST, 75 "The proper arrangement of words into sentences and paragraplis gives clcariitss and strength. To attain a clear and pithy style, it may he necessary to cut down, to re- arrange, and to rewrite whole passages of an essary. Gihhon wrote his 'Memoirs' six times, and the first chapter of his 'History' three times, llcginners are always slow to prune or cast away any tiiought or oxprcssion wliich may have cost labor. They forget that brevity is no sign of thoughtlessness. Much consideration is needed to compress the details of any subject into small compass. Essences are more difiicult to prepare, and therefore more valuable, than M'eak solutions. Pliny wrote to one of his friends, 'I have not time to write you a short letter, therefore I have written you a long one.' Apparent elaborateness is always distasteful and weak. Vividness and strength are the product of aii easy command of those small trenchant Saxon monosyllables which abound in the English language." — "Leisure Hour." "As a rule, the student will do wtdl to banish for the pres- ent all thought of ornament or elegance, and to aim only at expressing himself plainly -and clearly. Tlie best ornament is always that which comes unsought. Eet him not beat about the bush, but go straight to the point. Let liim re- member that which is written is meant to be read ; that time is short; and that — other things being equal— the fewer words the better. . . . Repetition is a far less serious fault tlian ol)scurity. Young writers arc often unduly afraid of repeating the same word, and recjuire to be reminded tliat it is always better to use the right word over again tlian to replace it by a wrong one — and a wonl which is liable to be iuisunderstood is a wrong one. A frank reptftition of a word has even sometimes a kind of charm — as bearing the stamp of truth, the foundation of all cxcellunce of stylo." — Hall. "A young writer is afraid to be simple ; he has no faith 70 THE VKUBAIJST, ill beauty unailnrnotl, hence he crowds his sentences witli su}H;i'lativ(!H. In hi.s cstiinatioii, tiU'giiliLy passes for elo- (juuiKjo, ai!nnctrinc The void and its derivatives are, liowever, now.iduyd, both in this country and ill England, most used in a humane, iiliihintlu'opic sense; thna, "The audience entliusiastically endorsed the humani- tarhtnhrii of liis eloquent di^courso." — Ilattou. Hung. i:>t'i! llAN(ii;D. Hurry. Though wiene;ith his bed." "So frowned the mighty comb.acints, that hell Grew d;-,i ker a their froM'D." • 78 THE VERBALIST. "I saw their cliicf t:ill as a rocU of ioe ; hia spear tho I)lasteil fir; his sliield tin; rising moou; he sat on the ahore like a cloiul of mist on a liill." Ice-cream — Ice-water. As for ice-cream, there is no sucli tiling, as ice-crcani would l)o tliu product of frozen oreani, i.e., cream made from ice by melting. What is called ice-cream is cream iced ; hence, properly, ici'il cream, and not /r«-cream. Tlic product of melted ice is oy'); lady (for 'wife'); last (for 'latest'); lengthy (for 'long'); lenieuoy (for 'lenity'); loafer; loan or loajied (for 'lend' or 'lent'); located ; majority (relating to places or circumstai.ces, fur ' most'); Nhv,. President, Mrs. Governor, Mrs. Cjencrrd, and a!l similar tiLlos; mutual (for 'common"); official (lur 'oiliccr'); ovation; on yesterday ; over his signature; pants (for 'pantaloons'); parties (for 'persons'); partially (for 'partly'); past two weeks (for ' last two weeks' and all similar expressions relating to a dcliiute time); poetess; portion (for THE VERBALIST. 81 'part'); pivted (for 'informed'); pro^^ress (for 'advance'); reliahle (f<>i 'tni.:iwortliy '); rendition (for 'performance'); repudiate 'for 'reject' or 'disowtr); retire (as an active verb); Rev. (for 'the llev.'); role (for 'part'); roughs; rowdies; seeesl) ; sensation (for 'noteworthy event'); standpoint (for 'point of view'); start, in the sense of setting out ; state (lor 'say'); taboo; talent (for 'talents' or 'ability'; talented; tapis ; the deceased ; war (for 'dispute' or 'disagreement')," This index is offered here as a curiosity ratliei' than as a guide, tlu»ugli in the main it may safely be used as .such. No valid reason, iiowevcr, can be urged for discouraging the use of several words in the list; the words aspirant, banquet, casket, compete, decrease, progress, start, talented, and deceased, for example. Indicative and Subjunctive. "'I nfe Uie signal.' is unconditional; ^ifl s^'c the signal,' is the same fact expressed in the form of a condition. The one form is saiil to be in the indicatirc mood, the mood that simply statrfi or iinlifatoh the action ; the other form is in the .•
    J)nirtlve, comditional, or conjunctive mood. 'J'here is sometimes a slight variation made in English, to shr>w tiiat an allirmation is made as a condition. The mood is called 'sul)junrtive,' because the affirmation in xiihjouKd to another allirmation. '' Ij I std tlip tiirjmi/, 1 v.'ill call out.' " Such forms as ' I may see,' 'I can see,' have sometimes been consl(UM'ed as a variety of niooil, to which the name 'Potential" is given. lUit tins can not properly be main- tJiincd. There is no trace of any inilcction corresponding to this nifaning, as wc^ find witii the subjunctive. .Moiei.Vi'r, such a mood would have itbclf to l)o subilividcd into indic.itive and subjunctive forms: '1 may go,' 'if I may go.' And further, we might proceed to constitute other moods on the same analogy, as, for example, an obligatory mood ' I mu-t 32 TJ!E vi:iu:ai.ist. go,' or •! ought to go'; a mood of resolution — 'I will go, you shall go'; a mood of gratification — ' 1 am dolighteil to go'; of deprecation — 'I am grieve I to go.' The only difrereiKx; in the last two instances is tlio use of the sign of the intinitive 'to,' which does not occur after 'niay,' 'can,' 'must,' 'ought,' etc.; but that is not au essential diHerence. Some gramuui- riaus consider the foiin ' I do go ' a separate mortd, and term it the emphatic niootl. r»ut all the ahove ohjectiuns apply to it likewise, as well as many others.'" — Bain. See SuiiJU^c- TiVE Mood. Individual. This word is often most improperly used for person; as, "The in i livid ual I saw was not over forty "; "There were several i)i.(liri(hiii!,^ on honvd that I had never seen before." Indiridwd means, etymologif.-ally, that which can not be divided, and is used, in speakiiiur of things as well as of persons, to express unity. It is opposed to the whole, or that wliich is divisilile into parts. Indorse. Careful writers generally discountenance the use ol indorse in the sense of sanr/ion, npprow, ap}>laud. In this signitication it is on tiie list of proliibited words in some of our newspaper otlices. '" The following rules are indorf,li- THE VERBALIST. 83 tiite and to vmki'. " This quality is of prinir importance when the chief object is ' • Aucuavatk. Is being bulit. A t()lerable idea of the st.ite of the dis- cw-siion re .u'diiig flio propriety of using the locution is hei>icj huiU, and all Wo; expressions, will, it is hoped, be obtained fi.nn the following extracts. The Rev. Peter Bullions, in hia " Ijirannnar of the En.:;Iif>h T;anguage," says: o4r TJIE VEUDALIST. " There is pi'oporly no passine form, in English, corre- syjoudiv'j to the. jn'o;/re.mve form in the actire voice, except ■wiicre it, is mailc by tlie participle in;i, in the passive scn.se, tiins, ' Tiie house is buiklia^'; 'The ga;nients are niuking'; •Wlieat is selling,' etc. An attempt lias been made by .some grammarians, ol' late, to banisli such expressions from the language, thongii they have been used in all time past by the licst Mriters, au'i to justify and defend a olumsy solecism, wiiich has been recently introduced chiefly through the news- ]«p(!r prc^s, bat wiiioli lias gained such currency, and is becuv;;rc.s.s/? • yo/v/i of the verb to ht and no need of it; hem" . 're is uo. su.'h expression in English as is hrliKj, Of cour.-' Uie ex|U'e3- si:ia ' /.s hihnj l)iiilt,' for example, is not a conijMinnd of is hehuf ami hni't, but of /-and he'in[i haVt ; that iy, of the verb to be and the jn'eaent lyrth'tple }Ki) books a! e i.ow -being sold.'" — (Joold Brown. ' A& to tiiu notion of mtroaucing a new and nioic complex pa.-ai\e S6 THE V EBB A LIST. form of conjugation, aa, "The hvulge h being hnilt" 'T\\e bridge was being built," and so forth, it is one of the most absiu'd and monstrous innovations ever thought of. "The ■work is now being ))iih/ifi/ied," is certainly no better English than, "The work was being publitihed, has been being jmb- lixhed, had 1)een being published, shall or will be being jnib/ished, shall or will hare been being jmblislied," and so on through all the moods and tenses. Wliat a language we shall have when our verbs are thus conjugated!' — Brown's 'Gr. of English Gr,,' p. 301. De War observes : ' The participle in ing is also passive in many instances; as, "The house is building," "I heard of a plan forming,"' etc. — Quoted is 'Frazee's Gram- mar,' p. 4!). ' It would be an absurdity, indeed, to give up the only way we have of denoting tlie incomplete state of , action by a passive form (viz., by the participle in ing in the passive sense).'— Arnold's 'English Grammar,' p. 40. 'The present participle is often used passively ; as, "The ship is building." The form of expression, i$ being built, is being conii U(d, etc., is almost universally condenmed by gram- marians, but it IS sometimes met with in respectable writers; it occurs most frequently in newspaper paragraphs and in hasty compositions. Hee Worcester's " Universal and Criti- cal Dictionary.'" — Weld's 'Grammar,' pp. US and 180. 'When we say, " The liouse is building," tlie advocates of the new theory ask, " Building Mluit?'' We miglit ask. in turn, wlien you .say, "The field ploughs well," — "Tlouglis what?" "Wheat sells well,"— "Sells what?" If usnge allows us to say, "Wheat sells at a dollar," in a sense that is rot active, why may we not .say, "Wheat is selling at a dollar," in a sense that is not active?' — Hart's 'Grannnav,' p. Hi. ' 'i'!u) jirevailing practice of the best autiiors is in favor of the simple form ; as, " The house is building." ' — Wells' ' School Grammar,* p. 148. 'Several other expressions of this sort THE VERBA LIST. 8: now and tl;en occur, such rh the iicw-faiigh.d and most un- couth sohi'cisin, "/« hr'ntij (/oiic," for the good old English idiou' "is doiiKf" — an absurd periphrasis driving out a pointed and pithy turn of the Englisli language.' — *N. A. Heview,' quoted by Mr. W.-lls, p, 148. 'Tlic phraso, "i** being built," and others of a similar kind, have been for a few years in- sinuating themselves into our language; still they are n^t English.' — Harrison's 'Rise, Progress, and Present Structure of the English Language.' 'This mode of expiession [the house is being built] is l)eeonung quite common. It is liable, however, to several important objections. It appears formal and pedantic. It has not, as far as 1 know, the support oi any respectable grammarian. The easy and natural expres- sion is, "The house h building.'"— Prof. J. W. Gibbs." Mr. Richard (irairt White, in Ins "Words and Their Uses," expresses his opinion of the locution is being in this wise: " In bad eminence, at the head of those intruders in language which to many persons seem to be of established respectability, but the right of which to be at all is not fully admitteil, stands out the form of speeoli is being done, or rather, is being, wiiich, about seventy or eighty years ago, began to affront tiie eye, torment the ear, and assault the common sense of tlie speaker of plain and idiomatic English." Mr. White devotes thirty pages of his book to the discussion of the subject, and adduces eviilence that is more than suffi- cient to convince tliosc who are content with an tv parte examination that " it can hardly be that such an incongruous and ridiculous form of speech as is being done was contrived by a man who, l)y any stretch of the name, should bo included among grammarians." Mr. (George P. Marsh, in his " Lectures on the English Language," says that the deviser of the locution in question was "some frrammaticnl pretender," and that it is " ii 88 THE VEnnAIJST. iiwkwanl ne.oln'j;ism, wliicih neitlier convotiir'K!*', intelligi- bility, nor syntactical t'OMLcruily (Icniandn." To tho;=e geiitlcm(!n, and to those wlu) iuh; of tln-ir way of thinking. with regard to in lichnj, \)i\ I'it/cdward il.ill ivplics at some length, in an article puhlishud in "Scjil)uer's Monthly," for April, 1872. Dr. Hall writes: " 'AH really well educateil in tiic J-Inglish ton,L'ue lament the many innovations introduced into our language from America ; and I doulit if more than one of these novelties de- serve acceptation. That one is, aubstitnting a compound participle for an active verb nsed in a neuter .signilication: for instance, "The house is hrliKj biii't," instead of, "The house is buildiiuj." ^ Such is the assertion and such is the opinion of some anonymous luminary,* who, for his liberality in welcoming a supposed Aineiicanism, is somewhat in ad- vance of the herd of his countrymen. Almost any popular expression which is considered as a novelty, a IJriton is pntty certain to assume, oll'-hand, to have originated on our side of the Atlantic. Of the ai-.sortion I have quoted, no proof is offered; and there is little probability that its antluir iiaduny to oifer. 'Are being,' in tlie plvrase 'are being thrown up,''> is spoken of in 'The Novth American ileview'i as 'an out rage upon English idioin, "to be detested, abhoried, exe crated, and given over to six thousand" pcnny-p'i per editors', and the fact is, that phrases of the form here pointed at have hitherto enjoyed very much leys favm* with us than with the Knglirih. *"L. W. K., CLK., LUD., EX. S,.H., T. O. U. 0( IU\. luvorcii.i ;;i,'iitk'iiiaii',s |iii~i)hiiiity I know iiotliiiii,'. lie lidcs not say cxae- ly « h,it lu! iiiiaiis; l)iit what ho mciiis is, vol;, uiinii-iukaijio. Tlio uxtraci. j^iicu abovu is t'ruiii •Puidic Uiiiiiioii,' January id, l>tiO." t ''Tin; aiialyiMS, taken for jiiantcil in tliis (niDfatidii, of 'are I'n'iij; brown up' into 'aio bcin^' and 'thrown up' will be dealt witli in vlxa fcqucl, and .siiown to be untenable." ,;' I'Vol. .\iv, p. nOi (U:,37).'- Tin: vnujiALisT, 89 "As lately as ISOO, Dr. Worcester, referring to /« hcinq Jmilt, etc., wluli! acknowledging that ' tliis new form has Leen used l)y Koim' respo'tahlo writers,' speaks of it as having 'been introduced-' 'within a few years.' Mr. Ricluird Grant White, by a most pccuiar process of ratiocination, encleavors to prove tli;it what J>i-. W'urccyter calls 'tliis new form' came into o.xisteuee just Iifty-8i\ years ago. He premises that in Jarvis's trannlatinn of 'Don Quixote,' publiiih^d in 174'2, tliere occur.s 'were carrying,' and tliat tiiis, in tiie edition crt' ISIS, is sojildstieatud into 'wei'o l)oing carried.' 'Tliis change,' continues our logician, ' and the appearance of w Ih'.Iu'J with a perfect particijile in a very few books publlslied between A. D. ISIT) and 1820, indioatc the former period as tiiat of tlie origin of thi;i pliraseology, wliich, altliungh more than half a century old, is still pi'onounced a novel Ly as well as a nuisance.' "Who, in the next place, devised our modern imperfect passive ? The question is not, originally, of my asking ; but, as the harned are at open feud on the suVtject, it should iiot be passed by in silence. Its deviser is, more tlian likely, as undi.scoverable as the naiiit; of the valiant antediluvian who fii'st tasted an oyster, liut the deductive chai'ucter of the miscreant is another thing ; and hereon there is a war be- tween the philosophers. Mr. G. P. Mar.sh, as if he had actually spotted the wretched creature, passionately and categorically denouiu;es him as 'some grammatical pretender.' 'IJnt.' ri'plies Mr. White, 'that it is the work of any gram- marian is more than dou])tful. Grammarians, with all their faults, do not deform language with fantastic solecisms, or even s^eck to em'ich it with new and startling verba! ccinbina- tioni;. They rather resist novelty, and devote themselves to formulating that which use has already established,' lu the 90 THE VERBALIST, same pngc with this, Mr. White compliments the groat unknown as 'soipe precise and foi'hle-minded soul,' and else%vi)L'ie calls him ' aome ijcdantic writer of tlie hist genera- tion.' To add even one woi'd touiird a solution of the knotty point hero indicated transcends, I confess, my utmost competence. It is painful to picture to one's self the agonizing emotions with which certain philologists wouhl cont(;ni|-)late an authentic elligy of the Attila of speech who, by his i.s Ix imj built or is beiiuj done., first oll'ered violency to tiie whole circle of the proprieties. So far as I liave observed, llie first grammar that exhibits them is that of Air. Jl. S. Skillern, M.A., the first edition of wiiich was pnl)lislic'd at (Jlcuceater in 1802. Ivohert S(jutliey liad not, on tlie 9tli of October, 1795, been out of his miuority quite two months when, evi- dently delivering himself in a way that had already become familiar enough, he tvrote of *a fellow whose uttermost upper grinder is belthj lorn out, by the roots by a iniitton-n«ted barber.'* Tliis is in a letter. But repeated instances of the same kind of expression are seen iu Southey's graver writings. Thus, in his 'Colloquies,' etc., f we read of ' such [nunneries] as at this time are bein(j re.'^stabH-^hed.'' *' 'Wliile my hand was hein. IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 4 A {/ :/. % ^ 1.0 I.I Uim |Z5 S !|^ IIIIM ^ 1^ illlM 1.8 11.25 mil 1.4 IIIIII.6 <^ /a ^. <^1 ^» w /A Photographic Sciences Corporation n WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, NY. 14580 (716) 872-4503 92 TUK VI':!!1:MJST. aiMs,* 'that the foiin h hi'liiij ilouf, is hfiiit/ matff, i-ihrinij l)ni/t, lacks tlie support of autlmritative usag(^ from the period of the earliest chissioal English to the presint day.' I fully concur witii Mr. White in regarding 'neitiier "Tiie Brooklyn Eagle" nor Mr. Diekens ;i3 a very high authority in the use of language"; yet, when he has renounced the aid of tliese contemned straws, wliat has he to rest his ii.ference on, as to the present day, but the practice of Lord Maeaulay and 'The Atlantic Monthly'? Tiiose who think fit will bow to the dictatorship here prescribed to them ; out there may be tho.se with whom the classic sanction of Southey, CoU'rilge, and Landor, will not V»e wholly void of weight. All scholars are aware that, to convey the sense of the imperfects pa.'-sive, our ancestors, centuries ago, prefixed, witli In, etc., in, afterward corrupted into a, to a \erbd substantive. ' Tiie iionse in in hitihroKj' co\\\{\ be taken to mean nothing but a'dci ndijirantur; and, when tlio in gave place to a,t it was still manifest enough, from the context, that hui/dlnij was governed by a preposition. The second stage of change, however, namely, when the a was omitted, entailed, in m.iny cases, gnat danger of confusion. In the early part of the last century, when English was undtirgoing what was then thought to bo purification, the polite world sul)stantially resigned is a-huihliiuj to the vulgar. Toward tiie close of tlie same century, when, under the intluence of free thought, it began to be felt that even ideas had a right to faithful antl une- quivocal representation, a just re.sentment of ambiguity was evidenced in the creation of is hrimj built. The la?H( nt is too late that the instinct of reformation did not restore the old form. It has gone forever; and we are now to make the best •"'Words,' etc., p. 340." t"Thi'iiias Fuller writt's: 'At his arriv.il, the la.st Htiike of Ww Chris* Hans \v;i8 (in losimj,'—' The llistorie of the Holy Warre,' \k 21"^ (. d. I(il7.) 77//; ''ERHALIST. 9.1 of its Ruccessora. ' "Tlie Imisa is/onfiii;/," ' in the opinion ut Dv. Johnson, is 'a vicious expression, probalily cunuptfjd from a plirast! ni(jro puro, })nt now .snnuu hat oh.«oh.'ti;, . . . "tiie brass <.s (i/oi'ckford wrote as follows or tiic fortune t'Olors of Lisbon : '/ sun) one (/r"jiii)i;/ intoiifi/it, a-i 1 passed by tiie nii;is of a palace thrown dt)wn by tlif uarthquake. Whetiier a fanuliar of the Inquisition was ;;rii)ing iier in his clutches, or wIulIk r alif wan Idkhni to acrouiit by som (iMi/'puiiilc/ volnnj, I will not pretend ;o answer.' Are the expre-^siona here italicized either pei- spieuous or graceful? Whatever we are to iuive in tiieir place, we shouhl be thankful to get quit of thein. " Inasnuich MS, concurrently with liiiildiiuj for the active participle, ami hi iixj built for the corresponding passive puti- ciple, we possessed the former, with m prefixed, as the active present imperiect, it is in rigid accordance with tlie symmetry of our verb tliat, to construct the passive present imperfect, we pretix l-i to the latter, producing the form in beiit;/ liuUt. Such, in its greatest simplicity, is the procedure which, as •will be seen, hab provoked a very levanter of ire and vililica- tion. I'ut anything that is new will be excepted to by minds of a certain order. 'I'lieir trenudous and impatient dirad of removing ancient lanchuarks e\cn disijualitiis them for tliur- onghly investigating its cliaiacter and pretcnsicns. In liiis built ami iri/f bii'tl, we lind tlie active participle perfect and the active inlinitive s\ibjoincd to auxiliaries ; and m), in /lu.-i ' been luii/l ami «•/// bi- built, the passix e particiidc perfect and he pudve inlinitive arc subjoined to auxiliarios. In /x buililiiKj and in beinj built, we have, iu strict harmony with 04 TllK VElinALLVr. tlm cnnsti'tiition of the perfect and future tenses, an auxiliary followerl by the active participle present and the pafisive p:irtiriplo pi-esi-nt. Bit'ilt is detcrmiiieil as active or passive l>y the verbs wjiicli (lualify it, have and be : and the gram- marians arc rigiit in consiilering it, wlien embodied in haa hnilt, as active, since its aniil();4Uc. emhndied in hiu Iicpii built, is the exclusively passive beoi buiU. J^»cside8 this, has befit + hitUt would signify something like has existed, built,* which is plainly neuter. We are dcb.'irreit." t"S;imufi1 Ixi" hnrdson writr^ : '.lonny, who attends me here, has more than onro hitiiid to mo that Miss .Iirvis loven to Hit tip late, either v'Milin;,' or liri,i<;i mill to by Antif. who, thoii'.'h she reads well, ia not lond ol thtraHk.'— ' Sir CbarleN Craiiilisoii,' \ol. iii, p. 4ti (.d. 1754). "The transition is very aliKht by wtiich we pa>8 from 'nits belnjj nad to' to 'Ubtiin^ read to.'" THE VEfUlA LIST. 95 "'One who fa heinf] henfen* is, to Archbishop Whatcly, 'iiiicouth English.' ' "The bridge hi being huiff," and other nlirasoH of tlie like kind, hixva piiined tlie eye' of Mr. David Booth. Suoli pill acH, according to Mr. M. Harrison, * are not Hngli^ih,' To l*iofos-or J. W. Oibbs 'this mode of ex- pression . , . appears formal and pedantic'; and 'the easy and natural expre-^sion is, "The house ?.s huihliiuf." '* In all this, Httle or nothluL; is discernible! beyond sheer prejudice, thf prejudice of those n-ho resolve to take their stand against an innovation, regardless of its utility, and who are ready to find an argument against it in any random epithet of dis- paragement provokeil by unr2asoiiing aversion. And the more recent denouncers in the same line have no more reason ou their side than their elder brethren. •'In Mr. Marsh's estimation, is Iicinrj built illustrates 'corruption of language' ; it is 'clumsy and uuidiomatic'; it is 'at best but a philological coxcombry'; it 'is an awkward neologism, which neither convenience, intelligibility, nor syntactical congruity demands, and the use of which ought, therefore, to be discountenanced, as an attempt at the artificial improvement of the language in a point which needed no amendment.' Again, 'To reject' is building in favor of the modern phrase ' is to violate the laws of language by an arbitrary change ; and, in this peculiar case, the proposed stibititute ia at war with the genius of the I']ngli3h tongue.' Mr. Marsh sicms to have fincied that, wiierever he points ,>ut a bi'anty in i)* hnildlnj, he points out, inclusively, n. blemish in in being built, " The fervor and feeling with which Mr. Whitf advances to the charge are altogether tropical. ' The full absurdity of •"I .1.11 horo itidobted to the last edition of Dr. Worcester's 'Dio* tiouary,' preface, p. xxxix." m THE VL'/iiiA/JST t'ii-< phrase, tlie essence, of its noiisiinse, Keeins not to havt lioen hitherto poiiitnl out.' It is not N'onsLsteiit with reason'; iinl it is not ' confoniiL'd to tin; nonuHl (levt'Iopnicut of the hingiiage.' It is 'a n;uiistrosity, tiie illogioai, cotifu-,ini;, in- r tciir.ito, uniilionintic ch iractcr of whicli 1 have at Honio 1 n^tli, but yet iniiM'i-fuotly, set fuiili.' J'iiuilly, 'In f.ict, it i;ie:in8 notiiiny, and is tlie most iiieongruous eonil)ination of words and idt'as tliat ever attained respectable >isai;e in any I :vili/(;d lan^'ua;,'e.' 'J'in.'se l)e 'prave 'ords" ; and it seeins B i'lty that so niucii sterling vituperative uniiiiiuiiti'.n should bo lApeniled in vain. And that it is so expended thinks Mr. White himself ; for, though passing sentenee in the spirit of !i .lelFieys, he is not really on the jiid_'iMcnt seat, but on the lowest hassock of de8i)air. As comerns the mode of expres- sion exeniplilied bj' i« brln'j hiti/f, he owns that 'to check its tlillusion would be u hdjude-ss undeitaking.' If so, why not reserve hini-,«. If for service against some evil not avowedly beyoml remedy? "Again we read, '.Some precise anurpi)se. When we say, "Ifc, htiinj fore- warned of danger, lied," we say, "lie, ejusfiiKj forewarned of ♦ " • Words ami their Uses,' n. :!Vl." ^" ' It ill hfiifi is i-iin|i]y t(jf..'i; to it is. Aiitl, in llio siuijioscd rorre« FJiOlidiliK- I,.'itJi JillKl-^fs ,iit:J((rli'ii int. riin tvtlinfiiliiii txt (lilt.- idj-nlt'tCMCsV of (//J* nn a |ia'tile 111 illy "^liiiildl', tlio iiiDiistn s ty in not iii tlic use i' of i.< wiih liiiitij, tlic iiiukiii); of the vcib to ( r ac(;iii|i;cMiii'iit to itu'lf. — //''i'., (>]> .">.•, lij'\ " Ani'iui'Mtly. Mr. Whilr roro ;ii'Zo-< no more difcrtMire Iirtwceii si/n- plt'Vhvl iiU'l •■■■iniiitiiii'tii ili.iii li rtirouiiizcs lii;twci:ii l/v ui.il '\Li.', fioin p ;{,');t."' THE VERBALIST. (lanjrer, fled." When we say that a thing is clone, we pay that it exUtu (lone. . . , Is heimj done is ssiniply exiMi^ exiKthnf done.' But, since is and exists are equipollent, and so beimj and existinif, is hriiiij is the same as the unimpoaohiible is e.ristin(}. Q. non E. 1). Is (:iisli-^(j ouj^ht, of course, to])o no less ol)jcctional)le to Mr. Wliite than i.s hein'j. Just as absurd, too, should ho reckon tlio Italian sono stato, era stato, sia etalOy/ossi stato, snro stato, sarei stato, essere stato, and ess'ndo stato. For in Italian both esspre an., stare are required to make up the verb substantive, as in Latin botli esse and the ofTspriag oi fuere are required; ami stare, primarily 'to stand,' is modified into a trnc anxiliary. Tlie alleged 'full absurdity of this phraso,' to wit, is bein'j hui't, ' the essence of its nonsense,' vanishes tinis into thin air. So I was about to comment bluntly, not forgetting to regret that any gentle- man's cultivation of logic should fructify in the shape of irrepressible tendencies to suicide. But this would be pre- cipitate. Agreeably to one of Mr. White's judicial placita, which I mcake no apology for citing twice, ' no man who has preserved all his senses will doubt for a moment that " to exist a mastiff or a mule " is absolutely tlie same as "to be a mastiff or a mule."' Declining to admit their identity, I have not preserved all my senses; and, accordingly — though it may be in me the very superfetation of lunacy — I would caution the reader to keep a sharp eye on my arguments, hereabouts particularly. The Cretan, who, in declaring all Cretans to be liars, left tlie question of his veracity doubtful to all eternity, fell into a pit of his own digging. Not unlike the unfortunate Cretan, Mr. White has tuml)led headlong into his own snare. It was, for the rest, entirely unavailing that he insisted on the insanity of Lhoso wlio should gainsay fundamental postulate. Sanity, of a crude sort, may accept it; and sanity may put it to a use other than i s propounder's. THE VElinALIFiT. 99 "Mr. NFarsh, after setting forth the all-sufliiioncy of i» hnUdhirj, in the passive souse, goes on to say : 'The reformers who object to the pliraso I am defending must, in consii^tency, employ tlie proposed substitute witli all passive participles, and in other tenses as well as the present. They must say, therefore, "The subscription-paper is beimj r/i/xsw/, but I know that a considerable sum is bfinpare in a way now become anoninlous. And as our forefathers treated tlieir ad- verbs we still treat many adjectives. Furthermore, obliijing- ness, preparedness, and deslijnedly seem quite natural ; yet we do not feel that they autliorize us to talk of ' the seeinrjuess of the eye,' * the understoodneini-d by i» biiiklhuj, ai I'uwily to l)c pickod out of cxtaiil litciatiiu' an bucIi iimtaiiuef of tlie new foiin, liktly evir to lie iim il, ;uf to ha iiivfiituai ison with expres- sions of thj foimer pattern, tlntse of the latter are 'unrontli,' 'clumsy,' 'awkwai'd neologisms,' 'philological eoxcomiuies,' •formal and ptTlan tic,' 'incongruous and ridiculous forms of speech,' 'illogical, confusing, inaccurate monstrosities.' More- over, they are neither 'consistent with reason' nor 'conformed to the norniMl development of the language'; tiiey are 'at war with the genius of the l^iiglish tongue'; they are 'nnidioma- tic'; they are 'not Englisii.' In passing, if Mr. ^b^rsh will Bo define the terni uniiliomalic us to evince that it has any aijplicability to the case in hand, or if he will uncst and photograph 'the genius of the J'liMjIish tongue,' so that wo may know the original when we meet with it, he will confer VICTORIA COLLEGE LIBRARY VICTORIA, B. C. THE VEltli..,.iy>T. 101 a public favor. Ami now I 8ul)mit for consideration wliothnr tiio m)U) Htnjiigth of tho.sc who dfcry in heimj hiii/t, iiml ita con- j^cnors (lo('.s not con.sist in their tiilont for cjilling hard nunius. If they havo nut an uneasy suhconHcioustjeas tliat their cause Im weak, they would, at least, do well in eschewing the vio- lence to which, for want of aon>ething better, the advocates of weak cauaea proverbially resort. "I once had a friend who, for some niicroucopic penumbra of heroay, was cliarged, in the words of his accuser, with 'as near an apprwich to the sin a^^ainst the Holy Ghost as is practicable to liuman infirmity.' Similarly, on one view, the feeble potencies of philological turpitude seem to have ex- hibited tiieir most consummate realization in engendering is beinrj built. The supposed enormity perpetrated iu its pro- duction, provided it liad fallen witliin the sphere of ethics, would, at the least, havo ranked, with its dcnunciatois, as a brand-new exemplitication of total depravity, liut, after all, what incontestable defect in it has any one succeeded in demonstrating ? Mr. White, in opposing to the expression objections based on an erroneous analysis, simply lays a ph.antom of his own evoking; and, eo far as I am informed, otiier impugners of in hpiiuj hui't havo, absolutely, no argu- ment whatever against it over antl beyoml their repugnance to novelty. Subjected to a little untroubled contemplation, it would, I am confident, havo ceased long ago to be matter of controversy; but the dust of prejudice and pasdon, which 80 distempers the intellectual vision of theologians and poli- ticians, is seen to make, with rutiiless impartiality, no excep- tion of the perspicacity of philologists. "Prior to the evolution of in hci/nj built and was hpincj builtf ■we possessed no discriminate equivalents to (jetlijicalur and tedijicabatur ; is built and vhis built, by wliich they were rendered, corresponding exactly to ndijicatus eM and cedijica- lO'i THE VERBALIST. tua erat. Cum adificaretnr was to us tlie same as cedificnhatnr. On the wealth of the Greek in expressions of imperfect passive I need not dwell. With rare exceptions, the liomans were satisfied V ith the prcHeiit-iinperfcct and the past -imperfect; and we, on the comjuiratively few occasions which present themselves for expressing other imperfects, shall be sure to huve recourse to the old forms ratlier than to the new, or else to use periphrases.* The purists may, accordingly, dismiss their apprehensions, especially as the neoteriats have, clef.i.y, a keener horror of phraseological ungainliness than them- selves. One may have no hesitation about saying 'the house is beinrj huiU,' and may yet recoil from saying that 'it should have been hehvj hiiilt last Christmas'; and the same person — just as, provided ho did not feel a harshness, inadequacy, and ambiguity in the passive 'the house is huildlnfj,' he would use the expression — will, more likely than not, elect is in prepara- tion preferentially to is being prepared. If there are any who, in their zealotry for the congruous, choose to adhere to the new form in its entire range of exchangeability for the old, let it be hoped that they will find, in Mr. Marsh's speculative approbation of consistency, full amends for the discomfort of encountering smiles or frowns. At the same time, let them be mindful of the career of Mr. White, with his black flag and no quarter. The dead Polonius was, in Hamlet's phrase, at supper, 'not where he eats, but where heis eaten.* Shake- speare, to Mr. White's thinking, in this wise expressed him- self at the best, and deserves not only admiration therefor, but to be imitated. ' While tho ark ions built,' 'while the ark * '"But tliosc thintrs which, being not now doinij, or Jiavijijr not yet bpcn done, h;ivo a natural aptittnlo to exixt hereafter, may lie properly said to appertain to the fuliiro.' — Harris's ' Horiiies,' book J, chap, viii (p. l.'iri, footnote, ed. 1771). l''or Harris's beimj not imw (huwi, whieh is to translate (u.t) yivofxeva, the n»odern school, if they pursued unifoiinity with more of fidelity than of taste, would have to put beiu'j not now beinij done^ There is not much to choose between the two." TIIK V Eli n A LIST. to» wofi prepnrrd,^ writes Mr. Wliite himself.* Shakespeare is coniiiiumlcd for his ainhi),'U(»u3 in ca/en, th()u;;h in eatiiKj or an euliiKj wuuM h;ive lu'cu •. only correct in iiin (hiy, but, whrro they wouM have coiiio in hi- sentence, univocal. WiUi • qiiiil reason a man woultl l»o ■'nt tied to coniinendation tor tearing hia uiutton-chops with hitj HngerH, when lie mi;,'lit cnt them up witli a Unite and fork. '/«n3' become, all of a Hiuldcn, a *u'rUer\' the exerllons have done more than 'any othei' writer' ; for, mind yon, it is not the (jentleman that has done anything; it is 'the esertiona^ that Aat>e done what is said to be done. The v/ord (jciithman is in the possessive case, and has nothing to do with the action of the sentence. Let us give the sentence a turn, and the Doctor and the grammarian will hear how it will sound. 'This gentleman s exertions have done more than any other writer.' Thia is on a level with ' This gentleman's f/0.7 has killed more hares than any other sportte, it would be to belong to a very advanced school to refer to them in conversation as '!""n and women,' while it would be all but vulgar to style them •ladies and gentlemen,' the compromise between the two being to speik of tliem as 'ladies and men.' Tims a lady wouhl say, '1 have asked two or tiiree ladies and several men'; she would not say, *1 have asked several men and women'; neither wouhl she say, 'I have asked several ladies and gentlemen.' And, speaking of numbers, it would be very usual to say, 'There were a great many ladies, and but veiy few men present,' or, 'The ladie? were in t'- ' majority, so few men being present.' Again, a lady would not say, 'I expoct THE VERBALIST. 109 two or three men,' but she woiiM say, 'I expect two or three gentlcuicn.' Wlion people are on ceremony with each other [one another], tlicy niiglit, poihaps, in spc.ikingof a man, call him a (jeidlenutn; but, otherwise, it would be more usual to speak of him as a num. Ladies, when speaking of each other {one another], usually employ the tenn vr.mnn in preftreiice to that of /(/(/y. Thus they wo\dd say, 'She is a very good- natured voni'in,^ 'Wiiat soit of u tvoman ia eheV the tcim lady being eutinly out of place under such circumstances. Again, the term young ladi/ gives pla«e as far as possible to the term >fir/, although it greatly depends upon the amount of intimacy existing as to wliich term is employed." Language. A note in Worcebtcr's Dictionary says: '^Language is a very general ' "m, and is not strictly con- fnied'to utterance bj' words, as it is also expressed by the countenance, by the eyes, and by signs. Tongue refers especially to an original language; as, 'the Hebrew tongue.' Tht modern languages are derived from the original tongues.^' If this be correct, 'then he who speaks French, German, Eng- lish, Spanish, and Italian, maj' properly say that he speaks five languages, but only one tvitgue. Lay — Lie. Errors are frequent in the use of these two irregtilar verbs. Lnj/ is often used for lie, and He is some- times used for lay. This confusion in their use is due, i"» some measure, doubtless, to the circumstance that lay appears in both verba, it b( ing the imperfect tense of to lie. We say, "A mason l((i/s bricks," "A ship lies at anchor," etc. " 1 must lie down" ; "I must hi;/ myself down "; "I must la;/ this book on the table"; "He lien on the grass"; "He/a.vshis plans well"; "Ho lay on the grass"; "He laid it away"; "He has /«//? in bed long enough"; "He has laid tip sums money," "in a stock," "dori'ii the law"; " He is /a^tiV.gr out the grounds"; "Shi|is He at the wharf"; "Ilcns/oy Pggs"; 110 THE VERBALIST. '1 h 3 ship lay at ' The hen laid an ItwiU anc/ior bo SL-eu that lay always expresses transitive action, and that tie expreSfies rest. •'Here lies our sovereign lord, the king. Whose word no man relies on; He never says a foolish thing, Nor ever does a wise one." — Written on the bedchamber door of Charles II. by the Earl of Rochester. Learn. This verb was long ago nsed as a synonym of teach, but in this sense it is now obsolete. To teach is to give instruction; to learn is to take itistruction. "I will leaiti, if you will t:ach me." See Teach. Lsavo. There are grammarians who insist that this verb shouM not be used without an object, as, for example, it is used in such sentences as "When do you leave?" "I leave to-morroAV." Tiie object of the verb — home, town, or what- ever it may be — is, of course, under -tood ; but this, say these gentlenrm, is not pormissiijlo. On this point^^opinions will, I tliink, differ; they will, however, not differ with regard to the vul'^'arity of u^ing /acre in the sense of let; thus, "Leave mo l)e"; '' Li-rrr it alone": ^' Leave her be — don't bother her"; " Lea ir \ui' fnv. it." Lend. See Loan. LeiiSthy. I'hlr-! word is of comparatively recent origin, and, tliDUp'i it JH f-aid to bo an Aniericanism, it is a good deal usj,l in Ivigia 1 I. Tiie m.).-;t careful writers, however, lioth here and elsewhn e, mi 'h prefer the word louj: ''a. long dis- cnsyion,'' "a ionj /!i il comparison is called a metaphor; it is a mure terse fnnii uf expression tlan a simile. Take, for cxami)le, this sentence from iSpenacr's "Philo80])hy of Style": " As, in passing tlivongh the crystal, beams of wiiite light are decomposed into the colors of tlie raiidiow ; so, in tiaversing tlie soul (>f the poet, the cohnUss rays of truth are trans- forn\e(l into Itrightly-tiiitcd poetry." Expressed in meta- phors, this bceomei : "'J'Ih! white light of truth, in traversing the many-sided, transparent Boul of the poet, ia refracted into iris-iiued piH'try." Woro.'stei'"s dchnition of a r/ufa/ihor is: "A figure of speech founded on the re8eml)laiiee which one ol)ject is sup- posed to bear, in sonie rcsj ect, to another, or a Hgure by which a \ ord is transfeirod from a subject to which it pro- perly lielongs to another, in such a manner that a comj'cuuson t« imjiliul, (houijh not jhrirml/i/ e.r/iroo'ed ; a comparison or iniile comprised in a word ; as, ' Tiiy word is a idriip to my eet.'" A ;H»/a////or iliflers from a *i»iVr<;/- moon " is a vu'ta/'lior; "the Uioon is l)riglit as silver" is a simile. Examples: "But look, the morn, in russet mantle clad, Walks o'or the dew of yon high eastern hill.'* "Canst thou not minister to a mind diseased — Pluck from tiie memory a rooted sorrow?" THE VEIinALlST. 117 " At Icngtli Eiasinua Stemmod the wild torrent of ii baihaions ago, Anil flrovo tlio.si; lioly Vandals off the stai^c' •'Ccnsiiic is tlie tax a man pays to the ijublic for being eminent." Metonymy. Tiie rhetorical figure that puts the effect for tiie cause, the cause for the elFcct, tlie container for the tliinii contained, tiio sign, or symbol, for tho thing signilied, or tiu! in-itrument for the agent, is called ;ni/(»ii/ni,i/. "One very common species of metoni/nnj is, when the badge is put for tlie office. Thus we say the miter for the priesthood ; the crown for royalty' ; for Jnilitary oi(nipation we say the Hironl ; and for tlie literary professions, tliose especially of theology, law, and physic, the common exjprea- sion is the (jown" — Campbell. Dr. Quackenbos, in his "Course of Composition and Rhetoric," says: '* Mttoni/in;/ is the exchange of names be- tween tilings related. It is founded, not on resemblance, but on the relation of, 1, Cause and effect; as, ' They have vl/osi?* and the ])roj)hels,' i.e., tlmir writings; 'Cray /«a/r,'} should be respected,' i.e., old age. 2. Progenitor and posterity; as, 'Hear, Israel !' i.e., descemlants of Jarael. it etlectually nailed to tlie counter"; "it ia most undeuiable that," etc. This word ia much, and very erroneously, used for almost. "He comes here most every day." The user of such a sen- tence as this moans to say that he comes nearly every day, but he reallji says, if he says anything, that he comes more every day than he does every night. In such sentences almost, and not most, is the word to use. Mutual. This word is much misused in the phrase "our mutual friend." Macaulay says: ^^ Mutual friend is a low vulgarism for common friend." Mutual properly relates to two persons, and implies reciprocity of sentiment — sentiment, be it wha: it may, received and returned. Tims, we say properly, "Jolin and Junes have a mutual affection, or a lautiiaJ aversion," i.e., t'uey like or dislike each other; or, "John and .James are mutually dependent," i.e., they aic de- pendent on eauh other. In usiug tlie word mutual, care should be taken not to add tijo words for each other or on each othi'r, tlic thought conveyed l)y tliese words being alreaily expressed in the \V()rtl mutual. " Dependent on eacli other" is the exact e(|uivalent of "mutually dependent"; honco, saying that John and James are mutually ilependent on each other is as relunda.it in form as it would be to say tliat the editors of "Tiie Oreal Vililier" are the biggest, greate.'jt mud- slingera in America. THE VERBALIST. 123 Myself. This foi m of the personal pronoun is properly uped in the nominative case only where increased emphasis is aimed at, '' I had as lief not be a live to be In awe of such a thing as I myself." "I will do it mi/scljy "I saw it myself." It is, therefore, in- correct to Kay. "Mrs. Brown and myself were both very much pleased " Name. This word is sometimes improperly used for mention; thus, "I never named the matter to any one": should be, "I never mentioned the matter to any one." Neighborhood. See Vicinity. Neither. See Either. Neither — Nor. "He would neither give wine, nor oil, nor money." — Thackeray. The conjunction should be placed before the excluded object; "neither j/ii-e " implies neither some other verb, a moaning not intended. Re-arrange thus, taking all the common parts of the contracted sentences to- gether: "He would give neither wine, ?Jor oil, 770/' money.'' So, "She can neither help her beauty, ?!or her courage, noi her cruelty" (Thackeray), should be, "She can help neither ^^^ etc. "He had neither time to intercept nor to stop her" (Scott), shouLl be, "He had time neither to intercept," etc. "Some neither can for wits nor critics pass" (Pope), should be, "Some can neither for wits nor critics pass." Never. Grammarians diflcr with regard to the correct ness of using never in such sentences as, "He is in error, though never so wise," "Charm he never so wisely." In sen- tences like these, to say tlie least, it is better, in conunon with the great majority of writers, to use ever. New. This adjective is often misplaced. " He has a neti) suit of clothes and a new pair of gloves." It is not tho suit and the pair that are new, but the clothes and the gloves. 124 THE VERBALIST, Nice. Archdeacon Hare remarks of the use, or rather misuse, of this word: "That stupid vulgarism l)y wliioli wo use the word nice to denote ahnost every mode of appiobation, for almost every variety of quality, and, from sheer poverty of thought, or fear of saying anything (.^finite, wrap up everything indiscriminately in this characterless domino, speaking at the same breath of a nice cheese-cake, a nice tragedy, a nice sermon, a nice day, a nice country, as if a uni- versal deluge of niaise.rie — for nice seems originally to have been only nitm — had wlielmed the wliole island." Nice is as good a word as any other in its place, but its place is not everywhere. We talk very piopeily about a nice distinction, a nice discrimination, a nice calculation, a nice point, and about a person's being nice, and over-?j/ce, and the like ; but we certainly ought not to talk about "Othello's" being a nice tragedy, about Salvini's being a nice actor, or New York bay's being a nice harbor,* Nicely. The very quintessence of popinjay vulgarity is reached when vicrfi/ is made to do service for well, in this wise: "How do you do?" *^ Nicely." "How are you?" "Nicehj" No. This word of negation is responded to by nor in sentences like this: "Let yonr meaning be obscure, and no grace of diction 710?" any music of well-turned sentences will make amends." "Whether he is there or no." Supply the ellipsis, and we have, "Whether he is there or no there." Clearly, the Wurd to use in sentences like this is not no, but not. And yet our best writers sometimes inadvertently use no with whether. *The posHessive construction here is, in my judgment, not impera- tively demanded. Tliere is curtaiiily no lack of authority fijr ]iutting ttio tlirce substantives in the acuusative. The possessive construction teems to nie, however, to be preferable. TUB VERBA LIST. 125 Example: "But pciltups some people are quite indifferent ivhfdher or no it is said," etc. — Richard Grant White, in "Words and Their Uses," p, 84. Supply the t'Uip.sis, and we have, "said or no said." In a little Ijook entitled "Live and Learn," I fuid, "No Ipss than (ifty persons were tliere ; No fewer" etc. In correcting one mistake, the writer himself makes one. It should be, ''Not fewer," etc. If we ask, "The.e were iifty persons there, were tliere or were there not?''' the reply clearlj' would be, "There were?;,o< fewer than fifty." "There was no one of them who would not have been proud," etc., shoi.#l be, "There was not one of them." Not. The correlative of not, when it stands in the first member of a sentence, is nor or neither. "Not for tiiy ivory nor thy gold will I unbind thy chain." "I will ?to( do it, neither shall you." The wrong placing of not often gives rise to an imperfect negation; thus, "John and James were not there," means that John and James were not there in compuni/. It does not exclude the presence of one of them. The negative should precede in this case: "Neither Jolin nor James was there." " Our company was not present" (as a company, ])ut some of us might have been), should be, "No member of our company was present. ' Not — but only. "Errors fiequently arise in the use of not — but onli/, to understand whieli we must attend to the force of the whole expression. ' He did not pretend to extir- pate French music, but onli/ to cultivate and civilize it.' Here the not is obviously misplaced, 'He pielended, or professed, wo< to extirpate.' " — IJain. Notorious. Though this word can not be properly used in any but a bad sense, we sometimes see it used in:r'tead of noted, which may be used in eitiier a good oi l.iad sense. Noloriouti characters are always persons to be shunned, / 126 THE VERBALIST. whereas noted characters may or may uot be persons to be shunned. " This is the tax a man must pay for his virtues — t^iey holtl up a torch to his vices and render those frailties notoii- cis in him which would pas? without observation in anothei." — La'^on. Novice. See Amateur. Number. It is not an uncommon thing for a pronoun m the plural number to be used in connection with an ante- cedent in the singular. At present, the following notice may be seen in some of our Broadway omnibuses: "Fifty dollars reward for the cunvictiou of any person caught colhciing or keeping fares given to tkem to deposit in the box." Should be, to 1dm. " A person may be very near-sighted if they can not recognize an acquaintance ten feet off." Should be, it he. The verb to he is often used in the singular instead of ii» the plural ; thus, " There u several reasons why it would be better": say, ara. "How many is there?" say, are. "There w four": say, are. " Ifas there many?" say, xo^re. "No matter how many there was " : say, were. A verb i^hould agree in number with its subject, and not with its predicate. We say, for example, "Death is the wages of sin," and "The wages of sin are death." "When singular nouns connected by and are preceded by each, every, or no, the verb must be singular," We say, for example, " Eaclt boy and each girl studies." " Every leaf, and every twig, and every drop of water teems with life." "No book and no paper was arranged." EacU being singular, a pronoun or verb to agree with it must alsf> be singular ; thus, "Lot thorn depend each on hits own exertions"; "Each city has its peculiar privileges"; " Everybody has a riglit to look after hit own interest." Errors are often the result of not repeating tlie verb ; THE VERBALIST, 127 thus, "Its significance is as varied as the passions"; correctly, "as are the passions." "The wonls are as incapa])le of analysis as the tiling signified"; cuireutly, " aa u the thing signified." Observe. Tlie dictionaries authorize tlie use of this word as a synonym of say and remark; as, for exiunple, "What did you o/"" ri'e.''" for "Wliatdid you sa//, or re mark?" In this seui-e, liowevcr, it is better to leave observe to tlie exclu- sive use of those who delight in being fine. O'clock, "It is a quarter to ten o'clock.' What does tliis Ktateniont moan, literally ? We understand by it that it lacks a quarter of ten, i. e., of being ten ; but it does not really mean that. Inasmuch as to means toward, it realiy means a ouarter after nine. We should .say, then, a quarter of, whicli means, literally, a quarter out often. Of all others. "The vice of covctousness, of all others, enters deepest into the soul." This sentence says that covet- ousness is one of the other vices. A thing can not be another thing, nor can it be one of a number of other things. The sentence should be, "Of all the vices, covctousness enters deepest into tlic soul"; or, "The vice of covctousness, of all the vices, enters," etc.; or, "The vice of covetousuess, above all others, enters," etc. Of any. Tliis phrase is often used when of aV is meant ; thus, "Tliis is tiie largest 0/ oh »/ I have seen." Should be, "the largest of all," etc. Off of. In such sentences as, "Give me a yard q,(fo/ this piece of calico," either the o//'or the o/is vulgarly superfluous. The sentence would be correct with either one, but not w ith both of them. " The apples fell y// o/the tree": read, "fell q/Tthe tree." Often. This adverb is properly compared by changing its terinii ition: often, oftener, oftenest. Why some writers m i THE VEnUALlST. use more nnd inont to compnre it, it is not easy to so, , this UKule of coiupaiiii;^' it is cortiiiily not eiiplumious. Oh — 0. It is only liie most careful writers who use these two iiito;j(cl.ioiib A. itii proper iliscrimiimtion. The distinc- tion between them is said to l)e modern. Oh is simply an t xchimation, and sliouM always lie followed hy some mark of pnnetuation, usually hy an exclamation point. "Oh ! you are come at last." "(Jh, help him, you sweet heavens!" "Oh, woe is mo !" "Oh ! I die, Horatio." O, in addition to being an cxelanintiou, denotes a calling to or adjuration; tlius, "ilcar, O heavens, and give ear, O earth !" "0 grave, where is thy victory !" "0 heavenly powers, restore him !" " sh;ime ! where is thy blush ?" Older -Elder. "He is tlio oUlor man of the two, and the old tat in the neighborhood." "Ho is the elder of the two sons, and the cUkst of the family." "The elder son is heir to the estate; he is older than his brother by ten years." On to. We got on a chair, on an omnibus, on a stump, and on a sprue, and not on to. One. Certain proneuns cf demotistfative sip'nification are called indeiinite because they refer to no particular sub- ject. This is one of them. Jf we were putting a supposition by way of argument or illustration, we nii'^ht say, "Suppose 1 were to lose my way in a wood"; or, "Supjiose yow were to lose your way in a wood"; or, "Suppo.se one were to lose one's way in a wood." All these forms arc used, but, as a rule, the last is to lie preferred. The firpt verges on egotism, and the second makes free witli another's person, whereas the third is inaiiierent. "If ohp'h honesty were impeached, what should one tlo?" is more courtly than to take cither one's self or the person addressed for the example. One should be followed by one, and not by he. "The better acqual..'.ted out is witli any kind of rhetorical trick, the THE VEliliA LIST. 129 l<«a liable he ia to be misleil by it." Should be, "the less liable one, is to be mislctl by it." In tli« pliiuse, "any of the little ones" one is the numeral employed in the manner of a pronoun, by indicating some- tiling that lias gone before, or, perhaps, has to come after. "I like pi'achus, but I nnist have a I'ipe one, or ripe ones." Professor liain says, in his "Composition Crammar": "This pioiionn continually landa writers in difficulties. Enf,'lish idiom requires tliat, when the pronoun has to be again referred to, it sliDuld be used itself a second time. The cor- rect usage ia shown by Pope: ^One may be ashamed to con- sume half oiie'n days in bringing sense and rliyme together.' It would bo against idiom to say ' half hin days.' "Still, the repetition of tlie pronoun is often felt to be heavy, and writers have recourse to various substitutions. lOven an ear accustomed to the idiom can scarctdy accept with unmixed pleasure this instance from Browning : " ' Alack ! one lies oneself Even in the stating that one's end was truth, Truth only, if une states so much in words.' "The representative '1' or 'we' occasionally acts the part of 'one.' The following sentence presents a curious alterna- tion of 'wo' with 'one' — possibly not accidental (George Eliot) : 'It's a desperately vexatious thing that, after all o»«'« lellections and quiet determinalious, ive should be ruled by moods that one can't calculate on beforehand.' By the use of 'we* here, a more pointed reference ia suggested, while the vagueness actually lemains. " Feniniore Cooper, like Scott, is not very particular ; an example may be quoted: ' Mod'i-jty is a poor man's wealth ; Imt, as we grow sul)-.tantial in the world, patroon, one can niford to begin to speak truth of ////Use// as well as of his neighbour.' Were Cooper a carefiil writer, we might per- 11 130 THE VhlULMJST. siiaile our«olvo3 that lie chose 'we' and 'ono' with u paii>oso : 'we' ini<;lit iiidi-vito that tho spi';iUor had liiiiH.;lf iiiid the patrodii dii'cjlly iu his eye, altljougli at the sumo time lio .vautod to put it geiu!i\dly ; ami 'one' inij^ht hint vluit Mod- esty succocdod in gottiiij^ the better of him. T'ut 'himself and 'Iuh' would alone show that buoh speoulation.} are too .efined for the occasion. "The form ' a n\aii,' which was at ono time common, seems to be revivin:^. lii 'Adam Kc le' wo have, * A man can never do anytliiii .,' at variance with hia own nature.' Wo migiib substitute * one.' "'Men' was moivi l"roqn(!ut in good writing formerly tliaji now, ' Xfcithor do vusit, light a candle, and put it under a buyhol.' 'Do 7n<'ii. gither grap'js of tlionis?' JIume is fouJ of expressing a gLUcud subject by ' men.' * "'Sniill hir.ls are jnuch more e\pos 3!). We often see for used with the subs^tantive i-r , ; ' , the best prac- tice, hoM'ever, u?es n-ilh ; thus, "Wordci can not express the deep sympathy I fceliiv^A you." — Queen Victoria. Party. This is a very good \\on\ in its place, but it is very much out of its place mIkh us^^d — as ic often is by the vulgar — where good taste would use the word person. Patronize. This word and its derivatives would be much less used by the American tradesman than they are, if iio were better acquainted with their true meaning. Then ho \. ould solicit his noi;:,dil)or3' cuMovi, not their patronage. A man can have no 2Mtron8 without incurring obligatinns — without becoming a pntrr/^ ; while a man may have cu^ toniers innumerable, and, instead of placing himself undT obliga- tions to them, he may place them under obligati' • to Mm. Princes are the pat7'P)is of those tradesmen who.v ■ • i 'low ti call tliemselves their purveyors ; as, "John Suiii i, -?;',er- . lasher to H. R. 11. the Prince of Wales." Here the I'-ir e j'ulronizes John Smith, Pell-mell. This adverb mpans mixed or mingled to- gether; as, " Men, horses, chariots, crowtled pclf-mell." It can not properly be applied to an individual. To say, for example, " ]\o rushed pell-mell down the stairs," is as incor- I cut as it woulil be to bay, " He rushed down the stairs niLced lo'jither." Per. This LaHn preposition is a good dv >i' -nd in Fng- lish, as, for examplu, ia such phrases as per day, p r man, per pound, per ton, and so on. In all such cases it is better to uge plain Englidi, n\n\ say, a day, a man, apound, a ton, etc. THE VERBALIST. ISS Per is coiTcct before Latin nonna only ; as, per annum, per (lii'in, per cent., etc. Perform. "Shejoer/ovH^ on the piano beautifully." In how much better taste it is to say simply, "She pluiis the piano well," or, more supe.latively, " exoeedingly well," or "admirably"! If we talk ab'^ut per/onairif/ on laasical in- struments, to be consistent, we siioiild call tiiose who perform, piano-performers, coruet-performers, violiu-performcis, and so on. Perpetually. This vvord is sometimes misused for con- (inualhi. Dr. William Mati)ew.-, in his " NVords, tlieir IJ.se and Abuse," says : " Tlie Irish are per/ ctualhj using 8h ' I for voill." Perpetual means never ceasing, continuing without intermission, uninterrupted ; while conliniial nh ans that which is constantly renewed and roonning with perliaps fre- quent stops and interruptions. As tiie Irish do something besides misuse Hkall, the Doctor should have said that they contlnuaiUf use shall for will. I might perhaps venluro to in- timate that ferpdiial/y is likewise misu!^ed in the foUowing sentence, which I copy from the ** Luudon Queen," if I M'ere not conscious that the monster who can write and print such a sentence would not hesitate to cable a thuiiderbolt at an offender on tlie slightest provocation. Judge, if iny fears are groundless: " But some few people contract the ugly habit of making use of these expressions unconsciously and con- tinually, perpetually interlarding their couversatiou with them." Person. SeePAUxY; also, Individual. Personalty. This word does not, ai some person!? think, mean tlie articles worn on one's person. It is j)roperly a law term, and means peraunal proper! if. " There is but one case ou record of a peer of England leaving over .$7,500,000 personalty." m THE VERBALIST. Personification. That rlietorical ficrure wliich attributes sex, life, or action to inanimate ohji-cts, or ascribes to o])ject3 •and brutes the acts ami qualiliua of rational beings, is called 2ie.rsornJication or prosopopoeia. "The uioiiiitains .■iimj iogelher, the hills rejoice and dap their hmi'ls." "The v/unn, aware of his intent, harangued him thus." " See, Winter comes to rule the varied year. Sullen and sad with all his rising train." — Thomson. "So saying, her rash hand, in evil liour, Forth reaching to the fruit, she phu;ked, she ate 1 Earth felt the wound; and Na' are from her seat, Sighing through all her loorks, gave signs of woe, That all tons lost.'" — Milton. " War and Love are strange compeers. War sheds blood, and Love sheds tears ; War has swords, and Love has darts ; War breaks heads, and Love breaks liearts." " Levity is often less foolish and gravity less wise than each ot them appears." " Tiie English language, by reserving the distinction of gender +'or living beings -that have sex, gives espei'iu,! scope for personification. Tlie liighest form of personitication should be used seldom, and only when justilled by the presence of strong feeling." — iiain. "Knowledge and wis'dom, far from being one, Have ofttimes no connection. Knowledge dwells In heads replete with thoughts of other njen ; Wisdom in minds attentive to tiieir own. Knowledge ia proud that he has loaru'd so much; Wisdi'in is humble that he knows no more." — Cowper. Phenonianon. Plural, phenomena. Plead. Tlie imperfect tense and the perfect participle of THE VERBALIST. nr the verb to plead are both pleaded and not plead. " He pleaded not guilty." "You should huve pleaded yonr cause with more feivor." Plenty. In Worcester's Dictionary we find the following note: '^ Pleiitif is much used colloquially aa an adjective, iu the sense of plentiful, both in this country and in England ; and this use is supported by respectalile authorities, though it is condomned by various critics. Johnson says : 'It is used barbarously, I think, ior 2^teiiii/id' ; and Dr. Campbell, in his •Philosophy of Rhetoric,' siya: ' Pleat n for plenli/al appears fco me so gross a vulgarism that I should not have thought it worthy of a place here if I had not sometimes found it in workf of considerable merit.' " We should say, then, that money is plentifut, and not that it is plenty. Pleonasm. Redundancy or pleonasm is the use of more words than are necessary to express the thought clearly. "They returned back at/ain to the same city from whence they came forth": the five words in italics are redundant or pleou' 'tic. " The different departments of science and of art ?ni</ snatches find fragments, has tiie value of the good work 01 Word:^ worth or Byron."— Matthew Arnold. Shuuld be, "except in snatches." "Taxes with us are collected nearly [almost] solely from real and pergonal estate." — ■ "Appleton's Journal." Taxes ai'e levied o/i estates and col- lected j'rom tlie owners. "Ir I am not coMunen'ied for the beauty of my works, I may hope to be pardoned for their brevity." Coliliett com- ments on this sentence as follows : " Wo may conmiend him for the lieauty of his works, and we may pardon hiui ;br their brevity, if wo deem the brevity a fault; but this is not what 140. THE VERBALIST. he means. He means that, at any rate, he shall have the merit of brevity, 'If I am not conimonded for the bcauly of my works, I may hope to be pardoned on account q/* their brevity. This ia M'hat tlie Doctor meant; but this would have marred a little tiie antithesis: it would have unsettled a little of the balance of that secaaio in which Dr. Johnston so much de- lighted, and which, falling into the hands of novel-writer.: and of members of Parliament, has, by moving unencundieied with any of the Doctor's re,i.son or se-iso, lulled so many thousands asleep! Dr. Johnson created a r.ice of writers and speakers. '!Mr. Speaker, that the state of the nation is very critical, all men will allow ; but that it is wliolly depeiate, few will believe.' When you hear or see a sentence like this, be sure tliat the person who speaks or writes it has been reading Dr. Johnson, or some of his imitators. Dut, ol)serve, tliese imitators go no further tb.au tlie frame of the sentences. They, in general, take care not to imitate the Doctor in know- ledge and reasoning." Tlie rhetoricians would have us avoid such forms of ex- pression as, "The boy went to and asked the advice 0/ his teacher"; "I called on and had a conversation with my brother." Very often the preposition is not repeated in a sentence, when it should ha. We say properly, *' He comes from Ohio or from Indiana"; or, "lie comes e'Uher from Ohio or Indiiina." Prepossess. See Prkjodtcr. Pre^ient— Introduce. I'V-w errors are more common, especially among those v/ho are always straining to bo tine, than that of using ]irestiit, in the social world, instea <1 on his lord.siiip." Procure. This is a v.-nrd much \i8e(l by poople who strive to be (Inc. "Where did you (;i"« reversed ; it would be irreverent to merge tliis va-t personality i.i a proniiscuous nsseinblagft. "'Voii' isnotiinfi (luently tniploycd, lilie ''vvo,' us a repre- sentative pronoun. The action is represented with great vividnosa, wlieii tlie person or persons addressed may be put forwiird as tlie performers : 'There is such an echo among the old ruins and vaults, that if yon stamp a little louder than ordinary, you lioar tl ■ sound repeateil'; 'Some practice is re- quired to see these animals in the tliick foieat, even when you hear them close by t/oh.' "There should not be a mixture of 'tliou' and 'you' in the same passage. Tlius, Tliackcray (Adventures of Philiji): 'So, as thji sun rises, friend, over the humble hoiise-tois round about your home, shall you wake many and many a day to duty and labor.' So, Cooper (Water- Witch): 'Tliou hast both master and mistress? You have told us of the latter, but we would know !-omething of the lormtr. Who is Ihy master?' Shakespeare, Scott, and others might also be quoted. " 'Ye' and 'you' were at one time strictly distinguished as diflferent eases ; 'ye' was nominative, 'you' olijcctive (dative or accusative). But the EliLahethan dramatists confounded the forma irredeemably ; and 'you' has gradually ousted 'ye' from ordinary upc. 'Ye' is restricted to the expression of strong feeling, and in this employment occurs chiefly in the poets." — Bain's "Composition Grammar," Proof. This word is much and very improperly used for evidence, which is only the medium of proof, proof being the eil'ect of evidence. " What ei idence have you to offer in proof of the trutli of your statement?" See alyo Evidence. Propose— Purpose. Writers an 1 speakers often fail to discriminate jiroperly between the respective n.caninga of tliege two verbs. Propoie, correctly used, means, to put for- #*■ 146 THE VEnBALIST. ward or to offer for the cGnmlp.ration of othern; hence, a jiropnaal is a scheme or design offered for acceptance or con- sideration, a proposition. Purpose nit>ans, to intend, to design, to resolve ; hence, a purpose is an intention, an aim, that which one sets before one\'i sell. Examples : "What do you purpose doing in the matter?" "What do you propone that we shall do in tlie matter?" "I will do" means "I purpose doinpf, or to do " "I purpose to write a history of Kngland from the accession of King James the Second <]own lo a time which is witliin the memory of men still living." — Macaulay. It will he observed that M.caulay says, "I pur- pose ^o wri^c," aii^l not, " I purpose uvv'i'c'/;^," using tlie verb Ml the infinitive rather than in the participial form. '*()n which he purjiosed to mount one of his little guns." bee IVFIN'lTtVE. Proposition. This M'ord is often used when proposal would be better, for tlic reason tliat pro}>osal lias but one meaning, and is shorter by one syllable. " He demimsl rated ;.lie proposilion of Euclid, and rejected the jiroposal of his iriend." Prosaist. Dr. Hall is of opinion that this is a word we •shall do well to encourage. It is used by good writers. Proven. This form for the past participle of the verb to /rove ia said to bo a Scotticism. It ia not used by careful writers and speakers. The correct form ia proved. Providing. The present participle of the verb to provide is sometimes vulgarly used for the conjunction proridi-d, as in this sentence from the ''i.ondou Queen": ''Society may be congratulated, , . . prorif/j//;/ that," etc. Provoke. See Aqguavate. Punctuation. The importance of pnnctuntion can not be overestimated ; it not only helps to make plain the nicaninir of what one writes, but it may prevent one's being miscon- THE VERBALIST. 147 «triie(l. Though no two writers could \)Q found who punctuate just alike, still in the main tliose wlio p;iy attention to the art put in their sstops in essenLially the san\e manner. Tiie difference that punotuaticju may make in the meaning of lan- guage is well illustrated by the following anecdote: At Ramessa there lived a bene\'ol-?nt and hospitable prior, who caused these lines to be painted over his doc "Be open evermore, thou my door ! To none be shut — to honest or to poor ! In time the good prior was succcetled by a man as solfish as his predeccosur was gcMUUMUS. Tiie lines over tlie door of the priory wei'e allowed to remain ; one atop, however, was altered, which made them road tlius: "Be open ..\e."more, thou my door ! To none — be shut to honest or to poor !" He punctuates best who makes his punctuation contribute most to the clear expression of his thought; and that con- struction is best that has least need of being punctuated. TiiK Comma. — Tiie chief diiferenco in the punctuation of different writers is usually in their use of the comma, in regard to which tlicre is a good dc il (^f latitude ; much is left to in- dividual taste. Nowai'ays tiie be-t pfuctice uses it sparingly. An iilea of the exlout uJ which opinions differ with regard to the use of ♦he com :.ia may bo fornuid from the following e.x.c.3ipc fconi a papor pie[).irod lor private u-e : " in tlie following examples, gathtr<;d from various sources — chieliy from s taudard bi/oks — the supciiluous commas are inclosed in parentheses : "1. 'It remanis(,) perluips(,) to be said(,) that, if any lesson at all(,) as to these tlclicato maLters{,) is needed(,) iu tills period, it is not so muL;h a lesson,' etc. 2. 'The obedi* 148 THE VERBALIST. ence is not due to the jiower of a right authority, but to the spirit of [ear, and(,) thcrofore(,) is(,)in rc;.lity(,) noobedience at all.' 3. 'Th(! patriot distill bailees in Canada . . . awakened deep interest among the j/eople of the United Statc.s(,) who lived adjacent to tho frontier.' 4. ' Observers(,) who have recently investi^Lrated this pointf,) do not all agree,' etc. 5. 'The wind diil(,) in an instant(,) wliat man and steam toge- tlicr had failed to do in hours.' 6. 'All the cabin passenger.s(,) situated beyond the center of the boat(,) were saved.' 7. 'No other writer has depict(il(,) Mith so much art or so much accdfacy(,) the habits, tiio manners,' etc. 8. 'If it shall give Batisfaetion to Ihos-e w ho h;ive(,) in a?iy way(,) befriended it, —i author will feel,' etc. 9. 'Forme. ' — gladly welcomed painters of I'landers, Holland, and Spain(,) to their shores.' "In all llie.-e cases the clauses between or following the inclosed comuias are :'0 clctjcly connected griuniiiatieally with the immediately preceding words or phrase':, tiiut they should be read without a perceptible pause, or witli only a slii,'ht THE VERBALIST. 149 one for lireath, without change of voice. Some of the com- maa would grossly pervert the meaning if strictly construed. Thus, from No. 3 it would appear that the people of the United States in general lived adjacent to the frontier ; from No. 4, that all ob:^eivor3 have recnitly investigated the point in question ; from No. 6, that all the cabin passengers were so situated that they were saved, whereas it is meant that only a certain small proportion of them were saved ; from No. 10 (Bancroft), that sonn^body whose name is accidentally omitted went to Salem 'to examine Sarah Clcyce and Elizabeth Proc- tor, the deputy-go-'ernor, and five other magistrates'; from No. 11, that none of the Lusitanians had left their home, wliereas it was the slaught-^r by the Romans of a great number of them who had left their home that caused the rising. "Commas are fivquently omitted, and in certain positions very generally, v t- the .sense and correct reading ref|nire a pause. In the follov/ing examplis, such coinmas, nuiLred in the woiks from wliich thoy weie taken, are enclosed in black ets : " 1. 'The modes of thong!it[,j and the types of chfyacter which those modes prudiice[,] are Cisentially and niversally transformed.* 2. 'Taken by itself[,] tlii.v doctrine could have no effect whatever; iiidecdf,] it wouhl fi.iuunt to nothing but a verbal pi'oposiiion.' 3. 'Far belo\v[,J the little stream of the Oiler foamed over the rocks.' 4. ' Vv'h> the day re- turned[,] the professor, the arti3t[,] and T ,d to witiiin a hundred yards of the shore.' 5. ' Proceed ' j; into the interior of Indiaf,] tliey passed tlircugli Eelgauin." (3. 'If Loriug is defeated in the Sixth l>>i>itriet[,] it can be Ijoriie.' "In No. 3, the veaMcr naturally enunciates 'the little stream of the Oder 'as in the oliiectivo case alter 'below*; lint there he comes to a predic ite which compels him to go back and read diti'erently. In No. 4, it appears that 'the day 150 THE VERBALIST. leturned the professor,' and tlu-u ' tho artist and I rowed,' etc." All clauses should generally be isolated by commas ; where, liowever, the cimueotion is very close or the clause ia very short, no point may be necessary. " But his pride is greater than hia ignorance, and wliat lie wants in knowledge lie sup- jilies by sulHcienoy," " A man of polite imagination can con- verse with a picture, and lind an agreeable cnipuuion in a statue." "Though he slay nie, yot will I trust him." "The prince, hia father being dead, succeeded." "To confess the truth, I was nnich at fault." "As the Iieart pantcth after tlie water-bvooks, so pantotli my soul after thee." "Where the bee sucks, there suc.c 1." "His father dying, he suc- ceeded to the eatato." "Tlie little that is known, and tho circumstance that little is kiiuwn, must bo considered as honorable to him." The comiiia is used before and after a phase when co-ordi- nating and not restrictive. "The jury, having retiiud for half an hour, brought in a verdict." "The stranger, unwill. iiig to ol)tnule iiiinsclf on our notice, left in the morning.' "lie!'"'", tho city of the Emperors, became the city of tho Pope ' "His stories, which made everybody laugh, were often made to order." "He did not come, wliich I greatly regret." "The younger, wlio was yet a boy, had nothing striking in iiis appearance." "Tliey passed the cup to tlie stndiger, who -. 151 therefore, apparently, meanwhile, consequently, unquestion- ably, accoi'dingly, notwithstanding, in truth, in fact, in short, in general, in reality, no doubt, of course, as it were, at all events, to be brief, to be sure, now and then, on the contrary, in a word, by chance, in that case, in the meantime, for the most part. "History, in a word, is rcple e with moral les- ons." "As an orator, however, he was not great." "There is, rcnicmber, a limit at which forbearance ceases to be a virtue." "Our civilization, tlierefore, is not an unmixed good." " Tliis, I grant j'ou, is not of great importance." If, however, the adverb does not break the connection, but readily coalesces with the rest of the sentence, the commas are omitted. "Morning will come at last, however dark the night may be." " We then proceeded on our M-ay." "Our civilization is therefore not an unmixed good." " Patience, I Bay ; your mind perhaps may change." Adverbial phrases and clauses beginning a sentence are set off by commas. " In truth, I could not tell." "To sum up, the matter is this." "Everythirg being ref.dy, they set out." *'By looking a little deeper, the reason >vill be found." ' Finally, let me sum up the argument." "If the premises were admitted, I should deny the conclusion." "Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." Words used in apposition should be isolated by commas. "Newton, the great mathematician, was very modest." "And he, their prince, shall rank among my peers." In sncli sentences, however, as, " The niathematieian Xewton was very modest," and " Tlie Emperor Napoleon was a great so ier," commas are not used. Tlie name or designation of a person addressed js isolated by commas. "It touches you, my lord, as well as me." "John, come here." "Mr. President, my oi)ject is penoc." "Tell me, boy, whrre do you live?" "Yes, sir, I will do as you say." "Mr lirown, wiiat is your niuiil.'cr?" 152 THE VERBALIST. Pairs of words. — " Old and young, rich and poor, wise and foolish were involved.' " Sink or swim, live or die, survive or perish, I give my hand and heart to this vote." " Interest and ambition, honor and shame, friendsliip and enmity, grati- tude and revenge, are the prime movers in public transac- tions." A restrictive clause is not sepai'ated by a comma from the noun. "Every one must love a l)oy who [that] is attentive and docile." " lie preaches sublimely who [tliat] lives a holy life." "The things wliich .[that] are seen are temporal. "A king depending on the support of his .subjects can not rashly go to war." "The sailor who [tiiat] is not supcsti- tious will end:)ark any day." The comma is used after adjectives, nouns, and verbs in sentences like the following : " Are all thy conquests, glories, triumphs, spoila Shrunk to this little measure ?" " He lills, he bounds, connects and equals all." *' Who to the enraptureil heart, and ear, and eye Teach beauty, virtue, truth, and love, and melody."* " He rewarded ids friends, chastised his foes, set Justice on her seat, and ma/ of in/^erting commas, omit tlirvi; it is ketter to have too fi:w than TOO Mi NY." — Quaokenbos. Thi. Semicolon'. — Reasons are preceded ))y semicolons; "Economy is uo disgrace ; for it is better to live on a little than tc outlive a great deal." Clau.ses in opposition are separated by a semicolon when the second is introduced by an adversative : " Straws swim at the surface ; Init pearls lie at the bottom"; "Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord , but they that deal truly are his delight." Witliout the ad- versative, the colon is to be preferred: "Prosperity slioweth vice: adversity, virtue." Tiie great divisions of a sentence must be pointed m ith a semicolon wlien the minor divisions are pointed with commas : "Mirth should be the embroidery of conver.sation, not the web ; and wit the ornament of the mind, nut the furniture." The tilings enumerated nmst be separated by semicolons, when the enunciation of jwrticulars is preceded by a colon ; "The value of ajnaxim depends on four things : the correct ness of the ])rinciple it embodies ; the subject to which it niates ; tlir; e.\teiit of its application ; and the ease with wldoh it niny be practically carrictl out." When as introduces an example, it is preceded by a semicolon. When several successive clauses have a connnon connection with a preceding or following clause, they are separated by semicolons; as, "Children, as they gamboled on tiie beach ; reapers, ns they gatlicred the harvest; mowers, as they i-ested from using the scythe; mothers, as tlicj' bu. iecl themselves about the household — were victims to an enemy, who dis- appeared the moment a blow wan t^truck." "Rea:>on as we may, it is impossible not to read in such a fate much that we 156 THE VEIiUALIsr. know not how to intoiprcfc ; much of provocation to cruel deeds and deep rcsentiuont ; much of apology for wrong and poifi'ly; muuh of doubt and miagiving aa to the past; much of p:iinfid rejoUoctioiis ; much of dark foreboding." "Phil- 03op!iorj assert that Nature is unlimited ; tliat her treasures are endless; that the iucre is:e of knowledge will never oia^e." The Colon. — This point i.s l«ss used now than formerly ; its place is supplied by the period, the ar-micolon, or the dash; and sometimes, even by the comma. The colon is used very differently by difl\!rent writers. "He was heard to say, *1 have done with this woild.'" Some writers would put a colon, some a comma, after my. " When the quoted pah;s ige is brought in without any intio luctory word, if short," says Quackenljos, "it is generally preceded by a comma; if long, by a colon ; as, 'A simpleton, meeting a pliilo.opher, asked him, "Vvhat ailords wise men tiie greatest pleasure ?" Turn- ing on his heel, tlie sage replied, " To get rid of fools." ' " Formal enumerations of particulars, and direct quotations, when introduced by such plirases as in Ihesa words, nsjo/loia, the. fo'lowtiuj, name/)/, IhK-i, ihfse, thus, etc., are propei'ly pre- ceded by a colon. "Wo hold thq-se truths to be telf -evident: that all men are created equal ; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights ; that among these are life, liberty, and the jiursuit of happiness." "Loid Bacon has summeiig the liii;;; tiuis, 'I am rich — I. was poor— I shall )>e p'lor a^'iiii.' Tiii-; i'< wil I work indeed ! Who is to know wliab is intcadeil by thj.io d't'iknx? Thoso who iiave thought p.-jiur. like Mr. Lin Hoy Murray, to place the dash amongst e« f;| THE VERBA IJ ST. 159 mgsfc the (jrnmmatical points, ought to give ua some rule relative to its cliU'iTcnt loiigitudiual ii this truth (enough for man to know), Virtue alone is luippinoss below." — Pope. " Tiie blis' of man (could pride that Idcssing find) Is not to act or think beyond mankind." Brackets. — This mark i& used principa'ly to inclose words improperly omitted by tlie writer, or words introduced for the purpose of explanation or to correct an error. Tliebtacket is often used in this book. The Apostrophe. — This point is used to denote the omis- sion of letters and sometimes of figures ; as, Jan'y, '81 ; Fve. for / have; yoiCli, for yoa will ; ^tis for it is; don't for do not ; can t for can not; It Avas in the year '93 ; the spirit of '76 ; It was in the years 1812, '1.3, and '14. Also to dcnot'3 the possessive case ; as, Brown's house ; the kiir^'s command; Moses' staff; for conscience' sake ; the boys' garden. Also with s to denote the plural of letters, figures, and signs; as, Cross your ^'s, dct your i's, and mind your j)'s and q\ ; make your H's better, and take out tlie k's. Capitals. — A capital letter should begin every sentence, every line of verse, and every dir(.'ct quotation. All names of tlie Deity, of Jesus Christ, of the Trinity, and of the Virgin Mary must begin with a capital. Pronouns are usually capitalized wlien they refer to the Deity. Proper names, and nouns and adjectives formed from pioper names, naineo of streets, of the months, of the fcr the word residv. to lin', procure to ijct, inawjaraie to bajin, and so on. They are generally of tljose who are great iu pretense, and who would be greater still if they were to pretend to all they have to pretend to. Puryjose. See Propose. Quantity. This word is often improperly used for number. QuanfH;/ rihonld be used in speaking of what is measured or weiglied ; ituviher, of what is counted. Ex- amples: "What quantity of apples liave you, and what nninbsr of pineapples?" " Delaware produces a large quantity of peaches and a large number of melons, " Quit. This word means, properly, to leave, to go away fro.;', to forsake; as, "Avaunt ! y(.'i7 n,y siglit." Tliis i.^ the only sen.e in whicli tlie English use it. In America, it is generally n. '.nl in the sense of to leave oil', to stop ; as, "Quit your nonscise"; "(^>«/Maughing"; *'(^ia7 your noise "; "He has qitJ. smoking," and so on. Quite, 'this word originally meant comi)letcly, perfectly, totally, entirelj'. fully; and tliis is the sense in which it was used by the early wi il.ers of Englisii. It is now often used in the nciiHO of ?v(///-eled to meet. Redundancy. See Pleonasm. Reiiable. This is a modern word which is often met with ; bill it is not used by our careful wrilgrs. They prefer its synonym trvdworthy, and argue tiiat, in consequence of being ill-formed, refiahle can not possibly have the significa- tion in wliicli it is xiscd. Remainder. See Balance Rendition. Tlii.-< word is much misused for rnidoring Example : "The excellence of Mr. Ciilhert's rendUion of cer- tain characters, Sir I'eter and Sir Antot;y, for inytance, is not equaled." etc. Rendition means the act of yielding pos- session, surrender, as the rcndifioii. of a town or fortress. Tlie sentence above should read, "The excellence of Mr. (TJlbert's rcnderiaij," etc. Rendition is also sometimes im- properly uised for pr.r/onnnnce. Reply. See Answek. Reputation. See Chai'.acter. Reside. A big word that Mr. Wouldbo uses where Mr. Is uses the little word live. Residence. In i-peaking of a man's domicile, it is not only in l)etter taste but m>re correct to use the term house than riHidrnce. A man has a rr.^idence in New York, when he has lived here long en)iigh to have the right to exerci.so the franchise hero; and he may liave a /idiixe in Fifth Avenue where he /jjv'.s. People who arc live in houses; people M'ho icoidd he reside in resideiK-es. Tiie former bu>/ things; the latter iiiin'/iiise them. Roiit. See Balaxok. Restive. Some of the diction.iries, Ridi.'ird (Jrant White, Gud some other writers, contejid that t.'ii.s wuni, wiicu properly 164 Tin: vi:i:nALisT. ustMi nicaii" tmwilliiig to go, .stiiiidiiig still stubbornly, obsti- nate, stubborn, ami uotliing clsi,'. In combating this opinion, Fitzt./wurd Hall says: "Vory few instanct'S, I apprcliend, can b.; produced, from our literature, of this use of rcdice." Webs^r gives impatient, uneasy, as a second meaning ; and this is (he sense in which the woixl is nearly always used. Reliire. It is only the over-nice who use retir? in the sen.se of go to bed. Rev^jrend — Honorable. Many persons are in doubt whether they should or should not put the before these adjec- tives. Emphatically, yes, they should. See " Words and Their Usos," by Richard (irant White, for a full discussion of the question ; also, "Goinl English," by Edward S. Gould. Rhetoric. The art which lias for its object the rendering of languag*., ellective is called rhetoric. Without some study of the art Oi cojiiposition, no one can expect to write well, or to judge the witeraiy work of others. " True easLi in writing conies from art, not chance, As those move easiest who have learned to dance." Ride — Dl'We. Fashion, both in England and in this country, says mat we must always use the sec(;nd of these words wlieu we speak of going out in a carriage, although rhlp means, ueconiing to all tlie lc.\icogra|)iier8, *'(,o l»e carried on a liorse or otlier animal, or iu any kind of vehicle or carriage." Right. Singu!;ir!y enough, this word is made, by some per pic, to do service lor oiitjhf, in- duty bound, under obi'ii/nlloa to; thus, "You had a rij/d to tell me," meaning, "You should have told me." "Tlio Colonibts contended that tiiey had 110 rl'iht to pay taxes," meaning, "They were under no vh'h/a/lon to pay taxes," i.e., that it was uujvist to tax them. Right liere. The expucs-^ioas "right here" and "right there " ar" \mericanisms. CoirecMy, ' ii'st here " and * 'just theio." THE VLRUAUST. Ifif) Rolling. The usG of this participial adjective in the sense of undulating is said to be an Americanism. Whether an Americanism or not, it would seem to be quite unobjcclion- able. Rubbers. This word, in common with (jiim!^ and arctics, is often, in defiance of gooil taste, used for overshoes. Sabbath. This term was first used in Englaml for Sun- day, or Lord's day, by the Puritans. Nowadays it is little used in this .sense. The word to use is Sunday. Sarcasm. I'ain says that xarra^m i.s vituperation soft- ened in tlie outward expression by the arts and figures of disguise— epigram, innuendo, irony — and embellislud with the figures of illiisti'ation. Crabb say;, tliat sarcasm is tlie indulgence only of peisonii resentment, and is never justifi- able. Satir*?. The holding up to ridicule of the foll'e^ and wealcnesses of mankind, by way of I'ebuke, is called aatire. Satire is general rather than inlividual, its object being the reformation of abuses. A lftm/ioo)i,, which lias been defined OR a personal satire, attacks the individual rather than his fault, and is intended to injure rather than to reform. Said Sheridan : "Satires and laujpoons on particular people circulate more by giving copies in cnnfidtuce to the friends of the parties than by printing them." Saw. The imperfect tonse of the verb to see is carelessly used by good writers and speakers when they should ixse the perfect; tliua, "I never saw anything like it before," when tiie meaning intended is, " I /lare never [in all my iif'] unn anything like it before [until nowj." We say properly, "I never saw anything like it when I ivas in Paris'^; but, when the period of time referred to extends to the time when the .statement is made, it mu/st be haw seen. Like mistakes are made in the ust of qjhor verbs, but they are iuirdly aa 166 THE VERBALIST. common ; yet we often hear such expressions as, " I was never iu riiiliuklphia," "I never went to the theatre in my life," instead of liave been in Pliiladelphia, and have gone to the theatre. Section. The use of this word for region, neighborhood, vicinity, part (of the town or country), is said to be a West- ernism. A section is a division of tlie public lands containing six liundred and forty acres. Seem — Appear. Graham, in his "English Synonymes," says of these two words: " What seems is in the mind; what a/tjifurs is external. Things appear as tliey present them- selves to the eye ; they ncem as they are represented to tlie mind. Things appear good or bad, as far as we can judge by our senses. Things fieem right or wrong as we determine by reflection, rerceptiou and sensation liave to do with appear- ing ; reflection and comparison, with seeming. When things are not what they appear, our serises are deceived ; when things are not wliatthey seem, our judgment is at fault." "No man had ever a greater power over liiins-elf, or was loss the man he itemed to be, wliich shortly after apj^tareil tq everybody, when he cared less to keep on the mask."— Clarendon. Seldom or ever. This phrase should be "seldom ij ever," or •' seldom or never." Seraphim. Tiiis is the plural of Heraph. " One of tlio neraphim." "To Thee cherubim and seiaphim continually do <:ry." See CiiEKUiUM. Set — Sit. Tlie former of tliese two verbs is often incor- rectly used for the latter. To set; imperfect tease, set; participles, seldiuj, set. To sit; imperfect tense, sat; parti- ciples, sitii/Kj, sat. To set means to put, to i)laco, to plant; to put in any place, condition, state, or posture. We say, to set al)oiit, to set against, to .se^ out, to seagoing, to set apart, to THE VERBALIST. 167 upt asido, to nrj down (to put in writing). To sit means to rest ju the lower part of tlie body, to repose on a scat, to perch, as a bird, etc. We say, "6'i< up," i.e., rise from Ij'iug to sitting; "We will sit up," i.e., will not go to bed; ^^ Sit down," i.e., place yourself on a seat. We sit a horse and we nit for a portrait. Garments nit M'cll or otlierwise. Congi'oss sits, so does a enurt. "I have sat up long enou;i;h," "I have »et it on tlie table." We H<'t down figures, but we sit down on the ground. We '>//. a hen, and a hen .svVs on eggs. We should say, therefore, "as cro.-s as a sitting [not, as a settiixj] hen." Settle. This word is often inelegantly, if not incorrectly, used for pa}/. We pui/ our way, pa;/ our fare, p'li/ our hotel- hills, and the like. See, "also. Locate. Shall and Will. The nice distinctions that slioukl be made between these two auxiliaries are, in some parts of the English speaking world, often disregarded, and tiiat, too, by per.-ions of high culture. Tlie proper use of shall and will fan much better be learned from example than from precept. Many persons who use them, and also should and icoiild, with well-nigh unerring correctness, do so unconseiouyly ; it is simply habit with them, and tliey, though their culture may be limited, will receive a sort of verbal shock from Biddy's inquiry, " Will I put the kettle on, ma'am?" when your Irish or Scotch countess would not be in the least disturbed by it. Shall, in an offirmntirc, scvlenre, in the first person, a)i(i WILL in the second and third /^a'sons, merely announce future. fiction. Thus, "I shall go to town to-morrow." '^Ishall not; I shall wait for better weather." "Wo shall be glad to see you." "I shad soon be twenty," "We shad set out early, and shall try to arrive by noon." "You will l)e pleased." "You will soon be twenty." "You will find him honest. '» "He will go with us." 16S THE VERDALrsr. SiMLL, in an ajjirni'illre t^entence, in the aecoml and third person.'^, aiuiotinces the, speal-rr'K intention to control. Tims, •'You s7«(// hear iiie out." "You .s/(«// go, sick or well," "He shall be my heir." "They shall go, whct.'ier they waiifc to go or not." Will, in thejlr-'it person, exprcssoi* a pronviie, aniwtniccs tht', spcakcr'ii intciif/on to controU iirac'ainis a, dclciniinutioa. Thuis, "I %viU [I promise to] assist j'ou." "I will [I am determitieil to] have my right." "We will [we promise to] cuine to you in the morning." Shall, in. an interroijatii'c sentence, in the Jird and third per.ions, con.-ndt.H the tci'l or judgment of ctn other ; in the ■'P"S^ or future action of others. Thus, " Will you have an applij ?" " Will you go with me to my uncle'a ?" " Will ho be of the party?" " 11/7/ they be willing to receive us?" "When will he be here?" Will can not be used interrogatively in the first person bingukir or plural. We can not say, " Will I go ?" " Will I help you ?" " Will I be late ?" " Will we get tliere in time?" " Will y-c see you again soon?" Olficial courtesy, in order to avoid the fiemldaiue of coin- luliiou, convoys its commands in the you-wil form instead of' the strictly granunatieal you-shatl form. It .says, forexanipltt "You tvlU proceed to Key West, where you will dial furthe»* instructions awaiting you. ' THE VERBALIST. 169 A clever writer on the use of s^hall and ir'dl says that what- . .er concerns one's bolitfs, hopes, fears, likes, or dislikes, r, in not be cxpresaed in conjunction with I will. Are there no excciDtions to this rule? If I say, "I think I shall go to tMiiladel|iliia to-morrow," I convey the impression that my poing depends upon circumstances beyond my control ; but if I say, '• I think I vill go to Philadelphia to-morrow," I con- vey the impression that my going depends upon circumstances within my control — that my going or not de])ends on mere imlinjition. We certair.ly must say, "I fear tliat I shall lose it"; "I hope that I nhall be well"; "I believe that I shall have the ague"; "I hope that I nhall not be left alone "; "I fear that we shall have bad weather' ; '"I ahall dislike the lountry"; "I shall like the peii'ormance." The writer re- ferred to asks, "How can one say, 'Ivn/l have the headache'?" I answer. Very easily, as every young woman knows. Let us !^ee : "Mary, you know you promisiid John to drive out with him to-moiio\v ; how shall you get out of it?" "Oh, 1 will have the headache !" We request that people will do thus or so, and not that they shall. Thus, "It is requested that no one vifi leave the room." Slitill is rarely, if ever, used for will; it is icill that is used for shiiJl. Expressions like the following are coinniou : "Wjiere will you be next week?" "I will be at hom.e," " Wc tvill have dinn^;r at six o'clock." "How tvill you go alfoutit?" "When ivi/l yoi\ begin?" "Wh^'U iri'l yon set out?" "What will yvU do with it?" In all sueli expres- sions, when it is a question of mere future action on the part of the person sneaking or spoken to, the auxiliary must be shall, and not loi/l, tShnuld and tvould follow the regimen of shall and vHll. ]Voiil(l is often used for should; should rarely for irntild. (/orrect speakers say: "Ishvuld goto town to-morrow if I had ■li 170 THE I'L'RHA/JST. hoi so, 'I .'■Ji.o"hl not; I x/ion/d wait for hotter wentlier. "We shniild he <;l.'nl to see yoii." *' Wo xhouhl have started earlier, if tlie weather hul been clear." "I k/ioiiIiI like to go to town, and itjovld go if I couhl." "I would assist you if I could." "I Khnvhl have been ill if I had gone." " I would I were home afr-iin !" "I nhould go fi.sliiiiij; to-day if I weie home." " I '»/(/ so like to go to Europe!" "I .s/iou/d prefer to see it lirst." '^Ishoufd be delighted." "I should he glad to have you sup with me." "I knew that I should he ill." "1 feared tliat T should lose it." "I hoped tliat I should. see him." "I thought I nhonld have the ague." "I hoped that I .should not bo left alone." "I was aiVaid that we should have bad weather." "I knew I should dislike the country." " I should not like to do it, and icill not [determination] unless coin pi lied 'to." Shimmy. " We derive from tl.e Ficneh language our word di(ini:Yo\\o\\ncci\.shtinmcezp.. In French, tlie woid denotes a man's shirt, as well as the under garment worn by women. In this country, it is often pro:iounced by people who f^liould know better — shli)i7nij. Rather than call it shinimy, resume the use of the old Encdish words s/il/t and smock. Good usage unqualifiedly condemns (jenfs, priuts, Hds, fjunis, and shhnmi/." — "Vulgarisms and Other Errors of Speech." Should. See OuonT. Sick — 111. These wordp arc often us'cd indiscriminately. Sicky however, is tlie stronger Mord, and generally the better word to use. /// is used in ]''nijland nioi-e th.aii with us: tliCic .s(V/.; is generally limited to the expicbsing of nausea; as, "sick at tlie stomach." Signature, over or under? A man wiites vvdcr, not over, a signature. Charles Dickens wrote under the siirnaturo of "Boz"; Mr. Samuel L. Clemens writes under the sigiiatiiie THE VERliALIST. 171 of "IMark Twain." The reason jfiven in Webster's Dictionary for proton'ing the use of under is al)Biu'(l : viz., that tlio paper is viidcr the liaml in writin;^'. The expression is elliptical, and has no reference to the ponition either of the signature or of the paper. "Given under my hand and seal" means " under the guarantee of my signature and my seal." "Under his own signature'' or "name" means "under hi.s own cliar- acter, without disguise." " Under the aigntiture of Boz" means "under tl>e di-guise of the assumed name I'oz." We always write under a certain date, though the date be placed, as it often is, at the bottom of the page. Signs. In one of the i>rincii)al business streets of New York tliere is a sign which reads, "German Lace Store." Now, whetlux this is a store tluit midies a specialty of Ger- man laces, or whether it is a store where all kinds of lace are .sold, kept by a German or after the German fashion, is some- thing tliat the sign doubtless mi.ans to tell us, but, owing to Lne absence of a hyphen (" German-Lace .Store," or "German L ico-Store "), does not tell us. Nothing is more common than erroneous punctuation in signs, and gross mistakes by the unlettered in the wording of tlie simplest printed matter. The bad taste, incorrect punctuation, false grammar, and ridiculous nonsense met with on signs and placards, and in advertisements, are resdly surprising. An advertisement tells us that "a pillow which assists in procuring itleep is a bene- diction "; a placard, tliat they hive " Charlotte de Kusse " lor sale within, which means, if it means anytlu'ng, that they have for sale somebody or something called Charlotte of llussifin ; and, then, on how many signs do wo see the pobses- sive ease when the plural number is intended ! Simile. In rhetoric, a direct and formal comparison is called a siviile. It is generally denoted by like, as, or so; as, m 172 THE VERBA LIST. " I have ventured, IAh)> littlo wanton hoys tli.it swim on bladders, Tliew niiuiy huiiuiici's in a sea of ^;loi-y." " Thy NDiile is as the dawn of vernal day."— Shakespeare. '• Ai'. down in the sunless retreats of the ocean. Sweet llow'rets are Niirm^ing no mortal ean see; So, «U^<'p in my hoaoin, the piayer of t deeds, As richest smII the most luxuriant weeds." — Cowper. " J.S no roads are so rou:di as those that liave just been mended, .so no sinners are so iutulerautaa those who have just turned saints," — "Lacon." Sin. !^ee Crimk. Since- -Ago. T)v. Johnson says of these two adverbs: " Reckoning time toward the present, we use fiiiire; as, 'It is a year since it happened' : reckoning from the present, we use a;jo ; as, 'It is a year cajo.' Thia is not, perhaps, always o])scrved." Dr. Johnson's rule will hardly suflTioe as a sure guide, Shice is often used for ogo, but ago n(;ver for since. Ago is derived front the participle agone, while since comes from a pi'cposition. We saj' propei'ly, "not long" or " tjonie tiifle I. -'/y [agone]." Since requires a verbal clause after it; as, " Since I saw you* ; "Since he was here." Sing. Of the two forms — ■'inng and rjing -for the imper- fect tense of the verb to sing, tlie former — sang — is to be preferred. Sit. See Skt. Slang, Tlie slang that is heard amonef respectable people is mado up of gcuuiue worda, to which an arbitrary meaning THE VERB A LIST. 1-3 is given. It is always low, generally coar??c, ana n«t unfre- queiitly foolish. Witli the exoeptioti of rant, there is nothing that is nioi'c to he sliunnnd. Wc soniotiincfi meet with persons of conideifiblo onlturc wlio intcilard theii- talk with :-l!ingi'> prcsisions, but it is safe to assert that tliey arc always peroom of eoiuse natures. Smart. S-e Clkvku. Smell of. S>;" 'I'.'-stk ok So. fSevovor, why tlie i should be dropped, since it is re- quirc'tl liy tlu; ttymology of the word, and is retained in nearly all otiicr WDi-'l.-; of the same formation. Specious Fallacy. A fallacy is a sophism, a logical aitiiicti, a doceitiul or ialso appearance ; while s^pccious means having the appearance of truth, plausible, Hence wo se« liiat the very essence of a, fallacy is its specioiisneKH. Vve may very properly say tliat a, fa'lacy is mijro or less upeciotis, but we can nut properly say that a fallacy ii specious, since with- out speciou.-;iK'.T>s we can have no falhicies. Splendid. Tliis poor word is u-y the gentk-r .sc-: to qualify well-nigh everything that has their approval, from a sugar-plum to the national capitol. In fact, i^p'oulld and a)rfitl seem to be about the only adjectives some of our super lative youug women have in tlieir voealiularies. Sta'ndyoint. This is a word to wliich many students of Phiolish seriou-ly object, and among them are the editors of some of our daily papers, who do not allow it to appear in th'.'ii- columns. The phrase to which no one objects is, puint oj vkw. Slate. This word, which properly means to make knnvn f-Mi'cilieallj'', to explain particularly, is often misused for *•«//, When «(('/ says all one wanla to say, why use a more prctcn- 1 ill IS Avuro f Stop. "Wliere are yen stopj>l.iii ?'' "At the ]Metro- poMtun." The pro|»'r worl to use h: re is .s/.'/('//f/. To fto)) iM an,s to eease ;,o go lurwanl, to leave (.1; and to stay m.'ans to al>ide, to tarry, to dwell, to siijnurn. We .siu.v, no;. olup, uL h.uie, at a hotel, or with a friend, as the c;t.se may be. StOiTil. Many p r.-jons imlulue in a caieh .ss umo of this w;i;-u, u^■ing iu wlien, tlu-y mean to say simply that it li'ins or vinAvs. To a. >ilonii a vioh nt eoinmotion uf the atuio.-piuu-e is i:iilis[>i'n.-abie, A very hi .rU v.iud constitutes a storm, thoiigh it bi; dry. THE VERBALIST. 175 Straight vv'^y. Hern is a good Anglo-Saxon word of two eyllabloa wiio.-<' plav.c, witlioiir any good reason, is being u.sur[ied l)y tlie I^atin woi-d iDij^^'diiir/i/, of //re syllables. Street;, ^^'e live in, not oii-iuc.ct our acquaintances in, uitt ON — things occur in, not on — iioi'scsare built i/i, not o«, the street, and so forth. Style. This is a term that is used to cliaracterize the lii.Tuliarities that di8tin.c;uish a writer or a conijiosition. -Cor- rectness and clearness properly belong to the doinidn of dielion; siinpiicity, conciseness, gravity, elegance, difi'usene?s, lloridity. force, feebleness, coarseness, etc., belong to the domain of stijle. Subjunctive Mood. Tins mood is unpopular with not a few now-a-iliiy giumiiiarians. One says that it is rapidly falling into disuse; tliat, in fact, there is good reason to sup- pose it M'ill soon become obsolete. Another says tliat it woulil, perhaps, be better to abolish it entiix'ly, as its use is a continual s^ourco of disjuite among gramnuii ims and of per- plexity to schools. Another says that it is a univorsai sunnblingiblock ; that nobody scenic to understand it, al- tiiough almost evcry])ody attenijits to use it. That the subjunctive uiok i is utueu le.-s uS' d now than it was a humired years ago is ecrtnin. l)ut that it is ob'v'>le>eent is very fisr fi'oni certain. It wouhi not 1u' easy, 1 v' ■ ':. to fhid a single conti n ) . .ly v.iiter wl;n dees not rso k. 'i'iiat it is not alwayr. easy t t deternu!;" whnt form of it we shoiitd employ iu very t^ue ; b;it if wo ai'c jusLilied in abolishii'', it altogelher, UR Mr. Cliandler sugge.'it's, because its conect use is not ahviiys easy, then we are also jiistitied in abolishing the use of tiliall and iriU, and of the prepositions, for surely their right use is likewise at times most ^puzzHng. Meanwhile, most per.s(jns will (hink it well to learn to use the subjunctivo mood pro; eriy. \V Hi iln<- plj'et in view, one can not, per* I7R Tllh: VKHnAUT. iiaps, do bettor tliaii to attcti-l ture of wliat you tell me, I would go.' *' VViien the conditional clause is afftrmative and certain, the verb is hrJU'dlice: 'If that w tli'^ case' (a.s you now tell me, and as I believe), 'I can understand you.' Tiiis is equiva- lent to a clause of assumption, or supposition: 'That being tfcie case,' ' ina-unieh as that is the case,' etc. "Aa/u'm-Uif is by its nature uncertain, the subjunctive is e"Ktv.nsively used Tor futiue eonditionality: 'If it ?•*(/», we Bhall not be able to go'; 'if I be well'; 'if ho come .shortly '5 'if thou ntnni at all in peave'; 'though be nluy me, yet will I trust in him.' Tliose events a)e all in the uncertain futiirr, Rud are jtut in the sul)junctive.+ • " Pr, An-ufl on ttic ' i;ni;!i'ing a contlition, is not au l']ng!ish construction. 'If he will' has a real meaning, as 8to!ie» be made bn-nd ;' ' if thou he. the Son of Ood ccme down from the cros-i.' For, alth iti;;h the uillic^s «;ts not s iioltb oh th'.' p.trt of tlie hpt'.'ikora, they nally nifatit to inuke th« suii p-ition orto.;iaht tlmt hi! WHS tliu iion of CJiiii ; ' -fiiiiji; t u', thoa lOt tho Son of Ooik' F^iki wi^o in till! f' II iwiiijf; ■ N'ovv if L"lu i8t be piearhcd, that He rose from the dead, how .-ay 8oiue uii\oii^' \ovi tlint th«it' is no riMU-ivction Iroiii thciIiutiV The i'.iij.uiiiiijt Im. 'Si'eiiiu' ii'W tli.it « iiri-tt /< prciH-.'iod ' In the eonthuia- tioii, the coiiditioual oiuuM js .in- o.' a diiii-rent cli.ii.trti.-r, atid ' lio ' i-- uiipic- priule: ' JJut if liiuri; he in res'.n-ii!i.ti!Jt) from the dtad, then is Christ not ris>en. -And II Clu'lnt ,te not ri-fu, then H ctu- priMcliin),' vain, and your faitli is ftiso vain.' A^'.iin, If Miuu hriii i tiiy jjiit to tl-,o altar, ;ind there r^n;cll'horl'''^' etc. (Jonslstt-i fj and ci'rie.-hn;!!* requho ' ixiucniber.'" — IlarrUon on tho " F, ■ '^ttiUfU.aije," p. y57. 178 THE VERBALIST. being the present subjunctivo of the verl) 'will' 'if he be willing,' 'if ho have the will.' It is in accordance with good usage to express a fuliire Rultjunctive iinaning by a present tense; but in that case tho form must bo strictly 8u]>jiinctive, and not indicative. 'If any mmnber ahitr.ntt^ liimself, he shall forfeit a pennj' for the use uf the club'; this ought to be either 'absent,' or 'shoidd absent.' 'If thou neglectcst or doent un- willingly wliat I command thee, I will rack thee with old cramps'; better, 'if thou /((v/'Vy^ or f/o unwillingly,' or 'if thou should neglect.' The indicative would be justified by tlio speaker's belief that the supposition is sure to turn out to be the fact. "The past subjunctive may imply donial ; as, 'if the book were in tlie lil)rary (as it is not), it .-ihould be at your service.' " 'If the l.)Ook lip. in tiie library,' nieans, 'I do not know •whether it be or not.' We have tiius tlie power of discrimi- nating three different suppositions. 'If the book is in the library' (as I know it is) ; ' if it he' (I am uncert an) ; 'if it were' (as I know it is not). So, 'if it rains,' 'if it rain,' 'if it rained.' 'Nay, and the villaiiis march wide between the legs, as if they had gyves on,' implying that they had not. " The same p )wer of the past tense is excmplilied in * if I could, I would,' wiiich mcan>*, 'I can not'; wlicieas, 'i'i I can, I will,' moans 'I do not know.' "The past subjunctive may be expressed by an inversion: ' I/ad I the pouor,' 'wivx I as I liave been.' "In Principal Clau.-'C3. — The principal clar a, a condi- tional stat-jment also takes the subjunctive Dm when it refers to what is futui-e and contingent, and v/hen it refci's to what is past a-.ul uncertain, or denied. ' If he should +iy, he woidd Siiccecd'; 'it I had seen him. I should have asked him.' "The usual ftnuns of the subjunctive in the principal clau.se are 'would,' 'should,' 'would have,' 'sluiuld luive'; THE VERBALIST. 179 .11 1 it 13 to be noted that in this application the seco'i'l por- Kon.-< take the inflexional ending of the indicative : 'sliouldst, ■ wouldst.* " 'If 'twere done when 'tis done, then 'twere (wouhl be) well It were (should be) done quickly.' "The English idiom appears sometimes to permit the use i>f an indicative where we should expect a subjunctive form. Many acts, that had been otherwise blamable, were em i>[tjyed'; ' I had fainted, unless I liad belioveu,' etc. •' ' Which else lie furled and siitouded in tlie soul.' "In 'else' there is implied a conditional clause tiiat would - iit 'lie'; or the present may be regarded as a more vivid •irm of expression. 'Had' may be indicative t just as wo •i >ir.etimes find pluperfect indicative for pluperfect subjunc- • iv « in the same circumstances in Latin. We may refer it to 1 ! general tendencj', as already seen in the uses of ' could,' a'ould,' *Nhould,* etc., to express coudit.ionality by a past •Mde; or the indicative may be used as a more direct and .\ id mode. 'Had' may be subjunctive; * I /kuZ fainted' is, I construction, analogous to 'I should have fainted'; the . )id for futurity, 'shall,' not being necessary to the sense, is withdrawn, and its past inflexion transferred to 'lave.' C 'lupare Germ, loiirde haben and hiitte." In addition to the foregoing, we find in Professor Bain's '• Cumpo&ilion Grammar" tlie following: "The case most suited to the subjunctive is coutimjent '' diinty, or the expression of an event unknown absolutely, as luiing still in the future: 'If to-morvow he tine, I will walk •.. iih you.* " ' Unless I t/v/r prepared,' insinuates pretty strongly that I am or am not prepared, according to the manner of the rincipal cluuise. I ISO THE VERBA LfST. " ' What's a tall man unlcr^s hafght ?' *' ' The sword hath ended him : so shall it thee, Unk'tffi thou yield tlico as my prisoner.' " 'Who lint niust laucrh, if snch a man llif-rc he? "Who wonhl not wcc'iv if Atticns ircj-e lie?' "'I am to second Ion if heya//'; the failing i.^ loft quite doubtful. * I shouhl very inipei fcctly execute the tnsk wliich I luiA'e undertaken if I verc merely to trt-nt of battles and sioKes.' Macaulay thus iuqilie?! that the scope of hiss M'ork is ti) he wider than more iiattlos and sieges. "The subjunctive appears in some other constructions. 'T hope to sec the cxhihilii.n before it chi-^r'; 'wait till lie ri'tfirn''; 'thou slialt stand by the river's brink against lie cmae''; 'take heed lest passion s"Y(// thy judguient'; 'sjicak to me, though it be in Avrath'; 'if he ) with an iu- slrnment of iron so that he die, \w is a murderer'; 'beware this night that thou (/•o«.« not my footsteps' (Shelley). "Again. ' Whatever this ?;?'; 'wlioever he 6e'; 'howe'ar It be' (Tt iiiiys'iu) ; and such like. " ' A lid as loiiij, O (lOil, 'T* she Have a grain of love for me, So long, no doubt, no doubt, Siiall I nurse in my dark heart, However weary, a spark of wUl Not to be trampled out.* "Tlie Future SubjiuKJliio is given id oh. son em n of tha verb as '.should' in all pers-oiis : ' Jf I should, if ilmu slionld, if he sliould.' in old Ki glish, we liave ' th()U ,s/(0«/f/,vf ' : *it thou, Loni, alinuldxt mark iniquities.' "An inv<'; Lfd conditional form has taki n ooep mot in our language, and may be regarded aa an elegant and forcible variety. While dis-pcn-ing Miili the conjunction, it doc.=* noV cause ambiguily ; nevertheless, conditioiKilit y is ut.ll marked THE VERBALIST. 181 " 'If yon shouhl aliandon your Peneiopu aii'l your l/ome for Calypso, ' : ^should you abaiidou .' " *Oo not my horse tlie Ijctter, 1 imi&t become a borrower oi' the night For a dark hour or twain.' *• ' lU'V'j! had we now our country's honor roofd Wcra the graced j)ersoM of our Jjauijuo pru>,eni;.* " * Be thou a spirit of hoaltli or goblin danin'tJ, Brht'j with thci' ;i,ir.s from heaven or l)la£ts irom hell, J-e thy intents »viekud or chaniablu, Thou com'st ii. sueli a questionalih^ shape That I will speak to tlieo.' " ' Come one, comf-: all, this rock sh;dl fly From its firm base as soon as I. — .S<.'ott. ' The following examples ai-e given by .Miitzner: "'barney's eoniintinications, be they wliat they miulit, were operating in his favor.' — >Scott. " 'C-ioverning persons, tvere tlu;y never so insiguiiloint in- tiinsically, have for most part plenty of Alemoir- writers.'— Carlylc. " ■' Even irere I disposed, I could not gratify the rc;»(7/, a liami inmu, ,sm'7* a lovely s'fro'peybi u.sed in tiie ircnj^o of put by a trick into ti;c pli 'o or cliaraetcr Ixdonging to another, spuriou.s, counterftut, not genuine ; and imjtro/'prly ill t!;e se.i':0 oF conjccituial, hypothetical, imaginary, presump- TflE V Eli HA LIST. 185 tivc; as, "This ,.i n sii/ipof,I, inta;igil>le, will-o'-tlia-wi.-pish. Their th(Hi'_dtts are pliiuitoinlike ; like ahadovv'-, tlwy continu illy escape their gra'ip. In tlioir talk they will, after lonj,' di-serlations, tell j'ou thiit tiicy have not Hind ju.st M'hat they would like to say; there is always a suhtle, Inrkinj; sounjthing still unex]ire.s-ed, whu-h synscLhing is tiic iT'al csst-nce of tlie matter, ami whi> h voiir jienetration is expci:ted to divine. In tlrir writings tiicy are cc.eutric, vague, laliyrinthine, pretentious, transcendental,* and fre- (luentiy nngr.nnniatical. These men, if write tliey nm t, idi'juld CMiiline t'lcinselvcs to tlie deicriptive ; for when tliey enter th-; e-.s)yi^sL's (h nru'u, wliich they are very prune to do, tluy wiitc wh.il I v. dl vculuic to call .sicofth. Wo find exainnl.'i in pleutj' of this kind of writin:/ in the e^:.s:lys of Mr, i;ai[ih Wal'lu iMnorsun. Indeed, tin; nnpurtial critic who will t.iho tr.c tionl)!'j to exanuncany of Mr. Emer- Sju's e- •.y.s at all 'jarefrdly, i.s quite sure to come to the cun- * To iliose who arc not Tiiiloolcir as to wluit tran«conii is, the foil ".vinu lueiil (Itilinition will hy welcniiic: "It is thes)>liitii.il coinK 'cpcu I'f psyrlid;. '.i."il ii-rc'fra'_';iliility cohiiL' tul wltli coii(--iiUi;nli in.!uiii(_aiyii of i)K'nii!imlcii sjiiiit;i;ilil..v anii o liureiilii; il eont''iii ion of siih-\il'orv con- cifti.iii " 'ri\\iis':itril by ii .New Ynili l.iwyer, it .>it:\ii(is tiiu-; : " Tiaii.si'cn- ilcMl,!iJisrn is f,v(i liolf-i ill a s;iiii-i'aiil\ : a storm washes away the saiidbiiiik NwUi'jut, U'jimliiiiL;' tl'.u h 'va." ^>. lAAAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 7 ^ // // ! A LO I I.I 11.25 14^128 |25 itt liU 12.2 1: li" III 2.0 IIIW U IIII1I.6 V] <^ A W /A Photographic Sciences Corporation 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. U580 (716) 872-4503 1° ..'^<' A !> N> .^ 186 THE VERilALlST. elusion that Mr. Emerson has suen everything he has ever made tlio subject of Iiis essays very much as London is seen ironi tlie top of St. I'luil's in u fog. ^.Ir. I'-inerfion's delinition of Nature runs thus: •'Philoso- phically considered, th'.' •uuivcrsu is uoiiiiii-cd of Nature and the Soul. Strictly speuking, therefore, all that is separate from us, all wliioh philo*op!iy distiiij^uidlies from the Sol Me — that is, hotli Nature and Art, and all other men, and my own l>o(ly — must he ranked under this name 'N.vruiiK.' In enumerating the values of Nature and casting up their sum, I shall use the word in hotli senses —in its common and in its philo.sop'iical imj)urt. In in(jniries so {general as our present one, the inaccuracy is not material; no confusi(jn of thought will occur. Nature, in the common sense, refers to ossencea unchanged by man; space, tlie air, the liver, the leaf. Art is applied to the mixture of his will with the same things, as in a hou.^e, a canal, a pictnie, a statue. Ikit his operations, taken together, are so insignilicaut — a little chipping, l)akiiig, patching, and washing — tluit in an impression so grand as that of the world on the human mind they do not vary the risult." In "Letters and Social Aims" Mr. Emerson writes: "Klo- <|nence is tlie power to translate a truth into language per- fectly intelligible to the person to whom you speak. He who would convince the worthy Mr. I'underhead of any truth which Dunderhead iloes not see, nuist be a master of his art. Declamation is common ; but such possession of thought as is hero re are many such— are in danger of thinking tiiis kind of writii. ^ very fine, wlieu in fact it is not only the veriest .sfffWt, b; c that kind of swosh that excites at least an occasional doul s Avitli regard to the writer's sanity. We can make no greatt c mistake than tosuppo.se tiiatthe reason wo do not. nndeistuii i these rlictorical contortionists is because they are so subi. a and profound We understand them quite as well as th::y understand themselves. At their very best, tliey are L.it incoherent diluters of other men's ideas. They have but one thing to recunnuead them — honesty. They believe in tiitiu selves. "Whatever is dark is deep. Stir a puddle, and it is deeper than a Avell," — Swift. Synocioche. The using of the name of a part lor lliat of the whole, the nanie of the whole for that of a pi'.t, <.r the using of a definite number for an indefinite, is ealle.l, i:i v\n'Xov\Ot synecdoche. "The bay wis covered with A-'fi/.s" ; i. i. , with sii'ips. "The man was old, careworn, and gray" ; i. e., literally, /i/.s i'lr/i/', not the man, was gray. '■'Siitc (eiiths ol every man's happines^s depends on the reecption he meets witli in tlie world." "llo had seen seventy n-infii-f." "Thus spoke the ttnintcr" ' here the part of the chaiactcr is named that suits the occasion. "Ilis roof was at the service of the outcast; the unfor- tunate ever found a welcome at his threshold." Take. I copy from the "London Queen" : "The verl to lake, is open to being consitlered a vulgar verb when u^ed in reference to dinner, tea, or to refrediments of any kiiid. Will yoa .';i/'e' is nofc considered comvia il J'aut; the verb in 77/ A' . l-:!lliAIJST. 180 ifor- f'vor for the oH'tTin;^ of C'viliiica lieiiig to hare." ^\ccor<.ling ti "The Qiiovii," then, we must say, "Will you Aa re same u..iiier, tea, c>^ile(', uiiie, ii.-li, Ixef, mlad," etc. Taste of. Tlie leilundant of, often used, in this country, ii! connection v.ith the transitive verbs to taste and to smell, ia • i <'ankeeism. We tnxte oi" fime'l a thing, not taste of nor HI. cU 0/ a thin;^. The neuter vorljs to taste and to midl are hIkti followed by of. "if butter tastes 0/ brass." "For a^'o In. t tastes of pleasures." " ifou shall stifle in your own report, And smeJl of calumny." — Shakespeare. Tautology. >\mong the things to be avoided in writing is I'lntokniy, which is fhercpe.afiinj of the sanie Ihoujht, whether in hhe fame or in diflfcrent words. ifautopliony. "A regard for harmony requires us, in tlie prugiea.-: of a sentence, to Jivoid repeating a sound by em- ])loyiiigthe same word mo;'e than once, or using, in conti^^'uous wordn, similar eombiuati ns of letter's. Tins fault is known us taido/o(ifi.'' — L)r. G. 1*. Quackenbos, "Advanced Course of Composition and Ehetoric," p. 3CU. Dr. Quackeiilios is in error. The repetition of the same snt.-n; is tautology, and the repetition of tlie tame sound, or, as Di". Quackenbos has it, "the repcutin;:,' of a Bound by employing the same word more than once, or by u.'-ing in coiitii;uous words similar combi- nations of letters," ia laniophovi/. Teach. To impart kno\\]e()ge, to inform, to instruct; as, *'Teach me how to do it"; " Tccvh metoswini"; '■^Wetaught mo to write." The uncultured often misuse leai-a for teach. See Leabn. Tense. The errors made in the use of the tenses ava manifold. The one most fiequently made by persons of cul- ture — the one that everyliody inakes would, perhaps, be nearer the fact — is that of utliig the mj^erject instead of the 190 THE VERBAL I fir. perfect tense; thus, "1 never saw it played but once": say, have seen. "He was the largest man I ever saro": say, havf. seen. "I never in my life had such trouble": say, have had. Another frequent error, the making of which ia not confined to the uiischooloil, ia tliat of using two verba in a past tense M'hcn only one should bo in that timo ; thus, "I intended to have gone'''': say, to go. "It was my intention to /(arc come"; Bay, to come. " I expected to have found you here ": say, to find. " I was very desirous to have gone": say, to go, " He was better than I cxi)ected to have found him": gay, to find. Among other common errors are the following: "I seen him when he done it": say, "I saw him when he did it." "I should have v^ent home": say, gone. "If he had irent": say, gone. "I wish you had went": say, gone. "He has icenl out": say, gone. "I come to town this morning ": say, ctme. "He come to me for advice": say, came. "It begun very late": say, hrgmi. "It had already began": say, begun. '' The foll(nviiig toasts were drank": say, drunk. " His text was that (io.l v^an love ": say, w love. Another error is made in sucij sentences as these : " If I had have known ": say, had known. "If he had have come as he promised": say, had come. " If you had have told me ": say, had told. Testimony. 'See Evii>ence. Than. Than and as implying comparison have the same case after as before them. " He owes more than me": read, than / — i. e., more than / otoe. "John is not so old as her '' : read, as she — i.e., as she is. We should say, then, " He is stronger tlian ,^he," "She is older than he," "You are richer than /," etc. But it due^ not always happen that the nomina- tive case comes after than or as. "I love you more tlian him, " "I give you more than hiin," "I love you as well as him"; that is to say, "I love you more than / love him," "I give you more than / give him," "I love you as well as / love hitn.' THE VERBALIST. 191 Take away him and put he in all these cases, and the grammar is just as good, Sut the meaning is quite different. **I love you as wuU iis him," means that I love you as well as I love him ; hut, " I love "ou as well aa /*«," means that I love y(3u as well as he loven yo\i. Than whom. C()l)Ijctt, in his "Grammar of the English Laiio^uiige," says: "Tliere is an erroneous way of employing »/•- m, wliich I must point out ta your particular attention, bee. i.se it is so often seen in very good writers, and hccauso it is . ly deceiving. ' The Duke of Argyll, Uian whom no man was ui')re hearty in the cause.' 'Croniv.cll, Umn whom no man was better skilled in artifice.' A hundred such phrases miglit he collected from Hume, Blackstone, and even from Drs, Blair and Johnson. Yet they arc hal grammar. In all i;, such cases who sliould be made use of : for it is nominative and not objuctive. ' No man was more hearty in the cause than he was'; ' Nu man Mas better skilled in artifice than he was.'* It is a very common Parliament-house phrase, and therefore presumably corrupt ; but it is a Dr. Johnson phrase, too: "Pope, thaji whom few men liad more vanity.' The Doctor did not say, 'Myself, than whom fi^w men have been found iiiore base, having, in my dictionary, descril)ed a pen- sioner as a slave of state, and having afterward myself become a pensioner.' "I differ in this matter from Bishop Lowth, who says that 'The relative ivho, liaving ret'erence to no verb or propo- sition understood, but only to its antecedent, when it follows thuii, is ahpni/H in the ohjextive case ; even though the pronoun, if substituted in its place, would be in the nominative.' And then he gives an instance fi:om Milloa. ' Bi.'(jlzcbub, than whom, Satan except, none higher tat.' It is curious enough • "Cromwell — f/ian /c nn man w,is more skilled in urtiiice ; or, Cvoin- well- -no man was luoro skillud in aiiillcc than he {wta}." 192 TflE VFJillM.lST. tliat this sentence of the Bisliop is, itself, tincrnminatical! Our poor unfortunate il is so placed as to nmke it a matter of (luubt whctlier the Bi.'-hop meant it to ii late tu iiho or to Us OAitkcpdeiit. However, we know its meaning ; but, though he .-ays that vho, when it foUowh than, is always in the objtctive ca-.*t, he gives wa no reuh^oii for this departure froni a clear general principle ; unless we are to regani as a reason the example of Milton, who has committeil many liunJreds, if not lhous?.nila, of grannnutical errors, many of which the Ijishop himself has pointed out. Theie \s a sort of side-wind attempt at reason in tlie words, having reference to no verb or ]»repo- nitioii understood.' I do not sett the nason, even if this eould be; but it a|. pears to me imposf-ible that a noun or pronoun can exi:^t in a giaminatical state without having reference to some verb or pre/iosiiiov, either expre.'-scd or understood. What is meant by Milton? ' 'J'lian licelzelnib, none sat higher, except Satan.' And when, in order to avoid the repetition of the word Beelzebub, the relative becomes ntces^ary, the full construetion must be, 'no devil sat higher than who sat, except Satan'; and not, 'no devil s-.at higher ^ M^niiing, cr rl- ii»iii{i relallwf. "T/ta^'tlio neuter of the cU^fiiiito article, was early In US'; af5 a neuter relative. All tlie other oldest relatives grad- ually (Iropfc away, and 'that' came to bo applied also to plural ;iiitct'("Ii'iiN, and to iiiaseidiues and femiuiues. When 'as,' 'whii-'h,' and 'who' came forward to !;liare the work of 'that,' there aeenis to have ari'seii not a little uneertainty about t!ie relatives, and we Hnd curious double forms: 'whom that,* 'winch tiiat,' 'which us,' etc. Gower has, 'Venus wAox'? priest tliat I am"; ('haiicer writes — 'This Abbot irh'ich that was an holy man,' 'iiis love f./ie wfiii/i t'm/, he oweth.' By the '•]li;'.ab'.'than perioil, tiiese double for us have di?:appe.'>red, and all tlie relatives are used .singly wiili>)Ut hesitation. From then till now, 'that' has been btai(.'i:!ing with 'who' and 'wlii.'h' to rc;:;:i:i .superior favoi', with varying success. ' Who' is used for peison.s, 'which' for things, in both num- bers; 80 is 'that"; and the only opportunity of a speoi.al applicntiou of 'that' lies in tiic; imp )rtantdisiiuction biitweeu coordination and restriction. Now, as 'who' and 'which' are most commoidy preferred for co '>rdination, it would be a cloav gain to eonline tliem to this sense, and to reserve 'that' for the re.-jtrictive application alone. This arrangement, tlien, wunld /all. in with the moH ijenpral w?e of 'that,' &aptdaUy bei/omf the limits of formal composition. "Tiie use of ' that ' solely as restrictive, with 'who' and 'which' solely aa coordinating, also avoids am'/i'j/titks that often attend the indisciiminate use of 'who' and 'wliich' for coordinate and for restrictive clauses. Thus, wluii we say 'his conduct surprised his lOnglish friends, >'-ho had not known him ion^,' we may m'>an either that hi.s Englisli friend* 194 TITE VEnBALiST. generally were surpiisetl (the rel.itive being, in that case, coordinafitfj), or that only a, portion of thcrii— namely, tlia particular portion that hail not known li'm lorg — were sur- prised. In t Ilia last case the rclativo is niciuit to define or explain the anteoeloifc, and tli(!\ Till: n:/:tiAiJST. la-. "In the following,' iii«t;ui('»f the relative is rcptrictivo o:' definiii;^, juul 'that' wuiiM ho pr<;f«'t;U)le : 'the conclu.sioii < f the "lliiul" is like the exit of a great man out of coinp.iiiy luhom he has ontertaincl matjnirtcciitly. ' Compare another of AiMison's sentences: 'a man of polite imagination is let intoa great many pleasures that the vulgar arc not capable of re- ceiving.' "Both relatives are introrluced discriminatingly in this passage: — '.She had learned that from Mrs. Wood, who bad iieard it from her husband, who had heard it at the public- house from tlie landlord, ivho li;id l)een let into the secret by tiie boy that caiTied the beer to some of the prisoners.' •'The following sentences are amliiguous under the modern system of using 'who' for both purposes: — 'I met the boatman w'ho took me across tiic terry.' If 'who' is the proper relative ]iore,tiie meaning i.s, '1 met thcboaf nian.a/a/ Ac took mi' across,' it being supp.'Sed that the boatman is known and dellnitc. IJut if there be several boatmen, and I wish to indicate one in particular liy the circumstance that he had taken mo across the ferry, I should use 'that.' 'The youngest boy who has learned to dance is James.' Tiiis means either 'the youngest boy is James, and he has learned to dance,' or, 'of the boys, the youngest that has laarned to dance is James.' This last Reuse is restrictive, and 'that' sliould be used. "Turning now to 'whicii,' we may have a peries of par- allel examples. 'The coui't, ichldi gives currency to manners, should be excinphiry' : here t!ie meaning is 'the court should be exeiiipliiry, for the court gives currency to maimers.' 'Which' is the idiomatic relative in this case. 'The cat, %vhkh you despise so much, is a very usefid animal.' The relative here also is coordinating;) and not restrictive. If it were intended to point out one individual cat specially des- pised by th"} person addressed, 'that' would con\ey the seaeoA 196 TiiK vi:i;nMJST. 'A throry n-hiffi does tiot t^ii'I to tin* improviTiient of pnictice ia uttcily uiiwoi thy of rt\g;ir(l.' 'I lio iiic.iiiing i« icstrictivc ; 'a theory ///a' (loos not tend.' The following sfntcnce is one of many from (joUlsmitli tliat givo 'that' instea*! of 'which' : — 'Age, ilmt Itsacns thocnjoynifint of life, increases onr desire of living.' Thackeray also was fond of tliia u:jago But it is not very common. " 'Their faith {•tended to mako thorn improvident ; but a wise instinct taught them that if IIkm e was one thing whirh ought not to be loft to fate, or to the proccpts of a ileceased prophet, it was the artillery' ; a case M'luue 'that' is the proper relative. "'All words, irhlrh are signs of complex iileas, furnish matter of mistake,' This gives an erroneous impression, and should be 'all words (hat are signs of complex ideas.' " 'lu all cases of prescription, the uiiversal ))vactice of judges is to direct juries by analogy to the Statute of Limita- tions, to decide against incorporeal rights which have for many vears been relinquished ' : say instead, 'incorporeal rights that have for many years,' and the t^ense is clear. "It is ne jes^ai y f >r the proper understanding of 'which' t.> advert to its pecidiai- fiinctioi! of rcfening to a whole clause 'IS the antecedent: 'William ran 'ulong the top of the wall, I'kich alarmed his mother very much.' The antecedent is obviously not the noun 'wall,' but the fact expressed by the entire clau.5a— -'William ran,' etc. 'He by no uie;',n3 wants sense, which only serves to ag.^ravate his former folly ' ; namely, (not 's'^iise,' but) the circumstance 'that he dc^es nob want sense.' 'He is neither over-exalteil by prosperity, nor too much depressed by mi.ifortune ; vhirh you must allow mai-ks a great mind.' 'We have done many things which we ought not to have done,' might mean 'we ought not fo hare 'hnc many thinys ' ; that is ' we ouylit to have done tew thinga. ■# '^;^>'/» THE VEIUiALIST. 10" •That' wotild ri'vo the exact sen ;o intended: *\vc have done ni my thing's th d wo. ou/^ht nut Id have ilonc.' 'llf licyan to look after hia alFaird hiiuaclf, which waa tlie way ti>iiiake t'icm proyper. " We must next aKudo to the coses whci-. lie le'at vc is governed by a prepositi )n. We can use a 'i"c;io3ition bjforo ' \\ ho ' anlishuii in IWJS, wa-i reiiniiieiJ bixieeii yii.i s iifturwavi!, ami it is curious to observe the tli:\ii,'.;3 wtiicli Dr\deii iikuIu in thuex;ircision. Jliiloiie 1i;ih curofully ii-ti'd all lluso; t icy show b"th tli« tare t.'iij author toil; wirli hi.s own tiiyle aii'l t!ie I'iiaiiijo wli.cli \>a- ;,iaUnally worlaii'^- in ilie Eiitrli>.i lan;;Mauo. The A!i;;lici>ni of tiiniinatii ;,' the aeliteine \>\\\\ a jirrpoisitiiii ii lejt'C'ted. Thus, " I can nut think so conienii«til)ly of the a.'-j 1 l;\t' in,'' is tM-lian^'eiJ for "the a^'e in which I live." "A iloeper uxinLSsion of be- lief than a.l tlieactot cm jiersuade us t;.," is altered, "tan indinua'e into us." And, thoux'h the old form cnniinned in us^ luiipr airer the time of Urydcn, it has of late year^ been leukoi ed inuleKatit, and jnoscrihed in all (■:>Hi;s, perhaps \\\\\\ an u ii,;ce-sary fa^tidic)u•^nes3, to wiiicti 1 have not tinifornily dt'fe; red, since oiu' lan^ua'^e is (jf Teiiti'iiio stn.ct..ve, and t(!c rules of Latin and I'romh };ranunar uic not always to i'nd ns.' "The following; examples, taken from ila^^in;,'cr's '(iimid Pu'ie c t'loi cue,' will .-^how what was the usajre of the I'.li/.alieilian filters: — '"For I tiuist use the tree lom / was ouin i tth.' " ' In thai dumb rheloiic uhnii yon »;iw.'.-c usr m'.' " ' if 1 had bieii heir Of all the globes and sceptre* mankind hmvs tu,' •' • ;iie name of friend Which you are pleased to.'/'inv iiif ir.th.' •' ■ wilfully i;rnoruut in ni\ opiTiicn Of what it did inrite /liiii to.' *" I iocik to li-r a-i (|aet could bo expeoted tu d^ was to iioKl his ground, {which) and this liQ did.'" — Bain's "Higher English Grammar." Thi? word is sometimes vulgarly used for ,so; thus, "I was that nervous I forgot everything"; "I was that frigiitened I could hardly stand." The. Bungling writers som'^times write slieer nonsense, or say sometliing very different from what tl)!:y have in their minds, by tlie simple omission of the deiinite article ; thus, " Tlie indebtedness of the English tongue to the Frcni;li, Latin and Greek is disclosed in almost every sent'^uice framed."' According to this, theie is such a thing as a French, Latin and Greek tongue. Professor Townsend meant to say: "The indcl)todncs3 of tlie English tongue to the French, the Latin, and the Greek," etc. Then. The use of this word ;is an adjcotive is condemned in very emphatic terms by some ut our grammariaus, and yet this use of it has tlie sanction of such jmiuont writers as Addison, Johnson, Whatcly, and Sir J. Hawkins. Johnson says, " Li his then situation," wliich, if brevity be really tlie soul of v/it, certainly has much more soul in it than " In the Eituation he then occupied." However, it is doubtful whether theiif as au adjective, will ever again liud favor with careful writ ITS. TilOllce. See WiiEXCB. Think for. We not unfreqnently hear a superfluous /or tacked to a sentence; thus, "You will liud tliat he knows more about the affair than you think ybr." 200 THE V !:/:::. I LIST. Those kind. ^* Those kind of apples (ire lipst": read, " That kind of apples j.v hcdt." It i.-, tndy remarkable that many por.sons who can justly lay claim to tlie pu.sdessiiju of Cdiisiileniblc culture use this hatbaroiiri c(*mbination. It would be just aa correct to say, "Those Hock of geei,e," or "Tliose drove of cattle," as to say, "Tiio.se sort, or kiml of people." Those V/ho. This phrase, applied in a reatrictive .sense, is the modern substlliite fur'the ancient idioip. they that, an idiom ill accordance with ihe uiie moaning of that. " ' The]/ that told me the story said' ; 'Blessed are theij that mourn'; 'and Simon ixnd they that were with iiiai'; 'I love thoii that love me, and the;/ that sock me early aliall find me'; ' they that ate whole Iiave no ncc'l of a physician '; 'how sweet is the rest of the/ii that labor !' 'I can not tell who to com- pare them to so fitly as to th'vn that pick p>ocket.s in the presence of tin- judge "; 'thn.y that enter into tlie state of mar- riage ciist a di<> of tiie greatest contingency' (J. Taylor). " ' Thaf man hath p.-rtect blessedneas Who walketii not astray.' if e.xpres-ed accoidiug to the old idiom would be, '*e thai ; or, 'the Duke is not one to iiitrr/rre in matters out of his pro- vince'; 'the Duke is nr.t one Ihat iiUerjHre.s with ichdt he has no control oi'er. ' " — liain. Threadbare Quotations. Among the tilings that are in bad taste in spoakini^ aii'l writiiv^, tlie use of threadbare quotations and expressions is in t!ie front rank. Some of these iiKCn tt ras.^f's old-timers are the following : "Their name is legion''; " ho.sts of friends "; " tiic upper ten "; "Variety i.s the spice of life"; "Distance lends enchantment to the view"; "A ciiiiig of ])eauty is a joy for ever"; "the light fantastic toe"; "own t!ie soft inipeacMinent"; "fair wom^m and ])rave men"; " revelry by night '"; " A rose by any other name would smell as sweet." To. it is a well-established rule of grammar t!iat to, the si;n of the iidinitive mood, should not be used for 'h(^ innni- tive itself ; thus, "He lias not done it, nor is he likely to." It should he, " nor is he likely to do it." AVe often find /o, \v\wi\ the sign of the infinitive, separated by an advcib from the veib to which it belongs. rr;)fcs3or A. P. I'eabody says that no standard English writer makes this mi>t;'.ke, ;uid that, so far as iie knows, it occurs frec^ue itly with hut one respectable Ani"ricaa writer. Very Oi'ten ^) is used instead of at ; thus, "I have l)ecn to the tiieatre, fa chur h, to my un ;lu's, lo a concert," and so on. In all these cases, the preposition t«) Vise is cleaily at, and not to, See, also, Amu. To Lhe Foro. An old idi jmatic phrase, now freely usoj again. Ton^T'-IO. "Much (o.'ji'r and much jud.^mcnt seldom go togel'ier." — I/avstrange. S^e L.VNc.UAiiK. Toward. Those who profess to know about such thinrs Bay that etymology furnishes no pretext for the adding oi" n to 202 THE VERBALTf^T. ward ill such words as backward, forward, toward, iipicard onward, downward, afterward, heavenward, earthward, and the lilu'. Trau.'jferred Epithet. This is tlie sliifting of a qunlify- ing word from its proper aubjcob to some allied subject. Examples : " The little fields made green By husbmdry of many thrift;/ yrara" " He plods his weary ivai/." " llenoe to your idfe bed !" By this fig-.no the diction is rendered more terse and vigorous ; it is much used in verse. For the s.ike of conciseness, it is used in prose in such phrases as the lunatic aHylum, the criminal court, the condemned ceU, lihe Iilind aainum, the cholera hospi- tal, the founilimj a-'iylum, and the like. "Still in iiarmonious intercourse they lived The rural ire-i [leaks out] that S. & B. control the enterprise"; "Soon after th« funeial it trant/iired [became known] that the dead woman was alive"; " It has Iranftpired [leaked out] tliat the movement originated with John Blank "; " No report of the proceedings was al- THE VERBALIST, 208 io\Ve(l to tratmjnre"', "It hag not yet transpired who the canditlate is to l)e." The word is incorrectly used thus : "The Mexican wav h-ansf tired in 1847 "; "The drill will tran- spire under shelter "; "The accident travsjiirtd one day last week"; "Years will transpire before it will be fii)i.>lied ' ; "More than a century transpired before it was revisited by civilized man." Trilling Minutiae. The meaning of trifc.saml of minutim is so nearly the same that no one probably ever uses the phrase triJIiiKj minuluH except from thoughtlessness. Trustworthy. See Rkmable. Try. This word is often improperly uaed for malce. We make experiments, not try them, wiiich is as incorrect as it •yould be to .'uiy. Iri/ the attempt, or the trial. Ugly. In England, this word is restricted to meaniijg ill- favored ; with us it is often used — and not without au- thority — in the sense of ill-tempered, vicious, unmanageable. Unbeknown. This word is no longer used except by the unschooled. Underhanded. This word, though found in the dic- tionaries, is a vulgarism, and as ^uch is to be avoitled. The proper word is underliand. Au underhand, not an under- /,aii(l<'d, prooee.ling. Universal— All. "He is ^imrermlly esteemed by all who know him." If he is niiircrsn/ii/ esteemed, he must be esteemed l)y alt who know him; and, if he is esteemed by all who know him, he must be iiiiircr. thus far presented justify the general statement that a clear and natural mode of expression — together with that art of using appropriate ligures and that ability' properly to dis- criminate between synonyms which are necrjssary to correct- ness — is attained in two ways. (1) By mental discipline. (2) By the study of our best authors.' The following sentence is from a leading magazine: "If Ave begin a system of interference, rejjniating men's galii.^, bolstering here, in order to strengthen this inlei'eftt, [andj re- pressing elsewhere [there], in order to equali;:e wealth, we shall do an [a] immense deal of mischief, and without bringing about a more agreeable condition of things than noic [we] shall simply discourage enterprise, repress industry, and cheek material growth in all directions. ^^ Read without the eighteen words in italics and with the four inclosed. ''Nothing disgusts sooner than the empty pomp of lan- guage." Vice. See CniJiK. "^ Vicinity. This word ia sometimes incorrectly used with- out the possessive pronoun ; thus, "Washington and vicinity," instead of " Washington and its vicinity. The primary mean- ing of vicinity is nearnes?, proximity. In many of the cases THE VERBALIST. 207 in which vicinity is used, neirjhhorhood would be the better \Tord, though vicinity is perhaps preferable where it is a ques- tion of mere locality. Vocation — Avocation. These words are frequently confounded. A man's vocalion is his proffsiion, liis calling, his business; and his avocations are the things that occupy him incidentally. 'Mademoiselle Eernliardt's vocation is act- ing ; her avocat ions arc painting and sculpture. "The tracing of resemblances amon'^ the objects and events of tlie world is a constant avocation of the human mind." Vll\'Tar. By the many, this word is probably more fre- quently used improperly than properly. As a no ni, it means the common people, the lower orders, the multitude, the many; as an adjective, it means coarse, low, unreHnod. as "the V!m thnice, as thence means— -unaided — Irnu) •208 THE VEknAl.lsT. tliat place. "Whence do you como?" ju^t *^From irh' :!'■'• fh< yon oome?" T^ikewise, "He went hcnce,^' not ^'/rom/icin-e." Whether. This conjunction is often iinpropeily rcpwitud in a sentence; tluis, "I have not (Icciilod whether I bhall go to Boston or vhclher 1 shall yo to Phila>l(>loliia." Which, 'J'his pronoun as an in/erra;/ itivii applies to jxr- sons as well as to thiii'js ; as a relative, it is now niaJo to r-'ti t to things onhj. " Which is eniphiyed in coordinate sentences, wliere it, ox they, and a conjunction might anywor the puipo.so; tliuH, "At school I studied geometry, wlildi (and it) I found useful after- ward.' Here tlie new clause is something independent added to the previous clause, and not limiting that clause in any way. So in the adjectival olauao ; as, 'He struck the poor dog, ivhich (anil it, or altlionyh il) iiad never done him luirni.' Such instances represent the nifi.st accurate miviiiing of which. Who and wJdch nnght be tci nied the ootuiDiNATiiVO kki.ati vK.s. •' Which is likewise u.;ary to define or explain the antcuedc:it the. man; without it, we do not know who the man is. Such relative claupes are typical «(7/ec- ntg. It may also be subjective or objective. INTkODUCTiON. 6. Exposition includes those literary productions whore facts or principles are discussed r,nd oonclusiona reached by a process of reasoning. It embraces vari- ous treatises, from tlie brief editorial, or essay, to the full discussion in extensive works. To this class bclongB the phil<>so](hic jinem. G. Oratory is that kind of composition in which argu- mejits or reasons are oti'ored to ijilluence the mind. It admits of the followincr divisions : (1) Judicial, (2) Politi- cal, (3) Religious, and (4) ]\Ioral suasion. 7. Pro :o compositions are those in which the thouiirhts are arrangi.'d in non-motrica! sentences, or in the natural order isi common and ordinary language. The principal kinds kA prose composition are narrative, letters, memoirs, history, biography, essays, phflosophy, sermons, novels, ■peeches, &c. 8. Sentences are divided grammatically into simple^ complex, ctimpormd, and also into declarative, inter roi^ai'u-c, imperative, and erchimative. Rhetorically, they are di- vided into looic sentences and periods. 9. A loose sentence consists of parts which may be separated withmit destroying the sense. It is generally adoi^ted by Addison. 10. A period is a sentence in which the complete sense is susixMided until tlie close. Tlie first sonteimc of Fara'lisr Lost, ami al^o the tirst sentence of the Timk, Book III, furnisli examples. 11. Poetry is that sj^ecies of composition in which the words are metrically arranged. It also ditlera from prose \\\ (1) having a greater nuuiber r>[ Jhpirts of speech, (2) em- ploying numerous a?r/)aic, or non-coll')l. Two ^•^'ll,li)Il's thus combined is called ndh^- tijlhibir foot, which Jiiay be (1) .•iii inrnlni.^, when tlie accent i.H on the pccond fyllaljie, or (2) a frorlir«', when tin; acceii! *a uii the lii'st syllubitj, or (o; i4 f;>oiidtn, whv-'ii both am lii an fOL pu INTRODUCTION. vii of accented, or both unaccented. Tliree syllables combined form a trl-ayllabic foot, which may be a dactyl, an amphi- brach, or an anapaest. 21. Moaomotor, dimeter, trimeter, tetrameter, penta- meter, arui lu'..n(i)u't.cr, are terms that indicate tlie number of feet or medr.nres in the verso. Thus tivo iambic feet are called ianihic pentameter. This is the metro of the J)i":)crted Villmje, TJ<-e Tusk, and alsi) of the principal epic, dramatic, philoav^phic, and doscriptive poems. From its use in epic poetry, whore heroic deeds are dt-scribod, it is called heroic measure. An iambic hexameter verse is called an Alexandrine. 22. The Elgiao stanza consists of four pentameter lines rhymina: alternately. 23. The Sponserian stanza consists of eight heroic lines followed by an Alexandrine. 24. Common Metre consists of four verses, the first and third being iambic tetrameters, and the second and fourth, which rhyme, iambic trimeters. 2.5. Short Metre has three feet in the first, second, and fourth lines, and four in the third. 26. Long Metro consists of four iambic tetrameter lines. 27. Ottava Rima is a name apjdiod to an Italian stanza consistiiii^ of eii^ht lines, of which the first six rhyme alternately, and the hiat two form a couplet. 28. The Rhyme Royal consists of seven heroic lines, the first five recurring at intervals and the last two rhymiu','. 29. The Ballad Stanza consists of four lines, the first and third l>ein<^ iambic tetrameters, and the second and fourth iambie trimeters. 30. Pauses. — Besides the \isual pauses indicated by th« punctuation and called sentential pauses, there are in poetic •j-m INTRODUCTION. diction the Final panse at the end of each line and the Cifsural pause. 31. The Ccosural Pause is a suspension of the voice somewhere in the line itself. It is not found in short linys, and in long verses is movable. It sjenonilly occurs uv'ar the middle, l)ut may come after the 4th, 5th, 0th, or 7ih syllahlo. It in often found in the luidille of a foot, but never in tlie middle of a word. Sometimes a secondary pause called demixotsura' is found before and also after the ciBsJiral. 32. Scansion is a term applied to the division of a verse into the feet of v/hich it consists. 33. Classification of Poetry. — In respect to form and mode of treatment, poetry may bo divided into (1) Epic, (2) Dramatic, and (3) Lyric. 34. Epio poetry is that variety in which some groat event is described, or where the exploits of heroes are treated of. The leading forms of Epic poetry are these : — (1) The Great Epic, as tlie Iliad, the /Eiieid, Paradise Lost; (2) The Romance, as the Faerie Queene, The Lady of the Lake; (3) The Ballad, as Chevij C]iase, JMacaulay's LayoJ IToratius; (4) The Historical Poem, as Dryden's Aiutus MirnbUis ; (5) The Tale, as Byron's Corsa/r, Enoch Ardan; (G) The IMixed Epic, as B-yron's ChUde Harold; (7) The Pastoral, Idyll, Arc., as iae Cntfer'a Sat}ird(iy Xidtt, tlie Exi'.nrsion ; (8) Prose Fiction, incbidiiig sentimental, comi- cal, pastoral, historical, philosophical, or religious novelsi, 35. Dramatic Poetry deals also with some important events, but dillers from Epic poetry whore the author him- self narrates the events forming its subject, in having the various charar ters represent, in action or conversation, the story to be described. Dramatic poetry is of two kinds, [^i) Tragedy, where the human passions and woes or mis- fortune! of life » ' 'n such a manner as to ex< INTRODLXTION. IX eitepityjaaShalcespearo's Mnrhdh or Hamlet ; (2) Comedy, where the lighter faults, passions, action*, and folliea are repreaeiitcMi, as the Merchant of Venice. 30. Lyric Pootry is so called because oric^inally writ ten to be auiig tu the Lyre. Its principal kui'Js are : (1) The Ode, as riray's Uard ; (2) The Hymn, as those of Cowjier ; (3) The Si)ng, as those of Burns or Moore ; (4) The Elegy, as Gray's ; (5) Tlie Sonnet, as tliose of Shake- speare or Words vortbi ; (G) The ainiple Lyric, as Burns' Mfriintnin Daiay. 37. Further Clas?siflcation as to object will embrace ; (1) Descriptive poetry, as Thomson's Seasons; (2) Didac- tic, as Wordsworth's Excursion; (3) Pastoral, as Kam- say's Gentle Slifpherd ; Satirical, as I>utlor'B Ilydibrat; (5) Humorous, as Cowi^er's John Gilpin. n. FIGURES OF SPEECH. 38. A Figure is a deviation fnjm the ordinary form or consti-7iction or application of word.s in a sentence for the pnr])o30 of greater precision, variety, or elegance of ex- pression. There are three kinds, viz., of Etymology, of Syntax, and of Ilhctoric. 3!). A Figure of Etymology is a departure from the us\ial forni of words. The principal figures of etymology are: AphtTresis, 7Vos//i^,s/,s, Syncoj^e, Apocojte, taraguye, l>i-< > pern h:. 46. Synooresis. — The joinin;^ of two syllables into one, in either orthography or pronunciation, as dost for daeat, loved for lor-ed. 47. Tmesis. — Separating the parts of a compound word, as " n7w