The Verbalist Part 11

MIND--CAPRICIOUS. "Lord Salisbury's _mind_ is _capricious_."--"Tribune,"

April 3, 1881. See EQUANIMITY OF MIND.

MISPLACED CLAUSES. In writing and speaking, it is as important to give each clause its proper place as it is to place the words properly. The following are a few instances of misplaced clauses and adjuncts: "All these circ.u.mstances brought close to us a state of things which we never thought to have witnessed [_to witness_] in peaceful England. _In the sister island, indeed, we had read of such horrors_, but now they were brought home to our very household hearth."--Swift. Better: "We had read, indeed, of such horrors occurring in the sister island," etc.

"The savage people in many places in America, except the government of families, have no government at all, and live at this day in that savage manner as I have said before."--Hobbes. Better: "The savage people ...

in America have no government at all, except the government of families," etc.

"I shall have a comedy for you, in a season or two at farthest, that I believe will be worth your acceptance."--Goldsmith. Bettered: "In a season or two at farthest, I shall have a comedy for you that I believe will be worth your acceptance."

Among the following examples of the wrong placing of words and clauses, there are some that are as amusing as they are instructive: "This orthography is regarded as normal _in England_." What the writer intended was, "in England _as normal_"--a very different thought. "The Normal School is a commodious building capable of accommodating three hundred students four stories high." "HOUSEKEEPER.--A highly respectable middle-aged Person who has been filling the above Situation with a gentleman for upwards of eleven years and who is now deceased is anxious to meet a similar one." "TO PIANO-FORTE MAKERS.--A lady keeping a first-cla.s.s school requiring a good piano, is desirous of receiving a daughter of the above in exchange for the same." "The Moor, seizing a bolster boiling over with rage and jealousy, smothers her." "The Dying Zouave the most wonderful mechanical representation ever seen of the last breath of life being shot in the breast and life's blood leaving the wound." "Mr. T---- presents his compliments to Mr. H----, and I have got a hat that is not his, and, if he have a hat that is not yours, no doubt they are the expectant ones." See ONLY.

MISPLACED WORDS. "Of all the faults to be found in writing," says Cobbett, "this is one of the most common, and perhaps it leads to the greatest number of misconceptions. All the words may be the proper words to be used upon the occasion, and yet, by a _misplacing_ of a part of them, the meaning may be wholly destroyed; and even made to be the contrary of what it ought to be."

"I asked the question with no other intention than to set the gentleman free from the necessity of silence, and to give him an opportunity of mingling on equal terms with a polite a.s.sembly from which, _however uneasy_, he could not then _escape_, _by a kind introduction_ of the only subject on which I believed him to be able to speak with propriety."--Dr. Johnson.

"This," says Cobbett, "is a very bad sentence altogether. '_However uneasy_' applies to _a.s.sembly_ and not to _gentleman_. Only observe how easily this might have been avoided. 'From which _he_, _however uneasy_, could not then escape.' After this we have, '_he_ could not then _escape_, _by a kind introduction_.' We know what is _meant_; but the Doctor, with all his _commas_, leaves the sentence confused. Let us see whether we can not make it clear. 'I asked the question with no other intention than, by a kind introduction of the only subject on which I believed him to be able to speak with propriety, to set the gentleman free from the necessity of silence, and to give him an opportunity of mingling on equal terms with a polite a.s.sembly from which he, however uneasy, could not then escape.'"

"Reason is the glory of human nature, and one of the chief eminences whereby we are raised above our fellow-creatures, the brutes, _in this lower world_."--Doctor Watts' "Logic."

"I have before showed an error," Cobbett remarks, "in the _first_ sentence of Doctor Watts' work. This is the _second_ sentence. The words _in this lower world_ are not words _misplaced_ only; they are wholly _unnecessary_, and they do great harm; for they do these two things: first, they imply _that there are brutes in the higher world_; and, second, they excite a doubt _whether we are raised above those brutes_.

"I might greatly extend the number of my extracts from these authors; but here, I trust, are enough. I had noted down about _two hundred errors_ in Dr. Johnson's 'Lives of the Poets'; but, afterward perceiving that he had revised and corrected 'The Rambler' with _extraordinary care_, I chose to make my extracts from that work rather than from the 'Lives of the Poets.'"

The position of the adverb should be as near as possible to the word it qualifies. Sometimes we place it before the auxiliary and sometimes after it, according to the thought we wish to express. The difference between "The fish should _properly_ be broiled" and "The fish should be _properly_ broiled" is apparent at a glance. "The colon may be _properly_ used in the following cases": should be, "may _properly_ be used." "This mode of expression _rather suits_ a familiar than a grave style": should be, "suits a familiar _rather than_ a grave style." "It is a frequent error _in the writings even_ of some good authors": should be, "in the writings of _even some good_ authors." "_Both_ the circ.u.mstances of contingency and futurity are necessary": should be, "The circ.u.mstances of contingency and futurity are _both_ necessary."

"He has made charges ... which he has failed _utterly_ to sustain."--"New York Tribune." Here it is uncertain at first sight which verb the adverb is intended to qualify; but the nature of the case makes it probable that the writer meant "has utterly failed to sustain."

MISTAKEN. "If I am not _mistaken_, you are in the wrong": say, "If I _mistake not_." "I tell you, you are _mistaken_." Here _mistaken_ means, "You are wrong; you do not understand"; but it might be taken to mean, "I _mistake you_." For "you are _mistaken_," say, "you _mistake_." If, as Horace and Professor Davidson aver, usage in language makes right, then the grammarians ought long ago to have invented some theory upon which the locution _you are mistaken_ could be defended. Until they do invent such a theory, it will be better to say _you mistake_, _he mistakes_, and so on; or _you are_, or _he is_--as the case may be--_in error_.

MORE PERFECT. Such expressions as, "the _more_ perfect of the two," "the _most_ perfect thing of the kind I have ever seen," "the _most_ complete cooking-stove ever invented," and the like, can not be defended logically, as nothing can be more perfect than perfection, or more complete than completeness. Still such phrases are, and probably will continue to be, used by good writers.

MOST. "Everybody abuses this word," says Mr. Gould in his "Good English"; and then, in another paragraph, he adds: "If a man would cross out _most_ wherever he can find it in any book in the English language, he would in _al_most every instance improve the style of the book." That this statement may appear within bounds, he gives many examples from good authors, some of which are the following: "a _most_ profound silence"; "a _most_ just idea"; "a _most_ complete orator"; "this was _most_ extraordinary"; "an object of _most_ perfect esteem"; "a _most_ extensive erudition"; "he gave it _most_ liberally away"; "it is, _most_ a.s.suredly, not because I value his services least"; "would _most_ seriously affect us"; "that such a system must _most_ widely and _most_ powerfully," etc.; "it is _most_ effectually nailed to the counter"; "it is _most_ undeniable that," etc.

This word is much, and very erroneously, used for _almost_. "He comes here _most_ every day." The user of such a sentence as this means to say that he comes _nearly_ every day, but he _really 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 what it may, received and returned. Thus, we say properly, "John and James have a _mutual_ affection, or a _mutual_ aversion," i. e., they like or dislike each other; or, "John and James are _mutually_ dependent," i. e., they are dependent on each other. In using the word _mutual_, care should be taken not to add the words _for each other_ or _on each other_, the thought conveyed by these words being already expressed in the word _mutual_. "Dependent on each other"

is the exact equivalent of "mutually dependent"; hence, saying that John and James are _mutually_ dependent _on each other_ is as redundant in form as it would be to say that the editors of "The Great Vilifier" are the biggest, greatest mud-slingers in America.

MYSELF. This form of the personal p.r.o.noun is properly used in the nominative case only where _increased emphasis_ is aimed at.

"I had as lief not be as live to be In awe of such a thing as I _myself_."

"I will do it _myself_," "I saw it _myself_." It is, therefore, incorrect to say, "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 _give_" implies neither some other _verb_, a meaning not intended. Rearrange thus, taking all the common parts of the contracted sentences together: "He would give _neither_ wine, _nor_ oil, _nor_ money." So, "She can _neither_ help her beauty, _nor_ her courage, _nor_ her cruelty" (Thackeray), should be, "She can help _neither_,"

etc. "He had _neither_ time to intercept _nor_ to stop her" (Scott), should be, "He had time _neither_ to intercept," etc. "Some _neither_ can for wits _nor_ critics pa.s.s" (Pope), should be, "Some can _neither_ for wits _nor_ critics pa.s.s."

NEVER. Grammarians differ with regard to the correctness of using _never_ in such sentences as, "He is in error, though _never_ so wise,"

"Charm he _never_ so wisely." In sentences like these, to say the least, it is better, in common with the great majority of writers, to use _ever_.

NEW. This adjective is often misplaced. "He has a _new_ suit of clothes and a _new_ pair of gloves." It is not the _suit_ and the _pair_ that are new, but the _clothes_ and the _gloves_.

NICE. Archdeacon Hare remarks of the use, or rather misuse, of this word: "That stupid vulgarism by which we use the word _nice_ to denote almost every mode of approbation, for almost every variety of quality, and, from sheer poverty of thought, or fear of saying anything definite, 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 universal deluge of _niaiserie_--for _nice_ seems originally to have been only _niais_--had whelmed the whole island." Nice is as good a word as any other in its place, but its place is not everywhere. We talk very properly about a _nice_ distinction, a _nice_ discrimination, a _nice_ calculation, a _nice_ point, and about a person's being _nice_, and over-_nice_, and the like; but we certainly ought not to talk about "Oth.e.l.lo's" being a _nice_ tragedy, about Salvini's being a _nice_ actor, or New York bay's being a _nice_ harbor.[23]

NICELY. The very quintessence of popinjay vulgarity is reached when _nicely_ is made to do service for _well_, in this wise: "How do you do?" "_Nicely_." "How are you?" "_Nicely_."

NO. This word of negation is responded to by _nor_ in sentences like this: "Let your meaning be obscure, and _no_ grace of diction _nor_ 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 word to use in sentences like this is not _no_, but _not_. And yet our best writers sometimes inadvertently use _no_ with _whether_. Example: "But perhaps some people are quite indifferent _whether_ or _no_ it is said,"

etc.--Richard Grant White, in "Words and Their Uses," p. 84. Supply the ellipsis, and we have, "said or _no_ said." In a little book ent.i.tled "Live and Learn," I find, "No _less_ than fifty persons were there; No _fewer_," etc. In correcting one mistake, the writer himself makes one.

It should be, "_Not_ fewer," etc. If we ask, "There were fifty persons there, were there or were there _not_?" the reply clearly would be, "There were _not_ fewer than fifty." "There was _no_ one of them who would not have been proud," etc., should 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 thy ivory _nor_ thy gold will I unbind thy chain." "I will _not_ 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 company_. It does not exclude the presence of one of them.

The negative should precede in this case: "Neither John _nor_ James was there." "Our company was _not_ present" (as a company, but some of us might have been), should be, "No member of our company was present."

NOT--BUT ONLY. "Errors frequently arise in the use of _not_--but _only_, to understand which we must attend to the force of the whole expression. 'He did _not_ pretend to extirpate French music, _but only_ to cultivate and civilize it.' Here the _not_ is obviously misplaced.

'He pretended, or professed, _not_ to extirpate.'"--Bain.

NOTORIOUS. Though this word can not be properly used in any but a bad sense, we sometimes see it used instead of _noted_, which may be used in either a good or a bad sense. _Notorious_ characters are always persons to be shunned, whereas _noted_ characters may or may not be persons to be shunned.

"This is the tax a man must pay for his virtues--they hold up a torch to his vices and render those frailties _notorious_ in him which would pa.s.s without observation in another."--Lacon.

NOVICE. See AMATEUR.

NUMBER. It is not an uncommon thing for a p.r.o.noun in the plural number to be used in connection with an antecedent in the singular. At present, the following notice may be seen in some of our Broadway omnibuses: "Fifty dollars reward for the conviction of any person caught collecting or keeping fares given to _them_ to deposit in the box." Should be, to _him_. "A person may be very near-sighted if _they_ can not recognize an acquaintance ten feet off." Should be, if _he_.

The verb _to be_ is often used in the singular instead of in the plural; thus, "There _is_ several reasons why it would be better": say, _are_.

"How many _is_ there?" say, _are_. "There _is_ four": say, _are_. "_Was_ there many?" say, _were_. "No matter how many there _was_": say, _were_.

A verb should 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, "_Each_ 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."

_Each_ being singular, a p.r.o.noun or verb to agree with it must also be singular; thus, "Let them depend each on _his_ own exertions"; "Each city has _its_ peculiar privileges"; "Everybody has a right to look after _his_ own interest."

Errors are often the result of not repeating the verb; thus, "Its significance is as varied as the pa.s.sions": correctly, "as _are_ the pa.s.sions." "The words are as incapable of a.n.a.lysis as the thing signified": correctly, "as _is_ the thing signified."

OBSERVE. The dictionaries authorize the use of this word as a synonym of _say_ and _remark_; as, for example, "What did you _observe_?" for "What did you _say_, or _remark_?" In this sense, however, it is better to leave _observe_ to the exclusive use of those who delight in being fine.

O'CLOCK. "It is a quarter _to_ ten o'clock." What does this statement mean, 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 _really_ means a quarter after nine. We should say, then, a quarter _of_, which means, literally, a quarter _out of_ ten.