The Verbalist Part 13

"'They have no _other_ object _but_ to come': read, 'other object than,'

or omit 'other.'

"Two verbs are not unfrequently followed by a single preposition, which accords with one only; e. g., 'This duty _is repeated_ and inculcated _upon_ the reader.' 'Repeat _upon_' is nonsense; we must read 'is repeated _to_ and inculcated upon.'"--Nichol's "English Composition," p.

39. We often see _for_ used with the substantive _sympathy_; the best practice, however, uses _with_; thus, "Words can not express the deep sympathy I feel _with_ you."--Queen Victoria.

PARTY. This is a very good word in its place, but it is very much out of its place when used--as it 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 he were better acquainted with their true meaning. Then he would solicit his neighbors' _custom_, not their _patronage_. A man can have no _patrons_ without incurring obligations--without becoming a _protege_; while a man may have customers innumerable, and, instead of placing himself under obligations to them, he may place them under obligations to him. Princes are the _patrons_ of those tradesmen whom they allow to call themselves their purveyors; as, "John Smith, Haberdasher to H. R. H. the Prince of Wales." Here the Prince _patronizes_ John Smith.

PELL-MELL. This adverb means mixed or mingled together; as, "Men, horses, chariots, crowded _pell-mell_." It can not properly be applied to an individual. To say, for example, "He rushed pell-mell down the stairs," is as incorrect as it would be to say, "He rushed down the stairs _mixed together_."

PER. This Latin preposition is a good deal used in English, as, for example, in such phrases as _per_ day, _per_ man, _per_ pound, _per_ ton, and so on. In all such cases it is better to use plain English, and say, _a_ day, _a_ man, _a_ pound, _a_ ton, etc. _Per_ is correct before Latin nouns only; as, per annum, per diem, per cent., etc.

PERFORM. "She _performs_ on the piano beautifully." In how much better taste it is to say simply, "She _plays_ the piano well," or, more superlatively, "exceedingly well," or "admirably"! If we talk about _performing_ on musical instruments, to be consistent, we should call those who _perform_, piano-performers, cornet-performers, violin-performers, and so on.

PERPETUALLY. This word is sometimes misused for _continually_. Dr.

William Mathews, in his "Words, their Use and Abuse," says: "The Irish are _perpetually_ using _shall_ for _will_." _Perpetual_ means never ceasing, continuing without intermission, uninterrupted; while _continual_ means that which is constantly renewed and recurring with perhaps frequent stops and interruptions. As the Irish do something _besides_ misuse _shall_, the Doctor should have said that they _continually_ use _shall_ for _will_. I might perhaps venture to intimate that _perpetually_ is likewise misused in the following sentence, which I copy from the "London Queen," if I were not conscious that the monster who can write and print such a sentence would not hesitate to cable a thunderbolt at an offender on the slightest provocation. Judge, if my fears are groundless: "But some few people contract the ugly habit of making use of these expressions unconsciously and continuously, _perpetually_ interlarding their conversation with them."

PERSON. See PARTY; also, INDIVIDUAL.

PERSONALTY. This word does not, as some persons think, mean the articles worn on one's person. It is properly a law term, and means _personal property_. "There is but one case on record of a peer of England leaving over $7,500,000 personalty."

PERSONIFICATION. That rhetorical figure which attributes s.e.x, life, or action to inanimate objects, or ascribes to objects and brutes the acts and qualities of rational beings, is called _personification_ or _prosopopia_.

"The mountains _sing together_, the hills rejoice and _clap their hands_." "The worm, _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 hour, Forth reaching to the fruit, she plucked, she ate!

_Earth felt the wound; and Nature from her seat, Sighing through all her works, gave signs of woe, That all was 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 hearts."

"Levity is often less foolish and gravity less wise than each of them appears."

"The English language, by reserving the distinction of gender for living beings that have s.e.x, gives especial scope for personification. The highest form of personification should be used seldom, and only when justified by the presence of strong feeling."--Bain.

"Knowledge and wisdom, far from being one, Have ofttimes no connection. Knowledge dwells In heads replete with thoughts of other men; Wisdom in minds attentive to their own.

Knowledge is proud that he has learned so much; Wisdom is humble that he knows no more."--Cowper.

PHENOMENON. Plural, _phenomena_.

PLEAD. The imperfect tense and the perfect participle of the verb _to plead_ are both _pleaded_ and not _plead_. "He _pleaded_ not guilty."

"You should have _pleaded_ your cause with more fervor."

PLENTY. In Worcester's Dictionary we find the following note: "_Plenty_ is much used colloquially as an adjective, in the sense of _plentiful_, both in this country and in England; and this use is supported by respectable authorities, though it is condemned by various critics.

Johnson says: 'It is used barbarously, I think, for _plentiful_'; and Dr. Campbell, in his 'Philosophy of Rhetoric,' says: '_Plenty_ for _plentiful_ appears to 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 works of considerable merit.'" We should say, then, that money is _plentiful_, 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 again_ to the _same_ city _from_ whence they came _forth_": the five words in italics are _redundant_ or _pleonastic_. "The different departments of science and of art _mutually_ reflect light _on each other_": either of the expressions in italics embodies the whole idea. "The _universal_ opinion of _all_ men" is a pleonastic expression often heard. "I wrote you _a letter_ yesterday": here _a letter_ is redundant.

Redundancy is _sometimes_ permissible for the surer conveyance of meaning, for emphasis, and in the language of poetic embellishment.

POLITE. This word is much used by persons of doubtful culture, where those of the better sort use the word _kind_. We accept _kind_, not _polite_ invitations; and, when any one has been obliging, we tell him that he has been _kind_; and, when an interviewing reporter tells us of his having met with a _polite_ reception, we may be sure that the person by whom he has been received deserves well for his considerate kindness.

"I thank you and Mrs. Pope for my _kind_ reception."--Atterbury.

PORTION. This word is often incorrectly used for _part_. A _portion_ is properly a part a.s.signed, allotted, set aside for a special purpose; a share, a division. The verb _to portion_ means to divide, to parcel, to endow. We ask, therefore, "In what _part_ [not, in what _portion_] of the country, state, county, town, or street do you live?"--or, if we prefer grandiloquence to correctness, _reside_. In the sentence, "A large _portion_ of the land is unfilled," the right word would be either _part_ or _proportion_, according to the intention of the writer.

POSTED. A word very much and very inelegantly used for _informed_. Such expressions as, "I will _post_ you," "I must _post_ myself up," "If I had been better _posted_," and the like, are, at the best, but one remove from slang.

PREDICATE. This word is often very incorrectly used in the sense of _to base_; as, "He _predicates_ his opinion on insufficient data." Then we sometimes hear people talk about predicating an action upon certain information or upon somebody's statement. To predicate means primarily _to speak before_, and has come to be properly used in the sense of _a.s.sumed_ or believed to be the consequence of. Examples: "Contentment is _predicated_ of virtue"; "Good health may be _predicated_ of a good const.i.tution." He who is not very sure that he uses the word correctly would do better not to use it at all.

PREJUDICE--PREPOSSESS. Both these words mean, to incline in one direction or the other for some reason not founded in justice; but by common consent _prejudice_ has come to be used in an unfavorable sense, and _prepossess_ in a favorable one. Thus, we say, "He is _prejudiced_ against him," and "He is _prepossessed_ in his favor." We sometimes hear the expression, "He is _prejudiced_ in his favor," but this can not be accounted a good use of the word.

PREPOSITIONS. The errors made in the use of the prepositions are very numerous. "The indolent child is one who [that?] has a strong aversion _from_ action of any sort."--Graham's "English Synonymes," p. 236. The prevailing and best modern usage is in favor of _to_ instead of _from_ after _averse_ and _aversion_, and before the object. "Clearness ...

enables the reader to see thoughts without noticing the language _with_ which they are clothed."--Townsend's "Art of Speech." We clothe thoughts _in_ language. "Shakespeare ... and the Bible are ... models _for_ the English-speaking tongue."--Ibid. If this means models of English, then it should be _of_; but if it means models for English organs of speech to practice on, then it should be _for_; or if it means models to model English tongues after, then also it should be _for_. "If the resemblance is too faint, the mind is fatigued _while_ attempting to trace the a.n.a.logies." "Aristotle is in error _while_ thus describing governments."--Ibid. Here we have two examples, not of the misuse of the preposition, but of the erroneous use of the adverb _while_ instead of the preposition _in_. "For my part I can not think that Sh.e.l.ley's poetry, except _by_ s.n.a.t.c.hes and fragments, has the value of the good work of Wordsworth or Byron."--Matthew Arnold. Should be, "except _in_ s.n.a.t.c.hes." "Taxes with us are collected nearly [almost] solely _from_ real and personal estate."--"Appletons' Journal." Taxes are levied _on_ estates and collected _from_ the owners.

"If I am not commended _for_ the beauty of my works, I may hope to be pardoned for their brevity." Cobbett comments on this sentence as follows: "We may commend him _for_ the beauty of his works, and we may _pardon_ him _for_ their brevity, if we deem the brevity _a fault_; but this is not what he means. He means that, at any rate, he shall have the _merit_ of brevity. 'If I am not commended for the beauty of my works, I may hope to be pardoned _on account of_ their brevity.' This is what the Doctor meant; but this would have marred a little the ant.i.thesis: it would have unsettled a little of the balance of that _seesaw_ in which Dr. Johnson so much delighted, and which, falling into the hands of novel-writers and of members of Parliament, has, by moving unenc.u.mbered with any of the Doctor's reason or sense, lulled so many thousands asleep! Dr. Johnson created a race of writers and speakers. 'Mr.

Speaker, that the state of the nation is very critical, all men will allow; but that it is wholly desperate, few will believe.' When you hear or see a sentence like this, be sure that the person who speaks or writes it has been reading Dr. Johnson, or some of his imitators. But, observe, these imitators go no further than the frame of the sentences.

They, in general, take care not to imitate the Doctor in knowledge and reasoning."

The rhetoricians would have us avoid such forms of expression as, "The boy went _to_ and asked the advice _of_ 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 be. We say properly, "He comes from Ohio or _from_ Indiana"; or, "He comes _either_ from Ohio or Indiana."

PREPOSSESS. See PREJUDICE.

PRESENT--INTRODUCE. Few errors are more common, especially among those who are always straining to be fine, than that of using _present_, in the social world, instead of _introduce_. _Present_ means to place in the presence of a superior; _introduce_, to bring to be acquainted. A person is presented at court, and on an official occasion to our President; but persons who are unknown to each other are _introduced_ by a common acquaintance. And in these introductions, it is the younger who is introduced to the older; the lower to the higher in place or social position; the gentleman to the lady. A lady should say, as a rule, that Mr. Blank was introduced to her, not that she was introduced to Mr.

Blank.

PRESUMPTIVE. This word is sometimes misused by the careless for _presumptuous_.

PREVENTIVE. A useless and unwarranted syllable is sometimes added to this word--_preventative_.

PREVIOUS. This adjective is much used in an adverbial sense; thus, "_Previous_ to my return," etc. Until _previous_ is recognized as an adverb, if we would speak grammatically, we must say, "_Previously_ to my return." "_Previously_ to my leaving England, I called on his lords.h.i.+p."

PROCURE. This is a word much used by people who strive to be fine.

"Where did you _get_ it?" with them is, "Where did you _procure_ it?"

PROFANITY. The extent to which some men habitually interlard their talk with oaths is disgusting even to many who, on occasion, do not themselves hesitate to give expression to their feelings in oaths portly and unctuous. If these fellows could be made to know how offensive to decency they make themselves, they would, perhaps, be less profane.

PROMISE. This word is sometimes very improperly used for _a.s.sure_; thus, "I _promise_ you I was very much astonished."

p.r.o.nOUNS OF THE FIRST PERSON. "The ordinary uses of 'I' and 'we,' as the singular and plural p.r.o.nouns of the first person, would appear to be above all ambiguity, uncertainty, or dispute. Yet when we consider the force of the plural 'we,' we are met with a contradiction; for, as a rule, only one person can speak at the same time to the same audience.

It is only by some exceptional arrangement, or some lat.i.tude or license of expression, that several persons can be conjoint speakers. For example, a plurality may sing together in chorus, and may join in the responses at church, or in the simultaneous repet.i.tion of the Lord's Prayer or the Creed. Again, one person may be the authorized spokesman in delivering a judgment or opinion held by a number of persons in common. Finally, in written compositions, the 'we' is not unsuitable, because a plurality of persons may append their names to a doc.u.ment.

"A speaker using 'we' may speak for himself and one or more others; commonly he stands forward as the representative of a cla.s.s, more or less comprehensive. 'As soon as my companion and I had entered the field, _we_ saw a man coming toward _us_'; '_we_ like _our_ new curate'; 'you do _us_ poets the greatest injustice'; '_we_ must see to the efficiency of _our_ forces.' The widest use of the p.r.o.noun will be mentioned presently.

"'We' is used for 'I' in the decrees of persons in authority; as when King Lear says: