How to Speak and Write Correctly Part 18

"Miss Fox was (often) in the habit of a.s.suring Mrs. Chick."--_d.i.c.kens_.

"The deck (it) was their field of fame."--_Campbell_.

"He had come up one morning, as was now (frequently) his wont,"

--_Trollope_.

The counsellors of the Sultan (continue to) remain sceptical --_The Times_.

Seriously, (and apart from jesting), this is no light matter.--_Bagehot_.

To go back to your own country with (the consciousness that you go back with) the sense of duty well done.--_Lord Halsbury_.

The _Peresviet_ lost both her fighting-tops and (in appearance) looked the most damaged of all the s.h.i.+ps--_The Times_.

Counsel admitted that, that was a fair suggestion to make, but he submitted that it was borne out by the (surrounding) circ.u.mstances.

--_Ibid_.

Another unnecessary use of words and phrases is that which is termed circ.u.mlocution, a going around the bush when there is no occasion for it,--save to fill s.p.a.ce.

It may be likened to a person walking the distance of two sides of a triangle to reach the objective point. For instance in the quotation: "Pope professed to have learned his poetry from Dryden, whom, whenever an opportunity was presented, he praised through the whole period of his existence with unvaried liberality; and perhaps his character may receive some ill.u.s.tration, of a comparison he inst.i.tuted between him and the man whose pupil he was" much of the verbiage may be eliminated and the sentence thus condensed:

"Pope professed himself the pupil of Dryden, whom he lost no opportunity of praising; and his character may be ill.u.s.trated by a comparison with his master."

"His life was brought to a close in 1910 at an age not far from the one fixed by the sacred writer as the term of human existence."

This in brevity can be put, "His life was brought to a close at the age of seventy;" or, better yet, "He died at the age of seventy."

"The day was intensely cold, so cold in fact that the thermometer crept down to the zero mark," can be expressed: "The day was so cold the thermometer registered zero."

Many authors resort to circ.u.mlocution for the purpose of "padding," that is, filling s.p.a.ce, or when they strike a snag in writing upon subjects of which they know little or nothing. The young writer should steer clear of it and learn to express his thoughts and ideas as briefly as possible commensurate with lucidity of expression.

Volumes of errors in fact, in grammar, diction and general style, could be selected from the works of the great writers, a fact which eloquently testifies that no one is infallible and that the very best is liable to err at times. However, most of the erring in the case of these writers arises from carelessness or hurry, not from a lack of knowledge.

As a general rule it is in writing that the scholar is liable to slip; in oral speech he seldom makes a blunder. In fact, there are many people who are perfect masters of speech,--who never make a blunder in conversation, yet who are ignorant of the very principles of grammar and would not know how to write a sentence correctly on paper. Such persons have been accustomed from infancy to hear the language spoken correctly and so the use of the proper words and forms becomes a second nature to them. A child can learn what is right as easy as what is wrong and whatever impressions are made on the mind when it is plastic will remain there.

Even a parrot can be taught the proper use of language. Repeat to a parrot.--"Two and two _make_ four" and it never will say "two and two _makes_ four."

In writing, however, it is different. Without a knowledge of the fundamentals of grammar we may be able to speak correctly from a.s.sociation with good speakers, but without such a knowledge we cannot hope to write the language correctly. To write even a common letter we must know the principles of construction, the relations.h.i.+p of one word to another. Therefore, it is necessary for everybody to understand at least the essentials of the grammar of his own language.

CHAPTER VIII

PITFALLS TO AVOID

Common Stumbling Blocks--Peculiar Constructions--Misused Forms.

ATTRACTION

Very often the verb is separated from its real nominative or subject by several intervening words and in such cases one is liable to make the verb agree with the subject nearest to it. Here are a few examples showing that the leading writers now and then take a tumble into this pitfall:

(1) "The part.i.tion which the two ministers made of the powers of government _were_ singularly happy."--_Macaulay_.

(Should be _was_ to agree with its subject, _part.i.tion_.)

(2) "One at least of the qualities which fit it for training ordinary men _unfit_ it for _training_ an extraordinary man."--_Bagehot_.

(Should be _unfits_ to agree with subject _one_.)

(3) "The Tibetans have engaged to exclude from their country those dangerous influences whose appearance _were_ the chief cause of our action."--_The Times_.

(Should be _was_ to agree with _appearance_.)

(4) "An immense amount of confusion and indifference _prevail_ in these days."--_Telegraph_.

(Should be _prevails_ to agree with amount.)

ELLIPSIS

Errors in ellipsis occur chiefly with prepositions.

His objection and condoning of the boy's course, seemed to say the least, paradoxical.

(The preposition _to_ should come after objection.)

Many men of brilliant parts are crushed by force of circ.u.mstances and their genius forever lost to the world.

(Some maintain that the missing verb after genius is _are_, but such is ungrammatical. In such cases the right verb should be always expressed: as--their genius _is_ forever lost to the world.)

THE SPLIT INFINITIVE

Even the best speakers and writers are in the habit of placing a modifying word or words between the _to_ and the remaining part of the infinitive. It is possible that such will come to be looked upon in time as the proper form but at present the splitting of the infinitive is decidedly wrong. "He was scarcely able _to_ even _talk_" "She commenced _to_ rapidly _walk_ around the room." "_To have_ really _loved_ is better than not _to have_ at all _loved_." In these constructions it is much better not to split the infinitive. In every-day speech the best speakers sin against this observance.

In New York City there is a certain magistrate, a member of "the 400,"

who prides himself on his diction in language. He tells this story: A prisoner, a faded, battered specimen of mankind, on whose haggard face, deeply lined with the marks of dissipation, there still lingered faint reminders of better days long past, stood dejected before the judge.

"Where are you from?" asked the magistrate. "From Boston," answered the accused. "Indeed," said the judge, "indeed, yours is a sad case, and yet you don't seem _to_ thoroughly _realise_ how low you have sunk." The man stared as if struck. "Your honor does me an injustice," he said bitterly.

"The disgrace of arrest for drunkenness, the mortification of being thrust into a noisome dungeon, the publicity and humiliation of trial in a crowded and dingy courtroom I can bear, but to be sentenced by a Police Magistrate who _splits his infinitives_--that is indeed the last blow."

ONE

The indefinite adjective p.r.o.noun _one_ when put in place of a personal substantive is liable to raise confusion. When a sentence or expression is begun with the impersonal _one_ the word must be used throughout in all references to the subject. Thus, "One must mind one's own business if one wishes to succeed" may seem prolix and awkward, nevertheless it is the proper form. You must not say--"One must mind his business if he wishes to succeed," for the subject is impersonal and therefore cannot exclusively take the masculine p.r.o.noun. With _any one_ it is different.

You may say--"If any one sins he should acknowledge it; let him not try to hide it by another sin."

ONLY