362. "The joining together two clauses with a third," etc.; read, "_of
two_ clauses," etc.
GOWN. See DRESS.
GRADUATED. Students do not _graduate_; they _are_ graduated. Hence most
writers nowadays say, "I _was_, he _was_, or they _were_ graduated"; and
ask, "When _were_ you, or _was_ he, graduated?"
GRAMMATICAL ERRORS. "The correctness of the expression _grammatical
errors_ has been disputed. 'How,' it has been asked, 'can an error be
grammatical?' How, it may be replied, can we with propriety say,
_grammatically incorrect_? Yet we can do so.
"No one will question the propriety of saying _grammatically correct_.
Yet the expression is the acknowledgment of things _grammatically
INcorrect_. Likewise the phrase _grammatical correctness_ implies the
existence of _grammatical INcorrectness_. If, then, a sentence is
_grammatically incorrect_, or, what is the same thing, has _grammatical
incorrectness_, it includes a GRAMMATICAL ERROR. _Grammatically
incorrect_ signifies INCORRECT WITH RELATION TO THE RULES OF GRAMMAR.
_Grammatical errors_ signifies ERRORS WITH RELATION TO THE RULES OF
GRAMMAR.
"They who ridicule the phrase _grammatical errors_, and substitute the
phrase _errors in grammar_, make an egregious mistake. Can there, it may
be asked with some show of reason, be an error in grammar? Why, grammar
is a science founded in our nature, referable to our ideas of time,
relation, method; imperfect, doubtless, as to the system by which it is
represented; but surely we can speak of error in that which is error's
criterion! All this is hypercritical, but hypercriticism must be met
with its own weapons.
"Of the two expressions--_a grammatical error_, and _an error in
grammar_--the former is preferable. If one's judgment can accept
neither, one must relinquish the belief in the possibility of tersely
expressing the idea of an offense against grammatical rules. Indeed, it
would be difficult to express the idea even by circumlocution. Should
some one say, 'This sentence is, according to the rules of grammar,
incorrect.' 'What!' the hypercritic may exclaim, 'incorrect! and
according to the rules of grammar!' 'This sentence, then,' the corrected
person would reply, 'contains an error in grammar.' 'Nonsense!' the
hypercritic may shout, 'grammar is a science; you may be wrong in its
interpretation, but principles are immutable!'
"After this, it need scarcely be added that, grammatically, no one can
make a mistake, that there can be no grammatical mistake, that there can
be no bad grammar, and, consequently, no bad English; a very pleasant
conclusion, which would save us a great amount of trouble if it did not
lack the insignificant quality of being true."--"Vulgarisms and Other
Errors of Speech."
GRATUITOUS. There are those who object to the use of this word in the
sense of unfounded, unwarranted, unreasonable, untrue. Its use in this
sense, however, has the sanction of abundant authority. "Weak and
_gratuitous_ conjectures."--Porson. "A _gratuitous_ assumption."--Godwin.
"The _gratuitous_ theory."--Southey. "A _gratuitous_ invention."--De
Quincey. "But it is needless to dwell on the improbability of a
hypothesis which has been shown to be altogether _gratuitous_."--Dr.
Newman.
GROW. This verb originally meant to increase in size, but has normally
come to be also used to express a change from one state or condition to
another; as, to _grow_ dark, to _grow_ weak or strong, to _grow_ faint,
etc. But it is doubtful whether what is large can properly be said to
_grow_ small. In this sense, _become_ would seem to be the better word.
GUMS. See RUBBERS.
HAD HAVE. Nothing could be more incorrect than the bringing together of
these 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 _have_ known it," "Had you _have_
seen it," "Had we _have_ been there."
HAD OUGHT. This is a vulgarism of the worst description, yet we hear
people, who would be highly indignant if any one should intimate that
they were not ladies and gentlemen, say, "He _had_ ought to go." A
fitting reply would be, "Yes, I think he better had." _Ought_ says all
that _had ought_ says.
HAD RATHER. This expression and _had better_ are much used, but, in the
opinion of many, are indefensible. We hear them in such sentences as, "I
_had_ rather not do it," "You _had_ better go home." "Now, what tense,"
it is asked, "is _had do_ and _had go_?" If we transpose the words thus,
"You _had do_ better (to) go home," it becomes at once apparent, it is
asserted, that the 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 found
in the writings of our best authors. For what Professor Bain has to say
on this subject in his "Composition Grammar," see SUBJUNCTIVE MOOD.
HALF. "It might have been expressed in _one_ half the space." We see at
a glance that _one_ here is superfluous.
HANGED--HUNG. The irregular form, _hung_, of the past participle of the
verb _to hang_ is most used; but, when the word denotes suspension by
the neck for the purpose of destroying life, the regular form,
_hanged_, is always used by careful writers and speakers.
HASTE. See HURRY.
HEADING. See CAPTION.
HEALTHY--WHOLESOME. The first of these two words is often improperly
used for the second; as, "Onions are a _healthy_ vegetable." A man, if
he is in good health, is _healthy_; the food he eats, if it is not
deleterious, is _wholesome_. A _healthy_ ox makes _wholesome_ food. We
speak of _healthy_ surroundings, a _healthy_ climate, situation,
employment, and of _wholesome_ food, advice, examples. _Healthful_ is
generally used in the sense of conducive to health, virtue, morality;
as, _healthful_ exercise, the _healthful_ spirit of the
community--meaning that the spirit that prevails in the community is
conducive to virtue and good morals.
HELPMATE. The dictionaries suggest that this word is a corruption of
_help_ and _meet_, as we find these words used in Gen. ii, 18, "I will
make him a help meet for him," and that the proper word is _helpmeet_.
If, as is possible, the words in Genesis mean, "I will make him a help,
meet [suitable] for him," then neither _helpmate_ nor _helpmeet_ has any
_raison d'être_.
HIGHFALUTIN. This is a style of writing often called the freshman style.
It is much indulged in by very young men, and by a class of older men
who instinctively try to make up in clatter for what they lack in
matter. Examples of this kind of writing are abundant in Professor L. T.
Townsend's "Art of Speech," which, as examples, are all the better for
not being of that exaggerated description sometimes met within the
newspapers. Vol. i, p. 131: "Very often adverbs, prepositions, and
relatives drift so far from their moorings as to lose themselves, or
make attachments where they do not belong." Again, p. 135: "Every law of
speech enforces the statement that there is no excuse for such inflated
and defective style. [Such style!] To speak thus is treason in the
realms and under the laws of language." Again, p. 175: "Cultivate
figure-making habitudes. This is done by asking the spiritual import of
every physical object seen; also by forming the habit of constantly
metaphorizing. Knock at the door of anything met which interests, and
ask, 'Who lives here?' The process is to look, then close the eyes, then
look within." The blundering inanity of this kind of writing is equaled
only by its bumptious grandiloquence. On p. 137 Dr. Townsend quotes this
wholesome admonition from Coleridge: "If men would only say what they
have to say in plain terms, how much more eloquent they would be!" As an
example of reportorial highfalutin, I submit the following: "The spirit
of departed day had joined communion with the myriad ghosts of
centuries, and four full hours fled into eternity before the citizens of
many parts of the town found out there was a freshet here at all."
HINTS. "Never write about any matter that you do not well understand. If
you clearly understand all about your matter, you will never want
thoughts, and thoughts instantly become words.
"One of the greatest of all faults in writing and in speaking is this:
the using of many words to _say little_. In order to guard yourself
against this fault, inquire what is the _substance_, or _amount_, of
what you have said. Take a long speech of some talking Lord and put down
upon paper what the amount of it is. You will most likely find that the
_amount_ is very small; but at any rate, when you get it, you will then
be able to examine it and to tell what it is worth. A very few
examinations of the sort will so frighten you that you will be for ever
after upon your guard against _talking a great deal_ and _saying
little_."--Cobbett.
"Be simple, be unaffected, be honest in your speaking and writing. Never
use a long word where a short one will do. Call a spade _a spade_, not a
_well-known oblong instrument of manual husbandry_; let home be _home_,
not a _residence_; a place a _place_, not a _locality_; and so of the
rest. Where a short word will do, you always lose by using a long one.
You lose in clearness; you lose in honest expression of your meaning;
and, in the estimation of all men who are qualified to judge, you lose
in reputation for ability. The only true way to shine, even in this
false world, is to be modest and unassuming. Falsehood may be a very
thick crust, but, in the course of time, truth will find a place to
break through. Elegance of language may not be in the power of all of
us; but simplicity and straightforwardness are. Write much as you would
speak; speak as you think. If with your inferiors, speak no coarser than
usual; if with your superiors, no finer. Be what you say; and, within
the rules of prudence, say what you are."--Dean Alford.
"Go critically over what you have written, and strike out every word,
phrase, and clause which it is found will leave the sentence neither
less clear nor less forcible than it is without them."--Swinton.
"With all watchfulness, it is astonishing what slips are made, even by
good writers, in the employment of an inappropriate word. In Gibbon's
'Rise and Fall,' the following instance occurs: 'Of nineteen tyrants who
started up after the reign of Gallienus, there was not one who _enjoyed_
a life of peace or a natural _death_.' Alison, in his 'History of
Europe,' writes: 'Two great sins--one of _omission_ and one of
commission--have been _committed_ by the states of Europe in modern
times.' And not long since a worthy Scotch minister, at the close of
the services, intimated his intention of visiting some of his people as
follows: 'I intend, during this week, to visit in Mr. M----'s district,
and will on this occasion take the opportunity of _embracing_ all the
servants in the district.' When worthies such as these offend, who shall
call the bellman in question as he cries, 'Lost, a silver-handled silk
lady's parasol'?
"The proper arrangement of words into sentences and paragraphs gives
clearness and strength. To attain a clear and pithy style, it may be
necessary to cut down, to rearrange, and to rewrite whole passages of an
essay. Gibbon wrote his 'Memoirs' six times, and the first chapter of
his 'History' three times. Beginners are always slow to prune or cast
away any thought or expression which 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 difficult to prepare, and therefore more valuable, than weak
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 an easy command of those small trenchant Saxon
monosyllables which abound in the English language."--"Leisure Hour."
"As a rule, the student will do well to banish for the present all
thought of ornament or elegance, and to aim only at expressing himself
plainly and clearly. The best ornament is always that which comes
unsought. Let him not beat about the bush, but go straight to the point.
Let him remember that what 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 than obscurity. Young
writers are often unduly afraid of repeating the same word, and require
to be reminded that it is always better to use the right word over again
than to replace it by a wrong one--and a word which is liable to be
misunderstood is a wrong one. A frank repetition of a word has even
sometimes a kind of charm--as bearing the stamp of _truth_, the
foundation of all excellence of style."--Hall.
"A young writer is afraid to be simple; he has no faith in beauty
unadorned, hence he crowds his sentences with superlatives. In his
estimation, turgidity passes for eloquence, and simplicity is but
another name for that which is weak and unmeaning."--George Washington
Moon.
HONORABLE. See REVEREND.
HOW. "I have heard _how_ in Italy one is beset on all sides by beggars":
read, "heard _that_." "I have heard _how_ some critics have been
pacified with claret and a supper, and others laid asleep with soft
notes of flattery."--Dr. Johnson. The _how_ in this sentence also should
be _that_. _How_ means the _manner in which_. We may, therefore, say, "I
have heard _how_ he went about it to circumvent you."
"And it is good judgment alone can dictate _how far_ to proceed in it
and _when_ to stop." Cobbett comments on this sentence in this wise:
"Dr. Watts is speaking here of writing. In such a case, an adverb, like
_how far_, expressive of longitudinal space, introduces a _rhetorical
figure_; for the plain meaning is, that judgment will dictate _how much
to write on it_ and not _how far to proceed in it_. The figure, however,
is very proper and much better than the literal words. But when a figure
is _begun_ it should be carried on throughout, which is not the case
here; for the Doctor begins with a figure of longitudinal space and
ends with a figure of _time_. It should have been, _where_ to stop. Or,
how _long_ to proceed in it and _when_ to stop. To tell a man _how far_
he is to go into the Western countries of America, and _when_ he is to
stop, is a very different thing from telling him _how far_ he is to go
and _where_ he is to stop. I have dwelt thus on this distinction for the
purpose of putting you on the watch and guarding you against confounding
figures. The less you use them the better, till you understand more
about them."
HUMANITARIANISM. This word, in its original, theological sense, means
the doctrine that denies the godhead of Jesus Christ, and avers that he
was possessed of a human nature only; a _humanitarian_, therefore, in
the theological sense, is one who believes this doctrine. The word and
its derivatives are, however, nowadays, both in this country and in
England, most used in a humane, philanthropic sense; thus, "The audience
enthusiastically endorsed the _humanitarianism_ of his eloquent
discourse."--Hatton.
HUNG. See HANGED.
HURRY. Though widely different in meaning, both the verb and the noun
_hurry_ are continually used for _haste_ and _hasten_. _Hurry_ implies
not only _haste_, but haste with confusion, flurry; while _haste_
implies only rapidity of action, an eager desire to make progress, and,
unlike _hurry_, is not incompatible with deliberation and dignity. It is
often wise to _hasten_ in the affairs of life; but, as it is never wise
to proceed without forethought and method, it is never wise to _hurry_.
Sensible people, then, may be often in _haste_, but are never in a
_hurry_; and we tell others to _make haste_, and not to _hurry up_.
HYPERBOLE. The magnifying of things beyond their natural limits is
called _hyperbole_. Language that signifies, literally, more than the
exact truth, more than is really intended to be represented, by which a
thing is represented greater or less, better or worse than it really is,
is said to be _hyperbolical_. Hyperbole is exaggeration.
"Our common forms of compliment are almost all of them extravagant
_hyperboles_."--Blair.
Some examples are the following:
"Rivers of blood and hills of slain."
"They were swifter than eagles; they were stronger than lions."
"The sky shrunk upward with unusual dread,
And trembling Tiber div'd beneath his bed."
"So frowned the mighty combatants, that hell
Grew darker at their frown."
"I saw their chief tall as a rock of ice; his spear the blasted fir; his
shield the rising moon; he sat on the shore like a cloud of mist on a
hill."
ICE-CREAM--ICE-WATER. As for ice-cream, there is no such thing, as
ice-cream would be the product of frozen cream, i. e., cream made from
ice by melting. What is called ice-cream is cream _iced_; hence,
properly, _iced_ cream and not _ice_-cream. The product of melted ice is
_ice_-water, whether it be cold or warm; but water made cold with ice is
_iced_ water, and not _ice_-water.
IF. "I doubt _if_ this will ever reach you": say, "I doubt _whether_
this will ever reach you."