[1] If this is true in England, it is not true in America. Nowhere in
the United States is such "questionable grammar" as this frequently
heard in cultivated circles.
[2] "It may be confidently affirmed that with good speakers, in the case
of negation, _not me_ is the usual practice."--Bain. This, I confidently
affirm, is not true in America.--A. A.
[3] Should be, _a text-book for his course_, and not, _for his course a
text-book_.
[4] Mr. Gould criticises the Dean's _diction_, not his _style_.
[5] Better, "to revise it."
[6] "Is _to put them_ in tabular form."
[7] Bullions' "Grammar" was published in 1867.
[8] "L. W. K., CLK., LL. D., EX. SCH., T. C., D. Of this reverend
gentleman's personality I know nothing. He does not say exactly what he
means; but what he means is, yet, unmistakable. The extract given above
is from 'Public Opinion,' January 20, 1866."
[9] "The analysis, taken for granted in this quotation, of 'are being
thrown up' into 'are being' and 'thrown up' will be dealt with in the
sequel, and shown to be untenable."
[10] "Vol. xlv, p. 504 (1837)."
[11] "'The Life and Correspondence of the late Robert Southey,' vol. i,
p. 249."
[12] "Vol. i, p. 338. 'A student who _is being crammed_'; 'that verb is
eternally _being declined_.'--'The Doctor,' pp. 38 and 40 (mono-tome
ed.)."
[13] "In 'Put Yourself in his Place,' chapter x, he writes: 'She basked
in the present delight, and looked as if she _was being taken_ to heaven
by an angel.'"
[14] "'Words,' etc., p. 340."
[15] "Thomas Fuller writes: 'At his arrival, the last stake of the
Christians was _on losing_.'--'The Historie of the Holy Warre,' p. 218
(ed. 1647)."
[16] "I express myself in this manner because I distinguish between _be_
and _exist_."
[17] "Samuel Richardson writes: 'Jenny, who attends me here, has more
than once hinted to me that Miss Jervis loves to sit up late, either
reading or _being read to_ by Anne, who, though she reads well, is not
fond of the task.'--'Sir Charles Grandison,' vol. iii, p. 46 (ed. 1754).
"The transition is very slight by which we pass from 'sits being read
to' to 'is being read to.'"
[18] "I am here indebted to the last edition of Dr. Worcester's
'Dictionary,' preface, p. xxxix."
[19] "'Words and their Uses,' p. 353."
[20] "'_It is being_ is simply equal to _it is_. And, in the supposed
corresponding Latin phrases, _ens factus est_, _ens ædificatus est_ (the
obsoleteness of _ens_ as a participle being granted), the monstrosity is
not in the use of _ens_ with _factus_, but in that of _ens_ with _est_.
The absurdity is, in Latin, just what it is in English, the use of _is_
with _being_, the making of the verb _to be_ a complement to
itself.'--_Ibid._, pp. 354, 355.
"Apparently, Mr. White recognizes no more difference between
_supplement_ and _complement_ than he recognizes between _be_ and
_exist_. See the extract I have made above, from p. 353."
[21] "'But those things which, _being not now doing_, or having not yet
been done, have a natural aptitude to exist hereafter, may be properly
said to appertain to the future.'--Harris's 'Hermes,' book I, chap. viii
(p. 155, foot-note, ed. 1771). For Harris's _being not now doing_, which
is to translate μὴ γινόμενα, the modern school, if they pursued
uniformity with more of fidelity than of taste, would have to put _being
not now being done_. There is not much to choose between the two."
[22] "'Words and their Uses,' p. 343."
[23] The possessive construction here is, in my judgment, not
imperatively demanded. There is certainly no lack of authority for
putting the three substantives in the accusative. The possessive
construction seems to me, however, to be preferable.
[24] "The use of the plural for the singular was established as early
the beginning of the fourteenth century."--Morris, p. 118, § 153.
[25] "Some writers omit the comma in cases where the conjunction is
used. But, as the conjunction is generally employed in such cases for
emphasis, commas ought to be used; although, where the words are very
closely connected, or where they constitute a clause in the midst of a
long sentence, they may be omitted."--Bigelow's "Handbook of
Punctuation."
[26] "This usage violates one of the fundamental principles of
punctuation; it indicates, very improperly, that the noun _man_ is more
closely connected with _learned_ than with the other adjectives. Analogy
and perspicuity require a comma after _learned_."--Quackenbos.
[27] Many writers would omit the last two commas in this sentence.
[28] The commas before and after _particularly_ are hardly necessary.
[29] The only exception to this rule is the occasional use of the colon
to separate two short sentences that are closely connected.
[30] "Dr. Angus on the 'English Tongue,' art. 527."
[31] "In the following passages, the indicative mood would be more
suitable than the subjunctive: 'If thou _be_ the Son of God, command
that these stones be made bread'; 'if thou _be_ the Son of God, come
down from the cross.' For, although the address was not sincere on the
part of the speakers, they really meant to make the supposition or to
grant that he was the Son of God; 'seeing that thou _art_ the Son of
God.' Likewise in the following: 'Now if Christ _be_ preached, that He
rose from the dead, how say some among you that there is no resurrection
from the dead?' The meaning is, 'Seeing now that Christ _is_ preached.'
In the continuation, the conditional clauses are of a different
character, and 'be' is appropriate: 'But if there _be_ no resurrection
from the dead, then is Christ not risen. And if Christ _be_ not risen,
then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain.' Again, 'If
thou _bring_ thy gift to the altar, and there remember_est_,' etc.
Consistency and correctness require 'remember.'"--Harrison on the
"English Language," p. 287.
[32] "So, in German, _wäre_ for _würde sein_. 'Hätt' ich Schwingen,
hätt' ich Flügel, nach den Hügeln _zög_' ich hin,' for '_würde_ ich
_ziehen_.'"
[33] "So, in German, _hätte_ occurs for _würde haben_. 'Wäre er da
gewesen, so _hätten_ wir ihn gesehen,' for 'so _würden_ wir ihn gesehen
_haben_.' _Hätten_ is still conditional, not indicative. In Latin, the
pluperfect _indicative_ is occasionally used; which is explained as a
more vivid form."
[34] "In _principal_ clauses the inflection of the second person is
always retained: 'thou had_st_,' 'thou would_st_, should_st_,' etc. In
the example, the subordinate clause, although subjunctive, shows,
'had_st_.' And this usage is exceedingly common."
[35] To those who are not quite clear as to what transcendentalism is,
the following lucid definition will be welcome: "It is the spiritual
cognoscence of psychological irrefragability connected with concutient
ademption of incolumnient spirituality and etherealized contention of
subsultory concretion." Translated by a New York lawyer, it stands thus:
"Transcendentalism is two holes in a sand-bank: a storm washes away the
sand-bank without disturbing the holes."
[36] "Cromwell--_than he_ no man was more skilled in artifice; or,
Cromwell--no man was more skilled in artifice _than he_ (was)."
[37] "No devil sat higher than _he_ sat, except Satan."
[38] "Speaking of Dryden, Hallam says, 'His "Essay on Dramatic Poesy,"
published in 1668, was reprinted sixteen years afterward, and it is
curious to observe the changes which Dryden made in the expression.
Malone has carefully noted all these; they show both the care the author
took with his own style, and the change which was gradually working in
the English language. The Anglicism of terminating the sentence with a
preposition is rejected. Thus, "I can not think so contemptibly of the
age I live in," is exchanged for "the age in which I live." "A deeper
expression of belief than all the actor can persuade us to," is altered,
"can insinuate into us." And, though the old form continued in use long
after the time of Dryden, it has of late years been reckoned inelegant,
and proscribed in all cases, perhaps with an unnecessary fastidiousness,
to which I have not uniformly deferred, since our language is of
Teutonic structure, and the rules of Latin and French grammar are not
always to bind us.'
"The following examples, taken from Massinger's 'Grand Duke of
Florence,' will show what was the usage of the Elizabethan writers:--
"'For I must use the freedom I _was born with_.'
"'In that dumb rhetoric _which_ you _make use of_.'
"'---- if I had been heir
Of all the globes and sceptres mankind _bows to_.'
"'---- the name of friend
_Which_ you are pleased to _grace me with_.'
"'---- wilfully ignorant in my opinion
Of what it did _invite him to_.'
"'I look to her as on a princess
_I dare not be ambitious of_.'
"'---- a duty
_That I was born with_.'"