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placing prepositions at the end of sentences. For instance Carlyle, in `
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referring to the Study of Burns, writes:--"Our own contributions to it, `
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we are aware, can be but scanty and feeble; but we offer them with good `
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will, and trust they may meet with acceptance from those they are `
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intended _for_." `
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--"for whom they are intended," he should have written. `
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"Most writers have some one vein which they peculiarly and obviously `
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excel _in_."--_William Minto_. `
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This sentence should read,--Most writers have some one vein in which they `
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peculiarly and obviously excel. `
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Many authors use redundant words which repeat the same thought and idea. `
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This is called tautology. `
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"Notwithstanding which (however) poor Polly embraced them all around." `
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--_Dickens_. `
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"I judged that they would (mutually) find each other."--_Crockett_. `
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"....as having created a (joint) partnership between the two Powers in `
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the Morocco question."--_The Times_. `
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"The only sensible position (there seems to be) is to frankly acknowledge `
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our ignorance of what lies beyond."--_Daily Telegraph_. `
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Lord Rosebery has not budged from his position--splendid, no doubt,--of `
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(lonely) isolation."--_The Times_. `
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"Miss Fox was (often) in the habit of assuring Mrs. Chick."--_Dickens_. `
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"The deck (it) was their field of fame."--_Campbell_. `
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"He had come up one morning, as was now (frequently) his wont," `
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--_Trollope_. `
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The counsellors of the Sultan (continue to) remain sceptical `
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--_The Times_. `
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Seriously, (and apart from jesting), this is no light matter.--_Bagehot_. `
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To go back to your own country with (the consciousness that you go back `
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with) the sense of duty well done.--_Lord Halsbury_. `
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The _Peresviet_ lost both her fighting-tops and (in appearance) `
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looked the most damaged of all the ships--_The Times_. `
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Counsel admitted that, that was a fair suggestion to make, but he `
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submitted that it was borne out by the (surrounding) circumstances. `
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--_Ibid_. `
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Another unnecessary use of words and phrases is that which is termed `
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circumlocution, a going around the bush when there is no occasion for `
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it,--save to fill space. `
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It may be likened to a person walking the distance of two sides of a `
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triangle to reach the objective point. For instance in the quotation: `
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"Pope professed to have learned his poetry from Dryden, whom, whenever an `
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opportunity was presented, he praised through the whole period of his `
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existence with unvaried liberality; and perhaps his character may receive `
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some illustration, of a comparison he instituted between him and the man `
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whose pupil he was" much of the verbiage may be eliminated and the `
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sentence thus condensed: `
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"Pope professed himself the pupil of Dryden, whom he lost no opportunity `
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of praising; and his character may be illustrated by a comparison with `
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his master." `
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"His life was brought to a close in 1910 at an age not far from the one `
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fixed by the sacred writer as the term of human existence." `
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This in brevity can be put, "His life was brought to a close at the age `
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of seventy;" or, better yet, "He died at the age of seventy." `
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"The day was intensely cold, so cold in fact that the thermometer crept `
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down to the zero mark," can be expressed: "The day was so cold the `
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thermometer registered zero." `
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Many authors resort to circumlocution for the purpose of "padding," that `
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is, filling space, or when they strike a snag in writing upon subjects of `
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which they know little or nothing. The young writer should steer clear of `
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it and learn to express his thoughts and ideas as briefly as possible `
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commensurate with lucidity of expression. `
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Volumes of errors in fact, in grammar, diction and general style, could `
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be selected from the works of the great writers, a fact which eloquently `
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testifies that no one is infallible and that the very best is liable to `
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err at times. However, most of the erring in the case of these writers `
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arises from carelessness or hurry, not from a lack of knowledge. `
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As a general rule it is in writing that the scholar is liable to slip; in `
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oral speech he seldom makes a blunder. In fact, there are many people who `
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are perfect masters of speech,--who never make a blunder in conversation, `
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yet who are ignorant of the very principles of grammar and would not know `
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how to write a sentence correctly on paper. Such persons have been `
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accustomed from infancy to hear the language spoken correctly and so the `
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use of the proper words and forms becomes a second nature to them. A `
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child can learn what is right as easy as what is wrong and whatever `
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impressions are made on the mind when it is plastic will remain there. `
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Even a parrot can be taught the proper use of language. Repeat to a `
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parrot.--"Two and two _make_ four" and it never will say "two and two `
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_makes_ four." `
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In writing, however, it is different. Without a knowledge of the `
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fundamentals of grammar we may be able to speak correctly from `
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association with good speakers, but without such a knowledge we cannot `
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hope to write the language correctly. To write even a common letter we `
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must know the principles of construction, the relationship of one word to `
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another. Therefore, it is necessary for everybody to understand at least `
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the essentials of the grammar of his own language. `
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CHAPTER VIII `
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PITFALLS TO AVOID `
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Common Stumbling Blocks--Peculiar Constructions--Misused Forms. `
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ATTRACTION `
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Very often the verb is separated from its real nominative or subject by `
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several intervening words and in such cases one is liable to make the `
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verb agree with the subject nearest to it. Here are a few examples `
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showing that the leading writers now and then take a tumble into this `
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pitfall: `
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(1) "The partition which the two ministers made of the powers of `
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government _were_ singularly happy."--_Macaulay_. `
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(Should be _was_ to agree with its subject, _partition_.) `
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(2) "One at least of the qualities which fit it for training ordinary men `
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_unfit_ it for _training_ an extraordinary man."--_Bagehot_. `
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(Should be _unfits_ to agree with subject _one_.) `
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(3) "The Tibetans have engaged to exclude from their country those `
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dangerous influences whose appearance _were_ the chief cause of our `
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action."--_The Times_. `
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(Should be _was_ to agree with _appearance_.) `
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(4) "An immense amount of confusion and indifference _prevail_ in these `
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days."--_Telegraph_. `
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(Should be _prevails_ to agree with amount.) `
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ELLIPSIS `
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Errors in ellipsis occur chiefly with prepositions. `
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His objection and condoning of the boy's course, seemed to say the least, `
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paradoxical. `
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(The preposition _to_ should come after objection.) `
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Many men of brilliant parts are crushed by force of circumstances and `
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their genius forever lost to the world. `
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(Some maintain that the missing verb after genius is _are_, but such `
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is ungrammatical. In such cases the right verb should be always `
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expressed: as--their genius _is_ forever lost to the world.) `
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THE SPLIT INFINITIVE `
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Even the best speakers and writers are in the habit of placing a `
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modifying word or words between the _to_ and the remaining part of the `
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infinitive. It is possible that such will come to be looked upon in time `
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as the proper form but at present the splitting of the infinitive is `
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decidedly wrong. "He was scarcely able _to_ even _talk_" "She commenced `
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_to_ rapidly _walk_ around the room." "_To have_ really _loved_ is better `
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than not _to have_ at all _loved_." In these constructions it is much `
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better not to split the infinitive. In every-day speech the best speakers `
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sin against this observance. `
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In New York City there is a certain magistrate, a member of "the 400," `
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who prides himself on his diction in language. He tells this story: A `
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prisoner, a faded, battered specimen of mankind, on whose haggard face, `
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deeply lined with the marks of dissipation, there still lingered faint `
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reminders of better days long past, stood dejected before the judge. `
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"Where are you from?" asked the magistrate. "From Boston," answered the `
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accused. "Indeed," said the judge, "indeed, yours is a sad case, and yet `
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you don't seem _to_ thoroughly _realise_ how low you have sunk." The man `
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stared as if struck. "Your honor does me an injustice," he said bitterly. `
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"The disgrace of arrest for drunkenness, the mortification of being `
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thrust into a noisome dungeon, the publicity and humiliation of trial in `
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a crowded and dingy courtroom I can bear, but to be sentenced by a Police `
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Magistrate who _splits his infinitives_--that is indeed the last blow." `
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ONE `
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The indefinite adjective pronoun _one_ when put in place of a personal `
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substantive is liable to raise confusion. When a sentence or expression `
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