§ 2. Grammatical Purity.

1. To write any language with grammatical purity implies three

things:

1. That the words be all of that language.

2. That they may be construed and arranged according to the rules of syntax in that language.

3. That they be employed in that sense which usage has annexed to them.

2. Grammatical purity may therefore be violated in three ways. 1. The words may not be English. This error is called a BARBARISM.

2. Their construction may be contrary to English idiom. This error is called a SOLECISM.

8. They may be used in a sense different from their established acceptation. This error is termed an IMPROPRIETY.-Crombie, Etym. Syntax.

3. If we analyse grammatical errors more minutely, we find that they arise from the following causes :—

(i) Faulty definition-misconception of the meaning of words.

(ii) Faulty classification-confusing words belonging to dif ferent parts of speech.

(iii) Faulty ellipsis.

(iv) Redundancy.

(v) Faulty concord and government.

(vi) Faulty arrangement or collocation of words.

4. Of these errors the principal illustrations occur in

(i) Mistaking the adverb for the adjective.

(ii) Misgovernment and false concord of pronouns; especially (iii) The false concord of relative and antecedent.

(iv) The ellipsis of the article.

(v) The erroneous collocation of words; especially misplacing
the adverb, and violating the arrangement of correla
·tives in the corresponding clauses of a sentence.

5. We now proceed to give a list of general rules and cautions bearing upon these points; a selection of such words in common use as are liable to misconception; a list of words and phrases alphabetically arranged, which suggest criticism or require explanation.

§ 3.

CAUTIONS, CRITICAL REMARKS, ETC.

I. Adverb.

1. ADVERBS are often made adjectives or nouns, though not elegantly; as,

'The then ministry.'

'Very God of very God.'

'It is a long while ago.'—A.

2. Adverbs in 'ly' from adjectives in 'ly' should be avoided; as,

'That we may godly serve Thee.'

3. When adverbs are found in the same clause with several words, they must be closely connected with the words to which they belong. They are generally placed before adjectives, after verbs, and between the auxiliary and the participle.

4. Such adverbs as totally, supremely, absolutely, universally, &c., are not to be qualified by so, more, most, or by any word implying comparison.-M.

5. When the verb is intransitive, the adjective must be used; as, 'She looks cold.' When the verb is transitive, the adverb is to be used; as, 'She looks coldly on him.'

6. The verb To Be in all its moods and tenses, generally requires the word immediately connected with it to be an adjective, and not an adverb; and consequently, when this verb can be substituted for any other without varying the sense or construction, that other verb must be connected with an adjective; as, 'The rose smells sweet,' not sweetly; for, if we substitute is for smells, we have 'The rose is sweet.'

7. The misuse of the adverb for the adjective is a common blunder; as,

'They could easier get them by heart;' say, more easily.
'Use a little wine for thy stomach's sake and thine often in-
firmities.' Often is an adverb, and therefore wrong: we
should say, thy frequent infirmities.

II. Adjective.

1. When adjectives, or their equivalents, deny equality, or affirm inequality, neither term of the comparison should ever include the other; as,

'I know none so happy in his metaphors as Addison.' Addison is included in none, and therefore is not so happy as himself.-A.

2. When a comparative is used with than, the thing compared must always be excluded from the class of things compared; as, 'Jacob loved Joseph more than all his children;'

corrected, 'all his (other) children.'—A.

3. Avoid the common blunder of confounding the first two with the two first, the last two with the two last.

III. Article.

1. If different persons or objects are referred to, the article

must be repeated with each; as,

'The wooden and iron bridge'=one bridge.

'The wooden and the iron bridge'=two bridges.

2. The article is never used in English before virtues, vices, arts, and sciences; abstract quantities defined not otherwise particularly; terms strictly limited by other definite words; titles used as titles, and names as names.

3. Since a (an) indicates one thing of a kind, it must not be used to denote the whole kind; as,

(Not) (But)

'The unicorn is a kind of a rhinoceros ;'
'The unicorn is a kind of rhinoceros.'

IV. Pronoun.

1. Pronouns and collective nouns which require a singular verb are followed by singular pronouns; as,

'Everyone must judge of his (not their) own feelings.'

2. Nouns of multitude, which require verbs in the plural are followed by plural pronouns; as,

'The clergy would not surrender their privileges.'

3. If two or more pronouns in one sentence differ in gender, number, or person, the reference to each will be clear; but, if they agree, care must be taken that there be no confusion. Speaking generally the nominatives should all refer to the same person, and the accusatives to the same.-A.

4. As personal pronouns are often found in connected sentences in one of which the verb is omitted, and relative pronouns are often connected with two verbs in the same sentence, the use of them is peculiarly liable to errors. Such errors are most easily avoided by completing the sentence, or by analyzing it; e. g.

1. 'Let you and I endeavour to improve the enclosure of the cave;' say, 'Let you and let me;' 'Let us.'

2. 'If there be one character more base than another, it is him who;' say, 'That character is he who.'

8. 'Between you and I (me) he is mistaken.'

4. 'The nations not so blessed as thee (as thou art).'— Thomson.

5. 'It is not for such as us (as we are) to sit with the rulers of the land.'

6. 'Is she as tall as me (as I am).'—Shakspere.

7. 'There were a thousand in the French army who could have done it as well as him (as he could).'-Napier.

8. 'Whom do men say that I am? (That I am who do men say?)'

9. 'Who do you take me to be? (me to be whom?)'

10. 'Who servest thou under? (whom?)'

11. 'Who should I meet the other day but my old friend.'— Steele.

12. 'My son is going to be married to I don't know who.'Goldsmith.

(Whom, in both cases).-A.

5. Ye is the nominative form of the pronoun, you the accusative. In Old English this distinction is carefully preserved. In Shakspere it is not observed; by later writers it is reversed.-A. 6. Avoid the use of that for when; as,

1.

'He tells them that the time should come that the Temple should be graced with the presence of the Messias.' For that substitute when.

V. Relative.

The antecedent to which a relative refers must be perfectly obvious. Hence no other word which might grammatically be interpreted as the antecedent must intervene.

2. An adjective should never be an antecedent. Avoid such expressions as,

'Homer is remarkably concise, which renders him lively and agreeable.'—Blair.

3. Relatives being connective words, do not admit conjunctions before them, unless there are two or more relative clauses to be repeated. Hence avoid such errors as, And which.

EXAMPLE. The principal and distinguishing excellence of

Virgil, and which in my opinion he possesses beyond other poets, is tenderness.'

4. Vide Syntax, § 8, 5, p. 101.

5. Avoid such common errors as, 'Who do you speak to?' for 'Whom do you speak to?'

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