The Verbalist Part 18

STORM. Many persons indulge in a careless use of this word, using it when they mean to say simply that it rains or snows. To a _storm_ a violent commotion of the atmosphere is indispensable. A very high wind const.i.tutes a storm, though it be dry.

STRAIGHTWAY. Here is a good Anglo-Saxon word of _two_ syllables whose place, without any good reason, is being usurped by the Latin word _immediately_, of _five_ syllables.

STREET. We live _in_, not _on_--meet our acquaintances _in_, not _on_--things occur _in_, not _on_--houses are built _in_, not _on_, the street, and so forth.

STYLE. This is a term that is used to characterize the peculiarities that distinguish a writer or a composition. Correctness and clearness properly belong to the domain of _diction_; simplicity, conciseness, gravity, elegance, diffuseness, floridity, force, feebleness, coa.r.s.eness, etc., belong to the domain of _style_.

SUBJUNCTIVE MOOD. This mood is unpopular with not a few now-a-day grammarians. One says that it is rapidly falling into disuse; that, in fact, there is good reason to suppose it will soon become obsolete.

Another says that it would, perhaps, be better to abolish it entirely, as its use is a continual source of dispute among grammarians and of perplexity to schools. Another says that it is a universal stumbling-block; that n.o.body seems to understand it, although almost everybody attempts to use it.

That the subjunctive mood is much less used now than it was a hundred years ago is certain, but that it is obsolescent is very far from certain. It would not be easy, I think, to find a single contemporary writer who does not use it. That it is not always easy to determine what form of it we should employ is very true; but if we are justified in abolishing it altogether, as Mr. Chandler suggests, because its correct use is not always easy, then we are also justified in abolishing the use of _shall_ and _will_, and of the prepositions, for surely their right use is likewise at times most puzzling. Meanwhile, most persons will think it well to learn to use the subjunctive mood properly. With that object in view, one can not, perhaps, do better than to attend to what Dr. Alexander Bain, Professor of Logic in the University of Aberdeen, says upon the subject. In Professor Bain's "Higher English Grammar" we find:

"In subordinate clauses.--In a clause expressing a condition, and introduced by a conjunction of condition, the verb is sometimes, but not always, in the subjunctive mood: 'If I _be_ able,' 'if I _were_ strong enough,' 'if thou _should_ come.'

"The subjunctive inflexions have been wholly lost. The sense that something is wanting appears to have led many writers to use indicative forms where the subjunctive might be expected. The tendency appears strongest in the case of 'wert,' which is now used as indicative (for 'wast') only in poetical or elevated language.

"The following is the rule given for the use of the subjunctive mood:

"When in a conditional clause it is intended to express doubt or denial, use the subjunctive mood.[30] 'If I _were_ sure of what you tell me, I would go.'

"When the conditional clause is _affirmative_ and _certain_, the verb is _indicative_: 'If that _is_ the case' (as you now tell me, and as I believe), 'I can understand you.' This is equivalent to a clause of a.s.sumption, or supposition: 'That being the case,' 'inasmuch as that is the case,' etc.

"As _futurity_ is by its nature uncertain, the subjunctive is extensively used for future conditionality: 'If it _rain_, we shall not be able to go'; 'if I _be_ well'; 'if he _come_ shortly'; 'if thou _return_ at all in peace'; 'though he _slay_ me, yet will I trust in him.' These events are all in the uncertain future, and are put in the subjunctive.[31]

"A future result or consequence is expressed by the subjunctive in such instances as these: 'I will wait till he _return_'; 'no fear lest dinner _cool_'; 'thou shalt stone him with stones, that he _die_'; 'take heed lest at any time your hearts _be_ overcharged with surfeiting.'

"Uncertainty as to a past event may arise from our own ignorance, in which case the subjunctive is properly employed, and serves the useful purpose of distinguishing our ignorance from our knowledge. 'If any of my readers _has_ looked with so little attention upon the world around him'; this would mean--'as I know that they have.' The meaning intended is probably--'as I do not know whether they have or not,' and therefore the subjunctive 'have' is preferable. 'If ignorance _is_ bliss,' which I (ironically) admit. Had Gray been speaking seriously, he would have said, 'if ignorance _be_ bliss,' he himself dissenting from the proposition.

"A wish contrary to the fact takes the subjunctive: 'I wish he _were_ here' (which he is not).

"An intention not yet carried out is also subjunctive: 'The sentence is that you _be_ imprisoned.'

"The only correct form of the future subjunctive is--'if I should.' We may say, 'I do not know whether or not I _shall_ come'; but 'if I shall come,' expressing a condition, is not an English construction. 'If he will' has a real meaning, as being the present subjunctive of the verb 'will': 'if he be willing,' 'if he have the will.' It is in accordance with good usage to express a future subjunctive meaning by a present tense; but in that case the form must be strictly subjunctive, and not indicative. 'If any member _absents_ himself, he shall forfeit a penny for the use of the club'; this ought to be either 'absent,' or 'should absent.' 'If thou _neglectest_ or _doest_ unwillingly what I command thee, I will rack thee with old cramps'; better, 'if thou _neglect_ or _do_ unwillingly,' or 'if thou should neglect.' The indicative would be justified by the speaker's belief that the supposition is sure to turn out to be the fact.

"The past subjunctive may imply denial; as, 'if the book _were_ in the library (as it is not), it should be at your service.'

"'If the book _be_ in the library,' means, 'I do not know whether it be or not.' We have thus the power of discriminating _three_ different suppositions. 'If the book _is_ in the library' (as I know it is); 'if it _be_' (I am uncertain); 'if it _were_' (as I know it is not). So, 'if it rains,' 'if it rain,' 'if it rained.' 'Nay, and the villains march wide between the legs, as if they _had_ gyves on,' implying that they had not.

"The same power of the past tense is exemplified in 'if I _could_, I would,' which means, 'I can not'; whereas, 'if I can, I will,' means 'I do not know.'

"The past subjunctive may be expressed by an inversion: '_Had_ I the power,' '_were_ I as I have been.'

"In Princ.i.p.al Clauses.--The princ.i.p.al clause in a conditional statement also takes the subjunctive form when it refers to what is future and contingent, and when it refers to what is past and uncertain, or denied.

'If he should try, he _would_ succeed'; 'if I had seen him, I _should_ have asked him.'

"The usual forms of the subjunctive in the princ.i.p.al clause are 'would,'

'should,' 'would have,' 'should have'; and it is to be noted that in this application the second persons take the inflexional ending of the indicative: 'shouldst,' 'wouldst.'

"'If 'twere done when 'tis done, then 't_were_ (would be) well It _were_ (should be) done quickly.'

"The English idiom appears sometimes to permit the use of an indicative where we should expect a subjunctive form. 'Many acts, that _had_ been otherwise blamable, were employed'; 'I _had_ fainted, unless I had believed,' etc.

"'Which else _lie_ furled and shrouded in the soul.'

"In 'else' there is implied a conditional clause that would suit 'lie'; or the present may be regarded as a more vivid form of expression. 'Had'

may be indicative; just as we sometimes find pluperfect indicative for pluperfect subjunctive in the same circ.u.mstances in Latin. We may refer it to the general tendency, as already seen in the uses of 'could,'

'would,' 'should,' etc., to express conditionality by a past tense; or the indicative may be used as a more direct and vivid mode. 'Had' may be subjunctive; 'I _had_ fainted' is, in construction, a.n.a.logous to 'I _should_ have fainted'; the word for futurity, 'shall,' not being necessary to the sense, is withdrawn, and its past inflexion transferred to 'have.' Compare Germ. _wurde haben_ and _hatte_."

In addition to the foregoing, we find in Professor Bain's "Composition Grammar" the following:

"The case most suited to the subjunctive is _contingent futurity_, or the expression of an event unknown absolutely, as being still in the future: 'If to-morrow _be_ fine, I will walk with you.'

"'Unless I _were_ prepared,' insinuates pretty strongly that I am or am not prepared, according to the manner of the princ.i.p.al clause.

"'What's a tall man unless he _fight_?'

"'The sword hath ended him: so shall it thee, Unless thou _yield_ thee as my prisoner.'

"'Who but must laugh, if such a man there _be_?

Who would not weep, if Atticus _were_ he?'

"'I am to second Ion if he _fail_'; the failing is left quite doubtful.

'I should very imperfectly execute the task which I have undertaken if I _were_ merely to treat of battles and sieges.' Macaulay thus implies that the scope of his work is to be wider than mere battles and sieges.

"The subjunctive appears in some other constructions. 'I hope to see the exhibition before _it close_'; 'wait till he _return_'; 'thou shall stand by the river's brink against he _come_'; 'take heed lest pa.s.sion _sway_ thy judgment'; 'speak to me, though it _be_ in wrath'; 'if he _smite_ him with an instrument of iron so that he _die_, he is a murderer'; 'beware this night that thou _cross_ not my footsteps'

(Sh.e.l.ley).

"Again. 'Whatever this _be_'; 'whoever he _be_'; 'howe'er it _be_'

(Tennyson); and such like.

"'And _as long_, O G.o.d, _as_ she _Have_ a grain of love for me, So long, no doubt, no doubt, Shall I nurse in my dark heart, However weary, a spark of will Not to be trampled out.'

"The Future Subjunctive is given in our scheme of the verb as 'should'

in all persons: 'If I should, if thou should, if he should.' In old English, we have 'thou _shouldst_': 'if thou, Lord, _shouldst_ mark iniquities.'

"An inverted conditional form has taken deep root in our language, and may be regarded as an elegant and forcible variety. While dispensing with the conjunction, it does not cause ambiguity; nevertheless, conditionality is well marked.

"'_If_ you _should_ abandon your Penelope and your home for Calypso, ----': '_should_ you abandon ----.'

"'_Go_ not my horse the better, I must become a borrower of the night For a dark hour or twain.'

"'Here had we now our country's honor roof'd _Were_ the graced person of our Banquo present.'

"'_Be_ thou a spirit of health or goblin d.a.m.n'd, _Bring_ with thee airs from heaven or blasts from h.e.l.l, _Be_ thy intents wicked or charitable, Thou com'st in such a questionable shape That I will speak to thee.'

"'_Come_ one, _come_ all, this rock shall fly From its firm base as soon as I.'--Scott.

"The following examples are given by Matzner: