The Verbalist Part 7

368. "I can _only_ deal with the complaint in a general way"; read, "_deal with the complaint only_," etc.

86. "_In_ so far as they are idiomatic," etc. What is the use of _in_?

171. "Try the experiment"; "_tried_ the experiment." Read, _make_ and _made_.

345. "It is _most_ generally used of that very sect," etc. Why _most_?

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 subst.i.tute 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 circ.u.mlocution. 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_ a.s.sumption."--G.o.dwin.

"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 a.s.serted, 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 s.p.a.ce." 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'etre_.

HIGHFALUTIN. This is a style of writing often called the freshman style.

It is much indulged in by very young men, and by a cla.s.s 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 b.u.mptious 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 una.s.suming. 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 coa.r.s.er 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 pa.s.sages 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 compa.s.s. 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.... Repet.i.tion 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 repet.i.tion 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 pa.s.ses 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 circ.u.mvent 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 s.p.a.ce, 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 s.p.a.ce 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 G.o.dhead 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."