Part 7 (1/2)
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.