EAT. Grammarians differ very widely with regard to the conjugation of this verb; there is no doubt, however, that from every point of view the preferable forms for the preterite and past participle are respectively ate and eaten. To refined ears the other forms smack of vulgarity, although supported by good authority. "I ate an apple." "I have eaten dinner." "John ate supper with me." "As soon as you have eaten breakfast we will set out."

EDITORIAL. The use of this adjective as a substantive is said to be an Americanism.

EDUCATION. This is one of the most misused of words. A man may be well acquainted with the contents of text-books, and yet be a person of little education; on the other hand, a man may be a person of good education, and yet know little of the contents of text-books. Abraham Lincoln and Edwin Forrest knew comparatively little of what is generally learned in schools; still they were men of culture, men of education. A man may have ever so much book-knowledge and still be a boor; but a man can not be a person of good education and not be—so far as manner is concerned—a gentleman. Education, then, is a whole of which Instruction and Breeding are the parts. The man or the woman—even in this democratic country of ours—who deserves the title of gentleman or lady is always a person of education; i. e., he or she has a sufficient acquaintance with books and with the usages of social intercourse to acquit himself or herself creditably in the society of cultivated people. Not moral worth, nor learning, nor wealth, nor all three combined, can unaided make a gentleman, for with all three a man might be uneducated—i. e., coarse, unbred, unschooled in those things which alone make men welcome in the society of the refined.

EFFECTUATE. This word, together with ratiocinate and eventuate, is said to be a great favorite with the rural members of the Arkansas legislature.

EFFLUVIUM. The plural of this word is effluvia. It is a common error with those who have no knowledge of Latin to speak of "a disagreeable effluvia," which is as incorrect as it would be to talk about "a disagreeable vapors."

EFFORT WITHOUT EFFECT. "Some writers deal in expletives to a degree that tires the ear and offends the understanding. With them everything is excessively, or immensely, or extremely, or vastly, or surprisingly, or wonderfully, or abundantly, or the like. The notion of such writers is that these words give strength to what they are saying. This is a great error. Strength must be found in the thought, or it will never be found in the words. Big-sounding words, without thoughts corresponding, are effort without effect."—William Cobbett. See FORCIBLE-FEEBLE.

EGOIST. "One of a class of philosophers who professed to be sure of nothing but their own existence."—Reid.

EGOTIST. "One who talks much of himself."

"A tribe of egotists for whom I have always had a mortal aversion."—"Spectator."

EITHER. This word means, strictly, the one or the other of two. Unlike both, which means two taken collectively, either, like each, may mean two considered separately; but in this sense each is the better word to use. "Give me either of them" means, Give me the one or the other of two. "He has a farm on either side of the river" would mean that he has two farms, one on each (or either) side of the river. "He has a farm on both sides of the river" would mean that his farm lies partly on the one side of the river and partly on the other. The use of either in the sense of each, though biblical and defensible, may be accounted little if any better than an affectation. Neither is the negative of either. Either is responded to by or, neither by nor; as, "either this or that," "neither this nor that." Either and neither should not—strictly—be used in relation to more than two objects. But, though both either and neither are strictly applicable to two only, they have been for a very long time used in relation to more than two by many good writers; and, as it is often convenient so to use them, it seems probable that the custom will prevail. When more than two things are referred to, any and none should be used instead of either and neither; as, "any of the three," not, "either of the three"; "none of the four," not, "neither of the four."

EITHER ALTERNATIVE. The word alternative means a choice offered between two things. An alternative writ, for example, offers the alternative of choosing between the doing of a specified act or of showing cause why it is not done. Such propositions, therefore, as, "You are at liberty to choose either alternative," "Two alternatives are presented to me," "Several alternatives presented themselves," and the like, are not correct English. The word is correctly used thus: "I am confronted with a hard alternative: I must either denounce a friend or betray my trust." We rarely hear the word alternate or any of its derivatives correctly pronounced.

ELDER. See OLDER.

ELEGANT. Professor Proctor says: "If you say to an American, 'This is a fine morning,' he is likely to reply, 'It is an elegant morning,' or perhaps oftener by using simply the word elegant. This is not a pleasing use of the word." This is not American English, Professor, but popinjay English.

ELLIPSIS. The omission of a word or of words necessary to complete the grammatical construction, but not necessary to make the meaning clear, is called an ellipsis. We almost always, whether in speaking or in writing, leave out some of the words necessary to the full expression of our meaning. For example, in dating a letter to-day, we should write, "New York, August 25, 1881," which would be, if fully written out, "I am now writing in the city of New York; this is the twenty-fifth day of August, and this month is in the one thousand eight hundred and eighty-first year of the Christian era." "I am going to Wallack's" means, "I am going to Wallack's theatre." "I shall spend the summer at my aunt's"; i. e., at my aunt's house.

By supplying the ellipses we can often discover the errors in a sentence, if there are any.

ENJOY BAD HEALTH. As no one has ever been known to enjoy bad health, it is better to employ some other form of expression than this. Say, for example, he is in feeble, or delicate, health.

ENTHUSE. This is a word that is occasionally heard in conversation, and is sometimes met with in print; but it has not as yet made its appearance in the dictionaries. What its ultimate fate will be, of course, no one can tell; for the present, however, it is studiously shunned by those who are at all careful in the selection of their language. It is said to be most used in the South. The writer has never seen it anywhere in the North but in the columns of the "Boston Congregationalist."

EPIGRAM. "The word epigram signified originally an inscription on a monument. It next came to mean a short poem containing some single thought pointedly expressed, the subjects being very various—amatory, convivial, moral, eulogistic, satirical, humorous, etc. Of the various devices for brevity and point employed in such compositions, especially in modern times, the most frequent is a play upon words.... In the epigram the mind is roused by a conflict or contradiction between the form of the language and the meaning really conveyed."—Bain.

Some examples are:

"When you have nothing to say, say it."

"We can not see the wood for the trees"; that is, we can not get a general view because we are so engrossed with the details.

"Verbosity is cured by a large vocabulary"; that is, he who commands a large vocabulary is able to select words that will give his meaning tersely.

"By indignities men come to dignities."

"Some people are too foolish to commit follies."

"He went to his imagination for his facts, and to his memory for his tropes."

EPITHET. Many persons use this word who are in error with regard to its meaning; they think that to "apply epithets" to a person is to vilify and insult him. Not at all. An epithet is a word that expresses a quality, good or bad; a term that expresses an attribute. "All adjectives are epithets, but all epithets are not adjectives," says Crabb; "thus, in Virgil's Pater Æneas, the pater is an epithet, but not an adjective." Epithet is the technical term of the rhetorician; adjective, that of the grammarian.

EQUALLY AS WELL. A redundant form of expression, as any one will see who for a moment considers it. As well, or equally well, expresses quite as much as equally as well.

EQUANIMITY OF MIND. This phrase is tautological, and expresses no more than does equanimity (literally, "equalmindedness") alone; hence, of mind is superfluous, and consequently inelegant. Anxiety of mind is a scarcely less redundant form of expression. A capricious mind is in the same category.

ERRATUM. Plural, errata.

ESQUIRE. An esquire was originally the shield-bearer of a knight. It is much, and, in the opinion of some, rather absurdly, used in this country. Mr. Richard Grant White says on the subject of its use: "I have yet to discover what a man means when he addresses a letter to John Dash, Esqr." He means no more nor less than when he writes Mr. (master). The use of Esq. is quite as prevalent in England as in America, and has little more meaning there than here. It simply belongs to our stock of courteous epithets.

EUPHEMISM. A description which describes in inoffensive language that which is of itself offensive, or a figure which uses agreeable phraseology when the literal would be offensive, is called a euphemism.

EVENTUATE. See EFFECTUATE.

EVERLASTINGLY. This adverb is misused in the South in a manner that is very apt to excite the risibility of one to whom the peculiar misuse is new. The writer recently visited the upper part of New York with a distinguished Southern poet and journalist. It was the gentleman's first ride over an elevated road. When we were fairly under way, in admiration of the rate of speed at which the cars were moving, he exclaimed, "Well, they do just everlastingly shoot along, don't they!"

EVERY. This word, which means simply each or all taken separately, is of late years frequently made, by slipshod speakers, to do duty for perfect, entire, great, or all possible. Thus we have such expressions as every pains, every confidence, every praise, every charity, and so on. We also have such diction as, "Every one has this in common"; meaning, "All of us have this in common."

EVERY-DAY LATIN. A fortiori: with stronger reason. A posteriori: from the effect to the cause. A priori: from the cause to the effect. Bona fide: in good faith; in reality. Certiorari: to be made more certain. Ceteris paribus: other circumstances being equal. De facto: in fact; in reality. De jure: in right; in law. Ecce homo: behold the man. Ergo: therefore. Et cetera: and the rest; and so on. Excerpta: extracts. Exempli gratia: by way of example; abbreviated, e. g., and ex. gr. Ex officio: by virtue of his office. Ex parte: on one side; an ex parte statement is a statement on one side only. Ibidem: in the same place; abbreviated, ibid. Idem: the same. Id est: that is; abbreviated, i. e. Imprimis: in the first place. In statu quo: in the former state; just as it was. In statu quo ante bellum: in the same state as before the war. In transitu: in passing. Index expurgatorius: a purifying index. In extremis: at the point of death. In memoriam: in memory. Ipse dixit: on his sole assertion. Item: also. Labor omnia vincit: labor overcomes every difficulty. Locus sigilli: the place of the seal. Multum in parvo: much in little. Mutatis mutandis: after making the necessary changes. Ne plus ultra: nothing beyond; the utmost point. Nolens volens: willing or unwilling. Nota bene: mark well; take particular notice. Omnes: all. O tempora, O mores! O the times and the manners! Otium cum dignitate: ease with dignity. Otium sine dignitate: ease without dignity. Particeps criminis: an accomplice. Peccavi: I have sinned. Per se: by itself. Prima facie: on the first view or appearance; at first sight. Pro bono publico: for the public good. Quid nunc: what now? Quid pro quo: one thing for another; an equivalent. Quondam: formerly. Rara avis: a rare bird; a prodigy. Resurgam: I shall rise again. Seriatim: in order. Sine die: without specifying any particular day; to an indefinite time. Sine qua non: an indispensable condition. Sui generis: of its own kind. Vade mecum: go with me. Verbatim: word by word. Versus: against. Vale: fare-well. Via: by the way of. Vice: in the place of. Vide: see. Vi et armis: by main force. Viva voce: orally; by word of mouth. Vox populi, vox Dei: the voice of the people is the voice of God.

EVIDENCE—TESTIMONY. These words, though differing widely in meaning, are often used indiscriminately by careless speakers. Evidence is that which tends to convince; testimony is that which is intended to convince. In a judicial investigation, for example, there might be a great deal of testimony—a great deal of testifying—and very little evidence; and the evidence might be quite the reverse of the testimony. See PROOF.

EXAGGERATION. "Weak minds, feeble writers and speakers delight in superlatives." See EFFORT WITHOUT EFFECT.

EXCEPT. "No one need apply except he is thoroughly familiar with the business," should be, "No one need apply unless," etc.

EXCESSIVELY. That class of persons who are never content with any form of expression that falls short of the superlative, frequently use excessively when exceedingly or even the little word very would serve their turn better. They say, for example, that the weather is excessively hot, when they should content themselves with saying simply that the weather is very warm, or, if the word suits them better, hot. Intemperance in the use of language is as much to be censured as intemperance in anything else; like intemperance in other things, its effect is vulgarizing.

EXECUTE. This word means to follow out to the end, to carry into effect, to accomplish, to fulfill, to perform; as, to execute an order, to execute a purpose. And the dictionaries and almost universal usage say that it also means to put to death in conformity with a judicial sentence; as, to execute a criminal. Some of our careful speakers, however, maintain that the use of the word in this sense is indefensible. They say that laws and sentences are executed, but not criminals, and that their execution only rarely results in the death of the persons upon whom they are executed. In the hanging of a criminal, it is, then, not the criminal who is executed, but the law and the sentence. The criminal is hanged.

EXPECT. This verb always has reference to what is to come, never to what is past. We can not expect backward. Instead, therefore, of saying, "I expect, you thought I would come to see you yesterday," we should say, "I suppose," etc.

EXPERIENCE. "We experience great difficulty in getting him to take his medicine." The word have ought to be big enough, in a sentence like this, for anybody. "We experienced great hardships." Better, "We suffered."

EXTEND. This verb, the primary meaning of which is to stretch out, is used, especially by lovers of big words, in connections where to give, to show, or to offer would be preferable. For example, it is certainly better to say, "They showed me every courtesy," than "They extended every courtesy to me." See EVERY.

FALSE GRAMMAR. Some examples of false grammar will show what every one is the better for knowing: that in literature nothing should be taken on trust; that errors of grammar even are found where we should least expect them. "I do not know whether the imputation were just or not."—Emerson. "I proceeded to inquire if the 'extract' ... were a veritable quotation."—Emerson. Should be was in both cases. "How sweet the moonlight sleeps!"—Townsend, "Art of Speech," vol. i, p. 114. Should be sweetly. "There is no question but these arts ... will greatly aid him," etc.—Ibid., p. 130. Should be that. "Nearly all who have been distinguished in literature or oratory have made ... the generous confession that their attainments have been reached through patient and laborious industry. They have declared that speaking and writing, though once difficult for them, have become well-nigh recreations."—Ibid., p. 143. The have been should be were, and the have become should be became. "Many pronominal adverbs are correlatives of each other."—Harkness's "New Latin Grammar," p. 147. Should be one another. "Hot and cold springs, boiling springs, and quiet springs lie within a few feet of each other, but none of them are properly geysers."—Appletons' "Condensed Cyclopædia," vol. ii, p. 414. Should be one another, and not one of them is properly a geyser. "How much better for you as seller and the nation as buyer ... than to sink ... in cutting one another's throats." Should be each other's. "A minister, noted for prolixity of style, was once preaching before the inmates of a lunatic asylum. In one of his illustrations he painted a scene of a man condemned to be hung, but reprieved under the gallows." These two sentences are so faulty that the only way to mend them is to rewrite them. They are from a work that professes to teach the "art of speech." Mended: "A minister, noted for his prolixity, once preached before the inmates of a lunatic asylum. By way of illustration he painted a scene in which a man, who had been condemned to be hanged, was reprieved under the gallows."

FEMALE. The terms male and female are not unfrequently used where good taste would suggest some other word. For example, we see over the doors of school-houses, "Entrance for males," "Entrance for females." Now bucks and bulls are males as well as boys and men, and cows and sows are females as well as girls and women.

FETCH. See BRING.

FEWER. See LESS.

FINAL COMPLETION. If there were such a thing as a plurality or a series of completions, there would, of course, be such a thing as the final completion; but, as every completion is final, to talk about a final completion is as absurd as it would be to talk about a final finality.

FIRST RATE. There are people who object to this phrase, and yet it is well enough when properly placed, as it is, for example, in such a sentence as this: "He's a 'first class' fellow, and I like him first rate; if I didn't, 'you bet' I'd just give him 'hail Columbia' for 'blowing' the thing all round town like the big fool that he is."

FIRSTLY. George Washington Moon says in defense of firstly: "I do not object to the occasional use of first as an adverb; but, in sentences where it would be followed by secondly, thirdly, etc., I think that the adverbial form is preferable." To this, one of Mr. Moon's critics replies: "However desirable it may be to employ the word firstly on certain occasions, the fact remains that the employment of it on any occasion is not the best usage." Webster inserts firstly, but remarks, "Improperly used for first."

FLEE—FLY. These verbs, though near of kin, are not interchangeable. For example, we can not say, "He flew the city," "He flew from his enemies," "He flew at the approach of danger," flew being the imperfect tense of to fly, which is properly used to express the action of birds on the wing, of kites, arrows, etc. The imperfect tense of to flee is fled; hence, "He fled the city," etc.

FORCIBLE-FEEBLE. This is a "novicy" kind of diction in which the would-be forcible writer defeats his object by the overuse of expletives. Examples: "And yet the great centralization of wealth is one of the [great] evils of the day. All that Mr. —— utters [says] upon this point is forcible and just. This centralization is due to the enormous reproductive power of capital, to the immense advantage that costly and complicated machinery gives to great [large] establishments, and to the marked difference of personal force among men." The first great is misplaced; the word utters is misused; the second great is ill-chosen. The other words in italics only enfeeble the sentence. Again: "In countries where immense [large] estates exist, a breaking up of these vast demesnes into many minor freeholds would no doubt be a [of] very great advantage." Substitute large for immense, and take out vast, many, and very, and the language becomes much more forcible. Again: "The very first effect of the —— taxation plan would be destructive to the interests of this great multitude [class]; it would impoverish our innumerable farmers, it would confiscate the earnings of [our] industrious tradesmen and artisans, it would [and] paralyze the hopes of struggling millions." What a waste of portly expletives is here! With them the sentence is high-flown and weak; take them out, and introduce the words inclosed in brackets, and it becomes simple and forcible.

FRIEND—ACQUAINTANCE. Some philosopher has said that he who has half a dozen friends in the course of his life may esteem himself fortunate; and yet, to judge from many people's talk, one would suppose they had friends by the score. No man knows whether he has any friends or not until he has "their adoption tried"; hence, he who is desirous to call things by their right names will, as a rule, use the word acquaintance instead of friend. "Your friend" is a favorite and very objectionable way many people, especially young people, have of writing themselves at the bottom of their letters. In this way the obscure stripling protests himself the FRIEND of the first man in the land, and that, too, when he is, perhaps, a comparative stranger and asking a favor.

GALSOME. Here is a good, sonorous Anglo-Saxon word—meaning malignant, venomous, churlish—that has fallen into disuse.

GENTLEMAN. Few things are in worse taste than to use the term gentleman, whether in the singular or plural, to designate the sex. "If I was a gentleman," says Miss Snooks. "Gentlemen have just as much curiosity as ladies," says Mrs. Jenkins. "Gentlemen have so much more liberty than we ladies have," says Mrs. Parvenue. Now, if these ladies were ladies, they would in each of these cases use the word man instead of gentleman, and woman instead of lady; further, Miss Snooks would say, "If I were." Well-bred men, men of culture and refinement—gentlemen, in short—use the terms lady and gentleman comparatively little, and they are especially careful not to call themselves gentlemen when they can avoid it. A gentleman, for example, does not say, "I, with some other gentlemen, went," etc.; he is careful to leave out the word other. The men who use these terms most, and especially those who lose no opportunity to proclaim themselves gentlemen, belong to that class of men who cock their hats on one side of their heads, and often wear them when and where gentlemen would remove them; who pride themselves on their familiarity with the latest slang; who proclaim their independence by showing the least possible consideration for others; who laugh long and loud at their own wit; who wear a profusion of cheap finery, such as outlandish watch-chains hooked in the lowest button-hole of their vests, Brazilian diamonds in their shirt-bosoms, and big seal-rings on their little fingers; who use bad grammar and interlard their conversation with big oaths. In business correspondence Smith is addressed as Sir, while Smith & Brown are often addressed as Gentlemen—or, vulgarly, as Gents. Better, much, is it to address them as Sirs.

Since writing the foregoing, I have met with the following paragraph in the London publication, "All the Year Round": "Socially, the term 'gentleman' has become almost vulgar. It is certainly less employed by gentlemen than by inferior persons. The one speaks of 'a man I know,' the other of 'a gentleman I know.' In the one case the gentleman is taken for granted, in the other it seems to need specification. Again, as regards the term 'lady.' It is quite in accordance with the usages of society to speak of your acquaintance the duchess as 'a very nice person.' People who would say 'very nice lady' are not generally of a social class which has much to do with duchesses; and if you speak of one of these as a 'person,' you will soon be made to feel your mistake."

GENTS. Of all vulgarisms, this is, perhaps, the most offensive. If we say gents, why not say lades?

GERUND. "'I have work to do,' 'there is no more to say,' are phrases where the verb is not in the common infinitive, but in the form of the gerund. 'He is the man to do it, or for doing it.' 'A house to let,' 'the course to steer by,' 'a place to lie in,' 'a thing to be done,' 'a city to take refuge in,' 'the means to do ill deeds,' are adjective gerunds; they may be expanded into clauses: 'a house that the owner lets or will let'; 'the course that we should steer by'; 'a thing that should be done'; 'a city wherein one may take refuge'; 'the means whereby ill deeds may be done.' When the to ceased in the twelfth century to be a distinctive mark of the dative infinitive or gerund, for was introduced to make the writer's intention clear. Hence the familiar form in 'what went ye out for to see?' 'they came for to show him the temple.'"—Bain.

GET. In sentences expressing simple possession—as, "I have got a book," "What has he got there?" "Have you got any news?" "They have got a new house," etc.—got is entirely superfluous, if not, as some writers contend, absolutely incorrect. Possession is completely expressed by have. "Foxes have holes; the birds of the air have nests"; not, "Foxes have got holes; the birds of the air have got nests." Formerly the imperfect tense of this verb was gat, which is now obsolete, and the perfect participle was gotten, which, some grammarians say, is growing obsolete. If this be true, there is no good reason for it. If we say eaten, written, striven, forgotten, why not say gotten, where this form of the participle is more euphonious—as it often is—than got?

GOODS. This term, like other terms used in trade, should be restricted to the vocabulary of commerce. Messrs. Arnold & Constable, in common with the Washington Market huckster, very properly speak of their wares as their goods; but Mrs. Arnold and Mrs. Constable should, and I doubt not do, speak of their gowns as being made of fine or coarse silk, cashmere, muslin, or whatever the material may be.

GOULD AGAINST ALFORD. Mr. Edward S. Gould, in his review of Dean Alford's "Queen's English," remarks, on page 131 of his "Good English": "And now, as to the style[4] of the Dean's book, taken as a whole. He must be held responsible for every error in it; because, as has been shown, he has had full leisure for its revision.[5] The errors are, nevertheless, numerous; and the shortest way to exhibit them is[6] in tabular form." In several instances Mr. Gould would not have taken the Dean to task had he known English better. The following are a few of Mr. Gould's corrections in which he is clearly in the right:

Paragraph

4. "Into another land than"; should be, "into a land other than."

16. "We do not follow rule in spelling other words, but custom"; should be, "we do not follow rule, but custom, in spelling," etc.

18. "The distinction is observed in French, but never appears to have been made," etc.; read, "appears never to have been made."

61. "Rather to aspirate more than less"; should be, "to aspirate more rather than less."

9. "It is said also only to occur three times," etc.; read, "occur only three times."

44. "This doubling only takes place in a syllable," etc.; read, "takes place only."

142. "Which can only be decided when those circumstances are known"; read, "can be decided only when," etc.

166. "I will only say that it produces," etc.; read, "I will say only," etc.

170. "It is said that this can only be filled in thus"; read, "can be filled in only thus."

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 substitute 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 circumlocution. 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 assumption."—Godwin. "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 asserted, 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 space." 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'être.

HIGHFALUTIN. This is a style of writing often called the freshman style. It is much indulged in by very young men, and by a class 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 bumptious 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 unassuming. 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 coarser 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 passages 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 compass. 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.... Repetition 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 repetition 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 passes 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 circumvent 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 space, 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 space 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 godhead 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."

"The sky shrunk upward with unusual dread, And trembling Tiber div'd beneath his bed."

"So frowned the mighty combatants, that hell Grew darker at their frown."

"I saw their chief tall as a rock of ice; his spear the blasted fir; his shield the rising moon; he sat on the shore like a cloud of mist on a hill."

ICE-CREAM—ICE-WATER. As for ice-cream, there is no such thing, as ice-cream would be the product of frozen cream, i. e., cream made from ice by melting. What is called ice-cream is cream iced; hence, properly, iced cream and not ice-cream. The product of melted ice is ice-water, whether it be cold or warm; but water made cold with ice is iced water, and not ice-water.

IF. "I doubt if this will ever reach you": say, "I doubt whether this will ever reach you."

ILL. See SICK.

ILLY. It will astonish not a few to learn that there is no such word as illy. The form of the adverb, as well as of the adjective and the noun, is ill. A thing is ill formed, or ill done, or ill made, or ill constructed, or ill put together.

"Ill fares the land, to hastening ills a prey, Where wealth accumulates and men decay."—Goldsmith.

IMMODEST. This adjective and its synonyms, indecent and indelicate, are often used without proper discrimination being made in their respective meanings. Indecency and immodesty are opposed to morality: the former in externals, as dress, words, and looks; the latter in conduct and disposition. "Indecency," says Crabb, "may be a partial, immodesty is a positive and entire breach of the moral law. Indecency is less than immodesty, but more than indelicacy." It is indecent for a man to marry again very soon after the death of his wife. It is indelicate for any one to obtrude himself upon another's retirement. It is indecent for women to expose their persons as do some whom we can not call immodest.

"Immodest words admit of no defense, For want of decency is want of sense." —Earl of Roscommon.

IMPROPRIETY. As a rhetorical term, defined as an error in using words in a sense different from their recognized signification.

IMPUTE. Non-painstaking writers not unfrequently use impute instead of ascribe. "The numbers [of blunders] that have been imputed to him are endless."—"Appletons' Journal." The use of impute in this connection is by no means indefensible; still it would have been better to use ascribe.

IN OUR MIDST. The phrases in our midst and in their midst are generally supposed to be of recent introduction; and, though they have been used by some respectable writers, they nevertheless find no favor with those who study propriety in the use of language. To the phrase in the midst no one objects. "Jesus came and stood in the midst." "There was a hut in the midst of the forest."

IN RESPECT OF. "The deliberate introduction of incorrect forms, whether by the coinage of new or the revival of obsolete and inexpressive syntactical combinations, ought to be resisted even in trifles, especially where it leads to the confusion of distinct ideas. An example of this is the recent use of the adverbial phrases in respect of, in regard of, for in or with respect to, or regard to. This innovation is without any syntactical ground, and ought to be condemned and avoided as a mere grammatical crotchet."—George P. Marsh, "Lectures on the English Language," p. 660.

IN SO FAR AS. A phrase often met with, and in which the in is superfluous. "A want of proper opportunity would suffice, in so far as the want could be shown." "We are to act up to the extent of our knowledge; but, in so far as our knowledge falls short," etc.

INAUGURATE. This word, which means to install in office with certain ceremonies, is made, by many lovers of big words, to do service for begin; but the sooner these rhetorical high-fliers stop inaugurating and content themselves with simply beginning the things they are called upon to do in the ordinary routine of daily life, the sooner they will cease to set a very bad example.

INDECENT. See IMMODEST.

INDEX EXPURGATORIUS. William Cullen Bryant, who was a careful student of English, while he was editor of the "New York Evening Post," sought to prevent the writers for that paper from using "over and above (for 'more than'); artiste (for 'artist'); aspirant; authoress; beat (for 'defeat'); bagging (for 'capturing'); balance (for 'remainder'); banquet (for 'dinner' or 'supper'); bogus; casket (for 'coffin'); claimed (for 'asserted'); collided; commence (for 'begin'); compete; cortége (for 'procession'); cotemporary (for 'contemporary'); couple (for 'two'); darky (for 'negro'); day before yesterday (for 'the day before yesterday'); début; decrease (as a verb); democracy (applied to a political party); develop (for 'expose'); devouring element (for 'fire'); donate; employé; enacted (for 'acted'); indorse (for 'approve'); en route; esq.; graduate (for 'is graduated'); gents (for 'gentlemen'); 'Hon.'; House (for 'House of Representatives'); humbug; inaugurate (for 'begin'); in our midst; item (for 'particle, extract, or paragraph'); is being done, and all passives of this form; jeopardize; jubilant (for 'rejoicing'); juvenile (for 'boy'); lady (for 'wife'); last (for 'latest'); lengthy (for 'long'); leniency (for 'lenity'); loafer; loan or loaned (for 'lend' or 'lent'); located; majority (relating to places or circumstances, for 'most'); Mrs. President, Mrs. Governor, Mrs. General, and all similar titles; mutual (for 'common'); official (for 'officer'); ovation; on yesterday; over his signature; pants (for 'pantaloons'); parties (for 'persons'); partially (for 'partly'); past two weeks (for 'last two weeks,' and all similar expressions relating to a definite time); poetess; portion (for 'part'); posted (for 'informed'); progress (for 'advance'); reliable (for 'trustworthy'); rendition (for 'performance'); repudiate (for 'reject' or 'disown'); retire (as an active verb); Rev. (for 'the Rev.'); rôle (for 'part'); roughs; rowdies; secesh; sensation (for 'noteworthy event'); standpoint (for 'point of view'); start, in the sense of setting out; state (for 'say'); taboo; talent (for 'talents' or 'ability'); talented; tapis; the deceased; war (for 'dispute' or 'disagreement')."

This index is offered here as a curiosity rather than as a guide, though in the main it might safely be used as such. No valid reason, however, can be urged for discouraging the use of several words in the list; the words aspirant, banquet, casket, compete, decrease, progress, start, talented, and deceased, for example.

INDICATIVE AND SUBJUNCTIVE. "'I see the signal,' is unconditional; 'if I see the signal,' is the same fact expressed in the form of a condition. The one form is said to be in the indicative mood, the mood that simply states or indicates the action; the other form is in the subjunctive, conditional, or conjunctive mood. There is sometimes a slight variation made in English, to show that an affirmation is made as a condition. The mood is called 'subjunctive,' because the affirmation is subjoined to another affirmation: 'If I see the signal, I will call out.'

"Such forms as 'I may see,' 'I can see,' have sometimes been considered as a variety of mood, to which the name 'Potential' is given. But this can not properly be maintained. There is no trace of any inflection corresponding to this meaning, as we find with the subjunctive. Moreover, such a mood would have itself to be subdivided into indicative and subjunctive forms: 'I may go,' 'if I may go.' And further, we might proceed to constitute other moods on the same analogy, as, for example, an obligatory mood—'I must go,' or 'I ought to go'; a mood of resolution—'I will go, you shall go'; a mood of gratification—'I am delighted to go'; of deprecation—'I am grieved to go.' The only difference in the two last instances is the use of the sign of the infinitive 'to,' which does not occur after 'may,' 'can,' 'must,' 'ought,' etc.; but that is not an essential difference. Some grammarians consider the form 'I do go' a separate mood, and term it the emphatic mood. But all the above objections apply to it likewise, as well as many others."—Bain. See SUBJUNCTIVE MOOD.

INDIVIDUAL. This word is often most improperly used for person; as, "The individual I saw was not over forty"; "There were several individuals on board that I had never seen before." Individual means, etymologically, that which can not be divided, and is used, in speaking of things as well as of persons, to express unity. It is opposed to the whole, or that which is divisible into parts.

INDORSE. Careful writers generally discountenance the use of indorse in the sense of sanction, approve, applaud. In this signification it is on the list of prohibited words in some of our newspaper offices. "The following rules are indorsed by nearly all writers upon this subject."—Dr. Townsend. It is plain that the right word to use here is approved. "The public will heartily indorse the sentiments uttered by the court."—New York "Evening Telegram." "The public will heartily approve the sentiments expressed by the court," is what the sentence should be.

INFINITIVE MOOD. When we can choose, it is generally better to use the verb in the infinitive than in the participial form. "Ability being in general the power of doing," etc. Say, to do. "I desire to reply ... to the proposal of substituting a tax upon land values ... and making this tax, as near [nearly] as may be, equal to rent," etc. Say, to substitute and to make. "This quality is of prime importance when the chief object is the imparting of knowledge." Say, to impart.

INITIATE. This is a pretentious word, which, with its derivatives, many persons—especially those who like to be grandiloquent—use, when homely English would serve their turn much better.

INNUMERABLE NUMBER. A repetitional expression to be avoided. We may say innumerable times, or numberless times, but we should not say an innumerable number of times.

INTERROGATION. The rhetorical figure that asks a question in order to emphasize the reverse of what is asked is called interrogation; as, "Do we mean to submit to this measure? Do we mean to submit, and consent that we ourselves, our country and its rights, shall be trampled on?"

"Doth God pervert judgment? or doth the Almighty pervert justice?"

INTRODUCE. See PRESENT.

IRONY. That mode of speech in which what is meant is contrary to the literal meaning of the words—in which praise is bestowed when censure is intended—is called irony. Irony is a kind of delicate sarcasm or satire—raillery, mockery.

"In writings of humor, figures are sometimes used of so delicate a nature that it shall often happen that some people will see things in a direct contrary sense to what the author and the majority of the readers understand them: to such the most innocent irony may appear irreligion."—Cambridge.

IRRITATE. See AGGRAVATE.

IS BEING BUILT. A tolerable idea of the state of the discussion regarding the propriety of using the locution is being built, and all like expressions, will, it is hoped, be obtained from the following extracts. The Rev. Peter Bullions, in his "Grammar of the English Language," says:

"There is properly no passive form, in English, corresponding to the progressive form in the active voice, except where it is made by the participle ing, in a passive sense; thus, 'The house is building'; 'The garments are making'; 'Wheat is selling,' etc. An attempt has been made by some grammarians, of late, to banish such expressions from the language, though they have been used in all time past by the best writers, and to justify and defend a clumsy solecism, which has been recently introduced chiefly through the newspaper press, but which has gained such currency, and is becoming so familiar to the ear, that it seems likely to prevail, with all its uncouthness and deformity. I refer to such expressions as 'The house is being built'; 'The letter is being written'; 'The mine is being worked'; 'The news is being telegraphed,' etc., etc.

"This mode of expression had no existence in the language till within the last fifty years.[7] This, indeed, would not make the expression wrong, were it otherwise unexceptionable; but its recent origin shows that it is not, as is pretended, a necessary form.

"This form of expression, when analyzed, is found not to express what it is intended to express, and would be used only by such as are either ignorant of its import or are careless and loose in their use of language. To make this manifest, let it be considered, first, that there is no progressive form of the verb to be, and no need of it; hence, there is no such expression in English as is being. Of course the expression 'is being built,' for example, is not a compound of is being and built, but of is and being built; that is, of the verb to be and the present participle passive. Now, let it be observed that the only verbs in which the present participle passive expresses a continued action are those mentioned above as the first class, in which the regular passive form expresses a continuance of the action; as, is loved, is desired, etc., and in which, of course, the form in question (is being built) is not required. Nobody would think of saying, 'He is being loved'; 'This result is being desired.'

"The use of this form is justified only by condemning an established usage of the language; namely, the passive sense in some verbs of the participle in ing. In reference to this it is flippantly asked, 'What does the house build?' 'What does the letter write?' etc.—taking for granted, without attempting to prove, that the participle in ing can not have a passive sense in any verb. The following are a few examples from writers of the best reputation, which this novelty would condemn: 'While the ceremony was performing.'—Tom. Brown. 'The court was then holding.'—Sir G. McKenzie. 'And still be doing, never done.'—Butler. 'The books are selling.'—Allen's 'Grammar.' 'To know nothing of what is transacting in the regions above us.'—Dr. Blair. 'The spot where this new and strange tragedy was acting.'—E. Everett. 'The fortress was building.'—Irving. 'An attempt is making in the English parliament.'—D. Webster. 'The church now erecting in the city of New York.'—'N. A. Review.' 'These things were transacting in England.'—Bancroft.

"This new doctrine is in opposition to the almost unanimous judgment of the most distinguished grammarians and critics, who have considered the subject, and expressed their views concerning it. The following are a specimen: 'Expressions of this kind are condemned by some critics; but the usage is unquestionably of far better authority, and (according to my apprehension) in far better taste, than the more complex phraseology which some late writers adopt in its stead; as, "The books are now being sold."'—Goold Brown. 'As to the notion of introducing a new and more complex passive form of conjugation, as, "The bridge is being built," "The bridge was being built," and so forth, it is one of the most absurd and monstrous innovations ever thought of. "The work is now being published," is certainly no better English than, "The work was being published, has been being published, had been being published, shall or will be being published, shall or will have been being published," and so on through all the moods and tenses. What a language shall we have when our verbs are thus conjugated!'—Brown's 'Gr. of Eng. Gr.,' p. 361. De War observes: 'The participle in ing is also passive in many instances; as, "The house is building," "I heard of a plan forming,"' etc.—Quoted in 'Frazee's Grammar,' p. 49. 'It would be an absurdity, indeed, to give up the only way we have of denoting the incomplete state of action by a passive form (viz., by the participle in ing in the passive sense).'—Arnold's 'English Grammar,' p. 46. 'The present participle is often used passively; as, "The ship is building." The form of expression, is being built, is being committed, etc., is almost universally condemned by grammarians, but it is sometimes met with in respectable writers; it occurs most frequently in newspaper paragraphs and in hasty compositions. See Worcester's "Universal and Critical Dictionary."'—Weld's 'Grammar,' pp. 118 and 180. 'When we say, "The house is building," the advocates of the new theory ask, "Building what?" We might ask, in turn, when you say, "The field ploughs well,"—"Ploughs what?" "Wheat sells well,"—"Sells what?" If usage allows us to say, "Wheat sells at a dollar," in a sense that is not active, why may we not say, "Wheat is selling at a dollar," in a sense that is not active?'—Hart's 'Grammar,' p. 76. 'The prevailing practice of the best authors is in favor of the simple form; as, "The house is building."'—Wells' 'School Grammar,' p. 148. 'Several other expressions of this sort now and then occur, such as the newfangled and most uncouth solecism "is being done," for the good old English idiom "is doing"—an absurd periphrasis driving out a pointed and pithy turn of the English language.'—'N. A. Review,' quoted by Mr. Wells, p. 148. 'The phrase, "is being built," and others of a similar kind, have been for a few years insinuating themselves into our language; still they are not English.'—Harrison's 'Rise, Progress, and Present Structure of the English Language.' 'This mode of expression [the house is being built] is becoming quite common. It is liable, however, to several important objections. It appears formal and pedantic. It has not, as far as I know, the support of any respectable grammarian. The easy and natural expression is, "The house is building."'—Prof. J. W. Gibbs."

Mr. Richard Grant White, in his "Words and Their Uses," expresses his opinion of the locution is being in this wise: "In bad eminence, at the head of those intruders in language which to many persons seem to be of established respectability, but the right of which to be at all is not fully admitted, stands out the form of speech is being done, or rather, is being, which, about seventy or eighty years ago, began to affront the eye, torment the ear, and assault the common sense of the speaker of plain and idiomatic English." Mr. White devotes thirty pages of his book to the discussion of the subject, and adduces evidence that is more than sufficient to convince those who are content with an ex parte examination that "it can hardly be that such an incongruous and ridiculous form of speech as is being done was contrived by a man who, by any stretch of the name, should be included among grammarians."

Mr. George P. Marsh, in his "Lectures on the English Language," says that the deviser of the locution in question was "some grammatical pretender," and that it is "an awkward neologism, which neither convenience, intelligibility, nor syntactical congruity demands."

To these gentlemen, and to those who are of their way of thinking with regard to is being, Dr. Fitzedward Hall replies at some length, in an article published in "Scribner's Monthly" for April, 1872. Dr. Hall writes:

"'All really well educated in the English tongue lament the many innovations introduced into our language from America; and I doubt if more than one of these novelties deserve acceptation. That one is, substituting a compound participle for an active verb used in a neuter signification: for instance, "The house is being built," instead of, "The house is building."' Such is the assertion and such is the opinion of some anonymous luminary,[8] who, for his liberality in welcoming a supposed Americanism, is somewhat in advance of the herd of his countrymen. Almost any popular expression which is considered as a novelty, a Briton is pretty certain to assume, off-hand, to have originated on our side of the Atlantic. Of the assertion I have quoted, no proof is offered; and there is little probability that its author had any to offer. 'Are being,' in the phrase 'are being thrown up,'[9] is spoken of in 'The North American Review'[10] as 'an outrage upon English idiom, "to be detested, abhorred, execrated, and given over to six thousand" penny-paper editors'; and the fact is, that phrases of the form here pointed at have hitherto enjoyed very much less favor with us than with the English.

"As lately as 1860, Dr. Worcester, referring to is being built, etc., while acknowledging that 'this new form has been used by some respectable writers,' speaks of it as having 'been introduced' 'within a few years.' Mr. Richard Grant White, by a most peculiar process of ratiocination, endeavors to prove that what Dr. Worcester calls 'this new form' came into existence just fifty-six years ago. He premises that in Jarvis's translation of 'Don Quixote,' published in 1742, there occurs 'were carrying,' and that this, in the edition of 1818, is sophisticated into 'were being carried.' 'This change,' continues our logician, 'and the appearance of is being with a perfect participle in a very few books published between A. D. 1815 and 1820, indicate the former period as that of the origin of this phraseology, which, although more than half a century old, is still pronounced a novelty as well as a nuisance.'

"Who, in the next place, devised our modern imperfects passive? The question is not, originally, of my asking; but, as the learned are at open feud on the subject, it should not be passed by in silence. Its deviser is, more than likely, as undiscoverable as the name of the valiant antediluvian who first tasted an oyster. But the deductive character of the miscreant is another thing; and hereon there is a war between the philosophers. Mr. G. P. Marsh, as if he had actually spotted the wretched creature, passionately and categorically denounces him as 'some grammatical pretender.' 'But,' replies Mr. White, 'that it is the work of any grammarian is more than doubtful. Grammarians, with all their faults, do not deform language with fantastic solecisms, or even seek to enrich it with new and startling verbal combinations. They rather resist novelty, and devote themselves to formulating that which use has already established.' In the same page with this, Mr. White compliments the great unknown as 'some precise and feeble-minded soul,' and elsewhere calls him 'some pedantic writer of the last generation.' To add even one word toward a solution of the knotty point here indicated transcends, I confess, my utmost competence. It is painful to picture to one's self the agonizing emotions with which certain philologists would contemplate an authentic effigy of the Attila of speech who, by his is being built or is being done, first offered violence to the whole circle of the proprieties. So far as I have observed, the first grammar that exhibits them is that of Mr. R. S. Skillern, M. A., the first edition of which was published at Gloucester in 1802. Robert Southey had not, on the 9th of October, 1795, been out of his minority quite two months when, evidently delivering himself in a way that had already become familiar enough, he wrote of 'a fellow whose uttermost upper grinder is being torn out by the roots by a mutton-fisted barber.'[11] This is in a letter. But repeated instances of the same kind of expression are seen in Southey's graver writings. Thus, in his 'Colloquies,' etc.,[12] we read of 'such [nunneries] as at this time are being reëstablished.'

"'While my hand was being drest by Mr. Young, I spoke for the first time,' wrote Coleridge, in March, 1797.

"Charles Lamb speaks of realities which 'are being acted before us,' and of 'a man who is being strangled.'

"Walter Savage Landor, in an imaginary conversation, represents Pitt as saying: 'The man who possesses them may read Swedenborg and Kant while he is being tossed in a blanket.' Again: 'I have seen nobles, men and women, kneeling in the street before these bishops, when no ceremony of the Catholic Church was being performed.' Also, in a translation from Catullus: 'Some criminal is being tried for murder.'

"Nor does Mr. De Quincey scruple at such English as 'made and being made,' 'the bride that was being married to him,' and 'the shafts of Heaven were even now being forged.' On one occasion he writes, 'Not done, not even (according to modern purism) being done'; as if 'purism' meant exactness, rather than the avoidance of neoterism.

"I need, surely, name no more, among the dead, who found is being built, or the like, acceptable. 'Simple-minded common people and those of culture were alike protected against it by their attachment to the idiom of their mother tongue, with which they felt it to be directly at variance.' So Mr. White informs us. But the writers whom I have quoted are formidable exceptions. Even Mr. White will scarcely deny to them the title of 'people of culture.'

"So much for offenders past repentance; and we all know that the sort of phraseology under consideration is daily becoming more and more common. The best written of the English reviews, magazines, and journals are perpetually marked by it; and some of the choicest of living English writers employ it freely. Among these, it is enough if I specify Bishop Wilberforce and Mr. Charles Reade.[13]

"Extracts from Bishop Jewel downward being also given, Lord Macaulay, Mr. Dickens, 'The Atlantic Monthly,' and 'The Brooklyn Eagle' are alleged by Mr. White in proof that people still use such phrases as 'Chelsea Hospital was building,' and 'the train was preparing.' 'Hence we see,' he adds,[14] 'that the form is being done, is being made, is being built, lacks the support of authoritative usage from the period of the earliest classical English to the present day.' I fully concur with Mr. White in regarding 'neither "The Brooklyn Eagle" nor Mr. Dickens as a very high authority in the use of language'; yet, when he has renounced the aid of these contemned straws, what has he to rest his inference on, as to the present day, but the practice of Lord Macaulay and 'The Atlantic Monthly'? Those who think fit will bow to the dictatorship here prescribed to them; but there may be those with whom the classic sanction of Southey, Coleridge, and Landor will not be wholly void of weight. All scholars are aware that, to convey the sense of the imperfects passive, our ancestors, centuries ago, prefixed, with is, etc., in, afterward corrupted into a, to a verbal substantive. 'The house is in building' could be taken to mean nothing but ædes ædificantur; and, when the in gave place to a,[15] it was still manifest enough, from the context, that building was governed by a preposition. The second stage of change, however, namely, when the a was omitted, entailed, in many cases, great danger of confusion. In the early part of the last century, when English was undergoing what was then thought to be purification, the polite world substantially resigned is a-building to the vulgar. Toward the close of the same century, when, under the influence of free thought, it began to be felt that even ideas had a right to faithful and unequivocal representation, a just resentment of ambiguity was evidenced in the creation of is being built. The lament is too late that the instinct of reformation did not restore the old form. It has gone forever; and we are now to make the best of its successors. '"The brass is forging,"' in the opinion of Dr. Johnson, is 'a vicious expression, probably corrupted from a phrase more pure, but now somewhat obsolete, ... "the brass is a-forging."' Yet, with a true Tory's timidity and aversion to change, it is not surprising that he went on preferring what he found established, vicious as it confessedly was, to the end. But was the expression 'vicious' solely because it was a corruption? In 1787 William Beckford wrote as follows of the fortune-tellers of Lisbon: 'I saw one dragging into light, as I passed by the ruins of a palace thrown down by the earthquake. Whether a familiar of the Inquisition was griping her in his clutches, or whether she was taking to account by some disappointed votary, I will not pretend to answer.' Are the expressions here italicized either perspicuous or graceful? Whatever we are to have in their place, we should be thankful to get quit of them.

"Inasmuch as, concurrently with building for the active participle, and being built for the corresponding passive participle, we possessed the former, with is prefixed, as the active present imperfect, it is in rigid accordance with the symmetry of our verb that, to construct the passive present-imperfect, we prefix is to the latter, producing the form is being built. Such, in its greatest simplicity, is the procedure which, as will be seen, has provoked a very levanter of ire and vilification. But anything that is new will be excepted to by minds of a certain order. Their tremulous and impatient dread of removing ancient landmarks even disqualifies them for thoroughly investigating its character and pretensions. In has built and will build, we find the active participle perfect and the active infinitive subjoined to auxiliaries; and so, in has been built and will be built, the passive participle perfect and the passive infinitive are subjoined to auxiliaries. In is building and is being built, we have, in strict harmony with the constitution of the perfect and future tenses, an auxiliary followed by the active participle present and the passive participle present. Built is determined as active or passive by the verbs which qualify it, have and be; and the grammarians are right in considering it, when embodied in has built, as active, since its analogue, embodied in has been built, is the exclusively passive been built. Besides this, has been + built would signify something like has existed, built,[16] which is plainly neuter. We are debarred, therefore, from such an analysis; and, by parity of reasoning, we may not resolve is being built into is being + built. It must have been an inspiration of analogy, felt or unfelt, that suggested the form I am discussing. Is being + built, as it can mean, pretty nearly, only exists, built, would never have been proposed as adequate to convey any but a neuter sense; whereas it was perfectly natural for a person aiming to express a passive sense to prefix is to the passive concretion being built.[17]

"The analogical justification of is being built which I have brought forward is so obvious that, as it occurred to myself more than twenty years ago, so it must have occurred spontaneously to hundreds besides. It is very singular that those who, like Mr. Marsh and Mr. White, have pondered long and painfully over locutions typified by is being built, should have missed the real ground of their grammatical defensibleness, and should have warmed themselves, in their opposition to them, into uttering opinions which no calm judgment can accept.

"'One who is being beaten' is, to Archbishop Whately, 'uncouth English.' '"The bridge is being built," and other phrases of the like kind, have pained the eye' of Mr. David Booth. Such phrases, according to Mr. M. Harrison, 'are not English.' To Professor J. W. Gibbs 'this mode of expression ... appears formal and pedantic'; and 'the easy and natural expression is, "The house is building."'[18] In all this, little or nothing is discernible beyond sheer prejudice, the prejudice of those who resolve to take their stand against an innovation, regardless of its utility, and who are ready to find an argument against it in any random epithet of disparagement provoked by unreasoning aversion. And the more recent denouncers in the same line have no more reason on their side than their elder brethren.

"In Mr. Marsh's estimation, is being built illustrates 'corruption of language'; it is 'clumsy and unidiomatic'; it is 'at best but a philological coxcombry'; it 'is an awkward neologism, which neither convenience, intelligibility, nor syntactical congruity demands, and the use of which ought, therefore, to be discountenanced, as an attempt at the artificial improvement of the language in a point which needed no amendment.' Again, 'To reject' is building in favor of the modern phrase 'is to violate the laws of language by an arbitrary change; and, in this particular case, the proposed substitute is at war with the genius of the English tongue.' Mr. Marsh seems to have fancied that, wherever he points out a beauty in is building, he points out, inclusively, a blemish in is being built.

"The fervor and feeling with which Mr. White advances to the charge are altogether tropical. 'The full absurdity of this phrase, the essence of its nonsense, seems not to have been hitherto pointed out.' It is not 'consistent with reason'; and it is not 'conformed to the normal development of the language.' It is 'a monstrosity, the illogical, confusing, inaccurate, unidiomatic character of which I have at some length, but yet imperfectly, set forth.' Finally, 'In fact, it means nothing, and is the most incongruous combination of words and ideas that ever attained respectable usage in any civilized language.' These be 'prave 'ords'; and it seems a pity that so much sterling vituperative ammunition should be expended in vain. And that it is so expended thinks Mr. White himself; for, though passing sentence in the spirit of a Jeffreys, he is not really on the judgment-seat, but on the lowest hassock of despair. As concerns the mode of expression exemplified by is being built, he owns that 'to check its diffusion would be a hopeless undertaking.' If so, why not reserve himself for service against some evil not avowedly beyond remedy?

"Again we read, 'Some precise and feeble-minded soul, having been taught that there is a passive voice in English, and that, for instance, building is an active participle, and builded or built a passive, felt conscientious scruples at saying "the house is building." For what could the house build?' As children say at play, Mr. White burns here. If it had occurred to him that the 'conscientious scruples' of his hypothetical, 'precise, and feeble-minded soul' were roused by been built, not by built, I suspect his chapter on is being built would have been much shorter than it is at present, and very different. 'The fatal absurdity in this phrase consists,' he tells us, 'in the combination of is with being; in the making of the verb to be a supplement, or, in grammarians' phrase, an auxiliary to itself—an absurdity so palpable, so monstrous, so ridiculous, that it should need only to be pointed out to be scouted.'[19] Lastly, 'The question is thus narrowed simply to this, Does to be being (esse ens) mean anything more or other than to be?'

"Having convicted Mr. White of a mistaken analysis, I am not concerned with the observations which he founds on his mistake. However, even if his analysis had been correct, some of his arguments would avail him nothing. For instance, is being built, on his understanding of it, that is to say, is being + built, he represents by ens ædificatus est, as 'the supposed corresponding Latin phrase.'[20] The Latin is illegitimate; and he infers that, therefore, the English is the same. But ædificans est, a translation, on the model which he offers, of the active is building, is quite as illegitimate as ens æedificatus est. By parity of non-sequitur, we are, therefore, to surrender the active is building. Assume that a phrase in a given language is indefensible unless it has its counterpart in some other language; from the very conception and definition of an idiom every idiom is illegitimate.

"I now pass to another point. 'To be and to exist are,' to Mr. White's apprehension, 'perfect synonyms, or more nearly perfect, perhaps, than any two verbs in the language. In some of their meanings there is a shade of difference, but in others there is none whatever; and the latter are those which serve our present purpose. When we say, "He, being forewarned of danger, fled," we say, "He, existing forewarned of danger, fled." When we say that a thing is done, we say that it exists done.... Is being done is simply exists existing done.' But, since is and exists are equipollent, and so being and existing, is being is the same as the unimpeachable is existing. Q. non E. D. Is existing ought, of course, to be no less objectionable to Mr. White than is being. Just as absurd, too, should he reckon the Italian sono stato, era stato, sia stato, fossi stato, saro stato, sarei stato, essere stato, and essendo stato. For in Italian both essere and stare are required to make up the verb substantive, as in Latin both esse and the offspring of fuere are required; and stare, primarily 'to stand,' is modified into a true auxiliary. The alleged 'full absurdity of this phrase,' to wit, is being built, 'the essence of its nonsense,' vanishes thus into thin air. So I was about to comment bluntly, not forgetting to regret that any gentleman's cultivation of logic should fructify in the shape of irrepressible tendencies to suicide. But this would be precipitate. Agreeably to one of Mr. White's judicial placita, which I make no apology for citing twice, 'no man who has preserved all his senses will doubt for a moment that "to exist a mastiff or a mule" is absolutely the same as "to be a mastiff or a mule."' Declining to admit their identity, I have not preserved all my senses; and, accordingly—though it may be in me the very superfetation of lunacy—I would caution the reader to keep a sharp eye on my arguments, hereabouts particularly. The Cretan, who, in declaring all Cretans to be liars, left the question of his veracity doubtful to all eternity, fell into a pit of his own digging. Not unlike the unfortunate Cretan, Mr. White has tumbled headlong into his own snare. It was, for the rest, entirely unavailing that he insisted on the insanity of those who should gainsay his fundamental postulate. Sanity, of a crude sort, may accept it; and sanity may put it to a use other than its propounder's.

"Mr. Marsh, after setting forth the all-sufficiency of is building, in the passive sense, goes on to say: 'The reformers who object to the phrase I am defending must, in consistency, employ the proposed substitute with all passive participles, and in other tenses as well as the present. They must say, therefore, "The subscription-paper is being missed, but I know that a considerable sum is being wanted to make up the amount"; "the great Victoria Bridge has been being built more than two years"; "when I reach London, the ship Leviathan will be being built"; "if my orders had been followed, the coat would have been being made yesterday"; "if the house had then been being built, the mortar would have been being mixed."' We may reply that, while awkward instances of the old form are most abundant in our literature, there is no fear that the repulsive elaborations which have been worked out in ridicule of the new forms will prove to have been anticipations of future usage. There was a time when, as to their adverbs, people compared them, to a large extent, with -er and -est, or with more and most, just as their ear or pleasure dictated. They wrote plainlier and plainliest, or more plainly and most plainly; and some adverbs, as early, late, often, seldom, and soon, we still compare in a way now become anomalous. And as our forefathers treated their adverbs we still treat many adjectives. Furthermore, obligingness, preparedness, and designedly seem quite natural; yet we do not feel that they authorize us to talk of 'the seeingness of the eye,' 'the understoodness of a sentence,' or of 'a statement acknowledgedly correct.' 'The now too notorious fact' is tolerable; but 'the never to be sufficiently execrated monster Bonaparte' is intolerable. The sun may be shorn of his splendor; but we do not allow cloudy weather to shear him of it. How, then, can any one claim that a man who prefers to say is being built should say has been being built? Are not awkward instances of the old form, typified by is building, as easily to be picked out of extant literature as such instances of the new form, likely ever to be used, are to be invented? And 'the reformers' have not forsworn their ears. Mr. Marsh, at p. 135 of his admirable 'Lectures,' lays down that 'the adjective reliable, in the sense of worthy of confidence, is altogether unidiomatic'; and yet, at p. 112, he writes 'reliable evidence.' Again, at p. 396 of the same work, he rules that whose, in 'I passed a house whose windows were open,' is 'by no means yet fully established'; and at p. 145 of his very learned 'Man and Nature' he writes 'a quadrangular pyramid, the perpendicular of whose sides,' etc. Really, if his own judgments sit so very loose on his practical conscience, we may, without being chargeable with exaction, ask of him to relax a little the rigor of his requirements at the hands of his neighbors.

"Beckford's Lisbon fortune-teller, before had into court, was 'dragging into light,' and, perchance, 'was taking to account.' Many moderns would say and write 'being dragged into light,' and 'was being taken to account.' But, if we are to trust the conservative critics, in comparison with expressions of the former pattern, those of the latter are 'uncouth,' 'clumsy,' 'awkward neologisms,' 'philological coxcombries,' 'formal and pedantic,' 'incongruous and ridiculous forms of speech,' 'illogical, confusing, inaccurate monstrosities.' Moreover, they are neither 'consistent with reason' nor 'conformed to the normal development of the language'; they are 'at war with the genius of the English tongue'; they are 'unidiomatic'; they are 'not English.' In passing, if Mr. Marsh will so define the term unidiomatic as to evince that it has any applicability to the case in hand, or if he will arrest and photograph 'the genius of the English tongue,' so that we may know the original when we meet with it, he will confer a public favor. And now I submit for consideration whether the sole strength of those who decry is being built and its congeners does not consist in their talent for calling hard names. If they have not an uneasy subconsciousness that their cause is weak, they would, at least, do well in eschewing the violence to which, for want of something better, the advocates of weak causes proverbially resort.