目　录

CONTENTS

PREFACE

CHAPTER I　INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER II　MECHANICS OF COMPOSITION

CHAPTER III　LEARNING TO WRITE

CHAPTER IV　WRITING CORRECTLY

CHAPTER V　WRITING CORRECTLY (CONTINUED)

CHAPTER VI　WRITING WELL

CHAPTER VII　PARAGRAPHS

CHAPTER VIII　FORMS OF COMPOSITION

PREFACE

The present volume is a revised edition of my A Textbook of English Composition first published in 1941. The revising has been done in accordance with the same strongly held beliefs as those that I acted upon in writing the original work. These beliefs are as follows:

1. Such a book ought never to lose sight of the fact that it is intended for Chinese students, who have their special difficulties and therefore need special advice and warning. Since they have not been brought up in English-speaking families and since they study English chiefly as something written rather than spoken, they are ignorant of a great many everyday expressions that are only too common on the lips of those whose mother tongue is English. On the other hand, they are quite safe from a great many faults in diction and construction that most English and American students of composition have to take care to unlearn before they can hope to write respectable English.

2. Such a book ought to aim at the art of writing English for practical purposes instead of at authorship. The object of the average student of English composition, whatever his nationality, is to learn to express himself in written English, not to learn to become a professional author.

3. Such a book ought not to confine itself to the treatment of school compositions. While most students may never wish to write professionally, it does not follow that all that they will ever have to do in the way of English composition is to write short essays on given subjects, or what is called in American schools "themes".

4. Such a book ought not to content itself with imparting a knowledge of the art of writing English. Principles and rules are of little use until they are applied.

5. Such a book ought to give such principles and rules; only as are based upon the actual practice of good authors. Some of those found in nearly every popular manual of composition serve no definite purposes and therefore prove to be only so many handicaps in the path of the writer of English, who has enough to take care of without the interference of those unnecessary "technical" restrictions.

6. Such a book ought to teach present-day English only. Living as they do at the present day, students of composition should in no way be taught or encouraged to follow the usage and practice of authors of bygone days.

7. Such a book ought to be written on the assumption that its readers are careful students but that they are not students of precocious ability. No book can teach anything to careless students or to those who feel little or no interest in the subject. Nor is it advisable to take too much for granted in Chinese students of English, who are necessarily supposed to have made progress in their studies with the help of dictionary and grammar.

Whatever shortcomings some critical readers may find in this book, I take a pride in pointing out that the whole work is my own. I should like to make special mention of the fact that the illustrative examples have been, except in a very few cases, taken at first hand, and that for the purpose of collecting such examples I read a very large number of books, newspapers, and magazines. Not a single sentence has been quoted from any work written in the nineteenth century. In this new edition a large number of newer examples have been added or substituted, most of the authors happily still alive.

It remains for me to thank Comrade Yu Shiwen (Ü Conyoon) for his help in the preparation of this revised edition. I have also to express my gratitude to the late Comrade Gui shaoxu, who was the first to encourage me to write a book of this kind.

October, 1983　　　　Ge Chuangui

CHAPTER I　INTRODUCTION

1. Composition and Compositions. The title of this book, which is now The Writing of English, was originally A Textbook of English Composition. The last word is "Composition, not "Compositions". "Composition" is an uncountable noun, meaning the art or practice of writing. "Compositions" (plural) is a countable noun, meaning pieces of writing; the singular form "composition" (as in "a composition" and "this composition") means a piece of writing.

"Piece(s) of writing", however, is a vague term. A single sentence is a piece of writing; a book of many volumes is also a piece of writing. Both may therefore be called "compositions". Between these two extremes there are various kinds of compositions, in whatever way they may be classified. But "compositions" has the narrower sense of school compositions or "student compositions", that is, short essays written on given subjects as educational exercises, or what is known in American schools as "themes".

2. Purpose of this Book. This book is not confined to compositions in the narrower sense though these are by no means neglected. Nor does it claim to teach the writing of novels, short stories, dramas, poems, literary criticism, newspaper editorials, or scholarly treatises. It gives principles, suggestions, models, and exercises that will help you to express yourself well in English no matter what form of writing you may happen to do.

This book is written for you, who are supposed to be a Chinese student of English having a vocabulary of several thousand words and a fair knowledge of grammar, but having had little practice in writing, and even less in speaking, the language. From the use of this book you may expect to acquire the art of expression in English — on condition that you do all the exercises carefully, preferably under the guidance of a competent teacher, and act upon all the principles and suggestions as far as possible.

3. Your Advantage. As I have said in the above, you "are supposed to be a Chinese student of English ... having had little practice in writing, and even less in speaking the language". If you had been brought up in an English-speaking family, you would no doubt have more freedom of expression in the use of English than you have. But you have your advantage too. Just because you have not been brought up in an English-speaking family, you will be saved a great deal of trouble of trying to unlearn many errors and faults peculiar to those having been brought up on English. You are not, for instance, in the habit of using the notorious double negative, as in "I don't know nothing about him", which many English-speaking children say when they ought to say "I know nothing about him" or "I don't know anything about him".

Much of the material that is usually found in books of composition written for English-speaking students is therefore quite useless to you — perhaps as useless as any method of getting rid of the cigarette habit would be to non-smokers.

4. Your Special Difficulties. Being the kind of student you are, you have certain special difficulties in learning English composition. You are perhaps a better speller than the average English or American schoolboy is; you have perhaps had more practice in parsing and analysis than he has; you perhaps know a great many words that he does not know. But you find it much more difficult to express many common ideas and thoughts than he does; you are far less good at the use of many common words than he is; you may even make such ridiculous mistakes as he never dreams of.

A large part of this book is devoted to helping you to conquer these difficulties.

5. Rhetoric. The two words "and Rhetoric" might have been added to the title of this book. You would like to have them added, wouldn't you? At any rate, you must not think that the high-sounding word "rhetoric" as used in the titles of so many American books of English composition has anything "deep" in it. In fact, it is practically equivalent to "composition" or "the art or practice of writing", as can be seen from the following definition of the term quoted from a very popular book of "Composition and Rhetoric": "Rhetoric consists of the study of the principles governing the clear, forceful, and elegant expression of thoughts". Such books, which are often called "rhetorics" (with the singular "a rhetoric") in America, do not teach anything that is not taught in those having only the more homely word "composition" in their titles.

If I have dropped the word "rhetoric" from the title of this book, however, it is not merely because the term would sound more or less like an Americanism or because it would not have much meaning. There are two other reasons. First, this book is not a formal treatise on rhetoric in the old-fashioned sense of the word: it does not make a parade of the many jaw-breaking rhetorical terms that are of little use except as an essential part of a knowledge of rhetoric, such as "asyndeton", "oxymoron", and "syllepsis". Secondly, this book abstains from advising the observance of many rules that exist only from a narrowly rhetorical point of view: it mentions some of them only to condemn them as superstitions, such as "A sentence should not begin with 'and'" and "A sentence should not end with a preposition".

CHAPTER II　MECHANICS OF COMPOSITION

6. Materials. Use white paper; either ruled or unruled when you use pen and ink, but preferably unruled when you use a typewriter. You had better use sheets of 8 1/2, by 11 inches (known as the standard size). Use blue or blue-black ink; no other color is to be tolerated. If you use a typewriter, you had better use a black ribbon.

7. One Side or Two Sides? Whether you use a pen or a typewriter, you had better write on one side of the paper only. In order to save paper, you may write on both sides. In this case, write "PTO" (= Please Turn Over) or simply "Over" at the bottom of the front page, so as to indicate that there is writing on the other side. "PTO" is the usual English form, and "Over" is the usual American form.

8. Margins. Leave a margin of about an inch at the top, at the bottom, and on both sides. Owing to the unequal lengths of English words, the right margin may not be quite even. But you must take care to make it as even as possible.

9. Spacing. If you use a typewriter, use double spacing. If you use a pen, use single spacing. You may, however, use double spacing, if you think single spacing is not enough for the corrections and insertions that are likely to be made by either your teacher or yourself.

Leave one space between words and two spaces between sentences. But when a sentence ends just at the right margin, do not leave any space before the following sentence, which should begin just at the left margin.

Indent the first line of a paragraph about an inch. When you happen to use single spacing in typewriting (which, as can be gathered from the above, is not advisable), use double spacing between paragraphs.

Paragraphs will be dealt with in Chapter VII. One thing deserves mention here, however; it is that in reporting a conversation, every speech, however short, and with or without such an expression as "he said" or "she replied", is usually indented as a paragraph, though it is not quite a paragraph as defined in that chapter. It is indented merely to make the conversation clear and pleasant.

1.

"Oh, Miss Worth..."

"Yes?"

"Are you quite well?"

Nancy raised her eyebrows. "Perfectly, thank you."

— BEVERLEY NICHOLS, Self.

2.

"I am late" she said hurriedly when she saw him already dressed. "I overslept myself."

"It doesn't matter" he replied. "I am not going any more to that foreign school."

"What now?" she asked, surprised, setting down the tray.

"I am going to the public university." he announced.

"But that School!" She cried. "Anybody can go to it!"

"Therefore I can go." he declared.

"Your father won't let you," Peony retorted "nor your grandfather".

"Then I won't eat." I-wan said with energy.

— PEARL S BUCK, The Patriot.

3.

"What is your name?" slowly asks the man.

"Bernice —"

"Bernice!"

"Yes, Bernice Lane."

"Mr Lane — Oliver Lane's little girl." repeats the man, or is he making the inquiry.

"Yes, I am. And when I have grown a big girl I am going to try and paint a nice picture of daddy."

"Let me see what you can do today. I know that you must have lots of pictures of — of daddy."

"Hundreds of them, and they make him laugh because they look so funny, and never really like him."

— ELEANOR THORNE, The Widening Path.

10. Titles. Write the title in the centre of the first line; or, if it is too long for one line, in the first and second lines. In this case, make the part in the second line shorter than that in the first line, and centre the second part as well as the first part.

How a Knowledge of English has Helped

me in my Studies and Work

Begin the first word and all other important words in the title with a capital letter. The articles, prepositions, and conjunctions are usually unimportant.

When you use a typewriter, you may write all words in the title in capital letters.

HOW A KNOWLEDGE OF ENGLISH HAS HELPED

ME IN MY STUDIES AND WORK

This is not necessary, however.

Do not underline the title. Do not use a full stop after the title even if it is a grammatically complete sentence. A question mark or a mark of exclamation, however, should be used when necessary. Do not enclose the title in quotation marks unless it happens to be a quotation. The quotation marks are unnecessary even if the title is a quotation.

Leave one or two lines blank below the title.

11. Paging. Number the pages with Arabic numerals in the upper right-hand corner of each sheet except the first, which is not usually numbered. You may use a full stop after the number. You may also enclose it in a small circle. But there seems to be no reason for doing either.

l2. Folding. Fold your manuscript lengthwise down the centre. See that the front page is concealed, not exposed. When your manuscript consists of so many sheets that you cannot fold it conveniently, leave it flat and fasten it with a paper clip, but do not roll it.

13. Endorsing. Place your folded manuscript so that the crease is at the left and the loose edges are at the right. Then endorse it one or two inches below the top. The simplest form of endorsement is your name and the date.

Wang Ailin

10 September 1983

But some other data may be added.

Wang Ailin

Senior III

What a knowledge of English

has Done for Me

10 September 1983

14. Spelling. As I have said in Section 4, "You are perhaps a better speller than the average English or American schoolboy is". I do not quite agree with a certain English teacher of English who writes somewhere: "To spell correctly is a difficult thing even for English people, still more is so it for Chinese students". I am fairly sure that you do not write "receive" for "receive", nor write "principle" for "principal" or the other way round, though such errors are not uncommon among English-speaking people, even among college students.

When you are in any doubt about the spelling of a word, you have simply to refer to a dictionary. Where two or more spellings are given, the first is the one preferred by the dictionary. The matter is simple enough.

There is one point, however, that deserves your attention. It is uniformity. You must not spell the same word in the same composition in different ways. This rule you can easily keep by following the same dictionary.

As you may be aware, there are English spellings and American spellings. For instance, "colour" and "honour" are English, but "color" and "honor" are American. This is not the place to state the pros and cons of either form. It seems, however, that many English people consider the American form unorthodox, and that many Americans consider the English form old-fashioned. My advice is always to keep the rule of uniformity in the same composition.

15. Syllabication. Syllabication matters in composition only as far as dividing a word at the end of a line is concerned. Words of one syllable, even if comparatively long (such as "through" and "strength") cannot be divided at all. When a word is divided between two lines, use a hyphen at the end of the first line, not at the beginning of the second line.

Right: compo-

sition

Wrong: compo

-sition

Syllabication is not so simple a matter as you may think. A syllable in written English may or may not correspond to a syllable in spoken English. This is partly because written words may be divided into syllables according to their derivation instead of according to their pronunciation. The subject is too large to go into here. You have simply to refer to a dictionary in cases of doubt. (Not all dictionaries, however, indicate syllabication.)

16. Underlining. Single underlining has the same value in handwriting and typewriting as italics have in printing. Double underlining has the same value as small capitals.

composition = composition

composition = COMPOSITION

Capital letters are of course just put in capital letters.

When a small letter is mistakenly written for a capital letter, you may use three lines under it to indicate that it should be a capital letter.

composition = COMPOSITION

To indicate bold-faced type, use a wavy line.

composition = composition

Small capitals and bold-faced type are not used in ordinary composition. The uses of capital letters you have doubtless learnt from books of grammar. The uses of italics, however, are not usually mentioned in such books, and so are worth mentioning here.

17. Italics. 1. Use italics for titles of newspapers, magazines, and books.

China Daily (Newspaper)

China Reconstructs (Magazine)

The Writing of English (Book)

Titles of articles in newspapers and magazines, and of chapters, sections, poems, etc. in books are usually set in quotation marks, not put in italics. Even titles of newspapers, magazines, and books may be enclosed in quotation marks instead of being put in italics.

"China Daily" (Newspaper)

"China Reconstructs" (Magazine)

"The Writing of English" (Book)

You must not, however, use both italics and quotation marks for the same title.

Wrong: "China Daily"

"China Reconstructs"

"The Writing of English"

When a title begins with an article, definite or indefinite, take care to include the article in the title.

Right: The Times

Wrong: Times

It is quite obvious why the "the" before "London" is not in italics in the following quotation:

We have the files of The Times, Mr Barnard, up to a few years ago. But only, I regret to say, the London Times. — JAMES HILTON.

2. Use italics for names of ships.

the Maine　the Tatania　the Shandong　the Jiangxin

3. Use italics for unnaturalized non-English words (that is, what English-speaking people call "foreign words").

vice versa (Latin)

force majeure (French)

kultur (German)

viva (Italian)

troika (Russian)

Such words are marked in some dictionaries by italics and in some others by two preceding vertical lines.

kultur ‖ kultur

Not all dictionaries agree about the question whether a certain non-English word is already naturalized or not.

4. Use italics for words, letters, and figures merely as such.

composition rhetoric (Words)

a b y z (Letters)

1 3 1234 66666 (Figures)

But quotation marks may be used instead of italics, as in the case of this book.

5. Italics may be used to call attention to a word or words illustrating a particular point, as in many illustrative sentences in this book.

6. Italics are sometimes used for emphasis

(1) She never makes me laugh. — WILLIAM SOMERSET MAUGHAM.

(2) What would he do if I-ko accepted — with her? — PEARL S BUCK.

(3) Imagine his coming to anything so modern! — JOHN GALSWORTHY.

(4) She was the landlady: efficient, stylish, diplomatic, and tremendously experienced. — ARNOLD BENNETT.

(5) And this is a sort of accident, isn't it? — JAMES HILTON.

(6) It will be a treat. — EVELYN WAUGH.

(7) But nobody knows when, where, or if his brother Phineas returned. — G K CHESTERTON.

(8) Can you think what would happen if we stayed here? — H E BATES.

(9) I have been talking rot. — H G WELLS.

(10) I am delighted to see you. — MICHAEL ARLEN.

18. Omissions, Corrections, and Insertions. Your manuscript should of course be as neat as possible, so that omissions, corrections, and insertions should be avoided as far as possible.

1. Strike out the word or letter to be omitted.

When two or more letters have to be omitted in a word, you had better strike out the whole word.

2. Strike out the wrong word or letter and write the right one above it.

When two or more letters have to be corrected in a word, you had better strike out the whole word.

It is very bad to omit a word or letter by enclosing it in parentheses.

Very bad: the art or (or) practice of writing (Word)

com(m)position (Letter)

3. Use a caret (∧) below the word or words inserted.

the art or practice of writing

You had better not insert a letter in a word in this way.

Bad: practice

4. Use a vertical line between two words that have been mistakenly written as if they were one word.

English︱composition

5. Use the mark "　" between the two parts into which a word has been mistakenly divided.

composition

6. Use the mark "～" round the words or letters to be transposed.

When two or more transpositions have to be made in a word, you had better strike out the whole word.

7. Use a series of dots under the word or letter that has been mistakenly struck out.

To use a small triangle in such cases is to adopt a Chinese custom in writing English; it is very bad. This small triangle would be unintelligible to English-speaking people.

8. Use the mark "¶" before a word that ought to begin a new paragraph.

It was Sunday afternoon and we were all occupying various attitudes of heat-exhaustion and repose when a horn sounded and a huge car was heard to be approaching. ¶ "Who's that?" was asked. — E V LUCAS, You Know What People Are.

19. A Warning. You must not think that because you know these rules for making omissions, corrections, and insertions you are free to make any number of these in your manuscript. As I have already said, your manuscript should be as neat as possible. Better rewrite a whole page than let it have a poor appearance.

Incidentally, the skilful use of penknife, indiarubber, or ink-eraser may render the making of omissions etc comparatively neat.

CHAPTER III　LEARNING TO WRITE

20. Something to Say. Composition, as has been said in Section 1, is the art or practice of writing. In other words, it is the art or practice of saying something in written words. When nothing is to be said, no composition is possible. You simply cannot learn composition if you always have nothing to say. Since you are bent upon learning it, you must find something to say. This finding is necessary to practice in composition.

When you come to think about it, it is not at all difficult to find something to say. You may find it from a great many sources, the most common of which are perhaps personal experience, observation, conversation, and reading. Of course you have occasion to speak and write the Han language every day. Just ask yourself the question "How shall I say it in English?", and you will find something for practice in English composition. You will find far more material than you have time for every day.

21. How to Say It. Your question is not what to say but how to say it. You may often have an idea or a thought that you do not know how to express. For instance, you may not be able to express the idea of the glass tube measuring temperature if you do not happen to know the word "thermometer". To take another example, suppose you wish to apply for a position by letter but you cannot do so. Now suppose you ask a friend to write the letter for you, and he writes it. You read it and understand it all right. You come to realize that you did not think of arranging those simple words in that simple order. You did have something to say, but you did not know how to say it! Hence the importance of studying composition.

22. A Consolation. I take it for granted that when you ask yourself the question "How shall I say it in English?", you often find that you cannot. Well, let me give you a word of consolation. Even experienced writers may sometimes find that they cannot say something that they wish to say. As you are merely a young Chinese student of English, what cause have you to feel disappointed?

23. Others May Have Said It before You. As a matter of fact, many of the ideas and thoughts you often have occasion to express have already been expressed by others before you. Read any page in any book carefully, and you will perhaps find some expressions that will help you to say things. Many of such expressions may seem to you to be too simple to deserve much attention, but you cannot invent them, nor can you use them unless you have noted them. There appear to be many Chinese students who have read a number of books on grammar and composition and done many exercises in correcting and improving sentences and yet cannot write even tolerable English. The trouble is that they may either have not read widely enough or have not read carefully enough.

24. What to Read. Since it is for the purpose of learning composition that you read, and since it is in present-day English prose that you ought to learn to express yourself, what you read must be present-day English prose. Expressions in common use a hundred years ago may not be so at the present day. Likewise, expressions in common use in verse may not be so in prose.

The term "present-day English prose", however, requires qualification here. Since it is in standard English that you ought to learn to express yourself, what you read must not contain too much slang, whatever significance one may attach to the word. Again, since it is things in everyday life that you ought to learn to write about, what you read must not be of a technical character.

One limitation more. What you read must be fairly easy for you; too much time and energy spent in reading between the lines and finding out all kinds of references and allusions would very likely distract your mind from your purpose, which is to learn English composition.

25. How to Read. As you may have gathered from the above, in reading to learn English composition, you ought to regard the language as the main thing. To quote from my A Word to the Wise:

"When you read a story in English, do you read it for the story or for the English? This is a question that is not so foolish as it may seem. For I find that many students of English pay far more attention to the story than to the English. They read and enjoy and for a long time afterwards remember the story, but do not care to study the use of words and phrases in it. For instance, they cherish the memory of how the mystery of the eternal triangle is solved, but do not remember a single sentence in the story and cannot tell what preposition is used before or after a certain word in the speech of a certain character.

"Of course, it is all right to read and enjoy and remember a story, and so long as one wants to know the story only, one need not bother about the language. But the case is quite different with a student of English. I mean a student of English as distinguished from a student of stories or what is called the general reader".

As you may also have gathered from the above, you ought to read very carefully. Not only very carefully but also aloud, and that again and again till you know the passage by heart and can recite it as if it were your own. Positively this will teach you many useful words and phrases; negatively it will help you to avoid many errors and faults in expression. Incidentally, I have found from experience that intelligent copying is an aid to learning by heart.

26. Some Dictionaries Recommended. When you read, you cannot make too much use of your dictionaries. I use the plural form "dictionaries" because in my opinion you ought to use more than one dictionary. The same sense of the same word or phrase may be explained more clearly in one dictionary than in another. You will do well to buy and use as many of the following dictionaries as you can:

Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary of Current English, Third Edition; Oxford University Press

Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, Longman Group Limited

Chambers Universal Learners' Dictionary, W & R Chambers Ltd, Edinburgh

The Concise Oxford Dictionary, Seventh Edition; Oxford University Press

The Pocket Oxford Dictionary, Sixth Edition; Oxford University Press

The Universal English Dictionary, George Routledge & Sons Ltd, London

Webster's New International Dictionary, Second Edition; G & C Merriam Company, Springfield, Massachusetts, USA

Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary, Eighth Edition; G & C Merriam Company, Springfield, Massachusetts, USA

If I have not recommended any English-Han dictionary, it is not because I think all such dictionaries are bad, but because you must have already used some of them for a long time, and because there are many words and phrases that are explained in English far more clearly than they can possibly be in Han.

Exercise 1

Read the following selections till you can recite them:

1.

The Outline of History proved an extremely successful book. The number of copies distributed in English and in translations is entering now upon the third million.

This extraordinary reception astonished both its publishers and its author. It revealed the existence of a new immense stratum of intelligent people in the modern community eager and ready to supply the deficiencies of school and college education. It was the world-wide need for such a general review of historical fact, far more than any literary merit of the 0utline, which brought about this enormous sale.

This discovery of this great mass of inquiring minds, with all the political and social possibilities it revealed, was necessarily extremely stimulating to the writer of the Outline and his associates. They realized that here was a new element in the world's affairs: a great and as yet disorganized multitude capable of a modern ideology and needing only to be drawn together by a common system of knowledge and understandings, to become a dominating influence in the reconstruction in human affairs. It seemed almost ungrateful not to serve this receptive multitude to the utmost. It was not that those responsible for the Outline had any great conceit of themselves as leaders, but that the good fortune of that book had put them into a position of exceptional advantage to go on and complete the work of which the Outline was manifestly only a part. The responsibility of their opportunity far exceeded their powers. The Outline gave the framework of international ideas; it was a basis for political thought and activity, but it left certain other fields of universal human interest untouched. Nobody had such a chance of getting these gaps filled in a reasonably short space of time, if he could do it, as the writer of the Outline.

So there has now sprung from this beginning two other enterprises, which round off and complete a working statement of the general picture of our world needed by the modern citizen. The first of these is an outline of biological science, a statement of all that is currently known about the life in us and round us, our health, our mental activity, our origins, and the whole story of life's evolution since the beginning. This the writer has done in intimate collaboration with two able biologists, his son, G P Wells, and the grandson of his former professor, Professor Julian Huxley. They have made an up-to-date summary of all biological knowledge. For reasons that need not be gone into here, they have not called this work, The Outline of Life, but The Science of Life.

But Still there was left a third main aspect of human existence, and that was the business existence, the work, anxiety, effort, pressure of everyday life. The Outline of History told a man of his origins and tradition, why war hung over him, and why he was under the law; The Science of Life told him of the nature of his bodily and mental life; the third outline to complete the exposition of his world had to be an outline of economics, of how and why man worked, why money has become essential to his well-being and his relations to his fellow creatures, and the general "go" of industry, wealth-winning and earning and spending. This again it was found better not to call an Outline, and after many changes of title it has been completed and is now being published as The Work, Wealth, and Happiness of Mankind. So the first statement from a modern standpoint of what man was and is and what he does is completed.

These works are offered to the world without arrogance and without compunction. They are no doubt faulty to a terrible extent, and in due course they will certainly be superseded by far better work upon the same lines. They are like the temporary sheds that precede a palace. Their substance will need condensation and simplification for school use into an elementary Account of Life for the young, and various portions of them may need expansion for the college student. But until they are so superseded these three works remain, in their pioneer and experimental fashion, a necessary bringing together of what a contemporary man or woman can know about the past, about self, and about the daily task. — H G WELLS, The Outline of History.

2.

The thread of my journey proper was waiting to be picked up again, and I found it in the Potteries. I did not want to leave my old home, but it was not unpleasant to be once more in a district entirely unfamiliar to me, to begin with a mind like a blank sheet of paper, to be a stranger and a sightseer and a noodle asking questions instead of the man back home wondering whether it is he or the town that has changed. I carried with me to the Potteries a full load of ignorance. I knew that cups and saucers and plates were made there, and I had some acquaintance with them, in the form of the Five Towns, in Arnold Bennett's novels. And that was all. Though Bennett, I think, told us a good deal about his birthplace. Oddly enough, I do not think I heard his name mentioned once during all the time I was in the Potteries. In a Year-book of the district, several years old, that someone gave me, though there were thousands of names in it, I never caught sight of his. Very odd, this. There is a great deal in this Year-book about the products of North Staffordshire. Surely Bennett and his excellent novels deserve a place among those products. And what single man in our time did more to make the Potteries known to the rest of the world than Bennett did? In this blathering Year-book there is not a single town councillor or Territorial officer or secretary of an angling association who is apparently not regarded as being of more importance in the district than one of the country's best contemporary novelists. The visit of any empty bigwig matters more to the editor of this compilation than Bennett and all his works. Why was Bennett not made a Freeman of Stoke-on-Trent? (In this matter of Freemen, the city seems to have a passion for colonial premiers.) Why no sort of memorial to him anywhere? And why are third-rate politicians in this country still considered to be far more important than first-rate artists of any kind? Is it because there is always a chance that the politician may be able to wangle something, whereas no real good can come of artists? I wonder if there is a country in Europe in which musicians, painters, authors, philosophers, scientists, count for less than they do in this Country. Is this public indifference due to the fact that we have so many men of genius, unlike those small countries which go the length of regarding their occasional men of genius as public benefactors? I do not think it is. I think it is the result of our general lack of intellectual curiosity and zest for art, and of our trick, very noticeable in public life if no longer so obvious in private, of cherishing large numbers of the empty bigwigs mentioned above, men who have never done anything in particular but are vaguely important, imposing figures decorated like Christmas trees with medals and orders and stars. You would imagine that the shrewd, democratic, industrial provinces would never allow themselves to be taken in by such inflated personages; and I do not think they do any more in private; but they still do in their public, official, and municipal life, where they still hardly condescend to notice the existence of artists and scientists. This is, however, by the way. — J B PRIESTLEY, English Journey.

3.

The Seventh-day Adventist

He was a big man, and his bones were well covered. He gave you the impression that he had put on flesh since he bought his clothes, for they seemed somewhat tight for him. He always wore the same things, a blue suit, evidently bought ready-made in a department store (the lapel decorated with a small American flag), a high starched collar, and a white tie on which was a pattern of forget-me-nots. His short nose and pugnacious chin gave his clean-shaven face a determined look; his eyes, behind large, gold-rimmed spectacles, were large and blue; and his hair, receding on the temples, lank and dull was plastered down on his head. But on the crown protruded a rebellious cock's feather.

He was travelling up the Yangtze for the first time, but he took no interest in his surroundings. He had no eye for the waste of turbulent waters that was spread before him, nor for the colours, tragic or tender, which sunrise or sunset lent the scene. The great junks with their square white sails proceeded stately down the stream. The moon rose, flooding the noble river with silver and giving a strange magic to the temples on the bank, among a grove of trees. He was frankly bored. During a certain part of the day he studied Chinese, but for the rest of the time he read nothing but a New York Times, three months old, and the Parliamentary debates of July, 1915, which, heaven knows why, happened to be on board. He took no interest in the religions which flourished in the land he had come to evangelize. He classed them all contemptuously as devil worship. I do not think he had ever read the Analects of Confucius. He was ignorant of the history, art, and literature of China.

I could not make out what had brought him to the country. He spoke of his work as a profession which he had entered as a man might enter the civil service, and which, though it was poorly paid (he complained that he earned less than an artisan), he wanted, notwithstanding, to make a good job of. He wanted to increase his church membership, he wanted to make his school self-supporting. If ever he had had a serious call to convert the heathen there was in him no trace of it now. He looked upon the whole matter as a business proposition. The secret of success lay in the precious word organization. He was upright, honest, and virtuous, but there was neither passion in him nor enthusiasm. He seemed to be under the impression that the Chinese were very simple people, and because they did not know the same things that he did he thought them ignorant. He could not help showing that he looked upon himself as superior to them. The laws they made were not applicable to the white man, and he resented the fact that they expected him to conform to their customs. But he was not a bad fellow; indeed, he was a good-humored one, and so long as you did not attempt to question his authority there is no doubt that he would have done everything in his power to serve you. — WILLIAM SOMERSET MAUGHAM, On a Chinese Screen.

4.

From the time I was seven years old I had always asserted that when I grew up I wanted to be what I then called "an authoress", but my parents, though they thought that I wrote "nice little pieces", were anxious that I should earn my living in a recognized way. Obviously one couldn't earn one's living by writing, and the fact that at ten I had had a story on the children's page of the Lady's Companion, and that at thirteen I had had one on the children's page of Reynolds's Newspaper, must not be allowed to give me "ideas" about myself. My father wanted me to follow his example and enter the Civil Service, as a post office clerk, or a letter-sorter like himself. I reminded him how bad I was at geography and urged that I would never be any good at that sort of thing: I would put all the letters into the wrong bags, so my parents said that I must try for a scholarship and then we should see. I tried for a scholarship for a secondary school. I failed dismally in arithmetic, as usual, but scraped through on the strength of high marks for grammar, and with a passionate essay on the horrors of war — plentifully besprinkled with quotations from The Biglow Papers, of course. But on the viva voce I collapsed completely. I was told certain figures and asked in what connection I had heard them before. I didn't know. They were the amount of the War Loan. Questioned as to my "general knowledge" of literature, I said that Scott wrote Hereward the Wake, and the moment I came out of the examination room, freed from those staring eyes and unsympathetic faces at the long examiner's table, I knew that it was Kingsley. I knew, even before the result was announced, that I had failed, and that they thought me stupid, but I knew that I was not stupid, only that I hadn't got their kind of nonstupidness. Could any of them write of war as I had written of it? I was convinced that they couldn't, and that none of the girls who would be granted scholarships could, nor upon any other subject either, but because I did not know the War Loan figures, or who wrote that dull book about Hereward the Wake, they thought me too stupid to be admitted to their precious school — where I would learn French and algebra, and to play hockey, and wear a hat with the school colours round, and generally "get educated".

Well, but I didn't really want to get educated. I wanted to avoid having to go into the Civil Service. I entered for another scholarship, because something had to be done about me, and it was clear that I wasn't equipped to earn any kind of livelihood as I was. This scholarship was for a commercial school which like most establishments of the kind calls itself a college, because, one presumes, it sounds better. Here one had the choice of entering on either the commercial or the Civil Service side. I entered on the commercial side, and scraped through with a half-fee scholarship. My future was now all mapped out. I was to "go into an office", and there was a vague idea that with my ability to "put words together", I might eventually "work up" to "a good secretarial post". So far as anyone — my schoolteachers, my parents, and myself — could see, there was no other practical use to which that ability could be put. — ETHEL MANNIN, Confessions and Impressions.

5.

Pay It Back

It was with much interest that I read a news item which said that a country rector has received by post an eagle. Not an ordinary eagle, but a wooden one, carved in oak.

It had been wrenched from one of the pews of his church earlier in the year, presumably by some souvenir-hunter on holiday who thought that it would make a nice ornament at home.

Some people would call this vandalism, others would call it souvenir-hunting, and others, again, would call it plain stealing.

But, whatever name you choose, the act cannot be excused. Indeed, there is only one saving grace about the whole affair, and that is that the perpetrator suffered an uneasy conscience and returned the carving to be restored to its proper place.

It would be a very good thing for those who have sustained loss and suffered hurt if we all made an effort to put right the wrongs which we have done to others.

It doesn't matter twopence whether it is done anonymously or not. After all, when you right a wrong which you have done, you do it for your own satisfaction, and to clean your own slate. You don't do it so that Tom Jones next door should say what a jolly good fellow you are. If you do, then you are going about it in the wrong spirit.

But just imagine the overwhelming tide of good will that would flow, and the unexpected happiness that would accrue, if we all followed the example of that unknown person who sent the parcel to the rector. Not to mention the surprise with which the railway companies and hotels would receive innumerable spoons, knives, serviette-rings, tankards, and so forth!

We might even receive little gifts and attentions ourselves for deceits which had been practiced upon us, and the flood of unreturned books and garden implements would make our homes look their old selves again.

But, seriously, it is an idea which I heartily commend to you all. Pay back kindness, pay back loans, and, above all, repay those debts which only you know exist. You'll be all the happier for it. — Editor of Answers.

27. Self-cultivation. Though it is not on the assumption that you are a self-taught student that I am writing this book, yet I have to point out that when it comes to reading with a view to learning composition, you ought to treat the matter as a form of self-cultivation. The five selections in the above exercise are by no means all that you ought to read in the way indicated. Nor should you confine yourself to what American teachers call "assignments". Nor should you regard the reading as something to be done in a composition class. Fortunately there is no lack of material in these days of easy access to various kinds of publications. Your teacher is of course expected to be both able and willing to advise you in the choice of material.

28. Writing from Memory. A very helpful exercise in composition is to write a passage from memory and correct your work in strict accordance with the passage. This is tantamount to getting the author of that passage to correct your work. Incidentally, you will do well to try this exercise in reading any passage just before you feel you can recite it correctly.

29. Imitation, Conscious and Unconscious. The careful reading of suitable present-day English prose will help you in learning composition through imitation, which is either conscious or unconscious. Things unconscious cannot be taught, of course. Conscious imitation, however, is well worth discussing as an aid to composition.

Take the first sentence in the first selection in Exercise 1: "The Outline of History proved an extremely successful book", where the verb "proved" is a copulative one having "book" as its complement. Now you may write as many sentences as you can in imitation of this single sentence; thus:

1. The old man proved the father of the young man.

2. The story proved true.

3. The experiment proved a success.

4. This book will prove very helpful to you.

5. These exercises will prove a great aid to composition.

6. His advice may prove sound.

7. At last his poor friend proved his best friend.

8. He may yet prove faithful to his word.

9. The park proved a real boon to the children.

10. The task proved too much for him.

You will do well to do this conscious imitation as often as you can.

Exercise 2

Read the five selections in Exercise 1 again and write as many sentences as you can in imitation of any number of points in any number of sentences in them.

30. Reading Dictionaries. By reading dictionaries I do not mean reading any from cover to cover, but reading the illustrative examples of the various uses of a great many common words. This will serve the same purpose as the careful reading of suitable present-day English prose.

Copious illustrative examples are to be found in the first three dictionaries I have recommended in section 26. They are very often complete sentences and are usually such as to be used in speech as well as in writing. Those in The Concise Oxford Dictionary and The Packed Oxford Dictionary are sometimes framed in too condensed a form to be easily understood.

Exercise 3

Read the illustrative examples under the following words in any dictionary:

a, about, above, across, act, after, against, all, along, and, any, appear, arrange, as, at, be, back, before, behind, below, between, beyond, break, bring, but, by, can, carry, catch, charge, come, cover, cut, die, do, down, drive, drop, due, enter, ever, fall, feel, figure, fill, find, follow, foot, for, from, get, give, go, good, hand, have, hear, high, hold, home, if, in, it, keep, lead, let, life, like, line, little, live, look, lose, low, make, man, matter, may, move, must, nice, no, not, now, of, off, on, one, only, often, or, order, out, over, pass, play, point, poor, put, raise, rather, reach, read, return, right, rise, round, run, save, say, see, send, serve, set, settle, shall, sit, so, some, spare, speak, stand, strike, such, take, tell, that, the, then, there, this, through, time, to, treat, turn, under, up, use, walk, want, way, wall, what, when, where, why, will, with, without, word, work, world, write, yet.

31. Expressing Another Person's Thoughts. Expressing another person's thoughts is a valuable training in English composition both because you may sometimes have occasion to do so and because it will help you to express your own. The thoughts are there for you to express: there is something to say. Besides, there are often some words and phrases for you to use.

32. Paraphrasing Sentences. Paraphrasing is a simple form of expressing another person's thoughts. It means giving the meaning of a passage in other words, that is, giving it a simpler and clearer expression. It may be called close reproduction or close retelling. But it is not mere substitution of words, nor mere sentence transformation.

The following are some examples of paraphrasing sentences:

1. Men complain, justly enough, that the production of books is becoming wholly commercialized. — HILAIRE BELLOC.

Paraphrase: People complain that at the present day books are published more and more as mere commodities. The complaint is quite reasonable.

2. An adventure is only an inconvenience rightly considered. — G K CHESTERTON.

Paraphrase: While an adventure and an inconvenience are generally thought to be quite different things, the fact is that when what is known as an inconvenience is considered in the right way, it becomes an adventure.

3. Should you wish to make sure that your birthday will be celebrated three hundred years hence, your best course is undoubtedly to keep a diary. — VIRGINIA WOOLF.

Paraphrase: Do you wish to acquire such permanent fame that your birthday will be celebrated even three hundred years from now? If so, the best thing for you to do is certainly to keep a diary.

4. There are few harder fates for a man of some genius than to be intimately associated with a man of more. — J MIDDLETON MURRY.

Paraphrase: A man of minor genius can seldom, if ever, be more unfortunate than when he is closely associated with a man of greater genius.

5. If you choose your friends on the ground that you are virtuous and want virtuous company, you are no nearer to friendship than if you choose them for commercial reasons. — A CLUTTON-BROCK.

Paraphrase: Of course, you cannot obtain true friendship if you choose certain persons for your friends merely for the sake of any material benefit you hope to get from them. Nor can you obtain true friendship if you choose them merely because you think that they are as virtuous as you are and must therefore be suitable friends for you.

6. I said a moment ago that he was young and shy; and I admit that I slipped those epithets in without having justified them to you by due process of induction. — MAX BEERBOHM.

Paraphrase: A moment ago I called him young and shy. Now I must say that before I used the words "young" and "shy" I had not said anything to prove that I should be quite right in applying them to him.

7. Her house is completely expressive of her personality. — ETHEL MANNIN.

Paraphrase: If you look at her house, you will see what kind of person she is.

8. It is characteristic of Connie's sort that they forget they have made a scene two minutes after it is over, and imagine that others forget as easily. — SUSAN ERTZ.

Paraphrase: When such women as Connie have a quarrel, they forget about it as short a time as two minutes after it, and suppose that other persons forget about it as easily as they do.

9. Pretty little wallflowers sit out by the dozen. — H V MORTON.

Paraphrase: Many pretty little women who happen to have no persons to dance with remain sitting by the wall.

10. She has not been out very long. — HENRY JAMES.

Paraphrase: She was introduced to society only a short time ago.

33. Suggestions for Paraphrasing. In order to paraphrase well, it is necessary to follow a few simple suggestions:

1. Study the passage carefully to get a thorough grasp of its meaning. You can never paraphrase anything that you do not fully understand.

2. Try to express the meaning in the simplest and clearest manner you can. You may use any word or phrase in the original that you find simple and clear enough; do not avoid any word or phrase merely because it is in the original. Similarly, while it is anything but necessary to follow the construction of the original, it is not advisable to change merely for the sake of a change. It is often better to paraphrase a sentence in two or more sentences.

3. Get rid of all figurative language.

4. Paraphrase a passage in as many ways as you can till you come to what you consider the best way. Though you may not be able to write such good English as the original, yet you ought to aim at doing so — remembering, however, that you must express the meaning in a simpler and clearer manner.

Exercise 4

Paraphrase the following:

1. I know more than one rich man who would give all his riches for something he has not got, and I dare say you have seen women who wear fine clothes and have sad faces, but who ride wearily in motor cars past happy women laughing and singing at their cottage doors. — ARTHUR MEE.

2. She was not given to questioning the order of her universe, but the thought simply would come into her mind that Providence had treated her rather badly. — SHEILA KAYE-SMITH.

3. No two schools are alike, but more than that — a school with two hundred pupils is really two hundred schools, and among them, almost certainly, are somebody's long-remembered heaven and somebody else's hell. — JAMES HILTON.

4. The condition of the world was such that Michael constantly wondered if his own affairs were worth paying attention to; but then the condition of the world was also such that sometimes one's own affairs seemed all that were worth paying attention to. — JOHN GALSWORTHY.

5. If she exercises so much rule among the high ones, how can we, being both men of the common sort, hope to engage her ear? — ERNEST BRAMAH.

6. When he walked across the fields again in the cold clear twilight the wind was dropping, but the furrows in the ploughed lands were bleached white on the eastern side, and in the corn fields the young flourishing shoots of winter wheat lay flattened against the earth by the cold wind as though by a roller. — H E BATES.

7. There is a super-national republic of thought and art, to the great German members and masters of which my debt is incalculable, and that their country should admit my claim to he a member of it is a triumph which enables me to face with blushing all the eulogies and congratulations showered on me on the first birthday I have ever celebrated and the last I intend ever to celebrate. — GEORGE BERNARD SHAW.

8. The recent interest in China on the part of the West, the wistfulness of certain Western persons who envy the simplicity and security of China's pattern of life and admire her arts and philosophy have also helped to inspire the young Chinese with confidence in themselves. — PEARL S BUCK.

9. If he saw only the surface of things, it is for the reason that most things have nothing but a surface. — JOSEPH CONRAD.

10. We reached a door in the wall, tumbled down a flight of steps, and stood, as it were, upon the shore of a lake of light, with nothing before us but sun-shot air, and across that radiant emptiness the further hills rolling away towards Somerset. — MAURICE HENRY HEWLETT.

11. The lonely grace of the winter trees, their bare tracery, unspeakably delicate, clear against a purple or violet haze in the sky, and the pretty fairyland where the yellow lamps made spots of colour — all this was beauty wonderful and magical, and blessed my lot for once that I could go and gaze on it day by day. — G S STREET.

12. We impute to our dead bodies many of the senses and shames of the living, and we shudder without reason at the thought of things occurring to them that could injure us only while we are alive. — ROBERT LYND.

13. A house is infinitely communicative, and tells many things besides the figure of its master's income. — R W CHAPMAN.

14. I spent my first evening there walking about the centre of the town, which is neither dignified nor very extensive, indeed hardly worthy of the excellent residential quarters outside it. — J B PRIESTLEY.

15. It was not till I was a young man, at college, that I got any clue to the significance of my dreams and to the cause of them. — JACK LONDON.

16. You know that in spite of all the myriad newspapers, daily and weekly: that now assail our peace; in spite, too, of the fact that most of us are more or less intimately acquainted with someone who writes — so familiar with him, indeed, as to be contemptuous; none the less, no sooner does a thing, however trite, get into print, than we approach it with a certain reverence. — E V LUCAS.

17. It is because they cannot think that infants are happy, despite internal sufferings and coercive treatment from without which would cause a person of riper years to commit suicide — MARY ELIZABETH COLERIDGE.

18. An Autobiographer, however much of an artist, however delicate his embroidery, stands a very poor chance of deceiving even those of the readers who, coming long after him, never encountered

the impostor in the flesh. — AUGUSTINE BIRRELL.

19. When I was a boy one could not but notice that among those who prided themselves on their love of books, and upon their possession, in this respect, of an educated and cultured taste, it was the fashion to consider Dickens as an author immensely inferior to Thackeray — who, in his novels, always kept good company, even if he affected to mock at it -and, in fact, to regard him as a somewhat vulgar demagogue and comedian. — OSBERT SITWELL.

20. Anyone who reads of Riley's tours of the country, particularly if he has ever gone through the ordeal of catching trains, greeting people, being dined, and keeping irregular hours, will believe that these labours more than anything else took away his strength and shortened his life to something less than the allotted threescore years and ten. — EDGAR LEE MASTERS.

34. Paraphrasing Paragraphs. The following are some examples of paraphrasing paragraphs.

1.

A great joke, this growing old — but a sad joke, too, in a way. And as Chips sat by his fire with autumn gales rattling the windows, the waves of humour and sadness swept over him very often until tears fell, so that when Mrs Wickett came in with his cup of tea she did not know whether he had been laughing or crying. And neither did Chips himself. — JAMES HILTON, Goodbye, Mr. Chips.

Paraphrase: Chips was growing old. He considered it something amusing. But he also found some sadness in the amusement. In autumn, as the wind was rattling the windows, he used to sit by the fireside thinking. He felt amused and sad by turns, very often with the result that he wept. When Mrs Wickett, his landlady, came in to hand him his cup of tea, she did not know whether he had been laughing or crying. Even Chips himself did not know whether he had been laughing or crying.

2.

On a bleak wet stormy afternoon at the outset of last year's spring, I was in a cottage, all alone, and knowing that I must be all alone till evening. It was a remote cottage, in a remote county, and had been "let furnished" by its owner. My spirits are easily affected by weather, and I hate solitude. And I dislike to be master of things that are not mine, "Be careful not to break us" say the glass and china. "You'd better not spill ink on me" growls the carpet. "None of your dog's-earing, thumb-marking, back-breaking tricks here" snarl the books. — MAX BEERBOHM, And Even Now.

Paraphrase: It was an afternoon at the beginning of the spring of last year. The weather was dreary, rainy, and stormy. I was alone in a cottage. I knew that I must be alone till evening. The cottage was in a remote part of a remote county. It had been let by its owner together with its furniture. As I am easily affected by weather and hate being alone, I felt unhappy. And my unhappiness was increased because I dislike being set among things that do not belong to me. Whenever I am alone in a room that is not mine, I feel as if everything in it were warning me not to touch it. Articles of glass and china seem to say: "Be careful not to break us". The carpet seems to say in an angry manner: "If you write anything, you must not spill any ink on me". The books seem to say in a fit of ill temper: "You must not turn down any page of us, nor leave any mark of your thumb on any page of us, nor break the back of any one of us".

Exercise 5

Paraphrase the following:

1.

Perhaps I am but half a collector after all. Your true collector keeps his treasures in shrines, for public or private devotion; he will scarcely suffer flowers in his goblets, or so much as read his first editions. But I have little pleasure in a cloistered spoon; a spoon that is too precious for use, and must be kept in a cabinet, looks forlorn and foolish to my eye. I would sooner risk losing the marks than keep a spoon uncleaned; dirty copper and brass are very well, but tarnished silver is an offence. My spoons are used; not without apprehension, but I trust with fortitude. I like to sit down to dinner and note which spoon — for no three are of a set — I am to use tonight. — R W CHAPMAN, The Portrait of Scholar.

2.

Two things are essential to a restful holiday. The first is not to possess a map. The second is not to possess a car. To go anywhere with both a map and a car is to invoke the spirit of unrest and to become the slave of the place where one is not — no longer an idler but an unpaid chauffeur plying along unknown roads till the fall of evening. — ROBERT LYND, Rain, Rain Go to Spain.

3.

Learn to take a joke, because the fellow who always wants to have the laugh on somebody else is pretty awful to live with, don't you think? I rather think he would also be the kind of person who would always want the best of a bargain, and the last word in an argument, and the last penny in your pocket. — Editor of Answers.

4.

It is with a kind of fear that I begin to write the history of my life. I have, as it were, a superstitious hesitation in lifting the veil that clings about my childhood like a golden mist. The task of writing an autobiography is a difficult one. When I try to classify my earliest impressions, I find that fact and fancy look alike across the years that link the past with the present. The woman paints the child's experiences in her own fantasy. A few impressions stand out vividly from the first years of my life; but "the shadows of the prison-house are on the rest". Besides, many of the joys and sorrows of childhood have lost their poignancy; and many incidents of vital importance in my early education have been forgotten in the excitement of great discoveries. In order, therefore, not to be tedious I shall try to present in a series of sketches only the episodes that seem to me to be the most interesting and important. — HELEN KELLER, The Story of My Life.

35. Paraphrasing Verse. The following are some examples of paraphrasing verse:

1.

Dirge in Weeds

A wind sways the pines,

And below

Not a breath of wild air;

Still as the mosses that glow

On the flooring and over the lines

Of the roots here and there.

The pine-tree drops its dead;

They are quiet, as under the sea.

Overhead, Overhead

Rushes life in a race,

As the clouds the clouds chase;

And we go,

And we drop like the fruits of the tree,

Even we,

Even so.

— GEORGE MEREDITH.

Paraphrase: A wind sways the tops of the pine-trees. But there is no wind on the ground, where the air is as still as the mosses growing and glowing on it and over the lines of the roots of the trees here and there. Dead pine-cones drop on the ground. They are as quiet as if they were under the sea. But as they die and drop, the clouds still chase each other overhead in a race of Life. We, human beings, die and drop just like pine-cones, while the world goes on as usual. Such is the fate of man.

2.

The Linnet

I heard a linnet courting

His lady in the spring;

His mates were idly sporting,

Nor stayed to hear him sing

His song of love —

I fear my speech distorting

His tender love.

One phrase was all his pleading,

He spoke of love and home:

To her who gave him heeding

He sang his question "Come". —

His gay sweet notes,

So sadly marred in the reading!

His tender notes!

And when he ceased, the hearer

Re-echoed the refrain,

And swiftly perching nearer,

"Come, come" she sang again, —

and for their loves!

Would that my verse spake clearer,

Their tender loves!

Blest union of twin creatures

Unmarred by sense of doubt:

All summer's dry misfeatures

Such springtide trust bars out;

But of their loves

Fall short our wiser natures:

Their tender loves!

— ROBERT BRIDGES.

Paraphrase: I heard a linnet making love to his sweetheart in the spring. His companions were playing about in an idle manner, and did not stop to hear him sing his song of love. His love was of such a tender kind that I am afraid I could not reproduce accurately what he sang.

He said nothing but love and home. To the female bird that 1istened to him he sang in an interrogative tone the single word "Come". It was in gay sweet tender notes that he uttered that word "Come". Such gay sweet tender notes would be sadly spoilt if they were ever imitated in reading,

When he stopped his song, the female bird sang "Come" in response, and she repeated that word as she moved swiftly to perch nearer. How I wish I could express more clearly in my verse the tender mutual love of these two birds!

The union of these two birds is a very happy one. It is in no way spoilt by any sense of doubt. They trust each other in the spring so perfectly that they do not fear anything bad that may come to them in the summer. Now we, who are human beings and are of course supposed to be wiser than birds, simply do not possess such mutual love.

In paraphrasing verse, avoid any suggestion of rhyme and rhythm and poetic diction. More changes in sentence structure are often required than in paraphrasing prose.

Exercise 6

Paraphrase the following:

1.

Light

The night has a thousand eyes,

And the day but one;

Yet the light of the bright world dies

With the dying sun.

The mind has a thousand eyes,

And the heart but one;

Yet the light of a whole life dies

When less is done.

— F W BOURDILLON.

2.

Leisure

What is this life if, full of care,

We have no time to stand and stare?

No time to stand beneath the boughs

And stare as long as sheep and cows.

No time to see, when weeds we pass,

Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass.

No time to see, in broad daylight,

Streams full of stars, like skies at night.

No time to turn at Beauty's glance,

And watch her feet, how they can dance.

No time to wait till her mouth can

Enrich that smile her eyes began.

A poor life this if, full of care,

We have no time to stand and stare.

— W H DAVIES.

3.

When I Am Old

When I am old,

And sadly steal apart

Into the dark and cold,

Friend of my heart!

Remember, if you can,

Not him who lingers, but that other man

Who loved and sang, and had a beating heart, —

When I am old!

When I am old,

And all Love's ancient fire

Be tremulous and cold:

My soul's desire!

Remember, if you may,

Nothing of me and you but yesterday,

When heart on heart we bid the years conspire

To make us old.

When I am old,

And every star above

Be pitiless and cold:

My life's one love!

Forbid me not to go:

Remember nought of us but long ago,

And not at last, how love and pity strove

When I grew old!

— ERNEST DOWSON.

4.

Out in the Dark

Out in the dark over the snow

The fallow fawns invisible go

With the fallow doe;

And the winds blow

Fast as the stars are slow.

Stealthily the dark haunts round

And, when a lamp goes, without sound

At a swifter bound

Than the swiftest hound,

Arrives, and all else is drowned;

And I and star and wind and deer

Are in the dark together — near,

Yet far, — and fear

Drums in my ear

In that sage company drear.

How weak and little is the light,

All the universe of sight,

Love and delight,

Before the might,

If you love it not, of night.

— EDWARD THOMAS.

36. Condensing. Condensing is another form of expressing another person's thoughts. It means giving the meaning of a passage, a story, an essay, a poem, or even a whole book, in one or more sentences. It may be called summarizing, abstract-writing, or précis-writing.

The following are the condensed forms of the two paragraphs that have been paraphrased in Section 34:

1. As Chips was growing old, he used to sit by the fireside in autumn and felt amused and sad by turns, very often with the result that he wept without knowing whether he was laughing or crying.

2. I dislike being alone in a room that is not mine, especially on a wet stormy day.

The following are some examples of condensing stories, essays, and poems:

1.

The Letter

It was a summer afternoon. The clear blue sky was dotted with fluttering larks. The wind was still, as if it listened to their gentle singing. From the shining earth a faint smoke arose, like incense, shaken from invisible thuribles in a rhapsody of joy by hosts of' unseen spirits. Such peace had fallen on the world! It seemed there was nothing but love and beauty everywhere; fragrant summer air and the laughter of happy birds. Everything listened to the singing larks in brooding thoughtlessness. Yea, even the horned snails lay stretched out on grey stones with their houses on their backs.

There was no loud sound. Nothing asserted its size in a brutal tumult of wind and thunder. Nothing swaggered with a raucous noise to disarrange the perfect harmony. Even the tiny insects mounting the blades of grass with slow feet were giants in themselves and things of pride to nature.

The grass blades, brushing with the movements of their growth, made joyous gentle sounds, like the sighs of a maiden in love.

A peasant and his family were working in a little field beneath the singing larks. The father, the mother, and four children were there. They were putting fresh earth around sprouting potato stalks. They were very happy. It was a good thing to work there in the little field beneath the singing larks. Yes. God, maybe, gave music to cheer their simple hearts.

The mother and the second eldest daughter weeded the ridges, passing before the others. The father carefully spread around the stalks the precious clay that the eldest son dug from the rocky bottom of the shallow field. A younger son, of twelve years, brought sea sand in a donkey's creels from a far corner of the field. They mixed the sand with the black clay. The fourth child, still almost an infant, staggered about near his mother, plucking weeds slowly and offering them to his mother as gifts.

They worked in silence; except once when by chance the father's shovel slipped on a stone and dislodged a young stalk from its shallow bed. The father uttered a cry. They all looked.

"Oh! Praised be God on high!" the mother said, crossing herself.

In the father's hands was the potato stalk and from its straggling thin roots there hung a cluster of tiny new potatoes, smaller than small marbles. Already their seeds had borne fruit and multiplied. They all stood around and wondered. Then suddenly the eldest son, a stripling, spat on his hands and said wistfully:

"Ah! If Mary were here now wouldn't she be glad to see the new potatoes. I remember, on this very spot, she spread seaweed last winter".

Silence followed this remark. It was of the eldest daughter he had spoken. She had gone to America in early spring. Since then they had only received one letter from her. A neighbour's daughter had written home recently, though, that Mary was without work. She had left her first place that a priest had found for her, as servant in a rich woman's house.

The mother bowed her head and murmured sadly:

"God is good. Maybe today we'll get a letter".

The Father stooped again, struck the earth fiercely with his shovel, and whispered harshly:

"Get on with the work".

They moved away. But the eldest son mused for a while looking over the distant hills. Then he said loudly to his mother as if in defiance:

"It's too proud she is to write, mother, until she has money to send. I know Mary. She was always the proud one".

They all bent over their work and the toddling child began again to bring weeds as gifts to his mother. The mother suddenly caught the child in her arms and kissed him. Then she said:

"Oh! They are like angels singing up there. Angels they are like. Wasn't God good to them to give them voices like that? Maybe if she heard the larks sing she'd write. But sure there are no larks in big cities".

And nobody replied. But surely the larks no longer sang happily. Now the sky became immense. The world became immense, an empty dangerous vastness. And the music of the fluttering birds had an eerie lilt to it. So they felt; all except the toddling child, who still came innocently to his mother, bringing little weeds as gifts.

Suddenly the merry cries of children mingled with the triumphant singing of the larks. They all paused and stood erect. Two little girls were running up the lane towards the field. Between the winding fences of the narrow lane they saw the darting white pinafores and the bobbing golden heads of the running girls. Their golden heads flashed in the sunlight. They came running, crying out joyously in trilling girlish voices. They were the two remaining children. They were coming home from school.

"What brought ye to the field?" the mother cried while they were still afar off.

"A letter" one cried, as she jumped on to the fence of the field.

The father dropped his shovel and coughed. The mother crossed herself. The eldest son struck the ground with his spade and said: "By the Book!"

"Yes, a letter from Mary" said the other child, climbing over the fence also and eager to participate equally with her sister in the bringing of the good news. "The postman gave it to us."

They brought the letter to their father. All crowded round their father by the fence, where there was a little heap of stones. The father sat down, rubbed his fingers carefully on his thighs, and took the letter. They all knelt around his knees. The mother took the infant in her arms. They all became very silent. Their breathing became loud. The father turned the letter round about in his hands many times, examining it.

"It's her handwriting surely" he said at length.

"Yes, yes" said the eldest son. "Open it, father."

"In the name of God" said the mother.

"God send us good news" the father said, slowly tearing the envelope.

Then he paused again, afraid to look into the envelope. Then one of the girls said:

"Look, look. There's a cheque in it. I see it against the sun".

"Eh?" said the mother.

With a rapid movement the father drew out the contents of the envelope. A cheque was within the folded letter. Not a word was spoken until he held up the cheque and said:

"Great God, it's for twenty pounds".

"My darling," the mother said, raising her eyes to the sky. "My treasure, I bore you in my womb. My own sweet treasure".

The children began to laugh, hysterical with joy. The father coughed and said in a low voice:

"There's a horse for that money to be had. A horse".

"Oh! Father" said the eldest son. "A two-year-old and we'll break it on the strand. I'll break it, father. Then we'll have a horse like the people of the village. Isn't Mary great? Didn't I say she was waiting until she had money to send? A real horse!"

"And then I can have the ass for myself, daddy" said the second boy.

And he yelled with joy.

"Be quiet will ye" said -the mother quietly in a sad tone. "Isn't there a letter from my darling? Won't ye read me the letter?"

"Here" said the father. "Take it and read it one of ye. My hand is shaking".

It was shaking and there were tears in his eyes, so that he could see nothing but a blur.

"I'll read it" said the second daughter.

She took the letter, glanced over it from side to side, and then suddenly burst into tears.

"What is it?" said the eldest son angrily. "Give it to me."

He took the letter, glanced over it, and then his face became stern. All their faces became stern.

"Read it, son" the father said.

"'Dear Parents'," the son began. "'Oh, mother, I am so lonely'. It's all, all covered with blots the same as if she were crying on the paper. 'Daddy, why did I … why did I ever … ever …' it's hard to make it out … yes … 'why did I ever come to this awful place? Say a prayer for me every night, mother. Kiss baby for me. Forgive me, mother. Your loving daughter Mary.'"

When he finished there was utter silence for a long time. The father was the first to move. He rose slowly, still holding the cheque in his hand. Then he said:

"There was no word about the money in the letter" he said in a queer voice. "Why is that now?"

"Twenty pounds" the mother said in a hollow voice. "It isn't earned in a week."

She snatched the letter furtively from her son and hid it ravenously in her bosom.

The father walked away slowly by the fence, whispering to himself in a dry voice:

"Aye! My greed stopped me asking myself that question. Twenty pounds".

He walked away erect and stiff, like a man angrily drunk.

The others continued to sit about in silence, brooding. They no longer heard the larks. Suddenly one looked up and said in a frightened voice:

"What is father doing?"

They all looked. The father had passed out of the field into another uplying craggy field. He was now standing on a rock with his arms folded and his bare head fallen forward on his chest, perfectly motionless. His back was towards them but they knew he was crying. He had stood that way, apart, the year before, on the day their horse died.

Then the eldest son muttered a curse and jumped to his feet. He stood still with his teeth set and his wide eyes flashing. The infant boy dropped a weed from his tiny hands and burst into frenzied weeping.

Then the mother clutched the child in her arms and cried out in a despairing voice:

"Oh! Birds, birds, why do ye go on singing when my heart is frozen with grief".

Together, they all burst into a loud despairing wail and the harsh sound of their weeping rose into the sky from the field that had suddenly become ugly and lonely; up, up into the clear blue sky where the larks still sang their triumphant melody. — LIAM O'FLAHERTY, The Mountain Tavern.

Condensed: On a fine summer afternoon, a peasant and his family were working happily in a little field. A letter came from the eldest daughter, Mary, who had gone to America in early spring and had sent home only one letter since. Both parents were very glad to find a cheque for twenty pounds in this second letter. But they were deeply grieved to learn from the letter that their daughter was lonely and unhappy in America, and to think how hard it must have been for her to earn that money.

2.

No Regrets

About a month ago I was present at a solemn occasion — the reading of a will. I can remember one passage that particularly struck me. It ran something like this:

"And I direct that £50 be paid to old William B — , whom I have wished to help for many years, but always put off doing so".

It was the Voice of Opportunity Lost speaking from Beyond. But the story does not end there. When the lawyers came to carry out the bequest, they discovered that old William B had died, too, and so the good deed was lost.

I felt rather sorry about that. It seemed to me a most regrettable thing that William should not have had his £50 just because somebody kept putting off giving it to him. And, from all accounts, William could have done with the money.

But I am sure that there are thousands of kindly little deeds waiting to be done today, which are being put off "until later".

George Herbert, in praise of good intentions, says that "One of these days is better than none of these days". But I say that "Today" is better than all.

If we accept the dictum that "sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof", we might also concede that insufficient unto the day is the good we are able to accomplish, and not defer until tomorrow the kindly impulse which prompts us now.

Tomorrow that poor person may have moved on with a little extra bitterness in his heart because no one cared, tomorrow you may have the little regret that you "put it off".

And, after all, that's such a poor excuse, isn't it?

Next time you push some job aside just stop and ask yourself why you do it. You'll be surprised how difficult it often is to give a convincing answer. When you have exhausted the possibilities, you will find you come down to the plain answer: "I don't know".

Don't put it off. We shall pass this way but once, so let us have no regrets in our wills. — Editor of Answers.

Condensed: Do not put off till later any kindly little deed that you ought to do today. You may not have the same opportunity again.

3.

The Charcoal-burner

He lives within the hollow wood,

From one clear dell he seldom ranges:

His daily toil in solitude

Revolves, but never changes.

A still old man, with grizzled beard,

Grey eye, bent shape, and smoke-tann'd features,

His quiet footstep is not fear'd

By shyest woodland creatures.

I love to watch the pale blue spire

His scented labour builds above it;

I track the woodland by his fire:

And, seen afar, I love it.

It seems among the serious trees

The emblem of a living pleasure,

It animates the silences

As with a tuneful measure.

And dream not that such humdrum ways

Fold naught of nature's charm around him;

The mystery of soundless days

Hath sought for him and found him.

He hides within his simple brain

An instinct innocent and holy,

The music of a wood-bird's strain, —

Nor blithe, nor melancholy.

But hung upon the calm content

Of wholesome leaf and bough and blossom —

An unecstatic ravishment

Born in a rustic bosom.

He knows the mood of forest things,

He feels, in his own speechless fashion,

For helpless forms of fur and wings

A mild paternal passion.

Within his horny hand he holds

The warm brood of the ruddy squirrel;

Their busty, mother storms and scolds,

But knows no sense of peril.

The dormouse shares his crumb of cheese,

His homeward trudge the rabbits follow;

He finds, in angles of the trees,

The cup-nest of the swallow.

And through this sympathy, perchance,

The beating heart of life he reaches

Far more than we who idly dance

An hour beneath the beeches.

Our science and our empty pride,

Our busy dream of introspection,

To God seem vain and poor beside

This dumb, sincere reflection.

Yet he will die unsought, unknown,

A nameless headstone stand above him,

And the vast woodland, vague and lone,

Be all that's left to love him.

— EDMUND GOSSE.

Condensed: An old man lives a quiet and apparently monotonous life in a small wooded valley, engaged in the making of charcoal by burning wood. He is quite happy, for he enjoys nature and the company of animals and birds. He has a more sympathetic heart than we have, and seems to God to be of more worth than we are. But, alas! He will die unknown.

Of course, space does not allow any whole book to be reprinted here to be condensed. I must content myself with writing below a summary of Arnold Bennett's The Old Wives' Tale, a very long novel, without quoting a single passage from it:

Constance and Sophia Baines, two sisters, lived together in Bursley, England. Constance, a staid and sensible young woman, married Samuel Povey, the chief assistant in her father's shop, and spent all her life in Bursley. Sophia, more passionate and imaginative than Constance, eloped with Gerald Scales, a commercial traveller who had come into a fortune. Being a bad man, he carried Sophia to Paris and finally deserted her. She struggled to success as a lodging-house keeper in Paris. The sisters were reunited and spent their last years together in Bursley.

37. Various Degree of Condensation. There are various degrees of condensation. The Old Wives' Tale has been condensed in the above to only six sentences. It might have been condensed to sixty sentences, or six hundred sentences. Much of the work that you may have to do in the way of writing English in practical life is that of condensing. How far something ought to be condensed is to be determined as occasion requires. For example, when you condense something for those who want to know merely what it deals with, you ought to condense it to fewer words than when you do it for those who want to know more about the original.

38. Suggestions for Condensing. Below are some simple suggestions for condensing:

1. Study the original carefully to get a thorough grasp or its meaning.

2. Pick out the main points, and leave out all unnecessary points.

3. If possible, arrange the points in the condensation in the same order as in the original.

4. Unless the original is a short passage, you had better write the main points down instead of merely picking them out mentally, and arrange them in something like an outline. (This note-taking and outline-making will prepare you for original composition. They will be treated further on in this chapter.)

Exercise 7

Condense the following:

1.

It is true that when little girls become self-conscious they lose their charm, or the best part of it; they are at their best as a rule from five to seven, after which begins a slow, almost imperceptible decline (or evolution, if you like) until the change is complete. The charm in decline was not good enough for Lewis Carroll; the successive little favourites, we learn, were always dropped about ten. That was the limit. Perhaps be perceived, with a rare kind of spiritual sagacity resembling that of certain animals with regard to approaching weather-changes, that something had come into their heart, or would shortly come, which would make them no longer precious to him. But that which had made them precious was not far to seek: he would find it elsewhere, and could afford to dismiss his Alice for the time being from his heart and life, and even from his memory, without a qualm. — W H HUDSON, A Traveller in Little Things. ("Lewis Carroll" is the pseudonym of Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, author of two famous books for children, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass.)

2.

The little church, seen from below, looked like a peeping rabbit or human. A last effort seemed to have carried it to the top of the last heave of ground which rose behind the marshes. With a yet sturdier push, perhaps, it might have climbed a higher downland away to the north; but it would scarcely have got a better view, and certainly could not have inspected the life below so nearly. For there ran the road along the coast, with its comings and goings and partings of ways; there was a sprinkling of farms and hamlets. In front of them were the flat-stretching marshes; and beyond these again, outside the sand-hills, a great expanse of sea rose up to the horizon. The church surveyed the traffic of passing lives on the road below, and the grey-green, scarcely humanized solitude of the farther stretches, where the land has won a victory in its endless conflict with the sea, although the salt water leaves its mark and steals back through interloping creeks and channels. — ARTHUR MCDOWALL, Ruminations.

3.

The Secret

A girl was coining home from a friend's house. She was excited, her eyes sparkled, and her cheeks shone red. She had to run for the tram, and her breath came quickly. She wore a red coat and a red hat, and carried two or three small parcels dangling by their strings.

The tram filled with women returning from the mill. There was fog and frost outside, and some of the factory workers looked tired and dispirited. As a certain thought struck her, the glow faded from the face of the girl in red, and she sat huddled in a corner, looking at the glass opposite, scarcely breathing the close air, now tainted with the smell of wool and sweat.

For a fortnight, she had had a secret, the most happy thing that had ever happened to her. Each morning when she woke up, it seemed that the secret stood by her bedside and kissed her awake, with a kiss so light and gentle that she could never quite answer it. The secret was ethereal, elusive, and she had to lie back and shut her eyes in order to reach the full enjoyment of it. Slowly, everything to do with it would crystallize in her mind, from the first footfall to the moment of the long, long look.

It was strange, but she could not remember the sound of his voice. Suddenly a picture would come — of his dark suit, of his boots, of his attitude as he bent his head — not of himself completely; and she would be so grateful for each picture, waiting and waiting until she could exactly remember the exquisite moment. That was the hardest of all, and came so very seldom. She would look up, there would be the light resting like a thin knife blade on his black hair, and his eyes, never visualized except at this second, shining down into hers; and again she would be overcome with nervous trembling, and feel as she felt then, as if she were falling into a mass of clouds, which both held her up and sank downwards with her.

The fact that she had seen him but a few times did not trouble her. It was enough to know that he was alive, that he had looked at her and made her glad. She wanted nothing more than she had got; something to dream about; a memory to pursue, but too fragile ever to grasp. Ever since he had gone, love for him had risen out of her like a tree filled with pale blossom. For a whole fortnight, until today, this had been her secret.

The tram ground noisily over some points and stopped. The mill workers trooped out, exchanging jokes in harsh, tired voices, giving exaggerated shivers as they met the cold air outside. The girl in red was left alone in her corner.

She had not noticed the people getting out, as she was thinking about a butterfly she had once seen crawling up a warm wall-side, years ago when she was a child, in another country. She had been tired, and had sat down in the shade to rest. It was hot. Over the wall, a field's length away, ran a broad river. She had sat down at the roadside in the dust, not caring about anything, only waiting for the sun to become a little less hot. Then, from somewhere near the bottom of the wall, the butterfly had crept up.

She had never seen a butterfly just outside its chrysalis before. She did not know that it would be damp, and trembling, and weak, and that it would have to creep up painfully from the shade to the sunshine, and hang there fluttering and fluttering, a prey to any casual thing, until its wings were strong enough to bear it away.

She had sat and watched it for a long time. From looking like a piece of crumpled silk, or a bruised poppy petal, its wings grew broad and strong. It was a great red butterfly, covered with coloured rings, yellow and blue and black. She had never seen anything so beautiful in her life.

Just at the last, when it was ready to fly away, unable to restrain the impulse, she had put out a quick hand to hold it back. Yet, child as she was, one part of her had known that a thing so delicate should never be defiled by a coarse touch. As she whispered yearningly "Don't go away, you lovely thing", the nail of her eager forefinger had caught one quivering wing, and torn it across.

Again she felt the thrill of terror and remorse that had struck through her as she watched the butterfly struggling along the wall-top striving to lift its broken wing. She had hurried away, and left it, but always the remembrance of it stayed in her mind. Here was this beautiful creature ready for life, and she had spoilt it.

After she left the tram, there was a long walk before she could reach home. The air was bitterly cold, and the mist wound about her head like a filmy scarf. Underfoot, the wet road was as smooth and slippery as glass. The silence pressed down heavily, like a weight.

The girl lowered her face into the warmth of her collar, and walked along the dark road. She tried to think about the secret. She listened for the footsteps, but they would not come; the dark hair did not shine for her, nor did those other eyes meet hers with the intent look in them.

All the happiness had fled from her secret since the afternoon. When, unable to bear its beauty, she had told it to her friend. It was a secret no longer. It was nothing, not even a handful of spilt blossom. So, as she neared home, she could only think of a broken-winged butterfly creeping despairingly along a wall-top away in another country. — MALACHI WHITAKER, Frost in April.

4.

Open Up

A hand clapped me on the back. I turned round and saw that it belonged to a friend of mine, whom I had not seen for some time. We started chatting, and I walked home with him.

"Come inside," he invited me "although I'm afraid the place has been shut up, and it won't be very exciting. Still, I want to hear you talk."

We both entered, and I again got the feeling that I always get when I enter a house that has been shut up. It is like somebody in a coma, living and yet not "alive".

After giving one quick look round, my friend went straight to the windows and flung them wide. A cool breeze wafted in, a few sounds from the outside world came with it, and gradually the stuffiness of the room disappeared.

There was something about that open window that appealed to me. Do you know what it suggested to me? It suggested an open mind, liberty of thought, freshness, reasonableness, and broadness of outlook.

Yes, it meant all those, and it suggested that these qualities, too, were inherent in the man who opened the windows. He couldn't stand the stuffiness within the room, and he was the kind of man who couldn't stand the stuffiness of some minds, living but not "alive".

Don't think I mean just "fresh-air fiends". Very often these people are rather fanatical persons who have only one idea, which is to live in half a gale, to the discomfort of everybody else. After all, even the man who throws his windows wide does not leave them open top and bottom all day, unless it is in the height of summer.

The ideal method is to ensure that the air in a room is kept freely circulating, so that we do not get drowsy and dull.

So it is also the ideal method for thinking and living. Open the windows of your mind to keep fresh ideas on the move, so that you may not get stuffy in your outlook on life. If you feel you're rather like a room that has been shut tight — and who hasn't experienced that feeling sometimes? — open up. Let some air into your life. Remember that there is a world outside in which you must play a part. — Editor of Answers.

5.

An Old Woman of the Roads

O, to have a little house!

To own the hearth and stool and all!

The heaped-up sods upon the fire,

The pile of turf against the wall!

To have a clock with weights and chains

And pendulum swinging up and down!

A dresser filled with shining delf,

Speckled and white and blue and brown!

I could be busy all the day

Clearing and sweeping hearth and floor,

And fixing on their shelf again

My white and blue and speckled store!

I could be quiet there at night

Beside the fire and by myself,

Sure of a bed, and loth to leave

The ticking clock and the shining delf!

0ch! but I'm weary of mist and dark,

And roads where there's never a house or bush,

And tired I am of bog and road

And the crying wind and the lonesome hush!

And I am praying to God on high,

And I am praying Him night and day,

For a little house — a house of my own —

Out of the wind's and the rain's way.

— PADRAIC COLUM.

39. Using Material in Han. Reading a piece of Han and reproducing its meaning in English is another form of expressing another person's thoughts. This is more difficult than paraphrasing and condensing because there are no expressions in the original to be used. It may involve either paraphrasing or condensing, however; therefore what has been said about these two forms may also apply in it.

By "using material in Han," I do not mean translation in the ordinary sense of the word: I mean writing a piece of English based on one of Han. Experience tells me that when those who have not had much practice in writing English try to translate from Han into it, they are liable to write what for want of a better term we may call "Han English" or many English-speaking people call "Chinglish".

What is worse, this "Han English" they may even carry over, quite unconsciously, into their work when they are not translating at all. Incidentally, since translation is an elastic term, I may as well say here that if what I have been talking about may be called translation, it is exceedingly free translation.

Exercise 8

Write some pieces of English based on selections from books, magazines, or newspapers in Han. Avoid word-for-word translation, and any expression that seems to you to be Han rather than English.

40. Expressing Your Own Thoughts. As you have had much practice in expressing another person's thoughts, it is time you learnt to express your own thoughts, which may be called original composition or free composition.

41. Keeping a Diary. Keeping a diary in English will give you daily practice in expressing your own thoughts. Though it is quite usual to use abbreviations and incomplete sentences in a diary, you had better not do so; for your object is to practise writing rather than to keep the record itself.

42. Choosing a Subject. Composition is saying something about something. This latter something is the subject. In your composition class it is usually your teacher that gives you a subject to write upon. It is but natural; for it is hardly practicable for your teacher to tell you to write without telling you what to write about. Besides, he is expected to know well what you are able to write about, and what you are not. When you have left school or college, your work, your personal affairs, or your social relations will require you to write upon certain subjects. Therefore you will in both cases have subjects chosen for you, instead of doing the choosing yourself.

While you are writing for practice, however, you are free to choose your own subjects. You ought to choose those in which you are personally interested and about which you have enough to say. It seems to me that many students of composition like to write on such big subjects as world peace and international relations and feel above writing about things of everyday interest, with the result that they have nothing definite to say.

I have just spoken of subjects "in which you are personally interested and about which you have enough to say". Can you think of any such? If not, just think how many things you have ready at the tip of your tongue when you have time to talk to your friends. Below are a number of such subjects, to which you will no doubt be able to add many others:

1. Your family.

2. Your school.

3. Your class.

4. Your teachers.

5. Your friends.

6. Your pets.

7. Your hobbies.

8. You pet aversions.

9. Your daily life.

10. Your biography.

11. Your ambition.

12. Your native place.

13. Your house.

14. Your bedroom.

15. Your favourite books.

16. Your favourite newspapers.

17. Your favourite magazines.

18. Your health.

19. Your interests.

20. Your prejudices.

43. Choosing a Title. A subject and a title are not the same thing. A title is the exact words in which a subject is expressed. For instance, when your family is the subject of your composition, you may use any of the following titles and perhaps many others:

1. My Family.

2. My Household.

3. My Home.

4. My Home Life.

5. My Life at Home.

6. How I Live with my Family.

7. We are Seven (or Eight etc.).

8. Home, Sweet Home.

9. Nothing Like Home.

10. By the Fireside.

As a rule, you had better use a short title. A long title is far from attractive, though it may tell more about the subject than a shorter one can. Generally speaking, a plain title is suitable for a composition of an intellectual nature, and a figurative or quaintly worded title is suitable for a composition of an emotional or imaginative nature.

A title is not usually a complete sentence. It should be grammatically correct, though there is a growing tendency to omit the articles, especially in journalistic writing.

Many English and American writers use "On" before a noun as the title of an essay, the "On" meaning concerning, as in "On Making Friends". Formerly "Of" was also sometimes used in this way, but it is not now.

When you cannot think of a suitable title for your composition before you begin to write, you will do well to put off choosing one until after you have finished your composition.

Exercise 9

Write down as many subjects as you can on which you think you can write, and write as many titles about them as you can. (Read Section 10 again.)

44. Taking Notes. When you have chosen a subject, think about it hard. Ideas will come into your mind. Take a note of each as it comes. The ideas are likely to come in a confusing manner: some may overlap, some may be unimportant, some may he irrelevant, some may be indefinite. Never mind. Note them all down. Catch them before they may escape. Do not stop until no more ideas come.

Suppose your subject is your family (whatever your title may be). Such ideas as the following may come into your mind:

1. My father.

2. My mother.

3. My brothers.

4. My sisters.

5. My grandfather, dead since 1939.

6. My grandmother, an invalid, dead since 1937.

7. My uncle, a widower since 1967.

8. My aunt, an old maid.

9. A distant relation, having been living with us for nearly twenty years.

10. A cat and a dog.

11. Recent removal into a new house.

12. A small garden.

13. Pleasant surroundings.

14. Mutual love among all members of my family.

15. Occasional tiffs between my younger brother and younger sister.

16. Not rich, but nothing to worry about.

17. My father's hobby.

18. My mother's favourite books.

19. My brother's ambitions.

20. My uncle's jokes.

21. My aunt's idiosyncrasy.

22. Our distant relation's sense of humour.

23. Our library.

24. Our neighbours.

25. Our friends.

26. Our correspondents.

27. My father's typewriter.

28. My elder brother's pen-friend.

29. Our dog, a very faithful animal.

30. Our cat, likely to have kittens before long.

45. Making an Outline. When you have taken enough notes about your subject, consider each to see whether it is closely connected with your subject. The answer to this question depends partly upon how long your composition is to be. For instance, if your composition about your family is to be about three hundred words in length, your uncle's jokes, your aunt's idiosyncrasy and your distant relation's sense of humour may not be considered closely connected with your subject; but if your composition is to be about three thousand words in length, all these may be considered closely connected with your subject, though the fact that your cat is going to have kittens before long may still be considered unconnected.

When you have omitted the points that you do not consider closely enough connected with your subject, arrange the remaining points in the proper order, that is, in as natural an order as you can. You may arrange and arrange, picking out the main points and placing the minor ones under them. You may use arabic numerals for the main points and small letters for the minor ones; you may use capital letters for the main points and arabic numerals for the minor ones; you may use Roman numerals for the main points; you may use no numerals and no letters at all. This is merely a matter of form, and does not seem to be very important.

The following is supposed to be an outline of a composition of about a thousand words about your household:

1. Members of my family.

a. My father.

b. My mother.

c. My brothers.

d. My sisters.

e. My uncle and aunt.

f. A distant relation.

2. My father.

a. His hobby.

b. His typewriter.

3. My mother.

a. Her favourite books.

4. My brothers.

a. Their ambitions.

b. My elder brother's pen-friend.

5. My uncle.

a. A widower since 1967.

b. His jokes.

6. My aunt.

a. An old maid.

b. Her idiosyncrasy.

7. Our distant relation.

a. Having been with us for nearly twenty years.

b. Her sense of humour.

8. My grandfather and grandmother.

a. The former dead since 1939.

b. The latter dead since 1937.

9. Mutual love.

a. Occasional tiffs between my younger brother and younger sister.

10. Not rich.

a. Nothing to worry about.

11. A cat and a dog.

a. The latter a very faithful animal.

12. Our new house.

a. Pleasant surroundings.

b. A small garden.

c. Our library.

13. Our friends.

a. Correspondents.

b. Neighbours.

Even while you are making, or after you have made, your outline, you may think of points that are worth including. Do not begin the actual writing until you are satisfied with your outline. While you are writing, however, you need not follow your outline slavishly if you find any omission or addition or alteration or adaptation desirable or necessary. After all, your outline is only a means, not an end; your composition is your end. (But, of course, when an outline is given for you to expand into a composition, as often occurs in an examination, you must follow the outline closely.)

46. Note-taking and Outline-making in the Head. You might raise the question whether all writers take notes and make outlines in the above-mentioned manner. My answer is that even experienced writers arrange their ideas in their heads, if they do not actually set them down on paper, before they begin to write. This mental note-taking and mental outline-making you may also do when the composition you are going to write is a very short one. It is not worthwhile to make a written outline for its own sake.

Exercise 10

Make outlines on five or more subjects that you think you can write upon.

47. Making Outlines of What You Read. Making outlines of what you read is a valuable training in making outlines; for it shows you how experienced writers arrange their ideas.

Below is an outline of Liam O'Flaherty's "The Letter" (pp 41－47):

1. A summer afternoon.

a. The clear blue sky.

b. Singing larks.

c. Perfect peace.

2. A peasant and his family.

a. Where they worked.

b. How they worked.

3. The father speaking of Mary.

a. Mary in America.

b. Mary's long silence.

c. Expecting a letter from Mary.

4. The arrival of Mary's letter.

a. A cheque.

b. The letter read.

c. Mary's loneliness and unhappiness.

5. How the letter affected the family.

a. The father crying.

b. The eldest son jumping to his feet.

c. The infant boy weeping.

d. All in a despairing wail.

Exercise 11

Make an outline of Malachi Whitaker's "The Secret" (pp 52－55) and "Open Up" (pp 55－56).

48. Expanding an Outline. When you have finished your outline, expand it into a composition, that is, do the actual writing. You may be able to do it at a sitting, or you may have to stop from time to time. In either case, you will do well to follow the following suggestions:

1. Do something more than merely expanding each point in your outline into a complete sentence. Additional ideas are often necessary.

2. Do not follow your outline slavishly if you find it desirable or necessary to make any omission or addition or alteration or adaptation.

3. As a rule expand each main point in your outline into a paragraph.

4. Consult one or more dictionaries as often as you need.

5. Do not drag in any word or idiom just to show off your knowledge of it.

6. Revise your work very carefully. Do not be content with anything short of your best.

Below is a composition written in accordance with the outline shown in Section 45:

My family consists of ten persons. Besides myself, who am my parents' second son and third child, there are my parents, my elder brother and elder sister, my younger brother and younger sister, my uncle, my aunt, and a distant relation. My uncle is my father's elder brother. My aunt is my father's younger sister.

My father is a school teacher by profession. He has been teaching at the same school for twenty-five years, and will not retire for another five years. He is very happy in his work, and often says that teaching is his chief interest. He has only one hobby, which is to collect stories for children. He is in the habit of copying stories on his typewriter in the evening. He calls his typewriter his best friend. I do not know exactly how many stories he has yet collected. They cannot be fewer than a thousand, however. He has adapted and rewritten about five hundred and published them in ten volumes, many copies of which he gives to his pupils as prizes. This has earned him at his school the nickname "Story-teller", of which he is rather proud.

My mother, who used to work as an assistant at a grocer's shop and retired only a short time ago, is a great reader as well as a good housekeeper. She has heavy household work to do every day. But she never complains. She takes a pleasure in working for those whom she loves, and after a busy day she always finds in reading an unfailing resource. She often reads far into the night. She is always ready with the remark "I live with the people in my books every evening". Her favourite books are biographies, autobiographies, and biographical and autobiographical novels. She delights in talking to us about her "people in books" as though they were her personal friends.

My elder brother is an ambitions young man. He is a college student, and will graduate next year. Not satisfied with a college education, he will devote years to the study of philosophy after graduation. His ambition is to read all Chinese and English works on his subject and to write what he calls "the greatest history of philosophy in the world". He is fortunate in his pen-friend in England, who is also keenly interested in his subject, and who hopes to help him in achieving his ambition. My younger brother has his ambition too, though he is a mere schoolboy of nine. He wishes to become a civil engineer. He has a set of tools, with which he works in a thousand ways after school every day. As to my sisters, there does not seem to be anything particular to mention except that they always try to do their best in their schoolwork and to be useful at home too.

My uncle is a widower of sixty-two. He has not married again since his wife died fifteen years ago. Before he became a rheumatic four years ago, he was a doctor. He is fond of cracking jokes, many of which I have written down in a notebook. He even jokes about his illness, to which he says he owes his habit of keeping good hours, and therefore his health. He calls himself in good health because he feels all right except for his rheumatism.

My aunt, a self-taught singer, is an old maid. She might have married, but she preferred to remain single because she feared to have children. Not that she does not like children. As a matter of fact, she likes them very much. She was afraid to give birth to any; that was all. She cannot say why; she admits that that is only her idiosyncrasy. As I have just said, she likes children very much. She is never tired of making little things for us. She often talks to my younger sister for hours.

Our distant relation, who has been with us for nearly twenty years, is a childless widow. She loves us all as if we were her own children. She has a sense of humour. She appreciates my uncle's jokes. She is sorry that she had too little education in her childhood. "If I could write better," she has said several times during the past few months "I would write a book about my life as a guest in a pleasant home". She considers herself so much of a member of our family that she always calls our family "my family".

My grandfather died in 1939; my grandmother, in 1937. They were both very kindly old people.

Our household is like a little community. Mutual love prevails. I do not remember we have ever had any quarrel, except for occasional tiffs between my younger brother and younger sister. Such tiffs, however, seldom last for more than five minutes. They serve to excite much laughter, and to elicit a joke or two from my uncle.

We are not rich at all. But we can make ends meet. My father may be called our only breadwinner; besides the salary from his school, he makes some money by writing stories. My uncle sometimes offers to contribute a small sum to the family chest out of the money he saved up when he was a doctor. But my father usually declines his offer, saying: "There is nothing to worry about so long as I can sell my stories".

The only animals we keep are a cat and a dog. Oddly enough, they enjoy each other's company. The dog is a very faithful animal. Once he saved my younger brother from being attacked by a snake by fighting with it.

We all live in a new house, into which we removed only a few months ago. It has pleasant surroundings. There is a small garden in front of the house. Both flowers and vegetables are growing in it. Our library is in a very small room upstairs. There are about two thousand books, mostly in Han and some in English.

Only a few friends come to see us often. Most of my father's friends are not in this city. He corresponds with them. Three of them are abroad; they and my father have never met. One or two neighbours sometimes have a chat with my parents, and their children sometimes play with us.

In writing this account of our household I have been reminded of the phrase "Home, Sweet Home". Indeed, our home is a very sweet one.

Exercise 12

Expand into a composition each of the outlines you made in exercise 10.

49. Practice in Composition. Now that you have learnt how to take notes and make an outline and expand an outline into a composition, you are advised to do as frequent exercises in original composition as you can find time for, in addition to the various exercises to come in the chapters that follow. (The nature of the next chapter, however, is such that no exercise need be given.) You need not try always to write a composition of a thousand or more words: you will do well to pay more attention to the application of the principles and suggestions as you learn them than to the length of your compositions. Incidentally, you are advised to do exercises in telling another person's thoughts in conjunction with those in telling your own.

CHAPTER IV　WRITING CORRECTLY

50. What is Correct English? The idea seems to prevail among Chinese students of English that correct English is nothing but grammatical English. This is not true. An expression may be perfectly grammatical and yet incorrect. It is incorrect often because it is unidiomatic, and it is unidiomatic often because it contains a word or a phrase used in a wrong sense.

51. Usage. It is usage that governs grammar and idiom. By usage is meant the customs and habits followed by those who use the English language as their mother tongue.

There are various standards of usage, however, so that what is correct according to one standard may be incorrect according to another. In point of time what was correct a hundred years ago may be incorrect today. In point of place what is correct in America may be incorrect in England. In point of the "social" nature of language what is correct in familiar conversation may be incorrect in formal writing.

52. Present-day Usage. The English language is constantly changing. It changes so gradually, however, that it may be regarded as fairly fixed at any given time. As you belong to the present day and write English to be read by persons of the present day, you ought to conform to present-day usage. You cannot justify any violation of it by quoting any author of the seventeenth or the eighteenth or the nineteenth century.

Here I must explain the term "Modern English", which has two senses, one technical and the other popular. In its popular sense the term means the same as present-day English. In its technical sense it means the last of the three periods into which the English language has been divided: the first period, called Old English, ending about 1100—1150; the second period, called Middle English, ending about 1500; the third period, called Modern English, from about 1500 to the present day. Technically, therefore, even English of the sixteenth century, such as that of Shakespeare, is Modern English. You must not confuse the two senses. (When used in the technical sense the term usually begins with a capital M.)

Even the term "present-day English" is sometimes used in the sense not of English of the present day but of English from about 1650 to the present day. In this book the term is always used in the former sense.

Expressions that are not present-day English are either archaic or obsolete. "Archaic" means old-fashioned or out-of-date. "Obsolete" means no longer in use. It is not always possible, however, to say whether a certain expression belongs to one kind or the other.

The following is a list of some common archaic and obsolete expressions:

affright (frighten)

alack (interjection expressing regret or surprise)

an (if)

anent (concerning)

anon (soon)

art (second person present indicative singular of "be")

bedight (adorn)

behoof (advantage)

betwixt (between)

boot (advantage; avail)

break one's fast (take breakfast)

bring someone acquainted with (make someone acquainted with)

certes (certainly)

do(e)st (second person present indicative singular of "do"; "dost" usually as the auxiliary verb, and "doest" usually as the independent verb)

do(e)th (third person present indicative singular of "do"; "cloth" usually as the auxiliary verb, and "doeth" usually as the independent verb)

eftsoon(s) (immediately afterwards)

eke (also)

ere (before)

erst (while) (formerly)

(e)st (personal ending used to form the second person singular indicative of verbs, as in "goest" and didst")

eth (personal ending used to form the third person singular present indicative of verbs, as in "walketh" and "knoweth")

eve (evening)

even (evening)

for (followed by an infinitive, with or without implication of purpose, as in "for to see")

forsooth (indeed)

had been (used for "should have been" or "would have been", as in "I had been happy had I seen him" and "It had been a pity if he had lost the book")

haply (perhaps)

hast (second person present indicative singular of "have")

hath (third person present indicative singular of "has")

hight (named)

howbeit (nevertheless)

incontinently (immediately)

in (good) sooth (truly)

knave (servant)

lore (instruction; wisdom; scholarship)

meet (suitable)

meseems (it seems to me)

methinks (it seems to me)

mine (used before a word beginning with a vowel, as in "mine eyes")

morrow (morning)

much (many, as in "much people")

nath(e)less (nevertheless)

nay (no, an adverb, equivalent to a negative sentence)

not (used after a verb, as in "know not" and "fear not")

oft (often)

oftentimes (often)

parlous (dangerous)

peradventure (perhaps)

perchance (perhaps)

poesy (poetry; art of writing poetry)

quoth (said, used of the first and third persons only)

saith (third person present indicative singular of "say")

sennight (week)

shalt (second person present indicative singular of "shall")

surcease (cease; cessation)

swain (male servant; boy)

thee (second person singular objective)

thine (second person singular possessive, either used before a word beginning with a vowel, as in "thine eyes", or in absolute use, as in "The book is thine")

thou (second person singular nominative)

thy (second person singular possessive)

thyself (second person singular reflexive and emphatic form)

trow (suppose, think)

unto (to)

villain (rustic)

were (used for "should be" or "would be", as in "I were glad of it" and "it were better to try again")

which (relative pronoun referring to a person or persons)

whilorn (formerly)

wight (person)

wilt (second person present indicative singular of "will")

wit (know)

withal (with; moreover)

woe is me! (alas!)

woe worth ... (cursed be ...)

wot (know)

yclept (named)

ye (second person plural, more commonly nominative)

you was (always singular)

The only legitimate place for such expressions as those in the above list is verse, or prose in which associations with former times are to be suggested or an old-fashioned atmosphere is to be created. In normal prose the use of any such expression will produce only a ridiculous effect. However beautiful a word or phrase you may find, you must not display it where it is conspicuously out of place.

53. Neologisms. Neologisms are expressions that are too new to be in very common use, or to be found in most dictionaries. In fact, every expression now established in English was once a neologism. Such common words as "laser" and "television" were neologisms not so very long ago.

As this book is not likely to be revised every year or every five years, I do not think it quite safe to give a list of what I regard as neologisms, which may no longer be such a year or two from now. My advice is not to use any expression that you have found only once in current literature. This will save you from the danger of mistaking an idiosyncrasy or even a blunder of a single writer for an example of a general usage. I believe it is still right to follow the advice given in the familiar quotation from Essay on Criticism by Alexander Pope, the eighteenth-century English poet:

Be not the first by whom the new are tried,

Nor yet the last to lay the old aside.

54. English and American Usage. Usage varies with different places where English is used. There are English English, American English, Scottish English, Irish English, Australian English, Canadian English, and English peculiar to particular places in a particular country. Not that English as used in different places may be divided into entirely different kinds. The fact is that though written English is nearly the same everywhere, there are certain expressions that are in current use in one country or one district only.

I have spoken of usage as varying with different places. In fact, usage varies with people from different places rather irrespective of where a person concerned happen to be. For instance, an American living temporarily in England is not likely to follow English usage instead of American.

It is to be noted that so far as the English language is concerned, the usage of only those who use it as their mother tongue can be accepted as correct. The use of any English word in any sense or construction that is not current among any class of such people is incorrect, however common it may be among any number of people whose mother tongue is not English. While there are English English, American English, Scottish English, Irish English, Australian English, and Canadian English, there are no such things as French English, German English, or Spanish English. I hope I am not impertinent if I try to warn you — who are Chinese — that you must not regard any expression as correct simply because you find it quite common among certain English-writing Chinese.

This is not the place to go into the subject of local peculiarities of English. I must content myself with giving a list of common instances of American as distinguished from English usage; for English English and American English are the two chief kinds, all the others being negligible so far as students of English composition are concerned. As to the question which usage is to be preferred, all I can say is that perhaps neither is in itself better or worse than the other, and that, being Chinese as you are, you need not follow either exclusively. After all, though there are so many differences, there are far, far more expressions that are in current use on both sides of the Atlantic, especially in the written language. Besides, in view of the three following considerations, the question is not such a serious one as I may have led you to think:

1. Many expressions given as English as differentiated from their American equivalents are really also common in America.

2. Many expressions given as Americanisms are becoming naturalized in England, so that in a few years scarcely any Englishman will think of them as originally American. (Many expressions commonly used in England today are of American origin, though the average Englishman may not even suspect it.) .

3. It is not always possible to find out whether a certain expression is English or American.

I compiled the following list in 1941 chiefly, but not solely, from H W Horwill's A Dictionary of Modern American Usage* (Oxford University Press, England), which was the best book of its kind then available, but have now (1983) revised it considerably and brought it up to date.

absorbent. "Absorbent cotten" is the American equivalent of the English "cotton wool".

acclimate. "Acclimate" is the American equivalent of the English "acclimatize". Likewise, "acclimation" is the American equivalent of the English "acclimatization".

*The book first appeared in 1935. Horwill died in 1952. On 30 December, 1939, 1 wrote to him: "When you revise your Dictionary, I think one of the things you will have to do is to use the dagger more liberally and to change many a dagger into a double dagger". In his reply of 20 May, 1940, he said: "I agree with you that, in the event of a revision, several of my daggers will have to become double daggers. Some items, too, marked with a double dagger will have to be deleted altogether as the usages thus marked have by this time become fully acclimatized here". A dagger denotes in the Dictionary that the word or usage was apparently becoming naturalized in England (when the author of the Dictionary wrote his Preface to it) and a double dagger denotes that the word or usage had become naturalized in England since the beginning of the present century.

accounting. "Accounting" is the American equivalent of the English "accountancy".

administration. "The Administration" is the American equivalent of the English "the Government". "The Reagan (name of the American president) Administration" is American; "the Mrs Thatcher Government is English.

after. "Half after three", "ten minutes after five", etc are the American equivalents of the English "half past three", "ten minutes past five", etc.

aim. The verb "aim" followed by an infinitive was originally the American equivalent of the English "aim" followed by "at" and a gerund but now the former usage is English as well as American.

all. 1. "All morning", "all week", "all summer", etc are the American equivalents of the English "all the morning", "all the week", "all the summer", etc.

2. "All of the books", "all of these books", "all of his books", etc are the American equivalents of the English "all the books", "all these books", "all his books", etc. But the omission of "the" has for years been usual in England too.

allow. "Allow" used before a that-clause in the sense of admit or assert was originally an American usage, but sometimes occurs in England now.

almost. "Almost no ...", "almost nothing", "almost never", etc are the American equivalents of the English "scarcely (or hardly) any ...", "scarcely (or hardly) anything", "scarcely (or hardly) ever", etc.

already. While "He has already gone home" is both English and American, "He already went home" is American only.

aluminum. "Aluminum" is the American equivalent of the English "aluminium".

any. "That won't help us any" is the American equivalent of the English "That won't help us at all" or "... in the least".

apartment. The sense of set of rooms in a larger building is American; that of a room is English. The English equivalent of the American "apartment" is "flat". "Apartment house" is the American equivalent of the English "block of flats". "Apartment hotel" is the American equivalent of the English "service flats".

appreciate. "Appreciate" used before a that-clause in the sense of recognize or understand is chiefly an Americanism. It only occasionally occurs in England, where the usual practice is to supply "the fact" before "that".

apt. "Apt" followed by an infinitive always suggests a general or habitual tendency in England as in "A careless person is apt to make mistakes". It is not used in any particular case, as in "If you arc careless in writing this essay, you are apt to make mistakes". This latter sentence is American.

around. "Around" is much more used in America than in England. Such expressions as "around the corner" and "around two hundred people" are American; the English equivalent of the "around" is "round".

as. 1. "As strange as it sounds, what he says actually happened not so long ago" is American; the usual English way of expression is "Strange as it sounds, …"

2. "As of", as in "as of this date", "as of 16 April", and "as of now" is an Americanism. In the first two phrases, the English equivalent is "as from", in the third, the English equivalent is just "now".

Sometimes the idiom may mean up to, as in "As of eleven o'clock last night the boy was still sitting alone in the park".

ashcan. "Ashcan" is the American equivalent of the English "ashbin" or "dust bin".

aside. "Aside from" is the American equivalent of the English "apart from".

auction. "At auction" and "put up at auction" are the American equivalents of the English "by auction" and "put up to auction".

automat. "Automat" is an Amelicanism.

automobile. "Automobile" is the American equivalent of the English "motor car" or "car".

avail. "Avail of" was once the American equivalent of the English "avail oneself of". For many years now "avail oneself of" has been the only form in America as well as in England.

away. "Away behind", "away down", "away off", etc are the American equivalents of the English "a long way behind", "a long way down", "a long way off", etc.

baby. "Baby buggy" or "baby carriage" is the American equivalent of the English "perambulator" or "pram".

back. 1. "Back of" is the American equivalent of the English "at the back of" and "behind in support".

2. "Back rent", "back pay", "back salary", "back taxes", etc are the American equivalents of the English "arrears of rent", "arrears of pay", "arrears of salary", "arrears of taxes", etc.

baggage. "Baggage" is the American equivalent of the English "luggage". "Baggage car" is the American equivalent of the English "luggage van". However, the luggage with which an English person travels by sea or by air is now usually called "baggage".

bar. "Bar" is the American equivalent of the English "public house" or "pub".

bargain. 1. "Into the bargain" is used both in England and in America, but "in the bargain" is often used instead in America.

2. "Bargain for" is used both in England and in America, but "bargain on" is often used instead in America.

bathrobe. "Bathrobe" is the American equivalent of the English "dressing-gown".

battle. "Battle" used transitively in the sense of battle with is an Americanism.

beet. "Beet" is the American equivalent of the English "beetroot".

before. "Five minutes before three" etc are an American usage; it does not seem to be so common as "five minutes of three" etc, however.

bellboy, bellhop. "Bellboy" or "bellhop" is the American equivalent of the English "(hotel) page".

best. While "get the better of" is used both in England and in America, "get the best of" is used in America only.

bill. "Bill" is the American equivalent of the English "bank-note".

billboard. "Billboard" is the American equivalent of the English "hoarding".

billfold. "Billfold" is the American equivalent of the English "wallet" or "notecase".

billion. The sense of a thousand million or a milliard is American; that of a million million is English (now little used).

boot. "Boot" means in America what is known in England as "high boot" or "wellington".

bulletin. "Bulletin-board" is the American equivalent of the English "notice-board".

business. "Business suit" is the American equivalent of the English "lounge suit".

butcher. In America "butcher" often means a seller of sweets etc on a train.

cab. In America "cab" is often used for what is called a "taxi" or "taxicab" in England. However, "cab rank" is English rather American, and in America "taxi stand" is usually used instead.

call. In telephoning, "call (transitive or intransitive verb) collect (adverb)" is often used for the English "reverse (the) charge(s)".

candy. "Candy" or "candies" is the American equivalent of the English "sweets".

can not. "Can not" (two words) used to be the American equivalent of the English "cannot" (one word). Now it seems that even in America "cannot" is often used when the "not" is not meant to be stressed.

car. In the vocabulary of railways "car" is the American equivalent of the English "carriage" or "coach" and "the cars" is the American equivalent of the English "the train".

carfare. "Carfare" is the American term for a passenger's fare by train, bus, etc.

charge. "Charge" used before a that-clause in the sense of allege used to be an Americanism, but now it is so used in England too.

check. 1. "Check up (on)" was originally an Americanism, but is now widely used in England, usually as more forceful than "check".

2. "Check out" is often used in America in the sense of check up (on).

3. "check (luggage etc)" at a railway station etc is an Americanism.

checkroom. "Checkroom" is the American equivalent of the English "left luggage room" at a railway station etc and a "cloakroom" in a hotel.

claim. "Claim" used in the sense of assert or assertion is an Americanism.

clerk. "Clerk" used in the sense of shop assistant or act as a shop assistant is an Americanism.

close. "Close out" meaning end (a business) or sell (all the goods) is an Americanism.

closet. "Closet" is the American equivalent of the English "cupboard".

college. In America, "in college" is more usual than "at college",

comfort. 1. "Comfort" used in the sense of warm quilt is an Americanism.

2. "Comfort station" is the American equivalent of the English "public lavatory".

comforter. "Comforter" used in the sense of warm quilt is an Americanism.

composition. "Composition book" is the American equivalent of the English "exercise book".

considerable. 1. "Considerable" used of material things, as in "considerable gold" and "considerable oil", is an Americanism.

2. "Considerable" used as a noun in the sense of a considerable amount is an Americanism.

consult. "Consult with" used with a person or persons for its object means in England discuss something with (a person or persons). In America, however, it means merely consult.

cookbook. "Cookbook" is the American equivalent of the English "cookery book".

cordially. "Cordially" used in the complimentary close in letters is an Americanism.

corn. While in England "corn" means any kind of cereal, in America it always means Indian corn or maize.

cot. "Cot" is the American equivalent of the English "camp-bed".

county. In America a "county" is next below a "State".

credit. "Credit" used as the name of a unit of academic work is an Americanism.

crib. In America "crib" meaning bed for a young child is more usual than the English "cot".

cunning. "Cunning" used in the sense of dainty or pretty is an Americanism.

data. "Data", being the plural form of "datum", is often treated in American as a singular, meaning facts or information; now sometimes so treated in England.

day. "Day before yesterday" and "day after tomorrow" are the American equivalents of the English "the day before yesterday" and "the day after tomorrow".

dear. In American letter-writing "My dear ..." used in the salutation in letters is less familiar than "Dear ..."; the reverse is true in English letter-writing.

delivery. "General delivery" is the American equivalent of the English "poste restante".

develop. "Develop" used in the sense of make known or become known is an Americanism.

different. 1. "Different" used in the sense of distinctive or special or out of the ordinary has long been used in American advertisements, and for a number of years also in English advertisements. It seems that "superdifferent" appeared later.

2. "Different than" is far oftener used in America than in England, though it originated in England as long ago as the eighteenth century.

diner. "Diner" used in the sense of a (small) restaurant is an Americanism.

ditch. "Ditch" used as a transitive verb meaning "throw (a car etc) into a ditch or derail (a train) is an Americanism (occasionally found in England).

do. "Do over" is the American equivalent of the English "do again" or "do all over again".

docket. "Docket" used the senses of list of causes for trial or list of the names of persons whose causes are pending and list of things to be done is an Americanism. The English term for the first sense is "cause list".

doctor. In America, "doctor" is applied not only to physicians but also to dentists, veterinary surgeons, and even druggists.

dormitory. "Dormitory" used in the sense of university or college hall of residence is an Americanism.

dresser. "Dresser" used in the sense of chest of drawers or dressing-table is an Americanism.

drown. "Drown out (words, noise, music, etc)" is the American equivalent of the English "drown (words, noise, music, etc)".

drugstore. "Drugstore" is generally regarded as the English "chemist's (shop)". The American term, however, denotes something not quite the same as what the English term denotes. A "drugstore" sells not only medicinal drugs but also many other things, including toilet articles, light refreshments, even magazines and gramophone records.

editorialize. "Editorialize" is an Americanism.

elevator. "Elevator" is the American equivalent of the English "lift".

end. "At loose ends" is the American equivalent of the English "at a loose end".

event. "In the event that they arrive this evening", "in the event that the weather is fine", etc are American. The English equivalents are "if they arrive this evening," "if the weather is fine", etc.

exclusive. "Exclusive" used in the sense of highclass or fashionable was originally an Americanism, now also common in England.

executive. "Executive session", meaning private meeting, is an Americanism.

exercise. "Exercises" (plural) used in the sense of a formal programme of events, as in "graduation exercises" and "inauguration exercises", is an Americanism.

expressway. "Expressway" is the American equivalent of the English "motorway".

extend. "Extended" used in the sense of long, as in "extended trip" and "extended discussion", is an Americanism.

face. "Face up to" was originally an Americanism, but is now also common in England. Its sense is somewhat different from that of "face"; compare "face a difficult situation" and "face up to a difficult situation". The first phrase means recognize a difficult situation; the second means recognize, and be determined to deal with, a difficult situation.

faculty. "Faculty" used in the sense of the teaching staff of a university, college, or school is an Americanism.

fail. "Failed" used as an adjective in the sense of having failed is an Americanism., as in "failed author" and "failed bank".

fall. "Fall" used in the sense of autumn is an Americanism. Always say "in the fall".

faucet. "Faucet" is the American equivalent of the English "tap" (especially indoors).

feel. When used in the sense of touch with the hand, "feel" is often followed by "of" in America.

fender. "Fender" is the American equivalent of the English "wing" or "mudguard" of a motor vehicle.

figure. 1. "Figure" used in the sense of calculate or reckon or estimate is an Americanism, often with its meaning intensified by the addition of "out" or "up".

2. "Figure on" is an Americanism meaning either make calculations about or count on, expect.

fill. 1. "Fill" used in the sense of "fulfil" is an Americanism.

2. "Fill in" is an Americanism meaning either (transitively) tell (somebody) more or (intransitively) act as a substitute.

3. "Fill out" is the American equivalent of the English "fill in" in the sense of put in what is necessary in (a document etc).

fire. "Fire department" is the American equivalent of the English "fire brigade".

fix. "Fix" and "fix up" used in such senses as arrange, organize, prepare, mend, and adjust were originally Americanisms, now common in England too.

floor. 1. The "first floor" in America is the "ground floor" in England; the numbering of the higher floors follows according to the same reckoning.

2. "Floorwalker" is the American equivalent of the English "shopwalker".

fool. "Fool" used as an adjective in the sense of foolish is an Americanism.

free. "For free", meaning without charge or payment, was originally an Americanism, now found in England too.

freight. "Freight" used of transport by land is an Americanism. "Freight train", "freight car", "freight depot", and "freight yard" are the American equivalents of the English "goods train", "goods wagon", "goods station", and "goods yard".

gait. "Gait" used in the sense of pace, as in "fast gait" and "slow gait" is an Americanism.

gang. "Gang" used in the sense of a group of boys habitually playing together or as a verb in a corresponding sense is an Americanism.

garbage. 1. "Garbage", which seems to be little used in England, is usually used to mean domestic waste, especially kitchen waste.

2. "Garbage barrel", "garbage can", "garbage collector" and "garbage wagon" are Americanisms.

as, gasoline (or gasolene). 1. "Gas" and "gasoline" (or "gasoline") are the American equivalents of the English "petrol".

2. "Gas station's is the American equivalent of the English "filling-station". Incidentally, "fillingstation" itself was originally an Americanism.

gear. "Gear-shift" is the American equivalent of the English "gear-lever".

generator. What is called a "dynamo" is in America often called a "generator".

get. 1. In America, the past participle is usually "gotten", instead of "got", as in "I have (or I've) gotten three letters from her during the last five days" and "He has (or He's) just gotten his bike repaired". However, when "have got" means have, "got" is used in America as well as in England, as in "I have (or I've) got a book on English idioms" and "He has (or He's) got to call on her this morning". (Incidentally, "have got" followed by an infinitive is less used in America than in England.)

2. "get around" meaning visit many places, is an Americanism.

3. "Get" followed by an infinitive, meaning succeed in doing something, was originally an Americanism, now also found in England; as in "I hope you will get to make his acquaintance by and by" and "I've gotten to call on him this morning". (It is interesting to compare "I've got to call on him this morning" and "I've gotten to call on him this morning". The first sentence can mean either "I have to call on him this morning" or "I have succeeded in calling on him this morning"; the second can mean only "I have succeeded in calling on him this morning".

grade. 1. "Grade" used in the sense of one of the divisions or sections of the school course, each representing a year's work, or as a verb in a corresponding sense, is an Americanism; roughly equivalent to the English "form", "standard", or "class". "Grade school" (or "the grades") and "grade teacher" mean elementary school (in the American sense) and a teacher in such a school.

2. "Grade" used in the sense of a mark in connection with examination papers or pieces of schoolwork is an Americanism.

3. "Grade crossing" is the American equivalent of the English "level crossing".

graduate. 1. In America "graduate" denotes a person who has completed a course at any educational institution; in England it denotes a person who has taken a degree in a university or passed all examinations in one of a certain kind of college. As a verb there is a corresponding difference.

2. In America "graduate" was once more commonly transitive than intransitive. "He was graduated last year" was American; "He graduated last year" was English. For many years now, however, the English usage has been commoner than the former American usage in America.

3. "Graduate" or "graduate student", meaning a postgraduate, is an Americanism.

graduation. About "graduation" there is a difference between American and English usage corresponding to that about "graduate".

gridiron. "Gridiron" meaning football field is an Americanism.

grind. "Grind" used in the sense of plodding student is an Americanism; roughly equivalent to the English "swot".

ground. "Ground wire" is the American equivalent of the English "earth wire".

guard. "Guard" meaning a prison warder is an Americanism.

guess. "I guess" used in the sense of I think or I suppose is an Americanism.

gum. "Gum" meaning rubber boot or rubber overshoe or galosh is an Americanism, ("Gumshoe", also an Americanism, seems less common.)

gun-fight. "Gun-fight" meaning fight between two persons with firearms is an Americanism.

guy. "Guy" used in the sense of fellow or chap was originally an Americanism; now also found in England, merely as slang of course.

half-staff. "Half-staff" is the American equivalent of the English "half-mast".

hallway. "Hallway", meaning entrance hall of a house or corridor, was originally an Americanism, now also found in England.

hand. 1. "At hand" used in connection with the receipt of letters is an Americanism.

2. "on hand" used in the sense of in attendance was originally an Americanism; now also found in England.

handle. "Handle" used in the sense of deal in, as in "This shop handles pens and ink", was originally an Americanism; now also found in England.

have. 1. "Have" as used in "I will have him do it" is an Americanism. In England the usual expressions are "I will get him to do it" (more polite) and "I will make him do it" (less polite).

2. In America, the auxiliary verb "do" used with "have" in questions and negative statements is far more common than in England. For example, "Does he have any friends or relatives in this town?" and "He doesn't have any friends or relatives in this town" are quite natural in America. These sentences are not usually said in England, where the usual forms are "Has he any friends or relatives in this town?" and "He hasn't any friends or relatives in this town". (The problem is too complex to go into here.)

haze. "Haze" used in the sense of bully (transitive verb, especially in schools and colleges) is an Americanism.

head. "Head up" used in the sense of be at the head of (a delegation, a company, etc) is an Americanism. In England, "head" is used alone instead.

headliner. "Headliner", meaning star performer, is an Americanism.

help. "Help" used in the sense of employee or employees or servant or servants is an Americanism.

highboy. "Highboy" is the American equivalent of the English "tallboy".

hired. "Hired man", "hired woman", and "hired girl" (used euphemistically for "domestic servant") are Americanisms.

holiday. "Legal holiday" is the American equivalent of the English "bank holiday".

home. "The Smith home", "the Johnson home", etc are the American equivalents of the English "Mr Smith's", "Mr Johnson's", etc.

hospital. "In the hospital", "to the hospital", "out of the hospital", "attend the hospital", etc. are the American equivalents of the English "in hospital", "to hospital", "out of hospital", "attend hospital", etc. In England "the" is used before "hospital" when a particular hospital is meant.

hunt. "Hunt" used in connection with the shooting of birds is chiefly an Americanism.

icebox. "Icebox" is the American equivalent of the English "refrigerator" or "fridge".

impractical. "Impractical" is chiefly an Americanism, equivalent of the English "unpractical" and "impracticable".

in. "In" as used in "the hottest day in thirty years", "the best novel I have read in weeks", "I have not heard from him in months", etc is an Americanism. The English equivalent is "for".

Instal(l)ment. "Instal(l)ment plan" is the American equivalent of the English "hire-purchase (plan)", "hire-purchase system", or "hire system". "Instal(l)ment buying" and "instal(l)ment selling" are also Americanisms.

junior. 1. "junior" used in the sense of third-year student at university, college, or school is an Americanism.

2. "John Buck, junior" or "John Buck, Jr.", meaning the son who has the same as his father John Buck, is an Americanism.

just. While "he has just called" is both English and American, "He just called" is American only.

kerosene. "Kerosene" is the American equivalent of the English "paraffin (oil)".

likely. When used as an adverb, "likely" is usually followed by "very" or "most" or "quite" in England, but not in America.

line. "Line" used in the sense of queue (that is line of persons waiting their turn) is an Americanism. "stand in line" and "line up" (= "queue up") are Americanisms.

locate. "Locate" used in the sense of take up residence or business is an Americanism.

long distance. "Long distance" as used in "long distance telephone call" and "She calls me long distance to say that ..." used to be the American equivalent of the English "trunk-call" and "She gives me a trunk-call to say that ...", but are now also common in England.

look. 1. "Look to" used in the sense of tend towards or aim at is an Americanism.

2. "Look to be" used in the sense of seem to be is an Americanism.

lose. "Lose cut" (intransitive) was originally the American equivalent of the English "lose"; now also found in England.

lumber. "Lumber" used in the sense of (partly prepared) timber is an Americanism.

lunch, luncheon. "Lunch" (or "luncheon") used in the sense of slight hurried meal is an Americanism.

maid. "Maid of honour" used in the sense of chief bridesmaid at a wedding is an Americanism.

mail. "Mail", both noun and verb, is much more used in America than in England. "Mailbox", "mail car", "mail carrier", "mail drop", "mailman", and "mail matter" are all Americanisms, though "mailbag", "mail train", "mail-van" and "mails" are also common in England.

major. "Major" used as a noun in the sense of college student's principal subject of study or college student specializing in a subject (as in "He is a major in electronics" or "He is an electronics major") or as a verb in the sense of take a certain subject as one's major (as in "He majors in electronics") is an Americanism.

make. "Make an address" is an Americanism. In England the usual expressions are "give an address" and "deliver an address", though "make a speech" is quite common.

meet. "Meet with" used with a person or persons for its object is chiefly an Americanism, usually used of meeting either by accident or by plan. "Meet up with" is also an Americanism used almost always of meeting by accident.

merchant. "Merchant" used in the sense of a shopkeeper is an Americanism.

miss. 1. "Miss out", meaning fail, is an Americanism.

2. "Miss out on", meaning fail to get (something) is the American equivalent of the English "miss".

mission. "Mission" used in the sense of permanent foreign embassy or legation is an Americanism.

monopoly. "Monopoly" followed by "on" (instead of "of") is an Americanism.

most. "Most" used in the sense of almost is used chiefly in America.

name. 1. "First name" and "given name" are the American equivalents of the English "personal name" or "Christian name".

2. "Name(d) for", as in "The boy is named for his grandfather", is the American equivalent of the English "name(d) after".

neighbourhood. "Neighbourhood" used as an attributive adjective, as in "neighbourhood schools" and "neighbourhood gossip", is an Americanism.

notion. "Notions", meaning miscellaneous small articles, such as pins, needles, and thread, is an Americanism. The department in a department store selling such things is called a "notion department".

of. "A quarter of three", "five minutes of five", etc are the American equivalents of the English "a quarter to three", "five minutes to five", etc.

office. "Office-holder" (that is, one who holds a government office) and "office-seeker" (that is, one who seeks a government office) are Americanisms.

old. "Older brother" and "older sister" are the American equivalents of the English "elder brother" and "elder sister".

on. The adverbial use of the names of the days of the week (without the preceding "on") is an Americanism. "Can you call Monday?" is American; "Can you call on Monday?" is English.

operate. In America, "operate" is a very common word freely used in the senses of conduct, run, carry on, act, etc. "Operating costs" is the American equivalent of the English "running expenses" or "working expenses".

operation. In America, "operation" is as freely used as "operate" in corresponding senses.

operator. In America, "operator" often means the manager or owner of a business, a factory, a mine, etc.

order. 1. "In order" used in the sense of permissible or appropriate is an Americanism,

2. "Order" followed by its object and a past participle, as in "He ordered the work done", was originally an Americanism. In England, "to be" used to be used before the past participle, but is now sometimes omitted.

out "Out" used as a preposition meaning out of or out through, as in "in one door and out another", is an Americanism.

over. "Over" written at the bottom of a page to indicate that there is writing on the other side is the American equivalent of the English "P T O" (Please Turn Over).

pajamas. "Pajamas" is the American equivalent of the English "pyjamas".

parking-lot. "Parking-lot", meaning area for parking cars, is the American equivalent of the English "car-park".

pay. 1. "Pay envelope" is the American equivalent of the English "pay packet".

2. "Pay station" is the American equivalent of the English "pay (tele)phone".

pocket-book. "Pocket-book" used in the figurative sense of money or income is an Americanism.

point. 1. "Point" used as the name of a unit of academic credit is an Americanism.

2. "Point" or "pen-point" is the American equivalent of the English "nib".

3. "Exclamation point" is the American equivalent of the English "note of exclamation" or "mark of exclamation".

politician. "Politician" used in the sense of one who makes a trade of politics is an Americanism.

politics. "Politics" used in a bad sense, especially in the idiom "play politics", is an Americanism.

porch. "Porch" is the American equivalent of the English "veranda". "Porch climber" is the American equivalent of the English "cat burglar".

post. 1. "Post no bills" is the American equivalent of the English "Stick no bills".

2. In America, "postcard" means a card of private manufacture to be conveyed by post, and "postal card" (often called "postal") means a card issued by the Post Office to be conveyed by post. In England both kinds are called "postcard".

preferable. "Preferable than "is often used in America instead of "preferable to".

president. "President" used in the sense of head of a business organization or a college or university is an Americanism.

protest. "Protest" used transitively in the sense of protest against is an Americanism.

publisher. "Publisher" used in the sense of a newspaper proprietor is an Americanism. (In England, a newspaper "publisher" is not the proprietor but an agent of the proprietor.)

purse. "Purse" used in the sense of a "handbag" is an Americanism.

railroad. "Railroad" is the American equivalent of the English "railway".

rain. "Rain out", meaning prevent or stop (an event, a game, etc) because of rain, is the American equivalent of the English "rain off".

raise. 1. "Raise" used in the sense of a rise in salary or wages is an Americanism.

2. "Raise" used in the sense of grow (farm or garden products), breed (animals), and rear (children) was originally an Americanism, and now still occurs more often in America than in England.

realtor. "Realtor" is the American equivalent of the English "real estate agent".

recitation. "Recitation" used in the sense of the hearing of a lesson or even of any class exercise or attendance is an Americanism.

rent. "For rent" is an Americanism, meaning to let or for hire.

rest. "Rest up" used in the sense of rest oneself (thoroughly) is an Americanism.

rest-room. "Rest-room", meaning public lavatory in a hotel, restaurant, factory, etc, is an Americanism.

retail. "At retail" is the American equivalent of the English "by retail".

rhetoric. 1. "Rhetoric" used as if it meant nothing but composition is an Americanism.

2. "Rhetoric" used in the sense of a book of rhetoric (as in "a rhetoric" and "rhetorics") is an Americanism.

ride. "Ride" used in the senses of journey by rail or by water and go on a journey by rail or by water is an Americanism.

room. "Room" used as a verb in the sense of occupy lodgings is an Americanism. From this use come the three Americanisms "roomer", "rooming-house", and "room-mate".

run. 1. "Run" used in the sense of small stream is an Americanism.

2. "Run" used in the sense of ladder as the name of a kind of defect in stockings is an Americanism.

salesman. "Salesman" used in the sense of commercial traveller is an Americanism. In England it means either a middleman between the producer and the retailer or a man who sells goods in a shop.

saloon. "Saloon" used in the sense of drinking-bar or public house (or pub) is an Americanism. A "saloon-keeper" is the American equivalent of the English "publican".

say. 1. "Say!" or "Say" is the American equivalent of the English "I say!" or "I say", as in "Say! You've never heard of him?", "Say! Never mind the broken glass", and "Say, the picture is simply wonderful".

2. "Say" followed by an infinitive is an Americanism as in "Father says to work while you work and play while you play" and "She said for us all to help her clean up her room",

"What say" is the American equivalent of the English "What do you say" in making a suggestion, as in "What say we ask the boy there the time?"

schedule. 1. "Schedule" used in the sense of a timetable is an Americanism.

2. "Schedule" used in the sense of set down definitely, as in "The trip was scheduled for June", is an Americanism.

school. 1. In America, "in school" is more usual than "at school".

2. In America, "school" is often used of a college or a university.

school-bag. "School-bag" is the American equivalent of the English "satchel"; now also found in England.

seat. "Have a seat!" is the American equivalent of the English "Take a seat!"

section. "Section" used in the sense of district or region of a town or a city is an Americanism.

senior. "Senior" used in the sense of fourth-year student at university, college or school is an Americanism.

session. "Session" used in the sense of the part of the day or the year when teaching is given, as in "half-day session" and "200-day session", is an Americanism.

shoe. The idiom "if the shoe fits" is the American equivalent of the English idiom "if the cap fits".

shoot. "Shoot to death" is the American equivalent of the English "shoot dead".

shop. 1. "Shop" used in the sense of a place where certain things are made or repaired was originally an Americanism; now common in England too.

2. "Barber shop", "blacksmith shop", "carpenter shop", "tailor shop", etc are the American equivalents of the English "barber's shop", "blacksmith's shop", "carpenter's shop", "tailor's shop", etc.

3. "shopman" used in the sense of a workman in a shop (in the American sense) is an Americanism.

4. In America "shop" (verb) often means visit shops to inspect goods (without necessarily buying any).

short. "In short order", meaning immediately, is an Americanism.

should. In such sentences as "I suggest(ed) that the children (should) play together" and "The regulations require(d) we (should) get at six o'clock and take morning exercise", "should" is far oftener used in England than in America, when it is hardly ever used.

shower. "Shower one with missiles or compliments" is the American equivalent of the English "shower missiles or compliments (up) on one".

sick. "Sick" is the American equivalent of the English "ill". In England there is a tendency to confine "sick" to the sense of nauseated, though it is still always used attributively instead of "ill", as in "sick man", "sick-bed", "sick-leave", and "sick-room".

sidewalk. "Sidewalk" is the American equivalent of the English "pavement" and "footpath".

silent. "Silent partner" is the American equivalent of the English "sleeping partner".

skill. "Skill" used in the sense of an ability or an accomplishment (as in "an skill" and "skills") was originally an Americanism, now also found in England.

slay. "Slay", which is chiefly a poetical or rhetorical word in England, is widely used in America of killing (a person or persons); "slayer" is likewise so used.

so. In American usage "so" is often used in the sense of so that, as in "Write carefully so you will make no mistakes".

soap. "Soap opera", meaning a sentimental domestic radio or television story or serial (originally intended to sell toilet or laundry soaps) was originally an Americanism, now used in England too.

sociable. "Sociable" used in the sense of an informal reception is the American equivalent of the English "social".

soda. "Soda biscuit (or cracker)" is the American equivalent of the English "cream cracker".

solicitor. "Solicitor" used in the sense of a person who solicits business or help of any kind is an Americanism.

some. "Some" used in the sense of somewhat, as in "some better" and "I hope you will progress some," is an Americanism.

sophomore. "Sophomore", meaning a second-year college or high school student, is an Americanism.

sound. "Sound out (a person) about or on something" was originally the American equivalent of the English "sound (a person) about or on something"; now also found in England.

spool. "Spool of thread" is the American equivalent of the English "reel of cotton".

stand. "Stand" used in the senses of witness-box and stall or booth for business is an Americanism.

start. In America, "start" used intransitively in the sense of begin is often intensified by the addition of "in" or "out".

stay. "Stay home" is the American equivalent of the English "stay at home".

store. While "the stores" (plural) means in England a large shop divided into several departments, "store" is the American equivalent of the English "shop".

story. "Story" used in the sense of a news article of any kind is an Americanism.

street. "On the street" is the American equivalent of the English "in the street".

streetcar. "Streetcar" is the American equivalent of the English "tram(car)."

student. "Student" used to denote a mere school pupil is an Americanism.

subway. "Subway" is the American equivalent of the English "underground railway".

suspenders. "Suspenders" is the American equivalent of the English "braces" for holding up trousers.

tag. "Tag day" is the American equivalent of the English "flag-day".

take. "Take" in used in the sense of visit (a place in sightseeing) or attend (a lecture, film, etc) is an Americanism.

tardy. In America, "tardy" usually meats not slow or sluggish but late or unpunctual, as in "tardy to school" and "half an hour tardy for dinner".

teach. "Teach school", meaning be a schoolteacher, is an Americanism.

team. "On the tennis (of football, boxing, etc) team" is the American equivalent of the English "in the tennis (of football, boxing, etc) team".

tell. "Tell (somebody) goodbye", meaning bid (somebody) goodbye, is an Americanism.

text. "Text" used in the sense of a textbook is an Americanism.

that. The conjunction "that" is more freely omitted after a verb in America than in England.

theme. "Theme" used in the sense of school composition is an Americanism.

this. "Who is this?" is the American equivalent of the English "Who is that?" on the telephone; similarly, "Is this George?" is the American equivalent of the English "Is that George?"

thus. "Thus and so", meaning thus or so, is an Americanism.

tie. 1. "Tie" used in the sense of a necktie was originally an Americanism, now also often found in England.

2. "Tie" is the American equivalent of the English "(rail) sleeper".

3. "Tie" used in the sense of laced shoe is an Americanism.

timber. "Timber" used in the sense of quality or type as applied to persons, as in "a person of his timber", is an Americanism.

time. 1. "On time" used in the sense of punctually was originally an Americanism, now also found in English.

2. "On time" used in the sense of on hire-purchase is an Americanism.

tired. "Tired" used in the sense of annoyed is an Americanism.

too. 1. "Too" used at the beginning of a clause or sentence in the sense of moreover is an Americanism.

2. "Too bad" is the American equivalent of the English "a great pity".

tough. "Tough" used as an adjective in the sense of ruffianly and as a noun in the sense of ruffian is an Americanism.

trackless. "Trackless trolley" is the American equivalent of the English "trolley bus".

transfer. 1. "Transfer" used in the sense of a ticket enabling a tram or bus passenger to continue his journey on another route is an Americanism.

2. "Transfer" used intransitively was originally an Americanism.

transportation. "Transportation" is the American equivalent of the English "transport" in the sense of transporting or being transported or means of transporting.

trolley-car. "Trolley-ear" is the American equivalent of the English "tramcar".

truck. "Truck" used in the sense of vegetables grown for the market is an Americanism.

university. "At university", "go to university", etc are now quite common in England, but "at the (or a) university", "go to the (or a) university". etc are still the normal expressions in America, where "leave university", "finish university", "since university", etc seem to be unknown.

use. "Used" used in the sense of second-hand, as in "used books" and "used furniture", was originally an Americanism; now found in England too.

vacation. "Vacation" used as a noun in the sense of period or holiday spent away from home or business or as a verb in the sense of take a holiday was originally an Americanism. The noun is now common in England too, where the verb seems to be still far less common than holiday.

vaudeville. "Vaudeville" is the American equivalent of the English "variety"; "vaudeville theatre" is the American equivalent of the English "music-hall" or "variety theatre".

visit. "Visit" used intransitively and followed by "with" meaning talk (socially) with is an Americanism.

wait. "Wait on table" is the American equivalent of the English "wait at table".

waitress. "Waitress" used in the sense of maidservant who waits at meals in a private house is an Americanism.

walk-up. "Walk-up", meaning block of flats without a lift, is an Americanism.

want. "Want" (verb) followed by a clause containing "should" as in "I want you should help him", is an Americanism. Both in England and in America, the usual expression is "I want you to help him".

warden. "Warden" is the American equivalent of the English "prison governor".

wash. 1. "Wash up" used in the sense of wash ones face and hands is an Americanism.

2. "Wash-rag" is the American equivalent of the English "face-cloth" or "face-flannel".

3. "Washroom" used for lavatory is an Americanism.

4. "wash-woman" is the American equivalent of the English "washerwoman".

waste. "Waste-basket" is the American equivalent of the English "waste-paper basket".

way(s). 1. "Way" used adverbially in the sense of far, as in "way back" and "way off", is chiefly American.

2. "Ways" used instead of "way" in the sense of distance, as in "a long ways off" and "a good ways apart", is an Americanism.

3. "Way station", meaning minor station on a railway line, is an Americanism.

4. "Way train", meaning train that stops at way stations, is an Americanism.

weather. "Weather bureau" is the American equivalent of the English "meteorological office".

week. In America, "two weeks" is almost always used instead of "fortnight". (In England, "two weeks" is also in common use, of course.)

weekend. "On weekends" and "on a weekend" are the American equivalents of the English "at weekends", and "at a weekend".

well. "Well" used as an attributive adjective, as in "a well boy", is a rarely used Americanism.

windbreaker. "Windbreaker" is the American equivalent of the English "windcheater".

windshield. "Windshield" is the American equivalent of the English "windscreen".

witness. "Witness stand" is the American equivalent of the English "witnessbox".

wholesale. "At wholesale" is the American equivalent of the English "by wholesale".

wrench. "Wrench" is the American equivalent of the English "spanner".

yard. "Yard" is the American equivalent of the English "garden" in the sense of one adjoining a house.

yet. While "Have they gone away yet?" is both English and American. "Did they go away yet?" is American only.

yesterday. "On yesterday" is an Americanism.

yours. In America "yours" is often omitted from the complimentary close in letters, as in "Sincerely" instead of "Yours sincerely".

zip code. "Zip (= zone improvement plan) code" or "zip code" is the American equivalent of the English "post-code" or "postal code".

zipper. "Zipper" used to be the American equivalent of the English "zip" or "zip fastener", but now also occurs in England.

55. Good Usage. "Good" is a rather vague word, isn't it? By good usage I mean the usage of ordinary prose. I might call it "Literary usage" in the sense that it is the usage of written English; I avoid that term lest the word "literary" should be misunderstood to mean peculiar to pure literature as distinct from practical writing.

I have said "ordinary prose"; for we are not concerned with verse and elevated prose, in both of which many archaic expressions are still freely used.

56. Expressions Outside of Good Usage. Colloquialisms, vulgarisms, provincialisms, slang, and cant are generally considered below the dignity of good usage.

A colloquialism is a word or phrase used in familiar conversation, or rather acceptable in both ordinary speech and informal writing.

look alive (be brisk; act or work fast)

A vulgarism, otherwise called an illiteracy, is a word or phrase characteristic of the language of uneducated people.

that there boy (ued in the sense of the boy there)

A provincialism, otherwise called a localism or a dialect word or phrase, is a word or phrase peculiar to some particular place and used chiefly by the "lower classes".

smart (used in the sense of considerable or numerous).

Slang is colloquialisms of an ephemeral nature.

bread (money).

(Notice that "slang", unlike "colloquialism", "vulgarism", and "provincialism", is an uncountable noun. We do not say "a slang" and "slangs" except when we mean a kind of slang and kinds of slang.)

Cant is the language peculiar to a definite group of people.

prancer (horse, in thieves' cant).

(Like "slang", "cant" is an uncountable noun.)

57. Colloquialisms etc in Written English. It is not to be supposed, however, that the various kinds of words and phrases that have been mentioned as being generally considered below the dignity of good usage should never be written. Colloquialisms may be used in dialogue, familiar letters, and any other kind of informal writing. It is often necessary to use slang in dialogue by way of characterizing the kind of speaker concerned. An occasional use of a slang word or phrase, preferably enclosed in quotation marks, gives life and zest to composition. Vulgarisms, provincialisms, and cant are appropriate in reproducing the language of the persons who use them.

It may be difficult to draw the line between these kinds of expressions, especially between slang and colloquialisms. Authorities may often differ. Besides, as language is constantly changing, what was outside of good usage not many years ago may be in it today. Dictionaries, therefore, are not always a safe guide. When you have found that an expression, though marked by a cautionary label in one or more dictionaries, is commonly used in serious current literature, you need not hesitate to use it.

58. You are Quite Safe. After all, as you learn English mainly from books instead of from personal contact with English-speaking people, you are in little danger of using colloquialisms etc. If you do not write English correctly, you violate usage in other ways than that of using colloquialisms etc.; you would, if you please, find it practically impossible to learn to violate usage that way.

Since you are quite safe so far as the use of colloquialisms etc is concerned. I do not think it desirable to give lists of them by way of warning.

59. How You Violate Usage. Experience tells me that, being the kind of student you are, you violate usage by making mistakes in grammar and idiom, many of the latter kind being due to using words and phrases in senses that do not properly belong to them. A very large number of points of grammar and idiom are discussed in the next chapter, which is the longest in this book and may be regarded as the most important.

I have just spoken of using words and phrases in senses that do not properly belong to them. This results from the fact that many of the so-called Han equivalents as given in English-Han dictionaries are as misleading as they are popular among many Chinese students of English. (Not that compilers of such dictionaries know too little English, but that they often find it very difficult or even impossible to explain a certain word or phrase with a Han expression that is both accurate enough to be rightly understood and simple enough to be easily remembered.) Therefore I cannot advise you too strongly to use dictionaries with English explanations.

(As has been said towards the end of the previous chapter, the present one contains no exercises)

CHAPTER V　WRITING CORRECTLY (CONTINUED)

60. Grammar. "Grammar" in its broadest sense means the science of language. It includes pronunciation, spelling, inflexion, syntax, etymology, and some other things. Most people, however, seem to regard pronunciation (or spelling), inflexion, and syntax as the whole of grammar. Again, most books of grammar seem to treat of inflexion and syntax only. It is in this sense that the term "grammar" is used in this book. "Inflexion" is the technical term for changes in word form. "Syntax" is the technical term for sentence construction or the arrangement of words in sentences; it is far more important than any other part of grammar in its broadest sense.

61. Idiom. "Idiom" has various senses. It may be applied to a whole language as peculiar to a people, to a dialect as peculiar to a district, to a technical vocabulary as peculiar to a profession, to a manner of expression as peculiar to an author, to a set of uses as peculiar to a word or a class of words, and to a form of expression as peculiar to a language (that is, an idiomatic expression or point). In this book, it means the genius or habit of the English language, and may be considered the same as racy or natural or unaffected English. In this sense the word is an uncountable noun; we say "idiom", but do not say "an idiom" or "idioms". When "an idiom" and "idioms" are used, they mean an idiomatic expression or point and idiomatic expressions or points respectively.

62. Grammar and Idiom. Grammar and idiom do not always agree. What is grammatical is not necessarily idiomatic; what is idiomatic is not necessarily grammatical. To give a few illustrations: "I is a student" is neither grammatical nor idiomatic; "I enjoy to read" is grammatical but unidiomatic (I enjoy reading" is idiomatic); "Who do you take me for?" is idiomatic but ungrammatical ("Whom do you take me for is grammatical); "I am a student" is both grammatical and idiomatic. Any expression that is ungrammatical and yet idiomatic may be regarded as constituting an exception to a rule of grammar.

When grammar and idiom do not agree, follow idiom. Fortunately, what is idiomatic is far more often grammatical than ungrammatical. The important thing for you to keep in mind is that as English is not your mother tongue, you are liable to write sentences that are quite grammatical, but for different reasons unidiomatic — and therefore incorrect.

A mistake in grammar or idiom is called a solecism. It is sometimes loosely called "bad grammar" or "not grammar".

While grammar and idiom are theoretically independent, it does not seem to be always possible to draw the line between points of grammar and those of idiom. Number, for example, is undoubtedly a grammatical term, but whether the verb in a particular case should be singular or plural may be considered a matter either of grammar or of idiom by different persons. To take another example, "had better" may be regarded either as a special use of the subjunctive mood or as being purely idiomatic.

Many of the points dealt with from Section 68 to the end of the chapter are of this indefinite kind. Suffice it to say that whether a certain expression is correct or not is a far more important question than whether the point is a grammatical or an idiomatic one. For convenience' sake the points discussed are grouped under various grammatical categories. (A classification according to idiom is hardly possible.)

63. About the Study of Grammar. This not being a text-book of grammar, I am not going to give a full treatment of the subject, a fair knowledge of which you will have already acquired. I shall omit all definitions and rules, of whatever absolute importance, that I suppose you must have learnt from lessons in grammar.

Perhaps you are studying a grammar or two. If so, you are doing something helpful in learning English composition. But I think I must say a few words of warning.

First, don't look upon the study of grammar as all or nearly all that you have to do in learning to write correctly. Important as it is, grammar is not everything. As I have said in Section 50, a form of expression may be perfectly grammatical and yet incorrect.

Secondly, don't indulge in much reasoning from the definitions; that would be sheer waste of time and energy. For instance, you know what a common noun is and what a proper noun is, but you might get them confused by reasoning in the following way, which is apparently sound. If a common noun is one that does not name a particular person or thing, then we might call "Ge" (my surname) a common noun, because a great many persons have the same surname as I have, If a proper noun is one that names a particular person or thing, then we might call "father" a proper noun when anybody uses it to denote his own father, because he has only one father. Similarly, we might call "Oxford" a common noun, because there are several places named "Oxford" in the world; on the other hand, we might call "sun" and "moon" proper nouns, because there are only one sun and one moon.

Thirdly, don't be a slave to grammatical terms, about which uniformity does not prevail. The same term may be used in different senses in different books, and the same thing may be called by different terms in different books. For instance, in one book "prepositional phrase" may mean a phrase beginning with a preposition, such as "at home", but in another it may mean a phrase ending in a preposition, such as "because of"; in one book such a word as the "sir" in "Yes, sir" may be called the vocative, but in another it may be called the nominative of address. When you study a book of grammar, learn the terms used in that book, but do not trouble about the terms in any other.

Fourthly, don't draw hasty conclusions from one or two examples. For instance, when you have learnt the construction in which an infinitive is used as the object of a transitive verb, you must not therefore conclude that every infinitive may be used as the object of every transitive verb.

Fifthly, don't cling to any narrowly grammatical point of view at the expense of idiom. There are many idiomatic constructions that do not admit of grammatical analysis. As I have said in Section 62, when grammar and idiom do not agree, follow idiom. To follow grammar instead of idiom is to change natural English into unnatural English.

Sixthly, don't treat the study or grammar merely as something curious or fascinating, though you may delight in the philosophy or science of the language. You must bear in mind the purpose for which you study it; you might lose sight of it through the very efforts to master grammar itself.

Seventhly, don't content yourself with knowing the rules of grammar. To know a rule is one thing; to keep it is another. Students of advanced grammar can break even the elementary rules if they do not take due care. By careful and constant practice, and by this alone, you may learn to keep the rules almost unconsciously, so that it would be hardly possible for you to break any of them. Incidentally, the whole question of writing correct English may be considered a matter of habit; careful and constant practice may enable you to write correct English with so little conscious effort that you could hardly try to write incorrect English.

64. About the Study of Idiom. "Idiom" in its broadest sense is the sum total of "idioms" in its broadest sense. The study of idiom and the study of idioms, therefore, may be regarded as practically the same thing.

In its narrowest sense "idioms" means established metaphorical expressions:

blow one's own trumpet (praise oneself).

bury the hatchet (make peace).

by leaps and bounds (very rapidly).

leave no stone unturned (try every means).

make (both) ends meet (live within one's means).

man in the street (ordinary man).

not worth a straw (worth nothing).

rain cats and dogs (rain heavily).

sow ones wild oats (indulge in youthful follies).

wolf in sheep's clothing (hypocrite).

In a broader sense "idioms" includes all fixed common expressions with senses that cannot be easily gathered from the individual words:

after all (in spite of all that has happened or been said or done or expected).

come of (remit from).

go into (investigate).

have on (be wearing).

How are you? (What is your state of health?)

in time (early enough).

look up to (respect).

of course (naturally).

see to (attend to).

take on (undertake).

In a still broader sense "idioms" includes certain words followed by certain prepositions:

attention to.

excel in.

belong to.

fond of

complain of.

independent of.

dependent on.

interfere with.

different from.

refer to.

In a still broader sense "idioms" includes idiomatic uses or meanings of words:

above (too proud for, as in "He is above asking ray help.").

arrange (take steps, as in "Will you arrange to make another attempt?").

better (less unwell, as in "The boy is a little better today.").

by (not later than, as in "I shall finish the work by the end of the month").

catch (apprehend, as in "I did not catch his meaning.").

do (serve the purpose, as in "That will do"),

get (become, as in "When did she get married?").

in (clothed in, as in "The girl in blue is my cousin").

matter (be of importance, as in "It does not matter whether you know him or not.").

once (if ever, as in "Once you lose it, you will never get it again").

In a still broader sense "idioms" includes all "proper words in proper places". It is the same as "idiom" in its broadest sense, that is, racy or natural or unaffected English.

In studying idiom (or idioms) the important thing is to read with the idiomatic eye open, preferably with the aid of dictionary and grammar (though no book ever written explains all points of idiom), and to memorize as much as possible. A few words of warning:

First, don't try to find out how or why a particular idiom has come into existence; that would be sheer waste of time and energy. This work is for linguistics experts, not for students of composition; and even linguistics experts may fail to discover the origin of many common idioms.

Secondly, don't try to alter any idiom. Idioms are usually of a cast-iron nature; they may break a rule of grammar or a rule of logic, but they must not be altered or "corrected" in any way. Any attempted change will make a natural expression unnatural or even ridiculous.

Thirdly, don't invent any idiom by analogy. Because of the cast-iron nature of idioms, any invention by analogy is out of the question. It is a wrong assumption that because a particular idiom consists of certain words arranged in a certain order, a similar idiom may be made by arranging certain words similar in sense and grammar in exactly the same order.

Fourthly, don't neglect any expression because you do not think it has its Han equivalent. On the contrary, pay special attention to it. The use of expressions that are not easily translated into Han will help you to write idiomatically.

65. Some Books Recommended. Besides the five dictionaries recommended in Section 26, the following books, which are obtainable in China and are not very expensive, may be read and consulted with profit for grammar and idiom:

A Grammar of Contemporary English, by Randolph Quirk, Sidney Greenbaum, Geoffrey Leech, and Jan Svartvik; Longman Group Limited, London.

A University Grammar of English, by Randolph Quirk and Sidney Greenbaum; Longman Group Limited, London.

A Communicative Grammar of English, by Geoffrey Leech and Jan Svartvik, Longman Group Limited, London.

Essentials of English Grammar, by Otto Jespersen; George Allen & Unwin Ltd., London.

A Handbook of English Grammar, by R W Zandvoort, Longmans, Green and Co., London.

A Dictionary of Modern English Usage, by H W Fowler, Second Edition, Revised by Sir Ernest Growers; Oxford University Press.

Practical English Usage, by Michael Swan; Oxford University Press.

Oxford Dictionary of Idiomatic English, Volume I, by A P Cowie & R Mackin; Oxford University Press.

A Dictionary of American idioms, by Maxine Tull Boatner and John Edward Gates, Revised Edition, Edited by Adam Makkai; Barron's Educational Series, Inc., Woodbury, New York.

Exercise 13

Read the following selections "with the idiomatic eye open", and note down as many idioms as you can:

1.

The smoke-room was full of men with cigarettes. Nearly all had a look of the theatre about them, something clean-shaven, something in the eye, in the fatness in the lower jaw, and in the general exaggeration of the bearing. Something loud and unreal. The pretty girls at the bar were busy, expending the same smile, and the same charm of manner, on each customer, and dismissing him, when served, with an indifference which was like erasure. The friends lighted fresh cigarettes and shared a bottle of Perrier water. The pretty, weary-faced waitress looked at Roger intently, with interested sympathy. She had seen the dress rehearsal, she was one of his admirers. — JOHN MASEFIELD, Multitude and Solitude.

2.

He was a clerical gentleman of about thirty-eight. There was something exasperatingly dry about his appearance. His clothes were very dusty and he had a habit of working his mouth open and shut as though his throat were dusty too. Round the ends of his trousers were khaki leggings of the type affected by marines. His hands and the cuffs of his shirt were sadly dirty. In one hand he held a spanner, not aggressively but as one would hold a pencil. In contrast, however, to his deplorable condition his manner seemed philosophically hearty; and his eyes, magnified by large gold-rimmed spectacles, seemed positively to flash forth sparkling beams of good cheer. — BEN TRAVERS, A Cuckoo in the Nest.

3.

It did not take Laura very long to arrange her belongings, for she had brought little. Soon after supper, which consisted of rabbit, bread and cheese, and table-beer, she went upstairs to bed. Moving about her small cold bedroom she suddenly noticed that the wind had fallen, and that it was no longer raining. She pushed aside a corner of the blind and opened the window. The night air was cold and sweet, and the full moon shone high overhead. The sky was cloudless, lovely and serene; a few stars glistened there like drops of water about to fall. For the first time she was looking at the intricate landscape of rounded hills and scooped valleys which she had chosen for learning by heart. — SYLVIA TOWNSEND WARNER, Lolly Willowes.

4.

There are two kinds of charity; more, no doubt, if you are analytically inclined; but at any rate two, of which a particular person may have both in various degrees, or one, or neither, call them the charity of the purse, and the charity of the heart. The distinction may prove inconvenient and complicate matters in the piece of sell-examination I have in hand; but at least it should secure me against any dearth of material. I am extremely defective in both, but perhaps not absolutely destitute or either. — H W FOWLER, If Wishes Were Horses.

5.

He died on June 9, 1870, and history will tell you how, when the news came as a shock to the world, a wave of sympathetic grief passed over the country. One instance of this is typical of the whole. A very dear friend of mine told me that he happened to be in a tobacconist's shop that day. Whilst there a working man came in for a screw of tobacco, and as he threw his twopence on the counter he said: "Charles Dickens is dead. We have lost our best friend". That was undoubtedly true. It is equally true, however, that this sense of "personal loss" was by no means confined to the working class, for, judging from the enormous number of letters of sympathy we received at the time from total strangers, as well as from others published in the papers at the time, it was made perfectly plain that the same feeling was shared alike by people of all creeds and of all stations in life. — SIR HENRY DICKENS (the sixth son of Charles Dickens'), in The Times.

66. Make Your Own Dictionary of Usage. To quote from my A Word to the Wise:

"Now I think that every student could make his own dictionary of usage. He could keep a notebook in which to record, in alphabetical order, such points of usage as he might find of particular interest to him. Such a book would serve him as a constant companion to composition, though many things in it might seem quite dull or useless to others.

"And I think that every student could make his dictionary of usage as large as the sum total of the books he reads. I mean that he might make a usage index, so to speak, to those books. For a particular point he would have to record only the book, the page, and the line concerned. He would some day be able to point to his library and say: 'This is my dictionary of English usage'. What a great work!"

Such a dictionary might prove of greater use to you than any book of grammar or idiom ever published. By the way, even if the whole or parts of the dictionary should be lost or destroyed before you had made any use of them, you would have profited by the very process of making them; for it must have helped to fix many valuable points in your memory.

67. Exercises in Grammar. Before I go on to discuss points or grammar and idiom, I shall give a number of exercises (Exercises 14－25) that you are supposed to be able to do without much difficulty. These exercises will serve you as a reminder of the fundamentals of grammar. In order to save time you may do some of them orally.

Exercise 14

Tell which of the following groups of words are sentences and which are not, and point out the various kinds of phrases and clauses:

1. This is a biography of a lexicographer greater by far than Dr Johnson, though he lacks the lustre and legend associated with Johnson, and perhaps greater than any lexicographer of his own time or since in Britain, the United States, or Europe — R W BURCHFIELD.

2. If we regard it as the triumph of culture to fit means perfectly to ends, and to do the most with the greatest economy of means. — LOGAN PEARSALL SMITH.

3. The policeman had at last approached the woman with a step that spoke of a formed decision. — ANTHONY HOPE.

4. His principal ally in a struggle which seemed to disturb him so little was his wife. — HILAIRE BELLOC.

5. In a quarter of an hour the room was in such a state of havoc as might have resulted from the passage through it of a cyclone. — ARNOLD BENNETT.

6. I fled at once through the gateway and down to the ship, and even as I ran I thought that I heard far off on the hills. — LORD DUNSANY.

7. When he went upstairs to her all he could do was to kneel down at the bedside and press his lips to her stretched hand. — JAMES HILTON.

8. The afternoon wears on, and the evening passes into the night. — ELEANOR THORNE.

9. It had come at last — the day which she had forgotten for three months and dreaded for a week, the day when they must go home. — SHEILA KAYE-SMITH.

10. There was nothing in the whole universe again but the black ruin and the black spot where the corpse had lain. — LIAM O'FLAHERTY.

11. If things don't change, and change for the better, and change soon. — A E COPPARD.

12. Though the sun was shining sickly and uneasily, as if it had done something it was ashamed of and though sullen clouds with edges delicate as the fronds of maidenhair were gathering over the valley from opposite quarters of the sky, and the birds twittered forlornly or with shrill alarm. — L A G STRONG.

13. From this refuge he caught stray words of the men's conversation. — FRANCIS BRETT YOUNG.

14. We held on to each other, arms and legs, our eyes streaming tears, our sides aching, and laughed, and laughed, and laughed. — JACK LONDON.

15. The engines of the cars whirred idly, their drivers' faces set towards the space withheld from them; a girl on a bicycle looked vacantly about her, grasping the back of the van, where a youth sat sideways with his legs stretched out towards her. — JOHN GALSWORTHY.

16. I was sent abroad to a Convent at the age of five; I suppose I learnt to read and write; a great war broke out, which meant less than nothing to me, except that I realize how fortunate. — OLIVE MOORE.

17. He sorted out from his papers two or three photographs of the sort that are taken casually with hand cameras in a holiday crowd. — G K CHESTERTON.

18. As soon as I learnt to form letters on paper, at about three years, I began to write stories, and this has been the basic and absorbing occupation, the intact line of my life which directs my actions, determines my point of view, profoundly affects my character and personality, my social beliefs and economic status, and the kind of friendships. — KATHERINE ANNE PORTER.

19. My tramp friend, who looked by no means old, but had a queer battered greenness like a youngish tree that has stood bad weather. — ROMER WILSON.

20. He felt a bustle going on all round him. — PADRAIC COLUM.

21. In those days there was often a fine friendship between an editor and his contributors. — JEROME K JEROME.

22. I do not believe in admiration, but when I am asked whom I admire. — LAURA RIDING.

23. Before I was ten I knew Nature and I loved every tree and flower and bird and brute. — LEW SARETT.

24. It was during this period that the young English lord found hidden in the back of one of the cupboards in the cabin. — EDGAR RICE BURROUGHS.

25. An awkward silence fell between them for a minute, and these two old creatures, who for more than fifty years had felt no constraint in each other's presence. — SIR A T QUILLER-COUCH.

26. You have made it perfectly plain how it is that you are here. — JOSEPH CONRAD.

27. She wondered what this name she most liked sounded like. — LOUISE JORDAN MILN.

28. Soon after the young ones left her she fell asleep and slept on without a break till, just after midnight, as I was sitting by her bed. — MARTIN ARMSTRONG.

29. Readers of today generally like to know something of the personal appearance and personality of a new author. — STEPHEN LEACOCK.

30. I only wish that 1 had more space in which to tell what my heart is full of in connection with this subject. — ROBERT C BENCHLEY.

31. I can hardly believe I am at sea, except when I climb on deck and note that neither behind or in front nor at the sides is any land visible — an impossible situation anywhere but in mid-ocean. — J B MORTON.

32. Devoting himself wholly to this sacred undertaking, and being by nature generally equipped towards the task. — ERNEST BRAMAH.

33. That morning just before luncheon the weather began to show signs of clearing, and by half past one the sun was shining. — EVELYN WAUGH.

34. I had had a very inferior holiday; I had come back to too many letters and more than one worrying complication, and was therefore perhaps less master of myself than usual. — E V LUCAS.

35. At breakfast she had received an important letter from Helen, who had decided to come down with Walter on Sunday, two days hence. — BEVERLEY NICHOLS.

36. Judy reached London at ten o'clock one night, tired but in the best of spirits. — SUSAN ERTZ.

37. Both as a public personality and as an artist he stands out very prominently in my mind's gallery of the people who have interested me, though until quite recently. — ETHEL MANNIN.

38. He stood, forgetting who he was, pressing nearer and nearer, until now he became aware that he was so close that the eyes of many fell upon him as they wept. — PEARL S BUCK.

39. As she stood, with the palms of her hands pressed down on the table and her little face thrown back. — MICHAEL ARLEN.

40. He did not catch what she said above the hubbub that broke out then, for a moment, on the lower deck, or if he did he was too far away in spirit to realize instantly what was said to him. — E ARNOT ROBERTSON.

41. You may be rightly proud of the gifts which enable you to win your own way in the world, and there is no reason anywhere why you should not place yourself by the side of men in any sphere in which you can hold your own. — ARTHUR MEE.

42. A minute or two later he returned in triumph. — BEN TRAVERS.

43. She watched the dancers go by and wondered what the enchantment was which they felt and she could not. — SYLVIA TOWNSEND WARNER.

44. The first time 1 visited New York City, I was thirteen and went with my father. — JOHN UPDIKE.

45. Not knowing what to say, he kept silent. — H E BATES.

46. The meal at an end, they went, as a matter of course, to a cinema. — R H MOTTRAM.

47. The wish to write merely for the sake of being a writer, if I may so describe a vague ambition which vexes many young persons. — HENRY VAN DYKE.

48. I do not know if I care so much as I once did. — ROBERT LYND.

49. Such are the pleasures we may take in a London fog. — G S STREET.

50. Certain it is that almost all that be foretold in regard to the East thirty or forty years ago. — R B CUNNINGHAME GRAHAM.

51. The letter on League policy, extracts from which appear on another page, will command attention because of the variety as well as the authority of the signatures attached to it. — The Times.

52. On a cold and frosty morning a little while ago my car refused to start, and before catching the train. — Punch.

53. A magistrate declares that no woman, whether she is a film star or not, should be allowed to marry for the fourth time. — London Opinion.

54. Thousands of campers sleep in the open air every night in the summer, and they don't seem to suffer. — Answers.

55. While on circuit once he returned to the house where he was staying rather late, and, as he was wearing a cap. — Pearson's Weekly.

56. The writer of a letter in a contemporary says that he simply has no idea where he will be spending his holiday this year. — The Humorist.

57. In spite of the grave results attending our weather this month, we have but to look to other parts of the Empire to realize how thankful we should be. — The Children's Newspaper.

58. Two men, returning from a banquet in the early hours, were arguing whether it was the sun or the moon that was appearing in the sky. — Tit-Bits.

59. In our time we have seen but few scenes of anything approaching violence. — Judge.

60. After all, marriage is a serious business, even if it's a happy one — and one doesn't like the dignity taken from the occasion by irritatingly hearty practical jokers, even when they mean to add jollity to the festivities! — Woman.

Exercise 15

Write twenty simple sentences, twenty compound sentences, and twenty complex sentences.

Exercise 16

Supply the correct case of some pronoun in each of the following sentences:

1. My brother is as tall as_____.

2. I do not know_____they are talking about.

3. _____did you say wanted to see me?

4. The boy went away without_____parents' consent.

5. If any one of you knows about the village, let_____tell me.

6. They are brother and sister; he is not so clever as_____, but she does not study so hard as_____.

7. What do you think of_____going abroad?

8. It is his father, not_____that has written the essay.

9. She was one of the few women_____he considered his friends.

10. She was one of the few women_____he thought were his friends.

11. _____do you think will win the first prize?

12. I did not think it could be_____.

13. I wonder_____he took me to be.

14. Such a bright boy as_____ought to learn very quickly.

15. His house is opposite_____.

16. A friend of_____called on me yesterday.

17. That is the same person_____I spoke of.

18. He guessed her to be_____whom he had seen in the park in the morning.

19. It is for_____and_____family that we ask your help.

20. I found only one person in the room, and_____a very old man.

Exercise 17

Supply a relative pronoun in each of the following sentences:

1. This is all I know about the matter.

2. The girl I mentioned in my last letter is a foreigner.

3. This is one of the books I bought at the shop last week.

4. They live in a house their family have owned since the end of the eighteenth century.

5. The typewriter I wrote the letter on the other day is now out of order.

6. Is this the pen you are looking for?

7. The only man I know in this town is a doctor.

8. What is the subject you are going to deal with in your lecture?

9. I do not know the woman you shook hands with.

10. The Englishman she is teaching the Han language came to China only a few days ago.

11. This is not exactly the kind of information I want.

12. The party they are looking forward to with so much pleasure will take place next Saturday.

13. This is the best I can do for the present.

14. As soon as he fell asleep, he began to dream of the tiger he had seen in the picture.

15. Having made some purchases, he returned to the hotel, where his wife was waiting for him to go to see the play they had both expressed a desire to see.

16. There are many things I shall talk to you about.

17. They spoke English, which was the only language they both knew.

18. She sang in a voice we should call perfect.

19. Thank you very much for answering the questions I sent you last month.

20. It was a beautiful morning, and nothing he had feared happened.

Exercise 18

Write twenty sentences each with an adjective in the comparative degree and twenty sentences each with an adjective in the superlative degree.

Exercise 19

Some of the verbs in the following sentences are wrong in tense; correct them:

1. I have received a letter from him three days ago.

2. He told me that he could go with me.

3. If you do not work hard, you will not succeed.

4. They study together when they were in the country.

5. She went to the hall and put on her coat.

6. We were talking together when a stranger comes into the room.

7. The sun went down, and in a little while we saw the moon rising.

8. We were taught at school that the earth was round.

9. As soon as I heard that he was in hospital, I went over to see him.

10. Can you tell me when he was born?

11. The cat slept in the chair.

12. I hope I have finished the task by the end of the month.

13. Did she ring you up yesterday?

14. You will hear from me again before you will leave this city.

15. The boy was playing in the garden, and the nurse is chatting with a young man.

16. That made him what he is today.

17. The horse ran as fast as he could.

18. I made his acquaintance long after I have heard of him.

19. Am I to understand that you actually saw an owl last night?

20. If it will rain tomorrow, I shall not start.

Exercise 20

Some verbs in the following sentences are wrong in number; correct them:

1. Truth is often more romantic than fiction.

2. This is one of the most interesting stories that has ever been published in our school magazine.

3. Some students think that the only thing they have to do to master English are to study grammar and to memorize rules of grammar; this is not true, however.

4. I hope you will look into the matter as soon as you receive this, and that you will take steps to settle it to the satisfaction of all concerned.

5. In a quarter of an hour the bell rang again, and some more guests arrived.

6. I do not think luck count for so much as hard work.

7. One of the difficulties in English composition are the various uses of simple words.

8. Nothing but a few pieces of furniture were found in the house.

9. There seems to be several persons involved in the affair, which, however, he does not think have anything to do with either himself or his brother.

10. It was out of curiosity that I went out of my room to see who was shouting.

11. That clouds are vaporized water is known to us all.

12. It is very kind of you to tell me so much about the city.

13. To these books are to be added a copy of a large dictionary compiled by one of the greatest lexicographers who have ever lived.

14. The couple live simply and quietly in a cottage by the sea.

15. There was a silence for a full minute before the old woman, who was the grandmother of the children, were heard saying something to herself.

16. The white and the black cat love each other, and often play together.

17. His knowledge of French and German are not so good as that of his father, whose interest in these two languages are very keen.

18. The death of her mother and sister seem to have affected her greatly.

19. No letter had come from him ever since the outbreak of the war.

20. There does not seem ever to have been two boys who looked so much alike as these two who, strange to say, is not of the same nationality.

Exercise 21

Change the following sentences from the active voice to the passive (remember that intransitive verbs cannot be put in the passive, and that a change in voice, though correct in grammar, may turn natural English into unnatural English):

1. I had seen part of that wedding. — SARAH GERTRUDE MILLIN.

2. He knew it by heart. — JOHN MASEFIELD.

3. We stood on a small balcony. — J B PRIESTLEY.

4, His diligence was exceptional even on that staff to which Hart set such a severe example. — G G COULTON.

5. The republication of this book in a translation which has been carefully revised affords me particular pleasure. — AYLMER MAUDE.

6. Now they were hoisting the sails. — NAOMI MITCHISON.

7. He dug me in the ribs, and went off into fresh peals of mirth. — RICHARD HUGHES.

8. She thought of the lion and the mouse. — JOHN COLLER.

9. He saw through her. — LOUIS GOLDING.

10. She had hardly taken two steps on to the bridge when she was startled by the loud quacking of innumerable ducks. — WILLIAM PLOMER.

11. Far off, the clouds looked heavy with spring snow. — H E BATES.

12. We stood watching and listening and then suddenly, after a long time, Hal touched me on the arm. — SHERWOOD ANDERSON.

13. He took a large gold watch from his pocket. — JAMES GOULD COZZENS.

14. The princely secretary ate and drank with fair appetite but severely discouraged conversation. — SAKI.

15. They were going to bicycle all along the south coast. — ROSE MACAULAY.

16. A bachelor uncle was the only relative she had possessed. — EDGAR WALLACE.

17. He looked amused, but agreed lazily, and strolled off again through the moonlight. — RUBY M AYRES.

18. Camphor, our own brand, cures cold and kills beetles. — DOROTHY L SAYERS & ROBERT EUSTACE.

19. He was merely eccentric and ingenious and unconventional. — DESMOND MACCARTHY.

20. The dealers laughed at him. — MANUEL KOMROFF.

Exercise 22

Write twenty sentences each with a present participle, twenty sentences each with a past participle, twenty sentences each with a gerund, and twenty sentences each with an infinitive.

Exercise 23

Turn the following sentences into the negative.

1. When he heard this he was very pleased. — HILAIRE BELLOC.

2. The bruise on his left side was caused by a hobnailed boot. — E M DELAFIFLD.

3. Charity appeals that come by post I always destroy. — ROBERT GRAVES.

4. He suddenly realized that everything had gone silent. — JOHN LE CARRĖ.

5. I asked him to get me tea. — WILLIAM HENRY HUDSON.

6. I suppose I must go on like this for ever. — SUSAN ERTZ.

7. He rose from his chair and looked miserably down on us. — MICHAEL ARLEN.

8. I have always been fortunate in my friends. — ETHEL MANNIN.

9. 1 heard his soul go over the river at sunset. — LORD DUNSANY.

10. She was quite serious and solemn. — MAY SINCLAIR.

11. Everyone stood up*. — MARY WEBB.

12. You could lift the whole with a finger. — C E MONTAGUE.

13. She had looked up and seen him. — L A G STRONG.

14. He scrambled to his feet and rushed towards her. — EDGAR RICE BURROUGHS.

15. They walked back together and entered the garden. — PEARL S BUCK.

16. Now come along. — SHEILA KAYE-SMITH.

17. To leave home should have been the last thing for you to think about. — ELEANOR THORNE. 18. Do you believe in ghosts? — P G WODEHOUSE.

19. I want to hurry over as quickly as possible what now happened. — A S M HUTCHINSON.

20. This is my first visit to the United States. — IAN HAY.

*Note: that "Everyone did not stand up" would mean not that no one stood up, but that not everyone stood up.

Exercise 24

Turn the following sentences into the indirect form:

1. "I have no possible use for it" my poor friend replied. — LORD DUNSANY.

2. "Why did you do that?" I asked crudely. — STELLA BENSON.

3. "It depends on what she is like" I said airily. — AUSTIN FREEMAN.

4. "I will attend to everything myself, sir" said Benson. — MORLEY ROBERTS.

5. "What did you do then, James?" inquired the doctor. — E CE SOMERVILLE and MARTIN ROSS.

6. "The things are curious documents" I said. — H G WELLS.

7. He said: "I had a small baby". — NAOMI MITCHISON.

8. "You should go out more" said Mr MuIready. "Have you a bicycle?" — SYLVIA TOWNSEND WARNER.

9. "Did he say anything about the porters?" asked Mallinson eagerly. — JAMES HILTON.

10. "You talk as though you had been at it yourself" said Miss Lenning. — JOHN MASEFIELD.

11 "Oh, don't let's talk business at dinner I tell you about it afterwards" she said. — ANTHONY HOPE.

12. "You mustn't take me too seriously" he said in his decent smiling way. — HILAIRE BELLOC.

13. "Miss Dartmouth," said the man "I can easily prove to you that I am not a burglar". — ARNOLD BENNETT.

14. "I think they have great qualities" he said. "You can't walk through those crowded streets of theirs without having that impression on you." — WILLIAM SOMERSET MAUGHAM.

15. "Are you a real farmer's boy?" I asked him. — JEROME K JEROME.

16. "Let me go" she growled. — LIAM O'FLAHERTY.

17. "You must not go — from me" he said. "I cannot live without you. You are my life." — LOUISE JORDAN MILN.

18. "We are only bride and groom" she was saying. "Everything is so wonderful!" — PEARL S BUCK

19. "Tell me something" she said. — JOSEPH CONRAD.

20. "Well, you go into the kitchen and make it", said his mother "since you're the only one who's doing nothing". — SHEILA KAYE-SMITH.

Exercise 25

Write sentences containing the following words and phrases:

a few, ago, a little, as if, as though, at all, both ... and ..., but, can, could, either ... or ..., else, few, however, lest, little, may, might, must, neither ... nor ..., not only ... but also ..., ought, shall, should, since, than, though ... yet ..., unless, whether, will, would, yet.

68. Proper Nouns Used as Common Nouns. Though there does not seem to be a hard and fast distinction between proper nouns and common nouns, we can nearly always tell whether a particular noun is a proper or a common one.

That proper nouns may often be used as common nouns may be proved by the fact that there are a number of common nouns that were originally proper nouns. Most of these generally begin with a small letter.

china (porcelain, named after China).

guinea (former British gold coin and now only British money of account, named after Guinea, formerly a part of now a country in West Africa).

maverick (person who refuses to conform and acts independently, named after Samuel Augustus Maverick, a Texas rancher, who did not brand his cattle).

watt (unit of electric power, named after the Scottish inventor James Watt),

In addition to such nouns there are established noun phrases in which one of the words is a proper noun, such as "Jack of all trades" (person who can turn his hand to anything) and "Adam's apple" (prominence in a man's throat).

A proper noun is used as a common noun when it denotes a class of persons or things.

1. Two Liberal papers described the stories as masterpieces; one compared them to the best things in Poe and de Maupassant; and another called him a second Rudyard Kipling. — JOHN GALSWORTHY. (a second Rudyard Kipling ＝ an author comparable to the famous English author Rudyard Kipling.)

2. A Cellini by instinct, I was, in actual fact, an engineer. — AUSTIN FREEMAN. (a Cellini ＝ an artist in metal comparable to the famous Italian goldsmith and sculptor Benvenuto Cellini.

3. It is the boy who will go forward that the world is waiting for — the Livingstone, the Columbus, the Wilberforce, the Shaftesbury of the future. — ARTHUR MEE. (the Livingstone, the Columbus, the Wilberforce, the Shaftesbury of the future ＝ the boy who will become a man comparable to the famous Scottish explorer in Africa David Livingstone, the famous Genoese discoverer of America Christopher Columbus, the famous English philanthropist and statesman William Wilberforce, or the famous English philanthropist seventh earl of Shaftesbury.)

4. St Bernard dogs are usually acknowledged to be among the most sagacious of all four-footed creatures; and every now and then the world is amazed at some wonderfully clever dog, a Rin-tin-tin which seems almost human. — ARTHUR MEE. (a Rin-tin-tin ＝ a dog comparable to the famous Hollywood dog star Rin-tin-tin.)

5. They had visited his shop and pretended to discover a Rembrandt on his walls —MANUEL KOMROFF. (a Rembrandt ＝ a picture painted by the Dutch painter Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn.)

6. The critics usually headed their reviews of her stories with the words:

ANOTHER PINCKNEY

or sometimes, more offensively:

ANOTHER PINCKNEY! — P G WODEHOUSE. (another Pinckney — another story written by Pinckney, a fictitious novelist.)

7. The woman was the completed Ottalie. — JOHN MASEFIELD. (was the completed Ottalie ＝ had such an appearance as the young lady Ottalie would have had if she had lived to be as old as the woman.)

8. When in the early morning Mr Travers came from Brighton in this Farman in which I flew, I could hear the hum of the great insect when it still seemed abreast of Beachey Head, and a good two miles away. — H G WELLS. (this Farman ＝ this water-plane manufactured by the French aviator Henri Farman.)

9. My own cur, a Daimler, was made in this city, and so after lunch I went out to see how they did it. — J B PRIESTLEY. (a Daimler — a motor car manufactured by the German engineer Gottlieb Daimler.)

10. She had no more use for her as a confidant and spy, and Ethel lived in a back den off Hippistey's study with her Remington, and displayed a convenient apathy in allowing herself to be ignored. — MAY SINCLAIR. (her Remington ＝ her typewriter designed by the American inventor Philo Rmington.)

The name of an author used to denote his writings may be considered a proper noun used as a common noun.

(1) She read Mark Twain, Dickens, and Kipling before she was ten — all of their writings. — WILLIAM ALLEN WHITE.

(2) I was reading a little Shakespeare to the cat. — JOHN CHEEVER. (Here "a little Shakespeare" means a little bit of what Shakespeare wrote.)

The "Fawcetts" in the following sentence, meaning members of the Fawcett family, might also be considered a proper noun used as a common noun:

They have been beautiful and noble, these Fawcetts. — JOHN MASEFIELD.

It is different from the other examples, however; for "Fawcett" denotes persons actually named "Fawcett" instead of any person or thing else. More examples will be found in Section 143.

Exercise 26

Write ten sentences each with a proper noun used as a common

69. Nouns Used as Adjectives. The use of nouns as adjectives is a very common and very useful English usage. Examples may be found in every modern book or newspaper or magazine.

1. Have you ever travelled with a film star? — REGINALD DENHAM.

2. He had escaped from the close, shut-up, student life. — EDWARD SACKVILLE-WEST.

3. I met them when I was staying with a cousin in a little country village in Sussex. — RICHMAL CROMPTON.

4. The fast spring sun had tanned her slightly, and her extended throat and arms showed a warm yellowish brown against her white muslin night-dress. — SHEILA KAYE-SMITH.

5. He recognized his red hatchet face and dark sloe eyes. — HERBERT READ.

6. He bought a large piece of land on a hill on the other side of the river and put up bungalows which he sold one by one to the missionaries as summer resorts; and he owned a large store in which he sold everything, from picture postcards and curios to Worcester sauce and knitted jumpers, which a foreigner could want. — WILLIAM SOMERSET MAUGHAM. (Worcester sauce is a pungent sauce originally made in Worcester, England.)

7. His hand went into his breast pocket from time to time to touch her letter to him. — JOHN MASEFIELD.

8. She flew towards the kitchen door. — PEARL S BUCK.

9. It is a question of sex appeal in our poor, dilapidated modern phraseology. — D H LAWRENCE.

10. With an idea as to the publicity value of the Ball I began my campaign. — Pals.

11. I usually set my watch by the town clock and let it go at that. — ROMER WILSON.

12. No real woman had naturally such a moonlight look. — SYLVIA TOWNSEND WARNER.

13. I was on a lecture tour through Germany, France, and Hungary, and one night my agent and I were seated in a beerhouse in Munich. — MANDER ROSS.

14. Recently I was with a group of officials of the French construction unions who had pledged themselves and their men to get ahead with the work at the Exhibition. — Time and Tide.

15. They might then take a different view about the entertainment tax or fine. — Punch.

16. In the lane she met Mr Day, who was stepping upon the stone path just as carefully as if the winter puddles were still there. — T F POWYS.

17. That romantic seaport town of the Orient made him uneasy. — H M TOMLINSON.

18. Yet, in point of fact, one never heard much of him after those Oxford days. — JAMES HILTON.

19. The Madon farm was higher than any other and backed by the higher level of the bogs which made a dark thread between the unearthly earth and sky. — KATHLEEN COYLE. ("Madon" is a surname.)

20. In the Richardson sentence also the "it" should go — H W FOWLER and F G FOWLER. ("Richardson" is a surname here standing for the eighteenth-century English novelist Samuel Richardson.)

21. What a pleasant contrast to the Ramsay MacDonald trick of evading an awkward question by elaborate and ambiguous phrases which can be interpreted in five ways and all denied, if necessary, afterwards. — New Statesman and Nation. (Ramsay MacDonald was a British statesman.)

22. He is in the rare-book-and-first-edition branch of the trade, which has suffered a great deal from the depression in America. — J B PRIESTLEY.

It is interesting to compare the four following sentences:

1. But these are purely business undertakings. — WILLIAM SOMERSET MAUGHAM.

2. Kindly point out to him that these beds are for spring display purposes and not for canine recreation. — Punch.

3. He was stoutly opposed to the idea of marrying anyone; but if, as happens to the best of us, he ever were compelled to perform the wedding glide, he had always hoped it would be with some lady golf champion who would help him with his putting, and thus, by bringing his handicap down a notch or two, enable him to save something from the wreck, so to speak. — P G WODEHOUSE.

4. So soon as that Evening News tale began to run about, no less than four citizens, dwellers upon the Heath, addressed me at once, calling for my aid. — OSWALD BARRON. (The underlined words are italicized in the original.)

In the first sentence the noun "business" is treated almost as a pure adjective so that it is modified by the adverb "purely". In the second sentence the noun "display", which is used as an adjective modifying the noun "purposes", is modified by another noun used as an adjective, "spring". In the third sentence the noun "golf" is used as an adjective modifying the noun "champion", and the noun "lady" is used as an adjective modifying not the noun "golf" but the noun phrase "golf champion". In the fourth sentence the noun "Evening" is used as an adjective modifying the noun "News", and the noun "tale" is modified not by the noun "News" but by the noun phrase "Evening News", which is the name of a newspaper.

It is to be noted that some of the words that I have given as nouns used as adjectives are called adjectives as well as nouns in some dictionaries. But this is simply because those nouns have come to be commonly used as adjectives; it does not mean that they were originally adjectives as well as nouns.

That nouns are so freely used as adjectives is due not only to the fact that many nouns have no corresponding adjectives, but also to the fact that many adjectives either ore not in common use or have not the same sense as the corresponding nouns used as adjectives, and to the fact that many terms in which a noun is used as an adjective qualifying another noun are fixed idioms.

1. "Film" used in the sense of cinema has no adjective. ("Filmy" has a very different sense.)

2. "Student" has the adjective "studentlike", which, however, is not in common use.

3. "Country" has no adjective. ("Countrifield" does not quite correspond with "country", and has a very different sense).

4. "Spring" has the adjective "springlike", which, however, is not in common use.

5. "Hatchet" has the adjective "hatchety", which, however, is not in common use. ("Hatchet face" is an idiom.) "Sloe" has no adjective.

6. "Summer" has three adjectives, "summerlike", "surnmerly", and "summery", none of which, however, are in common use. "Picture" has three adjectives, "pictured", "picturelike", and "picturely", none of which, however, are in common use; "picturesque" does not quite correspond with "picture", and has a very different sense. ("Picture postcard(s)" is an idiom.) "Worcester" has no adjective. ("Worcester sauce", also called "Worcestershire sauce", is an idiom.)

7. "Breast" has no adjective.

8. "Kitchen" has no adjective.

9. "Sex" has the adjective "sexual", but "sex appeal" is an idiom. ("Sexual appeal" is quite correct so far as the sense is concerned, but does not seem to be ever used.)

10. "Publicity" has no adjective.

11. "Town" has four adjectives, "townish", "townlike", "townly", and "towny", none of which, however, are in common use, and each of which has a different sense from that of the noun used as an adjective.

12. "Moonlight" may be regarded as having two adjectives, "moonlit" and "moonlighted", which, however, are not in common use.

13. "Lecture" has no adjective.

14. "Construction" has two adjectives, "constructional" and "constructive"; but the former is not in common use and the latter has different senses from that of the noun used as an adjective.

15. "Entertainment" has no adjective. ("Entertaining" corresponds with "entertain", not with "entertainment".)

16. "Stone" has the adjective "stony", which, however, is not in common use in the sense of made of stone. "Winter" has three adjectives, "winterlike", "winterly", and "wintry"; but the first two are not in common use and the third has different senses from that of the noun used as an adjective.

17. "Seaport" has no adjective.

18. "Oxford" has the adjective "Oxonian", which, however, is not in common use.

19. "Madon", being a surname, has no adjective.

20. "Richardson", being a surname, has no adjective.

21. "Ramsay MacDonald", being a Christian name and a surname, has no adjective.

22. "Rare-book-and-first-edition", being a phrase, has no adjective.

There are a number of proper nouns that have their adjectives. But in nearly every case the adjective has a different sense from that of the noun used as an adjective.

1. "China English" is English words and phrases peculiar to speech or writing dealing with China and Chinese Life; it is correct English. "Chinese English" is English spoken or written according to Han idiom; it is incorrect English. ("Chinese English" is often called "Chinglish".)

2. An "England team" does not necessarily consist of English people only. An "English team" does.

3. A "Johnsonian sentence" is one that reads as if it had been written by Samuel Johnson, the famous English author of the eighteenth century, whose style is characterized by long words and long sentences. A "Johnson sentence" is one written by Johnson (not necessarily Samuel Johnson).

4. A "Rome correspondent" lives in Rome, but is not necessarily a Roman. A "Roman correspondent" is a Roman, but does not necessarily live in Rome.

5. Both a "Shakespeare quotation" and as "Shakespearian quotation" mean a quotation from Shakespeare. There are many nouns each of which consists of a proper noun used as an adjective modifying a common noun, such as "Worcester sauce". Below are some more examples:

China orange (sweet orange).

Diesel engine (a kind of internal combination engine, invented by the German scientist Rudolf Diesel).

Eton jacket (or coat) (boy's short coat reaching only to the waist formerly worn by pupils at Eton College, England's most famous public school for boys.).

Yorkshire terrier (a kind of small, long-haired dog).

Exercise 27

A.

With the aid of one or more dictionaries strike out the less correct word in parentheses in each of the following sentences:

1. The Englishman has lived in China for nearly thirty years, and is considered an old (China, Chinese) hand.

2. There were no (women, womanly) police in this city fifty years ago.

3. We need more and better (continuous, continuation) schools.

4. It is spring, but we still have (wintry, winter) weather.

5. They studied together at (Oxonian, Oxford) University.

6. He is a (collegiate, college) student.

7. Their (married, marriage) life was not happy at all.

8. Is this watch a (gold, golden) one?

9. Both of them are said to be engaged in purely (governmental, government) work.

10. The old man is fond of (homely, home) life.

B.

Write ten sentences each with a noun used as an adjective.

70. Singulars and Plurals. Number is not so simple a matter as it may seem to you. It is usage rather than logic that governs the use of singulars and plurals. You must not suppose that you will never make mistakes in number so long as you remember the definitions of the singular and plural numbers and the rules for forming plurals. (Here is an interesting point. I have written "the singular and plural numbers"; if I had used another "the" before the "plural". I should have written "number" instead of "numbers". The point will be discussed in Section 81.)

There are various classes of nouns that deserve special attention as regards number.

71. Nouns Singular Only. There are a number of nouns that are not at all used in the plural.

furniture. Instead of "a furniture and "furnitures", the correct expressions are "a piece of furniture" and "pieces of furniture", "an article of furniture" and "articles of furniture", and, less commonly, "a bit of furniture" and "bits of furniture", as in "Every drawer in every piece of furniture had been ransacked and emptied". — ARNOLD BENNETT, and "The big bits of furniture and china we left to the dealers, but there were no very sensational prices". — LORD PONSONBY. Several pieces of furniture belonging together are called "a set of furniture" or "a suite of furniture".

information. Instead of "an information" and "informations" the correct expressions are "a piece of information" and "pieces of information", "a bit of information" and "bits of information", and less commonly, "a scrap of information" and "scraps of information", as in "It consisted of scraps of gossip, scraps of news and scraps of information", seasoned with imperial feeling". — JOHN MASEFIELD

knowledge. "Knowledges" is very seldom used, but "a knowledge" is very common, as in "On the other side of his life, Mr Large is a chemist specializing in agricultural research, with a knowledge of plant diseases which is both wide and deep". — Now and Then.

laughter. Instead of "a laughter" and "laughters", the usual expressions are "a laugh" and "laughs", as in "She gave him a laugh soft with apology" — PEARL S BUCK. When "laughter" is used, it almostly always neither is preceded by "a" nor ends in "s", as in "Then suddenly he burst into loud and prolonged laughter". — BOOTH TARKINGTON. In "In a flash her lips broke into a low clear laughter." — WALTER DE LA MARE, the "a low clear laughter", which seems to be meant to emphasize the length of the laughter, is surely a rare usage.

luck. Instead of "a luck" and "lucks", the correct expressions are "a piece of luck" and "pieces of luck", "a stroke of luck" and "strokes of luck", and "a bit of luck" and "bits of luck", as in "With a bit of luck we may bring him round". — JAMES HILTON.

luggage. Instead of "a luggage" and "luggages", the correct expressions are "a piece of luggage" and "pieces of luggage", "an article of luggage" and "articles of luggage".

news. Instead of "a news" and "newses", the correct expressions are "a piece of news" and "pieces of news", "a bit of news" and "bits of news", and, less commonly, "a scrap of news" and "scraps of news", as in "Mrs Rachel prided herself on always speaking her mind; she proceeded to speak it now, having adjusted her mental attitude to this amazing piece of news" — L M MONTGOMERY, and "It consisted of scraps of gossip, scraps of news, and scraps of information, seasoned with imperial feeling". — JOHN MASEFIELD. Though plural by etymology, "news" is considered singular in present-day usage.

poetry. Instead of "a poetry" and "poetries", the correct expressions are "a piece of poetry" and "pieces of poetry", "a poem" and "poems", as in "Is it nothing that you can walk along repeating the poems that you have actually made yourself, or that you can delight your friends with them?" — JAMES STEPHENS. When "poetry" is used, it neither is preceded by "a" nor ends in "s", as in "I am thinking especially of poetry"— STEPHEN LEACOCK.

prose. Instead of "a prose" and "proses", the correct expressions are "a piece of prose" and "pieces of prose".

slang. See Section 56.

sleep. "Sleeps" is very seldom used, but "a sleep" is very common (meaning a period of sleep), as in "He woke much refreshed after a sleep of about eight hours". — JOHN MASEFIELD.

stationery. Instead of "a stationery" and "stationeries", the correct expressions are "an article of stationery" and "articles of stationery".

Below are some other nouns that are not at all used in the plural:

baggage, behaviour, clothing, conduct, dust, fun, humour (facetiousness), progeny, scenery, wit (amusing ingenuity of speech or ideas).

72. Nouns Plural Usually or Plural Only. The italicized nouns in the following sentences are either very seldom or not at all used in the singular:

1. People began, unobtrusively, to gather their belongings together. — W A DARLINGTON. (The singular form "belonging" is hardly ever used.)

2. We had less than five hundred a year with our joint earnings." — ETHEL MANNIN.

3. I eventually found him in a cottage on the outskirts of the city. — SEYMOUR HICKS. (The singular form "outskirt" is hardly ever used.)

4. She felt that she was returning, thanks to Stephen, to a new life. — SUSAN ERTZ.

5. At half past seven on the following evening, Miss Mott tidied her desk, locked up her valuables, and descended to the lift. — E PHILLIPS OPPENHEIM. (The singular form "valuable" is hardly ever used.)

6. We cannot tell yet how much of the winnings of catastrophe still remain to be gathered in. — H G WELLS. (Belonging as it does to "much", which is singular, "remain" ought to be changed to "remains". This point, however, has nothing to do with the purpose for which the sentence is here quoted.)

These plural forms are not plural in the same sense that "books" and "men" are plural. We can answer the questions "how many books?" and "how many men?", but we cannot answer the questions "how many belongings?", "how many earnings?", etc.

Below are some other nouns that are very seldom or not at all used in the singular:

amends (the singular form "amend" is hardly ever used), annals (the singular from "annal" is hardly ever used), banns, barracks (the singular form "barrack" is hardly ever used), bellows, bowels (the singular form "bowel" is found in medical use only), breeches, chattels (the singular form "chattel" is hardly ever used), clothes, entrails, environs, gainings, gallows, goods, headquarters, intestines, links, measles, mumps, nuptials, obsequies, odds, pincers, proceeds, remains (the singular form "remain" is hardly ever used), scissors, shambles, snuffers, sweepings, theatricals, tidings, tongs, trappings, trousers, tweezers, victuals, weeds (widow's mourning dress), whereabouts.

The above-given nouns are all true plurals (that is, the final "s" is actually the sign of the plural). But it does not follow that they are always treated as plural in usage. Below are some notes on some of these words:

amends. Treated as either singular or plural in usage, as in "an amends" and "these amends"; it is more commonly considered singular. It is to be noted that while an amends" is correct, two amendses" is impossible, and that while "these amends" is correct, "two amends" is impossible.

barracks. "A barracks" is sometimes used.

bellows. Often treated as singular in usage. "A pair of bellows" is usually used when the machine is portable, and "(the) bellows" is usually used when it is fixed. "A bellows" is also sometimes used.

gallows. "A gallows" is often used.

headquarters. "A headquarters" is often used.

links. "A links" is often used.

measles. Usually treated as singular in usage.

mumps. Usually treated as singular in usage.

odds. Sometimes treated as singular in usage.

scissors. "A scissors" is often used.

shambles. Often treated as singular in usage. "A shambles" is often used.

tidings. Sometimes treated as singular in usage.

whereabouts. Usually treated as singular in usage.

73. Nouns Plural in a Special Usage. Read the two following sentences:

1. Well, give her my very kind remembrances. — SHEILA KAYE-SMITH.

2. She was a pretty girl, but with no morals. — RICHMAL CROMPTON.

Both "remembrances" and "morals" are plural. Like the nouns given in Section 72, they are not plural in the same sense that "books" and "men" are plural. We can answer the questions "how many books?" and "how many men?", but we cannot answer the questions "how many remembrances?" and "how many morals?"

Each of the italicized words in the following sentences takes the plural form in the particular usage concerned:

1. Mr Bones nodded his acknowledgements with a little grunt, and struck Forth into the night. — BEN TRAVERS.

2. I will, then, call early next week and ask permission to pay you my addresses, dearest. — MORLEY ROBERTS.

3. Arrangements have been made to admit me into an almshouse. — STELLA BENSON.

4. He behaved just as I should have expected a great, fat, self-indulgent man to behave under trying circumstances. — H G WELLS.

5. And what congratulations he had received as the boy's father! — KATHERINE MANSFIELD.

6. He did not want to talk to anybody or to receive condolences; he wanted to get used to things, if he could, before facing the kind words of others. — JAMES HILTON.

7. No, he could not make difficulties now. — SYLVIA TOWNSEND WARNER. ("Make difficulties" means raise objections.)

8. We wished to spare your feelings as long as possible, Daddy. — H A VACHELL.

9. I hear someone walking somewhere in the grounds. — ARNOLD BENNETT. ("Grounds" means a piece of enclosed ground attached to a house.)

10. Well, make inquiries about him. — EDGAR WALLACE.

11. I was conscious of this and took some pains to avoid any seeming scrutiny of him. — ALLAN N MONKHOUSE.

12. I was to stay with the head of the mission till my own quarters were ready. — WILLIAM SOMERSET MAUGHAM.

13. Helen was in raptures. — BEVERLEY NICHOLS.

14. I am fortunate in having the privilege of your personal friendship, which enables me to speak more frankly than I could if our relations were merely official. — GEORGE BERNARD SHAW.

15. When we left the restaurant we went to his hotel and had our coffee sent up to his rooms. —MANUEL KOMROFF. ("Rooms" means a set of rooms occupied by a person or family in a large house.)

16. Plainly he had gone the right way to work to bring such a fellow as Filer to his senses. — ARTHUR MORRISON.

17. Having had another look at the mysterious cupboard, I thought it best to obtain the services of a lawyer before proceeding further; and together we looked for the will. — E V LUCAS.

18. Please take steps. — Punch.

19. For some strange reason her thoughts instantly ran to Homer. — HUGH WALPOLE.

20. But those times are gone. — SARAH GERTRUDE MILLIN.

Below are some other nouns that take the plural form in the particular usage concerned:

acquirements (mental attainment), advances (personal overtures), airs (affected manners), arrears (outstanding debts), attainments (personal accomplishments), attentions (ceremonious politeness; courtship), auspices (patronage, in the phrase "under the auspices of"), authorities (persons in authority), bearings (relative position), beginnings (origins), bounds (limitations; restraints), chances (probability), communications (various means of communication, now especially science and practice or transmitting information), compliments (formal greetings), costs (legal expenses), creeps (shuddering horror, preceded by "the"), damages (sum claimed or adjudged for damage), dealings (personal or business relations), effects (property), features (face), forces (troops), funds (pecuniary resources), gardens (piece of ground laid out for public enjoyment), glasses (pair of spectacles), greetings (complimentary message), honours (special distinction for proficiency beyond that required to pass an examination; also in such phrases as "funeral honours" and "military honours"), hostilities (acts of warfare), instructions (directions), letters (literature), looks (personal appearance), makings (essential qualities), matters (state of affairs), negotiations (meeting to negotiate), nerves (bodily state in regard to sensitiveness; nervousness), pictures (moving pictures in general, preceded by "the"), proceedings (legal steps), provisions (supplies of food), rags (old clothes), resources (means of supplying a want), respects (greetings), returns (proceeds; set of tabulated statistics), spectacles (pair of lenses to correct or assist defective sight), spirits (state or cheerfulness or despondency: distilled alcoholic liquor), terms (relations; phraseology; conditions offered or accepted; payment offered or asked), things (state of affairs), works (activities; various operations of engineering; structures for defense; acting parts of a machine; factory, as in "a steel works")

Exercise 28

Correct the mistakes in number in the following sentences (some of which, however, contain no such mistakes):

1. How many furnitures are there in the house?

2. I have an important news to tell you.

3. The story is full of colloquialisms and slangs.

4. She had a stroke of luck last week.

5. We shall be pleased to supply informations on all these points.

6. The luggages will be sent to you this afternoon.

7. The diplomatic relation between the two countries will improve in the near future.

8. Arrangements for the conference have just been completed.

9. The manager was sorry to have to dispense with the service of the typist.

10. Suddenly he heard a laughter in the next room.

11. The author wrote a poem and a prose last week.

12. Where do you keep your valuable?

13. I hope I did not hurt your feeling last night.

14. He has been much in my thought during the past few months.

15. Her attainment in English is much admired by all her friends.

16. The shop sells stationery only.

17. The girl is in low spirits today.

18. The old man's offsprings are three sons and two daughters.

19. Such sceneries are well worth seeing.

20. His father is a well-known man of letters.

21. The magazine contains a page of wits and humours.

22. I do not know her whereabouts.

23. Please accept my congratulation on your promotion.

24. He has remarkable knowledges of both English and French.

25. His uncle is working in the Ministry of Communication.

26. A sleep of five hours gave him enough rest.

27. The arrears will be paid within this week.

28. Both boys are praised for their good behaviours.

29. The letter is written in very polite terms.

30. The children are having great funs under the trees.

74. Nouns of Multitude. A noun of multitude may denote either a single entity or the individuals composing it. In the former case it is singular; in the latter case it is plural.

1. Outside, unknown to the lunchers, a small crowd, headed by several men with cameras, was already gathering. — FRANK SWINNERTON. (Singular)

2. Our party of destroyers means to clear away garden and meadow in that place. — OSWALD BARRON. (Singular)

3. The whole staff was against it, and the School, if its opinion could have been taken, was probably against it too. — JAMES HILTON. (Singular)

4. In this atmosphere of change, the present intellectual youth of China has grown up. — PEARL S BUCK. (Singular)

5. After that there was no one to deal with except Mrs Tippet, who always arrived late, partly because she took so long to lace up, and partly because she had read in the pages of Charles Garvice that the aristocracy were never punctual. — BEVERLEY NICHOLS. (Plural)

6. That night, in the dead of darkness, while the crew were busy at the pumps, the Captain and I built a raft. — STEPHEN LEACOCK. (Plural)

7. One of the witnesses was drunk, and the jury were laughing. — JOHN MASEFIELD. (Plural)

8. The river police are searching. — EDGAR WALLACE. (Plural)

When you come to think about it, the distinction is often a very delicate one, so that while there are always a better and a worse in the matter, there are seldom a right and a wrong. It is important, however, to remember that a word should as a rule be treated in the same sentence as singular or plural consistently. This rule is broken in each of the two following sentences:

1. I have had an offer from a cinema company, the managing director of which, oddly enough, is called Sir Solomon Philbrick, who wish to buy the Castle. — EVELYN WAUGH. (The use of "which" and "who" raises a question of gender as well as a question of number. Three ways of correcting are possible: by changing "which" to "whom", by changing "who wish" to "which wishes", and by changing "the managing director of which" to "whose managing director". The last is the best.)

2. The public is naturally much impressed by this evidence, and in considering it do not make the necessary allowances. — The Times. (Either "is" should be changed to "are" or "do" should be changed to "does".)

Below are some other nouns of multitude:

army, artillery, assembly, association, audience, band (group of persons or musicians), board (committee), cabinet, cavalry, class, clergy, clientele, clique, club, commission, committee, congregation, corporation, council, delegation, faculty (department of university teaching; teaching staff), family, firm, fleet, flock, force (body of soldiers, sailors, etc.), government, group, herd, household, majority, mess (persons feeding together), ministry, mob, multitude, nation, navy, people (nation), personnel, populace, population, poultry, sex, squad, squadron, throng, tribe, troop.

75. Abstract Nouns in Plural. Abstract nouns take the plural form when instances are meant.

1. Kruger is one of the most tragic figures; all the more tragic for his narrownesses and crookednesses. — DESMOND MACCARTHY.

2. Never mind her extravagances, her follies, or her sins. — HILAIRE BELLOC.

3. He has scarcely tasted sweet air yet, and the great freedoms of the world that science has enlarged for him. —H G WELLS.

4. How little in all these years he has learnt, how slightly he has crept from the shell of his fears, his greeds, his jealousies. — HUGH WALPOLE.

5. Here is a man, honest and conscientious as a parent, who is torn between two points of view and two loyalties, and in his confusion is endeavouring to compromise between an imaginary right and wrong. — Tit-Bits.

6. When one does public work, the world of private mortifications fades away and one is permeated with a sense of importance. — E V LUCAS.

7. I was like a sailor, who, wandering in a tropic sea, has known the lazy loveliness of coral islands and the splendours of the cities of the East, but finds himself once more in the dingy alleys of a Channel port. — WILLIAM SOMERSET MAUGHAM.

8. His weaknesses will be forgotten. —R B CUNNINGHAME GRAHAM.

Below are some other abstract nouns that I have found used in the plural:

absences, absurdities, adversities, aggressions, ardours, births, brightnesses, callousnesses, confusions, cruelties, deaths, discontents, dullnesses, frenzies, hypocrisies, inaccuracies, injustices, kindtresses, loves, lucidities, negligences, queernesses, refinements, revenges, shames, simplicities, stupidities, subtleties, superficialities, tyrannies, vanities, vilenesses, villainies, zests.

You are advised not to use any abstract noun in the plural without having seen the usage in your reading.

76. Material Nouns in Plural. Material nouns take the plural form when kinds or varieties are meant.

1. In the matter of foods that are rationed, such as sugar, butter, and bacon, economy is forced upon us, but there are very many possible economies which escape the notice of the general public. —Answers.

2. Nine out of every ten plants on earth are grasses. — ARTHUR MEE.

3. The other side of the street was lined by a dismal brick wall, decorated with optimistic advertisements of various patent foods, musical comedies, and beauty-ensuring soaps. — Answers.

Below are some other material nouns that may be used in the plural.

barleys, brasses, coffees, coppers, corns, irons, linens, meats, millets, oats, peppers, ryes, silks, steels, teas, wheats, wools.

77. Nouns Ending "-ics". Nouns ending "-ics" ("acoustics", "dynamics", "ethics", "mathematics", "politics", etc.) are plural by etymology, but are not always plural in usage. A few general rules may be given (which, however, are not always kept by good writers):

1. Singular for an ordinary scientific name.

It may be said that mathematics is, for most of us, a thing apart. — STEPHEN LEACOCK.

2. Plural for the name of a science more loosely used (often preceded by a possessive adjective or by "the", "such", etc.)

One's ethics are entangled — the artist is torn. — LEONARD MERRICK.

3. Plural for the name of a matter of practice or the like.

(1) Aerobatics take a lot of learning. — Listener.

(2) They would have thought it bad form to touch upon the abstract and there were no politics for them to discuss. — WILLIAM SOMERSET MAUGHAM.

78. Some Miscellaneous Nouns. The following are a number of miscellaneous nouns that deserve attention as regards number.

advice. Either the singular or the plural form may be used in the sense of information. In the more general sense of counsel, only the singular form is in common use. In either sense, "an advice" is never used; the correct expressions are "a piece of advice" and "a bit of advice".

ash(es). Both forms are used. The plural is the commoner. When tobacco is spoken of "ash" is usually used, as in "tobacco ash," "the ash of cigarettes," and "an ash from his cigar". While "a few ashes" is occasionally used, "two ashes" or "three ashes" is not used at all.

assets. Singular by etymology, but treated as plural in usage. A new singular, "asset", which is a false form, has come to be generally used in the sense of advantage or resource, as in "Moreover, Mrs Jackson realized what an asset Nancy was to the Vicarage Ménage" — BEVERLEY NICHOLS.

beard. One man can have only one beard. "His beards" is wrong. When more than one man is in question, the plural form is used as in "Old men, too; men with beards". — E V LUCAS.

billiards. Plural. The singular form, "billiard", is used only attributively, as in "billiard ball", "billiard room", and "billiard table".

bread. When the plural form is used, the sense is portions of bread, not slices or leaves of bread.

brother. 1. Two plural forms: "brothers" and "brethren". In present-day usage, the latter is used only in ecclesiastical language and in the sense of the members of a society, club, guild, profession, etc, as in "Dr Marford was credited with having been the recipient of secrets which it would have terrified his more opulent brethren ever to hear" — EDGAR WALLACE.

2. "The Smith brothers" and "the brothers Smith" are both correct.

cake. The singular form is used in the sense of cakes as an article of food.

cannon. There is the plural form "cannons", but the singular form is generally used in a collective sense (treated as either singular or plural), as in "There was a crowd of little black cannon on deck and looking out of her portholes, and she was anchored at each end to the hard ground" — RICHARD BARHAM MIDDLETON.

cash. (former Chinese copper coin). The same form is used for both numbers, as in "From a drawer in his roll-top desk he took a few cash, and handing them to her, sent her away" — WILLIAM SOMERSET MAUGHAM. The word is etymologically unconnected with the common word of the same spelling (meaning money), which is not at all used in the plural.

cattle. No plural form. Usually treated as plural, but occasionally as singular.

chalk. "A piece of chalk" and "pieces of chalk" are the correct expressions, not "a chalk" or "chalks". In the phrases "by a long chalk" and "by long chalks" (both meaning by far), however, "a chalk" and "chalks" are used. In the following sentence "chalks" means pieces of chalk of different colours: "After some time, in which Mrs Platts and the girl did their best to soothe her. Clara consented to receive a shilling box of chalks as her present, and was led back still sobbing". — E V LUCAS.

cheese. "A cheese" and "cheeses" may be used in the senses of a cake or ball and cakes or balls of cheese respectively. Both "much cheese" and "many cheeses" are correct, though the former seems the commoner.

classic. "The classics" means the languages and literature of ancient Greece and Rome or the books of them, as in "I am not referring to the classics alone" — STEPHEN LEACOCK. As a college or university subject, however, "classics" is usually used instead of "the classics", as in "a degree in classics" and "Is classics a compulsory subject in your department?"

coal. "A coal" and "coals" may be used in the senses of a piece and pieces of coal respectively, as in "The bargees could not resist shying coals at them". — DESMOND MACCARTHY.

coin. The singular form is used colloquially in the sense of money, not necessarily of coins; "much coin" may or may not mean many coins.

content. The plural form is used in the sense of what is contained in something, whether material or non-material, as in "the contents of the bottle" and "the contents of the book". The singular form is used in the senses of the holding capacity of a vessel and the essential elements of a piece of writing. The contents of a bottle are not the same thing as the content of a bottle, nor are the contents of a book the same thing as the content of a book. (The contents of a bottle whose content is a pint may be only a drop of water at the moment. The contents of a book whose content is the advocacy of a policy or a reform may be a series of essays, stories, or plays.)

corn. The singular form is used in the collective senses of seeds of cereal plants and cereal plants while growing, as in "a quantity of corn" and "a field of corn". "A corn" and "corns" are used in the senses of a grain and grains of corn respectively.

corps. The same form is used for both numbers (though the "s" is silent in the singular but is sounded in the plural).

counsel. The singular form may mean either one or more legal advisers in a lawsuit. "His counsel" may mean either one person or more than one. "His three counsel" is the correct expression, not "his three counsels". I do not think I have ever seen "a counsel" or "one counsel" used.

It is interesting to compare the two following sentences:

1. Counsel for the defence was Sir Robert Hempidge, K C, whose name had been associated with some of the most famous eases, civil and criminal, during the past dozen years. — JAMES HILTON.

2. Counsel stated that the, prisoner's mother was in court. — E V LUCAS.

In the first sentence "counsel" denotes one person, for the verb "was" is singular. In the second sentence "Counsel" may denote one person or more than one, for the verb stated may be either singular or plural.

couple. Two plural forms: "couple" and "couples". The latter seems to be the commoner.

"Couple" used in the sense of a man and his wife is usually followed by a plural verb, as in "The couple are honeymooning". Often a singular verb is used, however, as in "The couple goes to bed early to save candles and ends up with twins". — a proverb.

cow. "cows", not "kine", is the usual plural form in present-day usage, as in "She fed them and fed the cows in the barn, fed the pigs, the horses, and the chickens" — SHERWOOD ANDERSON.

craft. (vessel(s)). The same form is used for both numbers, as in "all kinds of craft". "Crafts" is hardly ever used. "Aircraft" is also both singular and plural, as in "As you probably know, there is a natural limitation to the speed of aircraft in the forms in which we know them today". — Listener.

custom. The plural form "customs" is used in the sense of the payment levied upon imports from foreign countries. It is interesting to note that while both "custom-house" and "customs-house" are used, the plural form is invariably used in "customs officer", "customs law", etc.

deal. "A great (or good) deal of" is always singular, as in "There was a great deal of chattering". — JOHN MASEFIELD, "There is a great deal of noise and a great many coloured lights, but there is not much fun". — J B PRIESTLEY, and "Sanders made an attractive addition to our small company, and we all drank a great deal of beer together". — JAMES HILTON. (In the following sentence "a great deal of" is followed by a plural noun: "Before I was twelve I had visited Paris, Berne, Vienna, Budapest, Berlin, and Amsterdam, and seen a great deal of the countries of which these cities are capitals" — ROMER WILSON; notice that "a great deal of the countries" has a different meaning from that of "a great many of the countries", the difference being similar to that between "I have seen much of them recently." and "I have seen many of them recently".)

deer. The same form is used for both numbers, as in "Many red deer have been killed of late, but their venison is not popular" — Answers.

die. Two plural forms: "dice" and "dies". The former is used in the sense of the bone or ivory cubes used in games of chance and also as the name of such a game. The latter is used in the other senses of the word. Incidentally, when one cube used in dice is meant, "die" is far less usual than "one of the dice".

dozen. Two plural forms: "dozen" and "dozens". The former is used adjectivally, as in "three dozen eggs" and "several dozen eggs" (notice that "some dozen eggs" means not some dozens of eggs but about a dozen eggs, and that "some dozens of eggs" is the only correct expression for some dozens or eggs). It is also used (1) in cases where "of" represents an ellipsis (as for "bottles"), as in "five dozen of port", (2) before "of" and a pronoun, as in "two dozen of them" and "three dozen of these", and (3) before "of" and "the", "these", or "those" with a noun, as in "ten dozen of the(se) eggs". The plural form is used in all other cases, as in "dozens of eggs" and "dozens of them".

dress. The singular form with no "a" or "the" preceding it means clothes in general. The singular form with "a" or "the" preceding it means an outer garment worn by a woman, a girl, or sometimes an infant, as in "She loved clothes and colour, and was never more contented than when trying on a new dress". — BEVERLEY NICHOLS, and "When the girl turned him about he wanted to protest, but he only gazed intently at the magnificent dress of green silk with edges of silvery, glistening sequins reaching to her ankles, and the pure white fan in her hands" — H E BATES. The plural form means outer garments worn by women, girls, or sometimes infants.

duck. Two plural forms: "duck" and "ducks". The former is used as the name of an object of sport, as in "I go hunting for duck with old Peter". — ROLAND PERTWEE; often in the compound word "wild duck".

eaves. Singular by etymology, but treated as plural in usage. Since "eaves" is now always considered plural, a new singular, "eave" is sometimes used, as in "He found himself sitting under the eave of a barn". — JOHN GALSWORTHY.

enemy. Though "an enemy" always refers to a single person, "the enemy" may be used in the sense of a hostile force.

fish. Two plural forms: "fish" and "fishes". The former is far commoner than the latter, as in "At the tail of the pool two sound fish were rising with regularity, but in the backwater beyond the eddy the surface was still and unbroken". — ROLAND PERTWEE. The latter is used usually of two or more kinds of fish.

folk. Both the singular and the plural form are used in the sense of people in general or people of a special class. In the following sentence the plural form is preferred to the singular because of the "these": "'in America,' says Mr Coleridge 'these folks would own Fords'." — SUSAN ERTZ. In the following sentence "a folk" means a people or rather a large community: "He explained, however, that the Cape Dutch, who were the largest landowners in the country, were a suspicious folk who never did business with an Englishman, except to the latter's disadvantage." — EDGAR WALLACE.

foot. 1. Three plural forms: "feet", "foot", and "foots". The first is the most usual one, as in "Every person has two feet" and "The stick is two feet long". The second means foot-soldiers, as in "five thousand foot". (The singular "foot" is never used in the sense of a single foot-soldier; "a foot" or "the foot" means a regiment of foot-soldiers.) The third form means dregs. "Foot" is often used instead of "feet" in measurements, as in "I'm short and thickset and he's over six foot and about as far through as a wireless pole". — LESLIE HALWARD.

2. In the following phrases the singular form alone is used: "on foot", "set foot on", "put one's foot down" (meaning take up a firm position), "put one's foot in it" (meaning blunder).

formula. Two plural forms: "formulae" and "formulae". The former is now far commoner than the latter, which is restricted to mathematical and scientific English.

fowl. Two plural forms: "fowl" and "fowls". The former is used chiefly as the name of an object of sport, especially in the compound words "wildfowl" and "water-fowl". In the following sentence "fowls" is clearly not an object of sport: "He bought a score of fowls" — H E BATES.

friend. In the phrases "be friends (with)" and "make friends (with)", the plural form alone is used, as in "She was glad still to be friends with Titus". — SYLVIA TOWNSEND WARNER, and "In a low, confidential voice, interrupted at frequent intervals by loud, petulant questions from her listeners, she began an unenterprising and deplorably uninteresting story about a little girl who was good, and made friends with everyone on account of her goodness, and was finally saved from a mad bull by a number of rescuers who admired her moral character". — SAKI.

fruit. The singular form is often used collectively for the whole product of a plant or tree and for various fruits, as in "Others, again, searched the surrounding trees for fruit nuts, small birds and eggs." — EDGAR RICE BURROUGHS. "Fruits" is rarely used in the sense of various kinds of fruit.

game. The singular form is often used in the collective sense of animals and birds hunted for sport or food, as in "There is nothing of monotonous sameness in tracking down big game in the wilds, but generally a number of acute surprises." — Answers.

genius. Two plural forms: "geniuses" and "genii". The former means persons having genius. The latter is now used only as the plural of "genie".

grain. Generally speaking, "grain" means corn, "a grain" means a corn, and "grains" means corns.

grammar. "A grammar" means a book of grammar, and "grammars" means books of grammar.

grouse. The same form is used for both numbers, as in "I mentioned that I was haying a day's fishing here on my way to Donegal to shoot grouse, but did not add that Philippa, to whom I was newly engaged, was implicated in the grouse party, still less that it was my intention to meet her the next afternoon at Carrow Cross Junction, an hour away, and proceed with her to the home of her uncle, an hour or so further on". — E CE SOMERVILLE and MARTIN ROSS.

hair. In present-day usage, the singular form, not the plural, is used in a collective sense, as in "She had white hair and a black silk dress up to her neck". — WILLIAM SOMERSET MAUGHAM, and "She was standing now, quite naked, as she brushed out her long hair". — PEARL S BUCK. Even when more than one person is in question, the singular form is used instead of the plural, as in "These old men have white hair". "A hair" and "hairs" mean a thread and threads of hair respectively. In the phrase "grey hairs" (meaning old age or old people), however, the plural form alone is used.

half. When "half" is followed by "of" and a singular noun or pronoun, it is considered singular, as in "Half of it is good". When "half" is followed by "of" and a plural noun or pronoun, it is considered plural, as in "Half of them are good".

head. When "head" means an individual animal in a herd or flock, the same form is used for both numbers, as in "every head of cattle" and "a thousand head of cattle".

headquarters. Plural by etymology, but often considered singular in usage, as in "a headquarters".

holiday. The singular form often means not a single day but a vacation of any length, as in "During the first few days of the holiday Gerda felt that she would never be able to carry it through to the end". — EDWARD SACKVILLE-WEST. The plural form means a vacation, as in "the summer holidays", which has the same meaning as "the summer holiday". The use of a numeral before "holidays" to denote a vacation of so many days is incorrect, as in "thirty holidays"; the correct expressions are "a holiday of thirty days", "a thirty-day holiday", and "thirty days of holiday(s)".

horse. The singular form is used in the sense of horse-soldiers, as in "a thousand horse".

hundred. Two plural forms: "hundred" and "hundreds". The former is used when preceded by a numeral, as in "three hundred men", "several hundred men", "three hundred of them", ad "several hundred of them". The latter is used in "hundreds", "some hundreds", "several hundreds", etc, followed by "of". (Both "several hundred of them" and "several hundreds of them" are correct. "Six hundreds", "seven hundreds", etc. are not impossible, but they mean not six hundred, seven hundred, etc. individual units, but six, seven, etc. separate aggregates each of which is a hundred individual units. "Some hundred" means not some hundreds, but about a hundred.)

hundredweight. The singular form is usually used instead of the plural after a numeral, as in "a few hundredweight of coal".

ice. The plural form is used in the sense of portions of any kind of frozen confection, as in "Till then she was free to wander about as she chose, provided she made herself occasionally useful at the jumble stall, and saw that Dora and Evelyn did not eat too many ices". — BEVERLEY NICHOLS.

index. Two plural forms: "indexes" and "indices". The former is used in more general senses; the latter in mathematics.

lot. "A lot of" and "lots of" may both be singular and plural; it is not true to say that the former is always singular and the latter is always plural. The two phrases, both of which are more or less colloquial, may be used interchangeably; the number of the verb depends on that of the noun after the "of", "A lot of paper" and "lots of paper" are singular; "a lot of people" and "lots of people" are plural. "Please, sir, there are a lot of letters for you." — JAMES HILTON. "Of course, lots of it is, as you say, silly and bad, because people are largely silly and bad". — ROSE MACAULAY. (The italics of "are" are the author's, not mine, and have nothing to do with the point that the sentence is quoted to illustrate.)

man. The singular form not preceded by "a" or "the" is used in the sense of the human race, as in "A Negro sailor, hideously drunk, addressed Paul in no language known to man, and invited him to have a drink". — EVELYN WAUGH. The plural form "men" is sometimes used in almost the same sense, as in "Men will turn again with renewed interest to the animal world". — H G WELLS. The singular form is also used in contrast to "woman" used generically, as in "So woman domesticated man, as she domesticated the cow and the pig". — WILL DURANT.

manner. In the phrase "all manner of", the singular form alone is used, though the sense seems as if it required the plural form, as in "He had seen all manner of things, quaint, impressive, terrible, amusing, and unexpected". — WILLIAM SOMERSET MAUGHAM.

mass. "The masses" means the ordinary people, as in "In a series of poems he had satirized the rapacity of minor officials and called attention to the intolerable sufferings of the masses". — ARTHUR WALEY.

means. Plural by etymology, but considered either singular or plural in usage. In the sense of income etc, it is always plural, as in "My means are limited". In the sense of method(s), it is either singular or plural, as in "a means", "this means", "every means" (all singular), and "all means", "these means", "such means" (all plural). "Means" and "the means" are treated as singular or plural according as one way or more than one way is meant. "In these days of vulgar competition such means were not to be despised". — SUSAN ERTZ.

million. Two plural forms: "million" and "millions". See hundred.

Miss. To say "the Miss Smiths" is now more usual than to say "the Misses Smith"; the latter form is used chiefly in formal invitations and replies, printed lists of guests, etc. Of course, "the Misses Ann and Jane Smith" is the only form possible.

money. The plural form "moneys" (also "monies") is used in legal language in the sense of sums of money.

Mr. The plural form is "Messrs" (the abbreviation of the French word "Messieurs"), as in "(the) Messrs Smith", and "If Messrs Shaw and Garratt would take a glance at the biographical introduction to the last-named volume they would learn that Nesbitt was an Italian, so it was not unnatural for him to 'attach himself to the interests of Italy'," — Now and Then. When a numeral is used, "It is correct to say "(the) Mr Smiths". "The" is added at the beginning, as in "the two Mr Smiths".

Mrs. The plural form of "Mrs Smith" is either "the Mesdames Smith" or "the Mrs Smiths". ("Mesdames" is the plural form of the French word "Madame".) When a numeral is used, "the Mrs Smiths" is the only form used, as in "the two Mrs Smiths".

noise. "Noise" (as in "much noise"), "a noise", and "noises" are all correct. "There was a noise like huge sheets of paper being torn up by an angry man." — HUGH WALPOLE.

number. "A number of" is always plural, as in "Down in the safe there are a number of manuscripts". — JOHN DICKSON CARR.

order. The plural form alone is used in the phrases "the higher orders" and "the lower orders" (meaning "the higher and the lower classes of society" respectively), as in "Whatever the reason, the wedding was certainly an unparalleled success among the lower orders" — EVELYN WAUGH. The plural form is also used in the phrase "take orders", meaning become a clergyman.

pair. Two plural forms: "pair" and "pairs". The latter seems to be the commoner, as in "The smooth bow wave hove it up as it for a closer inspection, and then the ship, brought again to her course, turned her back on it with indifference, while twenty pairs of eyes on her deck stared in all directions trying to see — what they could see". — JOSEPH CONRAD.

paper. "A paper" and "papers" are not usually used in the sense of sheet(s) or piece(s) of paper, but in the sense of newspaper(s), essay(s), document(s), etc.

part. When "(a) part" is followed by "of" and a singular noun or pronoun, it is considered singular, as in "(A) part of it is good". When "(a) part" is followed by "of" and a plural noun or pronoun, it is considered plural, as in "(A) part of them are good."

penny. Two plural forms: "pennies" and "pence". The former is used of coins, and the latter of value, as in "Gone too are sundry minor pleasures, such as listening for the radio Time Signal and leaping up to make a half-minute adjustment; and, better still, squandering pennies in a lordly way on inquiring the hour of the telephone-operator". — Punch, and "I am therefore deducting sixpence" — E V LUCAS.

people. "A people" or "one people" means a nation, as in "The girl was virginal, and that attracted greatly the man of a people who cherish and reverence only one quality — maternity — more in tensely than they do virginity". — LOUISE JORDAN MILN, The plural form is "peoples", as in "It must be wise and penetrative in its understanding, for the Chinese have been above all peoples wise and penetrative in the understanding of the human heart". — PEARL S BUCK. It is in this sense only that "peoples" is used. The singular form may be used in the sense of persons, as in "many people", but mot in the sense or a person. (Incidentally, "one or two people" means one or two persons, but "a people or two", if ever used, means one or two nations.)

pick. When "pick" means the best ones (not one) of a group of things or persons, it is plural in usage; as in "But only the very pick are chosen to stay here at home". — JAMES AGEE.

plate. The singular form is used in the collective sense of table utensils of metal, as in "My wife keeps her jewels here too, and some of the gold plate". — HARRY GRAHAM.

property. (possession (s)). "A property" and "properties" are not used except when a landed estate and landed estates are meant; the correct expressions are "a piece of property" and "pieces of property". We say "The books and furniture are his property (not properties)".

proportion. When "proportion" is followed by "of" and a singular noun or pronoun, it is considered singular, as in "A large proportion of it is good". When "proportion" is followed by "of" and a plural noun or pronoun, it is considered plural, as in "To this it must be added that a considerable proportion of the newspaper extracts are, as is sometimes apparent, not from the editorial, but from the correspondence columns; the names attached are merely an assurance that the passages have actually appeared in print, and not been now invented to point a moral". — H W FOWLER and F G FOWLER.

rain. "The rains" means the rainy season, especially in a tropical country. "A rain" means a fall of rain; "rains" means falls of rain.

rank. "The ranks" means common soldiers, or the lower classes of society.

rest. Singular or plural according to the sense, as in "The rest of my history consists of a list of my publications". — GERALD BULLETT, and "Outside were the rest of the wild dogs". — JACK LONDON.

riches. Singular by etymology, but treated as plural in usage.

rickets. Treated as either singular or plural in usage.

sail. The singular form is often used as a collective term for ships, as in "a fleet of thirty sail".

salmon. The same form is used for both numbers.

score (twenty). Two plural forms: "score" and "scores", for the use of which see dozen.

series. 1. The same form is used for both numbers.

2. "A series of", "this series of", and "that series of" are singular, as in "There was a big series of nineteenth-century baffle scenes, mostly good prints from pictures by Edith Thompson". — LORD PONSONBY.

sheep. The same form is used for both numbers, as in "She came out of it the next moment, as a flock of sheep met her in Sandhurst". — SHEILA KAYE-SMITH.

shell. (explosive projectile). The singular form is often used in a collective sense.

shot. There is the plural form "shots", but the singular form is generally used in a collective sense (treated as either singular or plural), as in "Tis true the guns were shotted, and one of the round shot knocked a hole in Farmer Johnstone's barn, but nobody thought much of that in such a season of rejoicing". — RICHARD BARHAM MIDDLETON.

sister. See brother 2.

species. The same form is used for both numbers.

stock. The singular form is often used in the collective sense of domestic animals kept on a farm etc, as in "Then she settled down to feed stock". — SHERWOOD ANDERSON.

stone (weight). The same form is usually used for both numbers, as in "Now she weighed eleven stone, which was too much, but not, on the whole, a very great price to pay for peace of mind." —MARGARET KENNEDY. "Stones", however, is also used.

store. The plural form is used in the sense of a supply of goods of a specific kind, or needed for a specific purpose, as in "military stores". It is also used in the sense of a large shop selling goods of various kinds; when used in this sense, it is preceded either by "the" or by "a", as in "I was in a large stores the other week, buying a birthday present for a little friend, and the girl in the toy department persuasively tried to sell me a certain grotesque creature which she assured me was the 'very latest', and most fashionable toy of the moment." — Pearson's Weekly.

summons. Singular. The plural form is "summonses".

swine. The same form is used for both numbers, as in "It is, as you know, said of the Lady Circe that she turned men into swine, but this lady turns swine into men, and what could be more agreeable than that?" — MICHAEL ARLEN.

tear. "A tear" means a tear-drop; "tears" means tear-drops. Unlike "sweat", "saliva", "urine", etc, "tear" is not the name of a liquid, but the name of a drop of a liquid. "Have you any personal objection to my dropping a tear?" — ANTHONY HOPE. "She shook in a passion of tears. — JOHN MASEFIELD.

thousand. See hundred.

troop. The singular form means a cavalry unit. The plural form preceded by a low numeral means units of cavalry artillery or soldiers in answered vehicles, But the plural form preceded by a high numeral means soldiers; thus, "a thousand troops" means a thousand soldiers.

trout. The same form is used for both numbers, as in "For, save at eventide, or in very special circumstances, trout of personality do not frequent open water where they must compete for every insect with the wind, the lightning-swift sweep of swallows and martins, and even the laborious pursuit of predatory dragon-flies with their bronze wings and bodies like rods of coloured glass." — ROLAND PERTWEE. The plural form "trouts" is sometimes used, but only of two or more kinds of trout.

vermin. The singular form is used usually in a collective sense, and is treated usually as a plural.

woman. 1. For "woman" used generically see man.

2. Nouns in which "woman" is used attributively take "women" in the plural, as in "women students".

3. "Woman's" and "women's" are often used without real distinction.

work. "A work" and "works" used in the sense of a task and tasks are far from common, though not impossible.

Exercise 29

Correct the mistakes in number in the following sentences (some of which, however, contain no such mistakes):

1. His teacher has given him a very valuable advice on the study of English.

2. The old man has grey beards.

3. The girl is writing on the blackboard with a red chalk.

4. The company has decided to dismiss their chief clerk.

5. My brother works in the customs-house.

6. I found a great deal of boys in the garden.

7. The young man is fond of fine dresses.

8. Her family sold its old house, and went to live with an old friend of theirs.

9. He is said to be no longer friend with her.

10. The boy is tending five sheep.

11. Most Chinese people have black hairs.

12. We shall have twenty holidays in the winter vacation.

13. The committee that was appointed yesterday will hold its first meeting this afternoon.

14. A number of letters has been received in answer to the advertisement for a translator.

15. An his properties are kept at home.

16. The whole staff was very busy and so they were not in a position to do any extra work.

17. Her eyes seemed about to shed much tear.

18. Riches are not what they want.

19. The army, which is a large one, are eating their breakfast.

20. The teachers are going to write two series of English readers.

21. I have some dozen eggs; you may take twenty of them.

22. The whole class is writing their exercises.

23. Where is the fleet going?

24. This college used to admit woman students only.

25. The rest of my books has been contributed to the local library.

26. They have a great many works to do in the office.

27. The public is watching the situation with intense interest.

28. I correspond with one or two people in Africa.

29. Half of the party were foreigners.

30. The nation is noted for their perfect social institutions.

79. Numerals in Plural. It is perhaps peculiar to English that numerals may take the plural form.

1. China produced a profusion of beautiful art, some delightful poetry, astonishing cookery, and thousands of millions of glowingly pleasant lives from generation to generation. — H G WELLS.

2. Hundreds of ancient trees are to be cut down; where stood and stands Heathfield House the new plan will demand room for seventy villa residences. — OSWALD BARRON.

3. Lombardy poplars rose out from the elms, near and far, in twos and threes, in longer or shorter lines, and at one point grouping themselves like the pinnacles of a cathedral. — EDWARD THOMAS.

There is the phrase "at sixes and sevens", meaning in confusion.

All the people who were interested in these league of nations projects were at sixes and sevens among themselves because they had the most vague, heterogeneous, and untidy assumptions about what the world of men was, what it had been, and therefore of what it could be. — H G WELLS.

In mathematics, such expressions as "two threes" and "four sixes" are used.

It is interesting to note that "the twenties", "the thirties", etc mean the years between 19 and 30, between 29 and 40, etc. in a person's life or a century, also, in the range of temperature.

1. In profile, Hellmut was an ageless and contemplative warrior: in full face a terrified, but determined and rather grasping, young man in the twenties. — EDWARD SACKVILLE-WEST.

2. The doctor often came in to chat with the old man, to hear stories of dead and forgotten celebrities whose names were famous in the eighties and the late seventies. — EDGAR WALLACE.

80. Number in Nouns Used as Adjectives. A noun used as an adjective sometimes takes the singular form even if it takes the plural form when used as a noun, as in "billiard ball" and "customhouse". The plural form, however, is often used, as in "clothes brush", "goods train", and "savings bank". Both "trouser pocket" and "trousers-pocket", are used.

In such expressions as "ten-dollar note", "five-year-old boy", and "sixty-mile journey", the singular form is far more usual than the plural.

When a noun in the possessive case is used as an adjective, it is usually singular or plural according as the noun it modifies is singular or plural. This is not at all logical, but such is usage. "Bird's nest" and "birds' nests" are used as singular and plural respectively, though one nest may contain more than one bird. "Printer's error" and "printers' errors" are used as singular and plural respectively, though a number of errors may have been made by a single printer. "Woman's college" is found along with "women's college", though such a college certainly is not a one-woman one. Incidentally, in "lovers' quarrel", the singular form "lover's" cannot be used because it takes more than one person to quarrel.

81. Number and Articles. In Section 70 I have written "the singular and plural numbers". This is similar to the "the second and third centuries" in the following sentence.

By the second and third centuries A. D. the overtaxed and overstrained imperial machine was already staggering towards its downfall. — H G WELLS.

According to usage, both "the singular and plural numbers" and "the singular and the plural number" are correct; similarly, both the second and third centuries" and "the second and, the third century" are correct. The general rule is that if the "the" is not repeated, the plural form is required, and that if the "the" is repeated, the singular form is required. With regard to "a", however, the article is always repeated and the singular form is always used, as in "a black and a white cat" (not "a black and white cats").

In order to avoid ambiguity, we sometimes have to depart from what I have called the general rule. "The black and the white cat" undoubtedly means two cats, one black and one white. But "the black and white cats" may have several meanings: (1) two cats, one black and one white, (2) two cats both of which are both black and white, (3) more than two cats some of which are black and some of which are white, (4) more than two cats all of which are both black and white. For the first meaning, "the black and the white cat" is recommended. For the second meaning, "the two black-and-white cats" is recommended. For the third meaning, "the black and the white cats" is recommended. For the fourth meaning, "the black-and-white cats" is recommended. (The fourth form may also be used for the second meaning when it is not necessary to say whether two or more than two cats are meant.)

82. Plural Subject with Singular Verb. When a plural subject denotes a single conception, it takes a singular verb.

1. Three thousand a year was certainly worth having, and she knew already that should she desire, she could be his wife. — BEVERLEY NICHOLS.

2. I think sevenpence was a fair price for what we saw. — J B PRIESTLEY.

3. Even the fifteen shillings was more than many Kaffirs were prepared to spend on sanctifying their unions, and most of them in those days came together like any other of the earth's creatures, hoping vaguely that the Lord would understand how hard it was for a Kaffir to save fifteen shillings for a wedding in the church, and would excuse them. — SARAH GERTRUDE MILLIN.

4. You know, I lived in China all my life practically, and the eleven months I spent in America when I came before was the longest period I'd been here since college days. — World-Telegram.

5. A few lives saved here and there is no small reckoning to a chap's credit. — ELEANOR THORNE.

6. Naturally the Five Towns was tickled. — ARNOLD BENNETT. (The Five Towns are a pottery district in Staffordshire, England, represented in Bennett's stories by Turnhill, Bursley, Hanbridge, Knype, and Longshaw. Here the term is treated as singular because their inhabitants are meant as a whole. Elsewhere Bennett wrote "The Five Towns seem to cling together for safety")

7. Too much brain and brawn is going to waste in British prisons today. — Answers.

8. But getting up and landing upon fairly smooth water is easier than getting into bed. — H G WELLS.

9. Going to bed early and starting work early next day is part of that efficiency. — ETHEL MANNIN.

10. To insure jewellery and to pretend that it has been stolen is common enough still, though it has become a game full of hidden dangers. — BENNETT COPPLESTONE.

"The United States" used as the name of a country is considered singular.

The United States is constitutionally incapacitated, therefore, from the kind of foreign policy that has kept Europe for so long constantly on the verge of war. — H G WELLS.

The following phrases are all considered singular:

bread and butter. end and aim. the long and the short of it. slow and steady. sum and substance. truth and honesty.

In colloquial English, "there is" or "there's" is often used before a plural noun instead of "there are".

There's many feeling that way. — JOHN MASEFIELD.

This construction had better be avoided in formal writing.

In the following sentence, "was" was used instead of "were" because only one of the ideas was in the author's mind at the time:

In that world, then, there was once upon a time a Commanding Officer and a Northman. — JOSEPH CONRAD.

"Were" would have been more natural, however. Of course, the author would not have written "A Commanding Officer and a Northman was ...".

83. Some Knotty Points of Number. Below are some knotty points of number:

1. In mathematical formulas usage varies in such sentences as "Four times six — twenty-four" and "Four and six — ten". Both "is" and "are" are correct. (We say "Four sixes make twenty-four", however, not "makes".)

2. "More than one" is singular, agreeing with a singular noun and taking a singular verb, though its sense is necessarily plural.

More than one meadow was trenched, apparently by a dried watercourse, showing flags, rushes, and a train of willows. — EDWARD THOMAS.

In the following sentence, which is quoted from the preface to Professor's H C Wyld's The Universal English Dictionary: "are current" should be changed to "is current" ("are current" is used perhaps because "both are" follows.):

The pronunciations indicated are those current in good society, and where more than one pronunciation of the same word are current, both are given, that preferred by the Editor being put first.

3. "One and a half" agrees with a plural noun but takes a singular verb.

4. "One or two" is plural, agreeing with a plural noun and taking a plural verb.

There were one or two things she had to see to in Brighton, so I came on ahead — to break the news, as it were. — Tit-Bits.

5. "Many a(n)" is singular, agreeing with a singular noun and taking a singular verb.

Many an honest Inn calls itself an hotel. — HILAIRE BELLOC.

6. "Every" followed by two or more nouns is singular.

(1) Every attitude and movement was expressive of perfectly organized activity. — ROLAND PERTWEE.

(2) Actually the most cheerful "prison" in the world is Bolshevo, a garden city just outside Moscow, where every man, woman, and child is a criminal. — Answers.

7. "No" followed by two or more singular nouns is singular.

And, secondly, there has hitherto existed in the United States no organization for and no tradition of what one may call non-assimilable possessions. — H G WELLS.

Exercise 30

A.

Write ten sentences each containing a plural subject with a singular verb.

B.

Write sentences containing in the subject (1) "more than one", (2) "one and a half", (3) "one or two", (4) "many a", (5) "every" followed by two or more nouns, and (6) "no" followed by two or more singular nouns.

84. Gender and Sex. Gender, as you must know, indicates sex. But gender does not always agree with sex. Male or female beings may be considered of the neuter gender. They may be considered masculine or feminine without reference to their real sex. Sexless things may be considered masculine or feminine.

85. Male or Female Beings Considered Neuter. All living things have sex. But animals are often considered neuter when they are treated as mere things and their sex is disregarded.

1. The valiant little beast was striving hard for life; its red back writhed and strained. — OSWALD BARRON.

2. One of the oldest, certainly one of the best-known, of all stories is of the dog which ran off with a piece of meat and saw its reflection in a stream. — ARTHUR MEE.

When thought of as intelligent beings, animals are not considered neuter.

1. The brown owl nibbled his fingers in greeting. — H M TOMLINSON.

2. The little goose, delighted that people were again kind and respectful to her, waddled down to the gate, making happy noises. — LIAM O'FLAHERTY.

It is interesting to note that the same animal may be considered neuter in one sentence and considered masculine or feminine in the next.

One of the oldest, certainly one of the best-known, of all stories is of the dog which ran off with a piece of meat and saw its reflection in a stream. Thinking the piece of meat in the water to be bigger than the one he held in his mouth, he tried to seize it, and in doing so lost the good dinner he might have had. — ARTHUR MEE.

Young children in general are often considered neuter and referred to by "it". The same may be said of even an individual child, though the child's parents or nurse generally uses "he" or "she".

1. I should like every child to have its peculiar spoon. — R W CHAPMAN.

2. It needs no blight psychologist to point out that a child may bear the scars from this kind of treatment for the rest of its life. — Answers.

3. That was the nature of Cork Concannon; if he had seen a baby crying for milk, he would have shed tears, too, and bought it a bottle of champagne. — GERALD KERSH.

86. Animals Considered Masculine or Feminine Without Reference to Sex. When thought of as an intelligent being, an animal is considered not neuter but masculine or feminine — often without reference to sex, however. This is no doubt due to the difficulty of finding out the sex of many animals; for instance, when you see a cat, or a sparrow, you do not know its sex at all. The fact is that some animals (for example, dogs) are usually considered masculine and some (for example, cats) are usually considered feminine (perhaps there are more animals of the former kind than those of the latter).

87. Sexless Things Considered Masculine or Feminine. There are sexless things that are treated as if they had sex. The best-known of such things is a ship or a boat, which is usually considered feminine (even when it has a masculine name).

1. So I'll just tell you that the ship was of a very ornamental sort once, with lots of grace and elegance and luxury about her. — JOSEPH CONRAD.

2. I was shown one tidy-sized vessel, in dock not far away, that has a very odd routine of her own. — J B PRIESTLEY.

When a relative pronoun is required to refer to a ship or a boat, however, "which" is used instead of "who" or "whom".

A month later they arrived at Freetown, where they chartered a small sailing-vessel, the Fuwalda, which was to bear them to their final destination. — EDGAR RICE BURROUGHS.

Railwaymen often use "she" or "her" to refer to a train or a locomotive. Motor car owners often use "she" to refer to their car. Some people use "he", "his", or "him" to refer to their pipe or watch.

When a country is regarded as a personal agent, it is considered feminine.

England, as she is today, may well be regarded as the product of persons of the most disagreeable type. — BEN TRAVERS.

Unlike a ship or a boat, a country may be referred to by "who" or "whom".

Viborg, the Finnish port which has been the scene of so much fighting, formerly belonged to Sweden, who founded it in 1293. — Answers.

The world and any city or town may also be considered feminine.

In no mood does Rome ever betray dose who love her. — ETHEL MANNIN.

Nature (personified) is considered feminine.

Why David or anyone else should have chosen to fall in love with Dinah was one of those mysteries which Nature keeps secret in her own heart. — SARAH GERTRUDE MILLIN.

Of other personified sexless things it may be mentioned that the sun is masculine and the moon is feminine, that "time" and "love" are masculine, and that abstract notions are mostly feminine. (Such personification is not common in ordinary prose.)

88. Masculine and Feminine Nouns Used as Nouns of Common Gender. There are a number of nouns of the masculine and nouns of the feminine gender that are used as nouns of the common gender when the question of sex is not important.

bee (feminine), cat (feminine), colt (masculine), dog (masculine), duck (feminine), goose (feminine), horse (masculine), Jew (masculine), lion (masculine), tiger (masculine).

We may also say that these nouns are properly of the common gender but are also used to denote one particular sex.

For the generic use of "man" and "men" see man in Section 78. In this use "man" is still considered masculine. Similarly, when "a man" is used in the sense of a person and "no man" is used in the sense of no person, they are still considered masculine.

89. Feminine Nouns Ending in "-ess". As you must know, "actor" and "author" are masculine, and "actress" and "authoress" are feminine. Below are some more pairs:

adventure

adventuress

manager

manageress

editor

editress

patron

patroness

god

goddess

poet

poetess

heir

heiress

proprietor

proprietress

instructor

instructress

waiter

waitress

1. For one incredible year I was fashion editress of a society journal. — E ARNOT ROBERTSON.

2. One is a nurse and gymnastic instructress, three are tailors, one a bookkeeper, and one a shirtmaker. — The Children's Newspaper.

3. I am not surprised that some of her friends have already hoisted her flag on the poems; for, though the fact was generally unknown or neglected, Mary Coleridge was a poetess. — ROBERT BRIDGES.

With some of these pairs the masculine form is usually used of a woman instead of the feminine when there is no special reason for indicating her sex. Among these masculine forms may be mentioned "author", "editor", "instructor", "manager", "poet", and "proprietor".

Among the masculine forms that are not used of women may be mentioned "actor", "god", "heir", and "waiter". This is apparently because the indication of sex is considered quite important in regard to these pairs of nouns; for instance, whether a dramatic performer is a man or a woman is usually of sufficient importance for mention.

There are some feminine forms ending in "-ess" that are hardly ever in any but facetious use, such as "doctress", "singeress", and "teacheress". You had better not use them.

90. Nouns Ending in "-man". Some nouns ending in "-man" denote males only.

kinsman, madman, nobleman. (The feminine equivalents of these words are: kinswoman, madwoman, noblewoman.)

Some nouns ending in "-man" may denote either sex, though they have their feminine equivalents.

chairman, horseman, spokesman, statesman. (The feminine equivalents are: chairwoman, horsewoman, spokeswoman, stateswoman.)

The following nationality-names denote males only:

Dutchman, Englishman, Frenchman, Irishman, Scotsman or Scotchman. (Their feminine equivalents are: Dutchwoman, Englishwoman, Frenchwoman, Irishwoman, Scotswoman or Scotchwoman. Incidentally, the words beginning with "Scotch-" are not used in Scotland.) In the plural ("-men"), however, these words may be used of both sexes when the people are mentioned as a whole.

It is to be noted that the last syllable of the two following words is not the English word "man", and that they are of the common gender:

German, Ottoman. (The plural forms of these words end in "mans", not in "men".)

91. Words of Common Gender Made Masculine or Feminine. There are occasions when a noun of the common gender that has not its masculine or feminine equivalent has to have the sex indicated. This can nearly always be done by using "male" or "female" before the noun:

male artist, female artist. male cousin, female cousin. male fox, female fox. male lecturer, female lecturer. male rat, female rat. male typist, female typist.

For men, "man", "gentleman", and "boy" may be used instead of "male". For women, "woman", "lady", and "girl" may be used instead of "female". Below are some notes on these words:

1. "Man" seems to be little used except in the compound word "manservant" and in "man cook" and "man friend" (meaning a male friend of a woman's).

2. "Gentleman" seems to be little used except in "gentleman friend" (meaning a male friend of a woman's). (It is indeed much used in such expressions as "gentleman farmer" and "gentleman scholar", but here the use of "gentleman" indicates social position rather than sex.)

3. "Boy" is applied to boys only, as in "boy-child" and "boy cousin". (Often the use of "boy" emphasizes age rather than sex; thus, "boy actor" means an actor who is under age rather than an actor who is a male. "Boy-friend" means a young male friend of a woman's or girl's.)

4. "Woman" is used interchangeably with "female". See woman in Section 78. ("Woman friend" means a female friend of a man's.)

5. "Lady" as applied to names indicating "higher" vocations, as in "lady doctor" and "lady clerk", is as much used as "woman" and "female", though it is sometimes objected to. "Lady" as applied to "lower" vocations, as in "lady cook" and "lady nurse", implies that though the employment is usually regarded as involving "inferiority" in social position, yet the woman in question is to be treated as a lady because of her status, education, or refinement. ("Lady friend" means a female friend of a gentleman's.)

6. "Girl" is applied to girls only, as in "girl worker" and "girl baby". (Often the use of "girl" emphasizes age rather than sex; thus, "girl musician" means a female musician who is under age rather than a musician who is a female. "Girl-friend" means a young female friend of a man's or boy's.)

92. Gender and Number. The use of "which" and "who" in the sentence quoted about "company" in Section 74 raises a question of gender as well as a question of number. Care should be taken in using pronouns to refer to nouns of this kind.

Exercise 31

Write sentences containing (1) a masculine noun considered neuter, (2) a feminine noun considered neuter, (3) the name of a ship or a boat considered feminine, (4) the name of a country considered feminine, (5) "man" used generically, (6) the plural form of "German", (7) a noun of the common gender made masculine, and (8) a noun of the common gender made feminine.

93. Possessive Case and Of-phrase. The possessive, as you must know, is the only case in nouns that is indicated by a case-ending, which is 's", or simply the apostrophe. As you also know, the possessive case and an of-phrase often have the same meaning. It does not seem possible to give any hard and fast rules as to when to use which form. The fact seems to be (1) that with living beings the choice usually depends on euphony where there is no question of meaning, and (2) that with lifeless things the possessive case used to be less used in ordinary prose than in poetry and higher literary style, but today it is much used by many writers, especially in journalistic literature.

94. Subjective and Objective Meanings. English not being a perfectly logical language, the possessive case and the of-phrase have both subjective and objective meanings. "John's fear" means the fear felt by John: the meaning is subjective. "The fear of John" means either the fear felt by John of somebody or something or the fear felt by somebody else of him: the meaning is either subjective or objective. "A fear of failure" can of course mean only a fear felt by one or more persons of failure: the meaning is objective. "John's arrest" means John's being arrested: the meaning is objective. "The arrest of John" also means John's being arrested: the meaning is objective. Both "John's arrival" and "the arrival of John" means John's arriving: the meaning is subjective. Both "John's education" and "the education of John" means John's being educated: the meaning is objective. "The love of John" means either the love felt by John or the love felt by somebody else for John: the meaning is either subjective or objective. It depends on the particular word concerned whether the meaning is subjective or objective or capable of being of either nature.

95. Possessive Plurals. In "John's books" and "my brother's books", we have the possessive singular. In "my brothers' books", we have the possessive plural. The possessive plural is seldom used, perhaps because the plural is usually pronounced exactly the same as the singular. "The books of my brothers" is generally preferred to "my brothers' books". Below are more examples:

The caps of the boys; the boys' caps

the cottages of the villagers; the villagers' cottages

the opinions of the experts; the experts' opinions

the children of our friends; our friends' children

I do not mean to say, however, that the possessive plural should never be used. It is generally avoided only when actual possession is denoted. In certain more or less fixed phrases it is the only form possible, as in "schoolboys' clothes" and "birds' nests".

96. Noun Phrases and Possessive Case. A noun phrase can be put in the possessive case.

1. But the chairman of the committee's triumph is so gentle and unchallenged, and his sway is absolute. — E V LUCAS.

2. Another unprofitable raid was made on the Earl of Suffolk's collection. — Answers.

The possessive case of a noun phrase, however, is usually avoided when it looks or sounds awkward. Thus, "the chairman of the committee of inquiry's triumph" is to be avoided, though correct, and "the triumph of the chairman of the committee of inquiry" is to be preferred. Below are more examples:

the father of our teacher of English; our teacher of English's father.

the reputation of the author of the dictionary of present-day English usage;

the author of the dictionary of present-day English usage's reputation.

"Anyone else", "everybody else", etc have the possessive forms "anyone else's", "everybody else's", etc, which are far more idiomatic than the pedantic "anyone's else", "everybody's else", etc.

It was her pavement as much as anyone else's. — P S PRITCHETT.

A noun phrase put in the possessive case sometimes leads to ambiguity. Thus, "the son of John's daughter" means, if "son of John's" is used as a noun phrase, John's granddaughter, but the whole expression means John's grandson, if the "of" is, as it should be, regarded as governing the "daughter".

The following sentence contains an interesting point:

"Y'are very snug in here" piped old Mr Woodifield, and he peered out of the great, green leather armchair by his friend, the boss's desk, as a baby peers out of its pram. — KATHERINE MANSFIELD,

"His friend's, the boss's", "his friend's, the boss", and "his friend's desk, the boss" would all be incorrect.

97. "S" Repeated and "Of" Repeated. "'S" repeated once or more times and "of" repeated once or more times are both possible, as in "my friend's brother's daughter's teacher's son" and "the son of the teacher of the daughter of the brother of my friend". Of course, both constructions are awkward. When there is any choice, the repetition of "of" seems less awkward than that of "s".

98. Possessive Case and Lifeless Things. Grammars in general say that the possessive case is not usually used of lifeless things; they call such expressions as "the hill's top" and "my room's door" incorrect. There is a tendency, however, to use it of lifeless things among a great many present-day writers, especially journalists.

1. America's oldest town is Panama. — Answers.

2. Liverpools' Chinatown is rapidly dwindling. — J B PRIESTLEY.

3. One citizen climbed alone to the mountain's top, and the rest hid themselves in sheltered places. — LORD DUNSANY.

4. The ship's course was altered to pass the object close; for it was necessary to have a good look at what one could see. — JOSEPH CONRAD.

5. Gerda came down to the water's edge and stood looking across the landscape, over which evening had settled as it were the soft white palm of a hand. — EDWARD SACKVILLE-WEST.

6. He had, besides, a deeper dread of the world's contaminations. — LYTTON STRACHEY.

With ultra-fashionable journalists it seems as if every noun could be put in the possessive case. You are advised, however, not to use the possessive of any noun that you have not seen treated in that way.

99. Idiomatic Uses of Possessive Case. Apart from the above-mentioned free use, there are certain idiomatic uses of the possessive case with names of lifeless things. The most important one is in the indication of measure or extent, mostly of time and space.

1. It was a day by itself, coming after a fortnight's storm and rain. — WILLIAM HALE WHITE.

2. His stillness was so intense that when, after an hour's silence, he spoke, the effect was extraordinary. — ROSITA FORBES.

3. On a moment's reflection it had the proper inevitability of tragedy. — ANTHONY HOPE.

4. They offered a three years' (or probably more) engagement in Washington and two hundred pounds a years. — LOUISE JORDAN MILN.

5. He had been left a vision that grew clearer with each year — of an England for whom days of ease were nearly over, of a nation steering into channels where a hair's breadth of error might be catastrophic. — JAMES HILTON.

6. Instantly he cheered up; he held her at arm's length. — MARY ARDEN.

7. Happily the fire was of no importance, and it was extinguished before it had done more than about five pounds' worth of damage and alarmed more than about five thousand visitors to the City. — ARNOLD BENNETT.

8 In one case, a young man of eighteen was charged with attempting to steal one shilling's worth of cigarettes. — Answers.

The possessive case is also used of nouns denoting time without any idea of measure or extent.

1. I'd give all the books in your library for this morning's Herald Tribune. — JAMES HILTON.

2. I will agree to this year's dividend on condition that we drop this foreign business in future, lock, stock, and barrel. — JOHN GALSWORTHY.

3. You ought — forgive me for saying so — to give the boy promotion for this afternoon's work. — H A VACHELL.

4. So ended the first day's play. — W A DARLINGTON.

5. Upon my return from the desert or the sea, I would try to remedy the lack by glutting myself with daily news, only to discover one day's facts to be next day's fiction. — ZANE GREY.

Below are some of the fixed phrases in which the possessive is used:

out of harm's way.

at swords' points.

to one's heart's content.

from week's end to week's end.

in luck's way.

at one's wit's (or wits') end.

There is the formula "for … 's sake", such as "for God's sake", "for mercy's sake", and "art for art's sake". It is interesting to note that when the word in question ends in the s sound the "s" is not used and the apostrophe either stands alone or is itself omitted, as in "for conscience' sake" and "for conscience sake", and that some writers omit the "'s" even when the noun does not end in the is sound, as in "for brevity sake" and "for fashion sake".

100. Noun Omitted after Possessive. After a possessive the noun denoting a house, a shop, etc is often omitted if it may be readily understood.

1. No, Ma'am — he's lunching at Mr Staple's — SHEILA KAYE-SMITH.

2. How kind of you to remember — with such violets — our meeting at Miss Townsend's. — LOUISE JORDAN MILN.

3. The seated company at a big sale at Christie's is as unchanging as an ordinary congregation. — E V LUCAS. (Christie's is a centre of art sales in London. James Christie was an auctioneer, and his eldest son, also called James Christie, took over his father's business, and moved to the present premises in King Street in 1824.)

4. The sales were at Barker's and Derry and Tom's. — ROSE MACAULAY.

5. After that I was engaged in selling small boats on commission in a yacht-broker's. — E ARNOT ROBERTSON.

6. The boat that brought the meat from the butcher's must have shot along those lanes of rippling silver with the strange smoothness of the gondola. — G K CHESTERTON.

101. "Of" before Possessive. "A friend of the farmer's", "a relative of John's", "a phrase of Shakespeare's'', etc illustrate a very common usage. Its origin may be doubtful. But it is such a fixed construction that in most cases "a friend of the farmer", "a relative of John", "a phrase of Shakespeare" are no more English than "a friend of me".

1. A cousin of his father's had offered him a place there and it seemed the only chance of getting a paying job. — MARTIN ARMSTRONG.

2. This picture was made from a drawing done by a friend of my father's four months before I was born. — EDGAR LEE MASTERS.

Often there is a distinction between "of …" and "of …'s". Thus, "a story of Smith" means a story told about Smith, but "a story of Smith's" means a story told by Smith.

102. One Noun in Two Cases. As there is no difference between the nominative and the objective form of a noun, it does not seem to be possible to go wrong in the use of a noun in either of these two cases. It is a not very uncommon mistake, however, to place a noun in such a manner that it acts both as subject and as object.

The occupation of the mouths of the Yalu, however, his Majesty considered undesirable, and should only be carried out in the last resort. — The Times. ("Occupation" is first the object of "considered" and then the subject of "should only be carried out". The mistake can be corrected by merely changing "should only be" to "only to be".)

Exercise 32

Write ten sentences each with the possessive of a noun denoting something lifeless, ten sentences each with a noun omitted after a possessive, and ten sentences each with "of" before a possessive.

103. Pronoun and its Antecedent. The antecedent of a pronoun, as the very name indicates ("ante" means before), precedes it.

1. The old woman had to get back before darkness came if she could. — SHERWOOD ANDERSON.

2. On a summer afternoon an old man was walking along the narrow stony road that led from his village to the sea. — LIAM O'FLAHERTY.

3. Novelists, although they do not much like one to say so, are terribly conventional, especially when they write about men. — E M DELAFIELD.

But there are sentences in which the pronoun precedes its antecedent.

1. We see also into a charming, simple family life, an expression at its modern best of the old Chinese family, which has stood for centuries, as the basis of the world's most lasting civilization. — PEARL S BUCK.

2. There, in one corner, his head resting on a window-ledge set out prettily with pink and white geraniums and a solitary rich blue gloxinia, an old man was sitting. — H E BATES.

3. When he was talking to her the newspaperman was greatly struck by the beauty of her face and hands, and he put her in touch with a noted commercial photographer who was a friend of his. — Answer.

This construction should be avoided when possible. But I do not think it a good rule always to avoid it. To take the three above-quoted sentences separately: (1) "An expression of the old Chinese family at its modern best" could be used, but then the noun "family" would be a little too far off from the relative pronoun "which". (2) "An old man was sitting" could be used immediately after "in one corner", but then the sentence would be more loosely constructed; to change "his" to "an old man's" and to change "an old man" to "he" would be impossible. (3) It would be correct to write "When the newspaperman was talking to her he was ...", but the sentence seems better with the noun used in the principal clause.

(The term "principal" is occasionally used instead of the far commoner "antecedent", no doubt owing to the fact that what the pronoun represents may occur after, not before, the pronoun.)

104. Lack of a Common-gender Third-person-singular Pronoun. It is curious that the English language has no pronoun standing for he-or-she, his-or-her, or him-or-her.

If anyone therefore is bent, for want of other occupation, on writing an autobiography, he or she will find on my list a precedent. — AUGUSTINE BIRRELL.

Here "he" or "they" might have been used instead of "he or she". In such cases usage seems to point to the conclusions (1) that "he or she" is recommended only when the question of sex is important; (2) that "he" is recommended when the question of sex is not important ("he" may be regarded as standing for the common gender); and (3) that "they" should always be avoided because it is ungrammatical.

105. A Question of Person. "Each of you'', "many of you", "most of us", "some of us", etc are, strictly speaking, in the third person. The "yourself" and "our" in the following sentences, therefore, should he changed to "himself" and "their" respectively :

1. Each of you must work that out for yourself. — The American Magazine.

2. It is no exaggeration to say that most of us use twice as much water in our baths as is necessary for cleanliness and comfort. — Answers.

It is illogical, though common, to treat "... of you" as if it were in the second person and to treat "... of us" as if it were in the first person.

ExerciseExercise 33

Correct the mistakes in the use of pronouns in the following sentences (some of which, however, contain no such mistakes):

1. Everybody should love their country.

2. Each of us is anxious to hear from each of you.

3. Anybody who devotes himself to the subject ought to have a copy of the book.

4. I am afraid that most of you have forgotten about your lessons.

5. Some of us lost our belongings during the storm.

6. As anybody can see for themselves, our terms are quite acceptable.

7. All of you are expected to hand in your exercises by the end of the week.

8. Thank you very much for your kindness in sending your comments to us.

9. Each of us may find ourselves famous some day.

10. Everywhere you look you can find subjects for composition.

106. Case in Pronouns. Case in pronouns is not so simple a matter as it may seem to you. You are supposed to have learnt grammar enough to have done Exercise 16 correctly. But there are certain points that you have to take care of before you can write idiomatically.

107. Objective Used as Predicate Nominative. According to grammar, the "me" in the three following sentences should be changed to "I" because the form required is the nominative, not the objective:

1. That's me. — RICHARD HUGHES.

2. It may be me next time. — EVELYN WAUGH.

3. Ethel says if she were me she wouldn't stand it. — MAY SINCLAIR.

In colloquial usage, however, "It is me", "That is him, "if you were me", etc. are the usual forms, and "It is I", "That is he", "If you were I", etc are hardly ever said, though the former are ungrammatical and the latter are grammatical.

Incidentally, "me" is much used in colloquial English instead of "I" when the form required is not clearly the subject.

1. We've had our little differences, you and me. — ARNOLD BENNETT.

2. "What did you say?" he muttered after some time.

"Me?" said Martin. "I said nothing." — LIAM O'FLAHERTY.

108. Interrogative "Who" Used as Objective. According to grammar, the "who" in the two following sentences should be changed to "whom" because the form required is the objective:

1. Who do you mean? — RUBY M AYRES.

2. Who did you go out with on Wednesdays? — DYLAN THOMAS.

3. He needn't say who it was from, and she would appreciate it far more than any number of letters. — BEVERLEY NICHOLS.

In colloquial usage, however, the interrogative pronoun "who" is nearly always used instead of the grammatical "whom", so that such sentences as "Whom is the letter for?" and "I don't know whom the letter is from" are hardly ever said.

In colloquial usage, there is also a tendency to use the relative pronoun "who" instead of "whom" as the objective; but the tendency is not so strong as with the interrogative pronoun and the use is still generally considered a mistake rather an idiom.*

109. Relative "Whom" Used as Nominative. As the form required is used as the subject instead of the object of a verb, the "whom" in the two following sentences should be changed to 'who":

1. Irmin is resolved to discover the murderer, whom he realizes from the start is almost certainly a Jew, not an Arab. — The Times.

2. Morrison said goodbye at the moment when the Silvertons returned — two mysterious lodgers whom he was certain were the cause of Julia's fears. — Pearson's Weekly.

This use of "whom", which is rather common in journalistic English, is quite incorrect. Compare the two following sentences:

1. He is a man whom I believe (to be) honest.

2. He is a man who I believe is honest.

110. "Whom" Used after "Than". Whatever grammarians may have to say against the prepositional use of "than", "than whom" is to be preferred to "than who" unless both are avoided.

* Michael Swan's Practical English Usage (Oxford University Press, first published in 1980) has the following in section 525 (on relative pronouns):

Whom (which refers to the object of a verb or a preposition) is rather unusual, especially in conversational English. It is generally either left out, or replaced by who or that. It is almost impossible in clauses that end with a preposition.

I think you should stay faithful to the person you're married to.

(Or: … the person who / that you're married to) (Conversational)

Do you think one should stay faithful to the person to whom, one is married? (Formal style)

Being English, the author of the book is certainly better versed in English than I am. Anyhow, I believe the problem is worth going into.

111. Nominative or Objective after "But"? In such sentences as "All but … are wrong" and "No one saw it but …", either the nominative or the objective may be used. It seems, however, that in writing the nominative is now the usual form though both cases are common enough in colloquial English. (Of course "he" cannot be used instead of the "him" in such a sentence as "I saw no one but him", whether the "but" is considered a preposition or a conjunction.)

Nobody but he knew of its existence. — RUBY M AYRES.

112. A Curious Case of Agreement. Have you ever considered the grammatical construction of the idiom "it is ..." in such sentences as the following?

1. It is embarrassment that kills a man, in mind and body and soul. — HILAIRE BELLOC.

2. They would not, I think, have achieved it so well alone, and it is the West which has helped them. — PEARL S BUCK.

In each sentence, the relative pronoun refers to the "it", not to the noun preceding it.

By strict grammatical analysis the "who are" in the following sentence should be changed to "that is" or "which is":

It is all these people who are obstructing. — V S PRITCHETT. Likewise, the "have" in the following sentence should be changed to "has":

Pedants say that football should be a game for the players without reference to the spectators, but it is the cheers of the spectators that have often decided the result of the match. — New Statesman and Nation.

As a matter of fact, either change would make the sentence unidiomatic. Usage has decided that in this construction the relative pronoun and the verb agree not with the "it" but with the noun or pronoun used as the subjective complement. *

* A Grammar of Contemporary English by Randolph Quirk, Sidney Greenbaum, Geoffrey Leech, and Jon Svartvik (Longman Group Limited, first published in 1972) has the following note on 731 (on Concord of person):

In left sentences (14.18), a relative pronoun subject is usually followed by a verb in agreement with its antecedent: It is I who am to blame. But 3rd-person concord prevails (in informal English) where the objective case pronoun me is used: it's me who's lo blame.

On this problem, I have two remarks to make: (1) while I regard "It" is the antecedent of the relative pronoun "who" in both sentences, the authors of the grammar do not think so. (2) I have met with few, if any, actual examples of sentences like "It's me who's to blame"; but then I have not had much exposure to spoken English.

Exercise 34

Correct the mistakes in the use of pronouns in the following sentences (some of which, however, contain no such mistakes):

1. It is a friend of mine that has written the letter for me.

2. It is I that has written the letter for my friend.

3. Here is a boy whom I hope can tell you all you want to know.

4. The man who you have mentioned is a merchant.

5. A little girl came up and asked me: "Who are you looking for?"

6. 1 told my father who I had met on my way home.

7. We have never had a quarrel, she and me.

8. It was not the farmer himself but his wife who sold me the corn.

9. One of the persons whom I had asked to call on me wrote to say that he could not come.

10. He is the only man than who I believe I run faster.

113. National, Editorial, and Generic Uses of "We". The three following sentences illustrate the national, editorial, and generic uses of "we" respectively:

1. Why, when you lived in caves and clothed yourselves with skins we were a cultured people. — WILLIAM SOMERSET MAUGHAM.

2. Today we publish photographs of the new coinage together with an article on what is new in the designs and what is linked with the past. — The Times.

3. For instance, we often hear grown-up people complaining having to hang about a railway station and wait for a train. — G K CHESTERTON.

Two warnings: (1) The three uses must not be confused in the same sentence or context. (2) The editorial "we", which represents the whole editorial staff, must not be used in an ordinary piece of composition signed with one name.

114. Generic Use of "You" and "Your". The generic use of "you" has an emotional colouring because of its appeal to the person addressed.

1. Pamela was distinguished-looking, and so welt-bred that you never got through her guard; she never hurt the feelings of others or betrayed her own. — ROSE MACAULAY.

2. The very chairs were part of it — deep, luxurious chairs in which you felt that you hadn't any bones at all. — RICHMAL CROMPTON.

3. You cannot have great football without cheering. — New Statesman and Nation.

4. But your poor man cannot even conceive what the necessities may be. — HILAIRE BELLOC.

5. A noise that set your teeth on edge — ELIZABETH TROOP.

This generic use of "you" occurs in such proverbs as the following:

1. You cannot eat your cake and have it.

2. You may take a horse to the water, but you can't make him drink.

115. Indefinite Use of "They". "They" sometimes means people in general, especially in "they say".

1. Yes. I am much better, but they say my arm is going to take a long time to get well. — RUBY M AYRES.

2. Again, they talk of sex as an appetite, like hunger. — D H LAWRENCE.

The indefinite use of "they" as illustrated in the following sentence is generally condemned.

I had been busy with a wistful reverie centring around coming to a store where they sold ice-cream. — JAMES GOULD COZZENS. ("Where ice-cream was sold" is preferred.)

"They who "is far less used than "those who ..." in present-day English.

116. Generic Use of "One" and "One's". "One" often means any person or the average person. In this use "one" is referred to by "one", "one's", and "oneself" in present-day English, though in older English it used to be referred to by "he", "him", "his", and "himself", as is still the usual practice in Scotland and America.

1. To learn about a country while one learns its language is useful in more than one sense. — Times Literary Supplement.

2. She had been so ill that one marvelled at her daring to face the strain of a winter transatlantic crossing. — REGINALD DENHAM.

3. She has your way of understanding what one wants to say almost before one has said it. — SUSAN ERTZ.

4. I hate travelling on Boxing Day, but one must occasionally do things that one dislikes. —SAKI.

5. With this book in one's pocket one should never be at a loss for the right pronunciation. — Notes and Queries.

6. It does one good in a place like this, so far away from civilization, to exchange ideas with one's intellectual equals. — WILLIAM SOMERSET MAUGHAM.

7. On the contrary, it does no harm to remember that one has a tendency in a certain direction; then one is careful to keep a watch on oneself and not overdo it. — ANTHONY HOPE.

8. One had to do all the morning's work oneself. — SHEILA KAYE-SMITH.

The following is an American example:

There is no word more terrifying than "I" when one must write an autobiographical sketch. For one knows that its single letter is sure later to deliver him into the power of chagrin and regret. — CALE YOUNG RICE.

The generic "one" must not be mixed up with the generic "you". The "tells you what you know already" in the following sentence should be changed to "tells one what one knows already":

If one has an opinion on any subject, it is of little use to read books or papers which tell you what you know already. — The Times.

The generic "one" must not be confused with the numeral pronoun "one".

1. He spoke in the tone of one who at last allows himself to air a long-standing grievance. — W A DARLINGTON.

2. He stood in the doorway diffidently, as one not sure of his welcome. — P G WODEHOUSE.

3. The Misses Brown-Jones, even while they had admitted her talents — they were scrupulously just ladies, these — had deplored the fact that one who was after all little better than a menial should have given herself such airs. — BEVERLEY NICHOLS.

You may easily gather from Section 104 that it is incorrect to refer to the generic "one" by "they", "there", "their", and "themselves". Nor is it correct to refer to "anyone", "no one", "everybody", etc by "one", "one's", and "oneself".

There is a modern use of the generic "one", that is, its use as a kind of disguised "I".

"Of course," I went on "one has read stories…". — P G WODEHOUSE.

Though this use is fairly common in journalistic English, it had better be avoided.

Exercise 35

A.

Write sentences containing (1) the national use of "we", (2) the generic use of "we", (3) the generic use of "you", (4) the indefinite use of "they", and (5) the generic use of "one".

B.

Correct the following sentences in the light of what you have learnt from Section 116 (some of which, however, contain no mistakes):

1. Of course one never forgets his own name.

2. One of my friends has just had his photograph taken.

3. One of my friends will soon visit the city with one's brother and sister.

4. As one is very busy at present, I am sorry I cannot go with you.

5. One of the men is missing, and his family are very anxious about him.

6. As one who has done one's best, I am very happy now.

7. One has already made up his mind to do so, but the other has yet to consult his parents.

8. I know everything about the old man; for one has lived with him these fifteen years.

9. One must take care of their health.

10. If you ask anyone to help you, speak to one politely.

117. Idiomatic Uses of "It". The little word "it" has various idiomatic uses besides being used to refer to a noun going before.

1. It refers to the person in question.

It may be me next time. — EVELYN WAUGH.

2. It refers to a circumstance or an action mentioned in the context.

(1) I was a young, nervous new member, and he saw it. — H G WELLS.

(2) He was different; everyone noticed it. — JAMES HILTON.

(3) She looked her best, and she knew it. — BEVERLEY NICHOLS.

3. It is used as the subject of an impersonal verb, and refers to the weather, time, space, etc.

(1) It was so cold in the fog. — JOHN MASEFIELD.

(2) It was very cool and fragrant on the porch. — P G WODEHOUSE.

(3) It may rain, blow, or freeze, or shine; nobody cares. — GEORGE STURT.

(4) It must be quite seven o'clock, and she had a lot to do before she started. — SHEILA KAYE-SMITH.

(5) It was a cold night. — WILLIAM SOMERSET MAUGHAM.

(6) But it's a long way to the sea? — T F POWYS.

(7) It would have been different if Elijah had been here. — H E BATES.

(8) "It says in the paper" that over two million volumes have been presented to the troops by the public. — J C SQUIRE. ("It says in the paper" is an idiomatic way of saying "The paper says".)

(9) Had it not been for her eyes, still open and fixed upon the tree-tops, she would have said she slept. — SYLVIA TOWNSEND WARNER.

(10) Authors, beyond a doubt, go very long indeed when it comes to husbands in fiction. — E M DELAFIELD.

4. It is used as an indefinite object in some idioms (most of which seem to be slang or colloquialisms):

at it (occupied with some particular work, mischief, etc).

beat it (go away).

catch it (be scolded or punished).

face it out (persist boldly).

fight it out (fight until some definite result is reached).

go it (act vigorously).

have it out (settle a dispute by discussion or a personal contest).

in for it (involved in something unpleasant).

lord it over (domineer over).

make a clean breast of it (make a full confession).

make a night of it (spend a night in festivity).

put one's foot in it (make a gross mistake). (Notice the comic effect produced by "it" in such a sentence as: "He never opens his mouth but he puts his foot in it".)

rough it (do without ordinary conveniences).

run for it (run away).

star it (figure as the centre of attraction).

There is nothing for it but to … (One can only ...).

This indefinite use of "it" frequently follows verbs derived from nouns, as in "cab it", "bus it", "tram it", "hotel it", and "weekend it".

5. It is used as the subject or object anticipating an infinitive.

(1) It was William's ambition to act in a play. — H E BATES.

(2) It's a very difficult thing to tell stories that children can both understand and appreciate. — SAKI.

(3) It is already a great thing to be a poet. — JAMES STEPHENS.

(4) They were old friends, and they never found it incumbent to be very conversational. — STACY AUMONIER.

(5) I think it my duty to tell you there is a great deal of dissatisfaction among the men. — STEPHEN LEACOCK.

(6) And I felt it necessary to put the murderers off their guard. — E V KNOX.

6. It is used as the subject or object anticipating a gerund (which may or may not have a modifier before it). (This use is much less common than No 5. As a general rule, the infinitive denotes an idea, and the gerund denotes a fact.)

(1) Well, Mr Chang, it's a pleasure being shown all these things, I'm sure, but you won't convince me that a place like this does any real good. — JAMES HILTON.

(2) It's not much of a life running up and down stairs punching tickets. — H V MORTON.

(3) Even now it's no use trying to tell myself that I wasn't disturbed by this change in my life. — c.

(4) It made him feel such a fool, this being in love. — BEVERLEY NICHOLS.

(5) It's no good my pretending I knew them or can place them, but, being a journalist, I was interested, and being also a writer of stories, I was ever on the look-out for colourful background. — MANDER ROSS.

(6) As if it was a crime my going to a vaudeville matinée with a man kind enough to notice that my husband never takes me anywhere! — BOOTH TARKINGTON.

(7) "She finds it hard work coming upstairs" she explained, as he brought in the tray with its very ordinary white cups and saucers. — The Children's Newspaper.

(8) I hope you don't find it hard taking orders from me. — SAUL BELLOW.

7. It is used as the subject anticipating a noun, or sometimes more than one noun.

(1) It has a curious history, that knife. — D H BARBER.

(2) It was deeper and blacker than ever now, that hole in his life. — ETHEL MANNIN.

(3) And how unendurable it would be to most of us, this life of theirs, abounding in crowds and in strangers, with masses of flags at their approach! — Truth.

(4) So clearly it lingered, that time of dizzy happiness, those evening strolls by the waterside, her cool voice and her gay laughter. — JAMES HILTON.

(5) She liked it a lot, this remaining fishing-boat picture. — ALAN SILLITOE.

8. It is used as the subject or object anticipating a that-clause (the "that" is sometimes omitted).

(1) For a long time it seemed certain that the gosling was on the point of death. — LIAM O'FLAHERTY.

(2) It is very commonly supposed, or taken for granted, that a man comes out of college with his mind hopelessly impaired. — STEPHEN LEACOCK.

(3) It was then that the unfortunate incident occurred. — STACY AUMONIER.

(4) But it is as a sensitive, fragrant flower, that Berenice grows from infancy to childhood. — ELEANOR THORNE.

(5) It was while I was teaching at Illinois that I began to write poetry. — LEW SARETT.

(6) It is a pity [that] they did not come. — MANUEL KOMROFF.

(7) It is clear [that] you are determined to be disagreeable. — Punch.

(8) It was with unspeakable gratitude [that] she rose to go away with the policeman when he came again. — V S PRITCHETT.

(9) I take it that this is of grave disadvantage to the State; for the whole amount of first-rate matter in verse or prose is exceedingly small. — HILAIRE BELLOC.

(10) I take it [that] you are unable to throw any light upon the matter. — Punch.

(11) And yet Marford had given it as his opinion that the woman was not an addict and that it was only the second time that the needle had been used. — EDGAR WALLACE.

(12) It is customary for the happy pair celebrating their anniversary to let it be understood that for 25 years "we have never had a cross word." — A P HERBERT.

9. It is used as the subject or object anticipating a noun clause not beginning with "that".

(1) It was curious how women developed. — EDGAR WALLACE.

(2) It was strange how in a few hours he felt he could call this place home. — PEARL S BUCK.

(3) it now suddenly came to him why it was that he disliked her so much. — P G WODEHOUSE.

(4) But it is not known to the Papagoes what happened after that. — MARY HUNTER AUSTIN.

(5) It may be doubted whether the deceased uncle had ever created so much excitement while he lived. — ANTHONY HOPE.

(6) She had many times heard it said how dangerous it was to waken a sleep-walker; she had heard her mother say that the best way was to take the sleeper by the hand and gently lead her hack to bed; she was quite close to Drusilla when a sudden thought struck her. — RUBY M AYRES.

10. It is used as the antecedent to a relative pronoun separated from it by the predicate containing a noun or a pronoun as the subjective complement. For examples see Section 112.

118. Two Distinct Constructions of "It ... That". Compare the two following sentences:

1. It is embarrassment that kills a man, in mind and body and soul. — HILAIRE BELLOC.

2. It was then that the unfortunate incident occurred. — STACY AUMONIER.

Both sentences contain "it … that", and both are emphatic constructions. (The first sentence = "Embarrassment kills a man, in mind and body and soul". The second sentence = "The unfortunate incident occurred then".) But the two constructions are grammatically distinct. In the first, "that" is the relative pronoun introducing an adjectival clause modifying "it"; in the second, "that" is the conjunction introducing a noun clause in apposition to "it". In the first, what follows the verb in the principal clause is a noun or noun-equivalent; in the second, what follows the verb in the principal clause is an adverb or adverb-equivalent. In the first, "that" could almost always be replaced by "who" or "which".

Exercise 36

Write sentences illustrating the various idiomatic uses of "it".

119. Defining and Non-defining Relative Clauses. Before you can use relative pronouns idiomatically, you must learn to distinguish between two kinds of relative clauses: defining (or restrictive) and non-defining (or non-restrictive). The relative clause in the following sentence is a non-defining one:

The man, who was a stout, thick fellow, gave a jump in the air and turned round. — HUGH WALPOLE.

Now omit the commas after "man" and "fellow", and the relative clause becomes a defining one.

The man who was a stout, thick fellow gave a jump in the air and turned round.

In the first sentence, the subject "man" is not defined or restricted by the clause, and needs no definition or restriction; the clause merely adds a fact or a description or an explanation, and can be removed without destroying the meaning of the antecedent. In the second sentence, the subject "man" is defined or restricted by the clause, which cannot be removed without destroying the meaning of the antecedent. In the first sentence, "the man" refers to a man already particularized; he is the only man that has just been mentioned. In the second sentence, "the man" has not been particularized yet; he is one of the two or more persons that have just been mentioned.

There is no great difficulty about deciding whether a relative clause is a defining or a non-defining one. Just remove it and see whether the meaning of the antecedent is destroyed or not.

The following sentences contain defining relative clauses:

1. This was the beginning of my acquaintance with the man whom I shortly afterwards married. — ROMER WILSON.

2. Then he must belong to the minority whom you don't know. — JAMES HILTON.

3. They had no duties to those who were near and dear to them. — WILLIAM SOMERSET MAUGHAM.

4. She had been all that makes woman wonderful. — JOHN MASEFIELD.

5. All that she knew was that she liked them and they liked her. — E V LUCAS.

6. He was standing before her with the happy look of a man to whom happiness is something strange and new. — ANTHONY HOPE.

7. There was accommodation for a good number of commercial travellers in the hotel I stayed in, but they were not there. — J B PRIESTLEY.

8. The things they had not said and could not say — they could say them now! — NAOMI MITCHISON.

9. What is it they want to tell me? — ARNOLD BENNETT.

10. The first is to choose something you think they would like; the second, something you would like yourself; the third, something you think they ought to have. — Punch.

In the following sentence there is a defining relative clause within another defining relative clause (one introduced by "which" and the other introduced by "who").

This is a change which only those who knew Mrs Buck on her first visit here can really appreciate. — World-Telegram.

In each of the two following sentences there are two defining clauses, the second defining the noun ("nobody" and "questions") as already defined by the first:

1. And there is nobody on earth who knew him that did not love him. — EDEN PHILLPOTTS.

2. There were questions she wanted to ask him which her tongue refused to frame. — EDGAR WALLACE.

In each of the following sentences the relative clause is a defining one although it is preceded by a comma, which is used because there is a parenthetic word or phrase or clause before it:

1. And there were other things, occasionally, that were serious. — JAMES HILTON.

2. A civilization, today common to the whole world, that allows such crimes to proceed unchecked deserves to perish, and inevitably will. — Spectator.

3. It was just the sort of place, he reflected whimsically, which his aunt had loved to write about in her books. — P G WODEHOUSE.

The following sentences contain non-defining relative clauses:

1. He saluted Roger, who leant on a gate, staring uphill towards the house. — JOHN MASEFIELD.

2. With one hand he shielded his eyes from the sun, with the other he dug about in the hot dry sand, which slipped through his fingers like some sort of tangible air. — EDWARD SACKVILLE-WEST.

3. But poetry, which I had really begun to read for the first time, was a still stronger lure. —CALE YOUNG RICE.

4. This was far more satisfactory, and Mr Dowdall beamed as he passed the letter to his wife, who beamed again as he handed it back. — ARTHUR MORRISON.

5. Mallinson, who had watched the incident, was only partly satisfied. — JAMES HILTON.

6. Mary, the maid of all work, who trudged two miles every morning to help the farmer's wife, was hanging out clothes to dry. — L A G STRONG.

7. It was a strange experience for the rest of us, who stood and watched them. — H M TOMLINSON.

8. Take my cane — which is in that corner — and kill the reptile. — H A VACHELL.

9. And then Gwen, who had been speechless, burst into laughter and interrupted her father at the door. — MORLEY ROBERTS.

10. They stared blankly at the house, whose form was clearly revealed in the misty moonlight, but none of whose windows showed the slightest glimmer of light. — ARNOLD BENNETT.

11. Even more than our parents, whose work took them daily to New York, it was our seventy-year-old grandmother who ruled this precarious ménage. — SEYMOUR FREEDGOOD. (the relative clause "who rules this precarious ménage" is a defining one.)

12. Mrs Wilmington, who as for as she knew had not used the phone for months, with trepidation sought the number of a hairdresser. — MAEVE GILMORE.

In the following sentence a non-defining relative clause follows a defining one (the defining one introduced by "that" and the non-defining one introduced by "which"):

But this wasn't the only reason for her happiness; there was another that gave Mrs Moggs pleasure, which was that the postmaster had apparently forgotten the village. — T F POWYS.

Note that there is a comma before the non-defining clause, and that "which" refers to the same word as "that" ("another"), not to "pleasure".

Exercise 37

Point out the defining and non-defining relative clauses in the following sentences: 1. He watched Leslie Fawcett, whose face was so like hers, and old Mr Laramie, who had won the beauty of her time, and an old uncle Fawcett, who had fought in Africa, sixty years before. — JOHN MASEFIELD.

2. For short distances the speeds at which we now travel are quite adequate. — Listener.

3. It shuts a man off even from enjoying the things that money can buy. — New Statesman and Nation.

4. Bray, who had searched the yard, came back with his report. — EDGAR WALLACE.

5. I know that for a long time I tried hard to see anything in her that would tarnish the image I had formed of her. — RICHMAL CROMPTON.

6. The centre of Newcastle, into which we had now landed, has a certain sombre dignity. — J B PRIESTLEY.

7. Do you think it is necessary to do all you did? — PEARL S BUCK.

8. No one else we saw listened for a moment. — NAOMI MITCHISON.

9. Two students had shot one another by mutual arrangement; it was a case of a Suicide Pact, by no means an uncommon thing in the world into which she had grown up. — EDWARD SACKVILLE-WEST.

10. People don't trouble to talk about things that have no significance. — Truth.

11. It was kept in one of the sheds at the back of the house — sheds which did not belong to the Armstrongs but to the smallholder who rented the steading. — SHEILA KAYE-SMITH.

12. The pleasure politicians take in their limelight pleases me with a sort or pleasure I get when I see a child's eyes gleam over a new toy. — HILAIRE BELLOC.

13. The Chargé d'Affaires of Montenegro, who flattered himself that he was the best dressed man in the diplomatic body, but was not quite sure whether the first secretary of the British Legation thought him so, fluttered up to ask his candid opinion of the frilled shirt he wore. — WILLIAM SOMERSET MAUGHAM.

14. Miss Murray was sitting reading in the little bar parlour, which is typical of all old English inn parlours of the eighteenth century. — H V MORTON.

15. The place was an endless pleasure to him, who to the last preserved his power of taking interest, not only in great, but in little things. — JOHN GALSWORTHY.

16. Those people who are for ever telling of the efficiency of aircraft make a great point of the successes achieved by these bombers, but there are some points that need considerations. — Horse and Hound.

17. The book in my hand was a third edition of her latest novel, and at the end of it were numerous press-notices, at which I glanced for confirmation. — MAX BEERBOHM.

18. But I mustn't dwell on the days that followed — the long, quiet days of lazy dreaming on the raft, during which I slowly built up my strength, which had been shattered by privation. — STEPHEN LEACOCK.

19. Among the many living forms of human speech, and those countless others which, have arisen and perished in the past, the English language, which has now spread over so large a portion of the world, is as humble and obscure in its origin as any other. — LOGAN PEARSALL SMITH.

20. However, it appeared that he was awake and quite conscious of the things he was saying. — A A MILNE.

21. The forts, which were extremely expensive and quite useless, occupied his working hours; his leisure he devoted to acts of charity and to religious contemplation. — LYTTON STRACHEY.

22. There is a story that he was in the habit of reading his poems to an old peasant woman and altering any expression which she could not understand. — ARTHUR WALEY.

23. The utmost you can do is to try to make the pupil sensitive to words. — CHRISTOPHER MORLEY.

24. I opened the first volume that came to my hand. — ALDOUS HUXLEY.

25. She fought against his fascination, the fascination he exerted over her. — D H LAWRENCE.

26. Whitman, who was to influence future generations so profoundly in Europe as well as in America, had already appeared. — LOUIS UNTERMEYER.

27. Most of the views he formed at this period remained unchanged throughout his life. — K ELIZABETH MURRAY.

28. It is interesting to compare these two Anglo-Irish writers, who never lose an opportunity of reviling Ireland and of working rebelliously for her interests as against those of England. — ERNEST BOYD.

29. And the poet who is aware of this will be aware of great difficulties and responsibilities. — T S ELIOT.

30. But certainly, in addition to all this, meter has another function, on which I shall touch in a minute or two. — LASCELLES ABERCROMBIE.

120. The Relative Pronouns "Who", "Which", and "That". As you must have learnt from lessons in grammar, "who(m)" is of the masculine and feminine genders, "which" is of the neuter gender, and "that" is of all genders. Before I give any further rules, I have to point out that according to present-day usage, while all three words are used in defining clauses, "that" is not commonly used in non-defining clauses. The "that" in each of the four following sentences had better be changed to "which":

1. The War, that had wounded her so deeply where she was most vulnerable, was kind to her in little things. — R H MOTTRAM.

2, Here a railway whistle made a thin bar of sound somewhere out under the low moon, that had now lifted herself clear of the haze. — E CE SOMERVILLE & MARTIN ROSS.

3. She kept telling herself that she would give him a good scolding and beating when he came in, but at the same time her heart was thumping with anxiety and she started at every sound, rushing out to the door and looking down the winding road, that was now dim with the shadows of evening. — LIAM O'FLAHERTY.

4. Nancy was wearing her white drill frock with no jewels at all except the emerald cross, that shone like green leaves on snow. — BEVERLEY NICHOLS.

Dismissing "that" as being unidiomatic in non-defining clauses, we have only "who" and "which" to choose between in such clauses — which is doubtless easy enough for you to do. We shall now be concerned with defining clauses only.

If I call "that" unidiomatic in non-defining clauses, it does not follow that "who(m)" and "which" are unidiomatic in defining clauses. In fact, all three relative pronouns are used in defining clauses, and it is very difficult to draw any distinction between "that" and "who(m)" or "that" and "which" that is consistently supported by usage. All that I can do is to give a few simple rules.

1. As "that" cannot be preceded by a preposition, "which" or "whom" is used when a preposition is needed before a relative pronoun.

(1) It seemed more and more advisable to the writer to get together maps and notes, read rather systematically than he had hitherto done, and clear up for himself a number of historical issues upon which he was still extremely vague. — H G WELLS.

(2) The conversation, it appeared, had been carried on chiefly in French, a language with which Mr Stewart was perfectly acquainted, and which he spoke not only elegantly, but, what is better, intelligently. — E F BENSON.

(3) He is never called in to a murder case at all, and indeed the only cases of which much notice is taken in the book are confinement cases. — E M DELAFIELD.

(4) Here at last was the thrill for which everybody had been hoping. — W A DARLINGTON.

(5) It had been decided, it appears, to build a school on a certain desirable spot which the doctor had hit upon, and in a crowded Chinese city it is never very easy to find building land, but when the mission, after much bargaining, had eventually bought this, the discovery was made that the owner was not the Chinese with whom the negotiations had been conducted, but the doctor himself. — WILLIAM SOMERSET MAUGHAM.

(6) And the man from whom I got it told me that on the strict Q. T. it came from the cellars at Windsor Castle. — KATHERINE MANSFIELD.

If "that" were used instead, it would have to go at the beginning of the clause, as in:

(1) … historical issues that he was still extremely vague upon.

(2) … a language that Mr Stewart was perfectly acquainted with …

(3) … cases that much notice is taken of in the book …

(4) … the thrill that everybody had been hoping for.

(5) … the Chinese that the negotiations had been conducted with …

(6) ... the man that I got it from ...

But, as you can see, this construction is often far from natural, especially in long clauses. Besides, there are certain prepositions that are very seldom or not at all used at the end of a clause; among these may be mentioned "besides", "beyond", "concerning", "regarding", and "round".

When a preposition forms a more or less fixed phrase with one or more words preceding it, it is usually placed at the end of the clause no matter what relative pronoun is used.

(1) He had a trick, which often exasperated his acquaintances, of declaring that he had "never heard" of things that everybody else was very well aware of. — EDMUND GOSSE.

(2) She gave us a look through her eyeglass which even the fear of Mrs Tower's wrath could not prevent me from laughing at. — WILLIAM SOMERSET MAUGHAM.

(3) When Tim went back to France she contrived to fill her days with those little details that are all lonely women have to fall back upon. — J B MORTON. (Here the relative pronoun is omitted after "all". In colloquial usage the relative pronoun "that" in the first sentence and the relative pronoun "which" in the second sentence would usually be omitted.)

Among such more or less fixed phrases may be mentioned "come across", "do without", "fall in love with", "make use of", and "take care of".

2. Euphony demands that "that which" should be preferred to "that that".

Into the presence of their God also, without that which passes for a hat, they do not go. — MARY HUNTER AUSTIN.

3. "Those who" and "all who" are always used rather than "those that" and "all that".

(1) I understand the attitude of those who objected to my beliefs and writings. — World-Telegram.

(2) Do you believe that it is possible for a malign influence to envelop a place, and work a spell on all who come within its radius? — P G WODEHOUSE.

4. "That" is to be preferred to "which" with the antecedent "it".

It is the weapon in our hands that finally destroys us. — MELVILLE DAVISSON POST.

5. "That" is to be preferred to "which" after a superlative or other word of exclusive or comprehensive meaning, such as "only" or "all".

(1) We have here probably the most remarkable book that has ever been devoted to the art of expression in English. — Observer.

(2) Now, if you will think of it, railways are the only institutions that give us that advantage. —HILAIRE BELLOC.

(3) We are losing our hold, on all that is most precious. — E V LUCAS.

(4) Fortunately the weather kept fine, the conditions indeed being all that could be desired. — A A MILNE.

(5) There was no social function, no town council, no committee of importance that was not driven to meet at "The Love-a-duck". — STACY AUMONIER.

6. "That" is less applied to persons than to things; it is unnatural except in cases in which the antecedent is "it", or has attached to it a superlative or other word of exclusive meaning, or is the interrogative pronoun "who" or "which", and in such idiomatic constructions as "fool that I was" and "Mrs Brown, Miss Johnson that was".

Each of the following proverbs has the relative pronoun "that":

(1) He that promises too much means nothing.

(2) He that respects not is not respected.

(3) He that seeks trouble never misses.

(4) He that will not be counselled cannot be helped.

(5) He is happy that thinks himself so.

(6) He is idle that might be better employed.

(7) He cannot speak well that cannot hold his tongue.

(8) He laughs best that laughs last.

Exercise 38

Fill each blank in the following sentences with "who(m)", "which", or "that":

1. These are the only books_____ have been left after the fire.

2 . My brother, _____ is a good scholar, keeps a diary in English.

3. Who_____ has ever seen him does not like him?

4. All_____ have heard her sing call her a genius.

5. The audience were completely absorbed in the play, _____ was acted in a perfectly satisfactory manner.

6. Can you tell me anything about the man_____ was sitting here all the morning?

7. He has three daughters_____ are married.

8. He has three daughters, _____ are married.

9. I spoke to all I met_____ I found to be From North China.

10. 1 spoke to all I met, _____ I found to be from North China.

11. Is she the girl_____ you spoke of yesterday?

12. This is the best book of its kind_____ has yet appeared this year.

13. As she is convalescing, she has plenty of spare time, part of_____ she spends in knitting.

14. Hundreds of newspapers and magazines require good articles for every issue_____ they produce.

15. Nobody_____ I have ever talked to could tell me so much about the mountain you write about.

16. Please inquire of the first man_____ you meet.

17. Knock at the first door to_____ you come.

18. Knock at the first door, _____ you will find open.

19. I did not see the mistake, fool_____ I was.

20. 1 wish to thank you for your kind help, _____ I do not think I could have received from anybody else, though I have quite a few friends_____ are always ready to help me.

121. Three Points of Choice between "Who(m)" and "Which".

1. As I have said in Section 74, there are a number of nouns that are singular when a single entity is meant and plural when the individuals composing it are meant. Now an entity is a thing, and the individuals are persons. The former should be referred to by "which", and the latter by "who(m)". See the sentence quoted about "company" in Section 74.

2. An animal is often referred to by "which" even when it is treated as masculine or feminine in the context. See the quotation from Arthur Mee in Section 85.

3. A ship or a boat is always referred to by "which" though it is commonly treated as feminine. See the quotation from Edgar Rice Burroughs in Section 87.

122. Two Relative Clauses Linked by "And" or "But". Two defining relative clauses may be linked by "and" or "but", and so may two non-defining ones, but a defining and a non-defining must not. Of the three following sentences, the first is correct because both its clauses are defining, the second is correct because both its clauses are non-defining, and the third is incorrect because its first clause is defining but its second is non-defining:

1. In fact, it became their regular practice, a sport to which they all looked forward, and on which bets were laid. — DESMOND MACCARTHY.

2. Before we can understand the qualities of Christianity, which must now play a large part in our history, and which opened men's eyes to fresh aspects of the possibility of a unified world, we must go back some centuries and tell of the condition of affairs in Palestine and Syria, in which countries Christianity arose. — H G WELLS.

3. From doing this they were prevented by the disgraceful scene which took place, and which the leader of the Opposition took no steps to avert. — The Times.

The second clause in the third sentence is non-defining because it is not, as it seems to be, intended to distinguish the "scene" from those that the leader of the Opposition did take steps to avert. The sentence may be corrected by merely omitting the "and", but it may be improved by not only omitting the "and" but also changing the first "which" to "that".

If "and" were inserted before the "which" in the following sentence, there would be the same kind of mistake as that contained in the third sentence quoted above.

But this wasn't the only reason for her happiness; there was another that gave Mrs Moggs pleasure, which was that the postmaster had apparently forgotten the village. — T F POWYS.

It need hardly be said that while it is possible to make the mistake of writing a defining clause followed by a non-defining one linked with it by "and" or "but", it is impossible to make the mistake of writing a non-defining clause followed by a defining one linked with it by "and" or "but".

123. Omission of Relative Pronouns. It is in defining clauses only that the relative pronoun may be omitted. To omit it in any non-defining clause would be a very bad mistake.

A relative pronoun omitted is usually in the objective case.

1. Well, look at the Nature novels ∧ we get. — JOHN GALSWORTHY.

2. However, it is facts ∧ I am asked for. — GERALD BULLETT.

3. It's a very good deal ∧ they're offering you. — JOSEPH HELLER.

4. Thus the argument followed the course ∧ it had taken earlier in the morning, this time without any pacific restraints from Nurse. — SHEILA KAYE-SMITH.

5. That picture, cut out of the magazine and pasted on the wall opposite his bed, was the last thing ∧ he saw at night and the first thing ∧ he saw on waking. — ETHEL MANNIN.

It must not be supposed, however, that a relative pronoun omitted must be in the objective case.

A relative pronoun in the nominative case is often omitted:

1. As the subjective complement.

(1) You said he was everything ∧ a man should be. — MORLEY ROBERTS.

(2) This shows you the kind of aunt ∧ Miss Patterson was. — E V LUCAS.

(3) Marriage, alas, was not all ∧ it might be; his wife and his mother quarrelled unendingly. — A E COPPARD.

(4) But college is not the universal Athens ∧ I thought it was. — HELEN KELLER.

(5) It seemed to her impossible that any being so full of charm and courtesy could be the hard-headed egotist ∧ Julian was represented to be. — EFFIE ADELAIDE ROWLANDS.

2. As the subject of a clause subordinate to one containing "there is", it is", etc.

(1) There aren't many men in England ∧ can say that they've caught fish from their bath room window. — WILLIAM PLOMER.

(2) Now it would be some fresh insect ∧ won its way to a temporary fatal new development. — H G WELLS.

In ordinary prose this omission of a relative pronoun is not so common as it used to be.

3. As the subject of "there is", "there are", etc.

(1) But we didn't mix much with the ghosts at any time, all except an idiot lad ∧ there was in the village, and he didn't know the difference between a man and a ghost, poor innocent! — RICHARD BARHAM MIDDLETON.

(2) His father wanted to solve all the problems ∧ there were in the world, and then some. — ELIZABETH TROOP. ("And then some" means and plenty more than that, originally American.)

The omission of the relative pronoun in the following sentence is rather unusual, though not uncommon today; the authors have omitted it probably because they thought it was in the objective case (see Section 109):

1. Her method of teaching was to ask the printed questions from the quarterly and look sternly over its edge at the particular little girl ∧ she thought ought to answer the question. — L M MONTGOMERY.

2. Grace would look up things ∧ she thought would take his interest. — NORMAN MAILER.

Exercise 39

Write ten sentences in which two relative clauses are linked by "and" or "but", and ten sentences in which the relative pronoun is omitted.

124. "Which" without Definite Antecedent. The relative pronoun "which" is very often used without a definite antecedent, referring vaguely to the preceding phrase or clause or rather its idea. In this use it is always singular and the clause it introduces is always a non-defining one.

1. He took an aspirin tablet to soothe his nerves, which was a proceeding so unusual with him that Margaret, in mild alarm, forwent her reading and turned out the light at once. — W A DARLINGTON.

2. Louisa must have turned him out as usual, and the servants have forgotten to let him in again, which was careless of them. — F ANSTEY.

3. He replied that it was to be very informal, which was reassuring. — JOHN DICKSON CARR.

4. At the end of the day's work I told my crew that they were showing improvement already (which was not true), and that all they wanted was plenty of hard work and practice (which was approximately correct). — IAN HAY.

5. And if Americans lack style it is partly because they have been taught for a generation that good writing is clear writing, which is true, and that clear writing must be excellent writing, which is false. — HENRY SEIDEL CANBY.

6. In other words I succeeded in making the best of things, which as much as anything else means eating a good meal at the canteen every midday. — ALAN SILLITOE.

In this use "which" is sometimes placed at the beginning of a sentence, referring vaguely to what is said in the preceding sentence and starting a new one. It is often slightly humorous.

1. So I said: "Because it isn't in him. He's a bounder and a rotter". Which was true. — MAY SINCLAIR.

2. From Paris he telephoned the friend of his youth, one Harry Palk, instructing that chronic reveller in the turn of events, and calling on him to relinquish forthwith the flat and domestic staff in Half-Moon Street; such premises being kept warm (very warm at times) by the aforesaid Harry Palk during Hugo's absence. After which Hugo crossed the Channel, and this story, more or less, begins. — SELDON TRUSS.

"Which" is sometimes placed even at the beginning of a paragraph.

Young Mr Martin Dicksee, a great-limbed, blue-eyed, rough-haired games expert, reassured Flimsy that in his case this was no mere passing flirtation, which statement he illustrated by crushing such portions of the young lady as may legitimately be crushed at this stage of the proceedings.

At which she, a sparkling little vixen with mischievous dark eyes and a boyish shingle, said "I simply must go in", and resumed a semi-recumbent attitude in the summer-house. — BEN TRAVERS.

In the two following sentences the relative pronoun "which" refers apparently to the nouns "woman" and "tomboy" but really to the idea of being "a woman of narrow experience and rigid conscience" and that of being a tomboy; "who" would be quite grammatical, but far less idiomatic:

1. She looked like a woman of narrow experience and rigid conscience, which she was; but there was a saving something about her mouth which, if it had been ever so slightly developed, might have been considered indicative of a sense of humour. — L M MONTGOMERY.

2. The tomboy in her, which was big, seemed loath to be put away for ever in skirts. — WILLIAM ALLEN WHITE.

125. "As" as Relative Pronoun. As you no doubt know, "as" is used as a relative pronoun after "such", "the same", or "as".

1. Strive as he would, I-wan could never win such praise from the elderly English lady who taught them as was given to En-lan. — PEARL S BUCK.

2. I understand, Mr Chipping, that your Latin and Greek lessons are exactly the same as they were when I began here ten years ago? — JAMES HILTON.

3. Every summer we went to a seaside as wild and cold as could be. — ROMER WILSON. (In this sentence, "as could be" must be regarded as = "as a seaside" or "seasides could be" or = "as the degree of being wild and cold could be.")

In this use "as" may be either singular or plural, but the clause it introduces is always a defining one. Now there is another pronominal use of "as", in which it is always singular and always introduces a non-defining clause, and refers vaguely to a verbal notion or an idea to be gathered from the sentence instead of having a definite antecedent.

1. She put her long and elegant hands on his shoulders, as was her wont each evening, and kissed him on both cheeks in her French fashion. —ARNOLD BENNETT.

2. He had had a fit, as had happened once before, and the screams I had heard had been his. — F ANSTEY.

3. As had happened so many times, Lamin's question embarrassed him into finding out more. —ALEX HALEY.

4. Gerda slept, lying very straight and still, as was her habit in sleep. — ROSE MACAULAY.

5. Mr Stewart, as has been indicated before, had a weakness, and that was an amiable and harmless one. — E F BENSON.

6. As was only natural, the conversation turned cheerfully and lightly upon goats in general, and particularly upon the goat in the room. — MORLEY ROBERTS.

7. As was usual throughout French Flanders, the British army had burnt every piece of wood upon the farm. — R H MOTTRAM.

When this "as" is used as the object instead of the subject, it looks like a conjunction, but is still a relative pronoun.

1. The marks of the shoes stretch in a long line, as you will observe, from a point close to the tree almost to the edge of the tennislawn. — E V KNOX.

2. As I had anticipated, the Hindu was absorbed into the household with a minimum of fuss. — SEYMOOR FREEDGOOD.

3. Though all he had named were slaves, he said, they were all respected people, as Kunta well knew. — ALEX HALEY.

As you must have noticed, the clause introduced by the relative pronoun "as" often precedes the principal clause.

It is a common mistake to use "it" after "as" and make the latter a conjunction when it ought to be treated as a relative pronoun used in the nominative case, as in:

1. She put her long and elegant hands on his shoulders, as it was her wont each evening, and kissed him on both cheeks in her French fashion.

2. He had had a fit, as it had happened once before, and the screams I had heard had been his.

Both these sentences are incorrect.

126. "Who" as Indefinite Relative Pronoun. "Who" used as an indefinite relative pronoun in the sense of "whoever" is no longer common in ordinary prose, but is not unknown.

It was a huge thing, hewn of a great tree of iron-wood, and it crowded the small room, so that who came and went must circle and press about it. — PEARL S BUCK.

127. "What" Preceding Statement. The relative pronoun "what" is sometimes used in such a way as to refer vaguely to the statement that follows.

1. What is more important. Europe owes to Germany such European sense of the importance of thought and dramatic poetry and the value of lives devoted to them. — GEORGE BERNARD SHAW.

2. It was a good reading-book and what's more it belonged to the library. — ALAN SILLITOE.

Exercise 40

Write ten sentences in which the relative pronoun "which" is used without a definite antecedent, ten sentences in which the relative pronoun "as" is used without a definite antecedent, and five sentences in which the relative pronoun "what" precedes a statement.

128. "One Another" and "Each Other". The distinction is insisted upon by some grammarians that "one another" should be used only of more than two persons or things and "each other" should be used only of two persons or things. This distinction is indeed harmless. But it is not supported by usage, and is therefore quite unnecessary. Each of the following sentences contains "one another" used of two:

1. During the siege and those two days afterwards we told one another, she and I, that these bad times would pass. — NAOMI MITCHISON.

2. The two missionaries said goodbye to one another. — WILLIAM SOMERSET MAUGHAM.

3. They sat, he and the woman, as though silently challenging one another. — H E BATES.

4. Your father and mother have always been friends with one another and with you. — ROSE MACAULAY.

5. We looked at one another — the old bookseller and I — in silence. — ALDOUS HUXLEY.

6. The pastor looked farther away, to where the sea and sky met one another. — T F POWYS.

Each of the following sentences contains "each other" used of more than two:

1. We three just sat down behind that hedge and looked at each other like waxworks. — ARTHUR MORRISON.

2. Once there were three men who loved each other dearly in their foolish fashion, and were neighbours who demanded little but steady companionship, tobacco, and something in a glass. — ROLAND PERTWEE.

3. That made me suspect that the three men were in league with each other, but I had to wait and see what their game was before I could do anything. — Answers.

In the following sentence both "each other" and "one another" are used of two:

Arnold and I fell in love with each other on this voyage: we had time to talk, time to get to know one another's minds, time to do more than make love; and losing him physically no longer seemed the worst thing that would happen when we reached home. — E ARNOT ROBERTSON.

Exercise 41

Write five sentences with "one another" and five sentences with "each other".

129. Adjectives Used as Nouns. An adjective preceded by "the" may be used as a noun expressing an abstract idea.

1. I think it gives me an instinctive love of the beautiful. — JOHN MASEFIELD.

2. It is the last refuge of those who want to believe the incredible. — WILLIAM SOMERSET MAUGHAM.

Each of the idiomatic phrases illustrated in the following sentences contains "the" and an adjective used in this way:

1. She was on the alert, as if listening for something. — RICHMAL CROMPTON.

2. The ordinary Englishman or woman touring the dominions is resolved to do it on the cheap. — Time and Tide.

3. His career was somewhat out of the common. — WILLIAM SOMERSET MAUGHAM.

4. Would you not conclude that both the novel and the novelist were very much out of the ordinary — WILLIAM PLOMER.

5. He was teaching me for three years on the sly. — LIAM O'FLAHERTY.

In this use the noun is of course singular. Otherwise it is rare for an adjective to be used as a singular noun.

1. The sinister influence of the defunct then had been complete! — LEONARD MERRICK.

2. To my idea, that man or woman is not honouring, but dishonouring, the memory of the departed; society suffers, the individual suffers, and no earthly or heavenly good is achieved. —ARNOLD BENNETT.

3. Every one of them had a bitter grudge against the deceased. — E V KNOX.

4. A little time — in which to ward off the inevitable — was all she craved. — RUBY M AYRES.

5. You scientists take such a long view of events that it needs simple souls like ourselves to open your eyes to the obvious on occasion. — PETER USTINOV.

Among other examples may be mentioned "the Almighty" and "the accused". "Deceased" and "accused" are indeed participles rather than adjectives, but they may be considered participles used as adjectives and then as nouns.

It is very common, however, for an adjective to be used as a plural noun denoting a whole class of persons.

1. There was less misery among the poor. — SUSAN ERTZ.

2. But what about the sick? — WILLIAM SOMERSET MAUGHAM.

3. It gave government to the rich, and imagined that wise men could be bought and bargained for in the slave markets when they were needed. — H G WELLS.

4. We sympathize with the unemployed instead of criticizing them. — Listener.

5. He possesses the magnificent calm which was held in my youth to distinguish the well-bred. —MORLEY ROBERTS.

6. She could only regard the frenzy of this dark, emotional girl with the imaginative pity of the seeing for the blind. — BEN TRAVERS. "Unemployed" and "seeing" are similar to "deceased" and "accused" in being participles used as adjectives and then as nouns.

You must have noticed that all the examples I have given of adjectives used as nouns are preceded by "the". The "the" can be omitted (1) when the adjective is so commonly used as a noun that it is almost an ordinary noun, or (2) when two adjectives are used as nouns correlatively.

1. That is why industry always presents an irreducible margin of [the] unemployed. — The Children's Newspaper.

2. It will look on a new garden, which, having once been won for [the] young and [the] old, will surely be extended by the citizens who are young now. —The Children's Newspaper.

Exercise 42

Write ten sentences each with an adjective used as a noun.

130. Exact Senses of Adjectives. Correct English depends much upon the correct use of adjectives. Many adjectives, however, are apt to be misused because their exact senses are so difficult to express in Han that their so-called Han equivalents are very misleading. Take the common adjective "difficult". I have just said "their exact senses are so difficult to express in Han". It is the exact senses that are difficult to express in Han. We can also say "It is difficult to express the exact senses in Han". But we cannot say "We are difficult to express the exact senses in Han" or "We are difficult in expressing the exact senses in Han". "We are difficult" means "We are hard to deal with, or not easily convinced, pleased, or satisfied".

Many adjectives have two quite different senses. For example, "comfortable" has two different senses in "I feel comfortable in my comfortable chair", in which the adjective first means provided with comfort and then means affording comfort.

It does not seem to be of much help to classify adjectives, or rather their senses, as active and passive; for the same sense may often be called either active or passive. The sense of provided with comfort may indeed be called passive; but the same sense may also be explained as enjoying comfort and therefore be called active, so that the adjective "comfortable" in both "a comfortable chair" and "I feel comfortable" may be called active, though it has different senses.

Exercise 43

A.

Look up the following pairs of adjectives in one or more dictionaries and write a sentence to illustrate each word:

contemptible, contemptuous. desirable, desirous. imaginary, imaginative. laudable, laudatory. regrettable, regretful. respectable, respectful. tired, tiresome.

B.

Look up the following adjectives in one or more dictionaries and write a sentence to illustrate each sense:

advisable, affectionate, anxious, ashamed, cheerful, cheery, clever, convenient, dangerous, dear, delightful, dreadful, eager, easy, essential, familiar, favourable, favourite, fearful, fit, fortunate, full, glad, happy, healthful, healthy, helpful, helpless, horrible, interesting, invaluable, learned, likely, lucky, necessary, nice, painful, piteous, pitiable, pitiful, pleasant, possible, probable, proud, satisfactory, shameful, shameless, strange, tedious, terrible, troublesome, useful, valuable, wonderful.

131. A Curious Point about Comparatives. It is interesting to note that a comparative form sometimes expresses not a greater degree of the quality denoted by the positive form but a less degree of the quality denoted by the word opposite in meaning. The word "better" in "I am better today", for example, expresses not a greater degree of being well but a less degree of being unwell (in fact, when one is "better", one is really worse than when one is "well"). The title "Shorter Oxford English Dictionary" affords another example: it does not mean that the dictionary is shorter than some "short" dictionary, but that it is less long or shorter than the "long" Oxford English Dictionary, from which it is abridged. I may as well give a similar example about "longer". There is in Everyman's Library a book called "The Golden Treasury of Longer Poems", selected and edited by Ernest Rhys. It contains poems that are not longer than any "long" poems but are less short or longer than ordinary short poems.

132. Two Curious Uses of Superlatives. As you must know, the comparative degree is used in comparing two persons or things, and the superlative degree is used in comparing more than two. It is not very uncommon, however, to use the superlative in comparing two, especially in colloquial English.

1. As he looked, two heads appeared one after another in neighbouring windows half-way up the tower. The highest was that of a girl with dark, bushy, shingled hair; the lowest that of a young man whose face and hair seemed equally the colour of white bread crust. — EDWARD SACKVILLE-WEST.

2. Yes, my dear critics, you are wrong, and ladies and gentlemen, I leave it to you which is the most cruel. These critics say I am cruel, and that may be so, but when you strip life — its naked flesh should not make you squint. — MANUEL KOMROFF.

3. There were moments during my reading of this frank and courageous confession when she was so very human and impulsive and altogether reckless of public opinion that I knew not which to admire most, her courage in being herself or her skill in merciless self-analysis. — Sphere.

In this connection may be mentioned the idiomatic phrase "put one's best foot (or leg) foremost", a person of course having only two feet or legs.

Besides this use of the superlative in comparing two persons or things, there is a curious use as illustrated in the following sentence:

Latin at any rate should be an essential ingredient in culture as the best instrument of any language for clear and accurate expression of thought. — The Times.

This well-established yet illogical construction may be avoided by either using a comparative instead of a superlative or writing "of all":

1. ... as a better instrument than any other language ...

2. ... as the best instrument of all languages …

133. "A Most" Followed by Adjective. "A most" followed by an adjective is idiomatically used in the sense of a very ... This is not the real superlative but rather a free use of the superlative.

1. He has, in short, all the essentials for the portrait of a most interesting and unusual young man. — ETHEL MANNIN.

2. A most extraordinary and bewildering business! — JAMES HILTON.

3. This has been a most interesting day. — SHEILA KAYE-SMITH.

4. The article has a most sentimental value to him. — Listener.

5. It was a most uncomfortable vehicle. — J B PRIESTLEY.

This use of "most" occasionally occurs with plural nouns, as in "They're most warm and generous people". — EVELYN EDITH GAVIN.

Compare the three following sentences:

Zhao, Qian, Sun, and Li are the most interesting men in this village.

Zhao, Qian, Sun, and Li are most (= very) interesting men in this village.

Most (of the) middle-aged men in this village are farmers.

"Most" followed by an adjective and used in the predicate in the sense of very is not very uncommon, but much less common than "a most ...".

1. He was most tender and sensitive to all. — EDEN PHILLPOTTS.

2. John was most upset. — H V MORTON.

3. They have been most kind; they have done all they could. — RUBY M AYRES.

4. His vast experience of women will be most useful. — BENNETT COPPLESTONE.

Exercise 44

Write ten sentences each with "a most" followed by an adjective.

134. "Worth" Taking an Object. "Worth" is a very common but very curious adjective. It requires what is most easily described as an object. "This is worth" is meaningless; "This is worth five yuan" is quite idiomatic, the "yuan" being most easily regarded as the object of the adjective.

1. An ounce of help is worth a pound of talk. — Answers.

2. It did not occur to him that the sufferings of its inhabitants, deprived of sleep, meditation, and rational conversation, are worth a thought. — G S STREET.

3. For what it is worth, here it is. — ROBERT GRAVES.

A very common construction is "worth" followed by a gerund, which is always in the active voice, though the meaning is passive.

1. And the most comic things of all are exactly the things that are most worth doing — such as making love. — G K CHESTERTON.

2. But, tiresome as it sometimes was, this irritable humour seldom cost Lang a friend who was worth preserving. — EDMUND GOSSE.

3. There is an art also in the sharpening of the scythe, and it is worth describing carefully. — HILAIRE BELLOC.

4. It would be worth trying. — JOHN MASEFIELD.

5. The book, if you can get it, is worth reading, not only for its curiosity, but for its beauty and its charm. — LYTTON STRACHEY.

6. Apart from this kind of technical training, there are probably only two subjects worth knowing anything about, physiology and psychology. — ETHEL MANNIN.

I have just said "A very common construction is 'worth' following by a gerund, which is always in the active form, though the meaning is passive." and given six examples. I have found the passive form used very rarely; as in "It was as if they were accustomed to being looked at, and were worth being looked at". — NORMAN MAILER. No doubt the author would have used "worth looking at" instead if he had not been led astray by the "accustomed to being looked at" going before. But I have said so merely to account for the expression, not to justify it. Well-known American author as he is, I cannot help calling his "worth being looked at" a careless mistake.

135. "The Matter". "The matter" is a curious phrase. Though it consists of a noun preceded by the article "the", and the phrase might be explained as the thing that is not such as it should be, it is used as an adjectival phrase, meaning amiss. It is usually followed by the preposition "with".

1. Something was the matter with his eyes. — JOHN MASEFIELD.

2. What's the matter with you two children? — SHEILA KAYE-SMITH.

3. Well, the sea gave you nothing of that, and seemed to pretend that there was nothing the matter with the world. — JOSEPH CONRAD.

4. He was getting on in years (but not ill, of course); indeed, as Doctor Merivale said, there was really nothing the matter with him. — JAMES HILTON.

5. Do you know what's really the matter with old Addie today? — EUDORA WELTY.

Note that in the following sentence "what was the matter" is used instead of "what the matter was", the latter expression being far less idiomatic in the sense concerned:

I asked my fair partner what was the matter. — IAN HAY.

136. "Nothing Much". "Nothing much" is a common phrase in present-day English. It means very little. Grammatically, the adjective "much" modifies the noun "nothing".

1. Oh, nothing much; it's just her way. — ANTHONY HOPE.

2. Nothing much grew in it, except two apple trees. — SHEILA KAYE-SMITH.

3. There's nothing much I don't know about them. — AGATHA CHRISTIE.

4. When they have finished the story or the novel, nothing much, or nothing at all, seems to have happened to them. — C S LEMIS.

"Anything much" preceded by a negative word has the same sense, but is far less common.

But there wasn't anything much to go on. — H C BAILEY.

Exercise 45

Write ten sentences each with "worth" followed by a gerund, five sentences each with "the matter", and five sentences each with "nothing much".

137. Articles. The little words "a" (or "an") and "the", the correct use of which is something like second nature with Englishmen and Americans, may seem to be very troublesome to you. Whether to use "a" (or "an") or "the" or neither in a particular place is often a problem that no rule can solve; for the solution often depends upon the particular word concerned rather than the correct application of any rule. In fact, it is not possible to give such an exhaustive treatment of the articles as to ensure correctness in all cases. In order to master them, you are advised to observe them carefully in your reading in addition to taking care of the rules.

138. "A" and Abstract Nouns. It is a common rule that the article "a" (or "an") is not used before an abstract noun. However, it is often idiomatically used before an abstract noun to express a special kind or degree of the quality denoted by the noun. When "a" (or "an") is thus used, there is often an adjectival clause after the noun.

1. There was about the party a splendour which has vanished from the dinner tables of England. — WILLIAM SOMERSET MAUGHAM.

2. Marian would come home as soon as she could, her drooping shoulders expressing a despair that went to my heart. — May C JENKINS.

3. Gretchen doesn't look at them but with a cold swift anger, her face averted, she knocks the trash can over onto the sidewalk. — JOYCE CAROL OATES.

4. The chief quality that has brought James his success is a patient persistence which in the end wears down opposition and gets him whatever he wants. — W A DARLINGTON.

5. He flung himself into the learning of Russian with a ferocity and pertinacity that were devastating. — HUGH WALPOLE.

6. His reading was confined almost entirely to the Bible; but the Bible he read and reread with an untiring, an unending, assiduity. — LYTTON STRACHEY.

7. She is colossally clever, but behind all the cleverness there is a passionate sincerity. — The Morning Post.

8. Anne's white face and big eyes appeared over the bedclothes with a startling suddenness. — L M MONTGOMERY.

"A certain" used before an abstract noun means some though perhaps not much.

I also have acquired a certain curiosity as to that strange individual. — ARNOLD BENNETT.

Exercise 46

Write ten sentences each with "a" (or "an") used before an abstract noun.

139. Some Words Often Mistaken for Abstract Nouns. There are a number of words, chiefly names of actions, that are often mistaken for abstract nouns, probably because their so-called Han equivalents suggest abstract ideas. Note that "a" is used before each of the italicized nouns in the following sentences:

1. A little chuckle. — JAMES HILTON.

2. Sir Jee, seated in the armchair which dominates the other chairs round the elm table in the magistrates' room, emitted a preliminary cough. — ARNOLD BENNETT.

3. She had met Val at a dance last season and he had sensed her problem at once. — URSULA BLOOM.

4. His face was puckered in a frown that combined displeasure with a struggling complacency. — FRANK SWINNERTON.

5. The door shut, the Inspector waved Poirot to one chair, settled himself in another, and turned a gaze of acute inquiry upon his visitor. — AGATHA CHRISTIE.

6. There was a little glance between them. — FRANK SWINNERTON.

7. Then slowly he gave a long, creeping, dirty grin. — V S PRITCHETT.

8. Don't be in such a hurry. — SHEILA KAYE-SMITH.

9. Ferrari might touch her hands and press her lips, but, Michele thought, the soul of her would escape him in the very midst of a kiss. — ETHEL MANNIN.

10. She gave him a laugh soft with apology. — PEARL S BUCK.

11. If you go and have a look at it by daylight you'll know! — AUSTIN FREEMAN.

12. Sabor emitted a frightful shriek. — EDGAR RICE BURROUGHS.

13. With a deep sigh, she took off her leather coat and hat and went into the bedroom, leaving the door open. — EDGAR WALLACE.

14. She looked up at him with a wavering smile. — RUBY M AYRES.

15. A haughty stare came from the mistress, who was still nursing the cat. — SANDFORD WILTON.

16. But tonight, for no reason, she woke with a start about midnight, and found herself sitting up in bed. — RUBY M AYRES.

17. Mr Hunt would always shout that word out so loudly in her dream, that Mrs Moggs would awake all in a tremble, and afterwards she would think of all the fine things Mr Day had said about the beautiful sea in order to compose herself to sleep again. — T F POWYS.

18. He was English, and most so when he forgot his nationality and took a country walk. — E M FORSTER.

"Chuckle" does not mean chuckling, "cough" does not mean coughing, "dance" does not mean dancing, "frown" does not mean frowning, etc; when chuckling, coughing, dancing, frowning, etc are meant, we must use "chuckling", "coughing", "dancing", "frowning", etc except in the case of "laughing", instead of which "laughter" may be used, as in:

Instead came a soft cackle of laughter which made every hair on his head stand up. — EDGAR WALLACE.

Below are some other such nouns:

embrace, groan, jump, leap, nod, quarrel, sneeze, stir.

Exercise 47

With the help of one or more dictionaries write sentences containing the words given in Section 139.

140. Generic Use of Articles. "The" and, less commonly, "a" (or "an"), may be used to indicate a class or kind of person or thing.

1. Over lake or sea, in sunshine, within sight of land — this is the perfect way of the flying tourist. — H G WELLS.

2. It was written to impress the foreigner, and therefore it was unworthy of China. — PEARL S BUCK.

3. The Oriental husband is not a tyrant. — LOUISE JORDAN MILN.

4. It will at once become a standard history of chemistry for the general reader. — The Manchester Guardian.

5. Much of the work is entirely original, and will prove of great value to the student of American government. — Law Quarterly Review.

6. It always shocks the English observer when he first sees women working on coal at pit-heads. — The Children's Newspaper.

7. He had the look of a student or of a dreamer. — WILLIAM SOMERSET MAUGHAM.

8. I have always fancied the life of a country gentleman. — JOHN DICKSON CARR.

In such a sentence as the following "a" cannot be used instead of "the".

I play the violin a little. — D H BARBER.

Exercise 48

Write ten sentences illustrating the generic use of the articles.

141. Position of "A" (or "An"). "A" (or "an") is used after instead of before the adjectives "many", "such", and "what".

1. Many an honest Inn calls itself a hotel. — HILAIRE BELLOC.

2. How lovely to live in such a peaceful place in those difficult times! — WILLIAM PLOMER. (Note that "no such a ..." would be incorrect; for "no" means not a. I know now, of course, there is no such thing as love. — STELLA BENSON.)

3. What a terrible thing! — EVELYN WAUGH. (Note that this is an exclamatory sentence. "A" is not used in an interrogative sentence, such as "What terrible thing?". Similarly, "He did not know what a terrible thing it was" and "He did not know what terrible thing it was" do not have the same meaning: the former means that the man did not know the great extent to which the thing in question was terrible, and the latter means that he did not know what kind of terrible thing it was.)

"A" (or "an") is also used after instead of before an adjective preceded by "as", "'how", "so", or "too".

1. She wanted first to get everybody into as sentimental a condition as possible. — BEVERLEY NICHOLS.

2. I have heard in Berlin at second hand — and only so does one even begin to know how great a man their little Marquis was — the experience of one minor secretary who remembers still, and will, I think, remember while he lives, a wartime night in Brussels when he was homing at three in the morning from some clandestine mischief. — ALEXANDER WOOLLCOTT.

3. Never was so masterly a creature so completely baffled. — JACK LONDON. ("A so masterly creature" is also correct, but is less natural.)

4. I sat in the rough grasses under the tower; but it was too windswept a corner to halt long in. ARTHUR MCDOWALL. ("A too windswept corner" is also correct, but is less natural. "A too ..." is not usually used unless the adjective is a very common one, as in "Hitherto he had felt an unreasonable antipathy to the young reporter, who had been a too frequent visitor to the clinic, and had written too much and too enthusiastically about Dr Marford's adventures to please a man who shrank instinctively from publicity". — EDGAR WALLACE.)

It may be mentioned that "a" (or "an") is often used between "quite" or "rather" and an adjective instead of before the adverb.

1. She had grown into quite a beautiful woman. — EDGAR WALLACE.

2. She was in rather a pathetic mood and stroke my head and told me never to forget my prayers and my nails and so on. — EDEN PHILLPOTTS.

Note that the correct expressions are "quite a beautiful woman" and "rather a pathetic mood", not "quite beautiful a woman" and "rather pathetic a mood".

Exercise 49

Write sentences illustrating "a" (or "an") used after "many", "such", "what'', "as...", "how...", "so...", "too ...", "quite", and "rather".

142. "The" Giving Common Noun Abstract Sense. "The" sometimes gives a common noun an abstract sense.

1. In this period in Chicago the poet in me was born. — LEW SARETT.

2. There was enough of the schoolboy still in Mallinson to make him respond to the curt command of a senior, though he was obviously in poor control of himself. — JAMES HILTON.

3. The priest in his son would, in its turn, turn to the same ashes. — KATHLEEN COYLE.

4. It does not damage Mark Twain to say that there was not a drop of the aristocrat in his veins. — STUART PRATT SHERMAN.

5. There is a fate, coming from the beast in our own past, that the present man in us has not yet mastered, and for the moment that fate seems a malignity in the nature of the universe that mocks us even in the beauty of these lonely hills. — ARTHUR CLUTTON-BROCK.

This use is comparatively rare. The noun is almost always one that denotes a person, and always followed by the preposition "in".

143. Articles and Proper Nouns. As a general rule, the articles are not used with proper nouns. But there are several cases in which "a" (or "an") or "the" is required by usage. For proper nouns used as common nouns see Section 68, towards the end of which was quoted the following sentences:

They have been beautiful and noble, these Fawcetts. — JOHN MASEFIELD.

Below are more examples:

1. It suddenly occurred to her that it might even be that he had determined to put the Oakhursts to a severe test — the very severest he could devise. — MORLEY ROBERTS.

2. The Dudlows, I should mention, are far the most important and influential people in Cricklebury Park, where the local society is above the usual suburban level. — F ANSTEY.

3. The Frickers lived in a fine, solid, spacious house of respectable age. — ANTHONY HOPE.

4. We haven't been able to communicate with the Bunters, and I suppose they will be expecting the Hacketts just as they are expecting us. — BEN TRAVERS.

It is interesting to note that "The Herbert Krafts" in the following sentence means not two or more persons named Herbert Krafts but Herbert Kraft and his wife:

The Herbert Krafts could, and did, set him whatever tasks they chose, and for an excellent reason. — JAMES REID PARKER.

A surname in the plural preceded by "the", as you must have gathered from Section 68, denotes the members of a family of that surname. Similarly, a surname preceded by "a" (or "an") denotes a member of a family of that surname.

Mrs Dartmouth, mother of the twins, had been an Ilam. — ARNOLD BENNETT.

The name of a person preceded by "a" (or "an") sometimes vaguely denotes a person of that name.

Pardon, but does a Miss Amelia Barrowby live here? — AGATHA CHRISTIE.

The following are some cases in which one or the other article is used before a proper noun:

1. "A" (or "an") or "the" is used before a proper noun denoting a person or place to indicate the person or place as he or she or it is or was at a particular time.

(1) She is quite a different Pearl Buck from the reserved, almost shy, writer of a best seller, who was plunged into the whirl of the literary tea racket and lionization after The Good Earth was published. — World-Telegram.

(2) He died with his work incomplete, yet bequeathing to us a legacy telling us that he was something of an artist and inventor, 100,000 years ago, in an England he shared with lions, tigers, hyenas, mammoths, elephants, monkeys, and crocodiles. — The Children's Newspaper.

(3) Just as surely as his father found his interest on the Continent, so King George is fascinated by the vision of the Britain that he has seen growing up overseas. — A G GARDINER.

2. "The" is used before a proper noun in the plural form, such as the name of a group of islands or a range of mountains.

the East Indies the Hebrides the Alps the Rockies the Netherlands the United States of America.

3. "The" is used before the name of a river, a sea, or an ocean,

the (river) Thames the Nile (River) the Indian Sea the Baltic (Sea) the Pacific (Ocean) the Atlantic (Ocean)

When the name of a river is used in such a compound word as "Stoke-on-Trent" ("Trent" is the name of a river in England), however, "the" is not used.

4. "The" is used before the following place-names:

the Argentine the Crimea the Hague the Riviera the Sahara the Sudan the Tirol (Note that the "The" in "The Hague" begins with a capital.)

5. "The" is used before the following names:

the East End (eastern part of London)

the English Channel

the Persian Gulf

the West End (western part of London)

Consistency does not exist, however. "The" is not used before the following names:

Buckingham Palace (London residence of the king or the queen)

Central Park (in New York)

Hyde Park (in London)

London Bridge

Oxford University

Scotland Yard (headquarters of the London Police)

Westminster Abbey (in London).

Nor is "the" used before "Jiangsu Province", "Zhejiang Province", "Fujian Province", etc.

6. "The" is used before the name of a ship.

The Queen Mary The Victory (The "The" may or may not begin with a capital.)

It seems to be the modern naval practice to omit the "the"; in ordinary writing it is still more usual to use the "the" than to omit it.

7. The titles of many books, newspapers, and magazines begin with "The".

The Concise Oxford Dictionary The Times The Humorist

It is often possible to use "the" before the title of a book etc, that does not begin with "The". But it is not possible in the following cases: (1) when the title begins with "A", as in "A Dictionary of Literary Terms"; (2) when the title begins with, or consists of, the name of a person, as in "Gulliver's Travels." and "David Copperfield".

"Bible" is always preceded by "the". "Scripturess" is always, but "Scripture" is never, preceded by "the".

Exercise 50

In the following sentences supply or omit "the" wherever necessary:

1. Do you know the Johnsons personally?

2. I have known Johnsons for a long time.

3. When I was in London, I visited the Westminster Abbey several times.

4. He was born in Hague, was educated in Argentine, worked all his life in Billion, and died in East Indies.

5. He used to read the Chambers's Journal every day.

6. He referred her to the Scripture.

7. West End is the richer and more fashionable part of London.

8. Can you tell me where Pearl River is?

9. When did he graduate at the Oxford University?

10. They spent the winter on the Riviera.

144. Omission of Articles. There are certain cases in which neither article is used.

1. Two or more similar words used together may have no article even if each would have an article when used alone.

(1) He is in charge of the B A T, and the building in which he lives is office, godown, and residence all in one. — WILLIAM SOMERSET MAUGHAM.

(2) Being the only two girls in both form and dormitory, we naturally gravitated together. — RICHMAL CROMPTON.

(3) Then, together, man and dog passed silently into the sunset. — P G WODEHOUSE.

(4) As the goat wandered round the room with all the curiosity known to be characteristic of the race, host and guest alike expatiated upon its merits. — MORLEY ROBERTS.

(5) The distance between son and father had been kept constant, at about fifty yards, never varying. — H E BATES.

(6) At various times and places he was pilot, printer, editor, reporter, minister, lecturer, author, and publisher. — STUART PRATT SHERMAN.

This same omission of the article may be seen in such idiomatic phrases as the following:

by hook or by crook. from beginning to end. keep body and soul together. live from hand to mouth. put pen to paper.

2. The article is usually omitted when "father", "mother", "uncle", etc are used as if they were personal names:

(1) Help father get the sheep in the pen. — NORMAN MAILER.

(2) Mother is spending the evening here. — Answers.

(3) The last time he came here he asked mother to watch his table manners and tell him if he made a blunder. — MANUEL KOMROFF.

(4) Would you like to take a walk with grandfather? — JAMES GOULD COZZENS.

(5) Nurse was reading aloud — from a not very interesting book. — SHEILA KAYE-SMITH.

3. The article is usually omitted before names of meals.

(1) In the morning, at breakfast, there were the same sad-looking people. — JOHN MASEFIELD.

(2) They asked us to lunch the week after the garden party. — RICHMAL CROMPTON.

(3) He might come back after dinner. — H A VACHELL.

(4) Once she came to tea with me on a pouring wet day and found nowhere to park her umbrella. — Punch.

(5) At dinner she may be entrusted to quite the wrong man; at breakfast you are faced with the problem of being neither too early for her nor too late for a seat beside her; at tea people have a habit of taking your chair at the moment when a simple act of courtesy has drawn you from it in search of bread and butter; but at lunch you follow her in and there you are — fixed. — A A MILNE.

Remember that the word "meal" is not the name of a meal and must not be treated in the same way. Never say "at meal", "to meal", "before meal", or "after meal"; always supply "a" or "the" or some other word before the "meal".

4. The article is often omitted before names of official positions.

(1) It may be notorious that you beat your wife, but if you are manager of a well-established bank the world will be civil to you and ask you to dinner. — WILLIAM SOMERSET MAUGHAM.

(2) He owned a brewery, and was Chairman of a railway company. — ANTHONY HOPE.

(3) Much better let him go into the business as errand-boy, and work up, instead of wasting his time learning Latin and playing games. — W A DARLINGTON.

5. The article is omitted before names of titles or professions when the name of a person follows.

King George Queen Elizabeth General Lee Professor Jones Dr Brown Mr White Mrs Black Miss Green Engineer Gale Carpenter Hill Mr Wood

Consistency does not exist, however. "The" is used in:

the Archduke Ferdinand the Tsar Peter the Emperor Napoleon the Rev W Wells.

6. The article is omitted in a great many idiomatic phrases consisting of a preposition and a noun:

at bottom at hand at home at sea for example for instance in bed in fact in hand in question in trouble on demand on earth on purpose

7. The article is omitted in a great many idiomatic phrases consisting of a verb (and a preposition) and a noun (and a preposition).

catch fire follow suit go to school lose sight of take care of

8. The article is often omitted in the headings in newspapers, magazines, and books, in advertisements, in certain business documents, and in explanatory notes.

(1) Royal Visit to Scotland — The Times.

(2) Astonishing Ghost Photograph — Tit-Bits.

(3) Cocked Hat — JOHN GALSWORTHY, The White Monkey (Part II Chapter XI).

(4) Write for free booklet which tells you how to obtain a perfect looking nose. — Advertisement in The Strand Magazine.

145. Repetition of Articles. Sec Section 81 for the repetition of "the" in connection with number. As a rule the article may not be repeated when two or more similar words clearly denote different persons or things, as in:

1. I saw a man and woman walking slowly down one of the garden paths. — RICHMAL CROMPTON.

2. On it had been written a name and address. — JOHN DICKSON CARR.

3. The husband and son were found somewhere and brought to town, and there was an attempt to connect them with the woman's death, but it did not work. — SHERWOOD ANDERSON.

Similarly, we say "the husband and wife", "a knife and fork", etc.

If a contrast is meant, however, the article is usually repeated; for example, we say "a quarrel between the husband and the wife" rather than "a quarrel between the husband and wife". ("A quarrel between husband and wife" is also quite idiomatic, as you may see from Section 144.)

146. Final Remarks on Articles. As you must have gathered from Section 137, the mastery of the articles requires the careful observation of their uses in your reading. And you simply cannot expect to write English correctly unless you are safe in using them. The unidiomatic insertion or omission of an article is a sure sign of one whose English is imperfect. Because the articles are very small words and are almost always unstressed, you must not therefore think that one article more or less does not matter. Besides, two idiomatic phrases may differ from each other merely in the use or omission of an article; for example, "in case of" and "in the case of", the former meaning in the event of and the latter meaning as regards.

1. A screen was sent out to lie down in front of the men who were digging in, to act as protection for them in case of surprise. — J B MORTON.

2. This rule is particularly to be observed in the case of villains, and more particularly of those villains who steal public money, or in general abuse their position as public servants. — HILAIRE BELLOC.

Exercise 51

A.

Write twenty sentences each with an article idiomatically omitted.

B.

Read the following sentences carefully, paying particular attention to the italicized articles and to the use of the caret, which indicates where an article might be expected:

1. But, my dear Constance, that at any rate is absolutely out of the question. — BEN TRAVERS.

2. They have brought out their pets for an airing and in ∧ friendly fashion compared their merits. — WILLIAM SOMERSET MAUGHAM.

3. The book never saw the light in volume form, and was finally sold for thirty-five pounds as a serial to a company who publish yellow-back novelettes at twopence a time. — ETHEL MANNIN.

4. The children were noticeably in ∧ good shape. — J B PRIESTLEY.

5. Instantly he cheered up; he held her at ∧ arm's length. — MARY ARDEN.

6. Gwen caught him by the arm. — MORLEY ROBERTS.

7. For the wind that had been howling outside like an outrageous dog had all of a sudden turned as melodious as the carol-boys of a Christmas Eve. — RICHARD BARHAM MIDDLETON.

8. And when she died James found that she had left him five thousand pounds and the house in the country where she had lived for the last twenty years of her life. — P G WODEHOUSE.

9. She sat up in ∧ bed, shaking back the long hair from her face, stretching her arms slowly. — SHEILA KAYE-SMITH.

10. Here for a moment he came to a pause. — WALTER DE LA MARE.

11. Then in the early summer of that year Tama left ∧ school. — PEARL S BUCK.

12. It explains how ∧ man has tamed the powers of ∧ Nature, and how the many marvellous machines which he has invented have been made to work. — URSULA BLOOM.

13. And in several ways the gathering was more catholic than a superficial intelligence might have expected. — LOUISE JORDAN MILN.

14. He did not like the idea of frightening her by a recital of what had occurred, but he knew that he would be compelled to do so. — ARNOLD BENNETT.

15. When had the burglar come, and how had he secured ∧ admission? — EDGAR WALLACE.

16. In a second she is speaking to the doctor on ∧ duty. — H V MORTON.

17. He was smoking at the time, and ∧ pipe in ∧ mouth and ∧ cleaver in ∧ hand, he joined the charge and returned — still smoking. — Horse and Hound.

18. And ∧ mother is having a day in ∧ town. — KATHERINE MANSFIELD.

19. She did not lie on her side facing him, for fear he should think she was trying to wheedle him into a good temper. — LOUIS GOLDING.

20. At the foot of the bed was a large washing bowl, with ∧ sponge and towels. — A E COPPARD.

C.

Supply articles in the following sentences (some of which, however, need no article at all):

1. I will give up my idea in view of your objections.

2. With view to improving business conditions conference will take place tomorrow.

3. They kept him waiting till noon, when, at sound of warning, he ran for shelter.

4. We stood together at window, looking at moon rising behind hills.

5. It was now time for supper, but one of children was too excited to eat.

6. That suggestion is out of question.

7. Old woman was in danger of losing sight of only friend she had.

8. Early next morning I had word with master of house about small matter.

9. They are brother and sister, not husband and wife.

10. He considers our letter to him to be most insulting.

11. I spent half hour in garden with friend one cold morning towards end of January.

12. She promised to talk to him on telephone.

13. Musician played in presence of large number of guests.

14. To tell truth, I do not care to see him in evening.

15. Nothing has been found on premises, but police are still waiting for further developments of situation.

16. In due course we made search in hope of getting new material.

17. With publication of his first book, which deals with English literature, but is written in German language, young author leapt into literary fame.

18. Parcel was delivered to me by mistake.

19. I wonder whether he did it on purpose, and whether he is at all aware of consequences.

20. As he had been brought up in country, he did not get used to town life till his third month at school.

147. Transitive and Intransitive Verbs. You must have learnt what a transitive verb is and what an intransitive verb is. You must also have learnt that a verb may be transitive in one sense and intransitive in another, and that an intransitive verb may be made transitive by having a preposition used after it. Each of the following sentences contains an intransitive verb made transitive:

1. But when the ladies' arms were about him, he smiled and consented to the rehearsal. — MANUEL KOMROFF.

2. I glanced at my watch. — DAPHNE DU MAURIER.

3. So, not daring to reflect on what his fate might be, he stared and waited. — H E BATES.

4. And he thought of his first great catch of fish as a young man, when there was soft down on his unshaven face. — LIAM O'FLAHERTY.

The matter is not so simple as it may seem to you, however. In order to use verbs correctly, you must know whether a particular verb is transitive or intransitive, whether a particular verb in a particular sense is transitive or intransitive, and what preposition should be used after a particular intransitive verb to make it transitive. All this you can do through careful reading only.

A verb may possibly have practically the same sense when used alone and when followed by a preposition.

1. James Rodman was a writer of sensational mystery stories, and his aunt Leila had always disapproved of his work. — P G WODEHOUSE. ("Disapprove(d)" has practically the same sense.)

2. On certain days in the week, however, all through the year he opened his doors to such as sought after knowledge, and discoursed on the teaching of Confucius. — WILLIAM SOMERSET MAUGHAM. ("Seek", or "sought", has practically the same sense. Incidentally, "seek" or "sought", followed or not followed by "after" or "for", is now very rarely used.)

A verb usually has different senses when used alone and when followed by a preposition.

1. This seems to be a comfort to him but it adds greatly to my own inconvenience. — EVELYN WAUGH. ("Add(s) to" means increase(s). "Add my own inconvenience" would mean join my own inconvenience to something else.)

2. In his fury, it is said that Gordon searched everywhere for Li Hung Chang with a loaded pistol in his hand. — LYTTON STRACHEY. ("Search(ed) for" means endeavour(ed) to find out. "Searched Li Hung Chang" would mean examined his clothes to find out what he carried.)

3. We must send south for his other son, our brother. — PEARL S BUCK. ("Send for" means send a massage telling ... to come. "Send south his other son" would mean cause his son to go south.)

4. I've never shot a man, or even shot at one. — SUSAN ERTZ. ("Sho(o)t at" means endeavour(ed) to shoot.)

A word of caution. You must not infer the sense of a verb from its so-called Han equivalent as given in English-Han dictionaries. A verb or a sense may not be so exactly translated into Han as to preclude all possibility of misunderstanding, and many verbs and many senses of verbs are simply incapable of being so exactly translated. For example, it seems impossible to translate the intransitive verb "consent" in such a way as to prevent it from being misunderstood to be transitive. While the "of" and "to" in the two following sentences are absolutely necessary, the Han equivalents of "inquire" and "reply" would give the wrong impression that both verbs are transitive and therefore need no prepositions after them:

1. We shall inquire of the proprietress when we get up. — LEONARD MERRICK.

2. Gerda did not reply to this. — EDWARD SACKVILLE-WEST.

Besides, what is known as a Han equivalent may be misleading even when there is no doubt about its being transitive or intransitive.

Exercise 52

Look up the following verbs in one or more dictionaries and write a sentence to illustrate each sense:

acquaint, agree, apply, arrive, attend, believe, belong, change, complain, comply, confess, conform, consent, consider, correspond, cure, defend, defer, delight, depend, deprive, despair, differ, disagree, discuss, dispose, excel, expect, fail, feel, fill, fix, fly, follow, forbid, grant, greet, grow, hang, hear, hold, hope, impose, improve, inquire, insist, instruct, intend, introduce, join, kiss, know, land, learn, leave, look, maintain, manage, mind, move, note, notice, object, oblige, observe, occupy, offend, offer, operate, oppose, part, pass, persist, play, please, practise, prefer, proceed, prohibit, prosper, qualify, reach, read, refer, reflect, register, relate, rely, remain, replace, reply, represent, return, rob, satisfy, say, search, seek, sign, sink, speak, stand, start, steal, stop, substitute, succeed, support, suppose, surprise, surrender, talk, teach, tell, think, train, trust, try, understand, undertake, unite, vary, violate, watch, wear, write.

148. Absolute Use of Transitive Verbs. A transitive verb is said to be absolute when its has no object. This use is not usually mentioned in grammars, and I have not found it treated of anywhere in detail.

Literature is of several kinds. Sometimes it is intended to amuse, to inform, to distract, to reprove; but occasionally it attempts also to convey that strange solitude and homesickness that is the glory and distress of the human spirit. — CHRISTOPHER MORLEY.

The following quotations from my correspondence with A J Fowler, brother of the famous English grammarian and lexicographer H W Fowler, will perhaps give you a good idea of the absolute use of transitive verbs:

"I have looked up 'absolute' in Webster's New International Dictionary and found the statement 'In the definitions in this Dictionary, absolute verbs are treated as intransitive'. I have the impression that while every intransitive verb is not absolute, every absolute verb may be considered intransitive. By the way, I simply cannot think of a transitive verb that cannot be used absolutely, though it is not every transitive verb that is called capable of absolute use in dictionaries. For instance, 'discuss' is a transitive verb of which absolute use is not mentioned in dictionaries, but I think it can be used absolutely in such a sentence as 'They discussed and discussed, but accomplished nothing'". — From my letter to A J Fowler of April 24, 1937.

"First, I agree that it is hard to think of a transitive verb that cannot be used absolutely, though in some cases the use would sound forced. Take 'light' merely in its sense of set burning, could one say 'I struck match after match, but couldn't light'? Secondly, my vague idea is that one only calls a verb absolute when the omitted object is more or less present to one's mind. The fox-hunter's use of 'kill' I think would be absolute. 'Hounds killed in the open' suggests the fox at once as object. But in 'They marched, killing and plundering' one thinks less vividly, if at all, of the victims, and might therefore simply say intransitive". — From A J Fowler's letter to me of 3 January, 1938.

As you may have gathered, while every transitive verb might be used absolutely on occasion, the use may often be unnatural. You are advised not to use any verb in this way without having found it so treated in your reading.

149. Copulative Verbs. Some intransitive verbs take subjective complements. They are called copulative verbs or linking verbs. The chief of them is "be" and its various forms:

1. As a matter of fact, he was a bricklayer. — DORIS LESSING.

2. Even as a child, I was ashamed of myself. — E M DELAFIELD.

3. What are you afraid of? — JOHN MASEFIELD.

4. It would have been so nice, so safe. — MAY SINCLAIR.

Each of the following sentences contains a copulative verb:

1. At first glance, this may appear reasonable enough. — Truth.

2. For he had become useless and a burden. — LIAM O'FLAHERTY.

3. He is still alive, so we can't tell whether the dream will come true. — SAKI.

4. The weather, moreover, continued superb. — P G WODEHOUSE.

5. I have lived keeping an army, and shall die a pauper. — SEYMOUR HICKS.

6. He next held various posts at the capital, but again fell ill, and in 829 settled at Lo-yang as Governor of the Province of Honan. — ARTHUR WALEY.

7. Piglet felt very miserable, and didn't know what to say. — A A MILNE.

8. After that the stayed indoors day after day, getting more irritable every day. — ARTHUR SYMONS.

9. Rodney had gone white. — RICHMAL CROMPTON.

10. The air grew cold and a wind sprang up, tossing the machine uncomfortably. — JAMES HILTON.

11. But now that he always keeps his nose to the grindstone your time must hang a bit heavy, doesn't it. — ROLAND PERTWEE.

12. Gary kept trying to talk to Bessie and Grace, but his lips moved like a man with stones in his mouth. — NORMAN MAILER.

13. He kept silent. — J S FLETCHER.

14. And his suit, like his father's, looked new and ready-made. — GRAHAM GREENE.

15. Bessie proved a delightful conversationalist. — NORMAN MAILER.

16. The night remained clear, almost brilliant. — ARNOLD BENNETT.

17. For me, then, another war does not seem so bad. — HUGH WALPOLE.

18. She was excited, her eyes sparkled, and her cheeks shone red. — MALACHI WHITAKER.

19. But, only William could act his part; he alone remembered to employ his hands, to flourish his dirty overcoat as though it were a cloak, and to make his voice sound poetic and touching. — H E BATES.

20. To utter such nonsense would be to stand self-condemned. — EDEN PHILLPOTTS.

21. Or it might be more grave still — a medicine that tasted different — some food that disagreed. — AGATHA CHRISTIE.

22. The afternoon has turned dark and cold. — JOYCE CAROL OATES.

23. The Vicar waxed poetical, and took down from a shelf an old edition of that strange book The Caliph Vathek, by the remarkable William Beckford. — BEVERLEY NICHOLS.

150. Factitive Verbs. Some transitive verbs take objective complements. They are called factitive verbs.

1. Then Randolph set his shoulder to the door and burst it open. — MELVILLE DAVISSON POST.

2. I call it simply disgusting. — JOHN MASEFIELD.

3. I looked up and caught her staring at the picture of a fishing-boat on the wall: brown and rusty with sails half spread in a bleak sunrise, not far from the beach along which a woman walked bearing a basket of fish on her shoulder. — ALAN SILLITOE.

4. I confess myself beaten. — E V LUCAS.

5. She hoped they would consider it a worthy investment. — NORMAN MAILER.

6. Conway had lived for nearly a decade in China, not wholly in the bigger cities; and he counted it, all things considered, the happiest part of his life. — JAMES HILTON.

7. Everybody deemed it impracticable — the usual thing with new ideas. — Answers.

8. But, above all else, it was the continual sharing and lack of privacy that nearly drove Gerda mad. — EDWARD SACKVILLE-WEST.

9. I would esteem it a great favour. — AGATHA CHRISTIE.

10. And the question had asked itself still more urgently just now as, standing at the garden door, he had looked out between the apple-tree and watched her, unobserved, through a long minute — watched her sitting there on the parapet, turning her vague brown eyes now at the water, now towards the garden, and smiling to herself with an expression that had seemed to him so dim and vacuous that he could almost have fancied her an imbecile. — ALDOUS LEONARD HUXLEY.

11. Her father said that prosperity always changed everyone, so she supposed it was prosperity that had changed Drusilla; she felt herself badly used as she undressed and went to bed. — RUBY M AYRES.

12. I find my study unattractive today. — H G WELLS.

13. She flung open the windows, and sniffed in the fragrant scent of a London spring with a full-blooded enjoyment. — BEVERLEY NICHOLS.

14. He was for ever getting himself involved in magnanimous situations that were no concern of his. — WARWICK DEEPING.

15. An aunt, a sister of her husband, had taken her to the town where she lived, and was having her taught at a private school. — WILLIAM HENRY HUDSON.

16. So you hold me responsible? — ANTHONY HOPE.

17. She could not imagine him dead. — R H MOTTRAM.

18. I judged her a product of spinsterhood plus Freud, poor thing — felt sorry for her, and all that. — GWYN JONES.

19. I have an old friend, a college graduate, who has carefully kept this knowledge alive. — STEPHEN LEACOCK.

20. Geoffrey would rather Drusilla had been anywhere else; he knew himself an unwelcome visitor at the vicarage. — RUBY M AYRES. (This use of "know" seems to be rare.)

21. If I tied myself up with the bell rope, I could not very well hit myself on the head with the bootjack; if I knocked myself unconscious, I should find it difficult to tie myself up. — HARRY GRAHAM.

22. I tell you if a woman makes that sign to a Papago he could laugh himself dead but he would not laugh off that. — MARY HUNTER AUSTIN.

23. The same unimaginative quality made the Romans leave the seaways of the Mediterranean undeveloped. — H G WELLS.

24. Hunting makes me a freeman of the English countryside from September to May. — Listener.

25. He was browned by the tropic sun, but his grey eyes, fair hair, and clean-cut cast of features proclaimed him an Englishman. — EDEN PHILLPOTTS.

26. They pronounced me a fine boy. — EDGAR LEE MASTERS.

27. You published recently a letter from a correspondent advocating, with an air of expecting unqualified congratulation, a scheme for facility of transport which would render uninhabitable the street in which I have found comparative peace for 25 years. — G S STREET.

28. I want to see my daughter married. — A E COPPARD.

29. We're going to glorify you and send you home a hero, by the Pentagon for morale and public-relations purpose. — JOSEPH HELLER.

30. I even lost the feeling of loneliness that had set me thinking a bit too much just after she'd gone. — ALAN SILLITOE.

31. Its beauty seemed to strike the child dumb. — L M MONTGOMERY.

32. She tore it open quite calmly and glanced at the cheque. — BEVERLEY NICHOLS.

33. He did not think it possible. — MANUEL KOMROFF.

34. The thought of it turned her heart cold. — RICHMAL CROMPTON.

35. I want my hair cut. — INGLIS ALLEN.

36. And I don't wish him dead; I'm not really a heartless brute, only sometimes it's like being in prison for life with him for jailer. — RUBY M AYRES.

151. Verbs Taking Double Object. Some transitive verbs take two objects, one direct and the other indirect, the indirect preceding the direct.

1. The three persons who came nearest to intimacy with Miss Julia Townsend, so near it indeed that she had accorded them all permission to "come and see me whenever you like", were about the last people in Washington society — needless to say they were in it — whom one might have expected her to accept, let alone welcome. — LOUISE JORDAN MILN.

2. I am, I may say, notoriously fond of animals, but though it affords me no inconsiderable pleasure to see others even more attached and devoted to them, the very last thing I myself should allow is a goat, however well-bred, to be in any of my own rooms. — MORLEY ROBERTS.

3. With people not too clever Lady Brixworth allowed herself a liberal display of sympathy. — ANTHONY HOPE.

4. The old woman went on talking; she talked a great deal and asked them a great many questions. —SHEILA KAYE-SMITH.

5. He didn't mind being assigned the lowest clerical grade, nor even being a messenger, though Raynor thought he did. — SAUL BELLOW.

6. My success in literature at the Hall of Examination has assured me a magnificent income from a government appointment. — ROMER WILSON.

7. Then I paid my companion his wage, and bade him a good night, till we should meet in the same place before sunrise. — HILAIRE BELLOC.

8. I bear him no ill will. — SUSAN ERTZ.

9. There was a Papago woman out of Pantak who had a marriage paper from a white man after she had borne him five children, and the man himself was in love with another woman. — MARY HUNTER AUSTIN.

10. I say again, as I have said before, that dog-fancying can bring one the most charming acquaintances in the world — apart altogether from profit. — E V LUCAS.

11. I hope your suit dried all right — if not, you really ought to let me have the pleasure of buying you another. — JAMES HILTON.

12. The cool reception of that epic by the principal judges of poetry caused him acute disappointment, and from that time forth he became less eager and less serious as a poet, more and more petulantly expending his wonderful technical gift on fugitive subjects. — EDMUND GOSSE.

13. But I was so deep in the chair that my feet stuck up in front of me, and I noticed that my shoes needed repairing; and that reminded me that the last time I had had my shoes repaired the man charged me a shilling more than usual, and … — Punch.

14. This war had dealt her a blow. — R H MOTTRAM.

15. She was an inveterate theatre-goer and she rarely denied herself a matinée that called her. — LOUISE JORDAN MILN.

16. A touch of the sun would have done them a world of good. — VIRGINIA WOOLF.

17. It earns them the respect of the guard. — MAX BEERBOHM.

18. Really I envy you her constant society. — ANTHONY HOPE.

19. Mush fetched her a little stool and the high-power telescope. — BARTIMEUS.

20. 1 filled him a glass of champagne. — MICHAEL ARLEN.

21. Can Josey fix you a salad for lunch? — SEYMOUR FREEDGOOD.

22. I can forgive anyone anything who is fond of animals. — MORLEY ROBERTS. (In "This coloured her judgement, and it was a fault he found hard to forgive her". — HERMAN WOUK, the relative pronoun "which" or "that" as the direct object of "forgive" is understood.)

23. He found her a taxi, and stood at the door for a moment talking. — RUBY M AYRES.

24. Her brilliant colourings gained her a big reputation, and one day she received an order to do a special job for a well-known collector. — Answers.

25. I asked him to get me tea. — WILLIAM HENRY HUDSON.

26. The night porter gave me his address. — DAPHNE DU MAURIER.

27. No envious rival grudges him the post, at least not very seriously; and no one can continue long capriciously to put obstacles in his way, because the other members want to get home. — E V LUCAS.

28. Nancy handed him a cup of tea. — H A VACHELL.

29. Marilla made no reply, but she hit the unlucky sorrel such a vicious clip with the whip that the fat mare, unused to such treatment, whizzed indignantly down the lane at an alarming pace. — L M MONTGOMERY.

30. Here is Miss Dartmouth to keep you company. — ARNOLD BENNETT.

31. She felt it dreadfully, too, I know she did, for she was crying when she kissed me good-bye through the bookcase door. — L M MONTGOMERY.

32. All-round hospitality follows, and you hear of his amiable attractive and eccentric relative who has left him an enormous fortune on condition that a large part of it is distributed to charities. — Listener.

33. Ben was reading a book about ancient Rome, something his business partner had lent him because, he said, it was very spicy, fairly reeking with blood and scandal. — WALLACE IRWIN. (The relative pronoun as the direct object of "lent" is understood.)

34. I shall lose him a lot of money. — JOHN MASEFIELD.

35. In a spasmodic and jolly way he was interested in his niece, made her a lavish allowance, sent her beautiful and useless presents at Christmas and on her birthday, which he invariably remembered a month after. — EDGAR WALLACE.

36. When they assured her that they meant the child no harm, she permitted them to come close, but would not allow them to touch her charge. — EDGAR RICE BURROUGHS.

37. A cousin of his father's had offered him a place there and it seemed the only chance of getting a paying job. — MARTIN ARMSTRONG.

38. You owe us money and the land will have to be divided among us. — LIAM O'FLAHERTY.

39. You must come and pay us long visits, so that Tito doesn't forget his aunt. — SYLVIA TOWNSEND WARNER.

40. The aunt permitted herself a smile, which might almost have been described as a grin. — SAKI.

41. So in the end we decided to ask Mrs Spencer to pick us out one when she went over to get her little girl. — L M MONTGOMERY.

42. Even parson was surprised, and he did not shake his head very hard when the Captain took down some silver cups and poured us out a drink of rum. — RICHARD BARHAM MIDDLETON.

43. Will you promise me that? — SUSAN ERTZ.

44. However, they seem to think me very clever, because I read them stories in French from de Maupassant and then translate them — of course much censored. — BEVERLEY NICHOLS.

45. Do not refuse me this. — ARNOLD BENNETT.

46. I could have saved you a good deal of trouble, as Ferdinand has been lodging 'Nith me during the weekend. — Punch.

47. But at the time I felt I was making a sacrifice which would secure me a reward in Heaven. — Answers.

48. For instance, they always, every year, send me Christmas cards; generally the awfully hearty sort of Christmas cards that people do send to other people that they don't know at all well. — BEN TRAVERS.

49. He knew quite well that his own razor was not the best tool for shaping these blocks; but in hard work and straightforwardness he set them an example which, in most cases, did more for their lives than scholarship in the technical sense. — G G COULTON.

50. Miss Worth will show you the way out. — BEVERLEY NICHOLS.

51. He sold them some photographs of Arlesian women: one was very beautiful. — ARTHUR SYMONS.

52. He sang Michele some English songs. — DORIS LESSING.

53. "What sort of job are you looking for?" asked Janet, to spare David the question, for if he asked it there might be an implication of finding her one. — The American Magazine.

54. He had friends, and a few of them would probably take him to the club and stand him drinks; it was a pleasant prospect, but not one to sigh for in anticipation. — JAMES HILTON.

55. He rose from the table, struck him a violent blow on the chest, and then laughed loudly like a peasant. — LIAM O'FLAHERTY.

56. Cheripichops is so excited that it'll take me ages to get him off to sleep. — SHEILA KAYE-SMITH.

57. But when everyone tells you the same thing, you begin to believe it. — MANUEL KOMROFF.

58. But for many years it was difficult to teach him anything. — LIAM O'FLAHERTY.

59. Nobody could ever have thrown him a hand and cried: "Come out of that and look at the view". — ROLAND PERTWEE.

60. I saw the policeman who had been talking to the girl, and he wished me luck. — L DIGBY DAWSON.

61. At any rate it had won him Mallinson's fervent admiration. — JAMES HILTON.

62. She had wondered, at first, if he would write her a letter, but had thought that he would probably be too busy. — BEVERLEY NICHOLS.

It is to be noted that when the direct object happens to be "it", it precedes the indirect object instead of following it.

You never gave it me. — BEVERLEY NICHOLS.

In American usage, however, "gave it to me" would be the usual expression.

"Cost" is a curious word. It often takes a double object, as in:

Failure to do that has cost many of our people their lives. — ROLAND PERTWEE.

It cannot be put in the passive voice, however. For instance, we can say neither "Many of our people have been cost their lives" nor "The lives of many of our people have been cost them". I might say a great deal on the question whether the verb is really transitive or intransitive. But as this is a book of composition rather than of grammar, suffice it to say that the verb actually takes either a single or a double object, but somehow it is never used in the passive voice.

It is usage that determines whether a verb can take a double object or not. You must not use a double object after a verb simply because its sense seems to you to admit of this construction. For instance, "tell" can take a double object, but "inform" cannot. "To inform her the matter" as incorrect; usage requires "of" after the "her".*

*Usage change, however; "furnish", "present", "provide", and "supply" have for years been found used with a double object, especially in American English.

Exercise 53

Write twenty sentences each with a copulative verb, thirty sentences each with a factitive verb, and forty sentences each with a verb taking a double object.

152. Tense and Time. Tense indicates time. But you must not suppose that tense and time always agree. If tense and time always agreed, there would be no present tense. For time is divided into two parts only, the past and the future, and the point of division has no dimension at all. As a matter of fact, a tense may often refer to a time quite different from that expressed by its name. For example, the verbs "start" and "leave" in the two following sentences are in the present tense, but they refer to the future:

1. I start tomorrow to try and cross Arabia. — JOHN GALSWORTHY.

2. I leave tomorrow. — MANUEL KOMROFF.

Besides, it is to be noted that the terms "present participle" and "past participle" have practically no significance at all. It is absolutely wrong to think that the present participle always refers to the present and the past participle always refers to the past. It would no doubt save many students much trouble if the two kinds of participles were called by some other names, such as "participle A" and "participle B".

153. Present Tense Referring to Future. 1. When the present tense is used of the future in the main clause, there is generally an indication of time, such as the use of "tomorrow" in the two sentences quoted in Section 152. The action is usually regarded as having been decided upon beforehand. Besides "start" and leave", among the verbs often used in this way are "come", "return", "sail", "fly", and "stay".

2. The present tense is used of the future in a clause introduced by "when", "if", "before", "till" or "until", "every time", "by the time", "as soon as", "the moment", etc.

(1) When I go out, I shan't be attached to any commission. — JOHN MASEFIELD.

(2) If I don't find somebody by that time, I'll know I'm not intended for matrimony. — SUSAN ERTZ.

(3) I ought to change my clothes before I go. — BEN TRAVERS.

(4) I shan't be forty till I'm nearly twice as old as I am now. — SHEILA KAYE-SMITH.

(5) If you refuse me I shall ask you every time we meet, till you are so sick of me that you will say yes for a change. — RUBY M AYRES.

(6) By the time you get it I shall have succeeded. — JAMES HILTON.

154. Present Tense Referring to Past. 1. The present tense is used of the past in what is called the "historic present", which serves to bring past events more vividly before the reader's mind.

Up from a table rise H A, and quickly advances, with that forward thrust of the head (that I have so often caricatured), and looking not a day older, though it was long since I had met him; and with just the same kind eager look in his eyes. — MAX BEERBOHM.

The "historic present" is now comparatively rare. You had better avoid it altogether. Out of the historic present arose the vulgarism "says I" as used in the following:

I stepped up to the copper. "If you please, sir," says I "can you direct me to Carrickmines Square?" — GEORGE BERNARD SHAW. You are advised never to use this expression.

2. The present tense is used of the past in retelling a story. For example, the summary of The Old Wives' Tale as given towards the end of Section 36 might be rewritten in the present tense as follows:

Constance and Sophia Baines, two sisters, live together in Bursley, England. Constance, a staid and sensible young woman, marries Samuel Povey, the chief assistant in her father's shop, and spends all her life in Bursley. Sophia, more passionate and imaginative than Constance, elopes with Gerald Scales, a commercial traveller who has come into a fortune. Being a bad man, he carries Sophia to Paris and finally deserts her. She struggles to success as a lodging-house keeper in Paris. The sisters are reunited and spend their last years together in Bursley.

3. The present tense is much used of the past in the headings in newspapers, magazines, and stories.

(1) 74-Year-Old Baronet Marries Woman of 32 — The Sunday Express.

(2) Ants Quench Fire — Pearson's Weekly.

(3) Kay Speaks — ROSE MACAULAY, Dangerous Ages (Chapter XIV).

4. The present tense is used of the past in "I am told", "I hear", "I learn", etc, which mean I have been told, I have heard, I have learnt, etc.

(1) I am told your play is very morbid. — JOHN MASEFIELD.

(2) I hear today by cable that you are satisfied with these conditions, and I invite you, therefore, to sail in the Royal Mail Steam Packet "Don" from Southampton on Wednesday next. — EDEN PHILLPOTTS.

"I forget" is often used in the sense of I have forgotten.

Horace puts it very well in his usual wistful way — but I forget just how. — STEPHEN LEACOCK.

5. "Dare" and "need" are sometimes used of the past, chiefly in negative and interrogative expressions.

(1) But she had vanished and he dare not ask for her. — H E BATES.

(2) After breakfast she took her hat and went down the road to meet him; it gave her a delicious sense of possession to know that now she had a right to meet him; that there need be no more stolen meetings; the whole world could know that he and she were engaged. — RUBY M AYRES.

155. Past Tense Referring to Future. The past tense is used of the future in the idiom "it is (high) time (that) ..." or "(high) time (that) …"

If so, it is time we were made to understand this more clearly. — SAMUEL BUTLER. (we were made = for us to be made.)

Originally the verb was in the subjunctive mood. But the indicative mood is now regularly used in this construction.

The table belonged to my great-grandfather, and it's high time it was [not were] scratched. — MORLEY ROBERTS.

To use the present tense in this construction is not impossible, but very unusual. To use "should" is commoner than to use the present tense, but is still far less common than to use the past tense.

Below are more examples:

1. I reckon it's time we dropped the kidnapping theory. — JAMES HILTON.

2. It is time they had someone to fight their battles for them; and not only they, but I am given to understand that all over England weak-knee'd people are allowing plundering poulterers to swindle and rob them in this way. — E V LUCAS.

3. It is high time he had a bath, and in any case it would be much simpler to stand on the bank and fish for him with a rake. — P G WODEHOUSE.

4. It is high time, therefore, that the police were given a freer hand to tackle this evil. — Answers.

5. I don't know why, for he is certainly one of the most interesting of our clever young men, and it is time, anyhow, that some of the nonsense about his "conceit" was cleared up. — ETHEL MANNIN.

6. My dear, it's high time Laura married. — SYLVIA TOWNSEND WARNER.

7. Time you went to bed, Peter, don't you think? — EVELYN WAUGH.

8. Don't you think it time you had a little sleep, dear? — Pals.

The verb in the subordinate clause may be in the past continuous tense.

I suppose it is time I was going. — RUBY M AYRES.

The same idiom is used in the past tense, when the past tense verb in the subordinate clause refers to the future of the past.

1. He began to feel that it was time he was gone. — H E BATES.

2. She told him it was high time he got back into harness. — ROLAND PERTWEE.

3. He would tell me that I must use my head; that it was time I learnt to think things out; that I was a big boy, practically eight years old, and that it ought to be what he was fond of calling child's play for me to understand and deal sensibly with simple everyday things. — JAMES GOULD COZZENS.

There is an interesting use of the past continuous tense in referring to the future.

I was leaving the country tomorrow with my wife. — EDGAR WALLACE.

This implies that the idea has now been given up.

Exercise 54

A.

Write sentences illustrating the use of the present tense in clauses introduced by "when", "if", "before", "till", and by the time".

B.

Rewrite in the present tense the summary of "The Secret" that you wrote in Exercise 7.

C.

Write ten sentences each with the idiom "it is (high) time (that) ..." or "(high) time (that)...".

156. Present Perfect Tense vs Past Tense. When to use the present perfect tense and when to use the past tense is a puzzling problem to many Chinese students. The difference between the two does not lie in the time when the action or event took place, but in the mental attitude in which the action or event is mentioned. The present perfect tense refers to something past in relation to the present; the past tense refers to something past without implying any relation to the present. "I have seen him once" means that up to the present I have seen him once, no matter when I saw him; "I saw him once" means that I saw him once at a certain time in the past, which may be either expressed or merely implied.

The present perfect tense is therefore regularly used with "since" (adverb, preposition, or conjunction).

1. I have been on the faculty since. — LEW SARETT.

2. I have been able to think of nothing ever since. — EDWARD SACKVILLE-WEST.

3. I have been awake since five. — SHEILA KAYE-SMITH.

4. One of the few things that I have learnt to be certain of since growing up, is that we are none of us unique. — E M DELAFIELD.

5. Matthew Maris has lived in England ever since he left Paris after the war. — E V LUCAS.

6. Something has happened since I left you this morning that makes it impossible for me to see you tomorrow as I said I would. — RUBY M AYRES.

In the following sentence it is interesting to note that the clause "ever since you came back from Italy" modifies not the verb "want" but the noun "behaviour":

I want a full and honest explanation of your behaviour ever since you came back from Italy. — SUSAN ERTZ.

The present perfect tense is also regularly used with "yet" and "so far"

1. Have you read my poems yet? — ROSE MACAULAY.

2. The holidays so far have afforded me little rest. — EVELYN WAUGH.

The present perfect tense is also regularly used in the clause after "It is the first (or second, third, etc) time (that) ...".

It's the first time that they have ever had a penny piece. — RUBY M AYRES.

It is to be noted that with "to this day" the present tense is far more usual than the present perfect tense.

To this day I do not know how I kept from betraying myself, and if the voice had not spoken I might have done so. — JOHN DICKSON CARR.

The past tense is regularly used when a time in the past is indicated.

1. Once upon a time there was a little girl named Clara Amabel Platts. — E V LUCAS.

2. There were many reasons to move a writer to attempt a World History in 1918. — H G WELLS.

3. I heard you go downstairs a great while ago. — SHEILA KAYE-SMITH.

4. Mr Perry saw it the other day when he called. — DOROTHY L SAYERS & ROBERT EUSTACE.

5. Well, I sat down there last night for half an hour before I went to bed, and immediately I began to think about murder. — D H BARBER.

In a sentence or clause introduced by the interrogative "when", the past tense, not the present perfect tense, is used. This is because an indication of a time in the past is expected in the answer.

1. When did they go? — JOHN MASEFIELD.

2. They can't tell to a few hours when I left camp! — R H MOTTRAM.

Both "Have you ever …?" and "Did you ever …?" are correct. The latter is generally (not always, however) a rhetorical question, that is, a question asked not for information but for effect.

1. Have you ever heard of it? — RUBY M AYRES.

2. Did you ever hear a small boy complain of having to hang about a railway station and wait for a train? — G K CHESTERTON. (Did you ever hear …? = You are not expected ever to have heard.)

There is the common question "Did you ever?", which is equivalent to "Did you ever see or hear of such a thing?" and means You are not expected ever to have seen or heard of such a thing.

In such expressions as the two following, the present perfect tense and the past tense seem to be equally common.

1. It is the most interesting collection of stories I have ever met with. — GEORGE MOORE.

2. The ugliest baby I ever saw. — LOUISE JORDAN MILN.

Incidentally, the colloquialism "have got" has lost the significance of the perfect tense, and means simply have.

I am sure she has not got a temper, and I am sure she never longed to throw anything at anybody in all her life. — RUBY M AYRES.

This colloquialism is also used before an infinitive.

You've got to learn — just to the corner by the telegraph pole there, and then you shall have a rest. — RUBY M AYRES.

157. Past Perfect Tense. The past perfect tense, otherwise called the pluperfect, denotes an action or event completed before a past point or time, which may be either expressed or implied.

Then, after a while, he became aware that something strange had happened. — LIAM O'FLAHERTY.

Here the past perfect tense denotes that something strange had happened before the point of time at which the man became aware of the fact.

It must not be supposed, however, that in a sentence in which the past perfect tense is used the past tense is always also used.

Carpentaria decided in the fraction of a second what he would do. He slipped into his bedroom, took off his boots, put on a pair of felt slippers, scurried downstairs, opened the side-door, and gently slipped out. Ham, tramping slowly with clumsy footsteps, had reached the arch leading to the Central Way. — ARNOLD BENNETT.

Here the past perfect tense is used alone in a sentence. It denotes that Ham had reached the arch before the point of time at which Carpentaria slipped out by the side-door.

Nor must it be supposed that when both the past tense and the past perfect tense are used in a sentence, the action or event denoted by the past perfect tense is always supposed to have been previous to that denoted by the past tense. In "He had done it before she did it", his doing it, denoted by the past perfect tense, was previous to her doing it, denoted by the past tense. But, in "He did it before she had done it", her doing it, denoted by the past perfect tense, was not previous but possibly subsequent to his doing it, denoted by the past tense. In the first sentence, the point of time was that at which the woman did it. In the second sentence, the point of time was not that at which the man did it, but that at which the woman completed her action; her action was previous to that point of time, though possibly subsequent to the man's action. The past perfect tense is used in the following sentence in the same way as in the second sentence explained above:

At dinner an allied Major told me a long story, which was unfortunately interrupted before the point had been reached. — MAURICE BARING.

What has been said in Section 156 in regard to "since", "yet", "so far", and "It is the first (or second, third, etc) time (that) ...", applies to past perfect tense as well.

1. Ever since she had returned to London, Nancy had been waiting for an opportunity to clear herself with Kraft. — BEVERLEY NICHOLS.

2. Judy had neither seen nor heard from Major Crosby since the day they had had tea together at Madame Claire's. — SUSAN ERTZ.

3. It was the first time anyone had spoken to her in a friendly way for a long time. — SHERWOOD ANDERSON.

158. Perfect Tense vs Factitive "Have" with Past Participle as Complement. The perfect tense, in which "have" is the auxiliary verb, and the construction of the factitive verb "have" taking a past participle as its complement must be distinguished from each other. The latter construction may or may not have a causative meaning.

1. Will you please have him removed? — Punch. (have him removed = cause him to be removed)

2. He hired a young French architect to build the house, and also to have it furnished. — PEARL S BUCK. (have it furnished = cause it to be furnished)

3. 1 won't have you upset before this afternoon. — SHEILA KAYE-SMITH. (have you upset = cause you to be upset)

4. He had his hair cut. — HUGH WALPOLE. (had his hair cut = caused his hair to be cut) (It is interesting to compare this sentence with "He had cut his hair", which means that the man had cut his hair himself.)

5. I've had that said to me a million times if I have once. — L M MONTGOMERY. (No causative meaning)

6. I mean, will Father like having bats let out all over the house? — HARRY GRAHAM. (No causative meaning)

Exercise 55

A.

Write twenty sentences in which the present perfect tense is used and another twenty in which the past perfect tense is used.

B.

Write ten sentences in which the factitive verb "have" takes a past participle as its complement.

159. Continuous Tenses. The continuous tenses, otherwise called the progressive forms, are used chiefly to represent the action or state in question as going on at the time referred to. They are often used as a frame round something else, which may be either expressed or implied.

I was amusing myself by these speculations when I was startled for the moment by a succession of short sharp shrieks, ending in a prolonged and blood-curdling yell. — F ANSTEY.

Here the action of "amusing myself" serves as a frame round the being startled by a succession of shrieks. In other words, the "amusing myself" is a setting to what happened — the being startled.

The frame and what is within it do not necessarily occur in the same sentence.

A soft, misty rain was scudding down the valley between Platnix Farm and the village of Westfield. From the parlour window, Selina could see the little houses through a silver veil. She stared at them dreamily, as she sat at her breakfast, making up poems and songs about them — poems and songs that were never finished, because she could not find enough rhymes and because there was so much in her thoughts that words would not fit at all. — SHEILA KAYE-SMITH.

What I have called a "frame" is an important use of the continuous tenses.

In Section 153 you have learnt that" start", "leave", "come", "return", etc are sometimes used in the present tense with reference to the future, generally with an indication of time. These same verbs are sometimes used in the present continuous tense with reference to the future, also generally with an indication of time.

1. I am coming home on Sunday, just for a few days. — RUBY M AYRES.

2. Helen is sailing for New York on Saturday. — DAPHNE DU MAURIER.

This use has led to the very common use of "going" followed by an infinitive:

1. Tonight is going to be a great night in the history of Christendom. — SAKI.

2. I think Henderson was going to enlarge on them, but the rickshaw boy passed the turning he should have taken. — WILLIAM SOMERSET MAUGHAM.

In this idiom "going" does not retain the meaning of going, as can be seen in "going to go."

I'm going to go to sleep. — JAMES HILTON.

The perfect continuous tense implies that the action or state in question began a very short time ago and may not yet be completed at the moment.

1. Things have been happening here. — SUSAN ERTZ.

2. He has been telling me how good you have been to him. — JAMES HILTON.

It is interesting to compare the three following sentences:

1. He will come. (Future)

2. He is coming. (Present Continuous)

3. He will be coming. (Future Continuous)

The first sentence refers vaguely to the future. The second refers to the immediate future. The third refers to the near, but not necessarily immediate, future.

160. "Always" with Continuous Tenses. "Always" used with the present or the past continuous tense means repeatedly or (too) frequently, often with an emotional suggestion.

I'm always forgetting the important thing. — PEARL S BUCK. Here the use of "always" implies annoyance at the habit of forgetting the important thing. Below are more examples:

1. In the pensions they never knew who you were, but were always trying to find out, and generally succeeded the day after you went away. — ANTHONY HOPE.

2. I think that his friends were always coming up against something in him that they didn't understand. — RICHMAL CROMPTON.

3. Lady Bunter was always getting into trouble with her almanac. — BEN TRAVERS.

4. She was always flashing her teeth about like a torch on a dark night — Answers.

5. They quoted Kipling — they were always quoting Kipling. — H M TOMLINSON.

6. But literary people are always looking for leisure and silence in which to read and do so with their whole attention. — C S LEWIS.

"Constantly", "continually", and "for ever" are often used instead of "always" in this construction.

1. People seem to be constantly giving me instructions of that kind. — ETHEL MANNIN.

2. One of the great disadvantages of being a coward is that one is constantly having to eat things that one does not wish to eat. — ROBERT LYND.

Then too, you're constantly being bumped against by those of poor vision. — RALPH ELLISON.

161. "Be" in Continuous Tenses. "Be" (or rather "being") used in the present or the past continuous tense is quite common in present-day English, especially in dialogue, though grammars do not usually mention it.

1. You are being difficult this evening, aren't you? — EVELYN WAUGH.

2. I'm not being silly. — BEVERLEY NICHOLS.

3. You're being horrible. — EDGAR WALLACE.

4. He was only being funny. — MICHAEL ARLEN.

5. Janet edged towards the stage, where David was shaking hands and being the charming great man. — The American Magazine.

162. "Used" Followed by Infinitive. "Used" followed by an infinitive denotes a habitual action or state in the past, especially when there is no indication of time. This seems to be much more used than the past tense in referring vaguely to the past.

1. We used to hear him singing in a cheerful rasping voice under the big cedar when he thought no-one was near. — EDWARD THOMAS.

2. When two celebrated talkers of the kind that I have described used to meet, the talk was nothing but a brisk interchange of anecdotes. — A C BENSON.

3. As for the pure juice of the apple, four gallons a day per man used to be the harvest allowance in Somerset when I was a boy. — GEORGE SAINTSBURY.

4. I used to barricade my hut at night against her. — JOHN MASEFIELD.

5. I used to hear it at almost every meal. — LORD PONSONBY.

6. But we don't love each other as we used to do. — SHEILA KAYE-SMITH.

"Used" is very seldom, if ever, used in the past perfect tense.

And at that she would have begun to feel even proud of him again as she had used to do were it not that there he was standing in the door way, carrying a parcel. — HUGH WALPOLE.

"Use" similarly used in the present tense is now archaic. So is "used" used in the present perfect tense.

In interrogative sentences, "used" is put before the subject as if it were an auxiliary verb.

At which table used he to sit? — LEONARD MERRICK.

"At which table did he use to it?" is, however, often used, especially in conversation and informal writing.

In negative sentences, "used not" seems to be the usual form.

Frere recoiled, for Peter used not to talk that kind of jargon. — ROLAND PERTWEE.

However, "usedn't" (or "usen't") and "did not use" (or "didn't use) are also used, especially in conversation and informal writing.

This idiomatic use of "used" followed by an infinitive must not be confused with the past participle (used as an adjective) followed by the preposition "to":

1. You get used to the loneliness. — JOHN MASEFIELD.

2. He was used to air travel, and took things for granted. — JAMES HILTON.

Notice that as the "to" (after the past participle "used") in the following sentence is the preposition, not the sign of an infinitive, "being" is used after it instead of "be":

A body can get used to anything, even to being hanged, as the Irishman said. — L M MONTGOMERY.

Exercise 56

Write five sentences in which a continuous tense is used as a "frame", five sentences each with "going" followed by an infinitive, five sentences in which a continuous tense is used with "always", five sentences in which "be" is used in a continuous tense, and five sentences with "used" followed by an infinitive.

163. "Be" Followed by Infinitive. The verb "to be" followed by an infinitive expresses intention, duty, possibility, etc.

1. We were to make ourselves drunk and then do the shooting. — EDWARD SACKVILLE-WEST.

2. What are we to do? — HUGH WALPOLE.

3. They told Pear Blossom when they went at the beginning of the night that she was to call them if their father began his dying again suddenly, and they went to their rest. — PEARL S BUCK.

4. I am not to be turned aside by impudent flippancy. — ARTHUR MORRISON.

5. Nevertheless, he was to remain for the next four years China, where he was to lay the foundations of an extraordinary renown. — LYTTON STRACHEY.

6. But his study of Western philosophy had only served in the end to satisfy him that wisdom, after all, was to be found within the limits of the Confucian canon. — WILLIAM SOMERSET MAUGHAM.

"Was" followed by a perfect infinitive expresses the failure of a plan.

1. I was to have caught that train. — BEN TRAVERS.

2. The instituter of the expedition was Gerda, and according to her original plan it was to have consisted solely of herself and her brother. — EDWARD SACKVILLE-WEST.

3. They were to have been married, but he found out about Petrovitch and left her. — SUSAN ERTZ.

4. A delegation of British trade unionists which was to have left London by boat for Leningrad missed the tide and had to defer their departure until early today. — The Sunday Express. (Incidentally, the "their" ought to be "its"; see Section 74.)

164. "Have" Followed by Infinitive. The verb "to have" followed by an infinitive expresses necessity or obligation.

1. You'll have to help, please. — A A MILNE.

2. I have only to blow this whistle. — ARNOLD BENNETT.

3. If I win, darling, we shall have to run away and get married before they find out who I am. — W A DARLINGTON.

4. If I had to break off to come out for a moment into the real world, I would always pick up the story where I last left it off in my mind. — ETHEL MANNIN.

5. That she had to serve them was only, he had thought, what she should do in return. — PEARL S BUCK.

6. If she was to make her fortune, she would have to do it alone. — ALEXANDER WOOLLCOTT.

Exercise 57

Write ten sentences each with the verb "to be" followed by an infinitive and another ten each with the verb "to have" followed by an infinitive.

165. Infinitive without "to". After certain verbs the infinitive is idiomatically without "to".

1. Had I given heed to all the people who bade me be discreet and reticent in the writing of this book, it would never have got written. — ETHEL MANNIN.

2. I felt his hand cover mine. — DAPHNE DU MAURIER.

3. John, why don't you go find some sea shells? — JAMES GOULD COZZENS. (This usage is rather colloquial, originally American.)

4. Talking of landmarks, we had a queer point arise in that Aztec Street inquiry. — STACY AUMONIER.

5. I heard the key turn. — H G WELLS. (There is the idiomatic phrase "hear tell of", now colloquial, meaning be told about, as in "he had heard tell of them, read of them in the paper, but was far from imagining what they might have been like, having no data to go on and no power of imagination." — R H MOTTRAM.)

6. No. I do not even know him, but Mr Manders tells me he helped you bring me here — after the accident. — RUBY M AYRES.

7. The Chinese people, sent $ 200,000 to help save American sufferers in the Ohio and Mississippi River floods in 1936 and 1937. — New York Sun. (After "help" the infinitive may also have "to", as in "The jester thrives and helps to throw ridicule over the very idea of night operations" — J B MORTON.)

8. In all my experience I never knew a woman ask that question unless she was in love. — ANTHONY HOPE. (After "know", the infinitive may also have "to", as in "People may think that this means that I scamp and hurry, but I always rewrite my books twice, word by word, from the beginning, and I have known myself to write a chapter seven times." — ROMER WILSON.)

9. Let those who know the dens of London give the answer. — GRACE RHYS. (There are the idiomatic phrases "let go" and "let go of", as in "Let go that bridle"— WILLIAM SOMERSET MAUGHAM, and "She let go of Hellmut's arm" — EDWARD SACKVILLE-WEST.)

10. Art and beauty seem not to touch him, and as I listen to him talk so sympathetically of the Chinese poets I cannot help asking myself if the best things have not, after all, slipped through his fingers. — WILLIAM SOMERSET MAUGHAM.

11. Her voice, very low and soft, made the other actors give up whispering and listen. — H E BATES.

12. It seemed also that he pleased Lord Bampton, who did not observe the ladies come in. — MORLEY ROBERTS.

13. Please take steps. — Punch. (This is a very common usage. "Please" followed by an infinitive with "to", as in "Please to take steps", is not impossible, but seems to be used by old-fashioned people only. Incidentally, "please" can be followed even by "don't", as in "Please don't be there" — H E BATES.)

14. Pray kiss her hands for me in reverence and love. — JOSEPH CONRAD.

15. I was in the garden and looked up to see her clutch frantically at the curtains and then swing dizzily in mid-air. — Listener.

16. His guests found it fun to watch him make tea — mixing careful spoonfuls from different caddies. — JAMES HILTON.

When the verb is used in the passive voice, the infinitive usually has "to".

1. That peculiarity he had inherited from her, for she had often been heard to say that she loved Eric because he was Eric and not because she had borne him. — SUSAN ERTZ.

2. I followed the auctioneer's advice: "You can always get your own way if you bid long enough", but unfortunately I was made to pay for it. — LORD PONSONBY.

3. In the early days of her first spring she is seen to steady her gaze and follow a flock of birds as they take wing and cross over the nearby dune. — ELEANOR THORNE.

After some verbs, either an infinitive without "to" or a present participle may be used, with only a very slight difference in meaning.

1. At the top of the hill I heard a small baby crying. —H V MORTON.

2. He felt her life coursing into him from her touch. — JOHN MASEFIELD.

3. He saw his father looking at him, with the cunning ferocity and hatred of a wild animal. — LIAM O'FLAHERTY.

4. A farmer stood watching a battalion of infantry filing into his pasture. — R H MOTTRAM.

What I have called a very slight difference is that there is less emphasis on the participle than on the infinitive, "I heard a small baby crying" means A small baby was crying and I happened to hear it; "I heard a small boy cry" means A small boy cried, and I heard it. When intention is meant, the infinitive is regularly used, as in "I should like to hear you sing."

The infinitive is without "to" after "do nothing but", "do anything but", "do less than", "had better", "dare" and "need" in negative and interrogative expressions, and "rather than", and in the idiomatic phrase "I dare say".

1. At school I could do nothing but write. — ETHEL MANNIN.

2. I didn't have anything to do but think this while I was waiting for her to speak. — ALAN SILLITOE.

3. Salesgirls dressed in pants suits stand around with nothing to do except giggle with one another and nod their heads to the music amplified throughout the store. — JOYCE CAROL OATES.

4. They are always too well written, too cunningly pathetic, to heavily ornamented with lists of titled patrons to do anything but repel my sympathies. — ROBERT GRAVES.

5. I had nothing better to do than listen. — JOHN CHEEVER.

6. In the circumstances I could hardly do less than accept his invitation. — ROLAND PERTWEE.

7. I had better say at once that I don't set up to be literary. — F ANSTEY.

8. But she had vanished and he dare not ask for her. — H E BATES.

9. He dared not take the risk. — W A DARLINGTON.

10. How dare you speak to me like this? — RUBY M AYRES.

11. In the distance an oblivious orchestra was fiddling away for dear life, but among the actual onlookers no one dared breathe. — ALEXANDER WOOLLCOTT.

12. He need not come now unless you wish it. — RUBY M AYRES.

13. The company, rather than get nothing, accepted. — Answers. (It must not be supposed that after "than" the infinitive is always without "to"; in such a sentence as the following the "to" is necessary: "I might know better than to look for any fairness in a man like you!" — BOOTH TARKINGTON.)

14. I dare say it was because he was stony broke. — LEONARD MERRICK. ("I dare say" means perhaps; the "dare say" is often written as one word, as in "I daresay you heard the crowd cheering." — ARNOLD BENNETT.)

The omission of "to" before the "build" and "play" in the following sentence is rather unusual:

It was amazing the number of things these people expected him to do besides build up a business — and play golf. — SUSAN ERTZ.

166. Split Infinitives. By the split infinitive is meant an infinitive with an adverb or adverbial phrase between the sign "to" and the verb.

1. You seem to half believe your own imaginations. — L M MONTGOMERY.

2. It is about this time that Martha attempts to regularly take the little girl with her on all occasions; for now that look of Fear has gone. — ELEANOR THORNE.

3. For the first time she seemed to really know and feel the sort of lives they led. — JOHN GALSWORTHY.

4. The time has come to once again voice the general discontent. —The Times.

5. It's been for centuries wrapped in cant and humbug and expedience and camouflage; I don't profess to be able to pierce through all that, or to so much as begin to think it out clearly. — ROSE MACAULAY.

The split infinitive is generally condemned by grammarians. It is certainly not desirable in itself. But it is quite defensible when the avoidance of it would cause awkwardness or ambiguity. To split an infinitive or not to split it is often a question of style rather than of grammar or idiom.

167. "To" Standing for Infinitive. "To" sometimes stands for an infinitive to be inferred from the context.

1. She had hardly ever been along that Kentish road, though she had often wanted to [ = to be along that Kentish road]. — SHEILA KAYE-SMITH.

2. He thought that she was going to break off a spray, and, remembering the country belief that whoever takes home black-thorn carries death into the house, he had a confused idea that he must call to her, warn her, tell her not to [ = to break off a spray]. — SYLVIA TOWNSEND WARNER.

3. I know that I pretended to Lettice to adore her long after I had ceased to [ = to adore her], simply because I wanted Lettice to go on adoring her. — RICHMAL CROMPTON.

4. Father will do exactly what I tell him to [ = to do]. — BEVERLEY NICHOLS.

5. But they couldn't get to the bottom of a thing even if they wanted to [ = to get to the bottom of a thing). — SAUL BELLOW.

Exercise 58

Write ten sentences each with an infinitive without "to", and another ten each with "to" standing for an infinitive.

168. "To" Followed by Gerund. The fact that "to "is the sign of the infinitive must not interfere with the many expressions in which the preposition "to" governs a gerund.

1. She was not, after all, accustomed to having everything just as she liked. — ANTHONY HOPE. (After "accustomed", the infinitive may also be used, as in "The man who is accustomed to do the right thing at the right moment will not lose his head in a crisis". — J B MORTON.)

2. The women, too, have mostly some useful knowledge in addition to being good housekeepers. — The Children's Newspaper.

3. A man could easily have slipped in and out; and as to getting away, why, it's not two minutes' walk to the outskirts and the open country from any point of the town, and — J S FLETCHER.

4. The friendship begun by a common aversion to kissing, a jade-green frock, and a bunch of dangling crimson peppers grew — and more than once it pulsed. — LOUISE JORDAN MILN.

5. She also was playing a part and was quite willing to flirt judiciously with a presentable butler — more especially with on who laid claim to being a Montpensier — and to permit that he should respond judiciously. — BENNETT COPPLESTONE.

6. He was twenty years old before he came close to being actually violent with his father. —NORMAN MAILER.

7. Two men, equal in brain and courage, will behave quite differently when it comes to walking under a ladder or lighting a cigarette from a match from which two cigarettes have been already lit. — ROBERT LYND.

8. In the early days of Buddhism in China, when there was a considerable amount of translation from Sanskrit, Indian influences came near to achieving this end; two Chinese alphabets were, indeed, invented, and each had some little use. — H G WELLS.

9. Well, I've committed you to watching a suspected house. — H C BAILEY.

10. To be an American and unable to play baseball is comparable to being a Polynesian and unable to swim. — JOHN CHEEVER.

11. Mr Davies, the station-master, confessed to seeing him earlier in the evening in a state of depression. — EVELYN WAUGH.

12. It is for the person "who has rendered the most valuable services to the cause of peace or contributed to finding means of combating war". — The Children's Newspaper. (After "contribute(d)", the infinitive may also be used.)

13. Moreover, all the power I possess will be devoted to hounding you out of that profession you have dishonoured. — STACY AUMONIER.

14. In the last chapter, remedies directed to reversing the present trend are discussed. — Now and Then.

15. On bringing her to the front I discovered that I was in love with her; and on ringing her up I was delighted to hear that she was agreeably disposed to seeing me at her flat, at about five o'clock any afternoon. — MICHAEL ARLEN. (After "disposed", the infinitive may also be used.)

16. Tell her I'm so sorry I'm not equal to calling upon her. — SHEILA KAYE-SMITH.

17. And while the old dog padded away, he fell to wondering what it was he had been thinking about before. — KATHERINE MANSFIELD.

18. A dozen picnic parties, driven for refuge from all parts of the wood, filled it to overflowing. — JOHN METCALFE.

19. Well, then, in this sense, books have changed within our own time from being a luxury to being in the main a necessary. — HILAIRE BELLOC.

20. Then he got to drinking and running after women. — SHERWOOD ANDERSON.

21. I suppose in such matters I am neither exceptionally steady-headed, nor is my head exceptionally given to swimming. — H G WELLS.

22. The main influences that went to forming a different point of view were Darwin's biological theories, Comte's application of scientific ideas to the study of society, and Taine's application of deterministic theories to literature. — J A CUDDON.

23. We are a family party — or at any rate we look forward to being one some day, and even now escape none of the characteristics of such gatherings. — ANTHONY HOPE.

24. Next to drinking buttermilk the thing that Miss Julia most enjoyed was reading novels in bed — by the soft, clear light of four or five wax candles. — LOUISE JORDAN MILN.

25. It is becoming unsafe to say anything in a mixed gathering which one would object to seeing in print. — ETHEL MANNIN.

26. I fancy I have a growing objection to being buried anywhere at all. — ROBERT LYND.

27. He was a silent fellow as a rule and preferred being alone to mixing with the villagers. — LIAM O'FLAHERTY.

28. But I think it is a less, and perhaps also a preferable risk to being starved or frozen to death. — JAMES HILTON.

29. Matthew encountered the station-master locking up the ticket-office preparatory to going home for supper, and asked him if the five-thirty train would soon be along. — L M MONTGOMERY.

30. If you'll only call me Anne spelt with an e, I shall try to reconcile myself to not being called Cordelia. — L M MONTGOMERY.

31. Unless the size of the family overdraft has reduced him to working for his living, in which case you probably won't see him, the squire's son may easily fulfil your conception of him. — Answers. (After "reduce(d)", the infinitive may also be used.)

32. The numerous persons interested, officially or otherwise, in their destinies had perforce resorted to differentiating between them by reference to their cargoes. — The Times.

33. If I tell you that there is a girl in that house, and that I must rescue that girl, then you will perhaps see your way to minding your own business. — MICHAEL ARLEN. (After "see one's way", the infinitive may also be used.)

34. The Western interest in all proletarian movements has set young China to thinking about her proletariat, and to discovering the extraordinary quality of her country people maintaining their life pure and incredibly undisturbed by the world's confusion. — PEARL S BUCK.

35. I think I'll stick to reviewing other people. — GWYN JONES.

36. Her husband submitted to travelling in the closed carriage of a European funeral, but half-way along the route, overcome by the stifling atmosphere, he burst from the coach and disappeared. — Answers.

37. He took to coming here, if ever 1 was away. — DAPHNE DU MAURIER.

38. Within a short time, thanks to being well dressed, he was a star, earning £ 1,500 a week. — Answers.

39. There are always thousands of starlings in the neighbourhood, but this year even people who are used to seeing flocks of them are astonished at their numbers. — The Children's Newspaper.

40. Decent people converse about books with a view to finding common ground and exchanging delight (deep or frivolous) thereon. — GILBERT NORWOOD. (After "with a view", the infinitive may also be used, but "to" + a gerund is the better usage.)

41. Clearly he was on his way to becoming a soldier. — J B MORTON.

Exercise 59

Write twenty sentences each with the preposition "to" followed by a gerund.

169. Infinitive or Gerund? It has been said in Section 117 that "it" may be used as the subject or object anticipating an infinitive or a gerund. As to when to use an infinitive and when to use a gerund, no rule can be given. The fact, however, is that the infinitive is far commoner than the gerund, and that as the latter construction is more or less colloquial, the former is to be preferred in serious writing.

Some nouns, adjectives and past participles, and, verbs are idiomatically followed by the infinitive, and some by the gerund (with a preposition in the case of nouns and adjectives and past participles, and with or without a preposition in the case of verbs), and some by either, with or without a difference in meaning. To use the infinitive where usage requires the gerund or to use the gerund where usage requires the infinitive results in unidiomatic English.

The former seems to be a much commoner mistake than the latter.

It is not possible to give satisfactory rules in this matter. For the usage depends upon the particular word concerned. A word of caution may be given to the effect that you must not use the infinitive or the gerund after a certain word simply because an analogous word is idiomatically followed by the infinitive or the gerund. For example, the "desire to discuss" and "idea of passing" in the two following sentences cannot be changed to "desire of discussing" and "idea to pass":

1. Conway had no desire to discuss the matter further in a merely speculative way; there had been enough of that during the journey. — JAMES HILTON.

2. The idea of passing his remaining days in her society revolted him. — P G WODEHOUSE.

Particular care should be taken in the case of words that may take either construction but with a difference in meaning.

As you have probably gathered from Section 168, the mistake of using an infinitive where usage requires the preposition "to" followed by a gerund is due to the fact that "to" happens to be the sign of the infinitive. In the following lists of words followed by the infinitive and/or the gerund, those followed by "to" and a gerund are omitted because they have already been illustrated in Section 168.

Nouns.

ability. Followed by the infinitive, as in "At the hotel Frere developed an ability to express himself in the spoken word" — ROLAND PERTWEE.

ambition. Followed by either the infinitive (or, perhaps less commonly, "of" and gerund), as in So I hope that you will remember my name, and my ambition to obtain appointment to the Navy Academy. — HERMAN WOUK.

attempt. Followed by the infinitive, as in "At length Professor Porter essayed an attempt to move one leg" — EDGAR RICE BURROUGHS.

capacity. Followed by either the infinitive or "for" and the gerund, as in "Voltaire said that one died twice; once with the death of the whole body and once before, with the death of one's capacity to love." — ALDOUS LEONARD HUXLEY, and "Humanity's capacity for dragging itself through dark tunnels and emerging again into the light at the other end, alive if not whole, appears to be infinite." — ETHEL MANNIN.

chance. Followed by either the infinitive or "of" and the gerund, as in "For next morning he was recalled to Madrid with no chance to bid his chief goodbye" — ALEXANDER WOOLLCOTT, and "As things turned out, there was only about half an hour in which we should have a chance of getting away unseen: after dark fell and before the ship sailed at eight o'clock." — E ARNOT ROBERTSON.

determination. Followed by the infinitive, as in "In her determination to school him into regular methods and hours of work she wafted him off to his study after breakfast each morning and bade him enter and evolve." — ROLAND PERTWEE.

effort. Followed by the infinitive, as in "The strenuous effort to be original often ends in a very common type of folly." — HENRY VAN DYKE. When used in the sense of an artistic or literary product, followed by "at" and the gerund, as in "An infant's effort at creating a kitten" — H C BAILEY.

excuse. Followed by "for" and the gerund, as in "You can scarcely apply that system to murder, for if you did the murdered man would have some excuse for actively haunting your slumbers." — BENNETT COPPLESTONE.

failure. Followed by the infinitive, as in "But I was disappointed and chagrined to the very roots of my being at this blank failure to advance, by a single fruitful speculation, the problems I had gone so many miles, and worked so exceedingly hard, to resolve." — EDEN PHILLPOTTS.

habit. Followed by "of" and the gerund, as in "He had a habit of coming and whining under the window when James was at work" — P G WODEHOUSE.

honour. Followed by either the infinitive or "of" and the gerund, as in "Tell her I will do myself the honour to call upon her at any time he suggests unless she prefers to consult me here." — AGATHA CHRISTIE, and "I will do myself the honour of calling upon her".

hope. Followed by "of" and the gerund, as in "There was little to hold him to life except her letters, and the hope he had of seeing her and those about her again." — SUSAN ERTZ.

impulse. Followed by the infinitive, as in "At Frere's entrance he displayed a natural impulse to screen it from view by standing in front or the thing." — ROLAND PERTWEE.

inclination. Followed by the infinitive, as in "after a month or two Rhoda had lost any inclination to say no." — HERMAN WOUK.

injunction. Followed by the infinitive, as in "Well, Louisa had gone up to her room, leaving me alone in the drawing-room with an injunction not to sit up late" — F ANSTEY.

instructions (plural). Followed by the infinitive, as in "I have received instructions to tell you." — JOHN DICKSON CARR.

intention. Followed by "of" and the gerund, as in "I have no intention of writing a history of the War or of my insignificant part in it" — GERALD BULLETT.

liberty. "At liberty" is followed by the infinitive, as in "If you should hear some music you will know that you are at liberty to turn on all the lights you like." — ARNOLD BENNETT.

"Take the liberty" is followed by either "of" and the gerund or the infinitive, as in "I took the liberty of inserting the name myself, sir." — BENNETT COPPLESTONE, and "I took the liberty to insert the name myself".

means. Followed by "of" and the gerund, as in "I went to talk to her, as a means of keeping in check my growing excitement." — E ARNOT ROBERTSON.

need. Followed by the infinitive except when preceded by "the", as in "There was no need to say more." — JOHN MASEFIELD. "The need" is followed by "of" and the gerund, as in "My friends say that I laughed and cried naturally, and for a while I made many sounds and word-elements, not because they were a means of communication, but because the need of exercising my vocal organs was imperative" — HELEN KELLER.

necessity. Followed by "of" or "for" and the gerund, as in "But they also realize the necessity of facing death." — HAVELOCK ELLIS, and "The necessity for doing something was becoming imperative." — SAKI.

occasion. Followed by the infinitive, as in "If the day had been fine a good many people would have found occasion to be at the station so as to witness the arrival." — MARGARET KENNEDY.

opportunity. Followed by either the infinitive or "of" or "for" and the gerund, as in "It would take her away from the village; it would put her beyond the chance of meeting Bonallack, and give her an opportunity to forget him" — RUBY M AYRES, "His enemies soon found an opportunity of silencing him" — ARTHUR WALEY, and "They would have ample opportunity for speaking to Jarman that morning, for Nurse would have to stay indoors to pack." — SHEILA KAYE-SMITH.

permission. Followed by the infinitive, as in "I told hint I couldn't give him permission to proceed." — JOSEPH CONRAD.

power. "A power" of "the power" is followed by "of" and the gerund, as in "It is maintained by Superintendent Bell and others of his devoted admirers that he has a queer power of divining the people behind facts, a sort of sixth sense." — H C BAILEY, and "It has been my privilege to meet a few great actors and actresses who have the power of so bewitching you that you forge time and place and live again in the romantic past." — HELEN KELLER.

promise. Followed by the infinitive, as in "And yet I believe he has even kept his promise not to play bridge with hers" — BENNETT COPPLESTONE.

proposal. Followed by the infinitive, as in "Then, as he went on his way to wake his wife and face her with the soothing proposal to pawn her ring early the next morning, something happened to Collinson" — BOOTH TARKINGTON.

purpose. Followed by "of" and the gerund, as in "But since that letter has now served its original purpose of arousing your interest in the matter, I feel that it would be better forgotten, as far as possible" — DOROTHY L SAYERS & ROBERT EUSTACE.

reason. "Every reason" is followed by the infinitive, as in "He has every reason to work." — ROLAND PERTWEE. "A reason" or "reasons" is followed by "for" and the gerund, as in "I can assure you that I have a — a reason for asking." — AGATHA CHRISTIE, and "You have reasons for not wishing to return to Russia." — AGATHA CHRISTIE. (In the following sentence the infinitive "to commit" seems rather unusual, and "for him to commit" might be changed to "for committing": "There was nobody on earth to murder Slanning; but there was a reason in his own mind for him to commit suicide." — EDEN PHILLPOTTS.) "Reason" or "no reason" is followed by either the infinitive or "for" and the gerund, as in "I have reason to believe she's in Petrograd." — WILLIAM SOMERSET MAUGHAM. "Although she knew his uncle might have reason for dealing with him so severely, Patrician ever could rid herself of the feeling that Julian was a man with a heart and with a noble disposition." —EFFIE ADELAIDE ROWLANDS, "You have no reason to doubt her?" — EDEN PHILLPOTTS, and "There's no reason for coming barging into other people's studios." — MARGARET KENNEDY. "Any reason" is followed by "for" and the gerund, as in "Do you know whether he had any enemies — anybody who had any reason for wanting to get rid of him?" — J S FLETCHER.

reluctance. Followed by the infinitive, as in "Such reflections foster humility, and they foster also a reluctance, which it is impossible to praise too highly, to tread on other people's toes" — ARNOLD BENNETT.

resolution. Followed by the infinitive, as in "The man who has the resolution to contribute nothing at all to social service should have the resolution not to be ashamed of it." — ROBERT GRAVES.

responsibility. Followed by "of" and the gerund, as in "No, she could not take the responsibility of doing that!" — L M MONTGOMERY.

right. Followed by either the infinitive or "of" and the gerund, as in "Clearly, then, the pig is our good little brother, and we have no right to be disgusted at home". — GRACE RHYS, and "We have no right of being disgusted at home".

tendency. Followed by the infinitive, as in "There is a tendency among modern critics to gauge all novels by a single literary standard — a standard, in fact, which should be applied only to novels that patently seek a niche among the enduring works of imaginative letters." — WILLARD HUNTINGTON WRIGHT.

time. "Time" and "no time" are followed by the infinitive, as in "It is time to return to Mr Windlesham and his sister." — FRANK SWINNERTON, and "There is no time for her to give any individual attention today, and therefore she does not have the opportunity to observe how very nervous and frightened one little beginner is." — ELEANOR THORNE.

way. When used in the sense of method, followed by either the infinitive or "of" and the gerund, as in "I must quietly think out what is the best way to find him." — HUGH WALPOLE, and "That is one way of looking at it" — H C BAILEY. (Somehow the infinitive would be less idiomatic in the second sentence.) When used in the sense of personal peculiarity, followed by "of" and the gerund, as in "He has a way of putting things that wouldn't occur to an ordinary man, has parson, and I did as he told me." — RICHARD BARHAM MIDDLETON.

willingness. Followed by the infinitive, as in "As Kunta plucked off for himself some of the ripened fruits, he sensed his father's mood of willingness to talk today." — ALEX HALEY.

wish. Followed by the infinitive, as in "When I announced my wish to meet this distinguished person my host immediately offered to arrange a meeting; but the days passed and nothing happened" — WILLIAM SOMERSET MAUGHAM.

Adjectives and Past Participles.

able. Followed by the infinitive, as in "And he was able to do as he had decided." — PEARL S BUCK.

afraid. Followed by either the infinitive or "of" and the gerund, as in "And, worst of all, I was afraid to tell." — JACK LONDON, and "Most people are afraid of going to the dentist to have a tooth extracted, but it is rare to find a dentist who is afraid of taking a tooth out" — Answers.

ambitious. Followed by the infinitive, as in "Perhaps you were waiting to apply for a job; perhaps you had some "deal" you were ambitious to put over. — CHRISTOPHER MORLEY.

annoyed. Followed by either "at" and the gerund or the infinitive, as in "He was annoyed at having forgotten, and started to unwind them." — J B MORTON, and "He was annoyed to have forgotten".

anxious. Followed by the infinitive, as in "He would then ask for an account of the business, and was anxious to know whether Steve was 'making good'" — J B MORTON.

ashamed. Followed by either the infinitive or "of" and the gerund, as in "It's platinum, yes; but look at the stone in it, about the size of a pin-head, so's I'm ashamed to wear it when any of my friends see me! — BOOTH TARKINGTON, and "A little girl like you should be ashamed of talking so about a lady and a stranger" — L M MONTGOMERY.

bent. Followed by "on" and the gerund, as in "Well, Judith, I can see you're bent on going." — SUSAN ERTZ.

capable. Followed by "of" and the gerund, as in "It was the knowledge of the second will that was troubling her; she was not capable of carrying through such a deception." — RUBY M AYRES.

careful. Followed by the infinitive, as in "He was always careful never to speak of things before Amos that would have put his brother in a false position, or make him appear mentally inferior in general conversation." — EDEN PHILLPOTTS.

competent. Followed by the infinitive, as in "Those who know most about China know nothing, but you will at least find one who is competent to give you a rendering of a few rough and simple lines." — WILLIAM SOMERSET MAUGHAM.

content (willing). Followed by the infinitive, as in "But be was content to die here in the midst of his lands, in this old house of his fathers, in this room with its rude, unpainted table and benches, under his blue cotton bed-curtains, since die he must." — PEARL S BUCK.

curious. Followed by the infinitive, as in "I am curious to see." — MORLEY ROBERTS.

delighted. Followed by the infinitive, as in "Roserra was surprised and delighted to find how childishly happy Livia could be among new surroundings." — ARTHUR SYMONS.

desirous. Followed by either "of" and the gerund or, perhaps less commonly, the infinitive, as in "It was well to leave behind stout believers in her integrity, or at least well-wishers who would not be desirous of pressing inquiries too relentlessly against her" — BENNETT COPPLESTONE, and "They implied, even if they took no means to secure it, an active intellect, stirred by passionate ideas, and quite as desirous to express itself as to discover how to be obvious to others" — HENRY SEIDEL CANBY.

determined. Followed by the infinitive, as in "Nancy, however, was quite cool, because she was determined to be a great success." — BEVERLEY NICHOLS.

disposed. Followed by the infinitive, as in "The truth was that he didn't feel disposed to go." — SUSAN ERTZ.

eager. Followed by the infinitive, as in "Everywhere were germs eager to destroy one." — STACY AUMONIER.

fond. Followed by "of" and the gerund, as in "Mr Harrington was very fond of reading aloud." — WILLIAM SOMERSET MAUGHAM.

inclined. Followed by the infinitive, as in "I gathered from his attitude that he was inclined to take a rather gloomy view of my behaviour." — HARRY GRAHAM.

interested. Followed by either the infinitive or "in" and the gerund, as in "I am very interested to hear about him." — EDEN PHILLPOTTS, and "I am very interested in hearing about him".

pleased. Followed by the infinitive, as in "Abner, you are pleased to jest, but I am in deadly earnest." — MELVILLE DAVISSON POST.

proud. Followed by either the infinitive or "of" and the gerund, as in "I am proud to count him among my friends." — HELEN KELLER, and "Because he wasn't such a mug as to be proud of taking it" — GERALD KERSH.

right. Followed by "in" and the gerund, as in "He may have been quite right in thinking so, for he was an odd-looking personage, with an ungainly figure and long iron-grey hair that touched his stooping shoulders, and a full, brown beard which he had worn ever since he was twenty" — L M MONTGOMERY. ("You may have been quite right to think so" is also correct.)

set (intent). Followed by "on" (or "upon") and the gerund, as in "Are you set on going yourself, sir?" — H C BAILEY.

shy. Followed by "of" and the gerund, as in "Presently one of the warders, observing that Paul seemed shy of joining in the conversation, handed him a daily paper." — EVELYN WAUGH.

surprised. Followed by either the infinitive or "at" and the gerund, as in "When I came downstairs next morning I was surprised to find every bit of bread gone." — Answers, and "I was surprised at finding every bit of bread gone".

tired. Followed by "of" and the gerund, as in "I sometimes wonder when Julian will be tired of getting into difficulties." — EFFIE ADELAIDE ROWLANDS.

willing. Followed by the infinitive, as in "He is willing to die, but not by his own hand." — EDEN PHILLPOTTS.

worthy. Followed by either the infinitive or "or and the gerund, as in "He talked to me, more gently now, of how philosophers in long past days wandered from state to state with their disciples, teaching all who were worthy of learn." —WILLIAM SOMERSET MAUGHAM, and "He taught all who were worthy of learning".

wrong. Followed by "in" and the gerund, as in "Oh! then I was wrong in believing that women should be an inspiration to men?" — ROLAND PERTWEE. ("Oh! then I was wrong to believe that ..." is also correct.)

Verbs.

admit. Followed by the gerund, as in "I admitted knowing the agent." — DOROTHY L SAYERS & ROBERT EUSTACE.

advise. Followed by an object and the infinitive, as in "I asked him how he was, and he said he was better but his doctor had advised him to go away." — MANUEL KOMROFF.

afford. Followed by the infinitive, as in "It's only penny-ante, but I couldn't afford to lose anything at all." — BOOTH TARKINGTON.

aim. Followed by either the infinitive or "at" and the gerund (the former being the usual construction in American usage, and the latter in English usage), as in "The two books aim to give a fairly complete picture of the two branches of our literature, revealing many contrasts and a few general differences." — LOUIS UNTERMEYER, and "From that moment, however much she might personally attract his eyes and ears, Dawson was proof against any feminine fascination which aimed at deflecting him from his purpose." — BENNETT COPPLESTONE. ("Aim" + infinitive is now English too.)

allow. Followed by an object and the infinitive, as in "Instead of answering his question, she looked at him plaintively and allowed tears to shine along her lower eyelids." — BOOTH TARKINGTON.

ask. Followed by an object and the infinitive, as in "Paul asked Potts to be his best man, but a letter from Geneva declined the invitation." — EVELYN WAUGH.

attempt. Followed by the infinitive, as in "He therefore apprehended that something might happen; but he was under orders and did not attempt to shirk them, though the orders had astonished and even dismayed him." — EDEN PHILLPOTTS.

avoid. Followed by the gerund, as in "If I avoid exploring them, I know I am not very well." — A G GARDINER.

bear. Followed by either the infinitive or the gerund, as in "I couldn't bear to watch them leading him away." — J W WALLACE, and "I've tried to be patient all the morning, but I really feel that I cannot bear not knowing any longer." — L M MONTGOMERY.

beg. Followed by an object and the infinitive, as in "I beg you to help me" — SUSAN ERTZ.

begin. Followed by either the infinitive or the gerund, as in "They began to march more slowly" — J B MORTON, and "The young, passionate voice broke off impatiently, and the girl clutched a great fern from its root and began fanning herself with it slowly" — LOUISE JORDAN MILN. When the verb is a non-volitional one, the infinitive is the usual construction.

beseech. Followed by an object and the infinitive, as in "It was in vain that I protested that I was a man of few needs and besought her not to give herself unnecessary trouble" — ROBERT LYND.

bring (persuade). Followed by an object and the infinitive, as in "He longed to know more, yet he could not bring himself to write and ask for information." — EFFIE ADELAIDE ROWLANDS.

cease. Followed by either the infinitive or the gerund, as in "His feet lost their soreness, his pack straps ceased to cut into his shoulders, and after the first few weeks he only made one big blunder" — J B MORTON, and "At this moment Fortune ceased smiling upon young Mr Orde" — H A VACHELL.

choose (decide). Followed by the infinitive, as in "Suppose I don't choose to tell you? — Boom TARKINGTON.

claim. Followed by the infinitive, as in "We had a frail art teacher here a couple years ago who claimed to have a headache, but Wereham got him out of bed and made him play third base." — JOHN CHEEVER.

compel. Followed by an object and the infinitive, as in "She even compelled me to eat what she liked." — ROBERT LYND.

consider. Followed by the gerund, as in "I have often considered writing a little monograph on the subject, but I was afraid it might make me unpopular in the village." — EVELYN WAUGH.

continue. Followed by either the infinitive or the gerund, as in "The electric bell continued to ring." — E PHILLIPS OPPENHEIM, and "She died in the clearing in the woods, and even after her death continued feeding animal life." — SHERWOOD ANDERSON.

counsel. Followed by an object and the infinitive, as in "I knew, when I got there, that those who had counselled me not to go to the mortuary were right." — ETHEL MANNIN.

decide. Followed by either the infinitive or "on" or "upon" and the gerund, as in "When he saw the sailors row away towards the ship, and knew that the girl and her companion were safe in his cabin. Tarzan decided to follow the young man into the jungle and learn what his errand might be" — EDGAR RICE BURROUGHS, and "Tarzan decided (up)on following the young man into the jungle".

decline. Followed by either the infinitive or the gerund, as in "This, however, I declined to do, and explained that it was my purpose to be entirely free during the coming weeks" — EDEN PHILLPOTTS, and "I declined doing this".

delight. Followed by either the infinitive or "in" and the gerund, as in "And to be a Montpensier is to have had fair ancestresses whom the Kings of France delight to honour." — BENNETT COPPLESTONE, and "Her hair-line handwriting was peculiarly beautiful, and she delighted both in producing it and in displaying it" — LOUISE JORDAN MILN.

demand. Followed by the infinitive, as in "I have been judged and done with; but now I demand to hear all that has been said against me" — EFFIE ADELAIDE ROWLANDS.

deserve. Followed by the infinitive, as in "If I deserve to go to jail, I deserve to go to jail." — PEARL S BUCK.

desire. Followed by the infinitive, as in "In truth, however, Henry desired to marry, and, with what looks now like extraordinary secrecy, cultivated little May Warrender." — EDEN PHILLPOTTS. When used in the sense of entreat, followed by an object and the infinitive, as in "He desires me to ask you to go to him as soon as convenient; but, of course, if you have just seen him —" — EFFIE ADELAIDE ROWLANDS.

despair. Followed by "of" and the gerund, as in "At the present time my mind is so full of heterogeneous matter that I almost despair of ever being able to put it in order" — HELEN KELLER.

determine. Followed by either the infinitive or "on" or "upon" and the gerund, as in "It suddenly occurred to her that it might even be that he had determined to put the Oakhursts to a severe test — the very severest he could devise." — MORLEY ROBERTS, and "He determined (up)on putting them to a severe test".

dislike. Followed by either the infinitive or the gerund, as in "And I dislike to be master of things that are not mine" — MAX BEERBOHM, and "He disliked bothering with people he knew only slightly, and it annoyed him to have people continually asking him how he was" —SUSAN ERTZ.

dread. Followed by either the infinitive or the gerund, as in "Her heart beat in a fluttering way; she dreaded to know what was coming next." — EFFIE ADELAIDE ROWLANDS, and "She dreaded going back to the rectory and meeting Patricia." — EFFIE ADELAIDE ROWLANDS.

dream. Followed by "of" and the gerund, as in "And, of course, I should not dream of murdering anyone" — AGATHA CHRISTIE.

endeavour. Followed by the infinitive, as in "Buster, still weeping, rolled over and over on the floor, endeavouring to get out of her reach." — LIAM O'FLAHERTY.

enjoin. Followed by an object and the infinitive, as in "A philosopher has enjoined us to suffer fools gladly." — ARNOLD BENNETT. (This construction, however, seems now less common the construction with on or "upon" after "enjoin", in which the infinitive is the object of the verb; as in "She meant that her mother enjoined on them always to care for their brother." — HAVELOCK ELLIS.)

enjoy. Followed by the gerund, as in "I enjoyed reading your verses very much, particularly, of course, 'Two Fishers', after which you name the book." — LORD DUNSANY.

excel. Followed by "in" and the gerund, as in "I have heard it said that Frenchmen excel in fighting and in — kissing." — BENNETT COPPLESTONE.

expect. Followed by the infinitive, as in "I have heard so many stories of the alleged ferocity of Alsatians that at any moment I expected to feel his hot breath on my face, his teeth in my throat." — HARRY GRAHAM. Also followed by an object and the infinitive, as in "He had half expected Althea to telephone, but she had not done so" — SUSAN ERTZ.

fail. When used in the sense of not succeed, followed by either the infinitive or "in" and the gerund, as in "I fail to describe him" — JACK LONDON, and "I fail in describing him". When used in the sense of neglect or omit, followed by the infinitive, as in "But as a rule they fail to keep this up, and lose all the good of it." — STEPHEN LEACOCK.

fancy. Followed by the gerund, as in "Fancy going to sleep in it when the wind was rocking it" — L M MONTGOMERY.

finish. Followed by the gerund, as in "I am writing to tell you what great pleasure I derived from your novel, The Rainbow Montage, which I have only just finished reading." — GWYN JONES.

forbear. Followed by the infinitive, as in "Forbear to give one penny to individuals" — HILAIRE BELLOC.

force. Followed by an object and the infinitive, as in "She nagged at her husband until she forced him to do various little jobbing contracts." — LIAM O'FLAHERTY.

forget. When used in the sense of neglect or omit, followed by the infinitive, as in "Louise was so amazed that she forgot to feel angry and outraged." — SUSAN ERTZ.

get. When used in the sense of acquire a habit, followed by the infinitive, as in "He made a special point of getting to know all the new boys and having them to tea with him during their first term" —JAMES HILTON. When used in the sense of induce, followed by an object and the infinitive, as in "I tried to get him to talk about Gilbert Frankau's new book the other day." — DOROTHY L SAYERS & ROBERT EUSTACE.

hate. Followed by either the infinitive or the gerund, as in "I've taken rather a fancy to you, and I hate to think of your going off murdering Pashas." — MICHAEL ARLEN, and "He said he hated working, but he never did anything else" — D H LAWRENCE.

help. When used in the sense of assist, followed by the infinitive, with or without the sign "to", as in "I know nothing, except that there's been a murder here, and that I'm sent down, at your request, to help to investigate it." — J S FLETCHER, and "I helped look after the Thomas children — there were four of them younger than me — and I can tell you they took a lot of looking after." — L M MONTGOMERY. Also followed by an object and the infinitive, with or without the sign "to", as in "He has helped me to make up my mind about Major Crosby, who has written me several charming letters." — SUSAN ERTZ, and "When I got to the inn landlord had to help me shut the door; it seemed as though a dozen goats were pushing against it to come in out of the storm."— RICHARD BARHAM MIDDLETON. (The construction with the infinitive without "to" was originally an American usage.) When used in the sense of avoid, followed by the gerund, as in "And when you go inside you can't help hearing the gramophone." — E V LUCAS.

hesitate. Followed by the infinitive, as in "She reminded me of a primrose, and she was so shy that for a long time I hesitated to tell her what I felt for her." —H E BATES.

hope. Followed by the infinitive, as in "I do hope to see you here, Stephen." — SUSAN ERTZ.

implore. Followed by an object and the infinitive, as in "William implored Isabel not to attend the first performance of the play."— H E BATES.

insist. Followed by "on" or "upon" and the gerund, as in "After tea, homewards, and Tim went into a shop in the High Street, and insisted on buying Meg a bat that she had admired." — J B MORTON

intend. Followed by either the infinitive or the gerund, as in "And I know that you never intended to let Eric come, even if he could have arranged it" — SUSAN ERTZ, and "When I began this book and was resolved to tell the story of my life to date, omitting such details as it seemed to me might possibly hurt or embarrass anyone else in the telling, I had not intended writing in detail of that passage in my life between leaving the house of the willow tree and coming to the cottage." — ETHEL MANNIN.

invite. Followed by an object and the infinitive, as in "He invited her to come and see his birds" — SYLVIA TOWNSEND WARNER.

learn. Followed by the infinitive, as in "I must learn to detach myself." — DOROTHY L SAYERS & ROBERT EUSTACE.

like. Followed by either the infinitive or the gerund, as in "And you don't like to teach?" —LOUISE JORDAN MILN, and "I like getting up early on these fine mornings." — SHEILA KAYE-SMITH. Also followed by an object and the infinitive, as in "The serious novelist's job is to show life as it is, not as our puritans would like it to be. — ETHEL MANNIN.

love. Followed by either the infinitive or the gerund, as in "it was just the sort of place, he reflected whimsically, which his aunt had loved to write about in her books" — P G WODEHOUSE, and "I loved finding words new to me." — ETHEL MANNIN.

mean. Followed by the infinitive, as in "She had meant to give him no confidence, but he drew it front her." — ANTHONY HOPE.

mind (object to). Followed by the gerund, as in "Would you mind walking the rest of the way?" — P G WODEHOUSE.

miss. Followed by the gerund, as in "The things they missed seeing far outnumbered those they noticed, as is the case with honeymooners." — R H MOTTRAM.

need. Followed by the infinitive or the gerund with entirely different meanings, the gerund always being active in form but passive in sense, as in "One needed to suffer to make up for the wickedness of the world." — ETHEL MANNIN, and "He did not need telling ( = need to be told), but I had to say something and he smiled even more broadly than before." — New Statesman and Nation.

neglect. Followed by either the infinitive or the gerund, as in "And as a result of all that he had neglected to eat one lunch." — ROLAND PERTWEE, and "He neglected eating one lunch".

oblige (compel). Followed by an object and the infinitive, as in "But after two years illness obliged him to retire" — ARTHUR WALEY.

offer. Followed by the infinitive, as in "She would have sat up till all hours of the night mending Bart's socks if Kirstie had not offered to take them home and mend them for her." — MARGARET KENNEDY.

omit. Followed by either the infinitive or the gerund, as in "You omit to explain the little girl." — H C BAILEY, and "You omitted explaining her".

order. Followed by an object and the infinitive, as in "The housekeeper ordered a boy to gather some cabbage leaves." — LIAM O'FLAHERTY.

permit. Followed by an object and the infinitive, as in "Permit me to advise you to give that dress to your maid" — SUSAN ERTZ.

persist. Followed by "in" and the gerund, as in "But she persisted in calling every day until definite news arrived." — Answers.

persuade. Followed by an object and the infinitive, as in "Arnold came hurriedly out of one of the big family shelters and tried to persuade me to go back and lie down." — E ARNOT ROBERTSON.

plan. Followed by the infinitive, as in "Whenever he cried out thus, his young concubine, Pear Blossom, who sat by him day and night, reached out and soothed his old hand with her young hand, and his two sons hastened forward to comfort him with the tales of the funeral they would give him, and they told him over and over all they planned to do." — PEARL S BUCK. (This was originally an American usage, often meaning intend or hope only.)

prefer. Followed by either the infinitive or the gerund, as in "However, I was always inclined to let things slide, and when 1 slid into that position I preferred to remain in it rather than create a scandal by asking the British consul to come to the rescue." — J W WALLACE, and "He was a silent fellow as a rule and preferred being alone to mixing with the villagers." — LIAM O'FLAHERTY. Also followed by an object and the infinitive, as in "But I do prefer the tramp to be really a tramp and not to disguise himself as a seller of almanacs and bootlaces or the type of stationery on which I would never write a letter even to my relations." — ROBERT GRAVES.

pretend. Followed by the infinitive, as in "He pretended to do the same, but his eyes wandered continually, and he had to read every page twice over" — ARTHUR SYMONS.

prevent. Followed by an object and "from" and the gerund, as in "Old Bill won again; but once more Charles Loomis prevented him from putting the silver dollar in his pocket." — BOOTH TARK INGTON.

profess. Followed by the infinitive, as in "He spoke seven languages, and professed to be equally at home in any capital in Europe." — STACY AUMONIER.

promise. Followed by the infinitive, as in "The old man's son made a sort of bargain with the fellow, promising to repay him with the price of his two young pigs, which he guaranteed to sell the following week." — LIAM O'FLAHERTY.

prompt. Followed by an object and the infinitive, as in "Since the world was sure to misunderstand everything, mere defensive instinct prompted him to give it as little as possible to lay hold upon." — BOOTH TARKINGTON.

propose. Followed by the infinitive, as in "I am an officer of justice, and I propose to discover the assassin if I can." — MELVILLE DAVISSON POST.

refrain. Followed by "from" and the gerund, as in "I have even refrained from pointing the moral, which has become increasingly clear to me lately." — J B MORTON.

refuse. Followed by the infinitive, as in "They refused to give me your address without your permission." — RUBY M AYRES.

regret. When used in the sense of be sorry (used in polite statements), followed by the infinitive, as in "We regret to lose your custom, but in the matter of chickens we would point out that it is the practice, not only of ourselves but of poulterers all over England, to sell the livers separately." — E V LUCAS. When used in the sense of repent, followed by the gerund, as in "Do not imagine that Pauline regretted having come." — ARNOLD BENNETT.

remember. When used in the sense of not neglect, followed by the infinitive, as in "And while you are praising, remember to praise a man for those talents in which you have noticed that he desires to shine but cannot." — HILAIRE BELLOC. When used in the sense of have a recollection of followed by either the gerund or, less commonly, the perfect infinitive, as in "I remember crawling round to the doctor because I couldn't find his telephone number in the book" — Punch, and "The Scott I knew, or thought I knew was physically as hard as nails and flung himself into work or play with a vehemence I cannot remember ever to have seen equalled." — JAMES MATTHEW BARRIE.

remind. Followed by an object and the infinitive, as in "Remind me not to leave without my nail-file, won't you?" — SUSAN ERTZ.

resent. Followed by the gerund, as in "That is why I left the room; some animals resent being watched while they are eating" — SAKI.

resist. Followed by the gerund, as in "Buy the first part, and see if you can resist buying the rest" — URSULA BLOOM.

resolve. Followed by the infinitive, as in "At least two full strings of negotiable cash might be looked for, and Kai Lung blushed aside his hunger and fatigue as he resolved to justify so auspicious an occasion." — ERNEST BRAMAH.

resume. Followed by the gerund, as in "Now that his moment of tension with Colonel Cathcart had passed, Colonel Korn relaxed again and resumed kicking softly against Colonel Cathcart's desk." — JOSEPH HELLER.

risk. Followed by the gerund, as in "You talk of sacrificing to love; but what you really sacrifice, or risk sacrificing, is the whole of the latter part of married existence for the sake of the first two or three years" — ARNOLD BENNETT.

seek. Followed by the infinitive, as in "Perhaps he sought but to elucidate the most inscrutable of human illusions" — WILLIAM SOMERSET MAUGHAM.

start. Followed by the gerund, or, rather colloquially, by the infinitive, as in "When a woman starts using her sex appeal to her own advantage it is usually a bad moment for some poor devil." — D H LAWRENCE, and "Then there would be a laugh, a throwing out of the hands, quick steps across the polished floor, and with magnificent self-assurance she started to monopolize the conversation" — BEVERLEY NICHOLS. Often "in" is used between "start" and the infinitive, as in "The next, they started in to work, in their varying capacities." — R H MOTTRAM.

stop. When used intransitively, followed by the infinitive, which expresses purpose, as in "They stopped to admire the child" — MARGARET KENNEDY. When used transitively, followed by the gerund, as in "The children stopped crying." — LIAM O'FLAHERTY.

succeed. Followed by "in" and the gerund, as in "There were times, generally very late at night, when he succeeded in persuading himself that he was indeed the wildest, unhappiest, most passionate of lovers." — ALDOUS LEONARD HUXLEY.

suggest. Followed by the gerund, as in "Your father did not suggest accompanying you?" — AGATHA CHRISTIE.

tell. Followed by an object and the infinitive, as in "I sent him a chit and told him to come along." — WILLIAM SOMERSET MAUGHAM.

think. Followed by "of" and the gerund, or, far less commonly, by the infinitive, as in "When he came to it, he paused, at the hint of an inward impulse he did not think to trace; and, frowning, he perceived that this was the same shop window that had detained him on his homeward way, when he had thought of buying a toy for the baby." — BOOTH TARKINGTON. (Here "think to trace" means intend to trace. In "I didn't think to break my heart very much when she skipped off" — ALAN SILLITOE, "think" means expect.)

tire (intransitive). Followed by "of" and the gerund, as in 'She never tired of saying that "work was worship", and she wrote this in hundreds of autograph books" — SEYMOUR HICKS.

try. Followed by either the infinitive or the gerund generally with a difference in meaning, as in "He washed and shaved, and tried to part his close-cropped hair." — J B MORTON, and "Have you ever tried saving anybody in a small boat?" — H V MORTON. ("Tried saving —" means experiment with saving — to see what would result.)

urge. Followed by an object and the infinitive, as in "The next day he urged Lily to walk up to the field and look at it." — H E BATES.

want. Followed by the infinitive or the gerund with entirely different meaning, the gerund always being active in form but passive in sense, as in "You will want to look at them." — JOHN DICKSON CARR, and "He wants taking ( = wants to be taken — needs to be taken) out of himself even more than we do, Gerda." — EDWARD SACKVILLE-WEST. Also followed by an object and the infinitive, as in "I want you to go." — BOOTH TARKINGTON.

warn. Followed by an object and the infinitive, as in "I went to the door, and found that an officer of cavalry was warning the people to leave." — J B MORTON.

wish. Followed by the infinitive, as in "All the points I specially wish to make are, I think, fully covered by my previous letter." — DOROTHY L SAYERS & ROBERT EUSTACE. Also followed by an object and the infinitive, as in "But it was not to Mrs Collinson's purpose that he should miss the party; she wished him to be as intimate as possible with the debonair Charles Loomis; and so, after carrying some dishes into the kitchenette in meditative silence, she reappeared with a changed manner." —BOOTH TARKINGTON.

Exercise 60

Correct the mistakes in the use of infinitives and gerunds in the following sentences (some of which, however, contain no such mistakes):

1. They made several attempts to enter the house, but never succeeded.

2. She does not like his habit to stare at people in the street.

3. There seems no hope to save the baby.

4. I do not think there is need of giving the details.

5. We must thank you for your permission to use your library.

6. The debtor failed to carry out his promise of repaying the creditor by the end of the year.

7. The young man came to the city for the purpose to attend a friend's wedding.

8. The old woman has a little way of listening to the brook for hours.

9. He has declared his wish for studying aviation.

10. You cannot imagine what he is capable to do in his little cottage.

11. I am eager to hear about the expedition.

12. When he is alone, he is fond to play his flute.

13. You are right to call her inquisitive.

14. Is he willing to help you?

15. They admitted being in close touch with the explorers.

16. You must avoid to offend him.

17. I have long considered to climb the mountain.

18. It continued to rain all night.

19. The policeman demanded seeing her passport.

20. The traveller desired to pass the night at the temple.

21. The exile despaired ever to see his parents again.

22. A sudden thought flashed through his mind, but he dreaded to communicate it to his father.

23. There is a great deal to be said for his sticking to what he so much enjoys talking to his friends about.

24. I have just finished to copy a letter for my brother.

25. Will you please help looking into the matter?

26. The air raid that the author intended to describe took place early in the morning.

27. Would you mind to tell me your sister's address?

28. The watch needs repairing.

29. The woman persisted in saying that she was an old friend of the family.

30. I prefer to stay here.

31. The storm prevented us to sail.

32. We never promised to do anything of the kind for him.

33. I wish I had refrained to play that practical joke.

34. He refused lending me his bicycle.

35. I remember to meet them about three months ago.

36. If you wish to finish the task before sunset, do not stop to work at it even for lunch.

37. At last we succeeded to see the manager.

38. She thinks of seeking a position as teacher of music.

39. What do you think he wants to do here?

40. We wish having a look at your collection of old coins.

170. "Enough" Qualified by Infinitive. Compare the two following sentences:

1. I am curious to see. — MORLEY ROBERTS.

2. You must be strong enough to hope. — PEARL S BUCK. The second sentence differs from the first in having "enough" used after the adjective. Grammatically, in the first sentence the infinitive is said to qualify the adjective "curious", and in the second sentence the infinitive is said to qualify the adverb "enough".

The insertion of "enough" would make the first sentence unidiomtic and the omission of it would make the second sentence unidiomatic. The point is a rather delicate one. "Curious" has an incomplete sense, which is completed by an infinitive showing in what respect one is curious. "Strong" has a complete sense, and so does not require an infinitive; when "enough" is added to it, the sense becomes incomplete, and is to be completed by an infinitive showing in what respect one is strong enough.

While I do not think Chinese students are likely to use the uncalled-for "enough" in sentences like the first, they sometimes make the mistake of omitting the necessary "enough" in sentences like the second. Below are more examples of the second construction:

1. From time to time James caught him stealing a glance at the girl, who was well enough to come down to meals now, limping pathetically; but he could read nothing in the face. — P G WODEHOUSE.

2. He came to see me a day before this dinner to ask if I would be good enough to come early so that I could be with him when the others arrived. — MANUEL KOMROFF.

The same construction is much used when the word qualified by "enough" is a noun or an adverb instead of an adjective.

1. It was a glorious day, with just enough mist in the air to freshen the sun-drenched trees over her head, and to prevent the flowers from drooping their petals in the heat. — BEVERLEY NICHOLS.

2. I am informed well enough to state that you deceive yourself ridiculously, madame. —LEONARD MERRICK.

3. Surely we know each other well enough not to be upset by an accident. — SHEILA KAYE-SMITH.

4. She lingered there, long enough for him to study her fine, intellectual face. — JOHN MASEFIELD.

An adjective or adverb qualified by "enough" followed by an infinitive has the same meaning as an adjective or adverb qualified by "so" and, followed by "as" and an infinitive.

1. You must be strong enough to hope. — PEARL S BUCK. (strong enough to hope = so strong as to hope)

2. We should never be so unscrupulous as to tamper with a lobster. — E V LUCAS. (so unscrupulous as to tamper = unscrupulous enough to tamper)

In deciding the question whether "enough" should be used between an adjective and an infinitive, it is a good test to see whether the "so ... as to …" construction can be used instead. The following adjectives are regularly followed by "enough" qualified by an infinitive:

bad, brave, careful, careless, clever, courageous, cruel, dangerous, foolish, fortunate, good, high, honest, imprudent, kind, large, long, low, lucky, old, old-fashioned, patient, poor, prudent, rich, sensible, shrewd, strong, tail, weak, well, wide, wise, young.

After "careful", "fortunate", "kind", and lucky", an infinitive is often used without the intervening "enough", in each case the insertion or omission of "enough" makes a difference in meaning.

1. He is careful enough to pronounce every word correctly. (He is so careful as to pronounce every word correctly; that he pronounces every word correctly is a fact, which is due to the care he takes.)

2. He is careful to pronounce every word correctly. (He takes care to pronounce every word correctly; but it does not necessarily follow that he actually pronounces every word correctly.)

3. She was fortunate (or lucky) enough to meet him. (She was so fortunate or lucky as to meet him; that is, she met him owing to good luck. The emphasis is laid on her meeting him.)

4. She was fortunate (or lucky) to meet him. (It was fortunate or lucky for her to meet him; that is, her meeting him was a piece of good luck. The emphasis is laid on her good luck.)

5. You were kind enough to come. (You were so kind as to come; that is, you came as a result of your kindness. The emphasis is laid on the coming.)

6. You were kind to come. (It was kind of you to come; that is, your coming proved your kindness. The emphasis is laid on the kindness.)

171. "Too" Qualified by Infinitive. A construction similar to "enough" qualified by an infinitive is "too" qualified by an infinitive.

1. Anne got up at sunrise because she was too excited to sleep. — L M MONTGOMERY.

2. You're too young to marry. — P G WODEHOUSE.

3. I believe it is sometimes too obvious to be seen. — G K CHESTERTON.

4. She said that Lettice was not strong, that she loved her too much to let her be exposed to the dangers that a life of that sort would involve. — RICHMAL CROMPTON.

5. We had gone too far to question anything that we thought or did. — EDWARD SACKVILLE-WEST.

It is to be noted that in each of the two following sentences the infinitive qualifies not the "too" but the word qualified by "too":

1. She thought you too ready to surrender to immediate and, perhaps, wayward emotions. — JOHN MASEFIELD.

2. Men are only too willing to enjoy the amusement afforded by the buffoon, but they will treat him with increased contempt the more he serves them. — HILAIRE BELLOC.

Exercise 61

Write five sentences each with "enough" qualified by an infinitive, and another five each with "too" qualified by an infinitive.

172. Active and Passive Infinitives. Compare the three following sentences:

1. There was nothing to prevent her going on playing with Topsy in her mind, much in the same way as she played with Trimmer … — SHEILA KAYE-SMITH.

2. If there wasn't anything to eat in the house when they came home the old man gave his old woman a cut over the head. — SHERWOOD ANDERSON.

3. There is no more to be said about it; it is good! — JOHN GALSWORTHY.

In form "to prevent" and "to eat" are active, and "to be said" is passive. But in sense the "to eat" in the second sentence is passive rather than active. "Nothing to prevent" means "nothing that could prevent", not "nothing that could be prevented". But "anything to eat" means "anything that could be eaten", not "anything that could eat"; in other words, "anything to eat" means "anything to be eaten", which expression could be used in the second sentence. As to the third sentence, "to be said", which is passive both in sense and in form, could be replaced by "to say", which would be active in form but passive in sense like the "to eat" in the second sentence.

When the sense is active, the form of the infinitive must be active. The matter is quite simple. When the sense is passive, however, the form may be either active (as in the second sentence) or passive (as in the third sentence). The matter is not quite simple. (When I call the sense of an infinitive passive, I mean that the noun to which the infinitive belongs receives the action expressed by the infinitive; for example, in "anything to eat" and "no more to be said", "anything" receives the action of eating and "no more" receives the action of saying.)

When the sense is passive, the choice between the two forms of the infinitive depends upon the following rules (it is to be noted that the active form is much more used than the passive):

1. When there is the phrase "for ..." used before the infinitive to denote the person or the thing to do the action expressed by it, the active form is used.

(1) There is nothing else for me to do. — HUGH WALPOLE.

(2) During a party to which Philip had invited various political people, she spent most of the time holding out a piece of cotton for Roly to play with. — JAMES HILTON.

2. When the subject of the sentence or clause denotes the person or the thing to do the action expressed by the infinitive, the active form is used.

(1) He had nothing to say. — H E BATES.

(2) He seldom had anything to say. — WILBUR DANIEL STEELE.

(3) It was the place that women came to who had poultry to sell to the passing fowl-buyers. — PADRAIC COLUM.

(4) But after all one has the world of thought to live in. — ALDOUS LEONARD HUXLEY.

(5) She responded readily enough, apparently pleased to have someone to talk to, and pretty soon began to tell me the history of their lives. — WILLIAM HENRY HUDSON.

(6) So you see we have a treat to look forward to! — DOROTHY L SAYERS & ROBERT EUSTACE.

3. When the emphasis is laid on the noun to which the infinitive belongs rather than on the verbal notion, the active form is used.

(1) A most improper story to tell to young children! — SAKI.

(2) I will write again next week; there is so much to tell you. — SUSAN ERTZ.

(3) How absorbing a thing to relate to someone who really wanted to hear it! — ROSE MACAULAY.

(4) She wanted nothing more than she had got; something to dream about; a memory to pursue, but too fragile ever to grasp. — MALACHI WHITAKER.

(5) After all, it was pleasant to have some small thing to look after. — SYLVIA TOWNSEND WARNER.

4. When the emphasis is laid on the verbal notion rather than on the noun to which the infinitive belongs, the passive form is used.

(1) What's to be done? — D H LAWRENCE.

(2) For William, who was a bright, fat little man, it was something to be pursued tirelessly and infinitely, like the Holy Grail. — H E BATES.

(3) There is his happiness to be considered too. — WILLIAM SOMERSET MAUGHAM.

(4) They were a fact to be accepted, not a nuisance to be suppressed. — A G GARDINER.

(5) There were my relatives to be consulted, and only the minimum of legal formalities to be fulfilled. — MAEVE GILMORE.

(6) Lorna had planned her day to leave as little as possible to be done on Tuesday before the arrival of the guests. — EVELYN EDITH GAVIN.

5. When the infinitive qualifies an adjective that denotes a quality affecting persons or things, the active form is used.

(1) That child is hard to understand in some respects. — L M MONTGOMERY.

(2) Yours is the attitude that I find so difficult to deal with. — EDWARD SACKVILLE-WEST.

(3) Stewart was by nature so deficient in self-assurance and so uncomfortably easy to snub that it astonished me to find how accomplished and humorously insistent he was in this line. — E ARNOT ROBERTSON.

Incidentally, this construction is to be distinguished from that in "I am curious to see" — MORLEY ROBERTS. The infinitive in "hard to understand" and "easy to snub" are passive in sense though active in form, while that in "curious to see" is active both in form and in sense.

It is interesting to study the examples given by Noam Chomsky, the American linguist: "He is eager to please" and "He is easy to please". The infinitive in "eager to please" is active both in form and in sense, while that in "easy to please" is passive in sense though active in form.

6. When the infinitive qualifies an adjective that denotes a quality not affecting persons or things, the passive form is used.

(1) Complaint, indeed, is apt to be raised when history is made delightful, when it recalls the epic and competes in interest with the novel. — The Times.

(2) I am not going to strain the point any farther, because it is neither important nor very likely to be proved. — JOHN MASEFIELD.

Apart from these rules there are certain idiomatic phrases in which neither form can be used instead of the other. "To blame", meaning deserving censure, is an example of the active from; "leave much to be desired", meaning be unsatisfactory, is an example of the passive form.

1. He is partly to blame, I am partly to blame, you not at all. — SUSAN ERTZ.

2. This definition leaves much to be desired. — DESMOND MACCARTHY.

Each of the following sentences contains an infinitive that is active both in form and in sense.

1. She had plenty of people to look after her. — SUSAN ERTZ.

2. There's nobody to clean or wash or get a meal ready for us after the day's work. — LIAM O'FLAHERTY.

3. He waited for another flash, but there were no more shots to guide him. — J B MORTON.

4. The girl was badly parent-ridden; unaware that her charms had faded and that, like her daughter, she had nothing else to recommend her, Mrs Hales followed the pretty little thing about with a lovingly jealous eye, spoiling, with the best intentions, every tête-à-tête the girl began. — E ARNOT ROBERTSON.

173. Active and Passive Gerunds. Like infinitives, gerunds may sometimes be active in form but passive in sense. Compare the three following sentences:

1. Writing about oneself is an uncomfortable business. — GERALD BULLETT.

2. But Nancy needed no cheering up. — BEVERLEY NICHOLS.

3. Just try being suddenly planted with a dumb woman and see if conversation flows naturally from you. — MICHAEL ARLEN.

In form "writing" and "cheering" are active, and "being planted" is passive. But in sense "cheering" is passive rather than active.

When the sense is active, the form of the gerund must be active. When the sense is passive, the form is usually passive, but active in certain constructions.

1. After the adjective "worth" and the verbs "need" and "wait", the active form is used. See Section 134 and "need" and "want" in Section 169 for examples.

2. The two following idiomatic phrases contain the active form of the gerund:

lose in the telling (be less remarkable as told than in fact).

past praying for (hopeless).

3. The active form is used after "a".

It is just possible that they may see that this is reasonable if we can get a hearing. — H W FOWLER.

This use of the active form is no doubt due to the fact that in sentences like the following one the active form is used:

Your father will give you a good thrashing in the morning. — LIAM O'FLAHERTY.

When turned into the passive form, the sentence reads:

You will be given a good thrashing (by your father) in the morning.

When "be given" is changed to "get", the active form "a good thrashing" remains.

It need hardly be mentioned that such expressions as the "the broadcasting of any words" in the following sentence are always active in form though passive in sense:

Therefore, the sole notice taken on my seventieth birthday by the British Government was its deliberate official prohibition of the broadcasting of any words spoken by me on that occasion. — GEORGE BERNARD SHAW.

"The broadcasting of any words" is the same in form as the "the buzzing of the flies" in the following sentence, though different in sense.

There was dead silence except for the buzzing of the flies. — LIAM O'FLAHERTY.

Notice that "buzzing" is intransitive. With intransitive verbs the gerund in the "the …ing of ..." construction is naturally active in sense as well as in form.

Exercise 62

Write five sentences each with an infinitive active in form but passive in sense, and another five each with a gerund active in form but passive in sense.

174. Gerunds Used as Adjectives. You have learnt from Section 69 that nouns can be used as adjectives. Gerunds, which function like nouns, can also be used as adjectives. Gerunds used as adjectives, however, are to be distinguished from present participles used as adjectives. Compare the two following sentences:

1. I came in again to the squeaking field telephones and obscure candlelight. — EDMUND BLUNDEN.

2. I will wear my red hunting coat. — MANUEL KOMROFF.

"Squeaking" is the participle because it is the telephones that squeak. "Hunting" is the gerund because it is not the coat that hunts; "hunting coat" means a coat that one wears when hunting.

Each of the following sentences contains a gerund used as an adjective.

1. The boxing profession drips with innocent blood — the blood of fools. — GERALD KERSH.

2. They dealt with train sickness, quelled crying tits blew little noses, and wiped toffee stains from little mouths. — MARGARET KENNEDY.

3. Marilla felt an uncomfortable conviction that, if she denied the appeal of that look, it would haunt her to her dying day. — L M MONTGOMERY.

4. Round her throat was the necklace of jade which Helen had given her as a parting gift. — BEVERLEY NICHOLS.

5. My swimming ability got me the job. — LEW SARETT.

6. I have none on my visiting list. — MORLEY ROBERTS.

Exercise 63

Write five sentences each with a gerund used as an adjective.

175. Gerund and Possessive. Compare the three following sentences:

1. I feel quite guilty at disturbing you. — BEVERLEY NICHOLS.

2. Thank you very much for so kindly sending me your book. — LORD DUNSANY.

3. Julia insisted upon my wrapping myself up in her eider-down wilt, and then reluctantly got back into bed and turned out the light. — HARRY GRAHAM.

In the first sentence, "disturbing" means "my disturbing", but as "I" stands as the subject of the sentence, "my" would be superfluous. In the second sentence, "sending" means "your sending", but as "you" stands as the object of the verb, "thank", "your" would be superfluous. In the third sentence, the omission of "my" would cause "wrapping" to mean "Julia's wrapping".

Failure to distinguish when a possessive is required before a gerund and when it is not required leads to unidiomatic or even ambiguous English. The insertion of superfluous possessives seems to be a less common mistake than the omission of necessary ones.

The mistake of using a superfluous possessive before a gerund can of course be corrected by omitting it. The matter is very simple. But while the mistake of omitting a necessary possessive before a gerund can often be corrected by inserting it, the sentence may often be such that it is not convenient to insert the proper possessive. Such a sentence had better be altered in some way. For instance, how is the following sentence to be corrected?

This was experienced by certain sensitive temperaments, either by sensations which produced shivering, or by seeing at night a peculiar light in the air. — The Times.

There is a possessive missing here. But what possessive? Certainly not "their"; for "their" would refer to "temperaments", but temperaments have no eyes and cannot see. Likewise, certainly not "one's" or "our"; for "one's" or "our" would denote those who have no sensitive temperaments as well as those who have. The proper possessive would be "sensitive-temperamented persons" or "temperamental persons", either of which, however, would make the sentence rather awkward. H W Fowler and F G Fowler suggest rewriting the sentence as follows (The King's English, p.136):

Persons of sensitive temperament experienced this, either by ...

I should think that the sentence can be corrected also by chancing "by seeing at night a peculiar light in the air" to "by visions of a peculiar light in the air at night".

I have just written "the sentence can be corrected also by changing ..." Do you think there is a possessive missing before the gerund "changing"? This is a common type of sentence in which the possessive is regularly omitted. The rule is that when the subject of the sentence is inanimate and the main verb passive, and the agent in the action denoted by the gerund is the same as the agent in the action denoted by the main verb, the possessive before the gerund is idiomatically omitted. In "the sentence can be corrected also by changing ...", the agent in the action denoted by the gerund "changing" is the same as the agent in the action denoted by the main verb" is corrected" (that is to say, the "changer" is the "corrector"); therefore no possessive is used before the gerund "changing".

176. Fused Participles. By the fused participle is meant a present participle used immediately after a pronoun or a noun or a noun with an adjectival phrase so as to form a compound notion with it. If the pronoun or noun or noun with an adjectival phrase were in the possessive case, the participle would be clearly the gerund. In fact, the fused participle might be regarded as the gerund rather than the participle.

1. I feel awfully nervous at the idea of you reading my work. — GWYN JONES. (Pronoun)

2. I am so distressed to think that I am the cause of your little girl losing her present, that I feel there is nothing I can do but give her one myself. — E V LUCAS. (Noun)

3. It is only a question of a man with the right kind of mind being given the right kind of opportunity. — The Sunday Express. (Noun with adjectival phrase)

Whether the fused participle is "grammatical" or not is a controversial problem. Were I writing a grammar, I should have a great deal to say. While it has long been generally condemned by grammarians, it is quite common in present-day English, especially in newspapers.

The fused participle can be easily avoided where the possessive form can be used, as in the case of pronouns and nouns denoting persons without an adjectival phrase.

1. I feel awfully nervous at the idea of your reading my work.

2. I am so distressed to think that I am the cause of your little girl's losing …

Below are more examples:

1. One of them, if you will pardon me reminding you, is that no discussion is to pass between us. — E F BENSON. (Change "me" to "my".)

2. There was no record of him having landed at Harwick on May 18 this year, as he had suggested he had done. — The Sunday Express. (Change "him" to "his")

3. The woman is so terrified of her husband discovering the truth that she will go on paying for years, often denying herself and her children the necessities of life. — Answers. (Change "husband" to "husband's".)

As regards nouns with an adjectival phrase and nouns not denoting persons, the possessive form usually cannot be used; in such cases the fused participle can be avoided by rewriting the sentence.

1. It is only a question of a man with the right kind of mind being given the right kind of opportunity. — The Sunday Express. (Suggested alteration: It is only a question of giving a man of the right kind of mind the right kind of opportunity.)

2. So that was why you didn't mind our engagement being broken off? — RUBY M AYRES. (Suggested alteration: So that was why you didn't mind the breaking off of our engagement?)

3. So far from this visit heralding others, there was now, somehow, a certainty that no one else would come. — ARTHUR MCDOWALL. 　(Suggested alteration: This visit heralded no others; on the contrary, there was now, somehow, a certainty that no one else would come.)

Sometimes even a noun not denoting a person, with or without an adjectival phrase, may be put in the possessive case.

1. He was so big that, instead of the Royal Academy conferring distinction on him, he conferred distinction on the Royal Academy. — ARNOLD BENNETT. (Change "Academy" to "Academy's". "He was so big that he conferred distinction on the Royal Academy rather than the other way round" will also be correct.)

2. There is no possibility of the dissolution of the legislative union becoming a vital question. — The Spectator. (Change "union" to "union's". "There is no possibility that the dissolution of the legislative union should become a vital question" will also be correct.)

It is to be noted that the fused participle is very common after the verb "prevent".

You wish to prevent me having the money. — AGATHA CHRISTIE. As you must have learnt from this verb in Section 169, it is properly followed by an object and "from" and the gerund. It is also correct to use the possessive and the gerund after this verb.

177. Present Participle Separated from Subject by Predicate Verb. The present participle may be separated from the subject by the predicate. Grammatically, it used to be looked upon as an adjective qualifying the subject; but it has at the same time a peculiar relation to the predicate verb, often taking the place of an adverbial phrase or clause. It may or may not be separated from the predicate by a comma.

1. I usually think sitting down. — Punch. (Without comma)

2. There he sits watching until I have done this writing. — H G WELLS. (Without comma)

3. When he returned home, John sat up all night writing a letter. — PETER USTINOV. (Without comma)

4. Memories rose up, choking him. — JOHN MASEFIELD. (With comma)

5. He got up at once, pushing back his chair. — DAPHNE DU MAURIER. (With comma)

6. She was still, trying to think of something; she couldn't quite grasp the thought. — JAMES AGEE. (Without comma)

7. The captain lay on his back, drinking and muttering about his wife. — DORIS LESSING. (Without comma)

8. The boy came in, frowning, and glanced at the table. — EVELYN EDITH GAVIN.

178. Unattached Participles. By the unattached, or rather wrongly attached, participle is meant a participle placed in such a position as to belong, grammatically, to a noun or pronoun that it is not meant to qualify. It is also called the dangling participle. In the following sentence, the participle "lingering" is properly attached to the subject "Peter":

Lingering in a semi-reclining attitude, Peter suddenly realized that he was intensely weary. — BEN TRAVERS.

Now suppose we change the sentence to:

Lingering in a semi-reclining attitude, it was suddenly realized by Peter that he was intensely weary.

Here the participle "lingering" is wrongly attached to the subject "it"; it is unattached, so far as its relation to the word to which it ought to belong ("Peter") is concerned.

The unattached participle is generally condemned by grammarians. It seems to be much less used by writers of the present day than by those of past generations.

There are certain participles, however, that have acquired the character of prepositions or adverbs and so are quite correct when "unattached".

1. Considering her very meagre talents as far as the piano was concerned, her husband's decease had not been without its advantages. — BEVERLEY NICHOLS.

2. Looking at it in a shortened perspective of time, those years of transition have the quality of a single consecutive occurrence. — H G WELLS.

3. The revolver is one of Forest's make, and why Henry bought it — seeing his curious hatred and dread of fire-arms — is a part of this mystery. — EDEN PHILLPOTTS.

4. Broadly speaking, good men have good effects, and bad men bad effects. — BERTRAND RUSSELL.

Below are some other participles that can be correctly "unattached":

allowing, assuming, calculating, coming, concerning, counting, excepting, excluding, failing, granting, including, judging, owing (to), regarding, respecting, speaking (of), supposing, taking, talking, touching.

When any of these participles is used "unattached", the word to which it ought to belong does not exist in the sentence but is to be supplied, usually "we", "one", or "I".

Exercise 64

Correct the following sentences as regards gerunds and participles (some of which, however, contain no such mistakes):

1. I am obliged to him for his dropping me a line from time to time.

2. Considering his age, his knowledge of mathematics is remarkable.

3. We look forward to their engagement being announced.

4. After buying a ticket, the theatre admitted me.

5. Having read the first chapter, the second was begun.

6. Most singular nouns are made plural by adding "s".

7. Referring to your letter of yesterday, will you please send me more particulars?

8. His wife objected to him doing this.

9. All the girls stopped, laughing.

10. The boy sat reading.

11. Nearly a month passed without hearing from her son.

12. Upon my inquiring, 1 was surprised to learn that the old man had died the evening before.

13. Opening the door, a pleasant breeze entered my room.

14. A pleasant breeze entered my room on opening the door.

15. Talking of schools, is there any vocational school in your city?

16. The situation will improve after due measures being taken.

17. For reasons that I do not know, she left the library suddenly, muttering something.

18. They did not think they could be justified in their leaving their friend behind.

19. I saw a man running along the street with many boys shouting after him.

20. Nothing can prevent the rumour spreading.

21. Are you sure of your never losing your interest in the subject?

22. Looking round, he found his cottage on fire.

23. Instead of his coming to see me, I went to see him that night.

24. You may rely on me doing my best.

25. Granting that you are right, you still can get nothing.

26. Strictly speaking, he does not deserve it.

27. In spite of our opposition, they proceeded with the work without so much as their observing the few simple rules they had laid down themselves.

28. Having learnt that you are in need of the services of a bookkeeper, it has been suggested by my father that I may apply for the position.

29. Will they laugh at the thought of us acting in a play?

30. He insisted on no one ringing him up before nine o'clock in the morning.

179. Intransitive Past Participles Used as Adjectives. You must well know that the past participles of transitive verbs may be used as adjectives in a passive sense, as in:

1. Marry a woman who is a widow, childless and possessed of sufficient means. — HILAIRE BELLOC.

2. Miss Mott had drawn aside the curtain and was gazing out into the gathering twilight when Meredith returned from a whispered conference with Gordon. — E PHILLIPS OPPENHEIM.

You may not know, however, that there are certain intransitive verbs whose past participles can be used as adjectives (in an active sense, of course).

1. I take it, then, that we're all more or less agreed? — JAMES HILTON.

2. Arrived at the stern of the vessel, Captain Bilge looked cautiously around for a moment and then dropped the boy into the sea. — STEPHEN LEACOCK.

3. It is a natural history museum come alive with hundreds of the many animals that most of us usually only see in pictures; and it has scoured the world to bring to us rare living things. — The Children's Newspaper.

4. Nancy, however, was quite cool, because she was determined to be a great success. — BEVERLEY NICHOLS.

5. I was an escaped convict. — R AUSTIN FREEMAN.

6. The door was jammed by a fallen beam. — R H MOTTRAM.

7. As for me, I am finished. — MAURICE BARING.

8. At last, grown too old for castigation, the lad was allowed to go to Oxford. — LYTTON STRACHEY.

9. You are prepared to accept too much. — EDWARD SACKVILLE-WEST.

10. There is no other entrance to that vanished pulse of time. — CHRISTOPHER MORLEY.

Below are some expressions each with an intransitive past participle used as an adjective:

absconded debtor, collapsed balloon, deceased lawyer, departed friend, eloped pair, expired lease, faded flower, gone coon, outspoken person, retired officer, returned soldier, risen sun, travelled man, well-read man. (A "returned student" from England, France, or some other country seems to be used only in our country; the meaning is obvious.)

The adjectival use of intransitive past participles has probably arisen from the fact that formerly the verb "to be" was much used in forming perfect tenses with intransitive verbs. In present-day English, when the verb "to be" is used before an intransitive past participle, the participle is considered an adjective, and the tense is not a perfect one at all. While "He has come" is in the present perfect tense, "He is come" is not.

You are advised not to use any intransitive past participle as an adjective without having seen the usage in your reading.

Exercise 65

Write five sentences each with an intransitive past participle used as an adjective.

180. "Shall" and "Will", "Should" and "Would". The correct use of these simple words is one of the most puzzling problems in English grammar. A full treatment is to be expected in an advanced grammar, not in a book of composition. I must here content myself with illustrating some simple rules and idiomatic uses. Roughly speaking, "should" follows the same rules as "shall", and "would" follows the same rules as "will".

Usage varies a great deal in different parts of the English-speaking world. The general tendency outside England is to use "will" or "would" in many cases where "shall" or "should" is required in England. The rules given in ordinary grammars are based on usage in England. They should be, because the freer use of "will" and would", besides impressing many educated Englishmen as being incorrect, often gives rise to ambiguity. In treating of this subject here I prefer strict English usage, so that what I call incorrect may be quite correct in the eyes of the Scots and the Americans. Incidentally, in any part of the English-speaking world nearly all mistakes about these simple words are misuses of "will" and "would" for "shall" and "should", not of "shall" and "should" for "will" and "would".

First, about simple sentences and principal clauses:

1. "Shall" is used in first-person statements to express plain future.

(1) I shall never know. — ROLAND PERTWEE.

(2) I shall be much obliged if you will kindly tell me how you spent last night. — HARRY GRAHAM.

To use "will" in such cases is not now uncommon in England, however.

Such a talk we will have if you will dine with me. — JAMES MATTHEW BARRIE. (Barrie was a Scotch. In Scotland it is considered to use "will" in the first person to express plain future.)

"Shall hope" used in the first person usually means hope, the idea of future belonging to the infinitive that follows rather than to the verbal sense of "hope".

1. We shall hope to come when things look brighter. — THOMAS HARDY.

2. "Shall" is sometimes used in first-person statements to express intention or promise.

(1) I shall not say no! — R H MOTTRAM.

(2) You see! That is my answer! I shall be at Liverpool to meet you. — GWYN JONES.

"Shall" is used instead of "will" with the implication that of course the speaker or writer intends or promises what is said.

3. "Shall" is used in first-person questions to express plain future or to ask about the will or opinion of the person addressed.

(1) Shall I feel like that in twenty years? — ROSE MACAULAY. (Plain future)

(2) How many shall we be at dinner? — DAPHNE DU MAURIER. (Plain future)

(3) Shall I come to the station? — J B MORTON. (Will or opinion of the person addressed)

(4) What shall I play? — BEVERLEY NICHOLS. (Will or opinion of the person addressed)

4. "Shall" is used in second-person and third-person statements to express the speaker's or writer's intention, command, promise, threat, etc.

(1) You have appealed to the machine-gun and by the machine-gun shall you be judged. — WILLIAM SOMERSET MAUGHAM.

(2) You shall write some letters for me instead, if you will. — EFFIE ADELAIDE ROWLANDS.

(3) You shall have everything I possess in the world. — E PHILLIPS OPPENHEIM.

(4) Laura must and shall be plugged. — A S M HUTCHINSON.

(5) Whether I have attained this, the future shall decide. — The Times.

(6) If the tree is rotten, it shall be cut down and cast into the flames. — WILLIAM SOMERSET MAUGHAM.

5. "Shall" is used in second-person questions to express plain future.

(1) What shall you be saying of yourself at fifty? — ARNOLD BENNETT.

(2) Shall you tell — Mrs Tranter? — RUBY M AYRES.

There is, however, a great tendency to use "will" in such cases, especially in conversation and in formal writing.

If you get in Parliament for Loamport will you have to live there? — JAMES HILTON.

"Will" is always used instead of "shall" in the second person to express plain future if the question is a rhetorical one, the answer to which is intended to be given by the asker. For example, when "Will you have to live there?" implies "Of course you will not have to live there", the "will" cannot be changed to "shall".

6. "Shall" is used in third-person questions to ask about the will or opinion of the person addressed.

Shall she be dismissed? — Answers.

7. "Will" is used in first-person statements to express the speaker's or writer's intention, command, promise, threat, etc.

(1) I will tell you. — HILAIRE BELLOC.

(2) I will not rescue this dog. — P G WODEHOUSE.

8. "Will" is not usually used in first-person questions. ("Will I tell you?" would mean "Am I willing to tell you?", that is, "Please tell me whether I am willing to tell you"; of course, one does not have occasion to ask another person about one's own will. "Will I?" or "Will we?" is used only when "Of course I (or we) will" or "Of course I (or we) will not" is implied.

9. "Will" is used in second-person and third-person statements to express plain future.

(1) Downstairs in the study you will find a book, probably on the small table by the window. —MICHAEL ARLEN.

(2) The weather will clear up before very long. — JOSEPH CONRAD.

10. "Will" is sometimes used in second-person statements to express the speaker's or writer's command.

I have an order there from the Home Secretary granting leave for you to go into a private nursing home for the removal of our appendix. You will start under escort, in plain clothes, this morning. — EVELYN WAUGH.

"Will" is used instead of "shall" with the implication that of course the order will be executed. It gives a tone of courtesy. It is much used in official communications; generally in the second person, but occasionally in the third person.

11. "Will" is sometimes used in third-person statements to express certainty or inevitability.

Whatever happens to the world, things of this kind will go on. — MAX BEERBOHM.

12. "Will" is used in second-person questions to ask about the will of the person addressed, especially in asking a favour; often used after an imperative.

(1) Will you tell me about it? — JOHN MASEFIELD.

(2) Now, will you come out for a ride? — SYLVIA TOWNSEND WARNER.

(3) Help him, will you, Shale? — EDGAR WALLACE.

That "will" is much used in second-person questions to express plain future has been mentioned in 5.

13. "Will" is used in third-person questions to express plain future.

(1) Will Gordon be home? — SUSAN ERTZ.

(2) What will happen to this front when it rains? — EDMUND BLUNDEN.

14. "Will" is sometimes used to denote habit, usually in the second or third person, and very rarely in the first person.

"I have been doing this, with the exception of the War, for about fifteen years" he will tell you. — H V MORTON.

15. "Should", though it is the past form of "shall", is seldom used as a real past. For example, while "I shall never know" is very idiomatic, the past equivalent "I should never know" would be less usual than "I was never to know" or "I was not going to know". The "I should have" in the following quotation implies "I thought I should":

The way in which the house was left to take care of itself was really alarming. I should have to give the police a hint. — AUSTIN FREEMAN.

16. "Should" is used in first-person plain conditional statements, the conditional clause often being understood.

(1) If I were a German, I should be justifiably proud of this. — GEORGE BERNARD SHAW.

(2) I must believe there will be a happy time, or I should go mad. — DOROTHY L SAYERS & ROBERT EUSTACE. (Conditional clause understood)

(3) Now, I should like to know how you dare to say such a thing! — LEONARD MERRICK. (Conditional clause understood)

To use "would" in such cases is now quite common, though it is still condemned by certain grammarians.

I would like to see you on a matter that concerns you and your immediate plans. — SUSAN ERTZ.

In "I should like" (or "I would like"), the idea of condition is so very vague that it may be considered absent rather than unexpressed. Giving a tone of reserve or modesty, it is merely a politer way of saying, "I shall like". Likewise, "I should say" is a politer way of saying "I say", and "I should think" is a politer way of saying "I think".

17. "Should" is used in second-person plain conditional questions, the conditional clause generally being understood.

(1) How should you like to commit a burglary that was not a crime? — ARNOLD BENNETT.

(2) Should you have objected to such a marriage? — EDEN PHILLPOTTS.

There is, however, a great tendency to use "would" in such cases especially in conversation and in formal writing.

1. Would you like that? — WILLIAM SOMERSET MAUGHAM.

2. And when would you want me to begin? — WARWICK DEEPING.

3. Would you mind explaining, Antony, why you chose that infamous way of telling us that your wife was — well, not quite like the rest of us? — MICHAEL ARLEN.

"Would" is always used instead of "should" in rhetorical questions. For example, when "Would you like that?" implies "Of course you would not like that", the "would" cannot be changed to "should". Incidentally, even in ordinary (as opposed to rhetorical) questions, "would" seems to be actually commoner than the strictly grammatical "should".

18. "Should" is used in all persons to express obligation, duty, or propriety.

(1) Why should I not write it? — EDMUND BLUNDEN.

(2) You should make him useful at any rate. — ALDOUS LEONARD HUXLEY.

(3) The case should be handled with care. — ARTHUR MORRISON.

19 "Should" is sometimes used in questions to express emotion.

But why should you suppose so? — STELLA BENSON.

20. "Would", though it is the past form of "will", is seldom used as a real past except in denoting habit and in expressing volition in negative sentences. The "Would he ever return?" in the following quotation implies "He will most probably never return (because he was killed, for instance".)

My father was in that great battle. Would he ever return? — EDGAR LEE MASTERS.

21. "Would" denoting past habit is much more used than "will" denoting present habit.

(1) He would come in from a walk, and, if she seemed to be busy reading, would sit down cheerfully by the stove, and really read the book which he had in his hand. — ARTHUR SYMONS.

(2) "My guardian angel looks after me pretty well" he would say. — W A DARLINGTON.

(3) Every now and again the wind would lift a cloud of grit from the road and blow it tinkling against the corrugated roof and dry shivering bushes. — DESMOND MACCARTHY.

(4) Sometimes Mr Day would describe the sea. — T F POWYS.

(5) At night she would come into the Bay lounge, where the orchestra would play Italian dance tunes. — REGINALD DENHAM.

22. "Would" expresses past volition in negative sentences.

He would not listen to me. — DAPHNE DU MAURIER.

23. "Would is used in first-person conditional statements to express the speaker's or writer's intention, command, promise, threat, etc, the conditional clause often being understood.

(1) If I could, I would teach again, and live alone. — D H LAWRENCE.

(2) I would tell you, if I knew. — SUSAN ERTZ.

(3) I would die willingly for my country. — HUGH WALPOLE. (Conditional clause understood)

When no condition is expressed, "I would" is merely a politer way of saying "I will". (See 16.)

24. "Would" is used in second-person and third-person pain conditional statements, the conditional clause often being understood.

(1) You would find we had so much in common, if you would only try to regard me as a friend. — F ANSTEY.

(2) But there, I won't get sentimental or I know you will cry, and that would depress me terribly. — BEVERLEY NICHOLS. (Conditional clause understood)

(3) This normally would have been an occasion for grief, but today Selina was too happy to mourn her loss. — SHEILA KAYE-SMITH. (Conditional clause understood)

When no condition is expressed, "would' in third-person statements sometimes indicates probability, as in:

"His great tragedy happened just three years ago;" said the child "that would be since your sister's time". — SAKI.

"It would seem" or "one would think" is merely a politer way of saying "it seems" or "one thinks".

25. "Would" is used in second-person conditional questions to ask about the will of the person addressed, especially in asking a favour, the conditional clause generally being understood.

Well, would you promise to keep it to yourself? — DENIS MACKAIL.

That "would" is much used in second-person plain conditional questions has been mentioned in 17.

26. "Would" is used in third-person plain conditional questions, the conditional clause often being understood.

(1) If I had come in with a tiger after me, would that have made him my tiger? — MORLEY ROBERTS.

(2) Would that be possible for you? — SUSAN ERTZ. (Conditional clause understood)

27. "Would" is sometimes used to express wish.

I would rather you came to the present documents with an entirely open mind. — DOROTHY L SAYERS & ROBERT EUSTACE.

Having dealt with the use of "shall" and "will", "should" and "would", in simple sentences and principal clauses, we now proceed to subordinate clauses.

1. "Shall" and "should" are used to express obligation laid on the subject of the subordinate clause, or we may say to express volition that is not that of the subject of the subordinate clause but that of some word in the principal clause.

(1) I demand that the lot shall be put up again. — AUSTIN FREEMAN. (Here "shall" expresses obligation laid on the subject "lot", or we may say it expresses volition that is not that of the subject "lot" but that of the subject of the principal clause "I".)

(2) I've got an order here from the Home Secretary especially requiring that it shall be done. — EVELYN WAUGH.

(3) It goes on to provide that, out of regard for his conscience no clergyman shall be compelled to marry two persons either of whom has been legally divorced. — Truth.

(4) Then she demanded that he should instantly paint a picture of her in her new dress. — DORIS LESSING.

(5) He desired that a posthumous title should not be awarded. — ARTHUR WALEY.

That-clauses that contain this "shall" or "should" are generally used after "demand", "require", "provide", "desire", "intend", "insist", etc.

2. "Shall" is not now common in conditional clauses and indefinite clauses, relative or other. The present tense is usually used instead. Thus, instead of "if he shall come", "when he shall come" and "whoever shall come", we usually say "if he comes", "when he comes", and "whoever comes".

It is to be noted that while "shall" is not now common in such clauses, "will" is entirely unidiomatic unless volition is meant. The italicized "will" in the following sentence expresses volition, "will favour" meaning wish to favour:

I will bring them round myself, madame, if you will favour me with the address. — ANTHONY HOPE.

3. "Should" is used in conditional clauses and indefinite clauses, relative or other, to express doubt.

(1) If at any time you should have occasion to make purchases in Rennes, I shall be happy to offer you a special discount. — LEONARD MERRICK.

(2) Even if his book should prove to be a classic, it would never bring him in much money. — SUSAN ERTZ.

(3) Suppose the house should be broken into in the night, and the precious medallion stolen? — AUSTIN FREEMAN.

"Would" is used instead of "should" if volition is meant.

"If only she would come," said Mr Day "I feel sure that her soul would leap and cry out for eternity". — T F POWYS.

4. "Should" (not "shall") is sometimes used to express emotion.

(1) It is a pity that such practice should ever be omitted. — R W CHAPMAN.

(2) It is particularly strange, for instance, that she should have given you no sort of letter to bring with you to myself. — BEVERLEY NICHOLS.

(3) It is only natural that other members of the Empire should wish to be entrusted, like Scotland, with the records of their own history. — The Times.

(4) My regret is that we should have allowed our stocks to fall so low. — Truth.

(5) Nor do I understand why readers should wish to know the details of a writer's personal life. — GERALD BULLETT.

5. "Should" (not "shall") is used in a clause introduced by "lest" or by "in case" used in the sense of lest.

(1) Lest you should despair during these few years, as I sometimes do, I repeat that, looking out over broad ages, not dazzled by the fluctuations of one particular age, the arts appear as mankind's supreme achievement. — LORD DUNSANY.

(2) They would not follow their thought to its logical consequences in case they should jeopardize their position in university society. — WILLIAM SOMERSET MAUGHAM.

6. In indirect speech the general principle is to use the same auxiliary as would be used in direct speech, simply changing the tense if necessary.

(1) He replied, therefore, that he would wait. — JOHN GALSWORTHY. (Direct: "I will wait".)

(2) I caused a letter to be sent asking, in the politest terms I could devise, whether he would allow me to call upon him and within two hours received an answer making an appointment for the following morning at ten o'clock. — WILLIAM SOMERSET MAUGHAM. (Direct: "Will you allow me ...?")

(3) It was the following winter that I returned from Africa, and naturally when I saw Louise, I asked after the clown writer. Louise laughed and said we should meet. — MANUEL KOMROFF. (Direct: "You and he shall meet".)

The "will" in the following sentence is perfectly correct (Direct: "You will be ..."):

Miss McPherson seems to think I will be able to travel in less than a month. — SUSAN ERTZ.

But as "I will" calls up too strongly the idea of volition, "shall" is in fact much commoner in such sentences.

Again, while "he should" should, according to the general principle, have been used in the following sentence instead of "he would" because "I shall" instead of "I will" would have been used in direct speech, "would" is in fact much commoner in such sentences.

By Christmas he had told himself that, if he did not care, be would one day be making a fool of himself, he would be actually growing fond of the country. — HUGH WALPOLE.

Exercise 66

Write ten sentences each with "shall", ten sentences each with "will", ten sentences each with "should", and ten sentences each with "would".

181. Subjunctive Mood. The subjunctive mood, a full treatment of which is to be expected in an advanced grammar rather than in a book of composition, is a very difficult subject. Fortunately, it is much less used in ordinary English prose than it used to be, so that it is not necessary for students of composition to master all its intricacies. I hope you will save yourself much trouble by keeping in mind these two facts: (1) that the subjunctive mood never expresses a fact, and (2) that the past subjunctive, in spite of its form and its name, refers not to past time but to present or to undefined or sometimes to future time, or rather it refers usually not to time at all but to the realm of non-fact.

1. The present subjunctive is used in certain idioms.

come what may (whatever happens)

be that as it may (however that may be)

far be it from me to (infinitive) (I would on no account …)

2. The present subjunctive is used in a clause expressing a suggestion, a demand, a request, or the like even if the verb in the principal clause is in the past tense.

(1) Doctor Garvin was ready to agree with Martha's suggestion that she carry Paul away with her. — ELEANOR THORNE.

(2) Julia was obviously frightened of something going on about her, and frightened, too, for his safety — so much so that eventually he agreed to her suggestion that he leave the house. — Pearson's Weekly.

(3) Eric accepted her repentance and forgave her on the sole condition that she maintain that same friendly attitude when he was well again. — SUSAN ERTZ.

(4) When dinner was over, the ladies proposed that Maupassant rehearse his entrance into the Seville drawing-room, for he had been invited to attend a function at the Countess'. — MANUEL KOMROFF.

(5) I sprang at him, seized his coat lapels, and demanded that he apologize. — RALPH ELLISON.

3. The present subjunctive is sometimes used in a clause introduced by "lest". This usage is now American rather than English.

The lights were put out lest anyone see him getting to his pins. — ALEXANDER WOOLLCOTT.

Note that in the following sentence the negative subjunctive is "not have'', not "have not" or "do not have".

We had Grace and Vickery then, and she left your father the money on condition that he not have any more children. — JOHN CHEEVER.

4. The past subjunctive is usually used to express a wish, or a condition that is contrary to fact. As has been said in the above, it does not refer to past time.

(1) My wife is dead and my child is dead, and I wish I were dead myself. — JAMES HILTON. (Wish)

(2) I wish we could help you. — ARNOLD BENNETT. (Wish)

(3) If the cuckoo were a winter visitor and sang at Christmas, it would stir our curiosity, but I doubt whether Wordsworth would have addressed a lyric to it. — New Statesman and Nation. (Condition)

(4) Would you think me a perfect pig if I dropped you at the lodge gates? — DAPHNE DU MAURIER. (Condition)

(5) Don't look at me like that, as though it were all my fault. — HUGH WALPOLE. (Condition)

Note that in the third and fourth sentences "it would" and "Would you" are used instead of "it will" and "Will you", and that in the third sentence "would have addressed" is used.

5. Though it is true that "were", not "was", is the correct form in the past subjunctive, "was" is now much used instead of 'were" when the subject is singular.

(1) I often wish I was rich enough to do it. — P G WODEHOUSE.

(2) I wish Dad was still alive. — NORMAN MAILER.

(3) You find people writing now about people working in Russia as if this was some new thing in the world's history — J B PRIESTLEY.

It is to be noted, however, that grammarians insist upon the use of "were" instead of "was", and that in such a fixed idiom as "as it were" no one would use "was".

He wrote, as it were, with his heart's blood, with an almost bitter delight. — JOHN GALSWORTHY.

The following sentence raises an interesting point:

But I feel as if I have known you for years. — RUBY M AYRES.

Many grammarians may call this sentence wrong, and insist that after "as if" (or "as though") "had" should be used instead of "have". In this particular sentence "had" would certainly be the word expected; but in current usage there seems to be a distinction between "It looks as if there were some hot days more ahead." and "It looks as if there are some hot days more ahead." The second sentence suggests more probability than the first.

6. The subjunctive "were" was formerly often used in past conditional clauses and past indirect questions. This usage is now rare, and is considered hardly correct, so that "was" should have been used instead of "were" in the following sentences:

(1) He wondered who would find the letter, if it were ever found. — JOHN MASEFIELD.

(2) In the morning he wondered if all that he could call to mind were part of a waking or a sleeping vision. — JAMES HILTON.

(3) And now, what did it matter any more whether she were rich or poor? — RUBY M AYRES.

It is interesting to note that in the following sentence "were" is used first and then "was" is used:

Chip wondered if she were making fun of love, or whether she was merely holding the schoolgirl's idea of it up to scorn. — SUSAN ERTZ.

7. The past perfect subjunctive is usually used to express a wish about some time in the past, or a past condition that was contrary to fact.

(1) Oh, if I had only known! — JOHN MASEFIELD. (Wish)

(2) I would have forged my father's name if I had had the skill to do so. — STELLA BENSON. (Condition)

(3) If I had come in with a tiger after me, would that have made him my tiger? — MORLEY ROBERTS. (Condition)

Notice that "would have forged" and "would have made" are used instead of "would forge" and "would make".

8. It is interesting to compare the seven following expressions:

(1) if he comes

(2) if he come

(3) if he should come

(4) if he came

(5) if he were to come

(6) if he was to come

(7) if he had come

The first is in the indicative mood, implying "He may or may not come". In very formal writing, "if he shall come" is often used instead.

The second is in the subjunctive mood, also implying "He may or may not come". It is now hardly ever used.

The third is in the subjunctive mood, implying "he may or may not come, more probably not".

The fourth may be in the subjunctive mood, implying "He almost certainly will not come". It may also be in the indicative mood, implying "He may or may not have come at some time or other in the past".

The fifth is in the subjunctive mood, implying "He may or may not come, most probably not".

The sixth may be in the subjunctive mood, implying "He may or may not come, most probably not"; it differs from the fifth in having the meaning of obligation or arrangement, so that it means if it were prearranged for him to come. It may also be in the indicative mood, implying "He might or might not come (in the future of the past)".

The seventh may be in the subjunctive mood, implying either "He did not come" or "He has not come". It may also be in the indicative mood, implying "He might or might not have come (at a particular past time)".

The same clause "if he should come" in the two following sentences expresses different degrees of doubt:

(1) If he should come, I shall tell him. (Less degree of doubt)

(2) If he should come, 1 should tell him. (Greater degree of doubt)

9. it has been pointed out and illustrated in Section 180 that in conditional sentences the conditional clause is often understood, and that the idea of condition is often so very vague that it may he considered absent rather than unexpressed. Below are some examples in which the auxiliary verb used is not "should" or "would" but "could" or "might":

(1) Could you lend me pen and paper for a moment, please? — ARTHUR HUGHES. ("Could you ...?" is politer than "Can you ...?")

(2) Don't—you don't love me, or you couldn't have forgotten me. — SHEILA KAYE-SMITH. ("If yon loved me" or "if you did love me" is understood.)

(3) "Mrs Wicket," Chips would sing out, in that jerky, highpitched voice that had still a great deal of sprightliness in it "you might bring me a cup of tea before prep, will you?" — JAMES HILTON. ("You might ...", implying "if you would", is a polite form of request.)

(4) That fiery fellow with the smouldering eyes might do it. — Answers. ("If he had the chance" or "if he were in a position to do it" is understood.)

(5) The casual observer might have thought he was idle, and would haw been wrong. — ROLAND PERTWEE. ("If there had been a casual observer" is understood.)

In this connection may be mentioned the very common idiom "had better", which is always followed by an infinitive without "to". Not writing a grammar, I need not explain the origin of this curious idiom. Suffice it to say that "had better" is the only correct form, "have better", "shall have better", "have had better", etc being all non-existent. It usually refers to present time.

(1) But I had better hold my tongue. — JOSEPH CONRAD.

(2) But before I introduce either sort I had better offer something in the way of a declaration of principles. — KINGSLEY AMIS.

(3) I suppose I had better be going, hadn't I? — DAPHNE DU MAURIER.

Occasionally it refers to past time.

No, she had much better not go, and for quite an hour she really thought she wouldn't. — SHEILA KAYE-SMITH.

Note that in the following sentence "had better" is followed by a perfect infinitive:

I have mentioned policemen; and perhaps I had better not have done so. — H W GARROD.

"I had better not have done so" implies "I am sorry that I have done so" or "I am sorry I did so". Note that "have done", not "done", is used. "Had better" followed by a past participle is a common mistake among English-speaking people.

Exercise 67

Correct the following sentences in the light of what you have learnt from Section 181 (some of which, however, contain no mistakes):

1. If I were you, I will not do it.

2. If she should call, tell her to wait in my study.

3. If it had not rained yesterday, we should have a picnic.

4. You might do me a favour.

5. I had better told him last night.

6. I forget to ask him whether he were a college graduate.

7. Come what may, we shall start early tomorrow morning.

8. Would you allow me to go if he should ask me to go with him?

9. He made the suggestion that his brothers and sisters went to the same school.

10. I feel as if I am having a fever.

11. If your father saw you do this, he would have been angry.

12. He promised to arrange everything for us, but we thought we had better do it ourselves.

13. If he should call again, I shall be glad.

14. If he should call again, I should be glad.

15. How I wish I were horn in the eighteenth century!

16. If two and two were five, four and four would have been ten.

17. I think you will have better stay with your parents.

18. If you read the sentence again, you will understand it.

19. If he read the sentence again, he will understand it.

20. If he were to read the sentence again, he will understand it.

182. Sequence of Tenses. Sequence of tenses is not a very difficult subject in English. Only a few points need td be mentioned here.

1. In the following sentence "were" and "was" are used instead of "will" and "is" because of sequence of tenses.

If I thought he would change, that this was only temporary, I could manage … but it's the thought that he'll never change… it terrifies me. — EVELYN EDITH GAVIN. (The italics of "would" are the author's, not mine.)

2. A general or habitual fact remains in the present tense in the subordinate clause even if the verb in the principal clause is in the past.

(1) He saw how discipline is made out of lonely hours on sentry in the cold and of interminable marches. — J B MORTON.

(2) Chang, by the way, was telling me that your favourite Western composer is Mozart. — JAMES HILTON. ("Your favourite Western composer was Mozart" would imply "At the present moment your favourite Western composer may not be Mozart".)

3. Compare the two following sentences:

(1) Would you like to go and see if cook has got your dinner ready? — SAKI.

(2) How should you like to commit a burglary that was not a crime? — ARNOLD BENNETT.

In the first sentence sequence of tenses is, and in the second it is not, neglected. So far as form is concerned, both "would" and "should" are past, but neither of them refers to past time here. In the first sentence the author used "has" instead of "had" because he felt that "would" did not refer to past time, though past in form. In the second sentence the author used "was" instead of "is" because he felt that "should" was a past form though it did not refer to past time. In actual usage it is less common to change the verb in the subordinate clause of such sentences to the past tense than not to change it. Below are two more sentences in which the change is not made (in other words, sequence of tenses is neglected):

1. We would add that if you do us the honour to order the lobster from us, it will be found to have its claws attached. — E V LUCAS.

2. Her soul would not stay only as far as her eyes can see, but it would rush on until the glory of God is reached. — T F POWYS.

In such a sentence as the following one the use of "have" is not unusual, though strictly speaking ungrammatical.

I thought I would just call and see how you have settled down in your new home. — RUBY M AYRES.

Exercise 68

Correct the mistakes in sequence of tenses in the following sentences (some of which, however, contain no such mistakes):

1. I should like to know how old you are.

2. I told him that I should like to know how old he is.

3. He wrote to say last week that he hopes to call on me within a fortnight.

4. Could you tell me where your sister lives?

5. I thought he had a great deal to say to me, but all that he said was that he had just learnt from a book that air is a mixture mainly of oxygen and nitrogen.

6. You might stay a little longer to see whether the experiment would prove a success.

7. Only five minutes ago she rang you up to ask where you will go this summer.

8. If you could look into my mind and find out what I think about the matter, you would forgive me.

9. The man whom you saw last night left town this morning.

10. When I asked him what he was looking for, he said that I have no right to ask him such a question.

183. "The" as Adverb. "The" is used as an adverb before an adjective or adverb in the comparative degree only, in the sense on that account or to that extent.

1. It's a bad outlook, and it's all the worse, in some ways, because there isn't much we can do about it. — JAMES HILTON.

2. If Pauline awoke in her locked bedroom and heard things, so much the worse for her, he reflected. — ARNOLD BENNETT.

3. Her little imperfections, her schoolgirl awkwardness of manner only endeared her to Rodney all the more. — RICHMAL CROMPTON.

4. I hope that you will think none the less of me for that. — STEPHEN LEACOCK.

As can be seen from these examples, the adverb "the" is usually preceded by "all", "so much", and "none". Not always, however:

There was hardly a young man among all the ghosts of Fairfield who didn't roll home in the small hours in the morning the worse for liquor. — RICHARD BARHAM MIDDLETON.

It must not be supposed that "the" used before a comparative is always an adverb. The "the" in "the more injured" in the following sentence is the article, not the adverb:

It would be hard to determine which of the young couple felt the more injured. — BEN TRAVERS.

For reasons that it is not convenient to explain here, a comparative preceded by "the" (either adverb or article) must not be followed by "than". In other words, when a comparative is followed by "than", it must not be preceded by "the".

184. Double Adverbial "The". The "the" illustrated in Section 183 is a demonstrative adverb. Now "the" can also be used before a comparative as a relative adverb, meaning to what extent.

1. The more we think about it, the less we know. — D H LAWRENCE.

2. The more he tried to sleep, the more he couldn't. — A A MILNE.

3. The later the publication, the more modern the knowledge that it imparts. — URSULA BLOOM.

4. But I mean that the more seriously one takes an amusement, the more amusing it becomes. — A C BENSON.

You must have noticed that in each of the four sentences the demonstrative "the" is used as well as the relative "the". While the demonstrative "the" can be used alone, the relative "the" cannot. The following sentence, in which the relative "the" is used alone, is unidiomatic:

Men arc only too willing to enjoy the amusement afforded by the buffoon, but they will treat him with increased contempt the more he serves them. — HILAIRE BELLOC.

In my opinion, the sentence can be corrected by changing "increased" to "the more" (the "the" being demonstrative).

As a rule, the relative "the" comes before the demonstrative "the".

The "the… the…" construction often contains an ellipsis. For example, "is" is understand after both "publication" and "imparts" in the sentence quoted above from Ursula Bloom. The following sentence contains the briefest form of this construction:

The sooner the better, so far as I'm concerned. — JAMES HILTON.

Exercise 69

Write five sentences each with the demonstrative "the" and another five each with the relative "the" and the demonstrative "the".

185. Quasi-adverbs. "Quasi" means seeming or half, and a quasi-adverb is an adjective that is idiomatically used as an adverb.

1. Contrary to popular belief, the people who cause the police most trouble are not the burglars, gangsters, and smash-and-grab raiders. — Answers.

2. "At any rate," said the bachelor, collecting his belongings preparatory to leaving the carriage. "I kept them quiet for ten minutes, which was more than you were able to do". — SAKI.

3. Prior to my cuisine, the name of the restaurant was absurd. — LEONARD MERRICK.

From a narrowly grammatical point of view, "contrary", "preparatory", and "prior" should be changed to "contrarily", "preparatorily", and "priorly", respectively. But idiom requires "contrary", "preparatory", and "prior", and the use of the "-ly" forms would result in very unnatural English. (Perhaps nobody ever feels any temptation to write "accordingly" instead of the quasi-adverb "according" in "according to" and "according as", because these two idioms are too familiar to draw attention to their unusual grammatical construction.)

Besides the three just illustrated, among the common quasi-adverbs may be mentioned "irrespective (of)", "previous (to)", and "regardless (of)".

Incidentally, mention may be made of the fact that there are certain words, such as "hard", "high", "late", and "most", each of which is used as an adverb in a different sense from that of the same form with "-ly" added. You are advised to consult a dictionary when you have any doubt whether the form with "-ly" or without "-ly" should be used in a particular use.

Exercise 70

Write five sentences each with a quasi-adverb.

186. Prepositions. As is known to all students of English grammar, there are far fewer than a hundred prepositions in English. But they play so important a part that no one can write English correctly without a full knowledge, conscious or unconscious, of their uses. Misuse of them mostly results in offences against idiom rather than in mistakes in grammar, and shows that however good a knowledge of grammar a writer may have acquired, he is still not at home in the language.

The correct use of prepositions cannot be learnt from a few rules, nor from their definitions as given in the dictionaries. You are advised to observe them in your reading and to read their illustrative examples in dictionaries and grammars.

187. Idiomatic Uses of Prepositions. You must not content yourself with knowing the primary meaning of a preposition. You do not master a preposition until you have mastered its various idiomatic uses. Notice the italicized prepositions in the following sentences:

1. He had always thought, he said, that I was above these petty prejudices. — F ANSTEY. (above = too good for)

2. Come down here and let us have a talk about what you are at now. — JOHN GALSWORTHY. (at = occupied with)

3. You see, I was a big chap for my age. — FRANCIS BRETT YOUNG. (for = considering the usual nature of)

4. I feel an almost savage envy on hearing that London has been flooded in my absence, while I am in the mere country. — G K CHESTERTON. (on = immediately after)

5. And to my astonishment her mother joined and explained how the formality had originated in The Seville family long before the Revolution. — MANUEL KOMROFF. (to = with the result of causing)

188. Prepositions before Particular Nouns. Particular prepositions are used before particular nouns. Before giving more examples, however, I have to point out that different prepositions may have to be used before the same noun to express different senses, as in:

1. And at this moment the question was solved by the opening of the door. — AUSTIN FRFFMAN.

2. For a moment her companion thought to follow. — GILBERT FRANKAU.

In "at this moment", the "moment" means a point of time; in "for a moment", the "moment" means a brief space of time.

1. A brilliant American scientist, who spoke for some reason with a thick German accent, was just expounding a remarkable plan for projecting a whole battalion of white mice into space, when Gwatkin Pollock, remembering a humorous event from his youth, laughed loudly. — PETER USTINOV.

2. In the background Josey hovered, concerned about his meals. — SEYMOOR FREEDGOOD.

3. The degree-diploma had been expensively printed in two colours by an Anglo-Catholic firm. — GRAHAM GREENE.

4. On every committee there is a deaf member who continues to support or attack a proposal after it has been voted upon and dismissed. — E V LUCAS.

5. At the cosmetics counter a girl is showing an older woman some liquid make-up. — JOYCE CAROL OATES.

6. The anticipation of a reunion with two benevolent Americans whom she had met on a summer cruise lifted her spirits like a waft of summer air. — EVELYN EDITH GAVIN.

7. On the day of my ruin, she left me for a richer lover. — STELLA BENSON.

8. He adores animals to a degree beyond reason. — MORLEY ROBERTS. (Before "degree"; it is also idiomatic to use "in").

9. He dashed down the steps, turned, and started down the street in the direction opposite the barricade. — HUGH WALPOLE.

10. He'd been on the dole for a few months and suddenly got a job at a place twenty miles away I was later told. — ALAN SILLITOE.

11. She had not heard Peter come in and was startled by his sudden appearance in the doorway. — M T WADEY.

12. Now, at the end of a long and useful career, I am going to leave Paris. — JOHN DICKSON CARR.

13. 1 waited for the evidence on which this refutation rested to be imparted, or at least indicated, but it never came. — KINGSLEY AMIS.

14. For a long time the Roman patricians were clever enough to beat every such potential tyrant by giving in to a certain extent to the plebeians. — H G WELLS.

15. She strove to meet hi sister-in-law on an equal footing. — EVELYN EDITH GAVIN.

16. It was a slim idea to get the work of twenty men for nothing under the guise of charity. — FRANCIS BRETT YOUNG. (Before "guise", it is also idiomatic to use "in".)

17. The next morning he found upon his plate a letter in a strange hand. — JOHN MASEFIELD.

18. This time the envelope yielded a letter, written in a rather shaky and spiky handwriting. — AGATHA CHRISTIE.

19. We spend the day in talk, and partake at frequent intervals of tea and sweetmeats. — ROMER WILSON.

20. It must be admitted that the scene at every turn on the northern journey is intoxicating. — ROBERT LYND.

21. From early infancy he had used his hands to swing from branch to branch after the manner of his giant mother, and as he grew older he spent hour upon hour daily speeding through the tree-tops with his brothers and sisters. — EDGAR RICE BURROUGHS.

22. I used to hear it at almost every meal. — LORD PONSONBY.

23. Therefore, the sole notice taken on my seventieth birthday by the British Government was its deliberate official prohibition of the broadcasting of any words spoken by me on that occasion. — GEORGE BERNARD SHAW.

24. The wallpaper was in her opinion strange and rather lovely. — SHEILA KAYE-SMITH.

25. I eventually found him in a cottage on the outskirts of the city. — SEYMOUR HICKS.

26. No tear stains on the paper, just eight words in pencil on a page of the insurance book — I've still got it in the back of my wallet, though God knows why. — ALAN SILLITOE.

27. Victor and Nancy are furnishing a flat on the instalment plan. — H A VACHELL.

28. For decades, the black people of Chicago were field hands on this plantation. — STUDS TERKEL.

29. At this point he dived. — P G WODEHOUSE.

30. From the financial point of view, alone, it was important, anyhow, that I should go on writing. — ETHEL MANNIN.

31. Two of the sadly depleted companies went to adjacent farms, two remained on the premises. — R H MOTTRAM.

32. For that reason the Prince never kept a sheep in his park or a clock in his palace. — SAKI.

33. Walter endeavoured to follow his example on a small scale, but found it somewhat repellent. — BEVERLY NICHOLS.

34. I leant back in my seat again. — DAPHNE DU MAURIER.

35. Here is a walnut tree, under a rubble-heap, and on the other side of the road another rubble-heap. — EDMUND BLUNDEN.

36. Then he ran off at a great speed in the direction of the Central Way. —ARNOLD BENNETT.

37. James himself has never denied this luck, but accepts it in an attractive spirit of humility. — W A DARLINGTON.

38. The encouragement and expert help of Mr George Kamin have been invaluable at every stage in the production of the book. — G H VALLINS.

39. The day before, Mrs Herbert Kraft had talked to him eagerly and incoherently on the telephone for twenty-three minutes about the difficulties that beset a woman she knew. — JAMES REID PARKER.

40. That's why I like the old movies on television. — ELIZABETH TROOP.

41. For the first time in history there is widespread unemployment in the nursing profession. — Answers.

42. At the top of the street I came to the church standing in the middle of its churchyard with the public house for nearest neighbour. — WILLIAM HENRY HUDSON.

43. Meanwhile Mr Bronson was talking about their experiences on a weekend trip to Moscow. — EVELYN EDITH GAVIN.

44. "No" said Mrs Carlswell in a faint voice. — RICHMAL CROMPTON.

189. Prepositions after Particular Words. Particular prepositions are used after particular words, especially nouns, adjectives and past participles, and verbs.

Nouns:

1. This is the first of some occasional articles on the present condition of our language. — KINGSLEY AMIS.

2. Finally, the present century has witnessed a big change in the public attitude towards the enforced leisure of unemployment. — Listener. ("Attitude" has for years been also followed by 'to".)

3. An invaluable companion to readers of English literature. — Saturday Review.

4. She felt more confidence in his health, too, and in his determination to come to England again. — SUSAN ERTZ.

3. And Dudlow was not likely to refuse his consent to an engagement, for I knew his wife would put in a word for me. — F ANSTEY.

6. That is your splendid contribution to the clinic. — EDGAR WALLACE.

7. But he remains, and he seems to have lost his desire for the wild. — H M TOMLINSON.

8. One or two of her acquaintances expressed a certain distaste for the personal appearance of Mr Daly, and came to call. — MAEVE GILMORE.

9. They say sequels are never so good as the original conception, but yours, like Daudet's immortal Tartarin volumes, is an exception to the rule. — GWYN JONES.

10. But it was evident that he was a very clever doctor and the Chinese had great faith in him. — WILLIAM SOMERSET MAUGHAM.

11. He had a genius for construction. — H E BATES.

12. And indeed Miss Perrings the eider, while she valued the chance of getting an excellent instructor in French, German, and music for practically nothing, felt, when her eyes first lit on Nancy, that the advantage was not without its corresponding drawbacks. — BEVERLEY NICHOLS.

13. He felt the old man's hunger for conversation. — SAUL BELLOW.

14. He wondered why he felt so great an interest in these people — why he had gone to such pains to save the three men. — EDGAR RICE BURROUGHS.

15. She thought of Peter and Jenny, of Jenny's irritation with him. — M T WADEY.

16. There is a limit to the provocation some can stand. — EVELYN EDITH GAVIN.

17. He has a very bad memory for things like that. — ELIZABETH TROOP.

18. Why this objection to interviews? — ARNOLD BENNETT.

19. She considered that living in London hardened him and made his outlook on life sordid. — P G WODEHOUSE.

20. Deep, loving pride in her stirred in me. — M C JENKINS.

21. Dr Lovaway wore an overcoat of his own, a garment which had offered excellent protection against rainy days in Manchester. — GEORGE A BIRMINGHAM.

22. I suggest, in conclusion, that the sacrifice to traffic is needless. — G S STREET.

23. Each is a complete whole and possesses at the same time literary excellence and suitability to the performer's art. — Aberdeen Press and Journal.

24. Already in our schooldays some of us were making our first responses to good literature. — C S LEWIS.

25. He had, in middle age, developed a slight tendency to fussiness. — LEONARD MERRICK.

26. She had often noticed his consuming thirst for milk. — EVELYN EDITH GAVIN.

27. I've got no use for it. — ALAN SILLITOE.

Adjectives and Past Participles.

1. He was a New Yorker addicted to Italy. — JOHN GALSWORTHY.

2. She was fully alive to the situation. — R H MOTTRAM.

3. You are ashamed of me. — LIAM O'FLAHERTY.

4. I was aware of a sense of freedom, as though I had no responsibilities at all. — DAPHNE DU MAURIER.

5. I'm sure all that reading's bad for your eyes. — ALAN SILLITOE.

6. Many people, as I have said, are quite capable of talking interestingly, if they get a lead. — A C BENSON.

7. It was characteristic of her that she should choose a tale of that nature to read on such a morning. — BEVERLEY NICHOLS.

8. Presently I was conscious of a certain relaxation in his demeanour. — WILLIAM SOMERSET MAUGHAM.

9. Try, 1 beg you, to be content with your great gift; it is personal to you, and within your control, and all the rest is vanity. — JAMES STEPHENS.

10. Thomas Murray later regretted his choice of profession and was disappointed in his career and anxious to see his sons do better. — K M ELIZABETH MURRAY.

11. We travelled with the gravity due to summer weather, and found the process better than marching. — EDMUND BLUNDEN.

12. The plan, however, did not seem to be very easy of execution. — HARRY GRAHAM.

13. Madeleine was equal to the occasion. — R H MOTTRAM.

14. She was faced with the difficulty of transmitting to someone who no longer understood the common words of daily usage. — MAEVE GILMORE.

15. The man knew that he was deeply fond of her. — A E COPPARD.

16. No work of this scope can be free of error, but readers will discern, it is hoped, an arduous effort to give a true and full picture of a great world battle. — HERMAN WOUK.

17. Life is full of these hairbreadth escapes. — H V MORTON.

18. I shall always be glad of that. — JOHN MASEFIELD.

19. He was rather good at that sort of thing. — JAMES HITON.

20. I am a fairly wealthy man, and I was never greedy of money. — JOHN DICKSON CARR.

21. At any rate that bit of a feeling that he might have been guilty of doing the other fellow a wrong disappeared. — ELEANOR THORNE.

22. It is evident to me that Miss Perrings is ignorant of the way in which a lady should be treated. — BEVERLEY NICHOLS.

23. Because she will understand men, she will not be too impatient of your selfishness and folly, and you will be compelled to respect her, which is necessary in the relations of man to women and even in some degree in those of women to men. — HILAIRE BELLOC.

24. He seemed to be incapable of saying anything without sarcasm these days. — PETER USTINOV.

25. They are incredulous of everything that their eyes have not seen. — ROBERT LYND.

26. I myself am equally innocent of farming and grocering. — GERALD BULLETT.

27. All those interested in drama and the birth of a dramatic society for the town of Wander were requested to attend a meeting there. — H E BATES.

28. She made Rodney jealous of Lettice and Lettice jealous of Rodney. — RICHMAL CROMPTON.

29. What she said (and she was not lavish of words) was attended to. — R H MOTTRAM.

30. She seemed oblivious of the ragged walls of the rain in which she stood and she watered the lawn carefully, lingering over the burnt spots. — JOHN CHEEVER.

31. We'll just have to be patient with him. — EVELYN EDITH GAVIN.

32. It is not even a condition peculiar to dramatic art; in sonic kind or degree, it is a condition of any art whatsoever. LASCELLES ABERCROMBIE.

33. Marry a woman who is a widow, childless and possessed of sufficient means. — HILAIRE BELLOC.

34. The old lady had always been proud of the great rose-tree in her garden, and was fond of telling how it had grown from a cutting she had brought years before from Italy, when she was first married. — LOGAN PEARSALL SMITH.

35. An ordinary boy, grieving for his mother, and naturally resentful of the person in her place. — EVELYN EDITH GAVIN.

36. I hope it's something that may prove useful to you, and I feel sanguine of your success. — EDEN PHILLPOTTS.

37. Others went as farm labourers, though not many; for while the farmers were as always short of labour, they did not know how to handle farm labourers who were also white men: such a phenomenon had never happened in Zambesia before. — DORIS LESSING.

38. I am always rather foolishly shy of saying my own name in public especially when there are a lot of people I know round me. — LORD PONSONBY.

39. They are sick of the food given by cooks in flooded kitchens. — H V MORTON.

40. Like a cats his silence was not oppressive, but significant of the fact that he was at home. — MAEVE GILMORE.

41. You must realize, John, that you must be in some measure subject to government policy. — PETER USTINOV.

42. Some years ago I knew a blacksmith who grew tired of his job and became an accountant. — Answers.

43. Maybe I was a bit upset after all at her sudden visit, and it's possible I showed it without knowing it at the time, because I filled my pipe up straight away, a thing I never normally do. — ALAN SILLITOE.

44. You get used to the loneliness. — JOHN MASEFIELD.

45. It is a fact worthy of grave consideration that today there is not a single coal-fired ship of importance in the British Navy. — Horse and Hound.

Verbs.

1. She accused a few teachers of being absolutely warped. — NORMAN MAILER.

2. You have appealed to the machine-gun, and by the machine-gun shall you be judged. — WILLIAM SOMERSET MAUGHAM.

3. Selina knew that Nurse would not approve of their leaving the spot where she had set them to play, but for the life of her she could not help it. — SHEILA KAYE-SMITH.

4. Everyone leads us to aspire to higher things. — JOSEPH HELLER.

5. Do you believe in ghosts? — P G WODEHOUSE.

6. All the same, we cling to our last pleasures as the tree clings to its last leaves. — KATHERINE MANSFIELD.

7. I thought he was complimenting me on having brought the approvals. — JOHN CHEEVER.

8. Those in favour of a naturalistic approach to and interpretation of life concentrated on depicting the social environment and dwelt particularly on its deficiencies and on the shortcomings of human beings. — J A CUDDON.

9. Meanwhile Lorna had confessed to her responsibility, which Gary would scarcely accept. —EVELYN EDITH GAVIN.

10. But you must confide in me, you must tell me when he behaves badly. — EVELYN EDITH GAVIN.

11. He inwardly congratulated himself on the conscientious accuracy of this conjecture. — ARTHUR MORRISON.

12. Don't you want to contribute further to this great record by flying more combat missions? — JOSEPH HELLER.

13. The length to which the affair subsequently proceeds depends entirely upon what the author feels about his public: whether that's the sort of thing they want from him or whether it isn't. — E M DELAFIELD.

14. She did not know whether she despaired more of him or of herself. — SHEILA KAYE-SMITH.

15. He died of lead-poisoning. — ALAN SILLITOE.

16. I drink to the end of the war. — DORIS LESSING.

17. The very names of some or these creatures seem to hint at their poisonous quality, especially to those persons who can scarcely look at snakes without a shudder. — The children's Newspaper.

18. When Sir Humphrey informed me early today of the success of your experiment, I immediately called a Cabinet meeting, which ended not half an hour ago. — PETER USTINOV.

19. We shall inquire of the proprietress when we get up. — LEONARD MERRICK.

20. He never interfered with her or with the child. — H E BATES.

21. I must ask you to listen to me without interruption. — PETER USTINOV.

22. He, too, objected to the line. — EDMUND BLUNDEN.

23. As long as she refrained from telling him the whole truth, he would see no reason to bear heavily upon Colin now. — EVELYN EDITH GAVIN.

24. You may rely on his judgement; the beggar is infallible. — JOHN GALSWORTHY.

25. But I didn't want to remind her of the wedding picture for fear it would bring back memories she didn't like. — ALAN SILLITOE.

26. They replied to his greeting with visible apprehension, and eyed his turban, his skirts, and his shining brown face with alarm. — SEYMOOR FREEDGOOD.

27. I asked this question quite naturally though, because didn't feel I had anything to reproach her with. — ALAN SILLITOE.

28. He knew that she wouldn't respond to proposal of marriage coached in terms of a real estate transaction. — ROBERT C BENCHLEY.

39. We've near shied at adventure. — PETER USTINOV.

30. Evidently at a loss, she stared at me. — MAY C JENKINS.

31. Since he was a scientist, it would have been inhuman if he had not in some measures surrendered to tradition and been a little absent-minded. — PETER USTINOV.

32. She had tired of what the radio could offer, and sang to herself the hymns of her girlhood — "On Christian Soldiers" and "Pull for the shore Sailor" — and tears coursed down her cheeks. —MAEVE GILMORE.

For further examples read Sections 168 and 169 again.

As you are no doubt aware, there are many idiomatic phrases each consisting of a verb (and an adverb) and a preposition. For instance, with the verb "look" we have "look after", 'look down (up)on", "look for", "look forward to", "look into", look over", "look through", "look to", "look (up)on", and "look up to". The use of such phrases is a great aid to composition. Care must be taken not to confuse those that are similar to each other.

190. Omission of Prepositions. It is a fact, though grammars do not usually mention it, that a verb or an adjective that is idiomatically followed by a preposition dispenses with that preposition when it is followed by a clause introduced by the conjunction "that". For example, we say "I am glad of it" and "I am glad that you have seen him". "I am glad of that you have seen him" is theoretically right but practically impossible. This ought to be only too obvious to you. It may not be obvious to you, however, that the preposition "of" is as a rule omitted between the noun "idea" or "notion" or the adjective "careful" and a clause beginning with "how", "what", "when", etc.

1. He had already a general idea ∧ how a nymph would behave: she would be rather quiet, and take a great interest in flowers. — SYLVIA TOWNSEND WARNER.

2. You've no idea ∧ how mild and quiet people are down here, except for an occasional scrap, when the pubs close. — H V MORTON.

3. At most houses when you are invited to dine, you have some idea ∧ whom you will meet. — EVELYN WAUGH.

4. You've no notion ∧ how much I'd like to have shaken the hand of your headman. — JAMES HILTON.

5. I haven't a notion ∧ what sort of people are likely to be there. — BEN TRAVERS.

6. You must be very careful ∧ what you do, as you haven't got your overalls on. — SHEILA KAYE-SMITH.

7. "The pretty girl of the Victorian age who was surrounded by admirers had to be careful ∧ how she handled her handkerchief in their presence," she said "for every movement could be taken as a signal with some secret meaning". — Answers.

"Of" is also often omitted before the nouns "age", "colour", "size", etc.

1. Mr Lowes-Parlby, when I was ∧ your age, I used to pass through Wych Street every day of my life. — STACY AUMONIER.

2. Gretchen notices a few kids ∧ her own age, boys or girls trudging in jeans and jackets, ahead of her, through the mud. — JOYCE CAROL OATES.

3. And it was someone quite different — little more than a child, with blue eyes, skin ∧ the colour of old ivory, and the most sensitive lips I've ever seen. — RICHMAL CROMPTON.

4. ∧ What colour were they? — SAKI.

5. Slim and fair-skinned, her hair was like ripe corn in sunlight, her eyes ∧ a sparkling, vivid blue. — May C JENKINS.

6. Now, getting out a chunk of coal ∧ that size was no everyday mining job — it was a rather unusual and intricate piece of work. — Answers.

7. She very luckily had some blue curtains which were ∧ just the right size. — WILLIAM SOMERSET MAUGHAM.

8. He himself had a packet of photographs ∧ the thickness of Who's Who. — A P HERBERT.

"Of" is often omitted before "no use".

These things are ∧ no use to me. — AUSTIN FREEMAN.

"In" is usually omitted before "the way" after which "in which" is omitted; and "in which" is often omitted after "the way".

1. By the second year he had grown casual and remiss, but she had borne with him, knowing that it was his nature, and having always understood that men don't bother about little things ∧ the way ∧ women do. — SHEILA KAYE-SMITH.

2. The way ∧ he said it intrigued me. — ALLAN N MONKHOUSE.

3. It depended on the way ∧ she spoke and on the way ∧ she looked. — WILLIAM SOMERSET MAUGHAM.

"In" is usually omitted between "busy" and a gerund so that the gerund looks like the present participle.

1. I never read novels at that time; I was too busy ∧ acquiring knowledge. — ETHEL MANNIN.

2. I was too busy ∧ doing what I was told. — H E BATES.

"In" is also usually omitted before a gerund if "spend" goes before with a word denoting time.

1. He spent two evenings ∧examining maps. — STACY AUMONIER.

2. Of the time he spent ∧ walking the mountains, between the morning and the evening; he could give no clear account. — L A G STRONG.

In "At my age, I've no business trying to put things right in the world" — M T WADLEY, we might say there is "of" omitted before "trying", though it seems that one never says "I've no business of trying". (Incidentally, "I've no business trying" and I've no business to try" have the same meaning.)

Similarly, we find the following sentences:

She took along a book to enjoy in the car while waiting through the visit, and they had a fine time driving there and back, and talked about witches. — NORMAN MAILER.

After a while I found a job hashing at night so I could be with her dogs, and it was better. — TILLIE OLSEN.

"To" is usually omitted after "opposite".

1. Opposite ∧ the churchyard were the gates of the old home. — SYLVIA TOWNSEND WARNER.

2. It vas strange to see this group of men with guns, discussing so earnestly opposite ∧ her window. — HUGH WALPOLE.

Whatever grammarians may have to say, "like" governs a noun without an intervening preposition.

1. I shall look like ∧ a greyhound tonight, though of course there will be no man there to notice it. — MICHAEL ARLEN.

2. Twenty times a day I felt like ∧ running across London to see him and hear from his own lips the inevitable praise or blame. — GWYN JONES.

The idiom "on board" governs a noun without an intervening preposition.

Well, here we are now — on board ∧ this floating luxury hotel of a boat. — REGINALD DENHAM.

We say "for the second time", in which the "for" cannot be omitted. But it seems to be more usual to say "a second time" than to say "for a second time".

I felt I could not go through it ∧ all a second time. — F ANSTEY ("Not" is italicized in the original)

When "this time" is used in the sense of on this occasion, no preposition precedes it.

She hung her eyes again, and ∧ this time in real humiliation. — BEVERLEY NICHOLS.

Notice that there is no "for" before the phrases "three times", "several times", and "a thousand times" in the following sentences:

1. He did so, and opened his mouth ∧ three times before he could speak. — MORLEY ROBERTS.

2. They went to London ∧ several times a year to do the theatres and pictures. — RICHMAL CROMPTON.

3. I have heard him say ∧ thousand times he could not live without me! — LEONARD MERRICK.

I often find the uncalled-for "for" before "three times" etc in English written by Chinese students.

The omission of "on" before "this side", as in the following sentence, is not uncommon.

Was it explicable ∧ this side of the grave? — E M FORSTER.

191. Prepositions Governing Words Other than Nouns and Pronouns. In certain constructions a preposition governs a word, other than a noun or a pronoun. Besides such phrases as "at once", by far", "for ever", "from then to now", and "until afterwards", we may mention "about" followed by an infinitive, "except" followed by an infinitive, "except" followed by a preposition, "far from" followed by an adjective, "instead of "followed by any part of speech, and the idiom "take for granted" (meaning assume), in which "for" is followed by the past participle "granted".

From all this you may perhaps rashly conclude that money in the largest possible amount should be your object, and that I am about to make public the rules for its attainment (which you hope to be so simple that even you can grasp them). — HILAIRE BELLOC.

2. She did not speak except to ask him to kiss her again. — H E BATES.

3. There was dead silence except for the buzzing of the flies. — LIAM O'FLAHERTY.

4. The evening, however, was far from dull. — JAMES HILTON. ("Far from being dull" is also correct, but less usual.)

5. Conventions in dress, dictating a particular costume on particular occasions, delight instead of bother him. —DESMOND MACCARTHY.

6. His hand indicated the firmament, and his peculiar smile indicated that he took Ham's consent for granted. — ARNOLD BENNETT.

7. The trouble was that when we had a row — and they were rows, swearing, hurling pots: the lot — it was too much like suffering and in the middle of them it seemed to me as if we'd done nothing but row and suffer like this from the moment we set eyes on each other, with not a moment's break, and that it would go on like this for as long as we stayed together. — ALAN SILLITOE.

Exercise 71

With the help of one or more dictionaries supply prepositions in the following sentences (some of which, however, require no prepositions):

1. There appears to have been a quarrel brother and sister.

2. You must not interfere his work.

3. Hearing his death she went to condole his wife.

4. I wonder if he delights this sort occupation.

5. As soon as he saw us, he went away.

6. I have several letters to reply this morning.

7. He did not care whether the girl was English or French.

8. She told me her adventure a low voice.

9. He came to ask a favour his grandfather.

10. It suddenly occurred me that a friend would call half past one.

11. What did they find the premises?

12. The chief promised me to look the matter.

13. There is nothing you need to worry.

14. I do not know what is the matter him.

15. I will try my best to work your satisfaction.

16. That prevented the party starting.

17. The door opened itself all a sudden!

18. Why do you complain your clerk so often?

19. When I received the book, I was greatly disappointed it.

20. She is quite equal the task, I think.

21. The village is noted its scenery.

22. This is not worth trying a financial point of view.

23. I inquired the first person I met, and he told me the details.

24. Only five persons passed the examination.

25. He is not so well versed the subject as his brother.

26. He entered his business career after his father died.

27. We are very much obliged your kind help.

28. They seem to take our interest their business granted.

29. Commenting the matter, the lawyer said he was very sorry the parties concerned.

30. I have never dreamt such a situation.

31. The crime that he was charged was a grave one.

32. She had to do something to comfort her mother.

33. When I was your age, I did not speak English half so well as you do.

34. He was possessed much wealth, but he always said that wealth was nothing to be proud.

35. The other day I received a letter a strange hand.

36. I do not think he will return next Saturday.

37. It is reported good authority that an aeroplane crashed the city the day I left it.

38. What did she apologize?

39. Beware the dog!

40. We shall let you know the moment we hear him.

41. The subject is not sufficiently treated in the article.

42. She was much alarmed what he had heard.

43. Though he was favourably impressed her, he did not say anything.

44. The old man was talking himself.

45. He never wrote me those ten years.

46. Anxious to get rid his cold, be tried several remedies, but all vain.

47. I had no idea where she was going, nor what she was interested.

48. She is very quick to take offence.

49. He has been independent his parents these five years.

50. Being aware our arrival, he rang us up.

51. That occasion the novelist made a short speech, which he said that he had a good library that he made full use.

52. This essay is not very expressive your feelings.

53. The wedding took place the presence a number of guests.

54. Once you get used, you will not find it difficult.

55. 1 wrote again, but this time the letter went astray.

56. The boy looks like his father, but they do not think the same way many matters.

57. As he was absorbed study, he did not hear my knock; so I knocked a second time.

58. He presented her a vase her last birthday.

59. He wound up his watch carefully and put it the little table opposite the bed.

60. We hope you will inform us the particulars your earliest convenience.

192. That-clause in Apposition to Nouns. A clause introduced by the conjunction "that" is often used in apposition to a noun.

1. And I confess that I had some apprehension that he might be a criminal lunatic who ought not to have been at large. — ALLAN N MONKHOUSE.

2. Puzzled to account for it, I came to the conclusion that I had forgotten to do it. — Answers.

3. Treddleford sat in an easeful armchair in front of a slumberous fire, with a velum of verse in his hand and the comfortable consciousness that outside the club windows the rain was dripping and pattering with persistent purpose. — SAKI.

4. Nancy, a sensible girl, repudiated the time-worn lovers' contention that what was enough for one would suffice for two. — H A VACHELL.

5. We have a genuine dread of the intellect in any form and a conviction that art, though highly enjoyable clandestinely, is essentially immoral. — GEORGE BERNARD SHAW.

6. Before her first marriage Christina had a vivid dream that she was walking in her father's garden and met a man there. — K M ELIZABETH MURRAY.

7. A message had come at last from Dr Ferguson to the effect that if Miss Juggernaut and her brother cared to see their victim, they might do so between three and five that afternoon. — SUSAN ERTZ.

8. The feeling that I could never assume my responsibilities as a baseball player without some help from him was deep, as if parental love and baseball were both national pastimes. — JOHN CHEEVER.

9. There was no hope, after this, that James could ever be taken seriously as a cricketer. — W A DARLINGTON.

10. Before that night I had no idea that I should ever write poetry. — LEW SARETT.

11. He suffered from an illusion that he would never see him again. — H E BATES.

12. I sometimes had the impression that on the deeper levels of her mind. Grandma felt closer to the times of the Exodus than to the European town where she had spent her youth. — SEYMOUR FREEDGOOD.

13. The Second in Command met him with the breathlessly whispered information that here was another ship in the cover. — JOSEPH CONRAD.

14. Money for solving the complex riddles of ancient people will be given with all the greater will in the knowledge that heed is being paid to the problem of the islanders of today. — The Times.

15. When they had arrived at the parade ground the officers had left a message that the Captain would be personally responsible for Michele and for the village. — DORIS LESSING.

16. He had a vague notion, if he ever formulated, it, that nice women were weak, timid, and delicate, and that nice men treated them with polite but rather distant chivalry. — JAMES HILTON.

17. In April, I got a notice that faculty participation in the annual meeting of the board of trustees was mandatory. — JOHN CHEEVER.

18. For he had never concealed his opinion that Leila J. Pinckney's style of writing revolted him, however dear it might be to her enormous public. — P G WODEHOUSE.

19. Then the feeling of gratitude was immediately swept away, first by a doubt as to whether they were real stones, and secondly by the realization that Mrs Jackson was looking over her shoulder. — BEVERLEY NICHOLS.

20. Presently Selina returned with the report that, whether Mr Dowdall paid the railway's charges or waited to be sued for them, the tiger addressed to him would be delivered there and then. — ARTHUR MORRISON.

21. Prematurely the signal was given to ring up the curtain, with the result that the coolies were found in possession of the stage. — Horse and Hound.

22. There were two hundred of them and they were, of course, orphans only in the sense that their parents had abandoned them. — WILLIAM SOMERSET MAUGHAM.

23. Not infrequently the clouds began to gather, and there was every sign that a change was at hand. — WILLIAM HALE WHITE.

24. Leaving the cafeteria, he was, however, afflicted by a tormenting suspicion that Salzman had planned it all to happen this way. — BERNARD MALAMUD.

25. But the old woman showed no symptom that the terrible past was thus revisiting her in its most awful form. — ARNOLD BENNETT.

26. We built up a theory that the art of life is strangely like the life of the religious contemplative. — JOHN MASEFIELD.

27. And not even the thought that his aunt had dandled him on her knee as a baby could induce him to stifle his literary conscience to the extent of pretending to enjoy her work. — P G WODEHOUSE.

28. Old Samuel Carter, James's father, had only consented with the greatest reluctance to his wish that James should be sent to Radford. — W A DARLINGTON.

193. That-clause Qualifying Adjectives and Past Participles. A clause introduced by "that" is often used adverbially to qualify an adjective or a past participle.

1. She looked in a dazed way at the men, amazed that they were still there. — V S PRITCHETT.

2. She was appalled that Bess had to do such work. — NORMAN MAILER.

3. But I am aware that I may seem to say more than I mean. — H W GARROD.

4. Therefore I feel certain that we shall eventually fly the Atlantic at a cruising speed of some 340 miles per hour. — Listener.

5. As everybody knows, it has, as an abode, many advantages, and having passed this test you may be confident that its drawbacks will not prove serious ones for you. — DESMOND MACCARTHY.

6. And then, as I still held the whip, I became conscious once again that the dark-haired girl had appeared in the doorway. — H E BATES.

7. She did not move at once but still, like a shy child, stood watching them, waiting for them to be settled and fearful that they would not stay. — V S PRITCHETT.

8. I am flattered that you wished to see me. — WILLIAM SOMERSET MAUGHAM.

9. I am very fortunate, sir, that it should have fallen to me to head the team which managed, perhaps more by luck than by virtue, to achieve this success. — PETER USTINOV.

10. All her anger had vanished by now and she felt glad that she had thrust all the responsibility for punishment on to her husband. — LIAM O'FLAHERTY.

11. If this war lasts three years, many of us will be bitterly regretful that we did not economize in the use of these necessities. — Answers.

12. Satisfied that her eldest grandson was present and that the world was still at meridian, she'd returned to her cooking or prayers. — SEYMOOR FREEDGOOD.

13. I am sorry that I asked. —JOHN MASEFIELD.

14. Yes, she is quite sure that it is all wrong to stay here. — ELEANOR THORNE.

15. All the animals came and wept tears over the grave, and everyone was extremely surprised that you weren't there, Sister. — SHEILA KAYE-SMITH.

16. Oh, she was thankful she had got the ear, that she could fill her waiting-time with fierce activity and the lull of motion, and yet was not required to support herself on legs that were weak and shaking. — SHEILA KAYE-SMITH.

194. That-clause Used after Verbs. A clause introduced by "that" is often used after a verb. The verb is usually transitive, and the clause is its object. If the verb is intransitive, the clause may be considered adverbial. It is sometimes doubtful whether the verb in this construction is transitive or intransitive.

1. For elementary reasons of security, we all accept that your office should only be briefed in the aspects of this exercise in which you are good enough to help. — JOHN LE CARRE.

2. I must add that at least I am honest, and so is my work. — MANUEL KOMROFF.

3. She scarcely like to admit herself that she had seen prettier faces elsewhere. — ARTHUR SYMONS.

4. Mrs Jervis agreed that nobody could possibly be unwell under such circumstances. — BEVERLEY NICHOLS.

5. Sit down, and don't assume for one moment that you continue to be my prospective son-in-law. — STACY AUMONIER.

6. Tollaver assured her that the newspaper stories were exaggerated. — HERMAN WOUK.

7. He concluded that Lionel and he were marked for death within twenty-four hours. — JOHN MASEFIELD.

8. I do not, I may say, contend that the superstitious man is wiser than the unsuperstitious. — ROBERT LYND.

9. Grace decided that what had rubbed off on Bessie over the years was stoicism. — NORMAN MAILER.

10. I am able to demonstrate that I was nowhere in the neighbourhood tonight.. — JOHN DICKSON CARR.

11. I can't deny that this warning had some effect on me; so much so, in fact, that I am afraid I climbed down to some extent. — F ANSTEY.

12. She gained power instead of losing it; she had always loved power, and had the shrewdness to discern that there was more than one form of it. — ANTHONY HOPE.

13. She had never dreamt that it would be all so easy. — BEVERLEY NICHOLS.

14. James did not explain that his eyes were sad because her society gave him a pain in the neck. — P G WODEHOUSE.

15. This pleased Harrison, who, feeling that no time should be wasted in making his "work" public, wrote desiring the publisher to put the matter in hand. — JOHN GALSWORTHY.

16. Even the sharp ones who knew very well it had all really happened began to figure (in the American sense of understand) that everything up to now had been made so full of pain only so that all they had now come to now might seem all the sweeter and the more glorious. — JAMES AGEE.

17. In all the smart hotels and dance places in London you will find that, generally speaking, the men are older than the women. — H V MORTON.

18. Your memory must be short if you have already forgotten that this is my place. — ROLAND PERTWEE.

19. We did not, for instance, foresee that she would give us an electric clock for Christmas. — Punch.

20. I — er — gather that discipline was not always your strong point at Melbury. — JAMES HILTON.

21. He had absented himself from tea on Sunday, and they guessed that he had gone to Constance's, on his bicycle, six miles away. — EVELYN EDITH GAVIN.

22. No one knew where they'd skipped off to exactly, probably imagining that I would chase after them. — ALAN SILLITOE.

23. I infer that your uncle is a highly imprudent person. — JAMES REID PARKER.

24. He seems to prefer to stay within, sight of the place he knows; for he is a sociable creature, and at times comes to the window to intimate that he wishes to sit, for a spell, within the family circle. — H M TOMLINSON.

25. It was not a very good house, but they judged that it would be safer and drier than their tent had proved. — JOHN MASEFIELD.

26. When by nine of o'clock he had not come back, Gary telephoned and learnt that he was about to leave. — EVELYN EDITH GAVIN.

27. Rain had meant that I would be free, for a day, of hiding under the filled house and in the wood behind the backstop. — JOHN CHEEVER.

28. Just as he rose to go, he mentioned that on returning from service that morning he had found a most interesting visitor waiting to see him. — F ANSTEY.

29. No matter how badly Connie was looking, people always observed that she was a woman who had once been very beautiful. — SUSAN ERTZ.

30. The clerk perceived then that he had a revolver. — ARNOLD BENNETT.

31. In fact, I shall endeavour to persuade you that it was the reverse. — DESMOND MACCARTHY.

32. Roger prayed that that fair spirit might be at peace, among all this invisible evil. — JOHN MASEFIELD.

33. I try to pretend that they are not significant. — JOSEPH HALLOW.

34. I protested that the recollection of my visit was in itself a priceless gift. — WILLIAM SOMERSET MAUGHAM.

35. It will prove to him that it is not so easy as he might think to keep the rules of grammar. — Spectator.

36. Bert, with his mouth full, said he had read somewhere that tea was the most dangerous drink on earth. — V S PRITCHETT.

37. You look along the rows of chairs and realize that here are seen the prettiest, neatest legs in London. — H V MORTON.

38. Then I recalled that her mother was with her and decided to stay. — Answers.

39. Those who really knew him recognized that he was always shy and unusually tired. — EDMUND GOSSE.

40. I — ah — I regret that I can be of no assistance to you but surely you can understand that I am powerless. — JAMES RAID PARKER.

41. By the way, I remark that the bellarmine found by the diggers was nothing more than a broken neck. — OSWALD BARRON.

42. I remember that we whispered together, and the child laughed and tried to put us at our ease. — EDWARD THOMAS.

43. He replied that there was a good barber in the country town twelve and a half miles off, and that there was no other. — ARNOLD BENNETT.

44. You, madam, may retort that this is only another instance of the scandal of this man-ridden world. — A G GARDINER.

45. I do not know what opinion prevailed among other battalions, but I can say that our greatest distress at this period was due to that short and dry word "raid". — EDMUND BLUNDEN.

46. I called in my dream to the lodge-keeper, and had an answer, and peering closer through the rusted spokes of the gate I saw that the lodge was uninhabited. — DAPHNE DU MAURIER.

47. Within a few moments the old lady appeared in her doorway, having sensed that she had visitors. — ALAN HALEY.

48. Someone dropped a desk-lid — quickly, he must take everyone by surprise; he must show that there was no nonsense about hint. — JAMES HILTON.

49. The young man stated then that he had been told a long and complicated story of engine troubles. — JOSEPH CONRAD.

50. The publisher answered at once with a polite letter, suggesting that for Harrison's advantage a certain additional sum should be spent on advertisements. — JOHN GALSWORTHY.

51. He surmised that this was a coaster. — JOSEPH CONRAD.

52. Each longed to be her favourite and hated the other because each suspected that the other was her favourite. — RICHMAL CROMPTON.

53. She told me that Chilmorton was her native place, but that she had been absent from it many many years. — WILLIAM HENRY HUDSON.

54. He had warned her that the climb would be hard. — HERMAN WOUK.

195. That-clause Qualifying "So" and "Such". A clause introduced by "that" is sometimes used adverbially to qualify the adverb "so" or the adjective "such" going before. Such a clause expresses result.

1. Sometimes the recollection of his humiliation was so vivid that it made him physically wince and shudder. — ALDOUS LEONARD HUXLEY.

2. In the past, in the first months and even years after the boy's death, he had only to say those words to be overcome by such grief that nothing short of a violent fit of weeping could relieve him. — KATHERINE MANSFIELD.

196. Idiomatic Uses of "That". There are some idiomatic uses of the conjunction "that".

1. "That" may introduce a clause expressing purpose. The clause contains "may" or "might".

You ask me where it was, that you may go and enjoy it yourself? — HILAIRE BELLOC.

2. "That" may introduce an adjectival clause, meaning when.

The next time that I met him was in Tokyo, after ten years. — EDMUND BLUNDEN.

The "that" in the common idiom "now that" is used in this sense.

Now that it has the additional splendour of great sheets of water, there must be something quite incomparable in the landscape (or waterscape) of my own romantic town. — G K CHESTERTON.

3. "That" may introduce a clause expressing result in an interrogative sentence.

What had happened that she could do without him now? — SHEILA KAYE-SMITH.

197. Omission of "That". The conjunction "that" is often omitted.

1. But, anyhow, it was in some such way ∧ we began our talking. — H G WELLS.

2. The engine was so quiet ∧ Nora could hear above it the occasional crack of a twig breaking under the wheels. — M T WADEY.

3. She kept too much in herself, her life was such ∧ she had to keep too much in herself. — TILLIE OLSEN.

4. It was true ∧ he was talking about himself. — R H MOTTRAM.

5. It's not often ∧ Latin and Greek go with military genius. — GRAHAM GREENE.

6. Selina was glad ∧ they did not have to sleep in the back bedroom. — SHEILA KAYE-SMITH.

7. I am sorry ∧ Ferdinand has been in your garden, but I am sure ∧ he meant no harm. — Punch.

8. We may be certain ∧ the equipment was remarkable. — NORMAN MAILER..

9. Well, just make sure ∧ you don't forget that. — JOSEPH HELLER.

10. I think ∧ we will all go together as usual. — SUSAN ERTZ.

11. He says ∧ the matter is rather urgent. — DAPHNE DU MAURIER.

12. He was so sweet to her ∧ she wanted to do what she could to please him. — WILLIAM SOMERSET MAUGHAM.

13. Almost as soon as she can toddle she recognizes her daddy coming over the distant dune, and so sure she is that he is her daddy, and not a stranger, ∧ she is at the garden gate to be carried indoors. — ELEANOR THORNE.

14. I had an idea ∧ she might want to live in my house again seeing ∧ she'd lost her job. — ALAN SILLITOE.

15. it seems ∧ we both have a cheese. — HERMAN WOUK.

The omission of the conjunction "that" gives a sentence a more or less colloquial tone. As a rule it is not omitted after a noun. (The use of "for the fear" instead of "for fear that" in the following sentence does not seem to be idiomatic. "Not a sound escaped him, for the fear ∧ the nurses might hear". — DORIS LESSING.) Nor is it omitted in the first, and third idiomatic uses mentioned in Section 196.

A Dictionary of Modern English Usage gives the following tentative lists of verbs that (1) prefer "that" expressed, (2) prefer "that" omitted, and (3) vary according to the tone of the context:

(1) agree, announce, argue, assume, aver, calculate, conceive, contend, hold, learn, maintain, observe, reckon, remark, state, suggest.

(2) believe, dare say, presume, suppose, think.

(3) be told, confess, consider, declare, grant, hear, know, perceive, propose, say, see, understand.

It is to be noted that in America the conjunction "that" is omitted more freely than in England, and that the American influence has been having an effect on English writing, especially on English journalism.

Exercise 72

Write ten sentences each with the conjunction "that" expressed and another ten each with the conjunction "that" omitted.

198. "And" Expressing Result. "And" sometimes expresses result, the clause going before being in the imperative mood.

1. Bear it in mind, young man, and it will save you from most of the worst mistakes. —EVELYN WAUGH (= If you bear it in mind, young man, it will save you from most of the worst mistakes).

2 Turn over, and you'll be all right. — W A DARLINGTON (= If you turn over, you'll be all right.)

The "and" in the following sentences have the same function, though the sentence structure is somewhat different:

1. In any event, on receipt of this won't you come down here at once and we can run over them together? — JOHN KENDRICK BANGS.

2. Better be very polite and she would go. — ELIZABETH TROOP.

3. Any more dirty words, and you know who I'll tell. — DYLAN THOMAS.

4. An hour in the files taking a few notes, and he needn't have been at such a disadvantage. — SAUL BELLOW.

199. "Or" Meaning Otherwise. "Or" sometimes means otherwise, introducing a statement of the result of the rejection of what is said in the preceding clause.

1. She mustn't be later than three, or he might have gone out again. — SHEILA KAYE-SMITH.

2. Evidently he had not heard the ringing, or he would have questioned her about it. — ARNOLD BENNETT.

3. Come in, or I'll go by myself. — MORLEY ROBERTS.

4. I must stop now or I shall miss the post. — E V LUCAS.

200. Idiomatic Uses of "If".

1. "If" sometimes means whether.

(1) I wanted to see if it had changed. — DAPHNE DU MAURIER.

(2) His grave gallantry and quiet conversation as he lay there, while the stretcher-bearers came, and fresh arrivals burst, were such that I wondered if, after all, the world in which these incidents happened was not normal. — EDMUND BLUNDFN.

2. "If" sometimes introduces an exclamatory clause expressing wish, the clause being conditional in nature but without the consequent clause.

(1) Oh, if I had only known! — JOHN MASEFIELD.

(2) Oh, if I had the courage to defy them! — ANTHONY HOPE.

201. "Than" with Ellipsis. "Than" is sometimes followed by a finite verb with some word or words omitted before it.

1. Since nobody else understood what they were talking about, they were able to converse with more freedom than would otherwise have been possible. — BEVERLEY NICHOLS.

2. Here foreign birds which cannot be given freedom in this country will enjoy a much more spacious life than is possible in a small cage. — The Children's Newspaper.

3. Armstrong and Aldrin had consistently fulfilled their tasks in less time than was allotted. — NORMAN MAILER.

"That which" might be supplied after "than" in each sentence.

202. "When" as Relative Conjunction. "When" is sometimes used as a relative conjunction, meaning and then or but just then.

1. The young man was still laughing when his friend came up. — H E BATES.

2. She was writing to him the following afternoon putting these thoughts on paper while they were still fresh in her mind, when Major Crosby came. — SUSAN ERTZ.

3. He was just about to move on when a thought occurred to him. — JOHN MASEFIELD.

4. But he had not been there very long when a voice outside his door requested his presence on deck. — JOSEPH CONRAD.

5. He had decided pleasurably to read it again, when he heard a soft movement about his bed. — PEARL S BUCK.

6. After supper, I corrected papers until about eleven, when I went to bed. — JOHN CHEEVER.

203. "As Well As". "As well as" is a very common idiom, but it seems to be very often misunderstood by Chinese students. It does not mean and but no less than. "A as well as B" means A no less than B, or not only B but also A.

1. To have no hope is to give up tomorrow as well as today. — PEARL S BUCK.

2. The King and Queen will not misunderstand me when I say that they command our sympathy as well as our affection for their lives of perpetual self-sacrifice. — Truth.

3. But it is possible for moonlight to be heard as well as seen. — Answers.

204. "Though ... Yet ...". "Though ... yet ..." is idiomatic.

Though it is true that in proportion to the amount of money you have are you admired, respected, and even loved by your fellow-citizens, yet it is not true that in the same proportion do you acquire respect for yourself and that inner satisfaction, that moderate leisure, and, in general, that negative happiness which we all seek. — HILAIRE BELLOC.

It is not correct to say "though … but ...".

Exercise 73

Write five sentences each with "and" expressing result, five each with "or" meaning otherwise, five each with "if" meaning whether, five each with "if" introducing an exclamatory clause expressing wish, five each with "than" with ellipsis, five each with "when" as a relative conjunction, five each with "as well as", and five each with "though ... yet".

205. Indirect Questions. While inversion is the rule in direct questions, it is out of place in indirect questions. We say "Where are you going?", but "I asked him where he was going" instead of "I asked him where was he going".

1. He really could not understand how it had all occurred. — HUGH WALPOLE.

2. You know how nervous and self-conscious he is. — ARNOLD BENNETT.

3. Airey did not ask where they were going. — ANTHONY HOPE.

4. That shows how happy I am. — SUSAN ERTZ.

In the following sentence "what had been the truth" might be substituted for "what the truth had been"; for we might answer the direct question "What has been the truth?" by saying indifferent "This has been the truth" or "The truth has been this":

He longed with sudden impatience to go home and see for himself what the truth had been. —PEARL S BUCK.

Still the order used in the sentence is more idiomatic.

206. Negative Inversion. A negative predicate word used at the beginning of a sentence or a clause requires inversion of subject and auxiliary verb. We say "I have never seen him before", but "Never have I seen him before" instead of "Never I have seen him before".

1. No longer would she have to tell lies, no longer would she have to run after Laurie, either drawn by his whims or driven by her longings. — SHEILA KAYE-SMITH.

2. Never have I been so glad to see any picture in its right place. — E V LUCAS.

3. She could not make up her mind on this question — nor is it proposed to settle it here. — ANTHONY HOPE.

Exercise 74

Write five indirect questions, and five sentences each with a negative predicate word at the beginning.

CHAPTER VI　WRITING WELL

207. What is Good Writing? I say "good writing" instead of "good English" because I mean something different from what is generally known by the latter term, which means English that is written in accordance with good usage (see Section 55). Now what is written in good English may for some reason or other be still bad writing.

All writing presupposes a reader as well as a writer. Apart from the fact that different kinds of composition require different treatment, a writer should aim at expressing himself in such a way as to make it easy and pleasant for his reader to understand him perfectly.

Whatever form of writing you may do, you should naturally ask yourself: "Who is my reader?" or "Who(m) am I writing for?" Well, in my opinion, your answer should always be "My reader is the average educated English or American person", or rather "My reader, whatever his or her nationality, is a person who has a good knowledge of English". Whenever you have written a sentence, you should ask yourself whether such a reader will find it easy and pleasant to understand that sentence perfectly. If the answer is in the affirmative, the sentence is good writing; if the answer is in the negative, the sentence is bad writing.

It is essential that the reader should be supposed to be possessed of a good knowledge of English; for any attempt at adaptation to a reader having but an imperfect knowledge of the language would result in intentional faults and mistakes.

Needless to say, good writing is something more than correct writing. No sentence that is unidiomatic can be good. In studying this chapter, you are advised to refer to the preceding one from time to time. When a sentence strikes you as not quite English though there seems to be nothing definitely incorrect about it, you may be sure that it offends against idiom some way or other and therefore that it cannot be a good sentence. You should rewrite it.

208. Superstitions. There are certain rules for good writing. But some traditional rules are nothing but superstitions: their observance often results in unnatural English. I do not mean that the oftener one breaks them the better one writes, but that it is not worthwhile to keep them at the expense of any good quality that might otherwise be acquired. The superstitions are:

1. A sentence should not begin with "and" or "but".

2. A sentence should not begin with the same word as the previous sentence.

3. A sentence should not end in a preposition.

4. Split infinitives should never be used.

That the first and second rules are mere superstitions can be easily proved by reading almost anything written in English by a well-educated native user of the language. For split infinitives reread Section 166. Below are some sentences that end in a preposition:

1. It looked to me, as I came, the most isolated spot I ever set eyes on. — JAMES HILTON.

2. He made her raise her head, and looked her full in the face with all the intensity those blazing blue eyes of his were capable of. — SUSAN ERTZ.

3. But really you know there are lovely things to look forward to. — SHEILA KAYE-SMITH.

4. She put a question to the maiden lady which the maiden lady, though no longer young, had no answer for. —WILLIAM SOMERSET MAUGHAM.

5. The moment I saw his face I knew what he had come for. — EDWARD SACKVILLE-WEST.

6. I don't know what you mean, what you are referring to. — ARNOLD BENNETT.

7. Plutarch was a wise man, not only for his own age, but for any age, yet he believed in superstitions that a modem bus-conductor would laugh at. — ROBERT LYND.

8. That was exactly what she had been waiting for. — BEVERLEY NICHOLS.

9. If he travels and has a good meal, the thought of what it is going to cost comes between him and the pleasures he is paying for. — New Statesman and Nation.

10. It was the most exquisitely comfortable chair I had ever sat in. — Punch.

Now try to remove the final prepositions, and see whether the sentences are made better or worse.

1. … on which I ever set eyes.

2. … of which those blazing blue eyes of his were capable.

3. … to which to look forward.

4. … for which the maiden lady, though no longer young, had no answer.

5. … for what he had come.

6. … to what you are referring.

7. … at which a modem bus-conductor would laugh.

8. … that for which he had been waiting.

9. … for which he is paying.

10. … in which I had ever sat.

In my judgement, all except the fourth and ninth sentences are made worse by the removal of the final preposition, and even those two are not made better. When I say "worse" I mean "less natural".

H W Fowler gives the following advice in A Dictionary of Modern English Usage: "Follow no arbitrary rule, but remember that there are often two or more possible arrangements between which a choice should be consciously made; if the abnormal, or at least unorthodox, final preposition that has naturally presented itself sounds comfortable, keep it; if it does not sound comfortable, still keep it if it has compensating vigour, or when among awkward possibilities it is the least awkward".

209. Diction and Sentence Structure. Good writing depends on good diction and good sentence structure.

Good diction, which means the choice of proper words for the expression of thoughts, demands something more than good usage. A word may be used in a certain place quite correctly and yet somehow is not the exact word. Incidentally, the treatment of diction in this chapter includes phrases as well as words.

Good sentence structure also demands something more than good usage. A sentence may be quite correct and yet somehow does not serve.

210. The Exact Word. Before I talk further, I may as well say that the answer to the question what the exact word in a particular place is often depends not on the "meanings" of words but on usage. For instance, the choice between two or more prepositions, or between the infinitive and the gerund of the same verb, is a matter of usage rather than of meaning.

It is a common experience with a writer of English — with you, with me, and perhaps with even good authors — that he cannot think of a word that fits precisely the idea in his mind, and so he has to content himself with using a word that he regards as being the nearest one. This is often due to his ignorance of the word required. For instance, when one who does not know the word "mauve" sees something mauve, he cannot use "mauve", which is the exact word, but has to content himself with using "purple", "violet", "lilac", etc, if he happens to know one or more of these words. The word "fox-terrier" may be given as another example: a fox-terrier is a dog, but when a writer calls a fox-terrier a "dog" merely because he does not know the word "fox-terrier", he uses a word that is not the exact one.

It need hardly be said that everyone who aims at exactness in diction should first of all acquire a large vocabulary. It often happens, however, that a writer fails to use the exact word not because he does not know that word but because he does not know that it is the very word he requires. The remedy for either defect lies in the judicious use of dictionaries and books of synonyms in conjunction with the reading of suitable matter. Dictionaries I have already recommended in Section 26. As to the use of books of synonyms, I have to point out (1) that while explanations of synonyms are helpful to students of composition, illustrative examples are far more so, and (2) that there are certain words that one might consider synonyms merely because what are known as their Han equivalents suggest their synonymity. To give an example of such misunderstanding I should like to mention, the very common word "always", which is not a synonym of "often". When you fail to find in a book of synonyms two or three words that you believe to be synonyms, I advise you to look them up in one or more ordinary dictionaries to see whether they are synonyms or not.

Exercise 75

A.

Read the selections in Exercises 1 and 13 again, look up in dictionaries as many words in them as you think you have to, and study as many synonyms of those words as you can.

B.

With the help of one or more dictionaries and of a book of synonyms, complete the following sentences by choosing the exact words from the synonyms suggested:

1. I met a (beautiful, pretty, handsome, comely, fair) young man this morning.

2. He does not seem to be (aware, conscious, sensible) of the importance of choosing words carefully.

3. Three hundred people were (assassinated, murdered, killed, massacred, slaughtered) in the bombing.

4. A sudden noise in the dark is apt to (frighten, alarm, care, cow, intimidate) children.

5. He asked me "How do you like your (work, labour, toil, drudgery, task) ?"

6. The book is written in an (old, antiquated, antique, ancient, aged) style.

7. Why did he (abandon, desert, forsake, leave) his wife?

8. I am sorry I cannot (remember, recollect, recall) his name.

9. It is certainly an (act, action) of mercy.

10. The authorities are going to take (effective, efficient, effectual, efficacious) measures about it.

11. She (acquired, attained, obtained, procured, gained, won) a great deal of knowledge from travel as well as from reading.

12. Can you tell me who (invented, discovered) the telegraph?

13. The old man looked at us almost with (womanish, womanly, female, feminine) curiosity.

14. The (marriage, matrimony, wedding, wedlock) took place at five o'clock.

15. The girl is beating herself; I think she must be (lunatic, insane, mad, crazy).

16. A (continuation, continuance, continuity) of the story will be published in the next issue.

17. She was then seeking a (situation, post, position, appointment) as governess.

18. He never pleaded (poorness, poverty, penury, destitution, indigence) as an excuse for theft.

19. I am (excessively, exceedingly) obliged to you.

20. The party returned at the (starting, commencement, beginning) of autumn.

21. He stared at her, his hands (folded, embraced, clasped) before him.

22. The fool asked his father a (ludicrous, laughable, comic, comical, ridiculous) question.

23. As soon as the war was over, the people returned to their (peaceable, peaceful, pacific) occupations.

24. Will you please (introduce, present) me to your brother?

25. This seat is (retained, reserved, kept, held) for the guest of honour.

26. I (spent, expended) the whole afternoon yesterday reading the novel.

27. She quickly (fastened, tied, bound) her hair with a ribbon.

28. He went abroad to seek (wealth, money, riches).

29. She walked down the stairs to (greet, welcome, meet) the strange caller.

30. I have (misplaced, mislaid, displaced) your letter, and so I may omit some of the questions you asked.

31. I do not think difficulties are (liable, apt, likely) to occur.

32. He is an obedient (student, pupil, scholar).

33. Do you have to pay for (admission, admittance)?

34. She is making steady (advance, advancement, progress, progression) in the study of German.

35. On hearing my advice, he (resigned, relinquished, surrendered, forwent) his idea of climbing the mountain.

36. During Mr Brown's absence Mr White acted as his (substitute, proxy, deputy).

37. What a (pleasant, pleasing, agreeable) day it is!

38. The miser kept his money in an (earthy, earthly, earthen) pot.

39. The house is now ready for the (receipt, reception) of its occupants.

40. We spent a (whole, complete, entire) week at the seaside.

211. Specific and General Words. In Section 209 I have mentioned using "dog" instead of "fox-terrier" owing to the writer's ignorance of the latter word. Now "dog" is a general word and "fox-terrier" is a specific word. "Dog" may mean any kind of dog — a poodle, a collier, a retriever, a greyhound, etc; but "fox-terrier" means nothing but a fox-terrier. When you come to think about it, "specific" and "general" are merely relative terms. "Dog" is general as compared with "fox-terrier", '"poodle", etc; but it is specific as compared with "quadruped"; and "quadruped" is specific as compared with "animal".

The use of specific words is a great aid to exactness of expression, so that it is a good exercise to find specific words for a general one, and to write a sentence with each.

It must not be supposed, however, that general words always had better be avoided. On the contrary, they are very often to be preferred to specific ones. For example, one often has to speak of a dog without saying what kind of dog it is. When I say "good writing", I use the general word "good", because I need this comprehensive term instead of any of such specific adjectives as "clear", "effective", "persuasive", "delightful", and "interesting".

Exercise 76

Give as many specific words as you can for each of the following general words and use each general or specific word in a sentence of your own:

animal, bad, bird, book, dark, fine, flower, food, get, look, move, say, think, tool, tree, workman.

212. Plain and Pretentious Words. Of whatever importance exactness of expression is, it is a good rule to use the plain word when a plain and a pretentious one give the sense equally well. A plain word is preferable on account of its simplicity, familiarity, and homeliness. The following list gives some pairs of plain and pretentious words:

Plain

Pretentious

act

function

advocate

protagonist

begin

commence

brave

valiant

building

edifice

buy

purchase

carry

bear

china

porcelain

class

category

coming

advent

congratulate

felicitate

crowd

concourse

diminish

minify

doubt

dubiety

doubtful

dubious

drink

beverage

drink

imbibe

drunk

inebriate

end

terminate

enough

sufficient

enrage

exacerbate

face

visage

fire

conflagration

foresee

envisage

form

constitute

forward

transmit

gift

donation

give

donate

go

proceed

hasten

expedite

height

altitude

help

assist

hide

conceal

home

domicile, residence

house

building

imagine

visualize

improve

ameliorate

include

comprise

inform

acquaint, apprise

kind

description, species

live

dwell, reside

medicine

physic

morning

forenoon

mysterious

cryptic

neighbourhood

vicinity

obscure

cryptic

operate

function

place

locality

possible

feasible

pull

draw

read

peruse

real

veritable

recover

recuperate

refer

advert

room

accommodation

say

remark, state

send

transmit

ship

vessel

shop

establishment

show

evince

sleep

slumber

sort

description

stop

cease, desist

suffer

sustain

tell

acquaint

think

deem, consider

throw

cast

top

apex

try

endeavour

want

desideratum

wish

desire

whole

entirety

workable

viable

yield

capitulate, species

What I have called pretentious words are not to be avoided altogether. But in writing about simple and familiar things plain words are generally to be preferred. Moreover, a plain word is less likely to prove out of place in formal writing than a pretentious one is in informal writing.

213. Idiomatic Phrases and Idiomatic Uses of Plain Words. In order to avoid a pretentious word we often have to resort to an idiomatic phrase or a plain word used in an idiomatic sense. For instance, "go to bed" may be used for "retire", which has no corresponding plain word in the particular sense concerned. As to idiomatic uses of plain words reread Section 30. Both idiomatic phrases and idiomatic uses of plain words make for simplicity and naturalness. Notice how the italicized words and phrases in the following sentences are used:

1. For story-telling there is one place that beats all others in the world, and that is a camp-fire in tropical Africa. — FRANCIS RRETT YOUNG.

2. His quick ear had caught a faint but unfamiliar sound. — EDGAR RICE BURROUGHS.

3. Early in youth pleasure was taken from me, and I fell ill of sorrow. — ROMER WILSON.

4. She went to the dresser to get me a glass. — V S PRITCHETT.

5. He was going bald at the crown, his rather curly black hair was thin. — D H LAWRENCE.

6. I told you I half expected you. —E C BENTLEY.

7. Would you, sir, have a drink with me? — H V MORTON.

8. The weather grew foul and everything was mud and moisture. — EDMUND BLUNDEN.

9. He made a nice reply — hoped they might have another ride soon. — SYLVIA TOWNSEND WARNER.

10. It is a marvel how Louisa manages to do it — SAKI.

11. The audience was much moved. —H E BATES.

12. But now I come to think of it, I have a vague idea about you. — MICHAEL ARLEN.

13. Please see that it is finished by the spring. — EVELYN WAUGH.

14. She was up betimes, and soon made herself apparent in the life of the farm. — R H MOTTRAM.

15. He was wanted on the telephone by Mrs Bone. — BEN TRAVERS.

16. For one curious second I hoped wildly that he was asleep, and then I could go back at once, having kept my word. — E ARNOT ROBERTSON.

17. A terrible anger was working in me as I gazed at my mother and father. — ETHEL MANNIN.

18. Her face was upturned to him, and wore a strained expression: she was trying to smile. — L A G STRONG.

19. He was after all finding it difficult to speak. — NAOMI MITCHISON.

20. As a matter of fact, I rather underestimated the seriousness of the thing. — DOROTHY L SAYERS & ROBERT EUSTACE.

21. Standing in the centre of the room, I felt as though I had been caught against a wall. — JOHN DICKSON CARR.

22. At last no answering murmur came. — JOSEPH CONRAD.

23. It was at once plain to the barrister that the famous specialist was greatly excited. — ARTHUR MILLS.

24. He was still very young and had been well brought up. — ALDOUS LEONARD HUXLEY.

25. He decided to get up and have a look at the boy's photograph. — KATHERINE MANSFIELD.

26. And how long was this to go on ? — SARAH GERTRUDE.

27. After that the game began in earnest. — ROSE MACAULAY.

28. In fact, sir, we have no evidence that any of them was in any way connected with the crime. — JOHN RHODE.

29. It was very green and pleasant in front of the house. — A E COPPARD.

30. I am in love now. — JOHN GALSWORTHY.

31. There were other troubles in store. — J B MORTON.

32. She never let herself go. — RICHMAL CROMPTON.

33. You see why I was looked upon as one of the fortunate. — MANUEL KOMROFF.

34. But when she wiped her glasses and looked more closely at the nest she saw that it was made up of little bits of coloured paper. — T F POWYS.

35. Birnie, no longer cheered up by what Felim's mother said to him about a sweetheart, sat looking across the horse's ears, a most lonesome-looking man. — PADRAIC COLUM.

36. Now and again the bridge people crept out of the library like hermits to watch the dancers, and then returned again. — DAPHNE DU MAURIER.

37. Of course it was impossible to believe that Buddha was the son of a mortal father. — H G WELLS.

38. They wrote to her long after they had left her and told her that one day they would come back to live in Russia. — HUGH WALPOLE.

39. It was quite impossible to put her off. — BEVERLEY NICHOLS.

40. I know Stephen will take on a new lease of life with you there. — SUSAN ERTZ.

Exercise 77

A.

Look up the words given in Exercise 3 in one or more dictionaries, notice their idiomatic senses, and illustrate each sense in a sentence of your own.

B.

Illustrate each of the idiomatic phrases found in Section 213 in a sentence of your own.

214. "Fine Writing". "Fine" means good. But "fine writing" is not good writing but bad writing. In this more or less technical term "fine" is used ironically: it means showy, ostentatious, affectedly elegant or ornate. "A piece of fine writing" and "a fine piece of writing" are quite different things: the former means a piece of writing that is affectedly elegant or ornate, and the latter means a piece of writing that is well done.

"Fine writing" is a kind of bad writing that Chinese students of English composition ought to be especially warned against. They may think they can, but really they cannot, improve their style by the use of "fine" words and phrases, which serve only to make it unnatural, incongruous, or even ridiculous. Besides, as such words and phrases are comparatively uncommon, mistakes are more likely to occur in their use than in the use of simple words and phrases.

The use of what I have called pretentious words in Section 212 may often result in "fine writing", which, however, cannot always be avoided by the change of single words. The following examples are taken chiefly from W T Webb's How to Write an Essay:

215. Hackneyed Phrases. Hackneyed phrases are those that arc worn out, as it were, by too frequent use. They are widely objected to not because they are themselves objectionable in any way but because they have been used too much — so much that they are now pointless and tiresome. Each of them was a delightful or lovely one when it was fresh. Also, when one sees it for the first time, one finds it delightful or lovely, and considers it a pleasure to use it in one's own writing. In my opinion, such phrases had better be avoided not only because they are widely objected to but also because they might produce a ridiculous impression when used in an unsuitable context. Below are some examples:

along this line (about this)

beggar description (cannot be described adequately)

better half (wife)

bolt from the blue (complete surprise)

conspicuous by one's absence (notably absent)

cups that cheer but not inebriate (tea)

explore every avenue (try every possible line of approach)

fair sex (women)

feast of reason (intellectual talk)

fit as a fiddle (in good health and spirits)

flow of soul (genial conversation)

for all the world like (exactly like)

have one's quiver full (have many children)

hold no brief for (not mean to argue in favour of)

last but not least (mentioned after all others but nevertheless important)

leave no stone unturned (do everything possible)

more in sorrow than in anger (because one is sorrowful rather than because one is angry)

none the worse for wear (as good as ever before)

psychological moment (exactly appropriate moment)

too funny for words (too funny to be described in words)

216. Words Used Too Often. To quote from my Man and Student, III:

"Whenever I read a school composition, I am ready to find one or more of a few words — 'diligent', 'society', 'famous', 'strong', 'always', and so forth, and usually I do find one or more of them. I am afraid that all these are your favourite words and one or more of them creep into nearly everything that you write in English. Would you mind reading over some of you compositions to see whether what I have said is true?

"If I mistake not, all these words are too often used by Chinese students of English. They are good and common words, and of course are not to be avoided. But it is very bad to use the same word constantly.

"It seems to be chiefly because of their very limited vocabulary that Chinese students use certain words too often. They have only 'diligent' at their disposal when they have to express the idea of unremitting application to work or study, and so they write 'diligent'. They ought to have 'industrious', 'earnest', 'painstaking', 'attentive', 'hard', 'hardworking', etc to choose among".

You are advised to note down your own overworked words and find proper substitutes for them.

217. Economy of Words. Words are cheap; but we should exercise economy in using them, because a word that does no good in a sentence does harm. It is a commoner fault of inexperienced writers to use too many words than to use too few. In the following sentences the words in brackets are superfluous:

1. They have the (entire) monopoly of the trade.

2. The city has a population of half a million (people).

3. Did he mean to do it (intentionally)?

4. I shall tell him when he returns (back).

5. She is (often) in the habit of reading the morning papers aloud.

6. (Both) John and Henry agreed.

7. He (voluntarily) offered (to give) me help.

8. Though it was very cold, the party (still) continued (on) to move.

Exercise 78

Omit the superfluous words in the following sentences (some of which, however, contain no superfluous words):

1. We remained in the country throughout the entire week.

2. This is equally as correct as that.

3. I wonder who has made this new discovery.

4. We shall see each other after this is over.

5. Their mutual affection for each other is known to all who know them.

6. We must cooperate together if we wish to succeed.

7. She continued to remain cheerful.

8. There was no cloud in the cloudless sky.

9. The surrounding circumstances were favourable to literary work.

10. He seemed to look rather annoyed.

11. I should be glad if you would read the passage once more.

12. You and I both agree with him, but do not agree with each other.

13. Moreover, too, we have nothing to lose.

14. Nobody knows what killed the dog dead.

15. At the first beginning we thought her clever.

16. The outcome of the negotiations may lead to the conclusion of another contract.

17. What can I do for you?

18. During her girlhood, when she was still unmarried, she used to visit the old poet every Sunday.

19. We sat down on the green grass and looked at the white snow on the tree-tops.

20. The story is full of many witty remarks.

21. You are the most wonderful person I have ever met.

22. You are the most wonderful person I have ever met in this country.

23. Many of my friends have gone away.

24. But, however, I think differently.

25. My elder sister, who is older than I, is a teacher.

26. My elder sister, who is three years older than I, is a teacher.

27. He speaks very perfect English.

28. I told him how I envied him his excellent health.

29. When they meet together, they talk about their schooldays.

30. When do you think this building will be brought to final completion?

218. Periodic and Loose Sentences. Before talking about how good sentences are written, I had better define and illustrate periodic and loose sentences. A periodic sentence is one that is not grammatically complete till the end. A loose sentence is one that is grammatically complete at one or more points before the end. Of the following sentences, the first is periodic and the second is loose:

1. In a discussion on human happiness it was more or less generally agreed that to a certain type of character, both male and female but more often male, service on a committee is as real a compensation for daily ills as can be found. — E V LUCAS.

2. I dined that night with a friend, a good artist and a Cotswold enthusiast, and we soon fell to arguing when the tables had been cleared and our smoke clouded the candlelight. — J B PRIESTEY.

The first sentence is not grammatically complete until the last word, "found", is reached, and is therefore a periodic one. The second sentence is grammatically complete after "dined", "night", "friend", "artist", "enthusiast", "arguing", and "cleared", as well as after the last word, "candlelight", and is therefore a loose one.

We cannot say whether periodic or loose sentences are better. Either kind may be good or bad. You must not attach any suggestion of reproach to the term "loose sentence", which is in fact merely a technical one.

A periodic sentence can usually be converted into a loose one, and vice versa. For example, the Lucas sentence can be made loose and the Priestley sentence can he made periodic as follows:

1. In a discussion on human happiness it was more or less generally agreed that service on a committee is as real a compensation for daily ills as can be found, to a certain type of character, both male and female but more often male. (The sentence is grammatically complete after "found", "character", and "female", as well as after the last word, "male")

2. That night, when I had dined with a friend, a good artist and a Cotswold enthusiast, and, soon after, when the tables had been cleared and our smoke clouded the candlelight, we fell to arguing.

We do not usually call a short simple sentence loose. Thus, "I dined that night with a friend" may not be called loose though it is grammatically complete at two points before the end. Below are more examples:

1. I will not allow you to stay here alone tonight. — ARTHUR MILLS.

2. She must have gone out again. — EFFIE ADELAIDE ROWLANDS.

3. We want tea at once. — DAPHNE DU MAURIER.

4. I remember lots of changes at Brookfield. — JAMES HILTON.

5. You'd prefer that I go back to sea? — HERMAN WOUK.

6. That's the way he and his mother talk all the time. — JOHN UPDIKE.

Exercise 79

Convert the following sentences from periodic into loose and vice versa:

1. There is nothing humorous in pawning your wife's clothes to buy bread. — G S STREET.

2. But now I was here for the third time since the year began. — EDWARD THOMAS.

3. With Shelley the case is different. — J MIDDLETON MURRY.

4. There was, as a matter of fact, a tiny parish lurking below. — ARTHUR MCDOWALL.

5. That men don't change is a profound truth. — JOSEPH CONRAD.

6. Sons would follow their father some day, but daughters must be left behind. — PEARL S BUCK.

7. She pulled out a letter out of the pocket of her skirt, and with it a large green pear. — SHEILA KAYE-SMITH.

8. Waking or sleeping, or with a mixture of the two, but with my senses wide awake enough, I seemed to see my friend. — R B CUNNINGHAME GRAHAM.

9. If you doubt this, I will provide you with a simple experiment which will test the matter thoroughly. — HILAIRE BELLOC.

10. The natural suspicious of Michael and his senior partner that a tale was being pitched were not in fact justified. — JOHN GALSWORTHY.

11. He turned his head over his shoulder, and remained staring at what he saw. — G K CHESTERTON.

12. Nowadays many readers are at least as clever as most authors. — AUGUSTINE BIRRELL.

13. She was glad to get home, though the big house seemed more deserted than ever. — RUBY M AYRES.

14. I did not want him to know what I knew. —DAPHNE DU MAURIER.

15. He waited till he heard the doctor's regular breathing, and then came out, closing the door softly behind him. — EDGAR WALLACE.

16. It may be well, indeed, before reading much further in Evelyn's book, to decide where it is that our modern view of happiness differs from his. — VIRGINIA WOOLF.

17. He is fond of a bit of fun, but only after dark. — H M TOMLINSON.

18. There was no mistake about this joke. — LORD DUNSANY.

19. We do you unmerited honour, for which you should blush. — LEONARD MERRICK.

20. James had been so intent upon the immediate problem of the game that he had almost forgotten his own private problem. — W A DARLINGTON.

219. Qualities of a Good Sentence. A good sentence is said to have four qualities: unity, coherence, emphasis, and euphony. Unity demands that the sentence shall express one and only one complete thought. Coherence demands that the arrangement of words, phrases, and clauses in the sentence shall be unmistakably clear. Emphasis demands that the sentence shall give the leader a strong impression. Euphony demands that the sentence shall read naturally and smoothly.

Before I talk about how these qualities can be acquired, I have to warn you against thinking that one need not bother about these qualities unless one writes for publication. These are, in fact, necessary to every kind of composition, from a one-sentence familiar letter to a 1000-page novel or history. They are necessities, not luxuries. If you do not hope ever to be an author, that is no reason why you need not take care to write what I call good sentences.

Nor must you think that a sentence that possesses the four qualities must be constructed in a very elaborate way. Even such a short simple sentence as "I am a Chinese" possesses these qualities; for it expresses only one complete thought, has its words arranged in an unmistakably clear manner, gives the reader a strong impression, and reads naturally and smoothly. In fact, while no rule can be laid down about the length of sentences, shorter ones are more likely to acquire the said qualities.*

*The following little essay on the length of sentences, quoted from my A Word to the Wise, may prove of interest to you:

"I have just finished an essay by Hilaire Belloc, in which, towards the end of a very long sentence, the author says: 'I cannot refrain from remarking that all the discussions of the silly critics as to whether sentences in English should be long or short are mere spoiling of paper'.

"I fully agree with him. A sentence is not good or bad merely because it is long or short. Length is a false test of a sentence. It is wrong to think that a series of long sentences is a proof of one's good command of English. It is equally wrong to think that simple clear English requires every sentence to contain a certain number of words at most.

"I remember that I myself formerly acted on these wrong opinions one after the other. For some time I tried to use as many words in a sentence as grammar and sense could justify. The result was an obtrusively dignified style. Then followed a period in which I tried to make every sentence a grammatically simple one and as easy to understand as those in first books for beginners. The result was affected simplicity.

"However, while I would warn all students of English composition against these two mistakes, I think that that of writing long sentences is the commoner one. And students ought to take more care to avoid it, not only because it is commoner but also because it is more harmful. For in the hands of those who have not had much practice in the use of words and phrases and constructions, long sentences are much harder to manage than short ones. And it must not for a moment be supposed that an error in grammar or idiom embedded in a long sentence can easily escape detection".

220. Unity. The principle of unity is violated in several ways. Each of the following sentences has unity:

In the criticism of the earlier editions of this Outline, the complaint was frequently repeated that the development of the arts, and particularly of music, was disregarded. The history of man's achievement of knowledge and social power was given at considerable length, but hardly anything was said of the appearance and extension of his conscious search for beauty. An attempt has now been made to meet these objections and several sections have been added to record how the artist, the poet, and the imaginative writer appeared in human life. — H G WELLS.

Now suppose we combine the three sentences into one by changing the full stop at the end of the first sentence into a semicolon and inserting "for" at the beginning of the second sentence, and changing the full stop at the end of the second sentence into a semicolon and inserting "therefore" at the beginning or the third sentence. Such a long sentence is not quite impossible, but somehow it does not show singleness of thought. It violates the principle of unity because it contains too much.

Now suppose we break the first sentence up into the following three:

The earlier editions of this Outline were much criticized. The complaint was frequently repeated that the development of the arts was disregarded. The complaint referred particularly to the development of music.

Each of these three sentences is quite correct, and each has unity; but when taken together they seem to express only a part of a complete thought each. This group of three sentences may be said to violate the principle of unity because each contains too little*.

*In books for children, however, such short sentences are quite in place.

Now suppose we rewrite the second sentence as follows:

The history of man's achievement of knowledge and social power was given at considerable length, but we hardly said anything of the appearance and extension of his conscious search for beauty.

This sentence violates the principle of unity because the point of view is needlessly changed.

Now suppose we rewrite the third sentence as follows:

An attempt has now been made to meet these objections; the artist, the poet, and the imaginative writer appeared in human life and several sections have been added to record how they did it.

This sentence violates the principle of unity because the idea of the artist's, the poet's, and the imaginative writer's appearance in human life and the idea of adding sections to record it are treated as if they were of equal importance.

The careless use of "and", "so", "and so", and "but" seems to be responsible for many ill-unified sentences written by inexperienced writers.

On my way back from school I met an old friend, and as we had not seen each other for nearly a year, we stopped by the roadside and talked, but in a little while it began to rain, and so we had to say good-bye.

We may often test a sentence for unity by putting it into periodic form.

Exercise 80

Improve the following sentences and groups of sentences so as to secure unity:

1. Thank you for all you have done for me, and I hope you will write again before long.

2. I was sitting alone. It was about four o'clock in the afternoon. It was winter. Suddenly someone knocked at my door. I opened it, and found my friend Mr Bennett.

3. Our teacher is an Englishman, and has published some books.

4. When I asked her what was the matter, she surprised me by saying that she was very ill.

5. I was walking by the river yesterday evening and saw a strange boat.

6. Though he was not very much interested in the lecture, it taught him something about social life in America.

7. My aunt is now old. She is nearly ninety. She has good health, however. She can walk with ease.

8. He called, but I was not at home, and so he went, but we met in the street, and he came home with me, and we had a pleasant chat together.

9. The arrival of two guests was announced, and they were shown in, and the master of the house was very glad to meet them.

10. Little Mabel tried her best to please her tired father with her little stories, but he preferred to be left alone, so that she was unhappy.

11. My father has a large library, which contains many books on history, which is his favourite subject and also mine.

12. His wife was about fifty, and I was talking to him when she appeared.

13. We waited in the hall for some time, when there was a little dog sleeping there, but as it was already half past five and the man we wanted to see did not come down, we wondered whether he was at home or not.

14. He. died in a railway accident, and he had just reached his seventieth year.

15. She is clever. She is honest. But she is in poor health. She has not her own home.

16. You must have heard stories about fairies when you were a little boy, and these stories you may still enjoy now that you are a man.

17. When he was asked what he was doing that for, we got the brief answer "I am doing it for pleasure".

18. If he has anything to do with this business, he is taking a risk, and I am sorry for him, also for his parents, who are old friends of my family.

19. He picked up the evening paper and sat down in the big chair, but he said he was thinking of something very important, about which he did not tell me the next morning, when we were having breakfast in his room.

20. He wrote occasionally, but I do not remember when I got his last letter, which, however, I am sure was a very long one and was written in violet ink, which he had never before used in writing to me.

221. Coherence. A sentence that lacks unity also lacks coherence; for if it does not show singleness of thought it must have something incoherent in it. But a well-unified sentence may still lack coherence.

The principle of coherence may be violated in several ways, but chiefly by breaking the rule of proximity, which requires that things that are to be thought of together shall be mentioned together. When a word, a phrase, or a clause is so placed that it appears to belong to the wrong word, the sentence lacks coherence. The following sentence has coherence:

The French window had been opened at least eight inches, and the man stood partly in the aperture and partly in the room. — ARNOLD BENNETT.

Now suppose we put "at least" before "opened" instead of after it and put the first "partly" before "stood" instead of after it. "At least opened" seems to mean opened at any rate if nothing further than being opened can be said. "Partly stood" seems to mean only partly, not wholly, stood. True, such a sentence does not deceive those who read it carefully, but it lacks coherence.

It is interesting to note that the position of a word or a phrase may affect the sense of the whole sentence.

1.

2.

It is simply ridiculous to write "black man's tie", "yellow babies' boots", and "long ladies' laces", for "man's black tie", "babies' yellow boots", and "ladies' long laces". But everybody is liable to write in careless moments such an incoherent expression as "a cold glass of water" for "a glass of cold water".

"Only" is a very interesting word in regard to the application of the rule of proximity. J C Nesfield says in his Manual of English Grammar and Composition: "This adverb must be placed immediately before the word that it is intended to qualify". He gives the five following sentences to illustrate how the position of the word "only" affects the sense of the whole sentence:

1. Only he promised to read the first chapter of that book.

2. He only promised to read the first chapter of that book.

3. He promised only to read the first chapter of that book.

4. He promised to read only the first chapter of that book.

5. He promised to read the first chapter of that book only (or, only of that book).

It is true that these five sentences have five different meanings. But it does not follow that when "only" is not placed immediately before the word that it is intended to qualify, the sentence necessarily has a different meaning. Each of the following sentences has "only" placed elsewhere, and yet each is clear enough:

1. A rattlesnake can only strike about eighteen inches. — H A VACHELL. (only about eighteen inches)

2. The roof only extended thirty yards either way, and the police would probably take possession of it. — STACY AUMONIER. (only thirty yards)

3. She can only be cured by herself. — H V MORTON. (only by herself, or, by herself only)

4. I shall only have her two days more. — JOHN MASEFIELD. (only two days)

5. They talked of fish, nets, and tides; whereas O'Toole was only interested in land. — LIAM O'FLAHERTY. (only in land, or, in land only).

6. By this you only have to change at Bristol and then at Glastonbury and then you get on to our little local line. — BEN TRAVERS. (only at Bristol and then at Glastonbury)

On the position of "only" H W Fowler gives the following advice in A Dictionary of Modern English Usage: "There is an orthodox position for the adverb, easily determined in case of need; to choose another position that may spoil or obscure the meaning is bad; but a change of position that has no such effect except technically is both justified by historical and colloquial usage and often demanded by rhetorical needs". *

* In the revised edition by Sir Ernest Gowers (1965), the advice reads: "There is an orthodox position for the adverb. ... is not only justified by historical and colloquial usage but often demanded by rhetorical needs". (The italics are mine.)

It is advisable, however, for students of composition to see where the orthodox position is whenever they have occasion to use the adverb "only". Incidentally, "also", "even", "ever", "almost", "nearly", "chiefly", "mainly", etc should always be placed in the exact position.

"Not" is also an interesting word. In "I do not speak English very well", the "not" belongs, according to the sense, to "very well", so that the sentence would logically read: "I speak English not very well". The fact, however, is that the first form breaks the rule of proximity, and yet is the natural form, and that the second form keeps the rule, and yet is unidiomatic. Again, "Not everybody speaks English" and "Everybody does not speak English" have the same meaning and are equally idiomatic, though the second form seems to have the "not" placed in the wrong position.

The rule of proximity may be neglected when there is no risk of misunderstanding in breaking it but there is a risk of awkwardness in keeping it.

He had collected every scrap of paper that they all had, and was composing messages in various native languages to be dropped to earth at intervals. — JAMES HILTON.

By the rule of proximity the adverbial phrase "in various native languages" would have to be placed before "messages" instead of after it; for it was the messages, not the languages, that were to be dropped to earth. But here to keep the rule of proximity means to turn natural English into awkward English; no reader would be likely to regard the languages as having been meant to be dropped to earth.

When you travel in China I think nothing amazes you more than the passion for decoration which possesses the Chinese. — WILLIAM SOMERSET MAUGHAM.

Here "which" is placed immediately after "decoration", but certainly it refers not to "decoration" but to "passion". But it would be to produce awkward English to write, by the rule of proximity, "the passion which possesses the Chinese for decoration". (As a matter of fact, the adjectival clause "which possesses the Chinese" belongs to the noun phrase "passion for decoration" rather than to the single word "passion", so that it would be to abuse the rule of proximity to insist on placing the clause immediately after "passion".)

Apart from failure to keep the rule of proximity, the principle of coherence is violated in the following ways:

1. By using unattached participles (see Section 178).

2. By omitting a possessive below a gerund (see Section 175).

3. By using correlative conjunctions carelessly. The two following sentences have coherence:

(1) He was not only immensely proud of Jane but genuinely devoted to her. — WILLIAM SOMERSET MAUGHAM.

(2) All this was natural enough, since neither death nor poverty nor lack of love was strange to her. — ANTHONY HOPE.

Rewritten as follows both sentences would lack coherence:

(1) He not only was immensely proud of her but genuinely devoted to her.

(2) All this was natural enough, since neither death or poverty or lack of love was strange to her.

"Not only was" causes the reader to expect another verb after "but". "Neither" and "or" have no mutual reference at all.

4. By using pronouns carelessly.

Mr Long told Mr Short that his son was in his study. This sentence is capable of six meanings: (1) that Mr Long's son was in Mr Long's study; (2) that Mr Short's son was in Mr Short's study; (3) that Mr Long's son was in Mr Short's study; (4) that Mr Short's son was in Mr Long's study; (5) that Mr Long's son was in Mr Long's son's study; and (6) that Mr Short's son was in Mr Short's son's study. The sentence can be rewritten in direct speech in one of the six following ways according to the meaning intended:

(1) Mr Long said to Mr Short: "My son is in my study".

(2) Mr Long said to Mr Short: "Your son is in your study".

(3) Mr Long said to Mr Short: "My son is in your study".

(4) Mr Long said to Mr Short: "Your son is in my study".

(5) Mr Long said to Mr Short: "My son is in his study".

(6) Mr Long said to Mr Short: "Your son is in his study".

5. By writing such a sentence as suggests a meaning other than the one intended.

(1) I like John Masefield more than any English author.

(2) He looks like his father's face.

(3) He is more clever but not so industrious as his brother.

(4) When children under one year of age have tuberculosis, they usually die very seldom.

(5) He is grateful to her for a loss from which she has saved him.

(6) My absence is required to look after my little sister.

The first sentence suggests that John Masefield was not Englishman. The second sentence suggests that a man may look like a face instead of like a man. The third sentence suggests that the man is more clever than someone other than his brother. The fourth sentence suggests that one can die more than once. The fifth sentence suggests that the man is grateful for a loss he has suffered. The sixth sentence suggests that absence is something that can look after a person. Corrected, these sentences read:

(1) I like John Masefield more than any other English author.

(2) He looks like his father.

(3)

(4)

(5) He is grateful to her for saving him from a loss.

(6) I have to be absent because I am required to look after my little sister.

The two following sentences, however, are not incoherent though they may strictly be called ambiguous:

(1) My name is Chang, if you would be so good as to present me to your friends. — JAMES HILTON.

(2) Strange things happen now and then if you just take the first omnibus arid sit there long enough. — H V MORTON.

These sentences would strictly read:

(1) My name is Chang; you would have to call me Chang if you would be so good as to present me to your friends.

(2) Strange things happen now and then; you will see them if you just take the first omnibus and sit there long enough.

But the original sentences are quite clear and therefore quite justifiable.

6. By writing such a sentence as has different parts running into one another.

(1) We need not attach too much importance to the matter.

(2) It is fifteen years ago since I came here.

(3) The reason for his success is due to hard work.

(4) An account of her social activities is described in the book.

Corrected, these sentences read:

(1)

(2)

(3)

Read Section 217 again for the avoidance of superfluous words.

Exercise 81

Improve the following sentences so as to secure coherence:

1. I take not only a keen interest in grammar but also in idiom.

2. The boy tried to pull the door open twice.

3. She offered me a hot cup of tea.

4. The reason why I do not believe him is because he does not use words exactly.

5. The Bible is said to be more read than any book.

6. Being a Chinese, my English friend expressed surprise at my fluent English.

7. We enjoyed walking to and fro under the trees very much.

8. James failed both because of lack of funds and poor management.

9. It is twenty-four years ago since he met his future wife.

10. Thank you very much for the mistakes that you so kindly corrected in my last letter.

11. Jack and Edith were chiefly divorced because they no longer loved each other.

12. Mrs Taylor wrote to tell Mrs Fowler that her daughter was doing very well at school.

13. My watch is either slow or yours is fast.

14. This story is as interesting if not more than that.

15. When three years old, her father died.

16. 1 do not know his exact age, but I am sure that it is older than you.

17. As soon as the ladder was placed against the wall, it fell.

18. He was preparing for the examination, when he was called home by a telegram suddenly.

19. 1 had not the slightest idea till I read about his return from England in one of the local newspapers, which rather surprised me.

20. It was not till he had nearly gone five miles that we overtook him.

222. Emphasis. A well-unified and coherently-constructed sentence should for ordinary purposes be emphatic enough. Far be it from me to suggest that in every sentence that you write you must use one or another of the various methods of emphasis that I am going to illustrate. On the contrary, I have to point out that a succession of sentences made emphatic by those methods is likely to read very unnaturally.

Before I deal with the methods of emphasis, however, I may as well make the general statement that the beginning and the end of a sentence are the emphatic positions. Parenthetic expressions, therefore, often had better not be placed at the beginning or the end.

1. Inversion.

(1) Charity appeals that come by post I always destroy. — ROBERT GRAVES.

(2) One shower I remember that wrought magic in a London garden. — EDWARD THOMAS.

(3) English lager I must say I have never liked; perhaps I have been unlucky in my specimens. — GEORGE SAINTSBURY.

(4) This I reported to my company mess, and received sympathy. — EDMUND BLUNDEN.

(5) Suicide it could not have been. — ARTHUR MILLS.

(6) So off he went. — A A MILNE.

(7) Off she goes quickly. — H V MORTON.

(8) Best of all perhaps were the elms at the village end, those mighty rough-barked trees that had their tops "so close against the sky". — WILLIAM HENRY HUDSON.

2. Exclamations.

(1) How he does enjoy himself! — MORLEY ROBERTS.

(2) How wonderful that was! — LIAM O'FLAHERTY.

(3) How dark it has become! — ELEANOR THORNE.

(4) How lovely it is! — SHEILA KAYE-SMITH.

(5) What careless creatures you men are! — JOHN KENDRICK BANGS.

(6) What a fool that son was! — H E BATES.

3. Rhetorical questions (that is, questions that are asked not for information but to produce effect).

(1) But isn't it interesting? — ETHEL MANNIN.

(2) Isn't he just like a monkey? — E V LUCAS.

(3) What more can the most inquisitive reader ask? — GERALD BULLETT.

(4) Who knows? — LEONARD MERRICK.

(5) Even if men struggled high into the air, we asked, wouldn't they be smitten up there by such a lonely and reeling dismay as to lose all self-control? — H G WELLS.

(6) Can he attend more than one theatre in one evening, or wear more than one suit at a time, or digest more meals than his butler? — GEORGE BERNARD SHAW.

(7) What does a picture more or less in the house matter? — ALAN SILLITOE.

(8) For what was the use of accumulating money only to die of a coronary before one had the chance to enjoy it? — EVELYN EDITH GAVIN.

(9) They talked of how they both disliked synthetic fabrics, but who could afford wool or cotton or silk anymore? — NORMAN MAILER.

(10) So all that is in her will not bloom — but in how many does it? — TILLIE OLSEN.

4. Repetition.

(1) Food is a subject of conversation more spiritually refreshing than the weather, for the number of possible remarks about the weather is limited, whereas of food you can talk on and on and on. — A A MILNE.

(2) Oh, do, mother, and I'll never be late again, never, never, never. — LIAM O'FLAHERTY.

(3) Ignorance, surely ignorance is at the bottom of it; his ignorance and our comparative erudition. — VIRGINIA WOOLF.

(4) Apparently an instinct is an old, old habit that has become ingrained. — D H LAWRENCE.

(5) I depended on her for everything — everything. — ARNOLD BENNETT.

(6) Oh, lovely, lovely, lovely! — L A G STRONG.

5. Antithesis.

(1) Oh, those Atlantic crossings, long enough to be amusing, yet not long enough to become monotonous; long enough for adventure, yet not long enough for complications. — ETHEL MANNIN.

(2) To them I owe my reputation as a dangerous and disreputable person; to Germany I owe my recognition in Europe as a thinker and a dramatic poet. — GEORGE BERNARD SHAW.

(3) Hitherto you've done nothing; you've only had things done to you. You've made nothing; you've only been made into things yourself. — ANTHONY HOPE.

6. Ellipsis.

(1) Hence the chilliness of the greeting. — BEVERLEY NICHOLS.

(2) A great place London! —H V MORTON.

(3) Nothing whatever about any beautiful girls. — P G WODEHOUSE.

(4) Queer that a thing like that should stay in the memory so clearly. — JAMES HILTON.

(5) Funny to think that the course of my existence hung like a thread upon that quality of hers. — DAPHNE DU MAURIER.

7. Intensive expressions.

(1) But Pear Blossom did not sleep at all. — PEARL S BUCK.

(2) I had no judgement whatever. — ETHEL MANNIN.

(3) Besides, she cared for not a soul on earth. — ANTHONY HOPE.

(4) It was a box addressed to Mrs Platts, and it came from Biter's, the very shop where the tragedy had occurred. — E V LUCAS.

(5) Now, if Van Dyke was alive it would be another matter; he might be able to save Fox; unfortunately the cleverest detective in the world cannot extract a confession from a corpse. — ARTHUR MILLS.

(6) With his own eyes he had seen her vanish. — SYLVIA TOWNSEND WARNER.

8. Climax.

Take a longer view, young man and young woman of twenty, — know that patriotism is not enough, brotherhood is not enough, personal suffering is not enough, endurance is not enough, love, even, is not enough, for the spirit of man must embrace all these things and more if it is to grow. — HUGH WALPOLE.

9. Periodic sentences.

(1) So far as it was possible for a man of that stubborn character to be influenced he had been influenced by Germany. — WILLIAM SOMERSET MAUGHAM.

(2) If you have not yet appreciated the truth that money is everything, you soon will. — HILAIRE BELLOC.

(3) But in the case of all such annoyances, as I have said, everything depends upon the emotional point of view. — G K CHESTERTON.

(4) That he had no clear idea of what was at stake for Europe, as his French counterpart had, is due to the English system of education. — J B MORTON.

By putting these sentences into loose form you will see how they will become weaker.

10. The two constructions of "it … that" illustrated in Section 118. In that section the two following sentences are given:

(1) It is embarrassment that kills a man, in mind and body and soul. — HILAIRE BELLOC.

(2) It was then that the unfortunate incident occurred. — STACY AUMONIER.

In the first sentence "embarrassment" is emphasized. If "man" is to be emphasized, the sentence should read:

It is a man that embarrassment kills, in mind and body and soul.

If "in mind and body and soul" is to be emphasized, the sentence should read:

It is in mind and body and soul that embarrassment kills a man.

In the second sentence "then" is emphasized. If "unfortunate incident" is to be emphasized, the sentence should read:

It was the unfortunate incident that occurred then.

11. Emphatic "do".

(1) But it's all over now — oh, do be generous and forgive me. — SHEILA KAYE-SMITH.

(2) Perhaps you do realize it, as an intellectual question. — JOHN MASEFIELD.

(3) Juliette did kiss me this morning rather fervently, and I wondered why. — ARNOLD BENNETT.

(4) Isabel, who was very tall, was a splendid Titania, even if she did veil her hair in a butter-cloth. — H E BATES.

12. Italics. In Section 17, the following sentences are given (under 6):

(1) She never makes me laugh. — WILLIAM SOMERSET MAUGHAM.

(2) What would he do if I-ho accepted — with her? — PEARL S BUCK.

(3) Imagine his coming to anything so modern! — JOHN GALSWORTHY.

(4) She was the landlady: efficient, stylish, diplomatic and tremendously experienced. — ARNOLD BENNETT.

(5) And this is a sort of accident, isn't it? — JAMES HILTON.

(6) It will be a treat. — EVELYN WAUGH.

(7) But nobody knows when, where, or if his brother Phineas returned. — G K CHESTERTON.

(8) Can you think what would happen if we stayed here? — H E BATES.

(9) I have been talking rot. — H G WELLS.

(10) I am delighted to see you. — MICHAEL ARLEN.

The italics are the authors', not mine. They serve to pull the reader up and tell him to read the word with a stress so as to discover its true significance. The first sentence implies "even though she may make others laugh". The second sentence implies "with her, not with anybody else". The third sentence implies "He is not expected to come to anything so modern". The fourth sentence implies "She had the qualities expected in a landlady". The fifth sentence implies "This is actually a sort of accident". The sixth sentence implies "It will certainly be a treat". The seventh sentence implies "Nobody knows so much as whether his brother Phineas returned at all". The eighth sentence implies "here instead of elsewhere". The ninth sentence implies "rot, not sense". The tenth sentence implies "I am actually delighted to see you, though you may think I am not".

Exercise 82

Write five sentences to illustrate each method of emphasis.

223. Euphony. Euphony is a matter of sound rather than of sense. In testing a sentence for this quality it is the tongue and the ear, rather than the eye and the mind, that should be used. You are advised to read aloud every sentence that you have written, so as to see whether it is euphonious or not.

A sentence lacks euphony usually on account of the unpleasant repetition of the same sound, syllable, or word.

1. Proper measures will be taken for the purpose of enabling the people to live in peace. (Sound repeated)

2. The sickly girl is sitting beside the small table and smiling at her sister Susan. (Sound repeated)

3. He thinks of devoting every evening to teaching his brother reading and writing. (Syllable repeated)

4. Certainly he writes fairly correctly, but not necessarily perfectly clearly. (Syllable repeated)

5. The first few sections of the second chapter of the third volume of the book treat of the methods of securing the qualities of good sentences. (Word repeated)

6. As history is my chief interest, I have read the book with great interest. (Word repeated)

These sentences may be rewritten as follows:

1. Suitable measures will be taken to enable the people to live in peace.

2. The pale-looking girl is sitting by a little table and smiling at her sister Susan.

3. He intends to teach his brother reading and writing at night.

4. True, what he writes is fairly correct, but it is not always perfectly clear.

5. In the first few sections of chapter two, volume three, the book deals with how to secure the qualities of good sentences.

6. As history is my favourite subject, I have read the book with great interest.

Below are some hints on euphony:

1. Loose sentences are often more euphonious than periodic sentences. A succession of periodic sentences are apt to read awkwardly.

The murmur of voices had swollen now and was louder than before. The door of the dining-room was open. They were coming out of dinner. I could see Robert standing by the open door, and there was a scraping of chairs, a babble of conversation, and of laughter. — DAPHNE DU MAURIER, Rebecca.

If the first and last sentences are put into periodic form, the paragraph will read less naturally, if only a little.

The murmur of voices, having swollen now, was louder than before. The door of the dining-room was open. They were coming out of dinner. I could not only see Robert standing by the open door but hear both a scraping of chairs, a babble of conversation, and a babble of laughter.

2. A succession of very short sentences is apt to read awkwardly*. See how the above-quoted paragraph will read if rewritten as follows:

* Not in books for children; though.

The murmur of voices had swollen now. It was louder than before. The door of the dining-room was open. They were coming out of dinner. I could see Robert. He was standing by the open door. There was a scraping of chairs. There was also a babble of conversation and laughter.

3. An interrogative tone often makes a sentence more euphonious.

(1) You mean, she has so far refused to marry you? — MICHAEL ARLEN.

(2) You mean it? — LEONARD MERRICK.

(3) Then he likes music? — MORLEY ROBERTS.

(4) I suppose it will wear oil? — H G WELLS.

(5) You have not asked Rose to marry you? — P G WODEHOUSE.

(6) After all, neither of us dislikes him? — EDWARD SACKVILLE-WEST.

Exercise 83

Improve the following sentences and groups of sentences so as to secure euphony.

1. The end is good, but the means is by no means good.

2. They say that Mr Day may make a long stay near the bay.

3. My friend speaks fluent French, which, however, is not free from faults.

4. He asked me to sit down, and then asked me some questions.

5. His wife went with him to the works, where they worked together.

6. I am reading your interesting letter describing the entertaining way in which you spent Saturday evening.

7. As soon as he got the telegram, he got his lunch quickly, and in a little while got on his way to the railway station.

8. Dora was taking a walk under the trees towards evening, when she had her attention attracted by a tramp trudging along the street.

9. When Joe and Jack first met, he was a college student. Though poor, he from time to time bought a book. He not only saved every cent he could to buy books but, in order to have enough money for a valuable book, often had to go without food.

10. It was a fine morning. I opened my window. There was a pleasant breeze. A bird or two were singing. I looked at my dog. He was still sleeping. He was lying in the sun. He was perhaps having a sweet dream. I did not disturb him. I only watched him.

CHAPTER VII　PARAGRAPHS

224. What is a Paragraph? I have said in Section 9: "Paragraphs will be dealt with in Chapter VII. One thing deserves mention here, however; it is that in reporting a conversation, every speech, however short, and with or without such an expression as he said" or "she replied", is usually indented as a paragraph, though it is not quite a paragraph as defined in that chapter. It is indented merely to make the conversation clear and pleasant". In this chapter the term "paragraph" is regarded as excluding indented speeches in reported conversation.

A paragraph may be defined as a distinct part or section of any piece of writing, whether of one or more sentences, that deals with a particular point of the subject. It is to a sentence what a sentence is to a word. The term is also applied to a short composition consisting of a group of sentences dealing with a single topic and closely related to each other, such as a leaderette in a newspaper.

As you know, old-fashioned writing in the Han language used not to be divided into paragraphs. In English composition, however, division into paragraphs is of great importance.

225. Length of Paragraphs. In defining the term "paragraph" I have said "whether of one or more sentences". One-sentence paragraphs, which are used only when the author wishes to call special attention to a particular fact or point, are the exception rather than the rule. Two or three such paragraphs are hardly ever used in succession.

There is no saying how long or how short paragraphs should be. Their length depends upon the subject matter, upon how it is to he treated of, and often upon the length of the whole composition. Theoretically, therefore, there is no limitation. Ordinarily, however, a paragraph consists of from three to ten sentences.

In the treatment of paragraphs in this chapter, one-sentence ones are not considered.

226. Paragraphs and Outline. The third suggestion given in Section 48 on expanding an outline into a composition is: "As a rule expand each main point in your outline into a paragraph". When you have made an outline carefully, therefore, you ought to have little difficulty in paragraphing.

227. Topic Sentence. The main point to which a paragraph confines itself is called the topic, and when the topic is definitely stated in one of the sentences in the paragraph, that sentence is called the topic sentence. It must not be supposed, however, that every paragraph must have a topic sentence. While in a paragraph of exposition or argument the topic is as a rule definitely stated in a sentence, it is, in a paragraph of narration or description, usually implied father than stated.

The topic sentence occurs usually at the beginning of the paragraph, but sometimes at the end and sometimes in the middle. Occasionally the topic is stated at or near the beginning and repeated, in different words, at or near the end.

In the following paragraphs the topic sentence is indicated by an asterisk:

1.

*Traditional Chinese education was, in some respects, very similar to that of Athens in its best days. Athenian boys were made to learn Homer by heart from beginning to end; Chinese boys were made to learn the Confucian classics with similar thoroughness. Athenians were taught a kind of reverence for the gods which consisted in outward observances and placed no barrier in the way of free intellectual speculation. Similarly, the Chinese were taught certain rites connected with Ancestor-worship, but were by no means obilged to have the beliefs which the rites would seem to imply. An easy and elegant skepticism was the attitude expected of an educated adult; anything might be discussed, but it was a trifle vulgar to reach very positive conclusions. Opinions should be such as could be discussed pleasantly at dinner, not such as man would fight for. Carlyle calls Plato "a lordly Athenian gentleman, very much at his ease in Zion". This characteristic of being "at his ease in Zion" is found also in Chinese sages, and is, as a rule, absent from the sages produced by Christian civilizations, except when, like Goethe, they have deeply imbibed the spirit of Hellenism. The Athenians and the Chinese alike wished to enjoy life, and had a conception of enjoyment which was refined by an exquisite sense of beauty. — BERTRAND RUSSELL, "What Shall We Educate For?", Harper's Magazine.

2.

That is one way of linking humour and the English character. Here is another. Humour has been well defined as "thinking in fun while feeling in earnest". The English do not approach life intellectually; they do not demand that it shall conform to some rigid mental plan; they are not convinced that the universe can be penetrated by thought; they look askance at those grand first principles that seem to some alien peoples the very foundations of the world; they are willing to go to work, either in politics or art, without a theory to sustain them; and when they are more practical than other races, it is not, — as those races frequently conclude — because they are coldly clear-sighted and unimaginative, but because they do not busy themselves asking reason to find a key when instinct has already shown them that the door is wide open. Thus, if they should think at all, they are quite likely to do a great deal of "thinking in fun". On the other hand, the English float through life on a deep if narrow stream of feeling; they commonly live in a matriarchy of the heart, unlike some other more effusive races, who flaunt the heart as if it were some new mistress and use the emotions to decorate some purely rational scheme of life; they live in such a deep intimacy with their feelings that they find it difficult and distasteful to reveal them; they have a horror of pretended feeling or easy emotion just because feeling to them is the key to the inner citadel, and to lose control of themselves is to reveal the last secret. Thus, when they are feeling at all, they are generally "feeling in earnest". *And if humour is thinking in fun while feeling in earnest, there should be humour in England. — J B PRIESTLEY, English Humour.

3.

It is in these circumstances that we have entered upon that period of exhaustion which has been described as peace. It gives us at any rate an opportunity to consider the general situation. *Certain sombre facts emerge solid, inexorable, like the shapes of mountains from drifting mist. It is established that henceforward whole populations will take part in war, all doing their utmost, all subjected to the fury of the enemy. It is established that nations who believe their life is at stake will not be restrained from using any means to secure existence. It is probable — nay, certain — that among the means which will next time be at their disposal will be agencies and processes of destruction wholesale, unlimited, and perhaps, once launched, uncontrollable. — WINSTON S CHURCHILL, "Shall We Commit Suicide?", Nash's Pall Mali Magazine.

Neither of the two following paragraphs, the first of narration and the second of description, has a topic sentence:

1.

One day, in the workshop, as they were bending over the bench looking for a needle he had dropped among his tacks and pins, he put his arm round her shoulder and let his hand run across her neck before he began kissing her. It let loose in her a flood of unexpected passion. He felt her trembling. As she uprighted herself he slipped his hands down from her shoulders to take her by the waist, his hands running down over her tightened breasts half-accidentally. She seemed to come to life at once. He kissed her again. Trembling violently, she held herself very close to him, her body hardened, in an effort to quieten herself. She did not speak except to ask him to kiss her again. When he had done that she seemed to be trembling more violently than ever. He could not hold her still. — H E BATES, The Poacher.

2.

The photograph could not render the clear perfection of Aunt Clara's rosy skin; she had the colour and the flashing eye of a girl. But it did justice to her really magnificent black hair. This hair was all her own, and the coiffure seemed as ample as a judge's wig. From the low forehead the hair was parted exactly in the middle for about two inches; then plaited bands crossed and re-crossed the scalp in profusion, forming behind a pattern exceedingly complicated, and down either side of the head, now behind the ear, now hiding it, now resting on the shoulder, now hanging clear of them, fell long multitudinous glossy curls. These curls — one of them in the photograph reached as far as the stomacher — could not have been surpassed in Bursley. — ARNOLD BENNETT, Clayhanger.

In these two paragraphs the topic is implied rather than stated. That of the first paragraph is how a man kissed a woman; that of the second is the way a woman's hair was dressed.

Exercise 84

Read the following paragraphs and point out the topic sentences:

1.

The most obvious differences between different animals are differences of size, but for some reason the zoologists have paid singularly little attention to them. In a large textbook of zoology before me I find no indication that the eagle is larger than the sparrow, or the hippopotamus bigger than the hare, though some grudging admissions are made in the case of the mouse and the whale. But yet it is easy to show that a hare could not be as large as a hippopotamus, or a whale as small as a herring. For every type of animal there is a most convenient size, and a large change in size invariably carries with it a change of form. — J B S HALDANE, Possible Worlds and Other Essays.

2.

With the importation, therefore, of the French vocabulary into English, many of the learned words borrowed first from Late, and then from Classical Latin, were adopted into our language. But in England also Latin was spoken by the clergy and learned men of the country, the Bible and the service-books were in Latin, and historical and devotional books were largely written in it. When these Latin books were translated into English, or when a scholar writing in English wished to use a Latin word, he followed the analogy of the Latin words that had already come to us through the French, and altered them as if they had first been adopted into French. It is often, therefore, difficult to say whether a Latin word has come to us through the French, or has been taken immediately from the Latin. — LOGAN PEARSALL SMITH, The English Language.

3.

She heard footsteps behind her, and a tune hummed, and knew instinctly who it was. She kept quite still. Instinct told her that this was the most effective thing to do. Two arms, under hers, bent her backwards, and Georges fastened his lips to hers. Self-controlled, she neither called out nor resisted. Careful, even grudging in everything, when she gave, she gave generously, no half measures. That was how it had started. The most natural thing in the world. It had gone on in spasms of passion, and interludes, as far as she was concerned, of cool, efficient concealment. Georges was a little younger, far less healthy in mind or body, probably less strong physically, than she. There may have been an undercurrent of almost maternal feeling on her part, and certainly not the least illusion as to the consequences of being found out. And no one had found out. — R H MOTTRAM, The Spanish Farm.

4.

The public purse of this country was never better employed than when it procured for Johnson, by means of a modest pension, the opportunity of cultivating the art of life in comfort. The greater part of his last twenty years was devoted to talk and friendship. They are the years which Boswell principally records, when Johnson lay, after the storms of life, like a man-of-war in harbour receiving visitors. Had this harbourage been denied we should still have heard great echoes of him, but the chances are that he would have been too busy to be Boswellized. We should have lost, it is probable, Boswell's Life and by losing that should have lost, not Samuel Johnson, but the best picture in all literature of a living great man. — GEORGE GORDON, Companionable Books.

5.

Although London possesses a thousand central points suitable for street rendezvous, Londoners seem to have decided by tacit agreement to use only five of these for their outdoor appointments. They are: Charing Cross Post Office, Leicester Square Tube, Piccadilly Tube, under the Clock at Victoria, and Oxford Circus Tube; and I have never known my friends telephone me for a meeting and fix a rendezvous outside this list. Indeed, I can now, by long experience, place the habits and character of casual acquaintances who wish to meet, from their choice among these places, — THOMAS BURKE, Out and About.

6.

At last a picture rose before our eyes, a large picture, very blue. Now who shall describe that picture which was so blue, blue even to the grass under the soldiers' feet, the complexion of the soldiers' faces, and the rifles in the soldier's hands? Over against a blue tree stood a man, and miserably blue was his face, while the soldiers stood very stiffly with their backs to us, holding their rifles in a position which gave one no room to doubt but that they were about to shoot the solitary man for some misdemeanour. He was the loneliest looking man I have ever seen. — MICHAREL ALEN, These Charming People.

7.

Everyone who could be was at Rosehill today. And in several ways the gathering was more catholic than a superficial intelligence might have expected. It was natural enough that a poor public school teacher should rub shoulders here with a California millionaire, and the well-known actress seemed a not inappropriate guest, since her personal character was as unsmirched as her complexion was natural, and the South always has honoured all the great arts. But a Jewish banker and his beautiful daughter, a Punjabi prince and the Siamese Minister might have seemed to some a little unaccountable. — LOUISE JORDAN MILN, Mr and Mrs Sen.

8.

I shall never forget my first sight of her, for she had the saddest face of any woman I have ever seen. Standing there, dressed entirely in black, a bowl of lilies by her side, her face rose from the shadows like one who has known every suffering. Beautiful? I am not sure about that. A beautiful expression, certainly. A beautiful bearing, too. But my first impression remains, also my last. The very air which she breathed seemed heavy with sadness. — BEVERLEY NICHOLS, Twenty-five.

9.

The opening of doors is a mystic act: it has in it some flavour of the unknown, some sense of moving into a new moment, a new pattern of the human rigmarole. It includes the highest glimpses of mortal gladness: reunions, reconciliations, the bliss of lovers long parted. Even in sadness, the opening of a door may bring relief: it changes and redistributes human forces. But the closing of doors is fat more terrible. It is a confession of finality. Every door closed brings something to an end. And there are degrees of sadness in the closing of doors. A door slammed is a confession of weakness. A door gently shut is often the most tragic gesture in life. Everyone knows the seizure of anguish that comes just after the closing of a door, when the loved one is still near, within sound of voice and yet already far away. — CHRISTOPHER MORLEY, Mince Pie.

10.

I knew a man once who told me that the thing he had most enjoyed in his life was drifting down a full river in an unknown land, gently touching the waters with the paddle of his canoe, sleeping in the wholesome bank at evening, and carrying on from open day to open day. He was fortunate enough to have found unknown land, and a full river, and conditions without peril and solitude all combined. Now, good autobiographies are of this kind. — HILAIRE BELLOC, A Conversation with a Cat.

228. Paragraph Development. By paragraph development is meant writing a paragraph round its topic. A paragraph is developed by developing the topic, often by developing the topic sentence.

There are said to be many methods of paragraph development: (1) details, (2) definition, (3) examples, (4) explanation, (5) comparison, (6) reasons, (7) repetition, (8) analogy, etc. Two or more methods may often be used in a single paragraph. The important thing to remember is that by whatever method you develop your paragraph, you must confine yourself to the topic.

229. Qualities of a Good Paragraph. A paragraph should possess unity, coherence, and emphasis.

Unity, which is the fundamental quality, can be secured by sticking to the topic. This is not difficult when you have a carefully made outline to follow.

Coherence can be secured by the use of connecting words and phrases and the avoidance of successive short sentences. Notice the italicized words in the following paragraphs:

1.

In the World War, when chance made me a spellbound witness of some great occasions, some part of me — the incorrigible journalist I suppose — kept saying: "This will be something to remember. This will be something to remember". Well, it seems I was wrong about that. I find I do not often think of the war at all, and when I do, it is the small, unimportant days that come drifting back, the ones that have no part in history at all. For example, of late my thoughts have taken unaccountably to jogging back along the road to Savenay, an ancient Breton village of steep, cobbled streets, and windmills that still, I suppose, turn, sleepily against the sunset sky. And here I am, bent to the task of telling about the evening of the strange inspection there. — ALEXANDER WOOLLCOTT, White Rome Burns.

2.

I spent but four months of the seven that I was in America in travelling, and I regret it, for I have never been in any country where the mere act of journeying from place to place was more seductive. Willingly could I, who have always imagined that I loathed travelling by land, have done nothing but wander on from town to town up and down the length and breadth of the United States. This is partly due to the genius of the place, but it is also due to the extreme comfort of American trains. It is true that they are all of them equipped with instruments of torture in the form of an apparatus known as the air brake, which works in such a way that every time the train starts there is a preliminary jar so severe that it feels as if not only every carriage but every individual had been struck a heavy blow with a club. The explanation is, I fancy, that the average American is so full of nervous energy that he can suffer this violent shock without the pain that we depleted and over-sensitive creatures feel: but it may be that some slight measure of discomfort has to be inserted into the railway system to deter people from spending their entire lives on the train. I found myself sometimes regretting that I need ever step out of the Pullman car save to have a bath. — REBECCA WEST, "Travelling in America", The New Republic.

Below are some common connecting words and phrases:

accordingly, after all, again, also, and as a result, as I have said, at the same time, besides, but, consequently, even so, finally, first, for, for example, for instance, further, furthermore, hence, however, indeed, in addition, in the first place, in the second place, likewise, moreover, nevertheless (or nonetheless), next, notwithstanding, now, on the contrary, on the one hand, on the other hand, otherwise, secondly, similarly, so, so that, still, that is, then, therefore, though, thus, to be sure, too, while, yet.

Emphasis can be secured by writing the topic sentence at the beginning or at the end, by giving more space to the central idea, and by using one or more of the methods of emphasis in sentences mentioned in Section 222.

Exercise 85

Write ten paragraphs by developing ten topics of your own choice (read Section 42 again). Underline the connecting words and phrases.

230. Transition between Paragraphs. The transition between paragraphs should, needless to say, be as easy and smooth as possible, so that the reader will feel no break of thought but merely a natural step forward. This result can usually be accomplished by the use of connecting words and phrases at the beginning of paragraphs. Notice the italicized words at the beginning of the second of each two paragraphs:

1.

Right in the middle of a ride cut in the woods, a ride he must have shot and ridden over a thousand times, under a great grass mound, looking like an ancient tumulus of some prehistoric, chief, sleeps Wilfrid Blunt.

Sweet chestnuts, birches, and scrub-oak trees fringe the ride. Under their branches is a row of yew-trees, planted by himself. In future years, when they are tall and dark, they will stand sentinels in a long line on each side of the grave, and in the winter nights the owls will sit amongst their branches, calling and answering one another, a nightly threnody. — R B CUNNINGHAME GRAHAM, Redeemed and Other Sketches.

2.

It is well that the commonest fruit should be also the best. Of the virtues of the orange I have not room fully to speak. It has properties of health-giving, as that it cures influenza and establishes the complexion. It is clean, for whoever handles it on its way to your table, but handles its outer covering, its top coat, which is left in the hall. It is round, and forms an excellent substitute with the young for a cricket ball. The pips can be flicked at your enemies, and quite a small piece of peel makes a slide for an old gentleman.

But all this would count nothing had not the orange such delightful qualities of taste. I dare not let myself go upon this subject. I am a slave to its sweetness. I grudge every marriage in that it means a fresh supply of orange blossom, the promise of so much golden fruit cut short. However, the world must go on. — A A MILNE, Not that it Matters.

3.

Hearing that the sage was in London and prepared to reveal his secret to anyone who was interested in it (and who would not be?), I visited him at his Bloomsbury hotel.

I found him seated at his desk before the telephone. He had on one side of him the Telephone Directory and on the other an even larger book. A black velvet cap concealed some of the loftier regions of his massive and overwhelming cranium. — E V LUCAS, You Know What People Are.

4.

Conway felt that the question was pertinent, for Mallinson's attitude left little doubt as to what he would do as soon as he reached India. It was his favourite theme, and he had often enlarged upon it.

But all that, of course, was in the mundane world that was gradually being pushed out of his mind by the rich, pervasive world Shangri-La. Except when he thought about Mallinson he was extraordinarily content; the slowly revealed fabric of this new environment continued to astonish him by its intricate suitability to his own needs and tastes. — JAMES HILTON, Lost Horizon.

5.

There was another abrupt accidental silence, and Noel found himself listening with irrational rigidity for the ugly voice of the beautiful bird outside. But it did not speak. He had the subconscious and still more meaningless fancy that it had been strangled in the dark.

Then the poet for the first time turned his face to Humphrey Crundle, and looked straight into the goggling eyes as he spoke. — G K CHESTERTON, The Poet and the Lunatics.

6.

It was quite still now. Through a chink in those powder-blue curtains he could see some stars. Big Ben chimed ten.

He had slept, perhaps, dozed at least, dreamt a little. A small sound woke him. A very little dog, tail down, yellow, low and unimportant, was passing down the room, trailing across it to the far corner. "Ah!" thought Michael, closing his eyes again: "You!" — JOHN GALSWORTHY, The White Monkey.

7.

They came to the place where they were to dig in. They had to pass through a village first. They understood that they were to defend that village, that their trenches were to run across its front, outside it. Other men were digging on their right.

A staff car dashed into the village. Stray shells were dropping among the houses. Tim, passing the car, saw a staff officer jump out and make for a house. In a flash he recognized the man. He saw at once a big house half-way up Putney Hill. He used to go there to shave an old man who was an invalid, and the boy used to come in. — J B MORTON, The Barber of Putney.

8.

A dog howled in the village and another echoed it, and then from far behind us the jungle answered, though whether the high, long-drawn cry that sounded like a mocking imitation came from a bird or a beast I could not tell. The dogs grew silent at once.

Here, day was not the decorous successor to night known to us at home, lazily resuming sway over a drowsy world when the darkness thins an dies, bequeathing its lost kingdom to the unwilling light. This struggling un-born life in forest, swamp, and teeming air was too urgent and too ephemeral to wait for the going of night before resuming its unchanging day-labour of growth, fruition, and exhaustion once more. Day extended its reign into the darkness, stealing precious time from the night, and when the sky paled perceptibly at last the feeling of full day was already abroad on this impatient earth. — E ARNOT ROBERTSON, Four Frightened People.

Exercise 86

Write two paragraphs round each of ten topics of your own choice (read Section 42 again). Underline the connecting words and phrases at the beginning of the second of each two.

CHAPTER VIII　FORMS OF COMPOSITION

231. Narration, Description, Exposition, and Argument. Books on composition generally regard English prose as being of four kinds — Narration, Description, Exposition, and Argument. They are known as the "four forms of discourse". These terms are such common words as to need no definition.

The four forms, however, are not entirely distinct from each other. The same piece of writing may contain two or more forms in it, though it is nearly always possible to say to which kind a given piece mainly belongs.

Before you write a piece of composition, whatever its kind, you are advised to be careful in note-taking and outline-making (see Sections 44—47).

232. Point of View in Narration. Before you begin a narrative, decide on a point of view. When you have decided on one, stick to it. While skilful authors often change their points of view, especially in narratives of great length, such as novels, you, who, being students of composition, are engaged in writing short narratives only, are advised to maintain a single definite point of view.

Roughly speaking, there are only two points of view to be adopted in narration, the first-person and the third-person. For example, "I, John, called on Paul yesterday" is in the first person, but "John called on Paul yesterday" is in the third person.

Liam O'Flaherty's story "The Letter" has been condensed in Section 36 as follows:

On a fine summer afternoon, a peasant and his family were working happily in a little field. A letter came from the eldest daughter, Mary, who had gone to America in early spring and had sent home only one letter since. Both parents were very glad to find a cheque for twenty pounds in the letter. But they were deeply grieved to learn from the letter that their daughter was lonely and unhappy in America, and to think how hard it must have been for her to earn that money.

This is written in the third person. It may be rewritten the first person from the point of view of the peasant as follows:

On a fine summer afternoon I and my family were working happily in a little field. A letter came from my eldest daughter, Mary, who had gone to America in early spring and had sent home only one letter since. Both my wife and I were very glad to find a cheque for twenty pounds in the letter. But we were deeply grieved to learn from the letter that our daughter was lonely and unhappy in America, and to think how hard it must have been for her to earn that money.

Now the same thing may also be rewritten in the first person from the point of view of Mary as follows:

On a fine summer afternoon my father and his family were working happily in a little field. A letter came from me, his eldest daughter, who had gone to American in early spring and had sent home only one letter since. Both my parents were very glad to find a cheque for twenty pounds in the letter. But they were deeply grieved to learn from the letter that I was lonely and unhappy in America, and to think how hard it must have been for me to earn that money.

Notice the italicized words, which help to keep the same point of view in each narrative.

Each of the two points of view has its advantages and disadvantages, and often one has to be adopted instead of the other. When first-person experience is to be narrated, however, the first-person point of view is almost always to be preferred because of its greater vividness. Notice how vivid the following narrative is:

A good many years ago I had a painful experience. I was discovered by my housemaster reading in bed at the unauthorized hour of midnight. Smith minor in the next bed (we shared a candle) was also reading. We were both discovered. But the most annoying part of the business, as it seemed to me then, was that Smith minor was discovered reading Alton Locke, and that I was discovered reading Marooned among the Cannibals. If only our housemaster had come the night before! Then he would have found me reading Alton Locke. Just for a moment it occurred to me to tell him this, but after a little reflection I decided that it would be unwise. He might misunderstand the bearings of the revelation. — A A MILNE, Not that it Matters.

Exercise 87

Read the following selections carefully and rewrite them in the first person, the first from the point of view of Martin Trevor, the second from that of Nora, the third from that of Mr Wu, and the fourth from that of Mrs Sadgrove:

1.

Martin Trevor, one of the ablest young criminal barristers of the day, had seen many a grim human drama in the course of his brief career, but none had been as poignant as the tragedy on which the curtain had rung down within the walls of the Old Bailey that afternoon. He was not a sentimental man; among his colleagues he had a reputation as a ruthless cross-examiner. Tears and bitter human distress in the dock never moved him when he was pressing a point to win a case. He was above all things ambitious. But now, as he stood in the tiny room behind the court, alone with this girl whose man had been sentenced to death, no thought entered his mind of lost cases or lost prestige, nor even did he think of the awful plight of his old friend in the condemned cell. He thought only of the girl — of the misery she must be suffering, but would not show — and his whole heart went out to her. — ARTHUR MILLS, Judgement of Death.

2.

Nora looked at her curiously. She was very fond of Drusilla, but she quite failed to understand her; it seemed strange to her that a girl who could talk casually one moment of putting up with a life of almost unbearable hardship and insult for the sake of ultimate gain, could the next moment sentimentalize over a moonlit garden. — RUBY M AYRES, The Making of a Lover.

3.

There lived in the city of Shanghai in the western year nineteen hundred and twenty-six, a rich banker whose surname was Wu, who had two sons. His family for several generations had been wealthy, and for at least three had been known in the life of the city, although in differing ways. Mr Wu held the family's present position because he was the head of the Great China Bank, which had branches all through central and southern China. He had as a young man gone abroad to Japan and to Europe to visit banks, and upon his return had at once begun to build the bank which later became so powerful in the new republic. — PEARL S BUCK, The Patriot.

4.

"Come and take a look at the meadow" said Mrs Sadgrove to him, and they went into the soft smooth meadow where the black pony was grazing. Very bright and green it was, and very blue the sky. He sniffed at the pink rose in his buttonhole, and determined that come what might he would give it to Mary if he could get a nice quiet chance to offer it. And just then, while he and Mrs Sadgrove were strolling alone in the soft smooth meadow, quite alone, she suddenly, startlingly, asked him: "Are you courting anybody?" — A E COPPARD, Fishmonger's Fiddle.

233. What Tense to Use? It is hardly safe to say that the past term should generally be used in narration. The following suggestions will be helpful:

1. In narrating what took place in the past, use the past tense.

2. In narrating what takes place every day or for all time, use the present tense.

3. In narrating what will take place in the future, use the future tense.

4. In a narrative of fiction, use the past tense as a rule, though it is permissible to use the present tense occasionally for effect.

5. In writing a summary of a story, a drama, etc, use either the past tense or the present tense. (Reread the summaries of Arnold Bennett's The Old Wives' Tale in Sections 36 and 154).

Exercise 88

1.

Write three or four paragraphs on what you did last Sunday, on what you do every day, and on what you will do next Sunday.

2.

Write an account of an imaginary incident, accident, or adventure.

234. "Story* Style" and "News Style". A narrative may be written either in the "story style" or in the "news style". The former, being an artistic form, aims at arousing interest; the latter, being a practical form, aims at giving information. The chief difference between the two forms is that the point of the narrative is expressed at the end in the "story style" but at the beginning in the "news style". Compare the two following selections:

* The word "story" is here of course not used in the originally American sense of a news article.

1.

Wrapped in the glorious mists of requited love, the young man entered a jeweller's to buy the engagement ring.

"What's the price of this one?" he asked.

"One hundred guineas, sir" replied the jeweller gently.

The young man's eyes popped. He whistled loud and long and then pointed to another ring.

"And this one?"

"That, sir," said the jeweller, still more gently "is two whistles!" — Answers.

2.

Miss K Slattery, of Swiftfoot Farm, Framfield, Sussex, who was ordered at Uckfield Police Court last week to destroy eleven setter dogs because of sheep worrying, still hopes that the animals will be saved.

She told a Sunday Express representative yesterday that the RSPCA and other animal societies were helping her, and she had also received more than 500 letters and telegrams, many of the writers offering to look after the dogs.

Miss Slattery said she did not know which dog, or dogs, was guilty of sheep worrying. "Probably it was one of the puppies" she added.

Mr James Nesbitt, of Belfast, asks dog lovers to appeal to the Uckfield magistrates. "It is terrible" he says "for all the dogs to face death for the crime of one". — The Sunday Express.

The "news style", which is used in matter-of-fact narration, is of course more useful than the "story style". The general principle of this style is that the first one or two sentences should be so framed as to give the reader the gist of the whole thing. When the narrative is of some length, the introductory sentences may often form a separate paragraph by themselves.

Exercise 89

Narrate five occurrences in the "news style". Take care to write the introductory sentences in such a way as to give a summary of the whole matter.

235. Plain Account of Events. A narrative is sometimes just a plain account of events, neither giving the reader a summary at the beginning nor keeping him in suspense for anything at the end. It may be said to have no point at all. The summaries of Arnold Bennett's The Old Wives' Tale as given in Sections 36 and 154 may be taken as examples.

This form seems to be as useful as the "news style". It is also used in matter-of-fact narration — much used in brief biographical and autobiographical sketches, and in summaries of stories, dramas, etc. Below are a biographical sketch and an autobiographical sketch:

1.

Charles Lamb was born in London, February 10, 1775. He was educated at Christ's Hospital, where he met Coleridge, as he has beautifully told us in a famous essay. He became a clerk in the South Sea House, and then, in 1792, in the East India Company, where he remained until he retired on a pension in 1825. His life was devoted to his sister Mary, and literature was his chief recreation. He is best known for the Essays of Elia, which appeared first in the London Magazine and then in two collections in 1823 and 1833. Almost as famous are the Tales from Shakespeare, which he wrote in collaboration with Mary Lamb. Few of his poems are important, but the three in the present collection are famous. "The Old Familiar Faces" appeared in Blank Verse, by Charles Lamb and Charles Lloyd, in 1798. He died at Edmonton, December 27, 1834. — The "Biographical Notes" in W P Trent and John Erskine's edition of Francis T Palgrave's The Golden Treasury.

2.

I was born at Salaverry, Peru, in 1907. My father was of Scotch and my mother of Anglo-German parentage. At the age of three I was brought over to England with my brother and sisters and I was educated first at a preparatory school in Plymouth and then at a Public School in Worcestershire. In 1923 I went to South America and worked for several years in the offices of a British-owned railway. After a short visit to New York I returned to London and then went to Spain, where I was teaching English and running a small advertising agency in partnership with a Swede when the civil war broke out. I have contributed short stories to The Passing Show, the American magazine Esquire, and a number of humorous articles to Punch. — J W WALLACE, Penguin Parade, 4.

Exercise 90

Write a biographical sketch of a relative and a friend of yours and an autobiographical sketch.

236. Artistic, Practical, and Scientific Description. "Description" is a rather vague term. When I say "artistic description", 1 mean the term as used in its narrowest sense. "Practical description" and "scientific description" may be said to belong to exposition as well as to description, so that both may be called either expository description or descriptive exposition. Artistic description is also called literary description; practical description is also called informational description, simple description, or delineation; and scientific description is also called technical description.

Suppose you describe a tree as "graceful" or "beautiful"; this description aims at conveying an impression; it is of the artistic kind. Suppose you describe a tree as so many feet in height; this description aims at enabling one to identify it: it is of the practical kind. Suppose you describe a tree as of a certain species; this description aims at enabling one to understand it; it is of the scientific kind.

Scientific description being useful to students of science and technology alone, I shall deal with only the other two kinds.

237. Avoid "Fine Writing". The very term "artistic description" reminds you of the word "beautiful" and its synonyms, doesn't it? Yes, artistic description depends much upon beautiful language. But beautiful language is by no means the same thing as "fine writing". I have already advised the avoidance of "fine writing in Section 214. I have to repeat the advice here because I am afraid that you are under more temptation to use that kind of bad writing in artistic description than in any other form of composition.

238. What is Beautiful Language? Beautiful language, as I have just said. is not the same thing as "fine writing". It consists rather in the use of plain words that create vivid images. When I say "plain words", I do not mean that figurative language is not beautiful. Figurative language is of great value in artistic description; but then good figurative language comes of the felicitous use of plain rather than pretentious words. When a plain word is so well chosen as to create a vivid image, it is beautiful, be it figurative or not.

Notice the italicized words in the following beautiful sentence:

In a morning sharp with dew and bright with sunshine, I had climbed to a great undulating heath, a rolling sea of copper-coloured bracken that spread like a double tide to either margin of the moorland road and foamed about the feet of sombre firs which dotted the heath with rare islands. — MARTIN ARMSTRONG.

"Sharp" and "sombre" are here non-figurative; "rolling", "sea", "tide", "foamed", arid "islands" are here figurative. Figurative or not, however, all these words create vivid images, and the whole sentence is beautifully written.

A descriptive sentence does not need to contain many such words to be beautiful. Very often the beauty or a sentence depends upon the use of a single words aptly chosen for vividness. Notice the italicized words in the following sentences:

1. Jane wore garments which were a somewhat confused compromise between afternoon and evening dress. — I COMPTON-BURNETT.

2. The primrose was more vulgar, a homely pleasant creature who appeared in every cranny like a weed. — DAPHNE DU MAURIER.

3. And, instantly, at the sound of his voice, her joy died, the light was out. — MARY ARDEN.

4. He stood still in the middle of the room, frozen by a sudden thought. — L A G STRONG.

5. Her beautiful, haunted eyes seemed scarcely to see us. — RICHMAL CROMPTON.

6. Emma Snow was house-proud. — LOUISE JORDAN MILN.

7. Outside, a small detached wind went through the trees, touching them almost leaf by leaf, turning them over, looking, as it seemed, for some lost treasure. — MARGARET PRESCOTT MONTAGUE.

8. There were geese marching. — PADRAIC COLUM.

9. But the roof of the room, naked under more red tiles, sloped up to a plaster wall at the other side, on which someone had made mathematical drawings in red and black. — NAOMI MITCHISON.

10. It rained very often; the mud rose higher and higher in the streets; on many days a thick heavy pall hung over the place and everyone walked with bent shoulders, as though they dreaded a blow. — HUGH WALPOLE.

11 . It was a low, rambling, picturesque old house with funny little chimneys and a red roof, placed in the middle of the most charming country. — P G WODEHOUSE.

12. With oaths that rang across the cluttered trackage he drove his crew. — KARL W DETZER.

13. Her beauty was light and delicate, her eyes were translucent and expressed all the shades and tones of youth with unforgettable, ravishing loveliness. — H E BATES.

14. All day the hot summer sun had scorched the earth. — LIAM O'FLAHERTY.

15. Flatropers Wood was a shadowy place, glanced with golden spears of sunshine, sweet-smelling of leaves and moss. — SHEILA KAYE-SMITH.

16. They crossed through the broken spine of the mountain. — MELVILLE D POST.

17. Sleet whipped along the comparatively deserted street. — STRUTHERS BURT.

18. Through a sandy waste where twisted pine trees rift and whisper in a sea wind, I wandered disconsolately; beyond me a desolate seashore, behind me creasted mountains. — ROMER WILSON.

19. She smiled in a meek, wondering way. —V S PRITCHETT.

20. He lay quiet there in the shadow of his desk, a Z-shaped string of bones, like a patent two-foot rule. —WILBUR D STEELE.

Exercise 91

Point out in the following sentences the words that you find well chosen for vividness:

1. The front line was crude and inhuman. — EDMUND BLUNDEN.

2. The books were chiefly classical, for that had been his subject; there was, however, a seasoning of history and belles-lettres. — JAMES HILTON.

3. She had devoured every detail of the case in the papers day by day, and the fact that the man who had been condemned to die was leaving behind the girl he was going to marry had seemed to her a particularly dramatic morsel. — ARTHUR MILLS.

4. Unwholesome sandflats waited to suck his treading soles, breathing upward sewage breath. — JAMES JOYCE.

5. Praed Street watches with indifference the thronging crowds which pass along, and they in turn take little heed of the uninviting thoroughfare through which their journey leads them. — JOHN RHODE.

6. Lack-lustre eyes, heavily pouched, glared from a square and sallow face. — BEVERLEY NICHOLS.

7. His scraggly moustache and fan of white whiskers were much too large for the bony face; his cheek bones were shiny, but his bald head looked as though it had been covered with dust. — JOHN DICKSON CARR.

8. There was not a wrinkle about the haggard blue eyes, for all their tale of strain and desperate feeling. — E C BENTLEY.

9. In appearance she is small and provocative, rather like a lovely naughty child, with her flashing gipsy eyes and her shining black hair. — ETHEL MANNIN.

10. She was one of those imperfectly self-assured individuals who are magnificent and autocratic as long as they are not seriously opposed. — SAKI.

11. Her bright red silk dressing-gown made a lovely splash of colour in the restrained little room. — SUSAN ERRZ.

12. There was a star among tumbled grey clouds. — J B MORTON.

13. She was not truly religious — too sure of herself, too incurious, she kept of the faith of her fathers nothing but some habits, and some rags of superstition. — R H MOTTRAM.

14. From underneath her wide-brimmed straw hat, her face, so fair and beautifully strong with its expression of cool independence, kept turning up to him and sometimes smiled at what he said. — MORLEY CALLAGHAN.

15. The monotonous patter of rain on the tin roof lulled him into gentle restfulness. —ROARK BRADFORD.

16. The hour was very late, the night pleasantly dark and cool, and the stillness of a sleeping city broken only by the cameo noises of the narrow hours. — MICHAEL ARLEN.

17. In contrast, however, to his deplorable condition his manner seemed philosophically hearty; and his eyes, magnified by large gold-rimmed spectacles, seemed positively to flash forth sparking beams of good cheer. — BEN TRAVERS.

18. The trees stormed and whistled in the southerly wind that blew from across Merrow Downs. — ROSE MACAULAY.

19. The two white men, not having shaved for a week, were growing past the villainous early stage of scrubbiness and were approaching bearded respectability. — E ARNOT ROBERTSON.

20. Her hat, also home-made, was the outcome of many winter evenings of ungrudged labour. — EVELYN WAUGH.

239. Examples of Artistic Description. Although you are not expected to find it easy to learn to describe as well as experienced authors, yet you may learn a great deal by reading examples from them.

1. Persons.

1.

Walt Whitman — a tall, heavy figure like an heroic statue, well-shaped, full-chested, broad-shouldered, unafraid. A face framed in flowing white hair, and a beard of silvery texture falling to his massive breast. Ruddy cheeks that told of good digestion and a cheerful spirit. An unruffled brow fine in shape and reaching high over grey-blue eyes with deep tufts of white eyebrow. They looked at you with an honest frankness and sweetness that kindled friend-ship: a sort of large, tolerant, benignant gaze, not as of a superior, but out of the soul of sympathy and equality. A voice of many soft vibrations that rippled now and then into humour and laughter, seldom loud, always measured, and even hesitating for the right word, grave in season and never monotonous nor complaining. His clothes of light-grey homespun, and his shirt, of spotless linen, open at the throat in Byronic freedom from form. He was clean from top to toe and bristling with health, except for the remnants of paralysis which led him to lean on a cane. To top off this embodiment of unhurried and noble manhood there was a soft grey hat, high in crown and broad of brim, that united the fashions of the Quaker and the Cowboy. — HARRISON S MORRIS, Walt Whitman.

2.

As I came face to face with her I saw that she was more beautiful than her portrayed likeness. But there was something too reposed about her beauty. Her eyes were not exactly dull, they had some sparkle, but her pupils were unmoving and she did not blink. Her lips rested gently together. Her nostrils were so still I suspected she held her breath. Her hands hung straight at her sides. Her feet were together. She stood straight. She did not move or seemed capable of movement. She did not speak. Yet, I was conscious of her being intensely alive. It was a most strange contact. — W A HEAVEN, "Brief Biography", Penguin Parade, 3.

3.

Hetta Ponsonby was a pale, fair, upright woman of forty-eight, who was vital without being physically vigorous, and stately without being tall. She had the family flattish features and pale grey eyes in so much finer a form, that she seemed as good-looking as Victor in another way. Her brother was a tall, top-heavy-looking man, a few years older, with a dark, ruddy face, dark, clear eyes, a wide, nervous nose, and a deep, square head which linked him with his elder children. He resembled on the whole his father, whose type he had transmitted to his younger son, without great likeness to himself. There was a touch of the conscious artist in his clothes and his pointed beard, the result of his break with tradition and service to the pen. His mother surveyed him with controlled, maternal eyes, as if she would have seen him differently, if he had not been her son. His face was old for his years, and had a look of exhaustion beneath its colour and constant change. — I COMPTON-BURNETT, Daughters and Sons.

4.

I saw a man and woman walking slowly down one of the garden paths. At first sight they looked about the same age. It was only when they came quite near that you realized that he was younger than he looked and she was older. She certainly was charming and looked amazingly young. It was something about her eyes and lips when her face was in repose that betrayed her age. — RICHMAL CROMPTON, Ladies First.

2. Places.

1.

A small, untidy garden lay between the dwelling-house and the drive. Nothing much grew in it except two apple trees. The real orchard was some way off, behind the house, just as the real, big flower garden and the kitchen garden were round at the back of the farmyard. The house was built of brick, with a tiled roof; the main part was about two hundred years old; the gable wing was new, but softening under the trail of an old-fashioned rose. At the bottom of the garden, at the ends and in the middle of the hedge, stood three tall poplar trees. — SHEILA KAYE-SMITH, The Children's Summer.

2.

Everything in Peking pointed upward to the sky. The peaks of the gables, the tilted corners of the roofs, the tapering shrines, the arches of the pailows, those memorials to the pious widows of whom there seem to be so many in China, the glorious uplifted roofs of the Temple of Heaven, the very wall itself that, ever curving, drew the gaze of the beholder up and upward to the deep blue dome above. ANNE DUFFIELD, Miss Mayhew and Ming Yun.

3.

Seen from the sea, Valparaiso is picturesque, and has a marked character of its own, though the dryness of the hills and the clearness of the light make it faintly recall one of those Spanish or Italian towns which glitter on the steep shores of the Mediterranean. It resembles Messina in Sicily in being very long and very narrow, for here, as there, the heights, rising abruptly from the shore, leave little space for houses, and the lower part of the town has less than a quarter of a mile in breadth. On this narrow strip are all the places of business, banks, shipping offices, and shops, as well as the dwellings of most of the poorer class. On the hills above, rising steeply two hundred feet or more, stands the upper town, which consists chiefly of the residences of the richer people. Their villas, interspersed with gardens, have a pretty effect seen from below, and in rambling along the lines that run up to heights behind one gets charming views over the long line of coast to the north. Communication between the lower and upper towns is carried on chiefly by elevators (lifts) or trolley-cars worked on the cog-wheel system. — JAMES BRYCE, South America.

4.

Somehow the room looked as if fifty people had been eating and drinking and smoking in it for days. There were two sandwiches and a flattened cigarette-end on the carpet; somebody had spilt some port on the little table; there was the glass that Fred had broken; there were the forlorn bottles, the dirty glasses, the remnants of food, the cigarette ash, the smoke rapidly going stale; the whole room, the pride of the house and as nice a parlour as you would find in the length of Chaucer Road, looked tipsy, bedraggled, and forlorn, and as its disgusted owner wearily moved about, throwing bits of stuff into the fire and straightening things, he felt as if the Mitty crew had left their sign and mark on it for ever. He threw open the windows and was just in time to hear from outside the last good nights. — J B PRIESTLEY, Angel Pavement.

3. Objects.

1.

When first you catch sight of a sequoia, it does not impress you particularly except as a very fine tree. Its proportions are so perfect that its effect is rather to belittle its neighbours than to show in its true magnitude. Then, gradually, as your experience takes cognizance of surroundings, the size of a sugar-pine, of a boulder, of a stream flowing near — the giant swells and swells before your very vision until he seems at the last even greater than the mere statistics of his inches had led you to believe. And after that first surprise over finding the sequoia something not monstrous but beautiful in proportion has given place to the full realization of what you are beholding, you will always wonder why no one who has seen has ever given anyone who has not seen an adequate idea of these magnificent old trees. — STEWART EDWARD WHITE, The Mountains.

2.

But the little calf was so sweet — she loved it so terribly the instant she saw it. Its head really was shaped like the tiny kittens'. But its eyes were very large and coloured a soft deep brown under a surface of rounded brightness so gentle and so sad too, that it seemed to her as if the colour showed in each eye under a big tear. The calf turned its head towards her. Its frail legs bent inward, to prop it up. Its coat looked like cream spilt over with shining tar. There were curls, like the curly knots showing in freshly planed wood; and the shining ends of the hair looked as if they had curled, because the whole coat had just been licked by the mother. — RUTH SUCKOW, The Little Girl from Town.

4. Action or movement.

1.

A very small funeral procession passed through a very small churchyard on the rocky coast of Cornwall; carrying a coffin to its grave under the low and windy wall. The coffin was quite formal and unobtrusive; but the knot of fishermen and labourers eyed it with the slanted eyes of superstition; almost as if it had been the misshapen coffin of legend that was said to contain a monster. For it contained the body of a near neighbour, who had long lived a stone's throw from them, and whom they had never seen. — G K CHESTERTON, The Poet and the Lunatics.

2.

The endless processions of automobiles, with black tops shiny in an autumnal drizzle, filled the long avenues of Manhattan, creeping busily between quivering halts, were like armies of beetles on the march through gloomy ruts in wet stone. Not unlike detached smaller beetles upright and gesticulating to the greater were the traffic directors in gleaming black oilskin, while other imperious coleoptera stood at the awning entrances to apartment houses, and as the electric lights came on in the late afternoon, outlined themselves in dark wet glitterings that became flashingly active when automobiles drew to the curb. At such times there seemed a deposit of larvae; the hard and darkly shining sides of the cars opened, emitting plastic beings to be taken in charge, apparently, by the attendant beetles at the awning ends, and, upon the fashionable avenues, the larvae were of a superior, tender kind; — delicate things, exquisitely swathed, they were handled sweetly and hygienically with deferential white gloves. — BOOTH TARKINGTON, Claire Ambler.

Exercise 92

Write two descriptions of persons, two descriptions of places, two descriptions of objects, and two descriptions of action or movement. The following are some suggested subjects:

1. Persons.

1. Your father. 2. Your mother. 3. Your grandfather. 4. Your grandmother. 5. Your uncle. 6. Your aunt. 7. Your brother. 8. Your sister. 9. A friend. 10. A neighbour. 11. A policeman. 12. A schoolboy. 13. A baby. 14. A factory worker. 15. A farmer. 16. A pedlar. 17. A soldier. 18. A madman. 19. A fisherman. 20. An athlete.

2. Places.

1. Your city. 2. Your village. 3. Your house. 4. Your bedroom. 5. Your study. 6. A river. 7. A brook. 8. A lake. 9. A street. 10. A shop. 11. A factory. 12. A school. 13. A dispensary. 14. A blacksmith's shop. 15. A barber's shop. 16. A carpenter's shop. 17. A tailor's shop. l8. A library. 19. A museum. 20. A theatre.

3. Objects.

1. A cat. 2. A dog. 3. A bird. 4. A tree. 5. A flower. 6. A vase. 7. A slip. 8. A train. 9. A motor car. 10. An aeroplane.

4. Action or movement.

1. Children at play. 2. Children hastening to school. 3. People coming out of a theatre. 4. People waiting for a bus. 5. Traffic at a street corner. 6. A public meeting. 7. A funeral procession. 8. A tea-party. 9. Two men arguing. 10. Two children quarrelling.

240. Practical Description. As you must have gathered from Section 236, while artistic description aims at conveying an impression, practical description aims at enabling one to identify what is described. It has an informational purpose. Such descriptions are found in catalogues, prospectuses, advertisements, notices, stage directions, etc. The following are some examples:

1.

OXFORD ENGLISH TEXTS

This Series is now thirty volumes. The price for the set is £18 net.

Library editions handsomely printed on good paper, the texts constituted by critical recension of the original printings with such MSS as are extant, with numerous facsimile title-pages and other illustrations. Demy 8vo. Printed from type, not plated, and consequently limited in supply in this form; uniformly bound in cloth with paper labels, or alternatively in blue cloth, gilt lettering. — Oxford University Press Select Catalogues. (a little adapted)

2.

VALUABLE FREE SUPPLEMENTS

THE literary courses conducted by the Regent Institute definitely solve the problem that perplexes most beginners — "How can I get ideas?" — There are no more fascinating pages in the lessons than those which reveal exactly how successful contributors find subjects for articles and plots for short stories. Once you have learnt their methods you should have no difficulty in getting a constant flow of ideas.

In addition, the following valuable supplements — which cannot be obtained elsewhere — are presented to students:

(1) The Regent Dictionary of Subjects, which is given with Lesson 3 of the Journalism Course, contains hundreds of ideas for saleable articles. Most of the subjects are of perennial interest and can thus be written about at any time.

The value of this Dictionary is not limited to the wide variety of subjects given: the principles that guided its compilation are clearly explained, and the student is shown how to evolve further ideas. This unique supplement is the simplest time-saver ever devised for the contributor who wants to produce a big output of saleable work.

(2) The Regent Plot Finder, presented with Lesson 4 of the Journalism Course and Lesson 2 of the Short Story Course, gives fifty-five typical sources of inspiration and describes how endless plots can be found.

Here is something that sets a new standard in literary tuition; nothing like it has ever been done before. It shows how to tap the sources of material for stories and how to work up into saleable plots the hints and suggestions gathered by observation.

"The Plot Finder stimulates imagination, until we can see the colours, lights and shades, changes, surprises — the very stuff of story making — even in the drab streets and commonplace lives of ordinary men and women" writes a pupil.

(3) The Regent Vocational Subject Indicatory, which is presented with the sixth lesson of the Journalism Course, shows the student how to turn his experiences into saleable articles. Examples are given for over fifty trades and professions to demonstrate the journalistic possibilities of the students' occupation. Persistent effort on the lines described cannot fail to yield results. — How to Succeed as a Writer, A Prospectus of the Regent Courses in Journalism and Short Story Writing, issued by The Regent Institute, London.

3.

Most people miss most of the sunlight. There isn't very much of it, and what there is generally disappears before "knocking-off" time! But the remedy is to have an Aladdin Lamp in your home. The light it gives is the next best thing to daylight — it is unsurpassed by any other form of artificial lighting. It has an incandescent mantle but burns ordinary paraffin, without pumping or pressure, at a cost of less than a farthing an hour. No smoke or smell. Just a wonderful diffused 80 c p light. The standard table model costs but two guineas (shade 6 / - extra). See one at your ironmonger's today. — The Strand Magazine.

4.

HOUSES with up-to-the-minute fittings. Luxurious bathrooms. Easily run kitchen, tiled and fitted magnificent cabinet. Panelled staircase. 3 bedrooms. 2 large sitting-rooms. Very good gardens. Garage space. Soundly constructed, solid red brick exterior.

PRICES £685 to £725 Freehold, or Leasehold at £565. All prices inclusive of legal costs and other charges, all roads and pavements.

TERMS £35 deposit and 17/6 weekly on Freehold or 14/5 weekly Leasehold.

TRAVEL by bus No 211 Ealing Broadway to Estate, or buses 105, 18c, 55 and 97, alight at Greenford Broadway and walk along Ruislip Road to Crawford Estate. — The Sunday Express.

5.

SCHEN: A large room with a door at the back and another at the side opening to an inner room. A desk and a chair in the middle. An hourglass on a bracket near the door. A creepy stool near it. Some benches. An astronomical globe. A blackboard. A large ancient map of the world on the wall. Some musical instruments. Floor strewn with rushes. A WISE MAN sitting at his desk. — WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS, The Hourglass.

It is to be noted that the same person, place, or object may be described in the artistic or the practical way according to the purpose for which the description is written. For example, in a story or essay you would describe your dog in the artistic way, but in a report to the police you would describe your lost dog in the practical way.

Exercise 93

Change the descriptions of persons, places, and objects you wrote for Exercise 92 into practical ones.

241. Exposition is Explanation. "Exposition" means explanation, explaining. I might have used the commoner term "explanation" in this book but for the fact that the less common term "exposition" is the one generally used in books on composition. The verb "expound" is as much less common than "explain" as "exposition" is than "explanation".

While narration and description appeal primarily to the emotions and the imagination, exposition appeals primarily to the understanding. Instead of trying to tell the reader about something as happening or to give him an impression of something, it aims at making him understand something.

242. Definition. Definition is a fundamental element in exposition. The simplest form is the giving of a commoner word; for example, "Exposition is explanation". Below are more examples:

1. Myopia is short-sightedness.

2. Nostalgia is homesickness.

Very often, however, a term needs a phrase or clause to make its meaning clear. The definition "Short-sightedness is myopia" is not incorrect; but it is a poor one, because a person who does not understand "short-sighted" can hardly be expected to understand the less common term "myopia". The definition "Short-sightedness is near-sightedness" is also unsatisfactory, because a person who fails to understand "short-sightedness" will very likely fail to understand "sight". The following definitions are much better:

1. Short-sightedness is not seeing clearly at a distance.

2. Short-sightedness is seeing distinctly at short distances only.

3. Short-sightedness is inability to see far.

4. Short-sightedness is failure to see objects at a distance.

5. Short-sightedness is a condition of the eye in which objects are seen clearly only when near to the eye.

The following are some definitions of "homesickness".

1. Homesickness is an ardent desire to go home.

2. Homesickness is depression due to absence from home.

3. Homesickness is pining for one's home.

4. Homesickness is longing for one's home.

5. Homesickness is a mental state in which one feels low-spirited on account of absence from home.

A common fault in definition is to use a clause beginning with "if", "when", "where", or "that". The following definitions are bad:

1. Short-sightedness is if one cannot see clearly at a distance.

2. Short-sightedness is when one cannot see clearly at a distance.

3. Short-sightedness is where one cannot see clearly at a distance.

4. Short-sightedness is that one cannot see clearly at a distance.

"Myopia", "nostalgia", "short-sightedness", and "homesickness" arc all nouns. When you define a word, you must take care to see what part of speech it is, and, in the case of a verb, to see whether it is transitive or intransitive. "Congratulate" is transitive and "condole" is intransitive; this can be seen from the following definitions:

1. "Congratulate" is to wish joy to.

2.. "Condole" is to express sympathy.*

To omit the "to" in the first definition and to insert "with" after the "sympathy" in the second would render both incorrect.

Notice that in defining a verb the infinitive form is usually used.

*As a definition, this sentence is quite right, though it would prove helpful to students of English to add "(with)" at the end.

Exercise 94

With the help of one or more dictionaries correct the following definitions:

1. A poem is poetry.

2. A watch is a timepiece.

3. A hobby is something one is interested in.

4. A dream is when one sees persons or things in sleep.

5. A religion is that a person believes in a form or faith.

6. A verb is a word that expresses action.

7. A typewriter is a machine with which we write.

8. An hour is two half-hours.

9. An epitaph is where words are inscribed on a tomb.

10. An umpire is a person who makes decisions in games.

11. Honesty is the best policy.

12. Blindness is if one has no eyesight.

13. Originality is ability to think or act in an original manner.

14. Grammar is the correct use of a language.

15. Geometry is the science of space.

16. Insanity is that a man or a woman is crazy.

17. Literature is writing.

18. Silence is where there is no sound whatever.

19. Victory is a war that is won.

20. Education is teaching at school.

21. "Discuss" is to talk about something.

22. "Succeed" is to have success in.

23. "Convince" is to bring certainty to the mind.

24. "Satisfy" is to meet someone's expectations or desires.

25. "Careless" is not to take care.

26. "Delightful" is high pleasure.

27. "Often" is the frequency with which something is done.

28. "Quite" is complete.

29. "As soon as" is immediately after something is done.

30. "With a view to" is to aim at.

243. What to Avoid in Exposition. In Section 242 I have explained why the definitions "Short-sightedness is myopia" and "Short-sightedness is near-sightedness" are not good. In exposition, you had better, as far as possible, avoid using words that those for whom the exposition is intended are even less likely to understand than what is explained to them. For instance, in explaining short-sightedness it is not advisable to use any oculistic or ophthalmological term; for that would make the subject difficult instead of easy to understand.

244. Examples of Exposition. Every section in this book may be taken as an example of exposition. Indeed, all textbooks are of an essentially expository nature. The examples of paraphrasing and condensing (see Sections 32, 34, 35, and 36) may all be taken as examples of exposition.

In studying the following examples, notice the various methods of paragraph development:

1.

The plan of the book was dictated by the following considerations. It is notorious that English writers seldom look into a grammar or composition book; the reading of grammars is repellent because, being bound to be exhaustive on a greater or less scale, they must give much space to the obvious or the unnecessary; and composition books are often useless because they enforce their warnings only by fabricated blunders against which every tiro feels himself quite safe. The principle adopted here has therefore been (1) to pass by all rules, of whatever absolute importance, that are shown by observation to be seldom or never broken; and (2) to illustrate by living examples, with the name of a reputable authority attached to each, all blunders that observation shows to be common. The reader, however, who is led to suspect that the only method followed has been the rejection of method will find, it is hoped, a practical security against inconvenience in the very full Index. — H W FOWLER and F G FOWLER, Preface to The King's English.

2.

This volume will serve its purpose if it proves a useful companion to ordinary everyday readers of English literature. It is necessarily a work of compilation and selection, because the range of the possible subject-matter is so great. English literature has a continuous history of over a thousand years, it has been produced in many lands, and there is no subject on which it does not touch. Completeness in a moderate compass, and the equipment of a specialist at all points, are therefore impossible. — PAUL HARVEY, Preface to The Oxford Companion to English Literature.

3.

The pronunciation of the proper names has been ascertained by the same methods as were adopted in the case of other words. The pronunciation of personal names not already known to me was generally ascertained by applying either to persons bearing those names, or to persons acquainted with persons bearing them. The pronunciation of place-names not already known to me was generally obtained from persons knowing the places in question, or from competent observers who were in a position to find out the pronunciation at first hand. — DANIEL JONES, Introduction to An English Pronouncing Dictionary.

4.

It so happens that I possess exceptional means of ascertaining what linguistic usages, now more or less acclimatized in England, have been taken over from America during the present century. My first period of residence in the United States was between 1900 and 1905. After I had spent a year or two in New York, I found myself becoming impressed by the unexpectedly large number of differences between English and American idiom, and it occurred to me that it might be worth while to jot down instances that I came across of an American linguistic usage that was unfamiliar to me. Accordingly, I began some time in 1902, to make notes of them. Several of these usages have since come to be so frequent in this country that scarcely any Englishman regards them today as importations, and, if I trusted to my memory alone, I doubt whether I should myself think of them as originally American. But when find examples of them set down in black and white, with dates, in my notes, I know for a certainty that, in the early years of the century, they struck my attention as not being then in use at home. This conclusion is confirmed when, as commonly happens, I find the usage in question not recognized in the dictionaries published in England at about that period. — H W HORWILL, Preface to A Dictionary of Modern American Usage.

5.

Much time has been spent in the effort to explain the origin of parties. To some they are born of the natural contrast between those who cling to the old and those who embrace the new. To others, they arise from the pugnacious instinct of men. It is, however, clear that no single explanation suffices. There is a conflict of wills in society, an that conflict is decided by the decision of the intermediate mass which is not firmly convinced of the truth of any general cause. To attract its support it is necessary to advertise one's view. Parties are the natural method of effecting that end. Their form is largely dependent upon the conditions of any given time. They may group themselves about religious issues, as in sixteenth-century France; they may group themselves about economic issues, as in the England of our own day. Naturally, they arouse the pugnacious instinct; naturally, also, there will be a tendency for the radical solution to attract the young. What, at least, is certain, is that without parties there would be no means available to us of enlisting the popular decision in such a way as to secure solutions capable of being interpreted as politically satisfactory. — HAROLD J LASKI, A Grammar of Politics.

6.

Instruction in the practice of composition is now commonly given in many American universities, and there are signs of its approach here. I have heard of an American lady who took her PhD in Short Story Writing. Manuals on that art abound in America. The kinds of short stories are classified, modes of progression are analysed, and lists which purport to be exhaustive of permissible "ingredients" are set down. I have not yet seen, though I am prepared to believe in their existence, handbooks on the composition of poetry, but an extensive literature is available for aspiring dramatists, and works of a general character which, like the present anthology, are intended to assist the writer, in whatever kind, to know himself and perfect his expression, are numerous. In this country students of English are being more and more encouraged to "show up" original compositions, and teachers like Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch are propounding from lecture platforms those elementary principles of good writing which are commonly agreed upon by good writers conscious of the nature of their own activities. — J C SQUIRE, Book Reviewed.

7.

If the value of man's life on earth is to be measured in dollars and miles and horsepower, ancient Greece must count as a poverty-stricken and minute territory; its engines and implements were nearer to the spear and bow of the savage than to our own telegraph and aeroplane. Even if we neglect merely material things and take as our standard the actual achievements of the race in conduct and in knowledge, the average clerk who goes to town daily, idly glancing at his morning newspaper, is probably a better behaved and infinitely better informed person than the average Athenian who sat spellbound at the tragedies of Aeschylus. It is only by the standard of the spirit, to which the thing achieved is little and the quality or mind that achieved it much, which cares less for the sum of knowledge attained than for the love of knowledge, less for much good policing than for one free act of heroism, that the great age of Greece can be judged as something extraordinary and unique in value. — GILBERT MURRAY, The Legacy of Greece.

8.

A brogue is not a fault. It is a beauty, an heirloom, a distinction. A local accent is like a landed inheritance; it marks a man's place in the world, tells where he comes from. Of course it is possible to have too much of it. A man does not need to carry the soil of his whole farm around with him on his boots. But, within limits, the accent of a native region is delightful. 'Tis the flavour of heather in the grouse, the taste of wild herbs and evergreen-buds in the venison. I like the maple-sugar tang of the Vermonter's sharpedged speech; the round, full-waisted r's of Pennsylvania and Ohio, the soft indolent vowels of the South. One of the best talkers now living is a schoolmaster from Virginia, Colonel Gordon McCabe. I once crossed the ocean with him on a stream of stories that reached from Liverpool to New York, He did not talk in the least like a book. He talked like a Virginian. — HENRY VAN DYKE, Fisherman's Luck.

9.

The result today is simply a reiteration of the old Biblical adage that the fathers have eaten sour grapes and the children's teeth are set on edge. Young China, being wearied of the revolutionary ardours of its fathers, is going back to old China. It is almost amusing to see the often self-conscious determination to be really Chinese, to eat Chinese food, to live in Chinese ways, to dress in Chinese clothes. It is as much of a fad and a pose to be entirely Chinese these days among certain young westernized Chinese as it was for their fathers to wear foreign clothes and eat with knives and forks and want to go to Harvard. These present young people have worn foreign clothes all their lives and eaten foreign food and they did go to Harvard, and they know English literature infinitely better than their own, and now they are sick of it all and want to go back to their grandfathers. — PEARL S BUCK, Introduction to Lin Yutang's My Country and My People.

10.

In its loosest sense, thinking signifies everything that, as we say, is "in our heads" or that "goes through our minds". He who offers "a penny for your thoughts" does not expect to drive any great bargain. In calling the object of his demand thoughts, he does not intend to ascribe to them dignity, consecutiveness, or truth. Any idle fancy, trivial recollection, or flitting impression will satisfy his demand. Day-dreaming, building of castles in the air, that loose flux of casual and disconnected material that flows through out minds in relaxed moments are, in this random sense, thinking. More of our walking life than we should care to admit, even to ourselves, is likely to be whiled away in this inconsequential trifling with idle fancy and unsubstantial hope. — JOHN DEWEY, How We Think.

11.

The airmail pilot is distinctive among airmen. He is no fair-weather flier; he does not go up into a storm with the knowledge that he need not go far and can land when necessary. His is the continuous strain of plunging into weather unfit for ordinary fliers — weather in which passenger planes would be grounded — and of relying on his long experience to guide him through the treacheries of the air. To ride an occasional storm, to meet abnormal conditions unexpectedly and win through them, is far different from taking off, with the nonchalance of the airmail pilot, to meet sleet or thunderstorm and to ride one's way blindly, with only instruments and a cultivated instinct for guidance. — RUSSELL OWEN, "Flying the Mail", The New York Times Magazine.

12.

Before describing the fascinating picture of the school at work, let us briefly review its various phases. There might be said to be five departments in the Ford "University". Most important of these is the Henry Ford Trade School for boys from twelve to eighteen years of age, which is incorporated to operate without profit. It attempts to train boys so that they can earn their own living, and directs their energy towards work and not away from it. The school enrols eighteen hundred, which may soon be increased to five thousand. It accepts those who have no chance to help themselves, those who are so handicapped by environment and other forces that without this opportunity they would not even have a chance to learn a trade, much less go to school. One hundred and eighty of the boys are orphans. Seven hundred and fifty are widows' sons. Four hundred are the children of Ford employees. Each boy receives at the start seven dollars and twenty cents a week, but his rate is being constantly increased according to his ability. Besides this, he receives two dollars a month for a savings account and a daily hot luncheon which, in the aggregate, costs the company one hundred thousand dollars annually. With the addition of the funds used for scholarships and thrift, the total expenditure is over a million. Including the various holidays, there are approximately five weeks of vacation with pay every year. — JEROME DAVIS, "Henry Ford, Educator", The Atlantic Monthly.

Exercise 95

Write six expositions of one or two paragraphs each explaining processes, facts, and ideas. Below are some suggested subjects:

1. How to prepare a school composition. 2. How to keep a diary. 3. How to install a television set. 4. How to get a letter registered. 5. How to keep fit. 6. How to organize an English-speaking club. 7. How to enjoy a walk. 8. How to play tennis. 9. How to take photographs. 10. How to collect postage stamps. 11. College spirit. 12. Learning writing from reading. 13. Physical training. 14. Patriotism. 15. Punctuality. 16. Early rising. 17. Self-cultivation. 18. Superstition. 19. My ambition. 20. Good manners.

245. Argument and Exposition. Argument can hardly be treated as a separate form of composition. It is a kind of exposition; that is to say, it is exposition with the additional purpose of convincing or persuading. While exposition does not always contain argument, argument always contains exposition.

246. Question and Answer. An argument is in reality an answer to a question. The question is one that can be definitely answered by "yes" or "no", and the answer is either in the affirmative or in the negative, with a reason or reasons given. Suppose you write an argument for or against having more hours devoted to English than to mathematics in the curriculum. Your question is "Should more hours be devoted to English than to mathematics in the curriculum?" Your answer is either in the affirmative or in the negative. You not only answer the question in the affirmative or in the negative but also say why you do so.

The question and the answer are not necessarily stated in the argument. But they are always implied; otherwise there can be no argument at all.

247. What to Avoid in Argument. False reasoning is an enemy to argument. Not writing a treatise on logic, I do not need to go much into this interesting subject or to attempt any sort of classification. The following few examples will surely serve to put you on your guard:

1. The food you buy, you eat. You buy raw meat. Therefore you eat raw meat.

2. Your father is certainly a great scholar. Otherwise how could he have published so many books?

3. I am sure that the girl has not stolen the watch. You see, she is well-mannered. Besides, her mother is a teacher.

4. I have never seen him before. He must have come to live in this town only a few days ago.

5. They are my friends, and are very clever men. They cannot fail to help you with your homework.

6. Examinations should be abolished in our school. During our last examination in English, three students in my class cheated and got good marks.

7. It has rained heavily on the past five Sundays. So we had better cancel our picnic planned for next Sunday.

8. I have just received a letter from a college student. Not a single sentence in it is grammatically correct. That shows that the teaching of grammar is a mere waste of time.

9. Her uncle is a well-known professor of biology. Of course she is right when she says this book on biology is very poorly written.

10. Films are of great educational value. They are often based on stories written by famous English authors.

11. Traffic in this street is really much too heavy. Two accidents happened here during the past week.

12. She will never master French. Though she is well versed in the Han language, she is very weak in mathematics, physics, and chemistry.

13. When I saw him last, he looked very pale. Nearly a month has since passed; therefore he must have improved much in health.

14. I do not think the brothers love each other. For I have never seen them walking together.

15. How is it possible that she has the reputation of being the best musician in her city? She has declined my invitation to a concert.

16. My advice has been thrown away upon him. I have not heard from him since I wrote to advise him about a fortnight ago.

248. Formal and Informal Argument. Franklin William Scott and Jacob Zeitlin say in the Notes to their College Readings in English Prose, Third Edition: "The distinction between formal and informal argument is somewhat arbitrary and no sharp line between the two can be drawn. But an analysis of the selections under each head will reveal a considerable difference in spirit and method. Formal argument is commonly concerned with questions capable of direct proof or refutation and requires that its contentions shall be supported by material evidence, while informal argument, being usually the expression of an opinion or a conviction, needs to be justified only by a process of general or theoretical reasoning. The latter is the form of argument which people are most commonly called to employ and its most familiar illustration is to be found in newspaper editorials".

It is hardly possible to give examples of argument of either kind in single paragraphs; so I have to content myself with giving none here.

Exercise 96

Write a short informal argument on each of the following questions:

1. Should mid-term examinations be abolished?

2. Should our school have a new library?

3. Is it worth while to discuss the question "Which came first, the chicken or the egg"?

4. Should the speaking of one's native language be allowed in teaching a class of a foreign?

5. Is a lie ever justifiable?

6. Is a dramatic society of more help to language students than a debating society?

—THE END—