CHAPTER VIII PITFALLS TO AVOID Common Stumbling Blocks Peculiar Constructions Misused Forms

CHAPTER VIII

PITFALLS TO AVOID

Common Stumbling Blocks Peculiar Constructions Misused Forms.

ATTRACTION

Very often the verb is separated from its real nominative or subject by

several intervening words and in such cases one is liable to make the

verb agree with the subject nearest to it. Here are a few examples

showing that the leading writers now and then take a tumble into this

pitfall:

(1) "The partition which the two ministers made of the powers of

government  were  singularly happy." Macaulay .

(Should be  was  to agree with its subject,  partition .)

(2) "One at least of the qualities which fit it for training ordinary men

 unfit  it for  training  an extraordinary man." Bagehot .

(Should be  unfits  to agree with subject  one .)

(3) "The Tibetans have engaged to exclude from their country those

dangerous influences whose appearance  were  the chief cause of our

action." The Times .

(Should be  was  to agree with  appearance .)

(4) "An immense amount of confusion and indifference  prevail  in these

days." Telegraph .

(Should be  prevails  to agree with amount.)

ELLIPSIS

Errors in ellipsis occur chiefly with prepositions.

His objection and condoning of the boy's course, seemed to say the least,

paradoxical.

(The preposition  to  should come after objection.)

Many men of brilliant parts are crushed by force of circumstances and

their genius forever lost to the world.

(Some maintain that the missing verb after genius is  are , but such

is ungrammatical. In such cases the right verb should be always

expressed: astheir genius  is  forever lost to the world.)

THE SPLIT INFINITIVE

Even the best speakers and writers are in the habit of placing a

modifying word or words between the  to  and the remaining part of the

infinitive. It is possible that such will come to be looked upon in time

as the proper form but at present the splitting of the infinitive is

decidedly wrong. "He was scarcely able  to  even  talk " "She commenced

 to  rapidly  walk  around the room." " To have  really  loved  is better

than not  to have  at all  loved ." In these constructions it is much

better not to split the infinitive. In every-day speech the best speakers

sin against this observance.

In New York City there is a certain magistrate, a member of "the 400,"

who prides himself on his diction in language. He tells this story: A

prisoner, a faded, battered specimen of mankind, on whose haggard face,

deeply lined with the marks of dissipation, there still lingered faint

reminders of better days long past, stood dejected before the judge.

"Where are you from?" asked the magistrate. "From Boston," answered the

accused. "Indeed," said the judge, "indeed, yours is a sad case, and yet

you don't seem  to  thoroughly  realise  how low you have sunk." The man

stared as if struck. "Your honor does me an injustice," he said bitterly.

"The disgrace of arrest for drunkenness, the mortification of being

thrust into a noisome dungeon, the publicity and humiliation of trial in

a crowded and dingy courtroom I can bear, but to be sentenced by a Police

Magistrate who  splits his infinitives that is indeed the last blow."

ONE

The indefinite adjective pronoun  one  when put in place of a personal

substantive is liable to raise confusion. When a sentence or expression

is begun with the impersonal  one  the word must be used throughout in

all references to the subject. Thus, "One must mind one's own business if

one wishes to succeed" may seem prolix and awkward, nevertheless it is

the proper form. You must not say"One must mind his business if he

wishes to succeed," for the subject is impersonal and therefore cannot

exclusively take the masculine pronoun. With  any one  it is different.

You may say"If any one sins he should acknowledge it; let him not try

to hide it by another sin."

ONLY

This is a word that is a pitfall to the most of us whether learned or

unlearned. Probably it is the most indiscriminately used word in the

language. From the different positions it is made to occupy in a sentence

it can relatively change the meaning. For instance in the sentence"I

 only  struck him that time," the meaning to be inferred is, that the

only thing I did to him was to  strike  him, not kick or otherwise abuse

him. But if the  only  is shifted, so as to make the sentence read-"I

struck him  only  that time" the meaning conveyed is, that only on that

occasion and at no other time did I strike him. If another shift is made

to-"I struck  only  him that time," the meaning is again altered so that

it signifies he was the only person I struck.

In speaking we can by emphasis impress our meaning on our hearers, but in

writing we have nothing to depend upon but the position of the word in

the sentence. The best rule in regard to  only  is to place it

 immediately before  the word or phrase it modifies or limits.

ALONE

is another word which creates ambiguity and alters meaning. If we

substitute it for only in the preceding example the meaning of the

sentence will depend upon the arrangement. Thus "I  alone  struck him at

that time" signifies that I and no other struck him. When the sentence

reads "I struck him  alone  at that time" it must be interpreted that he

was the only person that received a blow. Again if it is made to read "I

struck him at that time  alone " the sense conveyed is that that was the

only occasion on which I struck him. The rule which governs the correct

use of  only  is also applicable to  alone .

OTHER AND ANOTHER

These are words which often give to expressions a meaning far from that

intended. Thus, "I have  nothing  to do with that  other  rascal across

the street," certainly means that I am a rascal myself. "I sent the

despatch to my friend, but another villain intercepted it," clearly

signifies that my friend is a villain.

A good plan is to omit these words when they can be readily done without,

as in the above examples, but when it is necessary to use them make your

meaning clear. You can do this by making each sentence or phrase in which

they occur independent of contextual aid.

AND WITH THE RELATIVE

Never use  and  with the  relative  in this manner: "That is the dog I

meant  and which  I know is of pure breed." This is an error quite

common. The use of  and  is permissible when there is a parallel relative

in the preceding sentence or clause. Thus: "There is the dog which I

meant and which I know is of pure breed" is quite correct.

LOOSE PARTICIPLES

A participle or participial phrase is naturally referred to the nearest

nominative. If only one nominative is expressed it claims all the

participles that are not by the construction of the sentence otherwise

fixed. "John, working in the field all day and getting thirsty, drank

from the running stream." Here the participles  working  and  getting 

clearly refer to John. But in the sentence,"Swept along by the mob I

could not save him," the participle as it were is lying around loose and

may be taken to refer to either the person speaking or to the person

spoken about. It may mean that I was swept along by the mob or the

individual whom I tried to save was swept along.

"Going into the store the roof fell" can be taken that it was the roof

which was going into the store when it fell. Of course the meaning

intended is that some person or persons were going into the store just as

the roof fell.

In all sentence construction with participles there should be such

clearness as to preclude all possibility of ambiguity. The participle

should be so placed that there can be no doubt as to the noun to which it

refers. Often it is advisable to supply such words as will make the

meaning obvious.

BROKEN CONSTRUCTION

Sometimes the beginning of a sentence presents quite a different

grammatical construction from its end. This arises from the fact

probably, that the beginning is lost sight of before the end is reached.

This occurs frequently in long sentences. Thus: "Honesty, integrity and

square-dealing will bring anybody much better through life than the

absence of either." Here the construction is broken at  than . The use of

 either , only used in referring to one of two, shows that the fact is

forgotten that three qualities and not two are under consideration. Any

one of the three meanings might be intended in the sentence, viz.,

absence of any one quality, absence of any two of the qualities or

absence of the whole three qualities. Either denotes one or the other of

two and should never be applied to any one of more than two. When we fall

into the error of constructing such sentences as above, we should take

them apart and reconstruct them in a different grammatical form.

Thus,"Honesty, integrity and square-dealing will bring a man much

better through life than a lack of these qualities which are almost

essential to success."

DOUBLE NEGATIVE

It must be remembered that two negatives in the English language destroy

each other and are equivalent to an affirmative. Thus "I  don't  know

 nothing  about it" is intended to convey, that I am ignorant of the

matter under consideration, but it defeats its own purpose, inasmuch as

the use of nothing implies that I know something about it. The sentence

should read"I don't know anything about it."

Often we hear such expressions as "He was  not  asked to give  no 

opinion," expressing the very opposite of what is intended. This sentence

implies that he was asked to give his opinion. The double negative,

therefore, should be carefully avoided, for it is insidious and is liable

to slip in and the writer remain unconscious of its presence until the

eye of the critic detects it.

FIRST PERSONAL PRONOUN

The use of the first personal pronoun should be avoided as much as

possible in composition. Don't introduce it by way of apology and never

use such expressions as "In my opinion," "As far as I can see," "It

appears to me," "I believe," etc. In what you write, the whole

composition is expressive of your views, since you are the author,

therefore, there is no necessity for you to accentuate or emphasize

yourself at certain portions of it.

Moreover, the big  I's  savor of egotism! Steer clear of them as far as

you can. The only place where the first person is permissible is in

passages where you are stating a view that is not generally held and

which is likely to meet with opposition.

SEQUENCE OF TENSES

When two verbs depend on each other their tenses must have a definite

relation to each other. "I shall have much pleasure in accepting your

kind invitation" is wrong, unless you really mean that just now you

decline though by-and-by you intend to accept; or unless you mean that

you do accept now, though you have no pleasure in doing so, but look

forward to be more pleased by-and-by. In fact the sequence of the

compound tenses puzzle experienced writers. The best plan is to go back

in thought to the time in question and use the tense you would  then 

naturally use. Now in the sentence "I should have liked to have gone to

see the circus" the way to find out the proper sequence is to ask

yourself the questionwhat is it I "should have liked" to do? and the

plain answer is "to go to see the circus." I cannot answer"To have gone

to see the circus" for that would imply that at a certain moment I would

have liked to be in the position of having gone to the circus. But I do

not mean this; I mean that at the moment at which I am speaking I wish I

had gone to see the circus. The verbal phrase  I should have liked 

carries me back to the time when there was a chance of seeing the circus

and once back at the time, the going to the circus is a thing of the

present. This whole explanation resolves itself into the simple

question,what should I have liked  at that time , and the answer is "to

go to see the circus," therefore this is the proper sequence, and the

expression should be "I should have liked to go to see the circus."

If we wish to speak of something relating to a time  prior  to that

indicated in the past tense we must use the perfect tense of the

infinitive; as, "He appeared to have seen better days." We should say "I

expected to  meet him ," not "I expected  to have met him ." "We intended

 to visit you ," not " to have visited  you." "I hoped they  would 

arrive," not "I hoped they  would have  arrived." "I thought I should

 catch  the bird," not "I thought I should  have caught  the bird." "I

had intended  to go  to the meeting," not "I had intended to  have gone 

to the meeting."

BETWEENAMONG

These prepositions are often carelessly interchanged.  Between  has

reference to two objects only,  among  to more than two. "The money was

equally divided between them" is right when there are only two, but if

there are more than two it should be "the money was equally divided among

them."

LESSFEWER

 Less  refers is quantity,  fewer  to number. "No man has  less  virtues"

should be "No man has  fewer  virtues." "The farmer had some oats and a

 fewer  quantity of wheat" should be "the farmer had some oats and a

 less  quantity of wheat."

FURTHERFARTHER

 Further  is commonly used to denote quantity,  farther  to denote

distance. "I have walked  farther  than you," "I need no  further 

supply" are correct.

EACH OTHERONE ANOTHER

 Each other  refers to two,  one another  to more than two. "Jones and

Smith quarreled; they struck each other" is correct. "Jones, Smith and

Brown quarreled; they struck one another" is also correct. Don't say,

"The two boys teach one another" nor "The three girls love each other."

EACH, EVERY, EITHER, NEITHER

These words are continually misapplied.  Each  can be applied to two

or any higher number of objects to signify  every one  of the number

 independently . Every requires  more than two  to be spoken of and

denotes all the  persons  or  things  taken  separately .  Either 

denotes  one or the other of two , and should not be used to include

both.  Neither  is the negative of either, denoting not the other,

and not the one, and relating to  two persons  or  things  considered

separately.

The following examples illustrate the correct usage of these words:

 Each  man of the crew received a reward.

 Every  man in the regiment displayed bravery.

We can walk on  either  side of the street.

 Neither  of the two is to blame.

NEITHER-NOR

When two singular subjects are connected by  neither ,  nor  use a

singular verb; as, " Neither  John  nor  James  was there ," not  were 

there.

NONE

Custom Has sanctioned the use of this word both with a singular and

plural; as"None  is  so blind as he who will not see" and "None  are 

so blind as they who will not see." However, as it is a contraction of

 no one  it is better to use the singular verb.

RISE-RAISE

These verbs are very often confounded.  Rise  is to move or pass upward

in any manner; as to "rise from bed;" to increase in value, to improve in

position or rank, as "stocks rise;" "politicians rise;" "they have risen

to honor."

 Raise  is to lift up, to exalt, to enhance, as "I raise the table;"

"He raised his servant;" "The baker raised the price of  bread ."

LAY-LIE

The transitive verb  lay , and  lay , the past tense of the neuter verb

 lie , are often confounded, though quite different in meaning. The

neuter verb  to lie , meaning to lie down or rest, cannot take the

objective after it except with a preposition. We can say "He  lies  on

the ground," but we cannot say "He  lies  the ground," since the verb is

neuter and intransitive and, as such, cannot have a direct object. With

 lay  it is different.  Lay  is a transitive verb, therefore it takes a

direct object after it; as "I  lay  a wager," "I  laid  the carpet," etc.

Of a carpet or any inanimate subject we should say, "It lies on the

floor," "A knife  lies  on the table," not  lays . But of a person we

say"He  lays  the knife on the table," not "He  lies ."  Lay  being

the past tense of the neuter to lie (down) we should say, "He  lay  on

the bed," and  lain  being its past participle we must also say "He has

 lain  on the bed."

We can say "I lay myself down." "He laid himself down" and such

expressions.

It is imperative to remember in using these verbs that to  lay  means  to

do  something, and to lie means  to be in a state of rest .

SAYS II SAID

 "Says I"  is a vulgarism; don't use it. "I said" is correct form.

ININTO

Be careful to distinguish the meaning of these two little prepositions

and don't interchange them. Don't say "He went  in  the room" nor "My

brother is  into  the navy."  In  denotes the place where a person or

thing, whether at rest or in motion, is present; and  into  denotes

 entrance . "He went  into  the room;" "My brother is  in  the navy" are

correct.

EATATE

Don't confound the two.  Eat  is present,  ate  is past. "I  eat  the

bread" means that I am continuing the eating; "I  ate  the bread" means

that the act of eating is past.  Eaten  is the perfect participle, but

often  eat  is used instead, and as it has the same pronunciation (et) of

 ate , care should be taken to distinguish the past tense, I  ate  from

the perfect  I have eaten  ( eat ).

SEQUENCE OF PERSON

Remember that the  first  person takes precedence of the  second  and the

 second  takes precedence of the  third . When Cardinal Wolsey said  Ego

et Rex  (I and the King), he showed he was a good grammarian, but a bad

courtier.

AM COMEHAVE COME

" I am come " points to my being here, while "I have come" intimates that

I have just arrived. When the subject is not a person, the verb  to be 

should be used in preference to the verb  to have ; as, "The box is come"

instead of "The box has come."

PAST TENSEPAST PARTICIPLE

The interchange of these two parts of the irregular or so-called  strong 

verbs is, perhaps, the breach oftenest committed by careless speakers and

writers. To avoid mistakes it is requisite to know the principal parts of

these verbs, and this knowledge is very easy of acquirement, as there are

not more than a couple of hundred of such verbs, and of this number but a

small part is in daily use. Here are some of the most common blunders: "I

seen" for "I saw;" "I done it" for "I did it;" "I drunk" for "I drank;"

"I begun" for "I began;" "I rung" for "I rang;" "I run" for "I ran;" "I

sung" for "I sang;" "I have chose" for "I have chosen;" "I have drove"

for "I have driven;" "I have wore" for "I have worn;" "I have trod" for

"I have trodden;" "I have shook" for "I have shaken;" "I have fell" for

"I have fallen;" "I have drank" for "I have drunk;" "I have began" for "I

have begun;" "I have rang" for "I have rung;" "I have rose" for "I have

risen;" "I have spoke" for "I have spoken;" "I have broke" for "I have

broken." "It has froze" for "It has frozen." "It has blowed" for "It has

blown." "It has flowed" (of a bird) for "It has flown."

N. B.The past tense and past participle of  To Hang  is  hanged  or

 hung . When you are talking about a man meeting death on the gallows,

say "He was hanged"; when you are talking about the carcass of an animal

say, "It was hung," as "The beef was hung dry." Also say your coat " was 

hung on a hook."

PREPOSITIONS AND THE OBJECTIVE CASE

Don't forget that prepositions always take the objective case. Don't say

"Between you and  I "; say "Between you and  me "

 Two  prepositions should not govern  one objective  unless there is an

immediate connection between them. "He was refused admission to and

forcibly ejected from the school" should be "He was refused admission to

the school and forcibly ejected from it."

SUMMONSUMMONS

Don't say "I shall summons him," but "I shall summon him."  Summon  is a

verb,  summons , a noun.

It is correct to say "I shall get a  summons  for him," not a  summon .

UNDENIABLEUNEXCEPTIONABLE

"My brother has an undeniable character" is wrong if I wish to convey the

idea that he has a good character. The expression should be in that case

"My brother has an unexceptionable character." An  undeniable  character

is a character that cannot be denied, whether bad or good. An

unexceptionable character is one to which no one can take exception.

THE PRONOUNS

Very many mistakes occur in the use of the pronouns. "Let you and I go"

should be "Let you and  me  go." "Let them and we go" should be "Let them

and us go." The verb let is transitive and therefore takes the objective

case.

"Give me  them  flowers" should be "Give me  those  flowers"; "I mean

 them  three" should be "I mean those three." Them is the objective case

of the personal pronoun and cannot be used adjectively like the

demonstrative adjective pronoun. "I am as strong as  him " should be "I

am as strong as  he "; "I am younger than  her " should be "I am younger

than  she ;" "He can write better than  me " should be "He can write

better than I," for in these examples the objective cases  him ,  her 

and  me  are used wrongfully for the nominatives. After each of the

misapplied pronouns a verb is understood of which each pronoun is the

subject. Thus, "I am as strong as he (is)." "I am younger than she (is)."

"He can write better than I (can)."

Don't say " It is me ;" say " It is I " The verb  To Be  of which is is a

part takes the same case after it that it has before it. This holds good

in all situations as well as with pronouns.

The verb  To Be  also requires the pronouns joined to it to be in the

same case as a pronoun asking a question; The nominative  I  requires the

nominative  who  and the objectives  me ,  him ,  her ,  its ,  you ,

 them , require the objective  whom .

" Whom  do you think I am?" should be " Who  do you think I am?" and

" Who  do they suppose me to be?" should be " Whom  do they suppose me to

be?" The objective form of the Relative should be always used, in

connection with a preposition. "Who do you take me for?" should be

" Whom  do, etc." "Who did you give the apple to?" should be "Whom did

you give the apple to," but as pointed out elsewhere the preposition

should never end a sentence, therefore, it is better to say, "To whom did

you give the apple?"

After transitive verbs always use the objective cases of the pronouns.

For " He  and  they  we have seen," say " Him  and  them  we have seen."

THAT FOR SO

"The hurt it was that painful it made him cry," say "so painful."

THESETHOSE

Don't say,  These kind; those sort .  Kind  and  sort  are each singular

and require the singular pronouns  this  and  that . In connection with

these demonstrative adjective pronouns remember that  this  and  these 

refer to what is near at hand,  that  and  those  to what is more

distant; as,  this book  (near me),  that book  (over there),  these 

boys (near),  those  boys (at a distance).

THIS MUCHTHUS MUCH

" This  much is certain" should be " Thus  much or  so  much is certain."

FLEEFLY

These are two separate verbs and must not be interchanged. The principal

parts of  flee  are  flee ,  fled ,  fled ; those of  fly  are  fly ,

 flew ,  flown .  To flee  is generally used in the meaning of getting

out of danger.  To fly  means to soar as a bird. To say of a man "He  has

flown  from the place" is wrong; it should be "He  has fled  from the

place." We can say with propriety that "A bird has  flown  from the

place."

THROUGHTHROUGHOUT

Don't say "He is well known through the land," but "He is well known

throughout the land."

VOCATION AND AVOCATION

Don't mistake these two words so nearly alike. Vocation is the employment,

business or profession one follows for a living; avocation is some

pursuit or occupation which diverts the person from such employment,

business or profession. Thus

"His vocation was the law, his avocation, farming."

WASWERE

In the subjunctive mood the plural form  were  should be used with a

singular subject; as, "If I  were ," not  was . Remember the plural form

of the personal pronoun  you  always takes  were , though it may denote

but one. Thus, " You were ," never " you was ." " If I was him " is a

very common expression. Note the two mistakes in it,that of the verb

implying a condition, and that of the objective case of the pronoun. It

should read  If I were he . This is another illustration of the rule

regarding the verb  To Be , taking the same case after it as before it;

 were  is part of the verb  To Be , therefore as the nominative (I) goes

before it, the nominative (he) should come after it.

A OR AN

 A  becomes an before a vowel or before  h  mute for the sake of euphony

or agreeable sound to the ear.  An apple ,  an orange ,  an heir ,  an

honor , etc.