The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1865-05-27

"a The following communication was put in type
for our last weeks issue, but crowded out for want
of room.
Editor Of the p. c. AdrertIser
SIR:-The Hawaiian Gazette of May 9th, contains 4 speci-
men OF " literary fairness which ought to commend its author
TO q prudent husbandry Of his resources, or make him 4 candi-
date for a boarding school.
Bishop StsIey, in q note to his "late Pastoral, - makes use Of
the following language, viz at would be difficult to find any
one in this socalled Christian Nation, be they adults or chill
dren, that has ever heard" SC, and Grammaticus attempts
to justify it. The original blunder is very apparent its at
tempted Justification is Il noteworthy confusion Of terms.
GrGnAaaficus says, As to the use of they in the paren-
thetical clause, be they adults &c, it is plural. because plu-
raity is implied whenever a singular distrjbutiYe is used, such
rs each, = either any one"
Take his own illustration, with a simple change of tense, in
order to q freer use Of his socalled distributives, and note the
logical result.
~ will give n book to each they win be much pleased"
will give 4 book to either they will be much pleased.
will give = book to any one they will be much pleased.
Does the conclusion follow Is it absolutely irresistible
Possibly not, in the last two examples, until human nature
becomes somewhat reformed.
Now, were the premises correct in regard to Distributes, the.
phrase any one would have no application to the facts, since id
is not distributive. 1t is, so to speak, doubly indefinite. But
the premises themselves are inalmissible, for, while the rule
would apply to each, either would still be left out in the cold.
This anomalous use Of terms is still further justified on the
plea that "to have said be he who,' SC, Cmeaning, it is pre-
sumed, be he adult &c,) would have excluded the female
sex Grant this, and what becomes of the Bishops preaching
that all men should repent? Would he be willing thus to trust
the " better half" Of creation to uucovenanted mercies Be-
sides, is any principle of the English language better establish
ed as good usage, grammar, a. good grammar" than that the
appropriate general term for the race is a masculine noun or
pTonOun
The Bishops reviewer, in copying his language, substitutes
have for has, in the sentence quoted above. On the presump-
ton that the error is not a typographical one, it is evident tina,
the reviewers mind was upon the plurals, 4" adults or Children
with which the verb must agree as necessarily as with the words
a. any one" And, since here was a dilemma, il. was quite az
natural to take the nearer horn. although the liberty taLa, u;,b
the Bishops English was scarcely allowable. 1t should be
noticed, however, that the verb hare or has was not the poiu,
in dispute but the issue was with " any one, be they" &c.
while the first was appropriated, apparently, as q cloak for a
vicious logic.
Again, since literary fairness is demanded, it may be 4 q
well to insist on grammatical accuracy. Granmasicus says,
its nominative that Not to be uncharitaSIe to vSar :" ,ba
Syntax OF GrGnmaticus. in the above quoted sentence il ia
submitted that, in strict accuracy, plurality cannot be predica a
ted OF any verb certainly not Of those forms of verbs which
are used witt. singular subjects a : well as plural ones. That,
as a relative, can as well be plural as singular, in which case
adults or children are referred to, and all pronouns or adjec-
tive pronouns meaning the same, must correspond in number.
the verb, ahde they becomes he, or she, OF both, not to be too
exclusive: Ia short, the nouns and pronouns must either Ill be
superhuous. a few grams Of common sense are all the author-
As to the use of the verb with the noun of multitude, here
even Doctors disagree. Good usage is not uniform. The alb
sence Of uniformity results from the nature Of the case. This
the verb to be employed viii depend, almost en- entireIr. . I tbe
condition Of mind OF the person. II his thoughts are upon the
'-N'N - NNNN NN ''" " N"S h'lb WIN ~ q IIhl WHICH
agrees with the singular nomihative but if they are upon the
Individuals which compose that uniL the form Of the verb will
De that which is used with q plural uominative.
But, in the case at issue, tiTInmdticus appears to dismiss
the subject by excluding the word sect from the class, entirely
thus "darkening COUNSEL by words without knowledge" lie
says, This sect have, &c, used by the Rev. /. Smith, can
De defended on the ground urged by the reviewer, viz that
sect i a noun OF multitude. For the word this being placed
before it, shows that it is regarded as singular"
The logical inference from all this is, that Grqmm4ticus
would use all collective nouns as plural; that, placing this
before sect makes it singular, and, consequently. not collective;
and that, therefore, hGUe should not be used with il. If the
position which thus appears . be assumed, proves anything it /
proves too much for, once allowed. ii would be dificult to tell
what 4 noun Of multitude, or q collective noun, IS. But the re-
viewer does not, in the least, appear to have defended the use
II hdue on the ground that sect is q noun Of multitude y /
That II was such was taken for granted, and apologies were
sought for the use Of hare, not on account of the individuals
the sect, but on account Of the anomalies inherent to
Z. IL has been suggested, however, that he might have made A
better point, had he admitted an error, and pronounced il all !
The more manifest because the sect was 81 small.
There is no doubt that many persons using the denons,rative
ms before sect, would prefer the verb has after it, but not be
sect IL not collective. Still it is certain that the tendency
$ to the use Of that form Of the verb which corresponds with
he plural. \ single example will suffice. This people who
inoweth not the law, are cursed" Here the collective is con-
idered with reference to its form, by the use Of the relative
lause, anu, at the same time, with reference 10 its meaning. by
he verb employed. Yours, &c, STSrGx.