The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1867-11-25

Inc peaceful conferences of the whole
people or each southern State nD,o being hell nj
the ballot-box."
We quote TErRLow WEED:
Continual complaints are beiug p,ade. =,
people living in the neighborhood of Baton
rouge La, OF the shooting of their cows
The distinguished editor OF the Albany
Knickerbocker says:
he road is bsinq nrcled over nearly all the
way through the different gorges of the noun
| tains.'' - ~ o'
THE road "is 'arctt'g orer,n our author
would say.J
| The New York Herad says:
" Substan tial works of defence oye helm,
ITnp"ly Wro1cn up on all The approaches to
[" Substantial works IRE MroDiag IN" is the
University style
| The New York Times says:
THE proposition to raise slo0 ooo for tho
| family OF the late Governor Andrew io I.;,,,
co'r'od AIT with the characteristic liberalitv ~
our citizens -
" Is carrying ont" quo.h the grammar.
Eilher our author Is vastly mistaken or the
westminster heris,c, the London Times, and
'''i 'he Ne" ork papers, are III the hands Of
incorrect waters. The former is the fact
Professor HOLMES owes his dictum to
some other grammar We could quote ten
| lr-unsand sentences from the current litera-
tnre of the day. to prove that he is wrong and
we are inclined to think that after reading
| those above, and imagining how they would
sound if corrected to suit his teachings, he will
conclude that somebody else is quarter Of n
century behind the times. The fact is that all
| this confusion has grown out of = wrong clas-
| siication of the verbs. There are more con-
! in ions I,u,, ~,
/! love " and the verb ''to build belong to diff
ferent coniuGations, and the attempt to make
OF the former 4 paradigm for the latter must
! necessarily fail. The one is merely transi-
tive verb the other is active transtive. The
one expresses I passion us complete ut one
moment rs Ut another; the other expresses Il
progressive work. We cannot enlarge upon
this point; but we are sure that some gram
marian will before many years make fortune
| ont of the idea.
| i. G6. " obs. Who ercr, in the question IC'o
cr.r s;.w the ike2 is scarcely TO be regarded as
4 compound ntcrrO.ative."
| True enough. And we would add that it,
won Id be best not to call advcrbs pronouns rs
| Il general thing
Dp',bke poSS.SsirGS. II was always correct to
say, :" this book of mine," THAT is, % of my
books and the Incorrect expression, this
heart of mine,' [corrcct nowl grew out of it,
There is no mystery about it. Such errors
constantly grow mp in every language. " Ac.
customed to discuss questions Is intolerhble
if analysed closely, yet usage justtles it,
Pleased 10 dScussquestions,' IS strictly cor
rect. The mass of mankind, including writers,
cannot perceive the difference between these
two forms Hence that which was incorrect
becomes correct by usage. Ignorance adds
ten words and ten forms of expression 10 our
language for every one added by learning.
These remarks apply TO the iniimitivc mood.
1t is utter nonsense TO say that the " Il" OF
the iniinitiye mood is 4 proposition. 1t would
be rs correct to say that the no,em ''subject y
is sometimes Il verb. :" do not object 10 read
. novels - is u torturing form of expression
which has resulted from this nonscnsical talk
about the prepVSiti0l, Ito" being the sign of
the iniimtiyc mood ''I do not object to his
read novels" " would really be Just rs good.
Yet the former is employed frequently nowa-
days. If grammarians would only say that
TO the proposition and ''to" Il part of
every verb in The iniiuitive mood are entirely
different words, we might get rid OF such
plumbers.
We quote from page Isl 4 dclicat" rule:
" III the active voice reference i made 10
the agent, tn" seller, or The letter. In The
passive form The reference is 10 the thing 10
br sold or To hc let. :So III the phrases, rms
W1a ttiHy I" "o0iDtead, or iD b. romul.pied; the
! former expression refers To the rulugISt-the
| latter, tu the thing culugized."
| Which rule is treated with con tempt OH page
23s, where we find
! What is easy 20 read and understand is
usually easy to parse.
We have Intentionally omitted TO mention
remarks of which we approve; yet here is one
we must quote:
- An ;tdycrb should never be iMtrudcd be-
tween the sign OF the mtiniuivc and the verb.
, Such expressions rs the following are always
wrong: he pr1mjSsd 10 Serereiy r'lrimand htm
for his gNu,cs.'
And her" is 4 quotation the author makes
from HUME, which We (and OF course he does
hold 20 be correct:
"Where Il great number of commodtie "rs
| raised and perfected" &c.
| The reader will doubtless conclude that il
must be IN excellent grammar which contains
no more faults lhan we have pointed out.