Delaware tribune. [volume] (Wilmington, Del.) 1867-1877, 1868-05-07
" WORDS AND 1IfEIR USE


Richard Grant White, than whom very
few are more competent for the task, has
been writing for several recent issues of the
Gaiuty series of critical articles on the
uses Of different words in our language
The character of some OF his criticisms is
wnimpeachable, while that Of others only
serves TO show II fact not newly discovered
that the indulgence of "a desire to criiicise
the language of Others usually involves the
result Of being more positive than undenia-
bic, more captious than torclble. For il is
certain that our language changes with time,
and that the standards of fifty years ago,
will not agree with the practice Of to-day,
while it is equally true that the common
practice OF cultivated society makes the
standard itself. AS there is no royal road
10 learning, so there is no complete test Of
correctness in the choice and use of words
Some rules there are which cannot be trans
srcssrd, but when we go beyond the broad
est plecepts of our Grammar we enter upon
ground where Taste, that indelinable and un-
substantial law, rules, and under whose rule
the differences in opinion Of good writers
no, only exist in fact but must be allowed to
be expressed.
As aconsequcncc of such facts ae we have
Indicated, all efforts like those of Mr.. White
are liable to provoke controversy, and while
some Of his conclusions may be good, he
cause they are confined to limits in which
'lle rules OF proper expression are dctnite
and admitted, any vcnturing beyond these
+ not only provocative of controversy but
really worthless on account of that fact
for Instance we shall agree with him, he
cause no correct writers have ever done
otherwise, that ''either, used separately, is
responded to by or, and neither by nor"
and that Bacon was right in saying, "Wc
never heard of any ship that had been
Seen to arrive on the shore of Europe: no,
nor Of either the East or the West Indies I"
the disposition of some being to place nor
instead of or in the latter clause. So far,
Undoubtedly, Mr.. White is safe against diii-
erence Of opinions. But he condemns as "a
horrible Americanisnl, the use of the cx-
preston ''section, as applied to n locality,
of tract OF country. 1t grew, no doubt, as
ne states, from the manner in which the
Western lands were sold, by sections but il
s not, naturally or necessarily, an improper
term by which to designate particular por-
Ton OF territory. Its use therefore violates
no vital principle of language, as it does
trtae MIR. W.) to say ''lhe President con
Sened' instead of ''conv0ked," Congress
lC0a together Dcnire, to come con to-
gelier, o0cere, to call. The President o
COURSE does not come the body together)
80 again our critic is nice rather than con
elusive when he objects to the expression
extend an invitation" instead of inviting
or giving an invitation. The word extend
10 our mind, is appropriate and graceful il
lhal use. 1t signifies the fact intended Il
We eSpresscd-the extension of an opel
hai'i, the reaching out of an invitation or
welcome, the meeting halfway, the indica
"ol oi a desire to entertain or employ.
We are right in supposng its employment
mus to be natural and appropriate, as eS
pressing the idea, no arbitrary rule of pas
usage or somebody's present taste, can max
improper.
Shall and twill" and their uses 4
verbs independently or as auxiliaries afford
sale tilling ground. So, also, Religion use
asa synonym for Piety or the denomin'
euil ol a rain shower n Storm; or the us
VI balance" in the sense of residue or r,
ma'haer. But to object to the term " Re
its.ae, as "a mere pretentious obtrud
from the technical province of law"
ABSURD and without shadow of reason. Re
''''a'e Is not merely "a big-sounding w
s'f phrase for house and land" but IL is
hcc 'ssary term for the common and incl
,Se description of large class Of object
IS not house and land, alone, as Mr. Viii
80 carelessly infers, but may be land
"'"sc' OF any sort of building; it may
w. one, or it may include all. 1t is me
valuable general classification and has col
''''" use by the necessities of the everyd
employment of language
These are but brief comments, confin
!" 'lle close limits of our proper provin
'is NE criticisms of Mr.. White in his |
pAper. They illustrate, we think, what
'''u In general at the outset of our artis