Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1872-12-15
GRAMMAR



EDITORS APPEAL.-WithOut profes-
sing great proficiency as a phiI0logist q
grammarian. / would like YOU to pub
lish, for the special edification Of the
~crsHas de Ia creme heTeaboGts, the fol
lowing expressions, as examples so com
mon in both speaking and writing,
among those who esteem themselves the
elite and hteTuti, and so grating to ones
feelings and disgusting to a circle OF
true elegance, sitting in S finely fur
nished paFlor, Of flowing curtains and
rich drapery; and withal 80 violatfve OF
the simplest rudiments Of grammar:
between YOU and ~ tsff he had Ueat:1i
II would hare eent ''"him and me tras
going;;'A that is hfn;p sit was Bze;''
The done like I did y "8 I was him -
aIssen p 81 have sdU - che seen it,
ssus OF the profession were:n t'egery-
body mind their own, etc. - SeveFy one
/ Of them arere;;'i stneither Of Us tUsre,,ts
leach Of US are, y etc. etc. might for
Hmay, p etc. etc. And numbers Of 9TH
ers in common vogue with the upper
| ten. in silks and satins, may be given,
not, perhaps, s0glanng and i~nexcusable,
but greatly murdefOus Of Murray, were
It not for eneumbering your columns.
You win allow me, however, to cite q
| few Illustrations Of the u~tilitsEian i'm
p~Ortance Of grammar, not viewing Il
alone as 3 mere accOmplishment-and
there IL no greater ornament, or blan-
dishment, or accomplishment, for q
lady, than neat, ehAste, correct and ele-
giant language.
o, how happy are they who their
publishers pay-or Whons their publish
ers pay. See what a difference in the
meaning BY the change Of the simple
word awhoa into @whom."
Again: A slgn-bOard somewhere reads,
"AH sorts Of young ladies stays here.t'
Now, hermeneutically,a as grammaAcaIIy,
it has no sense at ali; nut II the singular
verb "staysn be changed to the plural
stay it would mean one thing clear
w. or If the noun in the nominative,
hladiss, - be changed into the pOssessive
case By the simple addition Of an D
trephie comma, fladies'1, the signihea-
ton would be equally apparent but very
different.
And again: Napoleon is blamed for
not charging at the head Of his old
guard at Waterloo, but Headiey, in his
vindicati0n, says Napoleon knew that
Ney could do more with that old guard
than ke'i-tnat is, than Napoleon could
do. But suppose it had been written
"him,o instead Of "he'-it wOul8 then
mean Ney could do more with sAe cid
guard than he could with Napoleon
himself In writing, the import.
ance Of punctuation is Illustrated
in the following. Most forcifsy IS Il
illustrated in 8 certain clause IN The Fed
eral Constitution, Ii which, according to
the posthunous papers Of Madison, a
comma vas omitted, leaving the idea
shrouded in such ambiguity as to call
forth some Of the most disfractfag De.
bates BY our great msn-Calboun and
othenEin the Federal Senate. By the.
BY, # some Of cur big men who speak
wei would learn to write better, MWould
save 3 deal Of trouble and labor to the
many blear-eyed printers who correct
them for the literary public eye and get
n0ne Of the credit. To this charge u
@. Adams and &c Calhoun were snlan-
did exceptions in their cay. who Are
the exceptions now?
Tohlt higher. Fnote the sollowinefn
my last lev months reading.
Senator sumner, in verv elaborate
letter rom Washin9to6, July lL. fST2
says: But Eeiths< Chaa5eF m7seif9s-s
less faithful, y etc.
Jgage ThuFrnAa, "a Eprspafsdaddrsss
% the literary societies Of Virginia Unl1
VersitY, June q, 1872, says: Had every