Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1885-04-17

when persons ask us for our opinion
!, suy question, and we give it. we 90
not thereby mean to say that Il Is any
body else's opinion. Therefore, nobody
else has any right to complain that Il Is
net his opinion; nor are we under any
obligations to give anybody clse's opin-
ion in our columns. Nevertheless, we
have always allowed as much space to
such dissenters rs we deemed con-
sisient with due regard TO the
wishes Of those OF our readers
who take no interest in such
subjects. A day or two ago we gave
our opinion on a certain question, and
received dissenting opinion from 3D."
We published as much Of it as we con-
sidered worthy Of any comment what
ever. and omitted the rest. Whereupon
"D." wrote us q note saying in sub
stance that the remainder Of his article
was omitted because we could not an
swer it. This is our apology for pub
fishing to-day the rest of his article.
II is as follows:
But the sentence 80 and 3 are 5 :"
is correct, because the subject, 80 and
81 is made up Of two nouns connected
by the copulative and, conveying the
idea of two distinct things-of plu-
rality; therefore the verb must be plu-
raj. According to the rules, :" a verb
must agree with its subject in number,
&c.," and "a verb agreeing with two
or more nominatives connected by and
must be plural" For purposes OF
syntax, the sentences John and James
are men " and 80 and 3 are " are iden-
teal. In each the subject consists Of
two nouns connected by and, and the
predicate of are and noun. There
fore, being alike in every essential par
ticular, and the former being undoubt-
eddy correct, the latter must be. The
fact that we are dealing with abstract
numbers in one sentence. and names Of
human beings in the other, has nothing
to do with the structure Of the sem
fences.
Again You say, A" Suppose we should
say 2 and are 5, and Max should
respond, ARE tip" If the Dispatch
should say, "John and James are
men," Max" would respond, care
Mey?" not " Is he ?" or " Are hep"
Because the pronoun stands for John
and James both, not one of them, con-
sequently must be plural. And for the
same reason, as MAX" is supposed
to know the sum Of 2 and 3, he would
respond afiirmatively, "They are"
that is, these twO numbers, taken to-
gether, are, or make, 5.)
The reply, "H is" would be cor
rect if by ii one should mean that the
whole sentence, or the assertion con-
tanned in it, is true.
Would the Dispatch say. g. and 3
is s, and is odd numbers 2" d.
Surely the foregoing needs no an
swer. The rule quoted, is, as was
clearly implied in our first article, not
involved in this discussion. 3D."
assumes that a rule familiar to every
schoolboy was overlooked by us. He
says two sentences are alike which are
totally unlike. In the sentence " JOHN
and JAMES are men," there are two
nOminatiyes (before and after in the
plural number. The verb, therefore,
is necessarily plural. In the sentence,
:" 2 and is s." the nominatiye follow
ing the verb q is this nominatve) is an
abstract number used as a unit or
whole, and is therefore in the singular
number. Consequently the word lis "
is correctly employed. All this on D.
own ground. But as " W. c. NJ"
said yesterday, and as we said in our
reply to MAX" the meaning is that
the sum Of . and 3 is ), just as in null
tiplication the meaning is that the pro-
duct Of 10 by 10 is 100, or in substrac-
ton that the remainder after . is taken
from 10 is s. ("Is" all the time.)
3D." intimates that in response to
the statement, - and 3 are }" it
would be right to ask, " Are they"
Shall we comment on such blunder?
The more learned, and searching, and
accurate, and convincing in their argyll
ments, our critics are, the more likely
are they to find a place in our columns.