The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1888-01-04
0ha Ggtelszee1IGe3.
.wsEELN0, W. VA. JANUARY a, 1883


The PruSidenVS EnEii4h.
The Prssiden! OF the United S.stes sent
to the Pope Of Rome copy OF the Con-
s!l.utlon OF the United States bearing this
inscription:
Presented TO His Holiness Pope Leo
MIL, "a en- expression OF CoHgGtulation
on the occasion OF his sacerdotal Jubilee,
With the profound regard OF Grover Cleve-
land, President Of the United States,
Though the courtesy Of His EminenCe,
Cardinal Gibbons, Archbishop OF Ba!G-
more.
THE was printed in the IErELLIaENcER
with accompanying comment as follows:
Grover cleveland is President OF the
United States, bat not IS be eays, through
tho courtesy OF His EmineuCe, Cardinal
GibbunF, Archbishop Of Baltimore. The
President OF the United States should BIO
cbovc misleading the Pope Of Roms III q
mGlter Of 60 much importance, or perhaps
he thinks Bis Holiness would not under
stand good Eogli5h.
A reader Of tse lNTELLIGEScER says 10
sees in the Regis,sr Of yesterday, over tho
signature OF Teacher" criticism On the
above comment, and asks whether
Teacher" or the IETELLIGRNCER 10 right,
Another agEs whether the INTELLlGENcRR
means 70 cay that "the sentence will not
parse"
From Inc bilious tone OF Teachers"
article 1t ia to ba Inferred thGtit he teaches
at all he does 80 with . book in one hand
and rod in the other, drawing from the
book that which he astempts to teach and
impresaing i! with rod upon the pupils
back. he Ia dishoneat ~ well as ines
pablo Teacher" for he quotes the INTEL'
MGENcER as saying that the psrentheticsl
clause is wrong and should not BIS used.
Neither was it said or suggested, as the
other critic seems to think, that the Pres.
idsnt's sentoncs would not p2yae, There
Is q deal OF psrBable Euglish that is not
good English. This, we are we'll aware,
ia not the view OF tho idola.rous grammar
stuffed pedanLs who worship at the shrine
OF LindIey Murray and other Sacred Bulls
Of their cold and lifelsss grammar.cuIt.
From the incesanrt ding-donging at
grammar and tho Jealous efforts to beat
Engliah grammar into the hsads OF the
young, It seems to be thought by these
same idostors that the English Language
begins and ends with lie g0.CGllsd gram
mar, AID that the Language must OF neCes-
sity % well used by those who have been
liberaE5 crammed with grammar rules.
There ia q logical construction OF Ian
gunGe, and in English this is OF more i'm
portAncs than all the grammar. 0ue oil
the most scholarly and thoughtful Of re.
cent writer's on English language says
with force: "In modern English the rela-
ton OF Rubject, predicate aud object lie
purely logical relation, that is, a relation
OF reason, OF thought, and 1t 10 indicated
chiefly by the Succession in which the
thoughts are presented" This htinGa US to
style, and it la against tho removable rules
relating 10 cleanesso fstyle that the Presi-
don't has offended.
Style relates rs well to single aentence
as to sn entiVe book. It is essential to
clearness Of style that in the subordinate
parts Of the sentence the relative words
DO arranged with due regard TO their
value and office in the sentence; that the
parts OF the sentence be msrshaled in pro-
gresaive order. It 10 essential to the unity
OF aentencs "thBt the leading words
and members be placed in the leading
parts Of the sentence, which 10 generally
in the beginning and the end; that the
related words or membeEs be placed, so
far as may be, in proximity with each
other, and in corresponding parts OF the
Bsntence."
Authorities on the subj sCt are particular
to give warning GGsinat the careless use Of
psrentheHcsl clauses. That really great
writer's hava beOn caught in this pittsll
does no. make it leEs matter for COM
msnt when tho President OF the United
States slips in on o memorable occasion.
The President WAS giving something to the
Pope, snd Cardinal Gibbons WAS to for
ward 1t for him. Ths President desired
to convoy the idea that the book was
'psesented, through the courtesy OF His
Eminence, Cardinal Gibbons, Archbishop
OF Baltimore, to His Holiness Pope Leo
MIL" This he should have said, and
his meaning would have been expressed
with mechanical exactnesS, II he had
placed the parentheiical clause (''throush
the courtesy," De- between pArentheses
instead Of between commas.
The medium OF communication was not
named in the Logical order and was not
placed in ita proper relation to its related
parts. The world was told to whom the
presentation was made and by whom,
matters Of the most Importance in the
sentence, aud lastly, az r sort Of climax,
through whom, matter Of much less i'm.
portGuCe.
One not acquainted with our form OF
government would be pardonsble IL he
inferred from the Presidents use OF Ian
guRGe that Grover Cleveland is President
OF the United States through the courteby
Of His EminencO, Cardinal Gibbons,
Archbishop Of Baltimore. The sentence
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