Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1889-01-23
NTMRoD HALL, BATH COUNTY. VA" }
January II, 1889. !
To the Editor Of The Dispatch:

Il
You nave a well.earned reputation as re-
liable arbiter in questions OF grammar. ana
for that reason am much surnrised to bnd
YOU defending such ungrammatical atroci-
ties rs "tbe two first lines" and "the two
| last liuesD Of poem. A poem has exactly
/ one last Inc add exactly one urst ilne;
hence the phrases should he "the first two
| lines" and .'thc last two lines" The fact
! that educated mep Ike Messrs. Blackstone
and Winthrop have committed msniiest
error ~ no reason why other people VINO
understood grammar should DO the same
thing. II the most famous man in The world
| should stand on hi, head in the parlor such
An exhibition would not thereby become
- good form " in polite society. Quite often
| IN Tbackeray's novels end once IN Bulwer's
Pelham the phrase different TO" occurs.
! Nov are Won ready, for that reason, to con-
| tend that il is proper to say that one thing
ais different TO" another thing:
Respectfully, J. A. MACON.
We took pains not 10 defend "ihe ingram
NAUTICAL atrocities" 10 which our correspond
en-, alludes. We simply stated the fact that
Miss HIVES had good authority for using
them.
Thirty years ago, or more, we were as con-
fdent as Dir. MAcoS that the phrases in ques-
| ton should be a. he says they ought to be;
and for the reason which he states; but
much reading has convinced lie that there are
two sides even to this question, and that Mr..
| WINTHROP and AHTHONY TEOLLoPE thought
at least that they knew what thew were doing
when they employed such phrases n "fouI
first" Not Sir WILLIAM BLACKSTONE only
but every lawyer tres.s with contempt the
! argument which Mr.. MACON regards as con-
elusive, and uses the word "last" or the
word first" as II has always been used.
What does our correspondent think OF the
following sentence:
"There were ten names. The four last
ones were written by me-
How would this sound?
"There were ten Names. The last four
ones were written by me-
Again
"The four lots on Grace street will be sold
first"
Is that sentence wrong because "exactly
one" lot, and no more, can be sold .frSH
Again: ''The ten iaSt-pdmed persons" or
"the ten persons last aamed." Are these
phrases wrong! Or this:
"The tive jurymep wloSe names are FIRST
above written"
Sometimes it would be necessary to say
''first tcn," As where a man offers TO con-
tribute the last ten dollars TO an object II
other people will contribute the other ninety.
In such a case there are a first ten, second
ten, and a third ten, &c. Sc. In other words.
the phrase ''thc first two" implies second
two; and il. ior example, three lines Of poetry
were quoted there would lie no second two.
II MIR. MACON is right, the following SEN
tence is wrong:
"Theso arethc tco commOaeSt occupations
Of mankind. "-Thii NuSeVm, Vol. l., page
AL.
There can he only one commonest" oc-
cupation.
The following sentence is also wrong il
Mr.. MACON IS right:
"Joncs and Smith were the best men l ever
| knew
Oh. no. There can be only one best man.
once more:
"Thc three men merit spoken OF were
| Mormons.'
Could there be moro than one man "neTt"
spoken Of?
But we forhcar.