New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1892-05-09
4 PLEA FOR TIE PEOPLES ENGLISH.

TO the Editor Of The Tribune.
sir: As one Of Your regular radcrS | strongly
object to the suggestion Of Mr.. fUlham In saturdays
Tribune that called "crror' In the use Of words"
ly correspondents or quoted from speeches. should
be- corrected by the c0mpostor or proof-rcader' |
say let rs have the language used. excepting. of
course clcar Of hccrophcmy. Mr.. Fnlham'S
proposed correction OF She misuse Of words
in two instances he cites. and his comments on Sha
and will" only ,low how hir an Intelligent may
h, led a,tray by the pedantc rules of some grammar
ians. Too often these rules. instead Of conforming
! 10 the language usually spoken and written rs
In embrace the socaed idiOmS, arbtraIil, strive to
make the language conform 10 the rules And through
TIL, the proper growth Of tho language under
uble poetic license is checked one Of the great charms
I'm Miss Pools stories Hes In the abandonment Of gram
mnicaI f,ims. These come to u' Hike fresh brcezes
across ve1nI fields and Nrcets bringing the otor Of
spring buds and Wild flowers. The most Of these IT.
rcgularities were good Anglo saxon English;
though later condemned by gi'nlnaraiS IL contrary
To their conventional rules. Was there really any
gain in their refusing TO accept done a the imperfect
Of "do'-rceulnrly formed. da. dozen, have do en-
done; and encouraging an irregular form, rs do
do ed. did. have dozen (dOncDl Centuries Of igno
rant teaching have failed to eliminate from Anglo
Saxon descendants the form do en- (doncl. And so
with dozens OF other words, now stignntzcd n cor
ruptons The man who pronounc"S T,rc lIaute
Tar Iote is IN that region beginning 10 be looked mt
| lEhOI;lmuS. Inc So';l'u ''TTupuon q HlF''h
by leaving oil the final e. In particpcs, t. only adj
hcrcncc To the primitive form. which ended In "en'
or "on." | unable to conceive any reason for the
addition Of &" by the Norman teachers than to give
n nasal sound TO the final n" Of the original rs
Webster does in giving the pronunciation OF Bon ton
pronounced bong tong" Seven centuries have failed
to bring the saxon descendants To free use OF the
ing"
IL Is only about a century ago that Richard Lowth
| first introduced In his grammar the rule Mr. Fulham
upolds that shnll Is to be used In the first person
and will" in the second and third simply indicative
II was purely arbitrary The best writer's had not so
used the word up that time. With them the simple
indicative Of future WIS, =" | go, or am going to-mor
I'm pursuance Of "A purpose formed, and therefore more
Jaooab.e, Il Will 50 tomorrow; with the stress N
an obligation Of duty, and therefore quite certain
{. 1 shall GO tomorrow" Under an imperative ncces-
sty must 60 tomorrow" When the future action
was unnnucnced BY either will, duty necessity. II
used spending more nearly with the uncer-
ainty Of mans volition II quite certain shaH or
must" took It's place. one looks In vain among thc
authors before Lowth's time for conformation to MS
rne. Webster under the word " shallp viittnlT ad-
mits that three fourths Of the people continue SO to
Il It's wrong use-wich are wrong by the Ola rue rs
well rs by LoUth's. This innovation. so limited In
use ard really irregular should be reearued as
pedantc. -. 1919. !,
10 your columns at all. Yet have the exact words
they The paper Is not held nccountanc for ner
IDEAS nor for the language they choose TO EXPRESS
them N. y writes. An hotel" " an heavenly