Morning journal and courier., 1893-07-20
THE UNITED ssaTEs !" ARE,

David Dudley Field on the Use Of
 Plural Subjects with Singular
 Verbs.
 tFrom the Boston Evening TranscriptI
 The following letter from the distin- guished jurlst and scholar, David Dudley Field, deals admirably with an important point of language, and, we are assured, states views in regard to which Professor Hill and all the department of English at Harvard are wholly at one with Mir Field:
 SroCKBRTDGE, June 15.
 DEAR SIR: You have been 30 kind ss to send me your interesting work on the Foundation of Rhetoric, for which thank you. The service that yeu have performed for the preservation in its purity of our common speech is not a small one, and trust that 1t may help to stem the tide of hybrid language which seems to be setting in upon us. To go no further, think of the word ''combine," used as a noun, which taken from the slang of band of thieves, seems not unlikely to be lifted ss a word of good birth into our mother tongue.
 I have observed with especial gratifca- tion your condemnation of an expression too cohmonly used by careless writers, and sometimes by those who should know better. I refer to the ungrsmmstical and ill-sounding phrase of "ths United Ststes is," with variations she, her and herself. No wonder that Bryant denourcsd 1t when it began. I wish that his example hRd been always followed, for never was there a phrase ia use with SO little 10 commend it. For convenience it has no merit, inss- much ss "they," "theiT" or "them" can be written as quickly and spoken As glibly as "she," "her" or "herself."
 The first, best and decisive reason for the former Is that the federal constitution designstss the United States ss plural. Thus in article 3, seetion 2. The judicial power shall extend 10 the laws of the Uni ted States and treaties msde under their authority" Section 3, Treason against the United States shall consist only in levying war against them, or h adheTing to their enemies"
 Has the civil war made any difference in this respectf See the thirteenth article of the amendment, Neither slavery nor in- voluntary servitude shall exist within the United States or any plscs subject to their jurisdiction"
 Not only did the franers Of the ccnsti- tuition sst before us this model, but the earlier presidents and statesmen, in their messages, dispatches and state papers, without exception, so far ss l can diseov- CT, made their language conform to the model. Should not these reasons suffice for every true AmericGni
 The usage of which yUu complain is con- trary to the grammar of our language, which requires plGrsl verb for R plural noun. l remtmb.r that years ago, 6urig z th> fierce but now hAlf-forgotten struggles of the period, one of the parties got hold of letter Cf one of the candidates, which, by aid of much imagination and possibly little uutruth, could be made to read Es if written, "Our sufferings is intolsEAble," perhaps btcause the last letter Of suffer- | ing had twist In 1t. This, however, wAs enough for the morality of party warfare, and 1t was trumpetsd from one end e the land to the other as proof of the cARdl dates ignorance. Now. by the whirligig of time, comes up a pretens.on 10 fOiEt the false grammar of lSi0 into the true gram mar of 1890.
 This new phraseOlcgy is, moreover, con trary to our own usage in other respects. Has any American historian ever written or spoken of the New Eoglsnd states that they was settled by the Puritans' Has 1t ever been asserted of New York and New Jersey that they is contiguous states, or of the states in general, "IBey Is all oneT ! Suppose we look for parallels in other | COuusrltH- The uA oNAAA1EAhAO | have been united, some or all of them, In | a sort of federal compact, for msny sges. Who ever wrote of them that the United Csntons maintain her neutrality among European ststesi The proyincee al the | outlets of the Rhine have been united time | out of mind, sometimes under a stadt- holder, sometimes under a grand pensions- ", sometimes under & king. Who ever | thought of saying that the United Prov | iuces of ihe Netherlands was once the rival | of Englsndl There i= dominion to the north of us, composed of several prov inces Do the Canadians write ths. their provinces was bound together by the stat | ute of dominiobl There l. sH eEupire of | Germany scrcs- the water, consisting of not few separated states. Do the Ger mans say that their several kingdoms and | grand duchiss is or was consolidated by | the Frsnco-Germsn wall do not affirm | that such lspgsage was never us'd but have never sten it written or heard it
 spoken.
 Then as to euphony, which is matter of some importance, more, l think, than | 1t is gene rally thought 10 be, In forming the manners and tsstes of a people, what | American is there who does not feel his