Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1899-04-14
A Hopeless Meddlcr.
OR OF TIE STANDARD:

A Hopeless Meddler.
EDITOR OF THE STANDARD:
Allow me to call attention to one or
two grave errors committed 10y the
Morning Olympian in its last Sundays
issue.
Under the head of verbal Tangles,"
that paper proceeds as follows:
VERBAL TANGLEs.
The active and passive forms of the
verb "to set and to sit" are a con-
slant source of worry and veXaton of
spirit to many well-meaning and we'll
informed persons. Good writers who
are also good grammarians in general
way get tangled on these two simple and
apparently trivial parts OF speech. The
Nashriile american for example answer
ing a correspondent says:
1t is correct to speak of sitting"
hen and not a setting" hen because
the hen sits and does not set. 1t is cor
rect to speak of the setting" sun and
not of the sitting" sun because the
sun sets and does not sit. See?
The correspondent may see" but if
he sees satisfactory reply in that deliv-
erance he is to be congratulated because
the answer is not dramatically nor or
nithologically correct. A hen can set
herself on the nest and sit there. A
person can set hen on a nest il the hen
is ready and she will sit there-if she
wants to, and if she doesn't she will
neither set nor sit. See? When she is
preparing to set herself down on the
nest she is a setting hen, without a
doubt. When she gets properly planted
she then becomes sitting hen, sure.
And when she is alternately on or Off
the nest she is either a setting hen or
sitting hen, as the case may be. So it is
perfectly possible for man to set him
self down, but when the action ceases
and he becomes quiet, he is sitting
down. There are no flies on that logic.
And many usually correct writer's and
speakers get themselves hopelessly
muddled on the words lay" and Gle"
one being the active and the other the
passive form of the verb. "Now lay
me down to sleep" is correct express
sion, but to say "he lays still' is off,
way off, yet good writer's sometimes use
it. A man may lay himself down and
lie still if he is so disposed. but he can't
lay still to save his neck. An otherwise
correct parent will tell child to "lay
that thing down and let it lay STILL"
winch command no properly taught
child can obey without a severe strain.
The only trouble is to keep in our minds
the fact that set and lay imply action,
while sit and lie denote inaction, or
state of rest. Doesthe American seeg
Now l have only to remark in the
outset, that what the Nashville An.eri-
can says to its correspondent is wholly
correct both dramatically and "or.
nithologically" in every particular
and the dictum of that paper would
withstand the fire of criticism where
ever the English language is spoken.
The Americans treatment of the is
sue in question is, indeed, remarkably
succinct, brief, and straight to the
point.
The Olympian perpetrates an I'M
pardonable blunder in the first sem
tence it essays to utter. Thus, "to
set" and "to sit" are not one and
the same verb rs the editors lam
guage so obviously implies; but
they are two distinctly different
verbs, differently spelled, different
ly pronounced, differently conjugat-
ed and differently defined. Nor is
it, as he alleges, the active and passive
forms of these verbs that cause so
much trouble among speakers and
writers. Not at all but it is the heed
less substitution of the one verb for
the other that constitutes the root of
the evil. II this is not what the
Olympidn meant, it is certainly what
that paper should have said. ITO
SET" is a transitive, "to sit" an intran.
sitive:verb; and this fact only serves
to intensity the "tangle." Towards
the close of his pointless structures, the
Editor duplicates the first blunder by
asserting that, "Many usually correct
writer's and speakers get themselves
hopelessly muddled ON the words lay
and lie,' one being the active and the
other the passive form of THE verb"
l reproduce the article "the" in
capitals to show how unequivocally he
makes clay" and lie" one and the
same verb when they are not. As in
the former case, it is the indiscrimi-
nate and ignorant use of thess verbs,
and not their active and passive
forms, that muddle" 80 many peo-
pie. And here, again, it should be
borne in mind that to lay" is tran
sitive, and "to lie" an intransitive
verb. And / repeat that it is the care
less substitution of one of these verbs
for the other that so often violates the
genius of our language. l cannot bet
ter illustrate this point than by citing
another grave error which appears in
to-day's "wednesday the 12th) issue of
the unfortunate Uympian:
In the News of the City in Brief"
column we find this spicy little tid-bit:
care we going to have Fourth of
July celebration? Well, we guess
yes"
Now "to guess" means to hazard
an opinion. Thus, the editor gets
down into the mud by substituting
the wrong word for the right one.
Why could he not have said, "Well,
We think So" and have been void of
offense?" l.. p. YEMEN.