The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1900-05-30
A POINT In GRAMMAR
CAUSTIC COMMENT ON THE USE OF
THE SPLIT iNFlNlTivE.

A Criticism That Wns Born OF the
Habit OF Writer'S In Csing Qualify
Ing Words between the Inhnitive
Verb and the Proposition.
The following pointed correspondence
touching n question OF grammatical
construction calls attention to the prac.
tlce OF placing qualifying words be.
tween the intinitivc verb and It's prep.
osition TO" The late Dr. Grer OF
South Carolina, for 2S years president
OF Erskinc college, was not only an ac-
complished speaker, but noted for the
purity and elegance OF his diction. He
was also the editor of The Associatc
Reformed Presbyterian, the church pa
per Of the southern "seccders," pub
lishcd ut Due West. An editorial in
that paper in 1895, while Mr.. Cleveland
was president, caused Mr.. !. Althcus
Johnson, member OF the Washington
bar and an Erskinc alumnlIs, To write
to his former college instructor under
date Of Nov. 16, 1S.c,, nS follows:
"Did the cat that guards the editorial
sanctum relax its vigilance for mo-
ment last week, or did 1t admit as en-
has Il qualifying word between the prep
Osltion to aud the infnltivc verb? I
refer TO the expression. TO fairly test
the experiment (of the dlspcnsary)
occurring in the editorial on the consti
tutional convention.
II know that poets, when forced by
the cNigcncy Of their art, have now
and then placed an adycrb between the
1nfnitlvc and the word to- rs when
Burns says, In Ills 'Cottcrs Saturday
Night. TO nobly stem tyrannic pride,
and Byron, In his 'Chlldc Harold TO
slowly trace the forest; shady scene
Il know, too, that such IN expression
is often used by the newspaper writer's
or the day, many Of whom arc quite
crude and careless in regard to the lit
crary quality Of their composition.
1T Is true, too, that such m express
sion Is finding It's way into places
where before 1t has been utterly un-
known. Under Mr.. Cleveland it has
crept now and then into official and
state papers, rs, for instance, In the
Thanksgiving proclamation Of this
year, also published in the last issue of
The Presbyterian, In which Is the ex-
our people,
THE Justices Of the supreme court Of
the United States have generally been
masters Of good English, scrupulously
exact in all their expressions Indeed
many Of them have afforded splendid
models Of good composition, but the
above construction has found IN en-
trance even into that tribunal through
one OF the present justices, whose free
dom in this regard would have been
shocking to some of the distinguished
men who have sat upon that bench.
"The construction likewise appears
now and then In an act Of congress,
particularly when the committee which
considered the bill did not have a per-
son in its membership who had ever
carefully studied literary style.
There are scores Of persons Of re-;
spectacle scholastic and professional
attainments who might use such IN
expression, and would think nothing
Of 1t, for there would be other marks
in abundance to indicate that they had
never given much attention to the beau
ties or niceties OF speech and compo-
sition. But when The Presbyterian
under lis present editorial management
aligns itself with the construction here
referred to shall think that the day
is dawning when respectable usage
will no longer be q unit In saying that
such n construction is q blemlsh not
to be tolerated In prose composition.
'1 an sure that good usage at the
present time is overwhelmingly in "a
vOr OF interposing nothing between the,
infinitive and Its proposition, but If The
Presby yterian, In its editorial columns.|
is giving aid and comfort to a constrrc-l
tion which the classic writer's Of our,
language have heretofore 80 studiously
avoided the grammarIans will soon,
have occasion to take down the pillory
in which they have always been de-
lighted to expose the expression. de-
claring it to be an offense that was un-.
pardonable save only when a poet was
the criminal"
DR.. Grier publisi the above letter.
in the next issue Of The Presbyterian,
with the following remarks:
'"The point made by our good friend,
Mr.. ]. Altheus Johnson, Is well taken.
The criticism is just. It may soothe
ones feelings to be in company with
Burns and Byron In such n cese, not
forgetting the distinguished rres!3ent
or the United States and the justice OF
the supreme court, but their usage does
not justify slipshod English any more
than the editorials in The Presbyte-
rjan. Our friend might have extended
his list and added even greater names,
perhaps. For example, the nuthor Of
q standard textbook ON English litera-
ture (HaiD uses this expression. Who
eoever desires. to truly know etc. al
greater than he, Matthew Arnold, says
in his essay on Culture and Anarchy
TO unwittihgly disparage and discred-
it, etc. These and other instances Ad-I
NIT Of no justification. 1t is charged
by late critics, and with reason, that
newspapers are the great corrupters Of
our noble tongue. Some words and
phrases that have been unspnringlyI
condemned have yet won their way
and now claim their place solely