Clarke courier. [volume] (Berryville, Va.) 1869-1997, 1900-08-29
A POINT In GRAMMAR
CAUST7C COMMENT ON The USE OF
THE SPLIT INVENTIVE.
Criticism That Was Born Of the
Habit OF Writers I'm Using Qualify
ing Words Between the Inanitfve
Verb and the Proposition.

Verb and the Proposition.
The following pointed correspondence
touching n question of grammatical
construction calls attention to the prac-
tice of placing qualifying words be-
tween the infinitive verb and its prep
osition to The late Or. Grier Of
South Carolina, for % years president
of Erskine 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 Associate
Reformed Presbyterian. the church pa
per of thu southern "SecedcrS." pub
nshed at Due West An editorial in
that paper I'm 1895. while Mr.. Cleveland
wax president, caused Mr.. J. Althcus
Johnson, n member of the Washington
bar and an Erskine alumnus. to write
to his former college instructor unlg.
date Of Nov. 10. 1895, as follows:
did the cat that guards the editorial
sanctum relax its vigilance for ..i,-
ment last week. or did II admit "a .a-
titled TO entrance the expression which
has qualifying word between the prep
osition to and the infinitive verb? /
refer TO the expression. TO fairly test
the experiment (of the dispensas.yl.
occurring in the editorial on the con>ti
tutiOnal convention.
Il know that poets, when forced bv
the exigency OF their art have now
and then placed an advorb between the
inhnitive and the word to- as whom
Burns says, in his Golfers Saturday
Night To nobly stem tyrannic pride
and Byron, in his 'Childe Harold TO
slowly trace the forests shady scene
Il know, too, that such an expression
Is often used 10y the newspaper writer's
OF the day, many of whom are quite
crude and careless in regard to the lit
erary quality OF their composition.
1t Is true, too, that such an express
sion is finding its way into places
where before it has been utterly I'M
known. Under Mr.. Cleveland it has
crept now and then into official and
state papers, as, for instance, in the
thanksgiving proclamation Of this
year, also published in the last issue of
The Presbyterian. In which is the ex-
preston TO SO incline the hearts Of
our people
The justices Of the supreme court Of
the United States have generally been
masters of good English. scrupulouslv
exact in all their expressions Indeed
many Of them have afforded splendid
models of good composition, but the
above construction has found an 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.
nQrfiPmIq rlU Nx-hnD B,
considered the bill did not have n 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 an
expression, and I would think nothing
Of It, 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 its present editorial management
aligns itself with the construction here
referred TO l shall think that the day
Is dawning when respectable usage
VIII no longer be n unit in saying that
such a construction is n blemish not
to be tolerated in prose composition.
Il am sure that good usage at the
present time is overwhelmingly i'm IA
vor of interposing nothing between the
infinitive and its proposition, but If The
Presbyterian, in its editorial columns,
is giving aid and comfort to a construc-
ton which the classic writers of our
language have heretofore so 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 I'M
pardOnable save only when poet was
the criminal
DR.. Grier published the above letter
in the next issue of The Presbyterian,
with the following remarks:
'rThe point made by our good friend,
Dir. j. Aitheus Johnson, is well taken.
The criticism is just. 1t may soothe
ones feelings TO be in company with
Burns and Byron in such a case, not
forgetting the distinguished president
or the United States and the justice Of
the supreme court, but their usage does
not Justify slpshod English any more
than the editorials in The Presbyte-
ran. Our friend might have extended
his list and added even greater names,
perhaps. For example, the author of
a standard textbook ON English litera-
ture (Hait uses this expression, Who
Soever desires to truly know etc \
greater than he, Matthew Arnold, says
in his essay on Culture and Anarchy
TO unwittingly disparage and discred-
II, etc These and other instances adj
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 unsparingly
condemned have yet won their way
and now claim their place solely
through newspaper usage. Caption is
one Of them, used as synonymous with
title or heading. Others might be
named. If, then, the newspapers are
such po*ent factors in forming our hab-
Its OF speech and molding our literary
taste, they should remember the max
I'm, 'Noblesse oblige.'" 49, Washington