The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1904-12-21
a Point in in Grammar.

EDITOR OF lie Time Dispatch: Fl
Sir,-The following was recently pub.
lshed in your query column: I.
tEditor of The Times-Dispatch: M
"sir,-yyill You inform me II those two
sentences are right? When do you think
no Will Gomez Hc will not deign to- do
any more than he can help
'.wo can see no grammatical flaw IN
these sentences.
The position which you occupy is hat
of a busy man, who needs and has a clear
and serYiccablc English style, and your
necessary disregard of hnical n!ccties:
breeds tolerance which is expressed in.
your opinion that the two sentences above,
will pass.
with your permission, however, should
like to call attention to serious defects
Iii them both, 8 #
Touching the first, the Interrogatiye
gadverb, whom, belongs to- the verb which
has the lnterrogatiye form, and the sens.
tence forces when, to apply to the think
bic to regard the senten co do you thinls',
as parenthetical, because that leaves
when lie will come to ask q question.
and the words are not in proper interro-
gativc shape. This use probably grow out
Of tho ease with which the affirmative
form may be employed with adverbs aud
combinations: as. when you think no VIII
.come,""If you think lie will come, y etc.
Tho forco OF interroga tive words Is, how
ever, in English, to draw the verb in
front Of the subject and, while one would
hardly be SO sangulnc as TO expect 9.
reformation IN this matter, the only per-
MISSILE form OF the sentence referred 10
is, when, do you think, Will he Gomez
Regarding the second sentence. shoul %
like to remind you that many years ago
I suggested tho substitution OF never
In place OF 'ever" In such forms as 8"lie
tried ever 50 hard,n etc, and any ono
who will look out for tho use in the lighter
English Of tho past twenty years Will
observe at least some inclination to follow
the suggestion. This might Justify the
hope that a triae OF admonition VIII not
BIO wasted II It is appli ed to tho error IN
this second sentanco an error frequently
committed, but easy, II @ little awkward.
to correct. 81 y, & a.35 8 B VI.
thing that Ito cannot help doing, The
person Is unwilling to do more than Q
fixed amount and that amount IS what
'he can not help" The sentence ought
therefore, to read: "He will not do any
more than hc cannot help, or, as YOU
have at, 8"IIe will not delgn TO DC any
more than he cannot help. ~, II
We are OF tho opinion that the fore-
going objections are mot well taken, Such
objections could be urged with FAR greater
force against such expressions as - had
rather co. you had better mend your
ways" and many other idlon,atlc loeu-
tons Of our mother tongue. The fact -.
usage is tho supreme law of lansuafgs'
ana grammarians and EeFund,Erl nders
have no more rlght to reject expressions
used by reputable writer's than spelling
book and neutrality-suspicious. have to re-
ject words that have passed into the COM CON
mon treasury Of speech, Such sentences
as those TO which ]. Fl. OBJECTS can he
found In every good writer Of Ensllsh'
from Ctaucer to Matt hew Arnold They
arc too deeply lmbedded IN the fopnda-
tons OF our noble English tongue 70 pc
removed by tho fragile implements q
captious critics. There are hundreds % OF
yirilc phrases and clauscs used by the
gssat test masters Of English that defy
critics 10 put them into grammatical
straight jackets. 5si