Lexington gazette. [volume] (Lexington, Va.) 1871-1962, 1905-09-20
Newspaper English as Used by
New York Tribune

New York Tribune
For The Gazette
Really, Mr.. Tribune, this is too
bad. "There have been no violence
and no scenes of turbulence"
They write better English in
Toxic.
It seems, Mr.. Tribune, that
while you have been away enjoy
ing your vacation, some half-edu-
Gated crank with genius for
laundering has been playing mad
antics in your New York sanctum.
He is u veritable verbicide, for it
Is aQsinst innocent English verbs
that lis murderCus luminosity is
principally directed. For instance,
in revising the proof of two ele-
cant sonnets contributed by Archi-
bald Hopkins on the death of John
Hav your verbicidal maniac
perpetrates tire following atrocity !;
mo craven, selfish sct, no purpose
Mar the long record of his service
high"
Mr.. Hopkins presumably wrote
.1mars !" But YOUR proof-Ieader,
having dipped into English gram
mar far enough to find rule tel
ling him that verb with two or
more singular subjects is generally
put in the plural number, blindly
follows the rule without inquiring
what are the exceptions. One OF the
exceptions is that when several
singular subjects are taken mega
lively the verb must be singular
"No religion, not the widest
mythology, dies for him" Emer'
son. Letters and Social Aims, p
81O.) "There is no help for him,
NO instruction, no modern ideal.'
IlFroude, Short Studies on Great
lSubjecta, p. 469.)
| In the sentence from the Trio'
une's Toxic correspondence there
are two negative subjects INC
violence and ''no scenes" Tne
Mural form of the latter should
not affect the number of the verb
whenever there 10 a conflict in the
ranuirements of grammatical con
cord. il is the universal practice
of good writer's to make the vert
agree with it's nearest subject
} Thus Byron;
"AhI then and there vas hurFYing "
And rath'ring tears, and trembling
OF distress,
And cheeks all PALE" etc.
There the participial noun "hur
rving." which is the neares
subject. determines the singula
3 form of the verb; the other SUB
= iects--'.tears, .'tremblings," ant
. :Icheeks''--would call for "were'
instead of "was."
,, There is no doubt that the rrio
! une's Toxic correspondent wrote
8 .crhere has been no violence an
o no scenes of turbulence" Hi
communication is a whole column
| in length. and contains no inaccu
racy of diction except that whic
the bungling proof-reader mad
+ bv changing "has BEEN to .'hay
}. been (" This error is EVIDENT
e not chargeable to careiessness. J
: Is the result OF deliberate ignor
ance mistaking itself for wisdom
d There have been numerous otne :
n instances of premediated verbicid
e bv the Tribune manager this sun
mer. Still more numerous al
= the instances of false synta
70 permitted by negligent Ger sol
l. ship. Thus correspondent 9
e Tiflis informs the Tribune the
10 owing to the riots at BaSn, INC
q evan bread or water are ootalr
= able" We suppose the CORES
- pondent himself is responsible Il
Il the plural verb. Probably a Ion
l. residence In foreign lands hi
70 caused him to forget that ne WI
70 tau.ht IN his school days to use
singular verb when there are tW
~ singular subjects connected
le "or." The proof-reader, hO'
E. ever. shorld have remembered
,e But what shall we say of the fo
; lowing sentence, transmitted
the Tribune office from Stemfor
g. C.nnecticutF "she lays on
al diyan over the bay window"
ic the correspondent describing Il
% performance Of pat hen that
90 permltted to deposit her eggs
the parlol rather than the bari
It turns cut that the IaJ1ng
u done by woman, but What D.
10, laws we are not inferred.
" seems that some people will new
~ learn the difference between {
= transitive verb clay" AID the
}" transitiye ''lie." The fact tn
n the past tense OF the intransiti
n is "lay''--which is also the rr'
he emit tense of the transitive-hoE
m. lessly muddles some weak Int
~ lects.
~ In the following sentence iron
an Tribune editorial on "The N
We York Pace" the right verb is US
IT. but it is improperly put in
do past tense: "It would seem fr'
- the logic of most critics OF n
lls York that it's only salvation