Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1911-06-21
MUCH SMOKE; LITTLE FIRE.

1.-The Storm Center" the beautiful
class annual issued by the gradual
ing class of 1911 of the Lancaster
High School
Upon che of the pages of the
book appears paragraph announc-
ing its dedication to one of the
popular lady teachers, the language
of which paragraph is as follows.
''To she, who for the past four
years has guided our footsteps,
rejolced with us in our joys and
sympathiZed with us in our
sorrows. this book is respect
fully dedicated"
The editor of The Teller. our
local contemporary, has seen fit to
auude, in at least two issues of his
paper, to this paragraph, IN criticism
OF the ungrammatical con
structlOn Of the sentence, assuming
that the use of the word ''she" in
stead OF her is of such vast i'm
portance that it he should live a
thousand years it would bring the
blush" every time he thought of it,
provided the Teller instead of the
Herald, had been the printer of the
paragraph, asserting further that
he was 'oWfuJ glad the blunder
didn't happen in the Teller office"
Before g )ing further in the matter
we would like to say that the Her
aid did not write the paragraph nor
other portions of the book, but sim
ply printed it. However we are per-
fectly willing to assume our full
share Of RESPONSE billty in the mat
ter.
The Herald, during the absence
of the editor upon his vacation,
without claiming that the words
to she" in the connection used were
correct, suggested that if the SEN
tence was thus rendered INGRAM
NAUTICAL, the Teller had used
language at least equally I'M
grammatical when it's editor as
serted that he was lawful glad" etc.
In response the Teller takes con
siderable space to show that the
language lawful glad" was more
proper than had he said lawfully
glad" and say rs be will stand by his
expression awful"
Webster's dictionary is pretty
good authority. It saws:
AWtully is an adverb.
Awful is an adjective.
very is an adverb
Glad is an adjective.
The rules of grammar teach that
gadjectives modify nouns or pro-
nouns, and that adverbs modify ad-
jectives, verbs or other adverbs
Adjectives do not modify adjectives.
Hence the adjective awful" does
not modify the adjective ''glad"
while the adYerb lawfully" would
do SO.
IL the editor of the T ll,r f,lr SC
awful glad" or even lawfully
glad" he could have employed better
language by saying he was very
glad"
In the sentence II am very glad"
glad is the attribute complement of
the sentence modified by the adverb
very. The sentence is grammatical
ly wrong when the adjective awful
or any other adjective is SUBSTITUTE
ed in place of very. Since awful is
an adjective and awfully an adverb,
we are to choose an adverb to
modify glad if we wish to agree
with Webster and the lest grams
marians
.'t'Awful" means lnspiring with
awe, as 'AThe awful presence of the
King" and should not be used
loosely. Say not IAN awful mis-
take" but a serious or disastrous
mistakes" not an lawful hlunder,"
but "a ludicrous blunder;" not Jaw
full manners" but ''uncivil or i'll
bred manners;" not lawful treat
ment," but "discourteous or ignor-
ant treatment" Choose an ad
jective that expresses your mean
ing definitely.
Admitting that the words ito she"
as used were dramatically wrong
and that the words ito her" would
have been right, what reason had
the Teller for calling such emphatic
attention to the matter, and what
good has been accomplished?
Most people, If honest, will admit
that they sometimes make mistakes.
lis the editor of the Lancaster Teller
such perfect grammarian
that his paper and his printing are
free from grammatical and other
errors? Most assuredly not, as
readers may see for themselves by
a scrutiny thereof week by week.
AS we write there lies upon our
desk a piece of printing done at the
Teller office for local patron, in
which the word empty" is printed
ENTITY and in another line of the
same piece Of printing the Teller
uses the words ''Nfgs. Of Butter and
Cheese" The meaning intended,
evidently was manufacturers Of"
There is no g" in the spelling Of
that word, so that very clearly the
letter ''g" could not properly be
Used as "Mfos 2 In Authorization of