The sun., 1916-12-02
DIR, SYNTAX EXPLAINS.
Between You and ]" and the Bard
Grammar Il q Weird Thing.

To THE EDITOR or THE SUN-Sir. I
thank you very kindly" for your invi-
tation to explain why the google eyed
monsters get OF between you and T.
and substitute kindly" for please"
Isl violet usus. quem penes arbitrium
est ct just ct norma ioquendi." or Usage
Is the deciding authority. both the rule
and the standard of speech" Between
yourselves and me. the grainmarians are
largely TO blame. IL they had not made
SO many rules. the rules that they might
have made would probably have been
more easily remembered. The brief AS
sertiun that propositions govern the OBJ
iective case which til very recently
these gentlemen have universally adopted
as their sole rule for both terms. the
governing and the governed. ~ some
what exceptionable. being but partially
and lanely applicable to either. II
neither explains the connecting nature
Of the proposition nor applies to all OBJ
j~ectives nor embraces all the terms
which a proposition MAY govern. SO
why do the p~urists rave II the pre-
cislans imagine vain things?
go is sometimes used for the ohjec-
tive after a verb or proposition, cepe-
cially when separated from the govern
ing word 10y other words. This prac-
tice was quite common at the end of
the sixteenth century and during the
seventeenth. and the present usage IL
merely "A reyerslon to a form condemned
by the grammarians. These busy bodies
have always striven 20 con;ine the lam
guage within the harrow limits of their
rules They have mistaken their func-
ton. which is to follow rather than to
preccde. The! are the servan OF the
people rather than their masters. II IL
he true that In questions ~ disputed
propr.cty ~ usage II Is the voice OF the
people that must decide the accuracy or
l- any one who insists tina; a particular
word Oh construction used by masters
~ English speech is wrong and should
be avoided. he cannot be met on COM.
mon ground. In fact. it Will be best to
avoid all controversy with him.
In the year 1896. while Sir Walter
Raleigh and Lord Howard OF Ehingham
were invading Spain, William Shake
speaIe busted himself with the writing
of a comedy which he called The Mer-
chant Of Venice This merchant Of
Venice. Antonio, had a friend named
BdssdniO. to whom he wrote as follows
sweet Dlssanio, my ships have all mis-
carried, my creditors grow cruel, my
estate Is very low. my hond to the Jew
II forfeit, and since, in paying II, it is
impossible | should live. all debts are
cleared between YOU and | Il might
lnt ace Won N my na..h - 40, II
scene I, line al4D few years later.
when Shakespeare wrote AS You Like
It. he made use OF the following sem
tcnce "My father hath no child hut
L. tAct IT, scene ., line ls) Ken
Jonson fathered the following in Every
Man In His Humor' "Brayne-worme
has been with my cossen Edward and I
all this day" tACt v. scene % And
a century later Sir John Vanbrugh
penned Between you and !, it must all
light upon IIeartfree and T. 1.-The Pro-
voked Wife" Act v, scene -
That the phrase between you and l.
has survived is evidenced by the fact
that it is still heard in the English prov
inces. Between YOU and | and the gate
post 10 a common expression in OK
fordshire. and between you and I and
the bed post" n common East Anglicism.
In the use OF English the correctness OF
a form or OF a construction is not i'm
paired by the fact that nothing ana!o-
gous to it exists In the language. any
more than the correctness OF a word is
to he challenged because there is no
other in the language resembling 1t In
sound or spelling.
Now as to KINDLY" viii you kindly
me, and extend to Miss Mary
V. Ret'op ts she by any chance vs-
lated to your lost blonde s~lster-ih-lawD
the privilege OF explaining why polite
society prefers this word to ~"please"p
| can only conclude that In polite circles
please" is taboo, for ! never hear II
anywhere DIR. SYNrAx.
NEW YORK, November 30,