Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-03-19
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES &. TRACEWELL.

to constitute novelty and newness, come
as the very spice of the program.
y
Spice Of the program, we believe, be-
cause secretly most listeners are IN
favor Of the grammar of the moment,
as distinguished from the grammar Of
the books.
Life, in other words, is a moving
proposition, not something static solidi-
fled or petrif1ed. The purpose of words
is to make thought tangible. II they
do that, they are good words, and Their
user, whether talking or writing, is
talking or writing to purpose.
Grammar came into being to help
out, that is ali. Up to a certain point.
by providing the rules of the game, as
1t were, 1t serves q real function, and
safeguards thought from vulgarity.
NO one can Sneer at grammar, or say
1t should not be. Without its rules,
writing and talking would become mem
tai anarchy. The danger comes when
the rules are held to be greater than
the game. Now, this is the age-old con-
hict between the letter and the spirit,
between the conservatives and the
progresSives, between the classicists and
the odernists-between those, in brief,
who differ as to the place of rules in
life
1t takes no more than a casual glance
into what we call English literature to
see that most Of 1t was written with a
due regard for its rules of grammar. Few
Of its great writer's use word groups
without subjects and without predicates.
Their sentences conform to the rules of
grammar for sentence construction
Very seldom, in the whole great range.
do you find a real writer using a sem
tence without a verb. Sometimes he
may do So but in the main he sticks to
the basic facts of his grammar as
learned in school, When wer as readers,
find some one deliberately making a
without verbs, we may set them down
rs poor writer's and let it go at that.
There is, however a larger sense in
which good grammar is q let and
hindrance to a man, either writing or
speaking. If he has something he wants
to say, and is sure Of his grammar, and
knows that deviation from 1t will help
him express himself, he must be allowed
to do so, and will be 80 allowed by all
those who realize that thought Is the
greatest thing in the world next to love.
In other words, the fair-minded man,
instead Of shrinking from q mistake in
grammar, will consider the man who
writes or speaks and will be the first to
give him credit for a deliberate misuse,
instead of eagerly leaping to point out
his mistake"
1t is exactly here, we believe, that
parents need have no fear for the pcs
sible effect the grammar of Amos m
Andy may have upon their offspring.
~ go
rs their parents of the difference be-
tween grammatical nicely and the great
Joy of life which gets pleasure even
from the misuse of the same
MY little boy used to speak cor
rectly," fond father said. but since
he has been listening to Amos m Andy
he has gotten into the habit of saying
I amt goin' to do IT, and Use requested,
and 'Sho, sho,' and the rest of them"
Fear not" we would reply. THE kid
is not being fooled bit. He knows
that A & A are not teaching the
English language, but adding to the
win keep him in the straight and mar
row path, but A e. A are giving him
q glimpse into the divine truth, that
words are not for grammar, but gram
mar is for words.
eff children did not possess more
common sense than they are given
credit for. they would suffer more thar
they do from all the vulgar, silly stuff
they meet In the world Mostly it rolls
off their hacks, leaving not a trace be-
hid. When 1t comes to such essentiallv
human, innocent diversion as Amos n
Andy, the children are able to Judge for
themselves. Let them alone. and they'll
come home. wagging the proper verbs
behind them Sho. shoi"