False Grammar. Some examples of false grammar will show what every one is the better for knowing: that in literature nothing should be taken on trust; that errors of grammar even are found where we should least expect them. "I do not know whether the imputation were just or not."—Emerson. "I proceeded to inquire if the 'extract' ... were a veritable quotation."—Emerson. Should be was in both cases. "How sweet the moonlight sleeps!"—Townsend, "Art of Speech," vol. i, p. 114. Should be sweetly. "There is no question but these arts ... will greatly aid him," etc.—Ibid., p. 130. Should be that. "Nearly all who have been distinguished in literature or oratory have made ... the generous confession that their attainments have been reached through patient and laborious industry. They have declared that speaking and writing, though once difficult for them, have become well-nigh recreations."—Ibid., p. 143. The have been should be were, and the have become should be became. "Many pronominal adverbs are correlatives of each other."—Harkness's "New Latin Grammar," p. 147. Should be one another. "Hot and cold springs, boiling springs, and quiet springs lie within a few feet of each other, but none of them are properly geysers."—Appletons' "Condensed Cyclopædia," vol. ii, p. 414. Should be one another, and not one of them is properly a geyser. "How much better for you as seller and the nation as buyer ... than to sink ... in cutting one another's throats." Should be each other's. "A minister, noted for prolixity of style, was once preaching before the inmates of a lunatic asylum. In one of his illustrations he painted a scene of a man condemned to be hung, but reprieved under the gallows." These two sentences are so faulty that the only way to mend them is to rewrite them. They are from a work that professes to teach the "art of speech." Mended: "A minister, noted for his prolixity, once preached before the inmates of a lunatic asylum. By way of illustration he painted a scene in which a man, who had been condemned to be hanged, was reprieved under the gallows."
Female. The terms male and female are not unfrequently used where good taste would suggest some other word. For example, we see over the doors of school-houses, "Entrance for males," "Entrance for females." Now bucks and bulls are males as well as boys and men, and cows and sows are females as well as girls and women.
Fetch. See [Bring].
Fewer. See [Less].
Final Completion. If there were such a thing as a plurality or a series of completions, there would, of course, be such a thing as the final completion; but, as every completion is final, to talk about a final completion is as absurd as it would be to talk about a final finality.
First rate. There are people who object to this phrase, and yet it is well enough when properly placed, as it is, for example, in such a sentence as this: "He's a 'first class' fellow, and I like him first rate; if I didn't, 'you bet' I'd just give him 'hail Columbia' for 'blowing' the thing all round town like the big fool that he is."
Firstly. George Washington Moon says in defense of firstly: "I do not object to the occasional use of first as an adverb; but, in sentences where it would be followed by secondly, thirdly, etc., I think that the adverbial form is preferable." To this, one of Mr. Moon's critics replies: "However desirable it may be to employ the word firstly on certain occasions, the fact remains that the employment of it on any occasion is not the best usage." Webster inserts firstly, but remarks, "Improperly used for first."
Flee—Fly. These verbs, though near of kin, are not interchangeable. For example, we can not say, "He flew the city," "He flew from his enemies," "He flew at the approach of danger," flew being the imperfect tense of to fly, which is properly used to express the action of birds on the wing, of kites, arrows, etc. The imperfect tense of to flee is fled; hence, "He fled the city," etc.
Forcible-feeble. This is a "novicy" kind of diction in which the would-be forcible writer defeats his object by the overuse of expletives. Examples: "And yet the great centralization of wealth is one of the [great] evils of the day. All that Mr. —— utters [says] upon this point is forcible and just. This centralization is due to the enormous reproductive power of capital, to the immense advantage that costly and complicated machinery gives to great [large] establishments, and to the marked difference of personal force among men." The first great is misplaced; the word utters is misused; the second great is ill-chosen. The other words in italics only enfeeble the sentence. Again: "In countries where immense [large] estates exist, a breaking up of these vast demesnes into many minor freeholds would no doubt be a [of] very great advantage." Substitute large for immense, and take out vast, many, and very, and the language becomes much more forcible. Again: "The very first effect of the —— taxation plan would be destructive to the interests of this great multitude [class]; it would impoverish our innumerable farmers, it would confiscate the earnings of [our] industrious tradesmen and artisans, it would [and] paralyze the hopes of struggling millions." What a waste of portly expletives is here! With them the sentence is high-flown and weak; take them out, and introduce the words inclosed in brackets, and it becomes simple and forcible.
Friend—Acquaintance. Some philosopher has said that he who has half a dozen friends in the course of his life may esteem himself fortunate; and yet, to judge from many people's talk, one would suppose they had friends by the score. No man knows whether he has any friends or not until he has "their adoption tried"; hence, he who is desirous to call things by their right names will, as a rule, use the word acquaintance instead of friend. "Your friend" is a favorite and very objectionable way many people, especially young people, have of writing themselves at the bottom of their letters. In this way the obscure stripling protests himself the friend of the first man in the land, and that, too, when he is, perhaps, a comparative stranger and asking a favor.