4. He —— gave —— five cents —— to the church.
III. Avoid the Janus-clause; the Janus-phrase; the Janus-adverb or adjective. The Latin god Janus had two faces, one looking back, the other ahead. Avoid putting a modifier where it becomes double-faced,—where it may be taken either with the preceding idea or with the following idea.
Oral Exercise.—So change the position of the double-faced modifiers that their allegiance will be known.
1. There is no doubt that Milton gave Dryden permission to paraphrase Paradise Lost; Dryden did imitate Milton as a matter of fact not very cleverly.
2. There can be no doubt that he quarrelled,—that he fought indeed vigorously. He reappeared at least with a black eye.
3. She will sing in any case charmingly; her training has been admirable.
4. As Hazlitt says, in his book of English proverbs, where no fault is, there needs no pardon.
IV. Avoid putting an adverb between the parts of an infinitive,—between the to and the verb. Some reputable writers approve this construction; still, the better order is to place the modifier before or after the whole infinitive. “Clearly to see,” or “To see clearly,” is better than “To clearly see.” This error is called the cleft infinitive.
Concord of Subject and Predicate.
1. A collective noun takes a singular verb if the group of objects is thought of as a whole: “The United States is coining gold and silver.” The collective noun takes a plural verb if each separate member of the group is thought of: “The United States are firmly bound together in one union.”