A First Book in Writing English

by Edwin Herbert Lewis

Conjunctions and Prepositions.

1. Shall we say “as large as,” “not as large as,” etc.? The first expression is right. But after a negative, use so for a correlative to as: “not so large as.”

2. In general be careful not to omit necessary conjunctions. What should be supplied in the following sentence? and how should the order be changed? “Henty is better known but not so interesting to older boys as Stevenson.”

3. And which, and who, etc., are wrong for which, who, etc., when no relative has previously been used. Correct the following: “Irving, the historian, and whom we honor as our first writer of prose tales, is a prime favorite of us all.”

4. Like is not a conjunction. It is incorrect to say, “Do like I do.” This wrong use of like is habitual in many parts of our country, and a native of any one of these districts has to watch himself narrowly to acquire the habit of using as for like. It is, however, correct enough to say, “She talks like him.” Here like is an adjective governing what was the dative case, and the phrase like him has the value of an adverb.

5. Different to is wrong for different from. This error, though rarely to be found in America, is habitual in England. The commoner American error is different than. This mistake frequently occurs when the comparative degree has previously been used. E.g. “This last kind of apple is different and sweeter than the first.” The better form is: “This last kind of apple is different from the first, and sweeter.” Do not split the particles, by saying, “This kind of apple is different from and sweeter than the first.”

Adverb or Adjective?

1. There is a group of words—verbs of sensation and the like, look, sound, feel, smell, taste, appear, seem—which take an adjective to complete their meaning. “She looks sweet,” “It tastes sweet,” “She seems happy,” are common and correct ways of speaking. Notice that here something of the same idea can be given by saying, “She is sweet,” “It is sweet,” “She is happy.” The sweet idea or the happy idea describes the subject, the person, not the verb. Of course, one might write a sentence in which the sweet idea would tell the way a given act was done. “She looked sweetly” would imply that she was gazing sweetly at something or somebody.

But here must be noted an exception or two. (a) The word bad has two senses: moral badness, and badness that is not moral—badness of health, for instance. If I say “I feel bad,” the bad seems to mean moral badness: i.e. “I am bad.” It is therefore permissible to break the rule and apply badly to physical feeling. “I feel badly” is a common expression for “I feel sick”; and by the exception to the rule is correct. Which is better in the following sentence—bad or badly? “It sounds —— to hear a young man swear.” (b) There are a few cases where the adverb is retained when the verb is not felt as acting. “The report sounds well,” certainly does not mean that the report is in good health; but it is certainly good English. Similarly we have: “She appears well in company.”