VERBS

The verb should agree with its subject in person and number. It ought not to be necessary to give this obvious rule, but hardly a day passes without violation of it in almost every paper. Its violation is especially common in the inverted sentence, introduced with there. There is likely to be some changes; There is, at the present writing, some hopes of peace; There seems to be, in view of all the conditions, many objections to this plan, are examples of the faulty usage.

The to should not be separated from the infinitive by word or phrase. The modifier should precede the to or follow the verb. Do not say to promptly act, but to act promptly or promptly to act. Such use as in the example just given is bad enough, but it is not so offensive as the intrusion of time adverbs and negatives as, for example, He decided to now go, or He expected to not only go but to stay, or He preferred to not stay.

Do not end a sentence with the to of an omitted infinitive; as: He could not speak but tried to; but He refused to go but he ought to go, or He ought to go but he refuses.

Subordinate infinitives and participles take their time from the verb in the principal clause. They should therefore be the simple so-called present forms. Do not say: I intended to have gone, or I intended having gone, but I intended to go, I intended going; not He had expected to have been present, but He had expected to be present; not He would have liked to have seen you; but He would have liked to see you; not I was desirous to have gone, but I was desirous to go.

With the verbs appear (in the sense of seem to be) and feel, look, smell and sound (used intransitively) use an adjective and not an adverb, i. e., The rose smells sweet; Miss Coghlan as Lady Teazle looked charming; She appeared happy. But appear in the same sense of behave is followed by an adverb, as He appears well; and the other verbs used transitively of course take an adverb, as He looked sharply at the man.

When one wishes to imply doubt or denial in a condition of present or indefinite time, the imperfect subjunctive should be used, as If the book were here, I should show you—but the book is not here; If it were true, you would long ago have heard it—but it is not true. But if one is referring to past time, the imperfect indicative must be used, as, If he was here yesterday, I did not know it.

Be careful to distinguish between lay and lie, raise and rise, set and sit. The first of each pair is transitive, and always requires an object; the second is intransitive and never takes an object. (The only exception is sit used of a rider, as, He sits his horse well.) One lays or sets a thing down and raises it up. One lies or sits down and rises from one's place. Land lies this way or that. (But we speak of the lay of the land.)

Especially pains must be taken to keep straight the past tenses and past participles of lay and lie. Of lay past tense and participle are alike laid. He laid or he has laid the case before the authorities. The past tense of lie is lay (the same as the present tense of the transitive verb), the past participle is lain. These forms are seldom if ever used for parts of lay; but for them laid is very often used, as, He laid or he has laid down to take a nap, where the correct usage is He lay or he has lain down, etc.

Prices rise, wages rise, bread rises, bread is set to rise; men raise prices or wages; He rose and raised his hand. Clothing of every sort sits well or ill, it does not set. The corresponding noun, however, is set; He admired the set of the garment. You set a hen, but the hen sits and is a sitting hen. The heavenly bodies set, but that is another word, which means to sink or to settle.

Inanimate objects are not injured but damaged.

Use wish to mean simple desire, as, I wish to see him. Use want to mean acute need, as, I want food.

Only moving objects collide. Two automobiles may collide, but an automobile does not collide with a fence.

PREFER:

lend to loan

lives to resides

leaves to departs

obtain or procure to secure

turn over to turn turtle

bought to purchased

live at hotel to stop at hotel

robbed of to relieved of

Things of a general class are compared with each other to bring out points of similarity or dissimilarity. One thing is compared to another of a different class. He compared Detroit with Cleveland. He compared Detroit to a busy hive of bees.

Things occur or happen by chance and take place by design. An accident happens or occurs; a pre-arranged act takes place.

Except in legal papers use proved instead of proven.

Transpire does not mean to take place but to leak out, as, They tried to keep their deliberations secret, but it transpired that * * *

Enthuse is not a good word. Say become enthusiastic.

Medicine, laws and oaths are administered; blows and punishment are dealt.

Allege is used only in referring to formal charges and not as a synonym for say or assert.

The past tense and past participle of dive are dived. Don't use dove.

The past tense and past participle of forecast are forecast. Don't use forecasted.

The past tense and past participle of hang are hung, except in reference to an execution; then write, He was hanged.

The past tense and past participle of plead are pleaded and not plead or pled. Don't write, He plead guilty, but He pleaded guilty.

The past tense of swim is swam, and the past participle is swum.

BARRED BY THE SUN

Newspaper men can read with profit this list of words and phrases to be avoided, compiled by Charles A. Dana for his associates on the New York Sun:

above or over for more than

aggregate for total

balance for remainder

call attention for direct attention

claim for assert

commence for begin

comprise for compose

conscious for aware

couple for two

cultured for cultivated

date back to for date from

donate for give

fall for autumn

from whence for whence

indorse for approve

inaugurate for establish, institute

individual for person

infinite for great, vast

last for latest

less for fewer

materially for largely

named after for named for

notice for observe

onto for on or upon

partially for partly

past two years for last two years

practically for virtually

party for person

DOUBLING UP HAVE'S

Mark Twain in "A Tramp Abroad" wrote: "Harris said that if the best writer in the world once got the slovenly habit of 'doubling up his have's,' he could never get rid of it; that is to say, if a man gets the habit of saying 'I should have liked to have known more about it' instead of saying 'I should have liked to know more about it,' his disease is incurable."

. . . REFLECTOR OF EVERY HUMAN INTEREST . . . FRIEND OF EVERY RIGHTEOUS CAUSE . . . ENCOURAGER OF EVERY GENEROUS ACT.

NOTES