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before "children in "The women and children were in a safe place before the bombardment began," for the phrase "women and children" means one class, non-combatants; or before "Fellows" in "the President and Fellows of Harvard College," for "the President and Fellows" means the corporation; or before "stripes" in "the stars and stripes ” — that is, the American flag.

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Never omit an article that is needed to make the meaning clear.

EXERCISE CVII

Explain the difference in meaning in each case between the expressions connected by "and":

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"A black and white cat" and "a black and a white cat"; "the wise and good" and "the wise and the good"; a terebinth or ilex tree" and "a terebinth or an ilex tree"; "the bread and butter' and "the bread and the butter"; "an arch or dome" and "an arch or a dome"; "the butcher, fish-dealer, and grocer" and "the butcher, the fish-dealer, and the grocer"; "a cook and housemaid" and " cook and a housemaid"; the incapable, crippled, and aged" and "the incapable, the crippled, and the aged"; "the twelfth and last chapter" and "the twelfth and the last chapter"; "a cotton and wool dress" and "a cotton and a wool dress"; "the corresponding and recording secretary" and "the corresponding and the recording secretary."

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EXERCISE CVIII

Wherever an article is needed to make the meaning clear, supply one; where none is needed, supply none :—

1. A wide, mountainous peninsula lay between the ocean and bay. 2. He had learned to know man, within a white or colored skin. 3. Greene shows in succession the theory and practice of crime. 4. The boys and girls were less patient than the men and women. 5. It was a struggle between the temporal and spiritual powers. 6. The firedrake is a beast or bird about the size of an elephant. 7. The president and dean are ex-officio members of the Board. 8. The petition will be presented to the mayor and aldermen. 9. The choice lay between the Catholic and Protestant schools. 10. It was a mistake to send wine to the engineer and fireman.

CHAPTER VIII

ADJECTIVES AND ADVERBS

IT is often a question whether the proper word in a given case should be an adjective or an adverb, some words serve both as adjectives and as adverbs; many adverbs are formed from adjectives. For these reasons, it is convenient to deal with adjectives and adverbs together.

Vulgarisms. Some blunders in the use of adjectives and adverbs are, or should be, confined to the illiterate.

I

I can't find it anywhere.

You can go everywhere.

II

I can't find it anywheres.
You can go everywheres.

For anywheres, everywheres, and also for nowheres, some wheres, there is no excuse.

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In each of these examples, the word in question should be an adverb; for it modifies a verb.

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In each of these examples, the word in question should be an adverb; for it modifies either another adverb or an adjective.

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Good is never properly used as an adverb. The adverb corresponding to the adjective "good" is "well": e.g. “He slept well after a good dinner." Well," when it means "in good health," is an adjective, as in the second sentence under I.

I

She is rather pretty.

He seemed to hesitate.

II

She is kind of pretty.
He kind of hesitated.

This vulgar use of kind of as an adverbial phrase has possibly grown out of the established idiom that appears in expressions like "a good kind of man"—that is, "a man of a good kind."

I

I should describe Jessica as light-complexioned [or of a light complexion].

II

I should describe Jessica as being light-complected.

The use of complected after "light," "pale," "dark," or "fair" is common in some parts of the United States; but it is not in good use anywhere. For “ 'light-complexioned" there is some authority, but "of a light complexion" is better.

I

Nobody was likely to stir.

II

Nobody was like to stir.

Like in the sense of "likely " appears in the King James translation of the Bible; but it is no longer in good use in prose.

I

Colonel Picquart will probably be transferred to their custody.

II

Colonel Picquart will likely be transferred to their custody.

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In old times, likely was sometimes used for "probably in a sentence like that under II; but now the word in this sense is not good English. "Probably" is an adverb; "likely" almost always an adjective, as "That is a likely story." In familiar conversation, however, "very likely" is in good use as an adverb, especially when the verb which it modifies is omitted; thus, in answer to the remark "You will end by paying more than it is worth," we may say "Very likely," instead of "I shall very probably do so."

I

Seldom had the little port seen

a costlier funeral.

This is the sultriest day we have had for more than a month.

II

Seldom had the little port seen

a more costlier funeral.

This is the most sultriest day we have had for more than a month.

Double comparatives and superlatives abound in books written during the Elizabethan age (a familiar instance is Shakspere's phrase "the most unkindest cut of all "1); but they are now used by the illiterate only.

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Most in the sense of "almost," which is found here and there in early English, is now a vulgarism.

I

A promise of good pay, with not much [or with little] to do, won their hearts.

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II

A promise of good pay, with nothing much to do, won their hearts.

Nothing" as an adverb is in good use when it means "not at all," as in a few phrases like "nothing daunted," "nothing dismayed." Nothing much is a vulgarism.

1 Julius Cæsar, iii. 2.

I

He was not nearly so prolific a writer as Wordsworth.

II

He was nowhere near so prolific a writer as Wordsworth.

The writer of the sentence under II did not mean nowhere (in no place), but simply "not." Near in the sense of "nearly" was formerly in good use; but it is now avoided by careful writers of prose unless they are referring to periods of time, as Macaulay is in the phrase "a literary life of near thirty years."

I

The more plentiful paper money became, the more men ran into debt.

The house was quite large

enough.

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II

The more plenty paper money became, the more men ran into

debt.

The house was plenty large

enough.

As a noun, "plenty" is in good use,1-e.g. "We have plenty of flour"; as an adjective, it was once, but is no longer, good English; as an adverb, it has always been vulgar.

I

There isn't a better situation in the world for a house.

II

There isn't a sightlier place in the world for a house.

"Sightly" was formerly, and is still sometimes, used in the sense of "pleasing to the eye "; 2 but in the sense of "conspicuously placed," or "affording a good view," as used in the sentence under II, it is not, and has never been, good English.

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