tion of objects is considered as forming one unit. Both of the following sentences are right. "The audience was held by the tragedian's art as if it were one man. When he ceased, his audience were free to go their ways.

d. "Either," "neither," used as distributive conjunctions require a singular verb; e. g., "Neither Mr. White nor Mr. Brown is in the office."

e. When the words "each," "either," and "neither" are used as pronouns, they take singular verbs: "Each of the men is ready; neither is carefully placed. "None" (originally "no-one") and "all" may be either singular or plural; e. g., "All is done, and now all of us are ready."

2. Pronoun and Antecedent.-a. Every singular antecedent prescribes a singular pronoun. So we say, "Everyone gave his mite freely," and, "It sounded as if somebody was breathing hard through his nose." Conversely, every plural antecedent prescribes a plural pronoun and a plural verb; e. g., "His lecture was one of the weakest that have been heard in this hall.' Here "lectures" is understood after "weakest," and hence "that" and "have" must be plural.

b. "Either" can not properly be used for "any," or "neither" for "none." "Either" and "neither" arc singular. When only two objects are mentioned, "either" or "neither" is used; when more than two, "any" or "none." The following sentences are right: "Either of the two men could have taken any of the three courses; they took none of them, but remained in inactivity. Neither of the two men is excusable." Had it been "any of the two men could" or "took neither of them," the sentences would have been incorrect.

88. False Correlations of the Double Conjunctions.-The correct pairs of conjunctive particles are "either

den does, "For they who have never heard of you can neither love or hate you."

89. Omission of "a" or "the."-There seems to be a conspiracy among careless writers against the article; we often see, “The old and young woman went away,” when two persons departed, and, "The fire destroyed a house and office of Mr. Smith's," when the house was in one block and the office in another. When there are two nouns referring to two distinct objects, or when two adjectives make it evident that there is a second noun understood, as in "an old woman and a young (woman),” repeat the article. On the other hand, when, as may be the case with "the cashier and teller, you mean that one person holds both offices, omit the second article.

90. Omission of Words Necessary to the Sense.-Words necessary to the sense are sometimes omitted. Often, as in the sentence, "He used to go nutting every fall, and at times got a good many," the word omitted is found in the sentence as a part of some other word. The last half of the sentence should read, "and at times got a good many nuts." Often, as in, “I never have gone there and never shall," the part of the verb used is made to do duty for another and wholly different part: here, the only form of the verb we have a right to understand is "have gone"; but "shall have gone there" would be nonsense. The sentence should be, "I never have gone there, and never shall go there." A third variety of this error consists in the omission of a phrase (usually a prepositional phrase). "He greets everyone with the same pleasant smile he greets us," should be, "He greets everyone with the same pleasant smile with which he greets us." Errors of this

sort are manifold.

91. "Which," Used with a Phrase or a Clause as Its Antecedent. Some good authors make "which" refer to a phrase or a clause as its antecedent, but the strictest

usage is against this practice. "He wasn't long therewhich makes me think he got an unfavorable reception,' becomes, according to this rule, "He wasn't long there, a fact which," etc. The student will easily recall the many words, "a fact," "a thing," "a process"-which serve to fill out the gap in such sentences. But it is doubtful

whether the rule will long remain effective.

92. Misuse of "and."-"And" frequently intrudes in such a manner as to spoil the construction of a sentence. The commonest form of this error is the "and which" construction; e. g., "There were several cart-loads of bricks dumped on the lawn and which had to be sorted." Here "and" is superfluous. "And" rightly employed connects two statements of equal grammatical rank.

93. Double Subject and Object.-The sentence, "John, who was here just now, he went to town to buy a hat," is a gross example of an error only too common in the work of careless writers-the use of a double subject. In the second of the following sentences occurs the similar fault of the use of à double object:

In the same manner did these young adders attempt to bite before their fangs were in being. The dam, however, was furnished with very formidable ones, which we lifted up (for they fold down when not used), and cut them off with the point of our scissors.-GILBERT WHITE: Natural History of Selborne.

Exercise XII

A. Define the sentence. Define grammar: (a) in its widest sense, (b) as the word is used in this chapter. B. Show by illustration how a given word may sometimes be one part of speech, sometimes another. Show how a group of words may be the grammatical equivalent of a part of speech.

C. Give the rules laid down in the text for the use of the possessive.

D. Give the rules for the use of the subjunctive.
E. How do you know when to use a predicate adjective?
F. Give the rules for deciding the number of collective

nouns.

G. Distinguish in meaning between: (a) "He looks well," "He looks good"; (b) "He feels warm," "He feels warmly."

H. Point out and correct the solecisms in the following sentences:

1. There has been as great or more of a tendency recently than there was formerly to group as many tenements as possible under one roof.

2. Throughout the entire city, but few cases have been found where the greatest care consistent with its use is not given to elevators in constant operation.

3. The cavalry, horseless as yet, is 1,030 strong, but from the present outlook expect to recruit up to 1,200.

4. If anybody will pay for their own telescope, and resolve another nebula, we cacklé over the discernment as if it were our own.-RUSKIN: Sesame and Lilies.

5. Neither he or I saw the accident.

6. I asked him how he was, and he said he felt bad 7. He did not seem to grasp the fact's significance. 8. Burke implies that he don't se see why Englishmen should blame descendants of Englishmen for acting according to English principles.

9. The polished floor was so slippery that he couldn't keep his balance on it hardly.

10. He was one of those kind of men who are angry if they have to repeat a remark.

11. A rumor reached me too of Judge Pyncheon being missed-HAWTHORNE: House of the Seven Gables.

12. Far from the ragged crowd of the usual gallery "rush," the gallery patrons of grand opera are almost exclusively of the cultured class.

13. A slight illness has, and I fear will confine me to my room for a few days.

14. We mustn't crack Gaddy's head any more than it is. KIPLING: The Story of the Gadsbys.

15. She was a fat old woman, this Mrs. Gamp, with a husky

voice and a moist eye, which she had the remarkable power of turning up and only showing the white of it.-DICKENS: Martin Chuzzlewit.

16. When the cross-examination came, the witness begun to cry.

17. This dicta seemed to him very severe.

+

18. The pupil will soon take pride in the room's appearance. 19. Thoughts which go together must be orderly grouped to build up the paragraph's structure.

20. He even went so far in his generosity as to pay the bill of a fellow traveler who he had never seen before.

21. Excuse me helping myself first, but I was afraid there wouldn't be enough to go around.

22. Number the answers as the questions are.

23. Burke stated that Lord North's plan would produce an endless quarrel among the colonies and bring things to a worse stand than they were then.

24. Caedmon paraphrased the Old and New Testament.

25. I chose the thickest of the two because I thought it would wear the best.

b t!

26. "Do not all Americans whittle?" he asked mischievously... "I never have," I replied smiling.

"I thought they were never happy unless they were. -E. S. de G. TOMPKINS: Through David's Realm.

27. The sources of the oil are almost always found at the foot or parallel to the mountain chains.

28. Wahb put in his foot and found it (the spring) was quite warm, and that it felt pleasantly on his skin.-ERNEST SETONTHOMPSON: The Biography of a Grizzly.

29. A Prince Rupert drop is a small piece of glass, shaped like an incandescent lamp, which, if the smallest piece of the tail be snipped off, the drop flies into a fine dust with explosive violence.

30. [My experience with the Smith Agency in securing this position warrants me in recommending it highly.] Mr. Smith's wide acquaintance with superintendents and principals and with the rank of schools, and his experience the last twelve years as manager of an agency, enables him to be of great assistance to those seeking positions.

31. As I have previously pointed out, the storage of inflammable or waste material in places or under conditions which make them a menace to the surrounding property, should be