590 SIMI'LIFICATION OF ENGLISH. 



Sureh' such well-established uses as these might be accepted 



even in written composition, and yet Mr. Webb gives many 



others of the same type as "' common errors," including, of 



course, poor Mrs. Hemans' alleged confusion of two constructions 



in Casablanca — 



" The boy stood on the burning deck, 

 Whence all hut he had fled." 



If anyone were to ask me to make definite proposals for 

 simplification I should refuse to comply without very careful 

 thought. However, there are a few time-worn things which, I 

 think, should be thrown over-board without hesitation ; for 

 example, the objection to the Split Infinitive (in spite of its 

 occasional ugliness) ; and the pronoun-form ik'Jioiu should be 

 abolished, together with the prejudice against the superlative 

 in such sentences as this is the best of the tzvo bicycles. 



In spite of the pedantic Gabriel Harveys of the Twentieth 

 Century, then, we should legitimatize the Split Infinitive, and 

 various uses of the relatives should no longer be sneered at as 

 only " natural " sons of the English language. These {sic) 

 sort of changes should be made, and as long as neither of the 

 last two are (sic) allow^ed in polite grammatical society, so long 

 will it be impossible for you and I (sic) to really feel (sic) that 

 the language is progressing. 



As regards our old. crotchet}- acquaintances, Messrs. Will 

 and Shall, with their ecjually crotchety relations Would and 

 Should, they should be treated with a more generous hospi- 

 tality, and we should avoid ever making the most of their little 

 dift'erences. By this courtesy we will {sic) succeed in bringing 

 Scotland, Ireland, the Dominions, and the Colonies into a gram- 

 matical union of hearts, and the Empire will, if we would (sic) 

 do this, secure a happy issue out of its linguistic afflictions. 



As regards the grammarians who are inventing new errors 

 of speech and composition by the score, I should also like to 

 protest against their refusal to acknowledge the gradual rise of 

 words and phrases in the social scale, from slan? and colloquial 

 ism to respectability. The grammarians live in the remote past 

 and nevertheless wish to legislate for the present. 



Mr. Webb, for example, in his excellent book. " A Guide 

 to the Study of English," says: The following sentences contain 

 colloquialisms (italicised) that should be avoided in writing: — 



Charles tried to back out of (withdraw from) his engage- 

 ment. 



The commander had a bone to pick (an unpleasant matter 

 to settle) with his officers. 



The general was handicapped (at a disadvantage, ham- 

 pered) by his want of cavalry. 



Hampden showed plenty of grit (spirit, courage). 



In this wav, it seems to me. our nedants aim at dccerating 

 (nr making flat) our current style. Fortunatelv the Americans 



