glass was always kept shrouded in white muslin at all seasons of the year, on account of a tradition that flies might be expected to attack it for one or two weeks in summer."1 "I am convinced that it is likeness, and not contrast, which produces this liking-likeness, mark you, in some essential particular, in some sub-stratum, as I said before, in the mind, which liking is not overcome by considerable dissimilarity upon the upper surface." 2

32. The referring word, in addition to representing its antecedent, may be made the occasion for enriching or more closely determining its meaning. The following main aspects of this may be mentioned. First, instead of repeating the antecedent identically, it may repeat it by a defining or descriptive word. Secondly, in thus naming its antecedent it may discriminate between a thing and a fact, and thus its antecedent may be a whole assertion and yet be perfectly represented in the reference. Thirdly, the referring word may on occasion make the reference more vague or general than by representing a concrete thing, by the use of words like such, thereby, in this manner, and the like. By such liberty and flexibility of reference the thought may be kept from baldness and made to grow at each step.

EXAMPLES. 1. Reference by a defining word is illustrated in the sentence quoted from Dumas on p. 249: "All the precious stones and jewels of Cardinal Mazarin, which of course that minister could not do otherwise than leave." - Professor Bain's proposed correction of the sentence from Smollett (pp. 248, 252) employs descriptive terms thus: "The pedant assured his patron that although he could not divest the boy of the knowledge already imbibed, unless he were empowered to disable the little trickster's fingers, he should endeavor, with God's help, to prevent his pupil's future improvement."

2. Discrimination between a thing and a fact, between word and clausereference: "When an American book is republished in England, it [better the fact] is heralded as a noteworthy event in literature." — - The sentence from Steele quoted on p. 251 might be helped, though perhaps not wholly

1 STOWE, Oldtown Folks, p. 63.

2 HELPS, Brevia, p. 132.

corrected, if with which we should read a defining word: which unkindliness indeed, etc. —“God, foreseeing the disorders of human nature, has given us certain passions and affections which arise from, or whose objects are, these disorders. Of this sort are fear, resentment, compassion." Here the antecedent is wrongly treated not as a collection but a class; better, "among these are," etc.

"When a

3. The referring word purposely left large in its reference. recognized organization places itself in opposition to what the people regard as their rights, it endangers its own existence; and a continuation of this attitude [better such attitude] is almost sure to cause its overthrow." The word such draws attention not to the particular deed but to the kind of deed. - 66 It may be well to make brief mention of Lawrence Sheriff, the founder of this Rugby school, that some of its early history may through that [better, may thereby] be portrayed"; the reference being not to mention but to the fact of making mention.

V. PROSPECTIVE REFERENCE.

This term designates the office of any word of reference, pronominal or other, when the word or idea for which it stands is yet to be expressed.

Anticipative It and There. The idioms it is and there is (or there are, there was, there were), beginning a sentence or clause, are the commonest forms of prospective reference, and are especially valuable as a means of inverting the grammatical order of subject and predicate. Introduced first, these words stand provisionally for the actual subject; while the latter, thus free to choose its position, may be placed where it will have the greatest distinction.

EXAMPLES. —I. “It is a necessity of every manufacturing and commercial people that their customers should be very wealthy and intelligent." Here the clause "that their customers," etc., which is the real subject of remark, acquires a distinction proper to its importance by being placed after its predicate, "is a necessity"; and this is effected by making it stand provisionally for the subject.

2. Observe what emphasis is given to the words "a single day" in the following, by the facility of delay afforded by the use of There at the

beginning: "There has not for the whole of that time been a single day of my life when it would have been safe for me to go south of Mason and Dixon's line in my own country."

33. As the word it may refer backward as well as forward, care is needed not to employ it where the reference is uncertain, and not to mix its retrospective and anticipative functions unadvisedly in the same passage.

EXAMPLES.

The following examples will show that even where no real ambiguity exists the double use of it in the same passage always suggests the possibility of being led astray: "It would be absurd to make another attempt; it would be a mere throwing away of money." Here the second it, retrospective, sounds at best awkward after its anticipative. use. So too in the following sentence from Ruskin: "It is pretty and appropriate; and, if it boasted of any other perfection, it would be at the expense of its propriety."

The following, copied from a newspaper, is an extreme instance of carelessness in the mixture of functions. It is a description of a temperance speech made by a rope-walker while hanging in the air: "It was a speech not easily forgotten, delivered as it was from a peculiar platform, and on a subject not often touched under the circumstances. It made me think of some other things, on the line of the same thought. The mind, the soul, has a grip. It may hold on. Sometimes it is imperative. It is death not to do so. It is responsible in the matter. It is chargeable with its own destruction if it does not hold on."1

Demonstratives and Numerals. As in blazing a path through an unexplored tract for the benefit of those who are to come after, so means of prospective reference are often used, as pointers, to prepare the reader for something especially noteworthy or helpful in the passage on which he is entering.

1"The word it is the greatest troubler that I know of in language. It is so small, and so convenient, that few are careful enough in using it. Writers seldom spare this word. Whenever they are at a loss for either a nominative or an objective to their sentence, they, without any kind of ceremony, clap in an it.... Never put an it upon paper without thinking well of what you are about. When I see many its in a page, I always tremble for the writer." COBBETT, English Grammar, §§ 194, 196.

here

Expl.

34. The strong demonstratives, such as this and these, when used prospectively, serve to fasten attention on some descriptive or important element of what is to be told, before the thing itself is named. The personal pronouns, thus employed, sound more artificial, and when used should not keep their subject waiting long.

EXAMPLES. -" This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners." Here the saying itself, which is delayed by the prospective this, is not only emphasized by position, but defined beforehand as to its importance, by the intermediate phrase.

The somewhat strange sound of a prospective personal pronoun is illustrated by the following: "But such a use of language, although necessary to a good style, has no more direct relation to it than her daily dinner has to the blush of a blooming beauty."

35. Numerals and other particles of reference are especially useful in spoken discourse for mapping out the plan of what is coming, and thus enabling the hearer to grasp its bounds and stages. The copiousness of such words of reference is naturally greater as the thought taxes the mind more. The common tendency, to give the hearer too little help of this kind, should be noted and corrected.

EXAMPLES OF EXPLICIT REference. - The following will illustrate Burke's carefulness in articulating the thought of his speeches before amplifying it: "The capital leading questions on which you must this day decide are these two: First, whether you ought to concede; and, secondly, what your concession ought to be. On the first of these questions we have gained some ground."1 - The following paragraph from Ruskin is nearly all a prospective laying out of plan; though he is somewhat less formal and does not employ numerals: "We have contemplated the rural dwelling of the peasant; let us next consider the ruralized domicile of the gentleman: and here, as before, we shall first determine what is theoretically beautiful, and then observe how far our expectations are fulfilled in individual buildings. But a few preliminary observations are necessary.' Consider how these prospective words keep the plan before the reader.

1 BURKE, Conciliation with America.

2 RUSKIN, Poetry of Architecture.

"2

VI. CORRELATION.

Many words or forms of expression occur in pairs, the one member of the pair suggesting and requiring the other. Some cautions and characteristics of this mutual relation need here to be noted.

Cautions in Comparison.

In comparing by means of such words as than and as, there is a tendency to ambiguity or inexactness between the things or acts compared.

36. Verbs or prepositions should be repeated after than or as, when necessary to make the grammatical relation of the later member clear.

EXAMPLES. -"Cardinal Richelieu hated Buckingham as sincerely as the Spaniard Olivares." This sentence leaves it uncertain whether the last name is a subject or an object; we may read it either, "as did the Spaniard Olivares," or, "as he hated the Spaniard Olivares." Supply the verb according to the sense intended.

"Pleasure and excitement had more attraction for him than his friend." Here, according to the intended meaning, a verb or a preposition should be supplied: "than for his friend," or, "than had his friend."

37. In comparing complex objects, care is needed that the points are really comparable with each other. Sometimes, through heedlessness, the comparison is given as between ideas that really have no correlation.

EXAMPLES. "No author could more faithfully represent a character than this portrayal of Count Cenci by Shelley; and though the subject is unworthy, we cannot but admire the power with which it is treated." Here the comparison is apparently made between representing and portrayal, an act and a thing. If we should say "than Shelley has portrayed the character of Count Cenci," the comparison would be between like objects, to which "faithfully" equally applies.

The following question was actually propounded once in a college prize debate ; the decision reached, however, is not recorded: "Resolved, that a college graduate is better fitted for American citizenship than any other."

Tpl.