think I saw to-day?'

'Who, for the sake of numerous services, the office was given to.' In both these cases it should be whom. Bring the verb in the first and the preposition in the second case closer to the relative, as, who I saw, to who the office was given, and you see the error at once. But take care! Whom, of all the men in the world, do you think, was chosen to be sent as an ambassador?' Whom, for the sake of his numerous services, had an office of honor bestowed upon him.' These are nominative cases, and ought to have who; that is to say, who was chosen, who had an office."

"Most grammarians," says Dr. Bain, in his Higher English Grammar," "have laid down this rule: 'The verb to be has the same case after as before it.' Macaulay censures the following as a solecism: 'It was him that Horace Walpole called a man who never made a bad figure but as an author.' Thackeray similarly adverts to the same deviation from the rule: ""Is that him?" said the lady in questionable grammar. But, notwithstanding this," continues Dr. Bain, we certainly hear in the actual speech of all classes of society such expressions as 'it was me,' 'it was him,' 'it was her,' more frequently than the prescribed form.* ' 'This shy creature, my brother says, is me'; ‘were it me, I'd show him the difference.'-Clarissa Harlowe. 'It is not met you are in love with.'-Addison. If there is one character more base than another, it is him who,' etc.—Sydney Smith. 'If I were him'; ‘if I had been her,' etc. The authority of good writers is strong on the side of objective forms.

*If this is true in England, it is not true in America. Nowhere in the United States is such "questionable grammar" as this frequently heard in cultivated circles.

"It may be confidently affirmed that with good speakers, in the case of negation, not me is the usual practice."-Bain. This, I confidently affirm, is not true in America.-A. A.

There is also the analogy of the French language; for while 'I am here' is je suis ici, the answer to 'who is there?' is moi (me); and c'est moi (it is me) is the legitimate phrase— never c'est je (it is I)."

But moi, according to all French grammarians, is very often in the nominative case. Moi is in the nominative case when used in reply to "Who is there?" and also in the phrase "C'est moi," which makes "It is 7" the correct translation of the phrase, and not "It is me." The French equivalent of “I! I am here,” is “Moi! je suis ici." The Frenchman uses moi in the nominative case when je would be inharmonious. Euphony with him is a matter of more importance than grammatical correctness. Bescherelle gives many examples of moi in the nominative. Here are two of them: "Mon avocat et moi sommes de cet avis. Qui veut aller avec lui? Moi." If we use such phraseology as "It is me," we must do as the French do-consider me as being in the nominative case, and offer euphony as our reason for thus using it.

When shall we put nouns (or pronouns) preceding verbal, or participial, nouns, as they are called by some grammarians—infinitives in ing, as they are called by others—in the possessive case ?

666

I am surprised at John's (or his, your, etc.) refusing to go.' 'I am surprised at John (or him, you, etc.) refusing to go.' [In the latter sentence refusing is a participle.] The latter construction is not so common with pronouns as with nouns, especially with such nouns as do not readily take the possessive form. They prevented him going forward' better, 'They prevented his going forward.' 'He was dismissed without any reason being assigned.' boy died through his clothes being burned.' 'We hear little of any connection being kept up between the two nations.'

'The

LINESS.

'The men rowed vigorously for fear of the tide turning against us.' But most examples of the construction without the possessive form are OBVIOUSLY DUE TO MERE SLOVEN'In case of your being absent': here being is an infinitive [verbal, or participial, noun] qualified by the possessive your. 'In case of you being present': here being would have to be construed as a participle. The possessive construction is, in this case, the primitive and regular construction; THE OTHER IS A MERE LAPSE. The difficulty of adhering to the possessive form occurs when the subject is not a person: 'It does not seem safe to rely on the rule of demand creating supply': in strictness, 'Demand's creating supply.' 'A petition was presented against the license being granted.' But for the awkwardness of extending the possessive to impersonal subjects, it would be right to say, 'against the license's being granted.' He had conducted the ball without any complaint being urged against him.' The possessive would be suitable, but undesirable and unnecessary."-Professor Alexander Bain.

Though the ordinary syntax of the possessive case is sufficiently plain and easy, there is, perhaps, among all the puzzling and disputable points of grammar, nothing more difficult of decision than are some questions that occur respecting the right management of this case. The observations that have been made show that possessives before participles are seldom to be approved. The following example is manifestly inconsistent with itself; and, in my opinion, the three possessives are all wrong: 'The kitchen, too, now begins to give dreadful note of preparation; not from armorers accomplishing the knights, but from the shopmaid's chopping force-meat, the apprentice's cleaning knives, and the journeyman's receiving a practical lesson in

the art of waiting at table.' 'The daily instances of men's dying around us.' Say rather, 'Of men dying around us.' The leading word in sense ought not to be made the adjunct in construction."-Goold Brown.

Casualty. This word is often heard with the incorrect addition of a syllable, casuality, which is not recognized by the lexicographers. Some writers object to the word casualty, and always use its synonym accident.

Celebrity. "A number of celebrities witnessed the first representation." This word is frequently used, especially in the newspapers, as a concrete term; but it would be better to use it in its abstract sense only, and in sentences like the one above to say distinguished persons.

Character-Reputation. These two words are not synonyms, though often used as such. Character means the sum of distinguishing qualities. "Actions, looks, words, steps, form the alphabet by which you may spell characters."-Lavater. Reputation means the estimation in which one is held. One's reputation, then, is what is thought of one's character; consequently, one may have a good reputation and a bad character, or a good character and a bad reputation. Calumny may injure reputation, but not character. Sir Peter does not leave his character behind him, but his reputation—his good name.

Cheap. The dictionaries define this adjective as meaning, bearing a low price, or to be had at a low price; but nowadays good usage makes it mean that a thing may be had, or has been sold, at a bargain. Hence, in order to make sure of being understood, it is better to say low-priced, when one means low-priced, than to use the word cheap. What is low-priced, as everybody knows, is often dear, and what is high-priced is often cheap. A diamond necklace

might be cheap at ten thousand dollars, and a pinchbeck necklace dear at ten dollars.

Cherubim. The Hebrew plural of cherub. "We are authorized," says Dr. Campbell, "both by use and analogy, to say either cherubs and seraphs, according to the English idiom, or cherubim and seraphim, according to the Oriental. The former suits better the familiar, the latter the solemn, style. As the words cherubim and seraphim are plural, the terms cherubims and seraphims, as expressing the plural, are quite improper."-" Philosophy of Rhetoric."

Citizen. This word properly means one who has certain political rights; when, therefore, it is used, as it often is, to designate persons who may be aliens, it, to say the least, betrays a want of care in the selection of words. "Several citizens were injured by the explosion." Here some other word-persons, for example-should be used.

Clever. In this country the word clever is most improperly used in the sense of good-natured, well-disposed, good-hearted. It is properly used in the sense in which we are wont most inelegantly to use the word smart, though it is a less colloquial term, and is of wider application. In England the phrase "a clever man " is the equivalent of the French phrase, un homme d'esprit." The word is properly used in the following sentences: "Every work of Archbishop Whately must be an object of interest to the admirers of clever reasoning"; "Cobbett's letter . . . very clever, but very mischievous"; clever a man as ever lived."

'Bonaparte was certainly as

Climax. A clause, a sentence, a paragraph, or any literary composition whatsoever, is said to end with a climax when, by an artistic arrangement, the more effective is made to follow the less effective in regular gradation. Any great departure from the order of ascending strength