ter
of the condition being regarded as a fact. But Dr. Webster, who prefers the
indicative _too often_, has the following note upon it: "If Johnson had
followed the common grammars, or even his own, which is prefixed to his
Dictionary, he would have written _were_--'If the excellence of Dryden's
works _were_ lessened'--Fortunately this great man, led by usage rather
than by books, wrote _correct English, instead of grammar_."--
_Philosophical Gram._, p. 238. Now this is as absurd, as it is
characteristic of the grammar from which it is taken. Each form is right
sometimes, and neither can be used for the other, without error.

[394] Taking this allegation in one sense, the reader may see that Kirkham
was not altogether wrong here; and that, had he condemned the _solecisms_
adopted by himself and others, about "_unity of idea_" and "_plurality of
idea_," in stead of condemning the _things intended to be spoken of_, he
might have made a discovery which would have set him wholly right. See a
footnote on page 738, under the head of _Absurdities_.

[395] In his _English Reader_, (Part II, Chap. 5th, Sec. 7th,) Murray has
this line in its proper form, as it here stands in the words of Thomson;
but, in his _Grammar_, he corrupted it, first in his _Exercises_, and then
still more in his _Key_. Among his examples of "_False Syntax_" it stands
thus:

"What black despair, what horror, _fills_ his _mind_!"
--_Exercises_, Rule 2.

So the error is propagated in the name of _Learning_, and this verse goes
from grammar to grammar, as one that must have a "_plural_" verb. See
_Ingersoll's Gram._, p. 242; _Smith's New Gram._, p. 127; _Fisk's Gram._,
p. 120; _Weld's E. Gram._, 2d Ed., p. 189; Imp. Ed., p. 196.

[396] S. W. Clark, by reckoning "_as_" a "_preposition_," perverts the
construction of sentences like this, and inserts a wrong case after the
conjunction. See _Clark's Practical Grammar_, pp. 92 and 178; also _this
Syntax_, Obs. 6 and Obs. 18, on Conjunctions.

[397] Murray gives us the following text for false grammar, under the head
of _Strength_: "And Elias with Moses appeared to them."--_Exercises_, 8vo,
p. 135. This he corrects thus: "And _there appeared to them_ Elias with
Moses."--_Key_, 8vo, p. 266. He omits the comma after _Elias_, which some
copies of the Bible contain, and others do not. Whether he supposed the
verb _appeared_ to be singular or plural, I cannot tell; and he did not
extend his quotation t