ces of going out are not
bright.

_Q._ Must a sentence always have coherence? What is the practice of our
great writers on this point? _A._ Coherence is not essential. Thus:
"Conquests! Thousands! Don Bolaro Fizzgig--Grandee--only daughter--Donna
Christina--Splendid creature--loved me to distraction--jealous
father--high-souled daughter--handsome Englishman--Donna Christina in
despair--prussic acid--stomach pump in my portmanteau--operation
performed--old Bolaro in ecstasies--consent to our union--join hands and
floods of tears--romantic story--very." (Charles Dickens.)

_Q._ Must a sentence always have a predicate? _A._ No. For example: (1)
"The Universe smiles to me. The World smiles to me. Everything. Man.
Woman. Children. Presidential Candidates. Trolley Cars. Everything
smiles to me." (_The Complete Whitmanite_) (2) "From the frowning tower
of Babel on which the insectile impotence of man dared to contend with
the awful wrath of the Almighty, through the granite bulk of the
beetling Pyramids lifting their audacious crests to the star-meshed
skies that bend down to kiss the blue waters of Father Nile and the
gracious nymphs laving their blithesome limbs in the pools that stud the
sides of Pentelicus, down to our own Washington, throned like an empress
on the banks of the beautiful Potomac, waiting for the end which we
trust may never come." (From the _Congressional Record_.)

_Q._ Is "ivrybody" a permissible variant for "everybody"? _A._ It is.
For instance, "His dinners [our ambassador's at St. Petersburg] were th'
most sumchuse ever known in that ancient capital; th' carredge of state
that bore him fr'm his stately palace to th' comparatively squalid
quarters of th' Czar was such that _ivrybody_ expicted to hear th'
sthrains iv a calliope burst fr'm it at anny moment." (Mr. Dooley.)

_Q._ Is there good authority for saying, "He was given a hat," "He was
shown the door," etc.? _A._ The form is common, and therefore correct.
As, "The Senator _was paid_ twenty thousand dollars for voting against
the Governor"; "He _was offered_ a third term, but declined"; "The
coloured delegates _were handed_ a lemon." (From the contemporary
press.)

_Q._ The use of "who" and "whom" puzzles me. Must "who" always be used
in the nominative case and "whom" in the objective? _A._ Not
necessarily. Thus, "I told him who I wanted to see and that it wasn't
none of his business" (W. S. Devery); "That's the first guy whom he said
put hi