THEATRE

&c.), disturb the correspondence. If these two could be omitted, the sentence would be well enough, except that the inversion should be got rid of by either shifting is to after claims or omitting it-the latter for choice.

theatre, -ter. See -RE & ER.

their, as the possessive of they, is liable to the same kinds of misuse, for discussion of which see THEY. A mere specimen or two will here suffice without further comment than that in each their is wrong:Dr Hollander has brought within 200 pages a vast amount of evidence from the medical literature of the entire civilized world'; this is arranged in chapters according to their origin./ A Unionist journal, having discovered a mare's nest in its attempt to show .... is now trying to inflict a sort of revenge upon Mr Lloyd George for their own mistake by .../But each knew the situation of their bosom, & could not but guess at that of the other./But does anyone in their heart really believe that Ireland is only that?/No one can be easy in their minds about the present conditions of examination./But every one of them must be present at the Durbar to pledge their loyalty to their KingEmperor.

own

theirs. See ABSOLUTE POSSESSIVES. theism. See DEISM for the differ

ence. them. For misuses common to them & they, see THEY. The reflexive use of them themselves is archaic, & as such usually to be avoided; but the following quotation is enough to show that with an archaic verb it is not well to avoid the archaic reflexive Together the two-employee & director-hied themselves to the Great Central Company's loco. superintendent's office. Read hied them to. theoretic(al). Except that -ic, -ics, are the noun forms, & that -ical is probably more often used in all adjective senses than -ic, the two words are indifferent. See -IC(AL).

there. In the well-known special use of there before be, exist, & such verbs, two things call for notice. First, the use is anticipatory, i.e. there accompanies & announces inversion of verb & subject, standing in the place usually occupied before the verb by the subject; consequently, when there is no inversion, this there is out of place, & should be struck out, e. g., in: Bombay is without a doubt the headquarters of whatever cricket there exists in India today. An exception must however be made for the verb be itself; whatever cricket there is ', or who there was to see it', is English, though whatever cricket there exists' & 'who there witnessed it' are not. The reason is easy to see : there has become, where there is inversion, so regular an attendant on is, are, was, &c., in their very frequent use as parts of the substantive verb or verb of existence that even when there is no inversion the need is felt of inserting it as a sign of the particular sense (i. e. as substantive verb) in which is &c. is to be taken; but with other verbs, whose meaning is not obscured by the doubt whether they are here & now substantive or auxiliary or copulative, no such sign is wanted, & there is used only with inversion.

Secondly, since in the there idiom verb precedes subject, there is a danger of the verb's being hastily put into the wrong number; for examples see NUMBER, 7.

thereafter, thereat, therein, thereof. See remark under THerefor. thereanent is in the same kind of

use as ANENT.

thereby. 1. The use of t. after a number &c. (half a dozen or t.) is Scotch, the English idiom being or thereabouts or or so. 2. A special tribunal will be constituted to try the accused, thereby assuring him the guarantees essential to the right of defence. For this use of t. with an UNATTACHED PARTICIPLE (assuring's

THEREFOR

noun is not tribunal, but an inferred constitution), see that article & THUS, which is more frequently resorted to in similar difficulties. In the following example it is clear that thereby means by the salary &c.; but whether affording agrees with salary &c., so that the salary affords encouragement by the salary, or with 'firm' looming in the distance, the writer probably knows as little as we -The latter is usually the recipient of a liberal salary & expenses, with periodical increments, holidays, & security, thereby affording every encouragement to promote the interests of his firm.

therefor, therefore. The two are now distinct in accent & meaning as well as in spelling. Therefor is accented on the second syllable, therefore on the first; & therefor is to be used only where for that, for it, for them, &c., could stand equally well.

In grammatical terms, therefore is an adverbial conjunction, & therefor an adverbial or adjectival phrase (adverbial in He was punished therefor, & adjectival in The penalty therefor is death). The essential function of therefore is to make clear the relation of its sentence to what has gone before; that of therefor is the same as that of thereafter, thereat, therein, & thereof, to give a touch of formality or archaism to the sentence in which it is substituted for the for it &c. of natural speech.

therefore. Apart from the danger of meaning therefor & writing therefore, the only caution needed is that commas should be used or not used with discretion before & after the class of words to which t. belongs. Like then, accordingly, nevertheless, consequently, & many others, it is an adverb often (itself, indeed, almost always) used as a conjunction; & it is a matter of taste whether such adverbial conjunctions shall or shall not be comma'd off from the rest of the sentence in which they stand. Light punc

tuators usually omit the commas (or comma, if t. stands first), heavy punctuators usually give them, & both are within their rights. But it must be remembered that the putting of a comma before t. inevitably has the effect of throwing a strong accent on the preceding word, & that some preceding words are equal to that burden, & some are not. From the three following examples it will be at once apparent that although can bear the commas, & the ands cannot :-Although, therefore, the element of surprise could not come into play on this occasion, the Germans were forced to withdraw./ It would be impossible for the State to pay such prices, and, therefore, we must content ourselves with ./ Malaria was the cause of a very large proportion of the sickness, and, therefore, the disease deserves especial study by.

Again, the word it is one that can seldom be emphasized & consequently abhors a comma'd therefore such as follows it in :-It, therefore, comes rather as a shock to find simultaneously in many papers this morning articles declaring.../It, therefore, behoves those who have made the passage of the Bill possible to attend once more. But where emphasis can reasonably be laid on it, & it can mean it more than others' or the like, the commas become at least tolerable; so: It is a concrete & definite idea, the embodiment of which in practicable shape is by far the most urgent constructive problem of international statesmanship; & it, therefore, calls for the most careful examination.

Many words, however, are neither naturally emphatic like although nor naturally unemphatic like and & it; & after them care should be taken not to use the commas with therefore except when emphasis is intended. The personal pronouns are good examples; in the following, we ought to be able to conclude from the commas that we' are being deliberately contrasted with others

THESIS

who believe otherwise: We, therefore, find great comfort in believing that Canadian loyalty depends not on . . ., nor on . . ., but on... Probably that is the case, & the commas are justified; but if the light punctuation were generally accepted as the rule with these adverbial con

junctions, & commas used only when emphasis on the preceding word was desired, one of the numberless small points that make for lucidity would be gained.

A curious specimen may be added: We therefore are brought again to the study of symptoms. Here it is obvious that We is unemphatic ; but the writer, though he has rightly abstained from commas, has been perverse enough to throw an accent

on

We by other means, viz by putting therefore before instead of after are; see POSITION OF ADVERBS 4.

thesis. Pl. thesēs, see LATIN PLURALS. Pron. the- or thě-. For the metrical sense, see TECHNICAL TERMS.

they, them, their. 1. One, anyone, everybody, nobody, &c., followed by their &c. 2. Confusions with nouns of multitude & personifications. 3. Unsatisfactory pronoun reference. 4. Case.

1. One &c. followed by their &c. The grammar of the recently issued appeal to the Unionists of Ireland, signed by Sir Edward Carson, the Duke of Abercorn, Lord Londonderry, & others, is as shaky as its arguments. The concluding sentence runs : And we trust that everybody interested will send a contribution, however small, to this object, thereby demonstrating their (sic) personal interest in the antiHome Rule campaign'. Archbishop Whately used to say that women were more liable than men to fall into this error, as they objected to identifying ' everybody' with him'. But no

such excuse is available in this case. Their should be his; & the origin of the mistake is clearly reluctance to recognize that the right shorten

ing of the cumbersome he or she, his or her, &c., is he or him or kis though the reference may be to both sexes. Whether that reluctance is less felt by the male is doubtful; at any rate the OED quotes examples from Fielding (Everyone in the house were in their beds), Goldsmith, Sydney Smith, Thackeray (4 person can't help their birth), Bagehot (Nobody in their senses), & Bernard Shaw. It also says nothing more severe of the use than that it is 'Not favoured by grammarians'; that the grammarians are likely, nevertheless, to have their way on the point is suggested by the oldfashioned sound of the Fielding & Thackeray sentences quoted; few good modern writers would flout the grammarians so conspicuously. The question is discussed in NUMBER, 11; examples of the wrong their, in addition to those that follow, will be found under THEIR ; & the article The ONE, 5, 6, 7, may be useful. lecturer said that everybody loved their ideals./Nobody in their senses would give sixpence on the strength of a promissory note of that kind. /Elsie Lindtner belongs to the kind of person who suddenly discovers the beauty of the stars when they themselves are dull & have no one to talk with.

the

The

last is amusing by the number of the emendations that hurry to the rescue: E. L. is one of the people who discover .. .. kind of people who discover .. when he himself is ...; when she herself is ...; kind of woman who discovers when she herself is .. As to when she herself is. without further change, it is needless to remark that each, one, person, &c., may be answered by her instead of him & his when the reference, though formally to both sexes, is especially, as here, to the female.

2. Confusions with nouns of multitude & personifications. What is meant appears from the quotations following, with Government, is, & them, in the first, & journal, its, is, & their, in the second :-The Govern

3. Unsatisfactory reference. For the many possibilities in this kind, see PRONOUNS. A few flagrant examples follow, the bracketed numbers referring to sections in Pronouns :-The Germans will argue that, whatever they may undertake to keep the French at bay, they will still have no guarantee that they will evacuate their territory or even refrain from further occupations when they prove unable to meet the enormous demands still hanging over them (4)./ It must not repeat this history with the Poles or fall into a sudden scepticism about the Minsk negotiations, because they have succeeded in keeping the enemy from the capital (3)./ If the Paris Conference have to fight the Bolshevists, it is because, by attacking their decisions in advance, by waging war against States which they propose to set up, & by their unscrupulous propaganda, they have begun to fight the Conference (4)./ That the error in date, & the deduction, are from Dr Garnett's preface, I am well aware; but that does not make them either correct or accurate. In this last, error in date is necessarily part of the reference of them; but, since a fact cannot make an error correct or accurate, it should have been the date 'the erroneous date'.

or

4. Case. Like him & HE (which see for comment), them & they occasionally go wrong, as in :-The whole foundation of our constitution depends upon the King being faithfully served by his advisers, & they taking complete responsibility for every act which he does./Several bodies of the tribesmen

THINKABLE

then undertook to help Kaid Maclean to escape to the sacred oasis, to which his captors had been careful to draw near in the event of they themselves being in danger. Observe that responsibility for these two blunders rests with the FUSED PARTICIPLE ; read, in the first piece, upon the King's being . . . & their taking, &, in the second, in the event of their being in danger themselves.

thimbleful. Pl. -ls; see -FUL. thin makes thinness; see SPELLING POINTS, 2.

thine. See ABSOLUTE POSSESSIVES. thing. Things musical, things canine, things Japanese, & the like, are phrases sometimes serviceable & businesslike, as at the head of a newspaper column, but suggestive of affectation where the only reason for using them is that they are a slightly out-of-the-way form expression.

of

thingumajig,thingumbob,thingummy, are the chief survivors of a large number of variants.

think. 1. After t., that is usually omitted; see THAT, conj., 2.

2. T. to do, t. of doing or remember to do, is at best colloquial, though the OED does, without producing any quotations, recognize its existence, thus: Mod. Did you

think to ask him how his father is ?'. 3. No thinking man. One of the bluffing formulae, like It stands to reason (see REASON, 2), that put the reader's back up & incline him to reject the view that is being forced on him. In the following piece it will be noticed that the writer by implication rules out all Liberals from rational humanity: No thinking man can believe that, without fairer conditions of internal competition, without a broader basis of revenue, without a league of commerce & defence between the Mother country & her colonies, the Imperial State can continue to exist.

thinkable is a word of the same unfortunate ambiguity as its much more popular opposite UNTHINK

THIRTY

ABLE. Protection is only a thinkable expedient on the assumption that competition in the home market is to be made unprofitable.

thirty. The thirties, 'thirties. See

TWENTIES.

thirty-twomo, 32mo. Pl. -os; see -0(E)s 6.

See FOLIO.

this. 1. This three wecks, this five years, &c., are as good English as these &c., the numeral & the plural noun being taken as the singular name of a period; but the modern grammatical conscience is sometimes needlessly uneasy about it.

2. For I will not do &c. this thing, see NOVELESE, & STOCK PATHOS.

thistle. The -t is silent; see PRONUNCIATION.

thither. See HITHER. An OED quotation shows how the word is still available, though rarely indeed, when real ambiguity would result from there; it is from a guidebook : The road thither leaves the main road at right angles.

-TH NOUNS. The remarks made in the article AL NOUNS apply also to the invention of new or revival of obsolete nouns in -TH. There are large numbers of well established words such as truth, depth, growth; but the suffix is no longer a living one (on this point see HYBRID DERIVATIVES), & the use of new or revived -th nouns is chiefly a poetasters' trick. Some specimens are: greenth, gloomth, & blueth, all made by Horace Walpole; blowth (blossom &c.), more or less obsolete; spilth, a revival; & illth, made by Ruskin as antithesis to wealth in its older & wider sense.

those. 1. For those kind of, those sort of, see Kind, sort.

2. Those (adj.) + noun+adjective. (The winner will be selected from) those persons named; persons is the noun, & named the adjective. This arrangement is now very common in newspaper writing of the inferior kind, but is so little warranted by good literary usage that the OED,

THOSE

which illustrates the constructions of which this is a hybrid product, does not quote a single example of it; cf. what is said of the same construction under THAT adj., 2. The word adjective in the formula above is to be taken as including participles active or passive, & adjectival phrases, as well as simple adjectives-whatever, in fact, is equivalent to a defining relative clause (those persons following, those persons named, those persons in the list below, those persons present—all equivalent to the persons that &c.). Those named is a proper substitute for (the) persons named, the pronoun (not adjective) those taking the place of the noun persons with or without the; & (the) persons named is itself a shortening of the persons that are named. But those persons named is a mixture of the long form (the) persons that are named & the short form those named, in which mixture what was gained by using the pronoun those instead of the persons is thrown away by reinserting the noun & making those an adjective. It is true that there is another legitimate form in which those does appear as an adjective, viz those persons who are named; but that is a form in which not lightness & brevity, but on the contrary formality & precision, are aimed at ; it is therefore not one that should be abbreviated.

All this is offered not as a proof that those persons named is impossible grammar, but as a reasonable explanation of what is believed to be the fact, that good writers do not say it, but say either (the) persons named or those named. The following quotation is useful as containing samples both of the right & of the wrong usage: It depends upon the extent to which those in authority understand their responsibility, & are able so to make their influence felt as to enlist the active support of those boys with most influence in the school. Those in authority is right, whereas those persons in authority