Introduction
In 1818, William Cobbett MP published some letters written to his son James, in which he had developed a thorough introduction to English grammar. Cobbett was a man of strong opinions, and more than happy to illustrate his remarks on good, plain English with some good, plain speaking on corruption in the House of Commons.
Nouns of number, or multitude, such as Mob, Parliament, Rabble, House of Commons, Regiment, Court of King’s Bench, Den of Thieves, and the like, may have pronouns agreeing with them either in the singular or in the plural number; for, we may, for instance, say of the House of Commons, “they refused to hear evidence against Castlereagh, when Mr Maddox accused him of having sold a seat”; or, “it refused to hear evidence.”* But, we must be uniform in our use of the pronoun in this respect.
We must not, in the same sentence, and applicable to the same noun, use the singular in one part of the sentence and the plural in another part. We must not, in speaking of the House of Commons, for instance, say, “they one year, voted unanimously, that cheap corn was an evil, and, the next year, it voted unanimously, that dear corn was an evil.” There are persons, who pretend to make very nice distinctions as to the cases when these nouns of multitude ought to take the singular, and when they ought to take the plaral, pronoun;* but, these distinctions are too nice to be of any real use. The rule is this: that nouns of multitude may take either the singular, or the plural, pronoun; but not both in the same sentence.
By
William Cobbett
1762-1835
From ‘Grammar of the English Language’ (1818) by William Cobbett. Additional information from
‘Hansard, May 5th 1809’. Hansard is the formal record of the proceedings of the Houses of Parliament.
Questions for Critics
1. What is the author
aiming to achieve in writing this?
2. Note any words, devices or turns of phrase that
strike you. How do they help the author communicate his
ideas more effectively?
3. What impression does this passage make on you?
How might you put that impression into words?
Based on The English Critic (1939)
by NL Clay, drawing on The New Criticism: A Lecture Delivered at
Columbia University, March 9, 1910, by J. E. Spingarn,
Professor of Comparative Literature in Columbia University,
USA.
Précis
William Cobbett presented his son James with examples of collective nouns, including ‘Parliament’, ‘rabble’ and ‘mob’. Then he told him that, when using verbs or pronouns with such words, he was free to choose singular or plural forms. Some people, he admitted, would disagree; but in his view, all that was necessary was for a writer to be consistent.
(59 / 60 words)
William Cobbett presented his son James with examples of collective nouns, including ‘Parliament’, ‘rabble’ and ‘mob’. Then he told him that, when using verbs or pronouns with such words, he was free to choose singular or plural forms. Some people, he admitted, would disagree; but in his view, all that was necessary was for a writer to be consistent.
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Variations:
1.increase the length of this precis to exactly 65 words.
2.reduce the length of this precis to exactly 55 words.
3.introduce one of the following words into the precis: despite, if, just, may, must, not, until, who.
Archive
Word Games
Suggest answers to this question. See
if you can limit one answer to exactly
seven words.
Variations:
1.expand your answer to exactly fourteen words.
2.expand your answer further, to exactly twenty-one words.
3.include one of the following words in your answer: if, but, despite, because, (al)though, unless.
Express the ideas below in a single
sentence, using different words as much as possible.
Do not be satisfied with the first answer you
think of; think of several, and choose the best.
For each group of words, compose a sentence that uses all three. You can use any form of the word: for example, cat → cats, go → went, or quick → quickly, though neigh → neighbour is stretching it a bit.
This exercise uses words found in the accompanying passage.
1
He.
Such.
Uniform.
2
Both.
They.
Very.
3
Multitude.
Numb.
One.
Variations:
1.
include direct and indirect speech
2.
include one or more of these words: although, because, despite, either/or, if, unless, until, when, whether, which, who
3.
use negatives (not, isn’t, neither/nor, never, nobody etc.)
Make words by adding vowels to each group of consonants below. You may add as many vowels as you like before, between or after the consonants, but you may not add any consonants or change the order of those you have been given. See if you can beat our target of common words.
spng
(5)
See Words
espionage.
seeping.
soaping.
souping.
sponge.
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