Page:The king's English (IA kingsenglish00fowlrich).pdf/207

Rh of merit. Should I, from its frequency, is without taint of archaism; but could and would, and, in a less degree, had, are apt to betray their archaic character by the addition of but ('would he but consent'); and were and did are felt to be slightly out of date, even without this hint.

(iii) Always, after performing inversion of any kind, the novice should go his rounds, and see that all is shipshape. For want of this precaution, a writer who was no novice, particularly in the matter of inversion, produces such curiosities as these:

We shall venture on removing the comma before 'though'; but must leave it to connoisseurs in inversion to decide between the rival attractions of 'disagree with M. Comte though I do' and 'disagreeing...though I am'. 'Though I do', in spite of the commas, can scarcely be meant to be parenthetic; that would give (by resolution of the participle) 'though I disagree with M. Comte, though I do,...'

a. Occasional.

We have implied in former sections, and shall here take it for granted, that occasional archaisin is always a fault, conscious or unconscious. There are, indeed, a few writers–Lamb is one of them–whose uncompromising terms, 'Love me, love my archaisms', are generally accepted; but they are taking risks that a novice will do well not to take.

As to unconscious archaism, it might be thought that such a thing could scarcely exist: to employ unconsciously a word that has been familiar, and is so no longer, can happen to few. Rh