Page:The king's English (IA kingsenglish00fowlrich).pdf/209

Rh

The worst of making a mannerism of this shall is that, after the first two or three times, the reader is certain to see it coming; for its function is nearly always the same–to bring in illustrations of a point already laid down.

Regarded as a counter-irritant to slang, archaism is a failure. Frills is ten times more noticeable for the prim and pompous be.

'We must not'. Similarly, the modern prose English for if I be, it were, is if I am, it would be.