Words and Phrases.

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXVI, Issue 20648, 24 June 1935, Page 6

Words and Phrases.

««(GREENWOOD ” ASKS: Should colloquial English be used in writing? That is to say “ I can't,” “ I’m going,” “ We don’t,” etc. In printed dialogue, colloquial forms should certainly be used. And literary men are using them now where previously they were utterly banned in serious literary work. They are the advance guard of an army of colloquialisms marshalled against the forces of pedantry, and they gain strength from the fact that literary men are discarding the learned forms of language wherever they are longer and less clear. Almost any colloquial form has a parallel form of learned connotation. The following instances are from a very late book on Language by Professor Bloomfield, in which he labels the two forms normal and learned:— Normal. Learned. He came too soon. He arrived prematurely. It’s too bad. It is regrettable. Where're you going? What is your destination? Now. At present. If he comes. case (in case that, . in the event that, in the contingency that) he comes: should he come, . . So (that) you don't In order that you lose it. may not lose it; lest you lose it. TOUCHSTONE.