In its tenth tract the Society for Pure English reports
an American invitation to help in organizing an international society that shall attempt " to maintain the traditions and foster the development of our common tongue." Mr. IL W. Fowler contributes an excellent paper on the misuse of grammatical inversion. Writers who believe that the secret of good English lies in avoiding split infinitives and in employ- ing with caution the words " mutual " and " individual " may learn from the examples Mr. Fowler quotes that there are points still more important than these. He classifies and illustrates nine varieties of legitimate and eight of ill-advised inversion. To many of the ugliest inversions there are no definite logical objections ; and the question is almost entirely one of taste. The most frequent misuses are (1) inversions of the literary paragraphist, e.g., "Excellent is the drawing and modelling of the babe in Mother and Babe ' " (Sunday Times, 5-11-22), and (2) inversions after relatives and comparatives, e.g., " She is on an easier footing in Syria than are we. in the neighbouring region of Meso- potamia " (Observer, 5-11-22). To see how repulsive these constructions are it is enough to reduce them to their simplest forms. No sensitive author would allow• himself to say " Unpleasant is alcohol," or " You write better than do I."
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