Some people have been very tenacious about retaining the old forms of words, and our books were long printed without alteration; but change will break thro every barrier, and book-makers must keep pace with the times, and put on the dress that is catered for them by the public taste; bearing in mind, meanwhile, that great and practical truths are more essential than the garb in which they appear. We should be more careful of our health of body and purity of morals than of the costume we put on. Many genteel coats wrap up corrupt hearts, and fine hats cover silly heads. What is the chaff to the wheat?
Even our good friends, the quakers, who have particularly labored to retain old forms--"the plain language,"--have failed in their attempt, and have substituted the _object_ form of the pronoun for the _agent_, and say, "_thee thinks_," for _thou thinkest_. Their mistake is even greater than the substitution of _you_ for _thou_.
So far as language depends on the conventional regulation of those who use it, it will be constantly changing; new words will be introduced, and the spelling of old ones altered, so as to agree with modern pronounciation. We have all lived long enough to witness the truth of this remark. The only rule we can give in relation to this matter is, to follow our own judgments, aided by our best writers and speakers.
The words which express action, are in many cases very similar to the agents which produce them; and the objects which are the direct results produced by such action, do not differ very materially. I will give you a few examples.
_Agent._ _Verb._ _Object._ Actors Act Actions Breathers Breathe Breath Builders Build Buildings Coiners Coin Coins Casters Cast Casts or castings Drinkers Drink Drink Dreamers Dream Dreams Earners Earn Earnings Fishers Fish Fishes Gainers Gain Gain Hewers Hew Hewings Innkeepers Keep Inns Light or lighters Light or shed Lights Miners Mine or dig Mines Pleaders Plead or make Pleas Producers Produce Products Raisers Raise Raisings or houses Runners or racers Run Runs or races Sufferers Suffer Sufferings Speakers Speak Speeches Thinkers Think Thoughts Writers Write Writings Workers Work Works
I give you these examples to show you the near alliance between _actors_, ( ,) and _actions_; or agents, _actions_, and objects. Such expressions as the above are inelegant, because they are uncommon; but for no other reason, for we, in numberless cases, employ the same word for agent and verb; as, _painters paint_ buildings, and _artists_ paint paintings; _bookbinders bind books_; _printers print_ books, and other _prints_. A little observation will enable you to carry out these hints, and profit by them. You have observed the disposition in children, and foreigners, who are partially acquainted with our language, to make verbs out of almost every noun, which appears to us very aukward; but was it common, it would be just as correct as the verbs now used. There are very few verbs which have not a noun to correspond with them, for we make verbs, that is, we use words to express action, which are nearly allied to the agent with which such action agrees.[17] From botany we have made _botanize_; from Mr. McAdam, the inventor of a particular kind of road, _macadamize_, which means to make roads as he made them. Words are formed in this way very frequently. The word _church_ is often used as a noun to express a building used for public worship; for the services performed in it; for the whole congregation; for a portion of believers associated together; for the Episcopal order, etc. It is also used as a verb. Mr. Webster defines it, "To perform with any one the office of returning thanks in the church after any signal deliverance." But the word has taken quite a different turn of late. _To church_ a person, instead of receiving him into communion, as that term would seem to imply, signifies to deal with an offending member, to excommunicate, or turn him out.