A Dictionary of Cont..

grits; groats. In Great Britain gvirs is considered
a dialect form of grouts, but in the United States
grits is the standard form and groats is almost
unknown. Groats originally meant coarsely
ground oats but may now be used also of other
grains. In the United States grits usually means
coarsely ground corn, or maize, but may also
be used of other grains. It is a mass word with
plural form and is always treated as a plural,
as in these grits ore good and have some of
them. But it is not a true plural and does not
have a singular. We cannot speak of many grits
or of a grit.
grocery. The use of grocery to designate a grocery
store was until very recently universal in America.
It is now being displaced, to a considerable
extent, by the names of the great chains of
grocery stores, “the A & P,” “Kroger’s,”
“National,” and so on. And the use of these
has led to designating individual, independently
owned stores by their specific names. Still,
grocery is widely used. In England the term is
the grocer’s, the greengrocer’s, or the grocery
shop.
groin; groyne. In America groin is the spelling
for all uses of the word-anatomical, architectural,
and in civil engineering. Groyn and
groyne are recognized, but only as rare variants.
In England groin is the spelling for the anatomical
and architectural senses, but the breakwater
is spelled groyne.
groom. The use of grooln for bridegroom (The
groom seemed nervous and kept asking the best
mnn if he was sure that the bride had arrived)
is standard American usage, though in England
bridegroom is invariably used.
As a verb to groom is used in America to
mean to prepare a man for a position, especially
a political position (He was being groomed for
the presidency), probably as an extension of the
idea of a political contest as a race.
gross. When this word means 144, it is a noun. It
cannot stand immediately before another noun,
as the word dozen can, but must be joined to it
by of. Gross has the same form in the singular
and the plural, as in a gross of eggs and many
gross of red buttons.
ground. See grind.
ground; grounds. These words are used in several
senses, all related to the idea of bottom or
foundation. The singular form ground is used in
speaking of the soil or part of the surface of the
earth. The plural form grounds is used for
decorative ground around a building. It is considered
improper, or pretentious, to call farm
lands grounds. But the plural form may be
used for areas that have some other purpose,
such as fishing grounds, burial grounds, picnic
grounds.
When the word means sediment, it is usually
plural, as in coffee grounds. The singular form
is also used in this sense, as in not a single
ground, but this is very rare.
Either the singular or the plural may be used
in speaking of the basis for an opinion or the
basis of a science. A man may have good
ground or good grounds for what he thinks.
There is no difference in meaning. But only the
singular ground can be used to mean a position.
In an argument a man holds his ground, not his
grounds.
ground floor, to be let in on. At first thought,
to be let in on the ground floor is puzzling since,
except under unusual circumstances, this is the
only floor one could be let in on. As an expression
for being granted an interest in some enterprise
on the same terms as those accorded the
original investors, or being admitted to some
enterprise before the general public, it may be,
as Partridge suggests, a metaphor from being
given an office on the ground floor of a new
building. If this is so, it must date back to a
time before elevators were in use when being on
the ground floor was a decided advantage. The
phrase has never been more than a colloquialism
and is already jaded.
group names. Some nouns, such as herd, flock,
crowd, jury, family, nation, are names of groups
of living things. They have plural forms, such
as herds, juries, nations, which mean more than
one such group. There is nothing unusual about
these plural forms. But words of this kind when
used in the singular may be followed by either
a singular or a plural verb. When what is said
applies to the group as a whole, a singular verb
is used, as in my family is a large one and the
jury was out for six hours. When what is being
said applies to the individual members of the
group, a plural verb is used, as in my family are
early risers and the jury were unable to agree.
In most cases, only the speaker knows which
form suits his meaning best.
The singular group name with a plural verb
is used in England more often than it is in this
country. Very few Americans would say the
herd were thirsty. But this is permissible
grammar for anyone who cares to use it. When
the group is made up of human beings, the
plural verb is usually preferred, even in this
country. That is, it is more courteous to say the
stuff were willing to work late than to say the
staff was willing to work late.
When the name of a group composed of
human beings is used with a singular verb, it is
referred to as which; when used with a plural
verb, it is referred to as who. Plural qualifiers,
such as these, those, some, many, few, cannot
be used with singular group names. On the other
hand, singular qualifiers, such as this, that, one,
any, each, cannot be used before a plural verb.
But the group may be referred to as it or they,
independently of the number of the verb or of
a qualifying word, as is done in when . . . it
becomes necessary for one people to dissolve
the political bands which have connected them
with another. Here them refers to the grammatically
singular group one people.
Many grammarians who allow both the
singular and the plural construction with singular
group names warn against using both constructions
in the same sentence. This is probably
good advice for a poor writer. But the best
writers shift their form to fit their meaning.
This shifting construction is used by most of