A Dictionary of Cont..

grouse 210
the great writers of English and is found in such
an impeccable document as the Constitution of
the United States. Article I, Section 5, of the
Constitution reads: Each house shall keep a
fournal of its proceedings, and from time to
time publish the same, excepting such parts as
may in their judgment require secrecy. Here
proceedings, which belongs to the house as a
unit, has the singular pronoun its, and judgment,
which belongs only to individual men, has the
plural their. This is not careless writing. Had
the sentence been edited to read in its judgment,
it would not have been as fine prose as it is.
Although a singular group name may be used
with a plural verb, it means the entire group
and not some individuals in the group. It is not
a plural noun and cannot be used with a
numeral. That is, we do not say three jury were
unconvinced. But occasionally a group name is
used in this way so often that it finally becomes
an accepted plural. This has happened, for
example, with people and clergy. During the
nineteenth century two people and forty clergy
were considered unacceptable expressions, but
they are now thoroughly acceptable. Today we
have a few words, such as staff, which may be
in transition from group names to plurals. We
sometimes hear three staff were willing to work
late. This is not yet standard English and is
offensive to many people.
All group names that may be used with a
numeral are listed in this dictionary as irregular
plurals. Nouns that are often used in this way,
in violation of our present standards, are also
listed. If a group name cannot be found in this
book, it is perfectly regular, that is, the singular
form may be used with a plural verb but not
with a plural qualifier.
Some words that are not actually group names
are used in much the same manner. Although
we might say of non-human things fifty percent
was destroyed, in speaking of people we would
say fifty percent were illiterate. Here fifty percent
is being treated as if it were a group name.
Adjectives used to indicate a class of human
beings, and the names of certain animals when
used to represent the entire class, are also
treated as group names and followed by a plural
verb, as in the wise are happy and the sea otter
have disappeared. See adjectives as nouns and
generic nouns.
grouse. The plural is grouse.
grow. The past tense is grew. The participle is
grown. A past tense and participle growed is
heard but is not standard. The arbitrariness of
what constitutes standard English is seen very
clearly when one compares this verb with crow.
There the form crowed is now standard and
crew, crown are no longer used.
Grow may be used to mean become. In this
sense it may be followed by an adjective describing
the subject of the verb, as in he grew
bald. We may even say it grew smaller. When
used in this sense, grow may be followed by an
infinitive, as in I grew to know them better. It
is sometimes heard with the -ing form of a verb
and the preposition to, as in I grew to knowing
them better, but this is not standard.
grudge; spite. A grudge is a feeling of sullen resentment
by one who suffers a real or fancied
wrong and seeks retribution (He bore a grudge
against his neighbor for many years because the
neighbor once blocked his driveway). A grudge
is usually caused by a trifling wrong. It is not
so deep seated or permanent an enmity and is
often assuaged when the offender has been “paid
back.” Spite is a sharper, more active resentment,
and is as likely to find satisfaction in
mortifying the enemy as in injuring him. It can
range from malice to pique. One who bears a
grudge is likely to have a specific wrong over
which he broods; one who harbors spite is
likely to be more generally hostile. See also
begrudge; malice.
Grundy, Mrs. See gay Lothario.
guarantee; guaranty. Guarantee is correct in all
uses, as a noun and as a verb. Guaranty may be
used for a warrant or p!edge or the act of giving
security or, as a verb, to guarantee.
From its sense of giving security for the carrying
out of assurances, guarantee has come to
mean making certain (The United States guarantees
the territorial integrity of the Republic of
Cuba) or merely stating an opinion with conviction
(I guarantee he’ll agree with us when
he hears what we now know). See also warrant;
warranty.
guard in America has the special meaning of one
who guards prisoners in a penal institution
(During Jim Hall’s third term in prison he encountered
a guard that was almost as great a
beast as he). In England the term is warder.
gobernatorial. The Latin gubernare meant to steer
a ship. Hence references to functions or attributes
of a governor as gubernatorial belong to
one of the most ancient, worn, and moldy of
all metaphors-the ship of state. It is an American
word and has a rolling resonance dear to
an older generation of political rhetoricians. It
is a safe course to avoid it wherever governor’s
or of the government can be used instead.
In the days when a father was facetiously
referred to as “the governor,” gubernatorial was
sometimes substituted for paternal.
guerrilla; gorilla. Guerrilla (also guerilla) means
irregular warfare (He organized u series of
guerilla raids on and over the border. A sort
of guerilla warfare went on constantly between
the farmers and the teamsters. The celebrated
guerilla leader was, in his way, a gallant man).
English writers insist that the word can be used
properly only of the warfare itself and that
those who take part in it should be called
guer(r)illeros, but American usage sanctions
guer(r)illa for both the warfare and those who
wage it (He put himself at the head of a band
of guerillas. Villa’s guerrillas did not deserve
the-name or the treatment of soldiers).
Whether the slang word for a gangster’s
slugger is guerrilla or gorilla is uncertain, since
the two words are so often pronounced alike.
Some scholars are inclined to think that it is