A Dictionary of Cont..

ought 344
This was not always true. At one time ought
could also be used as a participle, corresponding
to gone, and had ought was literary English.
Today these forms are obsolete or dialectal.
Since we cannot use auxiliaries, such as do, be,
have, we form negative statements and ask
questions in the old direct way that is now obsolete
for most verbs, as in he ought not fo say
it and ought I to tell you?
Ought itself is always used as an auxiliary
and requires another verb to complete its meaning.
Usually this is a ro-infinitive. It may be the
infinitive of the meaningful verb, as in I ought
ro tell her, or it may be to hnve and a past participle,
as in Z ought to have told her. In the
first case, the statement refers indefinitely to the
present or the future. In the second case, it
refers to a past event. The infinitive must be
actually stated or easily supplied from the context.
When it is to be supplied, we usually keep
the word to, as in I think you ought to, although
this is not required and we may also say I think
you ought. In the United States the simple form
of the verb is sometimes used instead of the toinfinitive
after ought not, as in you ought nof
slay. The construction with to is generally
preferred.
Some people claim that the word ought
always means obligation or duty and that we
cannot say he ought to 6e hanged because “that
is the duty of others.” There is no justification
for this. The word is also used to mean befitting,
advisable, expected, and SO on, as in you ought
to take a nap and they ought to be here soon.
ought. See aught.
our; ours. The form our is used to qualify a
following noun, as in our country, our all. The
form ours is used in any other construction, as
in this country of ours and all ours. Ours is
also the form used in a double possessive where
it is separated from its following noun by and,
as in ours and Jacob’s God. Today this construction
is generally avoided and our God and
Jacob’s or our own and Jacob’s God is used
instead. Neither word order shows clearly
whether we are talking about one thing or two,
but the old-fashioned form, ours and Jacob’s,
suggests one thing possessed in common more
strongly than the forms which use our.
The plural word our is frequently used after
a grammatically singular word such as neither
or each, in order to avoid using his when the
reference may be to either a man or a woman,
as in neither of us had broken our vow and
each in our own way.
In current English, the word ours is never
written with an apostrophe.
ourn. This word was once acceptable English, but
it has not been used in the literary language
for three hundred years. The only acceptable
form today is ours.
ourself; ourselves. Originally, the word self could
be used as a plural or as a singular and the
plural of myself was ourself. The form ourselves
did not appear until the sixteenth century,
but it has since driven ourself from natural
speech. During the nineteenth century, the form
ourself was the preferred reflexive for a we that
actually represented only one person, as in we
found ourself running among the first. But this
obviously defeated whatever purpose there was
in using we. Today, ourself is recognized as the
traditionally correct form to use with a “royal
we,” as in which ourself have granted. But in
any other context it is felt to be a slip, and
evidence that the user has not taken his we
seriously but has been thinking Z all along. The
plural form ourselves is always used when more
than one person is actually involved, as in we
ourselves have agreed. (For the ways in which
ourselves may be used, see reflexive pronouns.)
out; outer; outmost; outermost; utter; utmost;
uttermost. The primary meaning of out is “away
from within.” It is used chiefly as an adverb to
qualify a verb, as in he is going out, but it may
also be used as an adjective to qualify a noun,
as in the out side and the out man. When out
forms part of a compound verb it frequently
has the meaning of “going forth,” as in think
out, write out, or of “going beyond,” as in outbid,
outgush.
In Great Britain out is never used as a
preposition but must be combined with of
before it can have an object, as in he went out
of the room, he jumped out of the window. In
the United States out requires of when it is used
in the sense of away from, as in he went out of
the house, he went out of her life, but it is used
as a preposition without of when it means
through, as in he jumped out the window, he
ran out the door.
Outer and outmost or outermost are comparative
and superlative forms of out and mean
farther and farthest from the center. They are
relatively new words that have been in general
use less than three hundred years. Utter, utmost,
uttermost, are older ways of expressing the same
ideas. Utter was used in the sense of “exterior”
until late in the seventeenth century, but this
meaning is now obsolete. Today outer is used
in this sense and utter always means “in a high
degree” or “absolute.” As a result, outer darkness
and utter darkness mean different things.
The superlative forms utmost and uttermost
can still be used in both senses and may mean
remote, extreme, or last in a series.
The words outer and utter, like the words
elder and former, have comparative forms but
are felt as positive descriptive adjectives and
not as comparatives, and therefore cannot be
used in a comparison with than.
out of one’s depth. As a metaphor, signifying
that anything from a social situation to an idea
is too much for one, out of one’s depth is
hackneyed.
out of the woods. As a way of saying that a
danger has not completely abated, we are not
yet out of the woods is a clichC.
outdoor; outdoors. Outdoor is the preferred form
when the word is used to qualify a following
noun, as in an outdoor fire place. Outdoors is
the preferred form when the word is used to
qualify anything except a noun, as in they lived
outdoors. But this distinction is not strictly