A Dictionary of Cont..

terrible; territic. See horrible.
test (noun). See frlal.
testimony. See evidence.
tetchy; techy; fouchy. Tetchy and techy survive
more vigorously in England than in America,
but they are far less common in both countries,
as adjectives meaning apt to take offense on
slight provocation, irritable, than touchy. Touchy
may also be used in senses not proper to techy
and tetchy: precarious, risky, or ticklish (It’s a
touchy business and must be handled with great
tact) or sensitive to touch (Don’t be so touchy;
I’ve got to massage your side).
than is used in making comparisons of inequality,
or comparisons between things that are said to
be. dissimilar. It is used only in combination with
the comparative form of an adjective or adverb
or with one of the four words, other, rather,
different, else. Other and rather are actually
comparative forms and diflerent is apparently
felt as a comparative. (See these individual
words.) Else than is still literary English but
in current speech it is usually replaced by but
or except.
In we had no sooner finished our mufins than
she said . . ., the word than is standard English
because it accompanies the comparative word
sooner. In scarcely had the reverberations died
away than there came the sound of footsteps
there is no comparative form and than is being
misused. Literary English requires when here.
However, if a comparative form is used, than is
required to complete the comparison and the
word when is unliterary, as it is in we had no
sooner finished our mufins when she said. . . .
Than is usually classed as a coordinating conjunction,
which means that the words it joins
in a comparison have the same function in
the sentence. What are compared may be things,
as in the flesh will grieve on other bones than
ours soon: or actions, as in he would have cut
his hand off sooner than sign it. But than is
sometimes used in Sentences where this interpretation
is impossible, as in he went no further
than Philadelphia. This sentence is standard
English. But here than has a simple object,
Philadelphia, and is therefore functioning as a
preposition. When than stands before the relative
pronoun who, the objective form whom is
always used, as in Mary Case, than whom there
never was a wiser woman. (See who; whom.)
Here again one might say that than is functioning
as a preposition, or one might say that this
use of whom is an established but irregular
idiom in English.
If than can be used as a preposition it would
follow that a personal pronoun following than,
that was not itself the subject of a following
verb, would have an objective form. Most grammarians
however claim that, with the exception
of the two cases mentioned above, than must
always be treated as a conjunction. This means
that a personal pronoun following than must
have a subjective or an objective form depending
upon its function in the sentence, or depending
upon the function of the word it is compared
503 thanks
with. For example, according to these rules the
subjective form I is required, and the objective
form me must not be used, in he understands
this better than I, because here the word is linked
with he and is functioning as the subject of the
verb understand. In current English we usually
evade the problem by placing a dummy verb
after the subjective pronoun, as in better than 2
do. On the other hand, the objective form him
is required, and not the subjective form he, in
I have known better men than him to lie, because
here the word is linked with men and is
functioning as the object,of the verb know. That
is, we use the objective form in this comparison
because we would use the objective form in the
simple statement I have known him. (Some
grammarians claim that than is a subordinating
conjunction in sentences of this kind, on the
grounds that it is qualifying the word better
rather than linking two independent elements.)
Textbooks sometimes say that a subjective
pronoun should be used after than whenever it is
possible to read a suppressed verb into the sentence,
as in I have known better men than he
(is) to lie. This is a mistake. It sometimes leads
to ambiguous sentences, such as Z have known
richer men than he (is), where the hearer may
suppose that the suppressed verb is has. And
even where it is not ambiguous, this use of the
subjective pronoun is contrary to the literary tradition
and the practice of educated people, and is
usually heard as a grammatical mistake.
When than is used after a form of the verb
to be we have a different problem. Here it is a
question of which form of the pronoun is to be
used after a linking verb. If one says it is me,
one would also say is she taller than me?. But if
one says it is I, he should also say is she taller
than I?. The objective form is generally preferred.
See linking verbs.
thank. When thank is used as a polite word for
ask it may be followed by an infinitive, as in I’ll
thank you to hnnd me the salt. The simple form
of the verb here instead of the to-infinitive, as in
I’ll thank you hand me the salt, is considered an
illiteracy in Great Britain. This form without to
is not heard in the United States. When used in
its ordinary sense of “express gratitude,” thank
is not followed by an infinitive but by for and
the -ing form of a verb, as in Z thank you for
handing me the salt.
thanking you in advance. The quality of gratitude
like that of mercy cannot be strained. TO
ask a favor and in the very act of asking it to
state blandly that the person from whom the
favor is begged need expect no thanks after it is
done is so ludicrous that if it were not common,
one would not believe that it had ever been done.
There’s a condescension in thanking you in advance
that utterly denies any true sense of obligation.
Some people object to the phrase because
it is ungrammatical and illogical, but these are
only minor faults: it is insolent.
thanks. Although the singular form a thank is no
longer in use, thanks is a true plural. We say
many thanks, u thousand thanks, and these