t modern prose, and
much literature that has become standard was first printed in periodicals;
but most of the prose in newspapers is written necessarily by contributors
who do not belong to the class of "speakers or writers whom the world
deems the best." As the newspaper in its news records the life of every
day, so in its style it too frequently records the slang of daily life and
the faults of ordinary conversation. A newspaper contains bits of English
prose from hundreds of different pens, some skilled, some unskilled; and
this jumble of styles does not determine good use.

NO ONE BOOK OR WRITER DECISIVE.--Nor is good use to be learned from
our favorite author, unsupported by other authority; not even, as we have
seen, from the English Bible, when it stands alone. No writer, even the
greatest, is free from occasional errors; but these accidental slips are
not to be considered in determining good use. Good use is decided by the
prevailing usage of the writers whose works make up permanent English
literature, not by their inadvertencies. "The fact that Shakspere uses a
word, or Sir Walter Scott, or Burke, or Washington Irving, or whoever
happens to be writing earnestly in Melbourne or Sidney, does not make it
reputable. The fact that all five of these authorities use the word in
the same sense would go very far to establish the usage. On the other
hand, the fact that any number of newspaper reporters agree in usage does
not make the usage reputable. The style of newspaper reporters is not
without merit; it is very rarely unreadable; but for all its virtue it is
rarely a well of English undefiled."[5]

"Reputable use is fixed, not by the practice of those whom A or B deems
the best speakers or writers, but by the practice of those whom the world
deems the best,--those who are in the best repute, not indeed as to
thought, but as to expression, the manner of communicating thought. The
practice of no one writer, however high he may stand in the public
estimation, is enough to settle a point; but the uniform or nearly uniform
practice of reputable speakers or writers is decisive."[6]

GOOD READING THE FOUNDATION OF GOOD SPEAKING AND WRITING.--To the
question how to become familiar with good use the first answer is, read
the best literature. Language, like manners, is learned for the most part
by imitation; and a person who is familiar with the language of reputable
writers and speakers will use good English without consc