RE: Grammar

[Guest guest]

Dear Vaisnavas,

 

Please accept my most humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada!

 

All glories to our new sannyasis!

 

And thanks to Bhakti Visrambha Madhava Maharaja for the beautiful verses.

Since we have been discussing the use of language lately on these

conferences, I would like to exercise my faultfinding tendency and point

out some grammatical errors for future reference.

 

"...who brings auspiciousness to they who desire to live on her shore,..."

 

"...who expertly protects they who follow the path of loving devotional

service,..."

 

In both cases, "they who" should be "them who" ("brings auspiciousness to

them..." and "protects them..."). You would never say, "brings

auspiciousness to they."

 

Do not think of "they who" or "he who" or "she who" as a unit. In each

case, they are two separate words and must be dealt with separately. Some

examples:

 

"He who flatters me becomes my enemy."

 

"I avoid him who flatters me."

 

This principle is explained in *Fowler's Modern English Usage* under the

following headings:

 

"cases (3)"

"he"

"she"

"they."

 

Another:

 

"O lotus-eyed one, O daughter of SUryadeva, O rescuer from all sins,

please flood with pure devotional service that person who, reciting these

eight prayers with a cheerful heart, glorifies you, whose waves are pure

and

splendid, and who is accompanied by all the demigods."

 

"...whose waves are pure and splendid" could appear to refer to the person

who glorifies Sri Yamuna Devi. That was my first impression, but it

actually refers to Sri Yamuna Devi herself. "You who is accompanied" is

grammatically wrong, and there should be no comma after 'splendid." Try

this:

 

"O lotus-eyed one, O daughter of SUryadeva, O rescuer from all sins,

please flood with pure devotional service that person who, reciting these

eight prayers with a cheerful heart, glorifies you, O you whose waves are

pure and

splendid and who are accompanied by all the demigods."

 

Another solution would be take out the commas after "glorifies you" and

spendid," but it would be a little hard to read because of the long

stretch with no punctuation.

 

One more:

 

"May VRndAvana, where is Govardhana Hill, which is fortunate to be the

best servant of Lord Hari, and where is the rAsa dance arena, which fills

the beautiful gopIs with wonder, and where is the splendid sweetness of

many

charming forest groves, be my shelter."

 

Not exactly wrong but a little hard to read because the "where is" feels

unnatural. Try this:

 

"May VRndAvana, where there is Govardhana Hill, which is fortunate to be

the

best servant of Lord Hari, and where there is the rAsa dance arena, which

fills

the beautiful gopIs with wonder, and where there is the splendid sweetness

of many

charming forest groves, be my shelter."

 

Your most humble servant,

 

Umapati Swami