Five Hundred Mistakes of Daily Occurrence in Speaking, Pronouncing, and Writing the English Language Part 9

358. "Will you _accept_ of this slight testimonial?" Omit _of_, which is superfluous, and weakens the sentence.

359. "He convinced his opponent by _dint_ of good reasoning:" _dint_, meaning _force_ or strength, is an obsolete word, and should not now be employed.

360. "The Danube _empties_ into the Black Sea:" say, _flows_; to _empty_ means _to make vacant_; no river can properly be called _empty_, until it is entirely dried up.

361. Such words as _bamboozle_, _topsyturvy_, _helterskelter_, _hurlyburly_, and _pellmell_ are generally to be avoided. They answer, however, for familiar conversation.

362. Never say _seraphims_, for the plural of _seraph_, but _seraphim_; the same rule holds with _cherubims_. _Cherubs_ and _seraphs_ are proper plurals, suiting a familiar style of speaking or writing, while _cherubim_ and _seraphim_ are to be used only in more dignified and solemn discourse.

363. "_There's_ the books you wanted:" say, _there are_: avoid all abbreviations when they lead to a grammatical error, as in the present instance.

364. "This prisoner has, of all the gang, committed _fewer_ misdemeanors:"

say, _fewest_. We may say _fewer than_ all, but we must say _fewest of_ all.

365. "I esteem you more than _the others_:" this sentence is equivocal.

Does it mean, "I esteem you more than _I esteem the others_," or, "I esteem you more than _the others esteem you_?"

366. "The most eminent scholars will, on some points, differ _among one another_:" say, _among themselves_.

367. "He, from that moment, doubled his _kindness and caresses of me_:"

say, "kindness _for_ and caresses of me;" by omitting _caresses_ we have, "He doubled his _kindness of_ me," which is not good English.

368. _To differ from_ and _to differ with_: to _differ from_ a man means to have an opinion different from his; to _differ with_ a person signifies a _quarrel_ or _rupture_.

369. "He barely escaped having _one or two broken heads_:" a man has but _one_ head, let it be broken or whole. Say, "He _once or twice barely escaped_ having a broken head."

370. "Whenever _I fall into that man's conversation_ I am entertained and profited:" say, _fall into conversation with that man_.

371. "The lecturer _spoke to several points_:" say, "spoke _on_ several points." He spoke _to_ his audience.

372. "I shall regard your _strictures_ only so far as _concerns_ my own errors:" say, _concern_; the phrase when filled out should read, "only so far as _they concern_ my own errors."

373. "I found him better than I expected _to have found him_:" say, _to find him_.

374. "I perceived that he was totally blind _with half an eye_:" say, "I perceived, with half an eye, that he was totally blind." Otherwise, to a man _totally blind_ you allot _half an eye_!

375. The word _only_ is often wrongly placed in the sentence, and made to express an idea which is not designed to be conveyed. "Not _only_ Chinese are superst.i.tious," implies that others besides the Chinese are superst.i.tious. "Chinese are not _only_ superst.i.tious," implies that in addition to being superst.i.tious, they have some other characteristics.

"Chinese not _only_ are superst.i.tious," leaves room for something still further to be implied of the Chinese than superst.i.tion, and which is not necessarily the predicate of _are_; as, "Chinese not only are superst.i.tious, but they persecute those who do not put faith in Confucius."

376. _Not the least_ and _nothing less than_, sometimes literally convey just the opposite of what is intended. "He has _not the least_ excuse for going," may mean that he has _a great excuse_, or _none at all_. "He seeks _nothing less than_ worldly honor," may signify that nothing inferior to worldly honor will satisfy his desire; or, on the other hand, it may mean that nothing is less sought by him than worldly honor. Such expressions, therefore, are to be used with caution, else they will mislead.

377. Care should be taken in the use of epithets. For instance, in the sentence, "_A wise and good man_ should be respected," the words _wise_ and _good_ may properly be applied to the same man; but if the sentence should be altered to read, "An _old and young man_," it is obvious that both epithets could not relate to the same person.

378. Never say _turkle soup_, for _turtle soup_.

379. The word _long_ should not now be employed to signify _many_. An example of this early usage is found in the Fifth Commandment, "that thy days may be _long_ upon the land." The following lines furnish an instance of the verb _to lengthen_, meaning to _make many_:--

"The best of all ways To _lengthen_ our days, Is to take a few hours from the night, my lad."

380. "They returned _back again_ to the _same_ city _from_ whence they came _forth_:" omit the italicized words, which are redundant and inelegant.

381. "Have you any leisure _upon your hands_?" omit _upon your hands_,--not so much because anything after "leisure" is superfluous, in such a sentence, as because the idea of _having leisure upon your hands_ is absurd.

382. "Seven lads were present, and he gave them _all_ a book:" say, _gave them each_ a book. _All_ refers to a number of persons or things taken _collectively_, as _one body_; _each_ refers to _every individual_, separately considered.

383. "Lend me your _umberell_:" say, _umbrella_. The former p.r.o.nunciation, however, is allowed by _poetic license_, as in the following, adapted from Thomas Moore:--

"Oh, ever thus from childhood's hour, Has chilling fate upon me fell!

There always comes a soakin' shower When I hain't got an _umbrell_."

384. We lately met a grammarian, who had just made a tour through the mines, conjugating, or, rather, cogitating thus: "Positive, _mine_; comparative _miner_; superlative, _minus_!"

385. "Put not thy secret into the mouth of the _Bosphorus_, for it will betray it to the ears of the Black Sea."--(_Oriental Proverb._) p.r.o.nounce _Bosphorus_ as if written _Bosforus_, and not _Bos-porous_.

386. Be careful to use the hyphen (-) correctly: it joins compound words, and words broken by the ending of a line. The use of the hyphen will appear more clearly from the following example: "_many colored_ wings"

means _many_ wings which are _colored_; but "_many-colored_ wings" means "wings of _many colors_."

387. "I am _afraid_ it will rain:" say, _I fear_. _Afraid_ expresses terror; _fear_ may mean only _anxiety_.

388. Never say _o-fences_ for _offences_; _pison_ for _poison_; _co-lection_ for _collection_; _voiolent_ for _violent_; _kivver_ for _cover_; _afeard_ for _afraid_; _debbuty_ for _deputy_. The last three examples are very common.

389. "It is a mere _cipher_:" never spell _cipher_ with a _y_.

390. "I was _necessitated_ to do it:" a poor expression, and often made worse by _necessiated_ being used: say, I was _obliged_, or _compelled_, to do it.

391. "Gibbon wrote the _Rise_ and Fall of the Roman Empire:" p.r.o.nounce _Rise_, the noun, so as to rhyme with _price_; _Rise_, the verb, rhymes with _prize_.

392. "He joined his _regiment_ last week:" never say, _ridgiment_ for _regiment_.

393. "He bought a _gimlet_:" never spell the last word _gimblet_, as many do.

394. "He is a supporter of the _Government_:" beware of omitting the _n_ in the second syllable of _Government_--a very common practice.

395. "Received this day _of_ Mr. Brown ten dollars:" say, "Received this day _from_," &c.

396. "Of whatever you _get_, endeavor to save something; and with all your _getting, get_ wisdom:" carefully avoid saying _git_ for _get_, and _gitting_ for _getting_.

397. "So intent was he on the song he was _singing_, while he stood by the fire, that he did not perceive that his clothes were _singeing_." Verbs ending with a _single e_, omit the _e_ when the termination _ing_ is added, as, _give_, _giving_; in _singeing_, however, the _e_ must be retained, to prevent its being confounded with _singing_. The _e_ must also be retained in _dyeing_, to distinguish it from _dying_.

398. The following sentences may be studied: "The _dyer dyes_ daily, yet he _dies_ not." "The _miner minds_ the _minor mines_." "It is not _meet_ to _mete_ out such _meat_." "He performed a great _feat_ with his _feet_ at the _fete_." (_Fete_ is p.r.o.nounced _fate_.)

399. "_Lower_ the sails, as the sky begins to _lower_:" p.r.o.nounce _low_ in the _former_ so as to rhyme with _mow_, and _low_ in the _latter_ so as to rhyme with _cow_.

400. "There was a great _row_ on Monday, in Tryon _Row_:" p.r.o.nounce the former _row_ so as to rhyme with _cow_--the latter _row_, so as to rhyme with _mo_.

401. "His _surname_ is Clifford:" never spell the _sur_ in "surname"

_sir_, which shows an ignorance of its true derivation, which is from the Latin.

402. "The buildings are so old that they pay _almost no rent_ now:"