194 



THE CENTURY BOOK OF FACTS. 



Past two weeks. Better, the last two weeks. 



Patron (for customer) is wrong. 



Pile (for amount). " He owed me quite a pile." 



Party (for person). Avoid it. 



Posted (for informed). A colloquialism in the United 

 States. Must be used with caution. 



Previous (for previously). " Previous to my going." 



Prolific (for frequent). " It was a prolific [frequent] 

 source of annoyance." 



Promise (for assure). " I promise [assure] you I was 

 astonished." 



Proof (for evidence) . Proof is the result of evidence. 



Quite is not to be used for nearly. Quite means 

 wholly, completely, or thoroughly. 



liaise (for bring up, educate). A peculiarity of the 

 Southern states. 



Heal (for very). " Real [very] nice." 



Reckon (for 'conjecture, conclude). Provincial and 

 vulgar. 



Restive (for restless). Restive signifies stubborn, 

 unwilling to move, balky. 



Remember (for recollect). We remember without 

 effort. Recollect with some exertion. 



Retire (for to go to bed). A vulgar but unfortu- 

 nately very common euphemism. 



Reverend (for the revesend). The article is abso- 

 lutely required. 



Right (for obligation). "The cars have as good a 

 right to be stopped as the carriages." 



Rise up (for rise). " He rose up and left the room." 



Sabbath (for Sunday). Sunday is the name of the 

 day, while Sabbath is the name of an institution. 



Shall and Will. Shall, in an affirmative sentence, 

 in the first person, and will in the second and third per- 

 sons, merely announce future action. Thus, " I shall go 

 to town to-morrow." " I shall wait for better weather." 

 " We shall be glad to see you." " I shall soon be twenty." 

 " We shall set out early , and shall try toarrive by noon." 

 "You will be pleased." "You will soon be twenty." 

 " You will find him honest." " He will go with us." 



Shall, in an affirmative sentence, in the second and 

 third person, announces the speaker's intention to con- 

 trol. Thus, " You shall hear me out." " You shall go, 

 sick or well." " He shallbe my heir." " They shall go, 

 whether they want to go or not." 



Will, in the first person, expresses a promise, an- 

 nounces the speaker's intention to control, proclaims a 

 determination. Thus, " I will [I promise to] assist you." 

 " I will [I am determined to] have my right." "We will 

 [we promise to] come to you in the morning." 



Shall, in an interrogative sentence, i:i the first and 

 third person, consults the will or judgment of another; 

 in the second person, it inquires concerning the inten- 

 tion or future action of another. Thus, " Shall I go with 

 you?" "When shall we see you again?" "When 

 shall I receive it ?" " When shall I get well ? " "When 

 shall we get there?" "Shall he come with us?" 

 "Shall you demand indemnity?" ."Shall you go to 

 town to-morrow ? " " What shall you do about it ? " 



Will, in an interrogative sentence, in the second per- 

 son, asks concerning the wish, and, in the third person, 

 concerning the purpose or future action of others. 

 Thus, " Will you have an apple ?" " Will you go with 

 me to my uncle's?" ''Will he be of the party?" 

 " Will they be willing to receive us ? " " When trill lu- 

 be here?" 



Will cannot be used interrogatively in the first person 

 singular or plural. We cannot say, "Will I go?" "Will 

 I help you ? " " Will I be late ? " " Will we get there in 

 time ?" " Will we see you again soon ? " 



Official courtesy, in tinier to avoid the semblance of 

 compulsion, conveys its commands in the you will form 

 instead of the strictly grammatical you shrill form. It 

 says, for example, " You will proceed to Key West, 

 where you will find further instructions awaiting you." 



A clever writer on the use of shall und will says that 

 whatever concerns one's beliefs, hopes, fears, likes, or 

 dislikes, cannot be expressed inconjunction with I will. 

 Are there no exceptions to this rule ? If I say, " I 

 think I shrill go to Philadelphia to-morrow," I convey 

 the impression that my going depends upon circum- 

 stances beyond my control; but if 1 say, "IthinkI ivill 

 go to Philadelphia to-morrow," I convey the Impression 

 that my going depends upon circumstances within my 

 control that my going or not depends on mere incli- 

 nation. "We certainly must say, " I fear that I shall lose 



it;" "I hope that I shall be well; " "I believe that I 

 sfta/Zhave the ague;" "I hope that I sh'nll not be left 

 alone ; " " I fear that we shall have bad weather ; " "I 



every young woman knows. Let us see : -''Mary,' you 

 know you promised John to drive out with him' to- 

 morrow; how shall you get out of it?" "Oh, 1 trill 

 have the headache!" We request that people will do 

 thus or so, and not that they shall. Thus, " It is re- 

 quested that no one will leave the room." 



Shall is rarely, if ever, used for will; it is will that is 

 used for shall. " Expressions like the following are com- 

 mon : " Where will you be next week ? " " I willbe at 

 home." " We will have dinner at six o'clock." "How 

 will you go about it?" "When will you begin?" 

 '_' When will you set out?" "What will you do with 

 it?" In all such expressions, when it is a question of 

 mere future action on the part of the person speaking 

 or spoken to, the auxiliary must be slmll and not //;//. 



Should and would follow the regimen of shall and 

 will. Would is.oftenused for shoultt ; slianlil rarely for 

 would. Correct speakers say, " I should go to town to- 

 morrow if I had a horse." " I should not ; I should wait 

 for better weather." " We should be glad to see you." 

 "We should have started earlier, if the weather had 

 been clear." " I should like to go to town, and u'ou/tl 

 go if I could." "I would assist you if I could." " I 

 should have been ill if I had gone." " I would I were 

 home again ! " "I should go fishing to-day if I were 

 home." " I should so like to go to Europe ! " "I should 

 prefer to see it first." "I should be delighted:" " I 

 should be glad to have you sup with me." " I knew 

 that I should be ill." "I feared that I should loss it." 

 " I hoped that I should see him." " I thought that 1 

 should have the ague." " I hoped that I should not be 

 left alone." " I was afraid that we should have bad 

 weather." " I knew I should dislike the country." " I 

 should not like to do it, and u-ill not [determination] 

 unless compelled." 



Shut to ( for shut). " Shut the door to." 



Somewheres(f or somewhere). " The farmer had gone 

 out somewheres." 



Sparrowgrass, a corruption of asparagus. 



Spoonsful (for spoonfuls). " Two spoonsful [spoon- 

 fuls] at bedtime." 



Stopping (for staying). "At what hotel are you stoj>- 

 ping?" 



Such (for so). "Such an extravagant young man," 

 for " So extravagant a young man." 



Than (for when). "The admiral was hardly in the 

 channel than [when] he was driven to sea by the storm." 



Think for (for think). " You will find that he knows 

 more than you think for." 



Those sort of things. "I never approved of those 

 [that] sort of things." 



Those -who (for they that). That and those, as de- 

 monstrative adjectives, refer backward, and are not 

 therefore well suited for forward reference. 



To (for at). " When I was to [at] home." 



Try and (for try to). " I will try and [to] come to- 

 morrow." 



Unique (for beautiful). A thing is unique when it is 

 the only one of Its kind, whether it is good or bad, ugly 

 or beautiful. 



Vengeance (for revenge). Vengeance should never 

 be ascribed save to God or to men acting as the execu- 

 tors of his righteous doom. 



Vulgar (for immodest). The word vulgarity wag for- 

 merly thought to mean indecent; now it simply means 

 bad manners. Vulgar people are low, mean, coarse. 

 plebeian, no matter where the wheel of fortune has placed 

 them. 



Warn't (for wasn't). Heard only as a vulgarism. 



Was (for is, of general truths). "Truth is eternal." 

 In the expression of general and necessary truths the 

 present tense is to be preferred to the past tense. 



\\ays (for way). " He wasalong ways [way! behind.' 1 



What (for that). " I don't know but what [that] I shall 

 go." 



Which (for that). " She would be all which [that] the 

 emperor could desire." 



Widow woman (for widow). Uselessly redundant. 



You was (for you were). You takes the plural form 

 of a verb. 



