196 



rm: STANDARD DICTIONARY OF FACTS 



Of All oihrrs. ' >; all others she is the Prejudice should not be used in a favorable 



You cannot say "Tin 4 man /x prejudiced 

 the other.- as such? in liis favor." We should say "He is prepos- 



or \ n \ '///. "She i> sessod in his favor." 



the smalleV .own" should be Prepositions. If you are in doubt what 



The Mii.i!l'-i Of <:!!." etc. preposition to use after any verb, or with any 



Oil <l. : these wonls should be noun, always consult tin- dictionary. 



i from the s, : - "The peai> Preventive and not Preventative. 



fell o;7 "The pean fell o/J of the This adjective, in common with subsequent, in- 



depemltnt. n-ldthr. antecedent. and possibly 



v, i etc., 



not on to. 



One. Should bo followed by one ami not by 

 Tan one visit his friends* there?" should 



n-'tt friends tl.. 



Onl\. 1 is more often misplaced 



probablv than any other word in the language. 



He -aiiir only for US." 



The first means that he .//<.</. but did not play 



the second one means he sang for us 



and "' to A change in the po- 



almost any sentence will effect 



iitence the same as in this 

 iUustr 



Other. Thi- \\ord shoulil not be omitted 

 in sen? the following: "He said that 



his wife was dressed better than any (other) 



woman there." 

 Ought Should 



Ought is the stronger 



term: "What we om/ftt to do, we are morally 

 bound to do." " We nuyht to be truthful and 

 and should be respectful to our elders." 



< )\ er. I3o not use over in the sense of more 

 than. "It is on r a yard long" should read 

 a yard long." 



Own is often misused in place of confess. 

 1 >aw her do it," should be "I confess I 

 saw her do it." 



Pants i- a vulgar abbreviation for panta- 

 loons. 



I'arlake a fine word to use instead of to eat. 

 Only the uncultured will be guilty of this error. 



l*art> ifl often used by the ignorant where 

 good taste would use the word person. Not, 

 "The party that I saw/' but the person. 



Past. This word is incorrectly used for last 

 in such expressions as "The past three days," 



IVIl-mell means mixed or mingled to- 

 p-tln-r. It cannot properly be applied to an 

 individual. " He rushed pell-mell into my arms" 

 would be to say "He rushed into my arms mixed 



Per. Per day, per man, per pound, etc., are 

 better expressed by the plain Knglish a day, a 

 :id. etc. Ten dollars per is the siang 

 for ten dollars a week. 



Perform. The short word play is to be 

 preferred in "She performs on the piano beau- 

 tifully/' Tin'- -entence would be improved by 

 ' 



nil or admirably in place of beautifully. 



Peruse is often used when the word read 

 would be in better i 



Pla-e d for where in "Let's 



some place." " I want to go some place." 



I 1 ' 

 >li 



go 



Polite should not be used for kind before 

 the word invitation. 



Posted is incorrectly used for inform in such 

 expressions as, "The man posted me," "If I had 

 been better posted." 



others, is often incorrectly used as an adverb. 

 is to our visit, should be prcriauxh/ to 

 our visit. Independent of this reason, should be 

 independently of this reason. 



Procure is often made to do the work of 

 the Anglo-Saxon word get. "Where did you 

 procure it?" should be "Where did you qet 



Promise often does duty for assure, 

 promise you I was agreeably surprised" should 

 DC " I assure you," etc. 



Providing should be provided in such 

 sentences as "He offered to provide a stable 

 and supply the necessities of the company pro- 

 r id ing the control of the board should be turned 

 over to him." 



Purchase Buy. Use purchase in refer- 

 ence to great matters, as The Louisiana Pur- 

 chase; use buy with reference to ordinary mat- 

 ters, as " He bought a book, his dinner," etc. 



Railroad Depot. A depot is properly a 

 place where goods or stores of any kind are kept ; 

 and the places at which the trains of a railroad 

 or, better, railway stop for passengers, or 

 the points they start from or arrive at, are prop- 

 erly the stations. 



Raise Rear. We rear children and raise 

 animals. Raised the rent is incorrectly used for 

 increased the rent. 



Real should not be used for very in such 

 phrases as, real pretty, real nice, real angry. 



Resurrect is still marked colluquial in the 

 recent dictionaries. 



Retire. It is only the over nice that retire 

 in the sense of go to bed. 



Sunday is the first day of the week, and 

 Sabbath is the last day of the week. 



Saw is carelessly used sometimes for have 

 seen. "I never saw; anything like it before" 

 should be "I have never seen anything like it 

 until now." W T e say properly, "I never sail? 

 anything like it when I was in Paris." 



Set Sit. These verbs like lie and lay, are 

 often confounded in their use. To set is transi- 

 tive; to sit is intransitive. "I set the hen, but 

 she sits on her eggs." Incorrectly we speak of a 

 setting hen, instead of a sitting hen. In Matthew, 

 it was prophesied that Christ should corne "sit- 

 ting upon an ass" and, therefore, his disciples 

 took a colt and "they set him thereon." The 

 verb is correctly used in these sentences: "My 

 dress sits well;" "We will sit up, 



not go to bed; "Congress sits." 



that is, will 

 We set down 



figures," but "We sit down on the ground." 



An apparent contradiction is found in the 

 sentence, "The sun sets"; but the verb -sr/.s in 

 this sentence has a different origin from the 

 verb set that we have been discussing. Long 

 ago they used to say, "The sun settles"; but 

 settle has been shortened to set. 



