CANADIAN ENGLISH. 347 



A man in Britain buys a house, or farm, and it is said to be in, 

 or more precisely, situated in such a street, or district, or county. 

 Here, nobody or thing is situated anywhere ; all are located. Our 

 farms, our houses, our congregations, our constituencies, all are 

 located. We admire a mansion occupying a healthy, or commanding 

 site, and we are told that " the location is good ;" a clergyman is con- 

 gratulated on his incumbency, which is styled a comfortable location; 

 and so on ad infinitum. To locate is a purely technical term, be- 

 longing to land-surveyors and their profession, and it is difficult to 

 perceive any gain to the language by its application being extended 

 beyond its original technical significance. 



Ask an Englishman how much he has accomplished of a given 

 work, and he will reply if getting on well. " a good deal." Ask the 

 same question in our own colony, and if in a like position, the answer 

 will be. '' considerable." Now, considerable means, " worthy of con- 

 sideration." Thus: " a man has a considerable fortune." We can 

 understand when, in answer to the question, " how are you get- 

 ting on with your mathematics ?" the student replies considerable, 

 or, still more elegantly, " considerable much." He means to say, 

 '- very avcII " and it is to be regreted that he should not say so. Or 

 to give another specimen of the novel mode of applying this word 

 considerable ; a newspaper editor recently illustrating by compari- 

 son the telegraph-cable designed to unite Canada with the States, by 

 being laid in the bed of the River St. Clair, from Detroit to the Cana- 

 dian shore, says of it : '' it is larger by considerable than the Atlantic 

 submarine cable." 



A man concludes a bargain, and he resolves on a certain course of 

 action. A man also comes to a conclusion after having considered 

 a matter. But there is a difference between coming to a conclusion 

 and resolving. To do the former, merely implies that he has formed 

 an opinion, to do the latter implies that he has determined on a course 

 of action. So we understand it, and so the words are used in Eng- 

 lish literature. But it is becoming common in Canada to confound 

 conclude and resolve, and to speak of conclusions Avhen resolutions 

 are intended. Thus : — " I conclude to go," is put for, " I have 

 resolved or made up my mind to go ;" surely a very needless confu- 

 sion of ideas or vocables. 



A territory is defined by Webster to be " a tract of land belonging • 

 to, or under the dominion of a prince or state, lying at a distance 

 from the parent country, or from the seat of government." It is 

 also tised for the whole lands belonging to any kingdom or state. On 



