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THEKING'S ENGLISHn&. (- V1VJa Vci-.-r\NoInfects oneVclevell'dcommamalicein the course I hold.Timon of Athens,I.i.SECOND EDITIONCornell University LibraryPE 1460.F78 19083 1924 026 640 908OXFORDAT THE CLARENDON PRESS1(.UN90S,IV48.
HENRY FROWDE, AI.A.PUBLISHER TO THE UHIVEKSITY OF OXFORDLONDON, EDINBURGHNEW YORK AND TORONTO,1,1.iKiHOlJ
PREFACETheifcompilers of this book would be wanting in courtesythey did not expressly say what might otherwise be safelyto the reader's discernmentleft:the frequent appearance inany author's or newspaper's name does not mean thatthat author or newspaper offends more often than othersagainst rules of grammar or style; it merely shows thatthey have been among the necessarily limited number chosenitofto collect instances from.The plan of the book wasconsiderations.look into agrammarsIt isdictatedby the followingnotorious that English writers seldomgrammarcomposition bookor;thereadingbound to beexhaustive on a greater or less scale, they must givemuch space to the obvious or the unnecessary and comofisrepellentbecause,being;positionbooks are often useless because they enforce theirwarnings only by fabricated blunders against which everyThe principle adopted herehas therefore been (i) to pass by all rules, of whateverabsolute importance, that are shown by observation to betirofeelsseldomhimself quitesafe.or never broken;examples, with thenameand(2)toillustratebylivingof a reputable authority attachedcommon.The reader, however, who is thus led to suspect that the onlymethod followed has been the rejection of method will find,to each, all blunders that observation shows to beitisveryhoped, a practical security against inconvenience in thefullIndex.
PREFACEivFurther, since the positive literary virtues are not to betaught by brief quotation, nor otherwise attained thanimproving theby merevirtuesnature with wide or careful reading,gifts ofwhereas somethingbymayreallybedonethe negativeforexhibition of what should be avoided, theexamples collected have had to be examples of the bad andnot of the good.Tothis itmust be added that a considerableproportion of the newspaper extracts are, as is sometimesapparent, not from the editorial, but from the correspondencecolumnsthe names attached are merely an assurance that;the passages have actually appeared in print, and not beennow invented to point a moral.The especial thanks of the compilersareofferedtoDr. Bradley, joint editor of the Oxford English Dictionary,who has been good enough to inspectwhose many valuable suggestions havesome tooand someunqualified statements,positive mistakes.say that his warnings havewhenitThe Oxford EnglishOnallnowIt isexposition,due to him, however, tonow and then beendisregarded,risk of misunderstanding.Dictionaryitselfhas been ofquestions of vocabulary, evenhandled as in theisled to the removal ofsome confusedseemed that brevity or some other advantage couldbe secured without greatservice.the proof sheets, andfirstifmuchso slightlychapter of this book, that great workindispensable.H. W. F.F. G. F.PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITIONInthis editionhere and there.new examples have been addedor substituted
CONTENTSPARTCHAPTERGeneral PrinciplesIVOCABULARY,I.PAGEpp.Familiar and far-fetched words1-59.Concrete and abstract expressionCircumlocutionNeologisms.Requirements of differentMalaprops56.Short and long wordsSaxon and Romance SYNTAX,.Numberpp.60-170.-75-107.Defining and non-defining relative clausesTAai and who or wh'cAAnd who, and whichCase of the.thai.80-9375.relative.Miscellaneous uses of the relative//.70.60.6.5.Comparatives and 23Foreign wordsSlang j8AmericanismsFormation67styles.j-g4.8596104
viCONTENTS
CONTENTS
CONTENTSVlllPAGE282Quotation marks (continued)Order with stopsMisplaced287288Half quotation289Single and epeated prepositionsSequence ofrelatives5.Sequence ofthat, &c.6.Metrical prose7.Sentence accent8.Causal as clausesWens and.Careless repetition.&c., §§295295,298300303.of well-known passages.Misapplied and misunderstood quotations and phrases15. Allusion16. Incorrect allusion17. Dovetailed.19.Latin abbreviations, &c.20.Unequal yokefellows and21.Common22.The wrong.Grammar,§§illegitimate tive double harnessparts.turning.23. Ellipse in subordinate clausesSome.and adapted quotations and phrases18. Trite quotation24.ir-1913. Misquotation of less familiar passages14.293294.Common misquotationsUncommon misquotations.hypertrophied .391 to the end.316.31131431' \'
CONTENTS1IX
X56.CONTENTSClumsy patchingPAGE.57. Omission of the conjunction / a/58. Meaningless while59. „-5. Commercialisms60. Pet Phrases61. Also as conjunction; anddr'c.359359
—CHAPTER—:IVOCABULARYGeneralAny one who wishes to become a good writer shouldendeavour, before he allows himself to be tempted by themore showyand lucid.to be direct, simple, brief, vigorous,qualities,This general principlein themay bedomain of vocabularytranslated into practical rulesas follows:word to the far-fetched.word to the abstract.the single word to the circumlocution.the short word to the long.the Saxon word to the Romance. Prefer the familiarPrefer the concretePreferPreferPreferTheserules are given roughly in order of meritalso the least.ofIt is true thatcompendium ofallit isthe others.the writer whose percentage of;the lastisoften given alone, as a sortIn some sense it is thatSaxon words is high willgenerally be found to have fewer words that are out of theway, long, or abstract, and fewer periphrases, than another; The Romance languagesare those whose grammatical structure, aswell as part at least of their vocabulary, is directlyas Italian, French, Spanish.descended from LatinUnder Romance words weincludeallthatEnglish has borrowed from Latin either directly or through the Romancelanguages. And words borrowed from Greek in general use, ranging fromalms to metempsychosis, may for the purposes of this chapter be consideredas Romance. The vast number of purely scientific Greek words, as oxygen,m mngitis, are on a different footing, since they are usually the only wordsforwhat they denote. U.S.B
—;VOCABULARY2But if, instead of his Saxon percentage'sbeing the natural and undesigned consequence of his brevity(and the rest), those other qualities have been attained by hisconsciously restricting himself to Saxon, his pains will havebeen worse than wasted the taint of preciosity will be overall he has written.Observing that translate is derived fromLatin, and learning that the Elizabethans had another wordhe willfor it, he will pull us up by englishing his quotationspuzzle the general reader by introducing his book with a foreword. Such freaks should be left to the Germans, who haveand conversely.;;this time succeeded in expelling as aliens a great manywords that were good enough for Goethe. And they, indeed,are very likely right, because their language is a thoroughbredone ours is not, and can now never be, anything but a hybridwe can find out in theforeword is (or may be) Saxondictionary whether it is or not; hwX. preface is English, dictionary or no dictionary and we want to write English, notSaxon. Add to this that, even if the Saxon criterion werea safe one, more knowledge than most of us have is needed toapply it. Few who were not deep in philology would beprepared to state that no word in the following list (extractedfrom the preface to the Oxford Dictionary) is Englishby;;;:battle, beast, beauty, beef, bill, blue, bonnet, border, boss,bound,Dr. Murray"native", and no lessimportant constituents of our vocabulary, than the Teutonicbowl, brace, brave, bribe, bruise, brush, butt, button.observes that these 'arenow nolesswordsThere are, moreover, innumerable pairs of synonyms aboutwhich the Saxon principle gives us no help. The first tohand are ere and before (both Saxon), save and except (bothRomance), anent and about (both Saxon again). Here, if the'.'Saxondoubt.'rule has nothing to say, theTheintelligent readersider will possibly notmorelikelyknow'familiarwhom'rule leavesthe linguistic factsthan not takes savefornoour writer has to con-indeed hea Saxon word.But;
:GENERAL PRINCIPLES3he does know the reflections that the words, if he happensto be reading leisurely enough for reflection, excite in him.As he comes to save, he wonders, Why not except ? At sightof ere heisirresistibly reminded of that sad spectacle,a mechanic wearing his Sunday clothes on a weekday. Andanent, to continue the simile, is nothing less than a masqueradecostume. The Oxford Dictionary says drily of the last word'CommonScotch law phraseology, and affected by manyitmight have gone further, and said'"affected" in any English writer'; such things are antiinEnglish writers';quarian rubbish, Wardour-Street English. Why not (as ourimagined intelligent reader asked) why not before, except,and about} Bread is the staff" of life, and words like these,which are common and are not vulgar, which are good enough—for the highestand not too goodof literature.The firstfor the lowest, are the staplething a writer must learnis, that he isnot to reject them unless he can show good cause.Beforemust be clearly understood, have such a prewords instead is not merelynot to choose these, it is to reject them.It may be done inpoetry, and in the sort of prose that is half poetry to do itandexcept, itscriptive right that to use other:elsewhereisto insult before, to injure ere (whichflower that will loseitsqualityone's sentence both pretentiousnow perhapsIt isfalliblewillit;Nevertheless,itisifmuchandisa delicatehandled), and tomakefrigid.clear that theSaxonoracleisnot in-sometimes be dumb, and sometimes lie.not without its uses as a test. The wordsto be chosen are those that the probable readerunderstand without waste of time and thought;issure toa good pro-them will in fact be Saxon, but mainly becausehappens that most abstract words which are by our secondare Romance.The truth is that all fiverule to be avoidedrules would be often found to give the same answer about theportion of—it—same word orproduced;letset of words.onesuffice:Scores of illustrations might beIn the contemplated eventualityB 3
——;VOCABULARY4(a phraseno worse than what any one can pickout of his paper's leading article for the day)for himselfonce theatisand thefar-fetched, the abstract, the periphrastic, the long,Romance,Itfor if so.does not very greatly matter by whichof the five roads the naturalso long asstrosity,becausethey(i)classifiedhas been said,be placedreached instead of the mon-Theandfiveare indicated(a) inany given casemaybe possible.to a few examples of how not to write,under the five headings, though, after whatnow proceedwillroughlyisreached.differ in directness,only one of themWeisitwillitcause no surprise that most of them mightdifferently.Somesort of correctionfor each, but the reader will indulgentlysuggestedisrememberthat tobad sentence satisfactorily is not always possiblenevershouldhave existed, that is all that can be said. Initsentencesoverloaded with abstract words are, in theparticular,nature of things, not curable simply by substituting equivalentconcrete words there can be no such equivalents the structure has to be more or less changed.correct a;I.;Prefer the familiarwordto the far-fetched.The old Imperial naval policy, which has failed conspicuously because itantagonized the unalterable supremacy of Colonial nationalism.Times.(stood in the way of that national ambition which must always beuppermost in the Colonial mind)—made aButtercupssunlight of their own,scattered coppices the pale windflowersstilland indreamedtheshelter ofin whiteness.E. F. Benson.Weallknow what an anemone is whether we know whatis, unless we happen to be Greek scholars, is:a wind-flowerquite doubtful.The state of Poland, and the excesses committed by mobilized troopshave been of a far more serious nature than has been allowed to transpire.Times, (come out)Reform converses with possibilities, perchance with impossibilities but— hereissacredfact.Emerson,(perhaps)Tanners and users are strongly of opinion that thereisno roomfor
— ———FAR-FETCHED AND ABSTRACT WORDS5further enhancement, but on that point thereespeciallywhenthe export phaseisis always room for doubttaken into consideration.Times.(state of the export trade)Witchcraft has been put a stop to by Act of Parliamentbut themysterious relations which it emMemed sliW continue.— Carlyle.(symbolized)It will only have itself to thank if future disaster rewards its nescience;of the conditions of successful warfare.Outlook,(ignorance)Continual vigilance is imperative on the public to ensure(We must be ever on the watch).—Times.These manoeuvres are by no means new, and their recrudescencehardly calculated to influence the development of events. Times.(the present use of them is not likely to be effective)—'I have no particular business at L',said hegoing thither to pass a day or two.'— Borrow,(there)a.Prefer the concreteword;'Iiswas merely(or rather expression) to themaybe here remarked that abstract expressionand the excessive use of nouns are ahnost the same thing.The cure consists very much, therefore, in the clearing awayof noun rubbish.abstract.ItThe general poverty of explanation as to the diction of particularphrases seefned to point in the same direction.— Cambridge UniversityReporter.(It was perhaps owing to this also that the diction of particular phraseswas often so badly explained)An elementary condition of a sound discussion is a frank recognitionTimes.of the gulf severing two sets offacts.(There can be no sound discussion where the gulf severing two sets of—factsisnot frankly recognized)The signs ofthe times point to the necessity of the modification of thesystem of administration.Times.(It is becoming clear that the administrative system must be modified)No year passes now without evidence of the truth of the statement thatthework of government—isbecoming increasinglydifficult.Spectator.(Every year shows again how true it is that . .)The first private conference relating to the question of the convocationof representatives of the nation took place yesterday. Times.(on national representation)There seems to have been an absence of attempt at conciliation between—sects.Daily Telegraph.(The sects seem never even to have tried mutual conciliation)rival
——— ———;VOCABULARY6however, must not outrun discretion in changingZeal,abstract to concrete.Officer is concrete,but we doto officers, as inbut toViotofficespromote— or,andofficeabstractthe following quotation,with more exactness in this context, tocommissions.Over 1,150 cadets of the Military Colleges were promoted to officers atthe Palace of Tsarskoe Selo yesterday.Times.Prefer the single3.wordto the circumlocution.Astheword case seems to lend itself particularly to abuse, we startwith more than one specimen of it.Inaccuracies were in many cases due to cramped methods of writing.Cambridge University Reporter, (often)The handwriting was on the whole good, with a few examplesremarkably fine penmanship in the case both of\icrj% and girls. Ibid.(by both boys.)Few candidates showed a thorough knowledge of the text of.and in manyof.IKings,answers lacked care. Ibid, (many answers)The matter will remain in abeyance until the Bishop has had timeto become more fully acquainted with the diocese, and to ascertain whichpart of the city will be most desirable for residential purposes.Times.cases the—(his residence)M. Witte is taking active measures for the prompt preparation ofmaterial for the study of the question of the execution of the ItnperialUkase dealing with reforms. Times.(actively collecting all information that may be needed before the Tsar's—reform Ukase can be executed)The Russian Government is at last face to face with the greatest crisisof the war, in the shape of the fact that the Siberian railway is no longerSpectator,(for) or (:)capable.has been made the recipient of aMr. JO(received)Guernsey Advertiser,4.Prefer the shortwordsilvermedal.to the long.Oneof the most important reforms mentioned in the rescript is theunification of the organization of the judicial institutions and theguarantee for all the tribunals of the independence necessary for securing—Times.of the community equality before the law.need a uniform system, and the independencewithout which it is impossible for all men to be equal before the law)I merely desired to point out the principal reason which I believeexists for the great exaggeration which is occasionally to be observedto all classes(isthat of the Courts, which
CIRCUMLOCUTION, LONG WORDS7in the estimate of the importance of the contradiction beiweett currentReligion and current Science put forward by thinkers of reputation.—Balfour.(why, in my opinion, some well-known thinkers make out the contradictionbetween current Religion and current Science to be so much more important than it is)Will you permit me to homologate all you say to-day regardingSir,—that selfish minority of motoristsOncheerfully envisaged.5.who.the Berlin Bourse to-day the— Times,Prefer the Saxon.— Times,(agree with)prospect of a general strike was(faced)wordto theRomance.Despite the unfavourable climatic conditions.— Guernsey Advertiser.(Bad as the weather has been)By waymustthatof general rules for the choice of words, sosuffice.whatisAndthese must be qualifiedsuitable forunsuitable for another.muchby the remarkone sort of composition may bebroadest line of this kind is thatThebetween poetry and prose;but with that we are not con-cerned, poetry being quite out of our subject.There areother lines, however, between the scientific and the literaryOur rendering of thestyles, the dignified and the familiar.passage quoted from Mr. Balfour, for instance, may be considered to fall below the dignity required of a philosophicmight, with less reason, be said of oursimplified newspaper extracts; a great journal has a tonethat must be kept up ; if it had not been for that, we shouldessay.The samehave dealt with them yet more drastically. But a morecandid plea for the journalist, and one not without weight,would be that he has not time to reduce what he wishes tosay into a simple and concrete form. It is in fact as mucheasier for him to produce, as it is harder for his reader tounderstand, the slipshod abstract stuff that he does rest contentbe suspected that he often thinks thelength of his words and his capacity for dealing in theAs long as thatabstract to be signs of a superior mind.with.Butitmay
—VOCABULARY8But ifis out of the question.could once be established that simplicity was the trueideal, many more writers would be found capable of comingopinion prevails, improvementitnearmake anythan everitremains, atanyway now.effort thatrate that differentThefactkinds of composition requirebut any attempt to go into details onthe reader can onlybe warned that in this fact may be found good reasons forsometimes disregarding any or all of the preceding rules.different treatment;the question would be too ambitious;Moreover, they must not be applied either so unintelligentlyas to sacrifice any really important shade of meaning, or soinvariably asleave antoimpression of monotonous andunrelieved emphasis.Thebe devoted to more special andrest of this chapter willdefinite points— malaprops, neologisms, Americanisms, foreignwords, bad formations, slang, and some particular words.MalapropsBefore classifying,the belief thatwordI.itwedefine amalaprop as a word usedinhas the meaning really belonging to anotherthat resemblesinitWords containingsomeparticular.the same stem, but necessarily, or atleast indisputably, distinguishedby terminationor prefix.She writes comprehensively enough when she writes to M. deBassompierrehe who runs may read.'In fact, Ginevra's epistles toher wealthy kinsman were commonly business documents, unequivocal':applications for cash.The context— C.Bronte.proves that comprehensiblyThe workingvoluntary, and, therefore, requiredmentAin order tonotByavoid inevitableuncommonallmeansismeant.was to a great extentthe influence oi judicial manage-of the staff at the agent's disposalletDaily Telegraph,alldifficulties.— Times,(judicious)blunder.us have bright, hearty, and very reverend services.(reverent)Not uncommon.He chuckled at his own perspicuity. — Corelli.
————;MALAPROPShad aIf the writerlittle9more perspicuity he would have knownthe Church Congress would do nothing of the kind.Perspicuityisclearness or transparencySelected in the beginning,— Dickens,know,foryour greatsecret, crafty, passionless;acute and twoithiness)Wise, firm, faithlessableIinsightVery common.-uity of style, -acity of mind.ness.:thatDaily Telegraph.— withal?— C. Bronte.Apparently for insensiblemodern usage fluctuates,watchful and inscrut-;— whatperfectly decorousmore couldbe desiredmeanhig hardhearted. Thoughseems to tend towards the meaning,stupidly unmoved by prudence or by factsat any rate acuteand insensate are incompatible.in theit;In the meantime the colossal ad ertisement in theGerman aims,proceeds.TheGermanofinterests,German Pressofand of German policy incontinentlyTimes.idiomatic sense of incontinentlyisimmediately;itseemshere to be used for continually.I was awaiting vK'Ha real curiosity to hear the waywould to-day acquit himself. Times, (waiting)inwhich M. Loubet—Awaitingalwaysistransitive.But they too will feel the pain just where you feel it now, and theybethink themselves the only unhappy on the earth.Crockett.There—will—no sort of authority for bethink like think withand complement. To bethink oneself is to remember,or to hit upon an idea.isobjectAndPizarrocommercial.established the city of Arequipa, since arisen to suchcelebrity.Prescott.Arethusa arose a difficulty arises but to greatness we canonly rise— unless, indeed, we wake to find ourselves famous;;thena.tionwe doarise to greatness.Wordsmaylike the previous set, except that the differentia-possibly be disputed.The long droughtleftthe torrent of whichIamspeaking, and suchothers, in a state peculiarly favourable to observance of their least actionon the mountains from which they descend.— RUSKIN.(observation)
————VOCABULARY10ObservanceThe Oxford Dic-obedience, compliance, &c.istionary recognizes observance in the sense of watching, but73a except another passageis that he accidentallyto recognize a valuable differentiation long arrived at.gives no authority forfrom RuskinfailedItMORLEY.manought to consult inas in knowledge and the arts.to flow—body in England, King, Lords,back the old confusion is an offence.the legislativeisThe apposite.1(legislation)and Commons.thanmorals, legislature, as wellLegislatureuntillaterphysical science, and experience, thatisreligion,beganitthe natural conclusion;Tocalldisplay of the diamonds usually stopped the tears thathereabouts.—Dickens,;and she would remainin acomplaisant state(complacent)Our Correspondent adds that he is fully persuaded that Rozhdestvensky has nothing more to expect from the complacency of the aisance)Com-over polite, flattering, subservient, &c.means contented,satisfied.In the spring of that year the privilege was withdrawn from the fourassociated booksellers, and the continuance of the— MORLEY.Continuationisworkstrictly prohibited.the noun of continue, go on withof continue, remain.:continuanceWith continuance the meaning would bethat the already published volumes (of Diderot's Encyclopaedia)were to be destroyed;but the meaning intendedthe promised volumes were not to be gone on withisthat—whichAgain, the next two extracts, fromone page, show Mr. Morley wrongly substituting continuity,which only means continuousness, for continuance.requires continuation.Having arrivedat a certain conclusion with regard to the continuanceMr. Parnell's leadershipGladstone.The most cynicalcould not fall a prey to such a hallucination as tosupposethat either of these communities could tolerate . so impenitent an affront as the unruffled continuity of the stained leadership.-of.Morley.The Rev.Dr. Usher said he believed the writer of the first letter to beearnest in his inquiry, and agreed with him that the topic of it wastranscendentally important. Daily Telegraph,
————MALAPROPSIITranscendently means in a superlative degree transcendeniallya philosophic term for independently of experience, &c.:isUntil atgathered altogether again, they find their way down to thelast,turf.— RusKiN.together)(allAt such timesJimmie's better angel was alwaysWindsor Magazine.Wasin the.in the.ascendanthad an ascendency:ascendency.over.Theinconsistency and evasion of the attitude of the Government.Spectator.Evasiveness the qualityTherequisition for a:lifeevasion a particular act.of Christianityis'walk\oy&'. DailyinTelegraph.Requisite or requirement, the thing requiredact of requiring:requisition, theit.We will here merelychronicle \\a procession of events.Spectator,(progress or succession)watch the Emperor during all these interviews, andmanner in which he spoke, especially to the Sultan's(specially)uncle, who came from Fez especially.Times,Iwas abletonoticed the forcibleAsitstands,it—implies that hecamechieflyfrom Fez, butmeant to implythat he came for this particular interview, and had no othermotive.The differentiation of spec- and espec- is by nomeans complete yet, but some uses of each are alreadyludicrous.Roughly, spec- means particular as opposed tobut usagegeneral, espec- particular as opposed to ordinarywatched.must be closelyfrom other places in a minor degree;it is;Thatitoccurs in violence to police regulationsCuei-nsey Advertiser,In thefielditaimsisdaily apparent.(violation of)at efforts ofunexpected and extreme violenceresearch of hostile masses, their defeat by overwhelmingassault,andtheir wholesale destructionby Theobject of researchiscrete things or persons.does not look for3.insects,laws, principles, facts, &c., not con-Entomological research, for instance,but for facts about insects.Give-and-take forms, in which there are two words, with
————VOCABULARYladiflferent constructions,is——:that might properly be used, and onegiven the construction of the otlienA few companies, comprised m3.\n\y(composed of? comprising ?)The NovoeTimes.militiamen.o/ Vreinya thinks the Tsar's words will undoubtedly instil theTimes.Christians of Macedonia with hope.them with hope ? instil hope into them ?)appreciated the leisurely solidity, the leisurely beauty of the place,E. F. BENSON,so innate with the genius of the Anglo-Saxon.(genius innate in the place ? the place instinct with genius f)(inspireHe4.—Words having properly no connexion with eachat all, but confusedowing toMr. Barton walked forthincape and boa, to read prayers at the workCollegeELIOT, (euphemistically)house, euphttistically called theEuphemismeuphuismisisothersuperficial resemblance.''.—by givingslurring over badnessa literary stylefulla good nameand simile. Aitof antithesis:iv, pp. 5 and 36) will convincereaders that these words are dangerouspair of extracts [Friedrich, vol.Hanover, to grin-out euphuisms, and makelittle Uncle there.Carlyle.Readers may remember, George H has been at Hanover for someBielfelddiligently grinning euphemisms and courtlyweeks pastHenceBielfeld goestograceful court-bows to our sublime;graciosities to him.Carlyle.Troops capable of contesting successfully against the forces of othernations.— Titnes.Thoughthereusageagainst contest without an objectisisAndauthority, chiefly old, forgood generalit,—contestthe vic-no possible advantage in writing it,with contend ready to hand, it is better avoided in the in-tory, &c.as thereistransitive sense.In the present self-deprecatorythemselves.Spectator,Depreciate, undervalueverycommonmoodinwhich the English people find(self-depreciatory):deprecate,pray against.Abad butblunder.'An irreparable colleague,' Mr. GladstoneMORLEY, (irreplaceable)notesinhisdiary.
—MALAPROPSNo deadnot be so:euphuism, providedcolleaguereparable — though his— this side the Day of Judgement.isloss13maymayorSurely he was better employed in plying the trades of tinker andsmith than in having resource to vice, in running after milkmaids, forexample.—BORROW,(recourse)You may indeed have recourse to a resource, but not viceversa.You may also resort to, which makes the confusioneasier.Whatshe would say to him,how he wouldpredication of their discourse, was beyondhimtakeit,even the vaguest—E. F. Benson.to guess.(prediction)it isaPredication has nothing to do with the futuresynonym, used especially in logic, for statement. The mistake is generally whipped out of schoolboys in connexionwith praedicere and praedicare.;Words whose meaning is misapprehended withoutapparent cause. The hankering of ignorant writers after theWe start withunfamiliar or imposing leads to much of this.5.two uses of which correct and incorrect examples are desirableand to eke out in wrong senses.weProvided adorns every other page of George Borrowshould have left it alone as an eccentricity of his, if we hadnot lately found the wrong use more than once in The Times.provided, where if is required;;Provided is a small district in the kingdom of if; it cannever be wrong to write if instead of provided: to writeprovided instead of if will generally be wrong, but now andthen an improvement in precision. So much is cleardefine the
THE KING'SENGLISH n &. (- V 1 VJa Vci-.-r\Vc Nolevell'dmalice InfectsonecommainthecourseIhold. TimonofAthens,I.i.48. SECONDEDITION CornellUniversityLibrary PE1460 .
