The Century Handbook of Writing Part 35

=Faulty Idioms= =Correct Idioms=

in the city Toledo in the city of Toledo in the year of 1920 in the year 1920 I hope you a good time I wish you a good time the Rev. Hopkins the Reverend Mr. Hopkins possessed with ability possessed of ability stay to home stay at home different than different from independent from independent of in search for in search of

Observe that many idioms are concerned with prepositions. Make sure that a verb or adjective is accompanied by the right preposition. Study the following list of correct idioms:

accused of (a theft) accused by (a person) accord with (a person) agree with (a person) agree to (a proposal) agreeable to angry at (things or persons) angry with (a person) careful about (an affair) careful of (one's money) comply with convenient to (a person) convenient for (a purpose) correspond to (things) correspond with (persons) dissent from enamored of entrust to free from listen to part from (a person) part with (a thing) pleased with resolve on sympathize with take exception to

=b. Do not carry the standards of conversation into formal writing.= Colloquial usage is more free than literary usage. The colloquial sentence _That's the man I talked with_ becomes in writing _That is the man with whom I talked._ The colloquial sentence _It was a cold day but there wasn't any wind blowing_ is a loose string of words. Written discourse requires greater tension and more care in subordinating minor ideas: _The day, though cold, was still._ Contractions are proper in conversation, and in personal or informal writing. In formal writing they are not appropriate. And do not let such expressions as _He doesn't_, _We aren't_, _It's proved_, used in talk by careful speakers, mislead you into expressions like _He don't_, _We ain't_, _It's proven_, which violate even colloquial good use.

Exercise:

1. He confessed of his inability to comply to the demand.

2. Is he from Irish descent? Is humor characteristic with the Irish?

3. She was not to home, but I was reluctant against leaving.

4. He dissented to the opinion of the committee's majority, for his ideas were utterly different than theirs.

5. He got a few jobs as a carpenter that summer, but they didn't pay him much, and so he went to loafing around, and he's been at it ever since.

=Gross Violations of Good Use: Barbarisms, Improprieties, Slang=

=66. Avoid gross violations of good use, particularly (a) barbarisms, (b) improprieties, and (c) slang.=

=a. Barbarisms are distortions of words in good use, or coinages for which there is no need.= Examples: _to concertize_, _to burgle_ or _burglarize_, _to jell_, _alright_, _a-plenty_, _most_ (for _almost_), _performess_, _fake_, _pep_, _tasty_, _illy_, _complected_, _undoubtably_, _nowheres_, _soph_, _lab_, _gents_.

=b. Improprieties are words wrenched from one part of speech to another, or made to perform an unnatural service.= Examples: _to suspicion_, _to gesture_, _to suicide_, _a steal_, _a try_, _a go_, _an invite_, _the eats_, _humans_, _some_ or _real_ or _swell_ (as adverbs), _like_ (as a conjunction).

=c. Slang is speech consisting either of uncouth expressions of illiterate origin, or of legitimate expressions used in grotesque or irregular senses.= Though sometimes (witness eighteenth century _mob_, and nineteenth century _buncombe_) it satisfies a real need and becomes established in the language, in most instances it is short-lived (witness the thieves' talk in _Oliver Twist_, or pa.s.sages from any comic opera song popular five years ago). Vicious types of slang are:

Expressions of vulgar origin (from criminal cla.s.ses, the prize ring, the vaudeville circuit, etc.): _get pinched_, _down and out_, _took the count_, _b.u.m hunch_, _nix on the comedy stuff_, _get across_.

Language strained or distorted for novel effect: _performed the feed act at a bang-up gastronomic emporium_, _bingled a tall drive that made the horsehide ramble out into center garden_.

Blanket expressions used as subst.i.tutes for thinking: _corking_, _stunning_, _ain't it fierce?_, _can you beat it?_, _going some_, _just so I get by with it_.

The use of the last-named type is most to be regretted. It leads to a mental habit of phonographic repet.i.tion, with no resort to independent thinking. If a man really desires to use slang, let him invent new expressions every day, and make them fit the specific occasion.

Exercise:

1. I disremember what sort of an outfit he wore.

2. Helen's as light-complected a girl as you'll run across, I calculate.

3. His ad brought a first-rate gent to hold down the job.

4. Thompson hasn't stability, or it seems like it. He ain't got no gumption. He's too easy enthused.

5. The grub was to of cost us two bits, but we didn't have the dough. We gets outside the food, and when the cas.h.i.+er ain't lookin', we runs out the door and beats it.

=Words Often Confused in Meaning=

=67. Do not confuse or interchange the meanings of the following words:=

=_Accept_ and _except_.= _Accept_ means _to receive_; _except_ as a verb means _to exclude_ and as a preposition means _with the exception of_.

=_Affect_ and _effect_.= _Affect_ is not used as a noun; _effect_ as a noun means _result_. As verbs, _affect_ means _to influence in part_; _effect_ means _to accomplish totally_.

"His story affected me deeply." "The Russians effected a revolution." _Affect_ also has a special meaning _to feign_.

"She had an affected manner."

=_Allusion_ and _illusion_.= _Allusion_ means _a reference_; _illusion_ means a _deceptive appearance_. "A Biblical allusion." "An optical illusion."

=_Already_ and _all ready_.= _Already_ means _by this time_ or _beforehand_; _all ready_ means _wholly ready_. "I have already invited him." "Dinner is all ready." "We are all ready for dinner."

=_Altogether_ and _all together_.= _Altogether_ means _wholly_, _entirely_; _all together_ means _collectively, in a group_.

"He is altogether honest." "The King sent the people all together into exile."

=_Can_ and _may_.= _Can_ means _to be able_; _may_ means _to have permission_. _Can_ for _may_ has a certain colloquial standing, but is condemned by literary usage.

=_Emigrate_ and _immigrate_.= _Emigrate_ means _to go out from a country_; _immigrate_ means _to enter into a country_. The same man may be an _emigrant_ when he leaves Europe, and an _immigrant_ when he enters America.

=_Healthy_ and _healthful_.= _Healthy_ means _having health_; _healthful_ means _giving health_. "Milk is healthful." "The climate of Colorado is healthful." "The boy is healthy."

=_Hanged_ and _hung_.= _Hanged_ is the correct past tense of _hang_ in the sense _put to death, hanged on the gallows_; _hung_ is the correct past tense for the general meaning _suspended_.

=_Hygienic_ and _sanitary_.= Both words mean _pertaining to health_. _Hygienic_ is used when the condition is a matter of personal habits or rules; _sanitary_ is used when the condition is a matter of surroundings (water supply, food supply, sewage disposal, etc.) or the relations of numbers of people.

=_Instants_ and _instance_.= _Instants_ means _small portions of time_; _instance_ means _an example_.

=_Later_ and _latter_.= _Later_ means _more late_; _latter_ means _the second in a series of two_. "The latter" is used in conjunction with the phrase "the former."

=_Lead_ and _led_.= _Led_ is the past tense of the verb _to lead_. _Lead_ is the present tense.

=_Learn_ and _teach_.= _Learn_ means _to get knowledge of_; _teach_ means _to give knowledge of_ or _to_. "The instructor _teaches_ (not _learns_) me physics." "He learns his lessons easily."

=_Leave_ and _let_.= _Leave_ means _to abandon_; _let_ means _to permit_.

=_Less_ and _fewer_.= _Less_ refers to quant.i.ty; _fewer_ refers to number. "He has _fewer_ (not _less_) horses than he needs."

=_Liable_, _likely_, and _apt_.= _Likely_ merely predicts; _liable_ conveys the additional idea of harm or responsibility.

_Apt_ applies usually to persons, in the sense of _having natural capability_, and sometimes to things, in the sense of _fitting_, _appropriate_. "It is likely to be a pleasant day."

"I fear it is liable to rain." "He is liable for damages." "He is an apt lad at his books." "That is an apt phrase."

=_Lie_ and _lay_.= _Lay_, a transitive verb, means _to cause to lie_. "I lay the book on the table and it lies there." "Now I lay me down to sleep." A source of confusion between the two words is that the past tense of _lie_ is _lay_: