myself. Not to be used for I: not "John, Mary, and myself made up the party."

necessitate. The word is not needed in ordinary discourse.

necessity. Not "the necessities of life," but "the necessaries of life."

of two.

neither. As an adjective or pronoun the word means not either As a conjunction, there is no good reason, perhaps, why it should not introduce a series of more than two, but there is little sanction of the usage: "neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities," etc. Compare either.

See also 41, note.

nice. Not to be used loosely for pleasant. Properly, the word means delicate, discriminating.

no use.

Write, "It is of no use." See 58, 1.

none. Singular or plural. See 31, 6, note.

The

O, oh. Use O in apostrophe and address, otherwise oh. following will illustrate the obscurity that may result from a failure to observe the distinction:

For thee, the new coasts, gleaming still;

For us, the hope, the plunge, the engulfing night!

O land! and set thy beacon on the hill!
Our pilot unto light!

observance. Ceremonious regard.
observation. Act of taking notice.

off of. Off is a preposition—the of is not needed.

on Blank Street. Colloquial, U. S. Better in Blank Street. one. When this indefinite pronoun is used, the weight of authority

ones.

is in favor of retaining it throughout a sentence or passage, instead of following it up with he, his, etc. In many cases, however, the latter pronouns would seem preferable to the monotonous repetition of one.

An allowable plural, but for the most part easily avoided. oneself. The form has some authority, but one's self is preferred.

onto. It is difficult to regard this form with favor, but there can be no question that it is steadily gaining ground. For the present, a writer will do well to ask himself, in every case,

whether upon (or at any rate on to) will not serve his purpose equally well.

optimism. Not to be used loosely for cheeriness-the word has

reference to a philosophic attitude.

out. Not to be used as a preposition. Not "I looked out the window," but "I looked out of the window."

overly. Write overnice, overdeveloped, etc. Over here is prop

erly a combining preposition, like under, though it is sometimes written separately: over fastidious.

loquial only.

Overly is col

pack. Not to be used for carry, except of things actually packed and carried on the back of a pack-animal.

party. Not to be used for person, except in legal sense. past ten days, etc. Prefer last ten days.

as,

66

people, person. The word people as equivalent to persons is often censured. People is not well used of a small number, "two or three people"; but "some young people" is far better than some young persons." Person is itself often not in good taste; "A person dislikes to take such chances were better written "One dislikes to take such chances." The usage has probably arisen from the need of some colorless word to take the place of the old word wight. pessimism. See optimism.

phenomena. Plural form. The singular is phenomenon. plead. The preferred preterite is pleaded.

plenty. Not to be used as adjective or adverb.

portion. See 52.

posted. Write informed, or well informed.

preventative. Preventive is preferable.

previous to. Write previously to or before.

proof. To be distinguished from evidence: not "pretty good proof," nor "conclusive proof," but "evidence" ;-conclusive evidence amounts to proof.

providing. Not to be used as a conjunction, like provided. An irregular form; proved is to be preferred.

proven.

as,

quite. The word should be kept to its strict meaning of wholly ; "You are quite right,” "The man is quite dead." In the sense of very, as The man is quite sick," the word has much authority and the weight of almost universal colloquial usage,

but if it be allowed in this sense, the word almost entirely loses its value, since it is often impossible to tell just what it does mean in a given case.

raise. Corn and cattle are raised; human beings are brought up, or reared.

rarely ever.

Ever is superfluous.

rather a. "A rather severe cold," not "rather a severe cold." real. Not an adverb: not "real good," but "really good." referee. Not in good use as a verb, though umpire may be so used.

right ahead, right now, etc. Excessive use of the locution should be avoided.

rise up. Up is unnecessary; it has crept in, doubtless, to balance the phrase with sit down, the real opposite of which is stand up.

round. See around.

same. "It is the same problem that (not as) troubled me." But, "Your problem is the same as mine."

scarcely. See hardly.

side-hill. Provincial for hillside.

slight. Note the ambiguity of emphasis in such phrases as "with slight exaggeration." This phrase may mean "with some little exaggeration," or "with very little exaggeration." Not to be used for somewhat, a little, as in "I was injured some, ""He worked some each day."

some.

some place. Not to be used for somewhere. something. Archaic as an adverb for somewhat. sort of a. See 56.

speciality. Not to be used for specialty.

state or quality of being special.

Speciality means the

stop. Frequently used for stay in such sentences as stopping at the Franklin House."

"He is

Consider always whether

stay or sojourn will not convey the intended meaning.

strata. Plural. The singular is stratum. subsequent to. See previous to.

such. Such as, not such which or who. result.

sundown, sunup. Colloquial or local.

Such that, to express

supposing. In introducing a supposition, use the imperative

form, suppose. Compare providing.

syllabi. Plural. The singular is syllabus.

sympathy for. Properly sympathy with.

But if we admit

pity, commiseration, as one of the meanings of sympathy, then we shall have to admit in some cases sympathy for. talented. The word is good.

than whom. Permissible.

that far, that much, etc. Use so far, so much.

this far, this much, etc. Use thus far, thus much.

thereabouts. See hereabouts.

through. Inelegant for done, finished.

too delighted, etc. See 34, 3.

toward, towards.

Toward is the older, and in general the more

euphonious, form.

transpire. Not to be used for occur, happen. The word means

to become known.

try and. See 35, 1.

unbeknown. Provincial for unknown.

underhanded. Prefer underhand.

very pleased, etc. See 34, 3.

way. Not to be used for away, in such phrases as "away

back, away down," except in dialect, when it must have

the sign of elision, 'way. Compare 'most.

ways. Not to be used for way in "a long way," etc.

whence from. From is superfluous. See 56.

where at, where from, where to. Use where, whence, whither. whether or no. Long condemned, but supported by the usage of many good writers.

with. See by.

without. Not to be used for unless.

young ladies. See lady.,

yours, etc. In the conclusion of a letter, etc. is discourteous.

APPENDIX B.

EXAMPLES OF DEFECTIVE COMPOSITION.

NOTE. These examples are selected from the actual work of students of composition. They range from Narrative, through Descriptive and Narrative-Descriptive, to Expository. Most of them are complete essays. Some are crude in the extreme, while others are but fair examples of the poorer grade of work that is constantly presented in schools and colleges. No. V might even seem, at first glance, to be a good essay: it is conceivable that a teacher, dulled by the reading of much manuscript, might pass it by with only words of commendation. But scrutiny reveals much that is defective. And so with all. Questions and observations in criticism are appended to the first five essays. These should be studied and discussed and then the essays rewritten. The remaining essays are to be treated in a similar way—that is, minute criticisms are first to be written out and then compared and discussed in class, and finally the essays are to be rewritten whenever sufficient improvement can be made to justify the labor. This will cultivate the habit of self-criticism.

I. A FORCED DELAY.

1. During a long, hot day our train drew up in front of a little wayside station to wait for the north-bound special. The telegraph operator informed us that the coming train had been delayed so with various exclamations we settled down to wait.

2. I saw before me a little one-story building of a doubtful