Write It Right by Ambrose Bierce (recommended ebook reader TXT) 📕

or injury to interests. An act may involve one's honor and entail disgrace.

_It_ for _So_. "Going into the lion's cage is dangerous; you should not do it." Do so is the better expression, as a rule, for the word it is a pronoun, meaning a thing, or object, and therefore incapable of being done. Colloquially we may say do it, or do this, or do that, but in serious written discourse greater precision is desirable, and is better obtained, in most cases, by use of the adverb.

_Item_ for _Brief Article_. Commonly used of a narrative in a newspaper. Item connotes an aggregate of which it is a unit--one thing of many. Hence it suggests more than we may wish to direct attention to.

_Jackies_ for _Sailors_. Vulgar, and especially offensive to seamen.

_Jeopardize_ for _Imperil_, or _Endanger_. The correct word is jeopard, but in any case there is no need for anything so farfetched and stilted.

_Juncture_. Juncture means a joining, a junction; its use to signify a time, however critical a time, is absurd. "At this juncture the woman screamed." In reading that account of it we scream too.

_Just Exactly_. Nothing is gained in strength nor precision by this kind of pleonasm. Omit just.

_Juvenile_ for _Child_. This needless use of the adjective for the noun is probably supposed to be humorous, like "canine" for dog, "optic" for eye, "anatomy" for body, and the like. Happily the offense is not very common.

_Kind of a_ for _Kind of_. "He was that kind of a man." Say that kind of man. Man here is generic, and a genus comprises many kinds. But there cannot be more than one kind of one thing. _Kind of_ followed by an adjective, as, "kind of good," is almost too gross for censure.

_Landed Estate_ for _Property in Land_. Dreadful!

_Last_ and _Past_. "Last week." "The past week." Neither is accurate: a week cannot be the last if another is already begun; and all weeks except this one are past. Here two wrongs seem to make a right: we can say the week last past. But will we? I trow not.

_Later on_. On is redundant; say, later.

_Laundry_. Meaning a place where clothing is washed, this word cannot mean, also, clothing sent there to be washed.

_Lay_ (to place) for _Lie_ (to recline). "The ship lays on her side." A more common error is made in the past tense, as, "He laid down on the grass." The confusion comes of the identity of a present tense of the transitive verb to lay and the past tense of the intransitive verb to lie.

_Leading Question_. A leading question is not necessarily an important one; it is one that is so framed as to suggest, or lead to, the answer desired. Few others than lawyers use the term correctly.

_Lease_. To say of a man that he leases certain premises leaves it doubtful whether he is lessor or lessee. Being ambiguous, the word should be used with caution.

_Leave_ for _Go away_. "He left yesterday." Leave is a transitive verb; name the place of departure.

_Leave_ for _Let_. "Leave it alone." By this many persons mean, not that it is to be left in solitude, but that it is to be untouched, or unmolested.

_Lengthways_ for _Lengthwise_.

_Lengthy_. Usually said in disparagement of some wearisome discourse. It is no better than breadthy, or thicknessy.

_Leniency_ for _Lenity_. The words are synonymous, but the latter is the better.

_Less_ for _Fewer_. "The regiment had less than five hundred men." Less relates to quantity, fewer, to number.

_Limited_ for _Small_, _Inadequate_, etc. "The army's operations were confined to a limited area." "We had a limited supply of food." A large area and an adequate supply would also be limited. Everything that we know about is limited.

_Liable_ for _Likely_. "Man is liable to err." Man is not liable to err, but to error. Liable should be followed, not by an infinitive, but by a preposition.

_Like_ for _As_, or _As if_. "The matter is now like it was." "The house looked like it would fall."

_Likely_ for _Probably_. "He will likely be elected." If likely is thought the better word (and in most cases it is) put it this way: "It is likely that he will be elected," or, "He is likely to be elected."

_Line_ for _Kind_, or _Class_. "This line of goods." Leave the word to "salesladies" and "salesgentlemen." "That line of business." Say, that business.

_Literally_ for _Figuratively_. "The stream was literally alive with fish." "His eloquence literally swept the audience from its feet." It is bad enough to exaggerate, but to affirm the truth of the exaggeration is intolerable.

_Loan_ for _Lend_. "I loaned him ten dollars." We lend, but the act of lending, or, less literally, the thing lent, is a loan.

_Locate_. "After many removals the family located at Smithville." Some dictionaries give locate as an intransitive verb having that meaning, but--well, dictionaries are funny.

_Lots_, or _a Lot_, for _Much_, or _Many_. "Lots of things." "A lot of talk."

_Love_ for _Like_. "I love to travel." "I love apples." Keep the stronger word for a stronger feeling.

_Lunch_ for _Luncheon_. But do not use luncheon as a verb.

_Mad_ for _Angry_. An Americanism of lessening prevalence. It is probable that anger is a kind of madness (insanity), but that is not what the misusers of the word mad mean to affirm.

_Maintain_ for _Contend_. "The senator maintained that the tariff was iniquitous." He maintained it only if he proved it.

_Majority_ for _Plurality_. Concerning votes cast in an election, a majority is more than half the total; a plurality is the excess of one candidate's votes over another's. Commonly the votes compared are those for the successful candidate and those for his most nearly successful competitor.

_Make_ for _Earn_. "He makes fifty dollars a month by manual labor."

_Mansion_ for _Dwelling_, or _House_. Usually mere hyperbole, a lamentable fault of our national literature. Even our presidents, before Roosevelt, called their dwelling the Executive Mansion.

_Masculine_ for _Male_. See _Feminine_.

_Mend_ for _Repair_. "They mended the road." To mend is to repair, but to repair is not always to mend. A stocking is mended, a road repaired.

_Meet_ for _Meeting_. This belongs to the language of sport, which persons of sense do not write--nor read.

_Militate_. "Negligence militates against success." If "militate" meant anything it would mean fight, but there is no such word.

_Mind_ for _Obey_. This is a reasonless extension of one legitimate meaning of mind, namely, to heed, to give attention.

_Minus_ for _Lacking_, or _Without_. "After the battle he was minus an ear." It is better in serious composition to avoid such alien words as have vernacular equivalents.

_Mistaken_ for _Mistake_. "You are mistaken." For whom? Say, You mistake.

_Monarch_ for _King, Emperor_, or _Sovereign_. Not only hyperbolical, but inaccurate. There is not a monarch in Christendom.

_Moneyed_ for _Wealthy_. "The moneyed men of New York." One might as sensibly say, "The cattled men of Texas," or, "The lobstered men of the fish market."

_Most_ for _Almost_. "The apples are most all gone." "The returning travelers were most home."

_Moved_ for _Removed_. "The family has moved to another house." "The Joneses were moving."

_Mutual_. By this word we express a reciprocal relation. It implies exchange, a giving and taking, not a mere possessing in common. There can be a mutual affection, or a mutual hatred, but not a mutual friend, nor a mutual horse.

_Name_ for _Title and Name_. "His name was Mr. Smith." Surely no babe was ever christened Mister.

_Necessaries_ for _Means_. "Bread and meat are necessaries of life." Not so; they are the mere means, for one can, and many do, live comfortably without them. Food and drink are necessaries of life, but particular kinds of food and drink are not.

_Necessities_ for _Necessaries_. "Necessities of life are those things without which we cannot live."

_Nee_. Feminine of _ne_, born. "Mrs. Jones, _nee_ Lucy Smith." She could hardly have been christened before her birth. If you must use the French word say, _nee_ Smith.

_Negotiate_. From the Latin _negotium_. It means, as all know, to fix the terms for a transaction, to bargain. But when we say, "The driver negotiated a difficult turn of the road," or, "The chauffeur negotiated a hill," we speak nonsense.

_Neither--or_ for _Neither--nor_. "Neither a cat or fish has wool." Always after neither use nor.

_New Beginner_ for _Beginner_.

_Nice_ for _Good_, or _Agreeable_. "A nice girl." Nice means fastidious, delicately discriminative, and the like. Pope uses the word admirably of a dandy who was skilled in the nice conduct [management] of a clouded cane.

_Noise_ for _Sound_. "A noise like a flute"; "a noise of twittering birds," etc. A noise is a loud or disagreeable sound, or combination or succession of sounds.

_None_. Usually, and in most cases, singular; as, None has come. But it is not singular because it always means not one, for frequently it does not, as, The bottle was full of milk, but none is left. When it refers to numbers, not quantity, popular usage stubbornly insists that it is plural, and at least one respectable authority says that as a singular it is offensive. One is sorry to be offensive to a good man.

_No Use_. "He tried to smile, but it was no use." Say, of no use, or, less colloquially, in vain.

_Novel_ for _Romance_. In a novel there is at least an apparent attention to considerations of probability; it is a narrative of what might occur. Romance flies with a free wing and owns no allegiance to likelihood. Both are fiction, both works of imagination, but should not be confounded. They are as distinct as beast and bird.

_Numerous_ for _Many_. Rightly used, numerous relates to numbers, but does not imply a great number. A correct use is seen in the term numerous verse--verse consisting of poetic numbers; that is, rhythmical feet.

_Obnoxious_ for _Offensive_. Obnoxious means exposed to evil. A soldier in battle is obnoxious to danger.

_Occasion_ for _Induce_, or _Cause_. "His arrival occasioned a great tumult." As a verb, the word is needless and unpleasing.

_Occasional Poems_. These are not, as so many authors and compilers seem to think, poems written at irregular and indefinite intervals, but poems written for _occasions_, such as anniversaries, festivals, celebrations and the like.

_Of Any_ for _Of All_. "The greatest poet of any that we have had."

_Offhanded_ and _Offhandedly_. Offhand is both adjective and adverb; these are bastard forms.

_On the Street_. A street comprises the roadway and the buildings at each side. Say, in the street. He lives in Broadway.

_One Another_ for _Each Other_. See _Each Other_.

_Only_. "He only had one." Say, He had only one, or, better, one only. The other sentence might be taken to mean that only he had one; that, indeed, is what it distinctly says. The correct placing of only in a sentence requires attention and skill.

_Opine_ for _Think_. The word is not very respectably connected.

_Opposite_ for _Contrary_. "I hold the opposite opinion." "The opposite practice."

_Or_ for _Nor_. Probably our most nearly universal solecism. "I cannot see the sun or the moon." This means that I am unable to see one of them, though I may see the other. By using nor, I affirm the invisibility of both, which is what I wanted to do. If a man is not white or black he