PREFER.

Prefer:

Approve to approve of. [“To shew thyself approved unto God.”]

Agriculturist to agriculturalist.

Aside to apart. [“He took me aside.”] Apart means to pieces, as, “He took the clock apart.”

Alone to only, as much as possible.

Arise to rise, in a figurative or secondary sense. [“Greece arose from her ashes.”]

Advance to progress [as verb]. Progress is not properly formed from the Latin root.

Acquaintanceship to acquaintance, as an abstract noun. Reserve acquaintance for persons or things one is acquainted with.

Begin to initiate. Initiate may very properly be used in the sense of, to induct into a position or introduce to a society.

Begin to commence.

Become to grow, denoting a change of condition. [“He becomes rich and wise.”]

Believe to think. [“I believe it is so.”]

Body [dead], or corpse, to the remains.

Buy to purchase.

Coffin to casket.

Cannot but to can but. [“I cannot but tell what I know.”] There is an ellipsis in all such expressions: “I cannot do anything but (i.e., except) tell what” &c.

Come into collision to collide.

Correct or in the right to right, when correctness, and not uprightness, is meant, E.g.: “I am correct in my statistics.”

Converser or conversationist to conversationalist.

Controverter, or controversionist, to controversionalist.

Church to sanctuary.

Contend against, oppose, be at variance with, to militate against.

Corpulent, heavy, fat, to fleshy [of persons].

Deadly to lethal.

Dwell, or live, to reside.

Exponental to exponential.

Earthen, golden, &c., to earth, gold, &c. [as adjectives]. E.g.: “An earthen jar.”

Enlarge on [or, upon] to dilate on [or, upon].

Foregoing to above, as an adjective. [“The foregoing statement is correct.”]

Factory to manufactory.

Forbid to prohibit.

Forward, backward, toward, &c., to forwards, backwards, towards, &c.

Graceful to elegant, when speaking of the body and its movements.

Hebrew to Jew, when speaking of race.

House to residence.

Incorrect, or in the wrong, to wrong, when incorrectness, and not unrighteousness, is meant.

Iced-water, iced-cream, &c., to ice-water, ice-cream, &c.

Inform to advise [in letters &c.] Advise has a double meaning; inform has not.

Kinsman, kinswoman, to relative, relation.

Last two weeks, last six months, &c., to past two weeks, past six months, &c.

Lenity, or lenience, to leniency.

Loose to unloose.

Land to real estate.

Leading article, or leader, to editorial.

Lengthwise, sidewise, &c., to lengthways, sideways, &c.

The morrow to to-morrow [as noun]. E.g.: “The morrow will suit me.”

The months by name to ult., prox., inst.

Much to a great deal.

Muscular to stout. [Stout is somewhat ambiguous, meaning both strong and corpulent.]

One to [or, with] another to among themselves. E.g.: “They divided the money one with another.”

Oneself to one’s self.

Oversee to supervise.

Offensive to obnoxious.

Ordinal numbers to cardinal numbers in the heading of letters. Write March 24th, or March the 24th, rather than March 24.

Rich to wealthy.

Railway to railroad.

Seeming to apparent.

Self-same to identical.

Say to remark, or observe. [To remark and to observe mean to notice.]

Station to depot [or dépôt].

Sympathy to pity, when speaking of or to equals.

Truthfulness to veracity. [Veracity should be used of persons only.]

Tangental to tangential.

Thus to so. [“He does it thus.”]

Unexpressed to understood. [Understood has two meanings.]

Violoncello to violincello. [The instrument is a large, not a small, violin.]

Various, or diverse, to different. [Different should be confined to the meaning of differing from.]

Vacant to empty, of buildings no longer inhabited.

Wast to wert, in the second person singular, past indicative. [Wert is the subjunctive, but it is not incorrect in the indicative.]

Would rather, or should rather, to had rather. [Had rather is not incorrect, but would rather or should rather is preferable. All these forms ought to be used as little as possible. Choose some other expression.]

With reference to to in reference to. [We never say, out of reference to, but always, without reference to.]

In general, prefer short words and phrases to long words and phrases, and words of Anglo-Saxon, to those of non-Anglo-Saxon, origin.

OBJECTIONABLE WORDS AND PHRASES.

A day or two, a man or two, &c. [Say, two or three days, a few days; two or three men, a few men; &c. There is lack of agreement in a day or two, a man or two. A somewhat similar error occurs in, “With this, as with many other matters.” The expression should be: “With this, as with many another matter.”]

Authoress, poetess, &c. [Such words may be used if the gender is to be pointed out. Otherwise, the ordinary forms—author, poet, &c.—are sufficient]

Accountable, unaccountable.

Answerable, unanswerable.

Antagonize.

Aborigene [in the singular].

A bit [at all, a little; as: “I am a bit tired”], not a bit [not at all].

Confirmed invalid.

Cablegram. [Use telegram or telegraphic message.]

Down East, down South. [Say: “I am going to the South.” “I live in the East.” “He practised at the South.”]

Desirability and undesirability.

Direful. [This word is not properly formed, as dire is not a noun.]

Defalcate and defalcation [in the sense of making default]. Defalcate, correctly used, is to cut off or lop off.

Desiderate [for desire].

Deceased [for the late, the dead one, &c.], except in legal and other formal expressions.

Every once in a while. [Say, once in a while, sometimes, frequently.]

Electropathy, hydropathy, &c. [Pathein is, to suffer; not, to cure.]

Effectuate.

Enjoy oneself. [Say, “I enjoyed the concert;” not, “I enjoyed myself at the concert.”]

Eventuate.

Environment. [Use surroundings.]

Emasculate.

Go ahead.

Help [in the sense of to avoid]. Say: “I cannot avoid doing so;” not, “I cannot help doing so.”

Have got [for have]. Get is generally superfluous, and should be used as little as possible.

Impute. [Use ascribe.]

Ignore.

Lose oneself. [Say, “He was lost—or became lost—or lost his way—in the wood.”]

Line of goods.

Lots [for much or many].

Malaprop. [Use mal-à-propos; unsuitable, unseasonable, or the corresponding adverbs.]

More guilty, most guilty; less guilty, least guilty. [One is either guilty or not guilty, of a crime; although one may be guilty of a greater or a less crime. A similar remark applies to guiltless and innocent. These adjectives should properly be used of individual acts only.]

Necessitate.

Opine.

Out West. [Say: “He goes West (or, to the West).” “I live in the West (or, at the West).”]

Out of [for of, with names of materials]. Say: “The box is made of [not, out of] wood.”

Ponder over. [Use ponder alone.]

Practitioner. [This word is incorrectly formed.]

Presidential. [The adjective—if formed at all—ought to be presidental. Presidential campaign is a very inelegant and ill-constructed expression.]

Proven [for proved]. Gotten maybe used for got; but not proven for proved.

Particle [a little or somewhat], not a particle [not at all].

Rostrum [for platform, pulpit]. If any form of this word is to be used, it should be the plural, rostra.

Rehabilitate [for reïnstate].

Recuperate [for recover].

Right off.

Right away.

Reliable, unreliable. [Use trustworthy, untrustworthy.]

Repudiate. [Use condemn or disown.]

Spread [in the sense of meal, feast, banquet].

Suicide, as a verb. [Say, commit suicide.]

Scientist. [Use scientific man, savant, &c. If a noun with this meaning is to be formed from science, it ought to be sciencist, not scientist.]

Stump, in the sense of platform; as: “He took the stump.”

Seeming paradox. [A paradox is a seeming contradiction. Seeming paradox is, therefore, tautological.]

Tiresome. [Use wearisome or tedious. Tiresome is incorrectly formed, tire not being a noun.]

That much, that little, [for so much, so little, or as much as that, as little as that].

Up North. [Say: “I live at (or in) the North.” “He goes to the North.”]

Voice [as a verb]. Say: “He expressed—or gave expression to—the sentiments of his followers;” not, “He voiced,” &c.

Yours, ours, mine, &c., [for your, our, my, &c., letter]. Say: “I have received your letter of yesterday;” not, “I have received yours of yesterday.”