MANY OF THE WORDS and expressions here listed are not so much bad English as bad style, the commonplaces of careless writing. As illustrated under Feature, the proper correction is likely to be not the replacement of one word or set of words by another, but the replacement of vague generality by definite statement.

The shape of our language is not rigid; in questions of usage we have no lawgiver whose word is final. Students whose curiosity is aroused by the interpretations that follow, or whose doubts are raised, will wish to pursue their investigations further. Books useful in such pursuits are: The American College Dictionary, Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary, Webster's New World Dictionary of the American Language, Margaret Nicholson's Dictionary of American-English Usage.

Aforesaid. Useful in legal phrasing, damaging in standard. prose. Write named above, or mentioned earlier.

All right. Idiomatic in familiar speech as a detached phrase in the sense, "Agreed," or "Go ahead," or "O.K."

Always written as two words; there is no such word as. alright.

Allude. Do not confuse with elude. You allude to a book; you elude a pursuer. Note, too, that allude is not synonymous with refer. An allusion is an indirect mention, a reference is a specific one.

Allusion. Easily confused with illusion. The first means "an indirect reference;" the second means "an unreal image" or "a false impression."

And/or. A device borrowed from legal writing. It destroys the flow and goodness of a sentence. Useful only to those who need to write diagrammatically or enjoy writing in riddles.

Anybody. In the sense of any person not to be written as two words. "Any body" means any corpse, or any human form, or any group. The rule holds equally for everybody, nobody, and somebody.

Anyone. In the sense of anybody best written as one word. "Any one" might mean any single person or any single thing.

The too frequent use of but as a conjunction leads to the fault discussed under Rule 14. A loose sentence formed with but can always be converted into a periodic sentence formed with although, as illustrated under Rule 4.

Can. Means am (is, are) able. Not to be used as a substitute for may.

Cadt hardly. An unintentional double negative. The correct phrase is can hardly, or can scarcely.

Certainly. Used indiscriminately by some writers, much as others use very, in an attempt to intensify any and every statement. A mannerism of this kind, bad in speech, is even worse in writing.

Claim, vb. With object-noun, means lay claim to. May be used with a dependent clause if this sense is clearly involved: "He claimed that he was the sole surviving heir." (But even here, "claimed to be" would be better.) Not to be used as a substitute for declare, maintain, or charge.

Clever. This word has been greatly overworked; it is best restricted to ingenuity displayed in small matters. Note also that the word means one thing when applied to men, another when applied to horses. A clever horse is a goodnatured one, not an ingenious one.

Compare. To compare to is to point out or imply resemblances, between objects regarded as essentially of different order; to compare with is mainly to point out differences, between objects regarded as essentially of the same order. Thus, life has been compared to a pilgrimage, to a drama, to a battle; Congress may be compared with the British Parliament. Paris has been compared to ancient Athens; it may be compared with modem London.

Comprise. Literally, embrace. A zoo comprises mammals, reptiles, and birds (because it embraces, or includes, them). But animals do not comprise (embrace) a zoo -- they constitute a zoo.

Consider. Not followed by as when it means "believe to be." "I consider him thoroughly competent." Compare, "The lecturer considered Cromwell first as soldier and second as administrator." Here, "considered" means "examined" or "discussed."

Contact. As a transitive verb, the word is vague and selfimportant. Do not contact anybody; get in touch with him, or look him up, or phone him, or find him, or meet him.

Data. A plural, like phenomena and strata.

Different than. Here logic supports established usage: one thing differs from another, hence, different from. Or, other than, unlike.

Disinterested. Avoid in the sense of uninterested. Today. chiefly used to mean impartial.

Divided into. Not to be misused for composed of. The line is sometimes difficult to draw; doubtless plays are divided into acts, but poems are composed of stanzas. An apple, halved, is divided into sections; but an apple is composed of seeds, flesh, and skin.

Don't. Contraction of do not. The contraction of does not. is doesn't.

Due to. Loosely used for through, because of, or owing. to, in adverbial phrases.

In correct use related as predicate or as modifier to a particular noun: "This invention is due to Edison;" "losses due to preventable fires."

Effect. As noun, means result; as verb, means to bring about, accomplish (not to be confused with affect, which means "to influence").

As noun, often loosely used in perfunctory writing about fashions, music, painting, and other arts: "an Oriental effect"; ideffects in pale green"; "very delicate effects"; "subtle effects"; "a charming effect was produced by." The writer who has a definite meaning to express will not take refuge in such vagueness.

Enormity. Use only in the sense monstrous wickedness. Misleading, if not wrong, when used to express bigness.

Enthuse. A colloquial verb, unacceptable in formal writing.

Etc. Literally, and other things; sometimes loosely used to. mean, and other persons. The phrase is equivalent to andthe rest, and so forth, and hence is not to be used if one of these would be insufficient, that is, if the reader would be left in doubt as to any important particulars. Least open to objection when it represent the last terms of a list already given almost in full, or immaterial words at the end of a quotation.

At the end of a list introduced by such as, for example, or. any similar expression, etc. is incorrect.

Fact. Use this word only of matters of a kind capable of direct verification, not of matters of judgment. That a particular event happened on a given date, that lead melts at a certain temperature, are facts. But such conclusions as that Napoleon was the greatest of modern generals, or that the climate of California is delightful, however incontestable they may be, are not properly called facts.

Farther, further. The two words are commonly interchanged, but there is a distinction worth observing: farther serves best as a distance word, further as a time or quantity word. You chase a ball farther than the other fellow; you pursue a subject further.

As a verb, in the sense of offer as a special attraction, to be avoided.

Fix. Colloquial in America for arrange, prepare, mend. The usage is well established. But bear in mind that this verb is from figere: to make firm, to place deflnitely. These are the preferred meanings of the word.  

When however comes first, it means in whatever way or to whatever extent.

However you advise him, he will probably do as he thinks best. However discouraging the prospect, he never lost heart.

Illusion. See allusion.

Imply. Infer. Not interchangeable.

Farming implies early rising. Since he was a farmer, we inferred that he got up early.

Inside of, inside. The of following inside is correct in the adverbial meaning in less than. In other meanings of is unnecessary.

Inside of five minutes I'll be inside the bank.

In the last analysis. A bankrupt expression.

Irregardless. Should be regardless. The error results from failure to see the negative in -less, and from a desire to get it in as a prefix, suggested by such words as irregular, irresponsible, and, perhaps especially, irrespective. Kind of. Except in familiar style not to be used as a substitute for rather or something like. Restrict it to its literal sense: "Amber is a kind of fossil resin"; "I dislike that kind of notoriety." The same holds true of sort of.

Lay. Except in slang ("Let it lay"), do not misuse for lie. The hen, or the play, lays an egg; the llama lies down. The playwright went home and lay down.

Lies; lay; lain; lying Lay; laid; laid; laying

Less refers to quantity, fewer to number. "His troubles are less than mine" means "His troubles are not so great as mine." "His troubles are fewer than mine" means "His troubles are not so numerous as mine."

The use of like for as has its defenders; they argue that any usage that achieves currency becomes valid automatically. This, they say, is the way the language is formed. It is and it isn't. An expression sometimes merely enjoys a vogue, much as an article of apparel does. Like has always been widely misused by the illiterate; lately it has been taken up by the knowing and the well-informed, who find it catchy, or liberating, and who use it as though they were slumming. If every word or device that achieved currency were immediately authenticated, simply on the grounds of popularity, the language would be as cliaotic as a ball game with no foul lines. For the student, perhaps the most useful thing to know about like is that most carefully edited publications regard its use, before phrases and clauses, as simple error.

Often vaguely used in such expressions as "a lover of nature"; "poems about nature." Unless more specific statements follow, the reader cannot tell whether the poems have to do with natural scenery, rural life, the sunset, the untracked wilderness, or the habits of squirrels.

One of the most. Avoid this feeble formula. "One of the most interesting developments of modem science is, etc"; "Switzerland is one of the most interesting countries of Europe." There is nothing wrong in this; it is simply threadbare.

In the left-hand column, asking and accepting are present participles; in the right-hand column, they are verbal nouns (gerunds). The construction shown in the left-hand column is occasionally found, and has its defenders. Yet it is easy to see that the second sentence has to do not with a prospect of the Senate, but with a prospect of accepting. In this example, at least, the construction of plainly illogical.

People. A word with many meanings (Webster gives nine). The people is a political term, not to be confused with the public. From the people comes political support or opposition; from the public comes artistic appreciation or commercial patronage.

The word people is best not used with words of number, in place of persons. If of "six people" five went away, how many "people" would be left? Answer: one people.

Shall, will. In formal writing, the future tense requires shall for the first person, will for the second and third. The formula to express the speaker's belief regarding his future action or state is I shall; I will expresses his determination or his consent. A swimmer in distress cries, "I shall drown; no one will save me!" A suicide puts it the other way, "I will drown; no one shall save me!" In relaxed speech, however, the words shall and will are seldom used precisely -- our ear guides us, or fails to guide us, as the case may be, and we are quite likely to drown when we want to survive, and survive when we want to drown.

Should. See under Would.

So. Avoid, in writing, the use of so as an intensifier: "so good"; "so warm;"; "so delightful."

Sort of. See under Kind of.

For another side to the split infinitive, see under Chapter V, Reminder 14.

State. Not to be used as a mere substitute for say, remark. Restrict it to the sense of express fully or clearly, as, "He refused to state his objections."

Thanking you in advance. This sounds as if the writer meant, "It will not be worth my while to write to you again." In making your request, write, "Will you please," or "I shall be obliged." Then later, if you feel moved to do so, or if the circumstances call for it, write a letter of acknowledgment.

That, which. That is the defining or restrictive pronoun, which the non-defining or non-restrictive. See under Rule 3.

The lawn mower that is broken is in the garage. (Tells which. one.)

The lawn mower, which is broken, is in the garage. (Adds a fact about the only mower in question.)

The use of which for that is common in written and spoken language ("Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass.") Occasionally which seems preferable to that, as in the sentence from the Bible. But it would be a convenience to all if these two pronouns were used with precision. The careful writer, watchful for small conveniences, goes which-hunting, removes the defining whiches, and by so doing improves his work.

The foreseeable future. A cliché and a fuzzy one. How much of the future is foreseeable? Ten minutes? Ten years? Any of it? By whom is it foreseeable? Seers? Experts? Everybody?

Similar to this, but with even less justification, is the use of the plural pronoun with the antecedent anybody, any one, somebody, some one, the intention being either to avoid the awkward "he or she," or to avoid committing oneself to either. Some bashful speakers even say, "A friend of mine told me that they, etc."

Use he with all such words, unless the antecedent is or must be feminine.

Tortuous, torturous. A winding road is tortuous, a painful ordeal is torturous. Both words carry the idea of "twist," the twist having been a form of torture.

Transpire. Not to be used in the sense of happen, come to pass. Many writers so use it (usually when groping toward imagined elegance), but their usage finds little support in the Latin "breathe across or through." Correct, however, in the sense of become known. "Eventually, the grim account of his villainy transpired." (Literally, leaked through or out.)

Very. Use this word sparingly. Where emphasis is necessary, use words strong in themselves.

Its use as a virtual equivalent of although is allowable in sentences where this leads to no ambiguity or absurdity.

While I admire his energy, I wish it were employed in a better cause.

This is entirely correct, as shown by the paraphrase, I admire his energy; at the same time I wish it were employed in a better cause.

The paraphrase,

The temperature reaches go or 95 degrees in the daytime; at the same time the nights are often chilly, shows why the use of while is incorrect.

In general, the writer will do well to use While only with strict literalness, in the sense of during the time that.

Whom. Often incorrectly used for who before he said or similar expressions, when it is really the subject of a following verb.

-wise. Not to be used indiscriminately as a pseudosuffix: taxwise, pricewise, vwrriagewise, prosewise, saltwater taffywise. Chiefly useful when it means in the manner of: clockwise. There is not a noun in the langLiage to which -wise cannot be added if the spirit moves one to do so. The sober writer will abstain from the use of this wild syllable.

Would. A conditional statement in the first person requires should, not would.

I should not have succeeded without his help.

The equivalent of shall in indirect quotation after a verb. in the past tense is should, not would.

He predicted that before long we should have a great surprise.

In narrative writing, always indicate the transition from the general to the particular, that is, from sentences that merely state a general habit to those that express the action of a specific day or period. Failure to indicate the change will cause confusion.

Townsend would get up early and prepare his own breakfast. If the day was cold, he Med the stove and had a warm fire burning before he left the house. On his way out to the garage, he notrced that there were footprints in the new-fallen snow on the porch.

The reader is lost, having received no signal that Townsend has changed from a mere man of habit to a man who has seen a particular thing on a particular day.