Verbs
Accept, except.
1. All Cretans are liars, runs the proverb: the proverb excepts none.
2. He accepted the invitation.
Both words have the idea of take. How is this true of except?
Affect, effect.
1. Even the rumor affected his belief, changing it slightly.
2. He effected a junction with the other army.
Which of these words could properly govern reconciliation? mind? health? release? conduct after release? destruction? conscience? peace of mind? Which one of the two words requires for an object a noun expressing an action?
Aggravate, irritate, tantalize.
1. Tantalus was tantalized by the sight of inaccessible fruit.
2. He aggravates the difficulty by trying to excuse his act.
3. He is aggravating his cold by going out.
4. He irritates me by his teasing.
5. The gravity of our case is but aggravated by delay.
Allude, mention.
1. Nobody would allude to an experience so unpleasant to all that party.
2. He alluded to Washington as the Father of his Country.
3. He mentioned several ways of accomplishing the work; then he went back to his duties, not alluding to the subject again.
Can a person allude to a thing without assuming knowledge of it on the part of an audience? Can a thing be alluded to for the first time? if so, would it be the first time it was spoken of? Make allusions to several great men without mentioning their names.
Antagonize, alienate.
1. By antagonizing the views of his friends, he alienated their sympathies from him.
2. He alienated his friends by antagonizing them.
Begin, commence.
These words are often interchangeable, but commence is the more formal. Begin is the better word ordinarily.
Bring, fetch.
1. Come here and bring the book.
2. Go and fetch the book.
Define these two words. What is their common idea?
Claim, assert, etc.
1. Claim means to assert a right to a thing as one’s own. It means neither to say, to assert, to declare, to maintain, to hold, to allege, nor to contend.
2. He claims the right to be heard.
3. He maintains that he ought to be heard.
4. He asserts that such is the fact.
Note.—It is better not to use claim with the conjunction that.
Degrade, demean, debase.
1. Being in disgrace, the captain was degraded from his rank.
2. He demeans himself sometimes well, sometimes ill.
3. He debases [or degrades] himself by his profanity.
Give a synonym for demean.
Drive, ride.
In England one rides only when one is on horseback; one is said to drive if in a carriage. In America one drives when one holds the reins; but we go driving even when the coachman drives. There is also excellent authority for take a ride, and go riding, when conveyance in a carriage is meant.
Endorse, approve, second.
1. He seconded all his friend’s propositions.
2. He endorsed the check across the top.
3. He approved his colleague’s act.
What is a dorsal fin? What does endorse mean, by etymology?
Got, gotten, have.
1. Got is perhaps preferable to gotten.
2. Don’t say you’ve got a thing when you merely have it, without having secured it.
What idea is common to get and have?
Guess, think, reckon.
1. I think I shall go.
2. He reckoned the cost before he started.
3. I guess there are a hundred.
[The habitual misuse of guess is an American fault.]
Intend, calculate.
1. She received his apologies with a resentment they were likely, but were not intended, to inspire.[31]
2. He aimed at the animal a blow calculated to kill it.
3. I fully intend to go, but cannot calculate how soon.
Let, leave.
1. Let me be! Don’t bother me when I want to study.
2. Let me alone!
3. Leave me alone here.
4. Let go! Unhand me.
Let once meant “to hinder.” Now it means the opposite—“permit.”
Lie, lay.
The chief trouble with the first of these two words seems to concern the past tense: “He laid down on the sofa.”
Locate, settle.
1. He located his house there (not located there).
2. He settled in Chicago.
Loan, lend.
It is not incorrect to use loan in the sense of lend, but lend is the less formal and the preferable word.
May, can.
May it not be said that any person who has not learned the difference between these two words, can hardly be permitted to call himself a user of good English?
It is not hard to see why people confuse these two words. Often the questioner feels that, for all practicable purposes, the refusal of his request will make a barrier over which he cannot go. When he says “Can I go,” he is feeling, “Will you make it possible for me to go? for unless you consent I cannot go—I cannot afford to, or I cannot conscientiously, or I cannot and remain on right terms with you.” Nevertheless, may is the only right word to use in asking permission.
Proved, proven.
1. The point was not proved.
2. Verdict: “Not proven.” Proven is a Scotch legal term, wrongly supposed by some persons to be preferable to proved out of the court-room.
Purpose, propose.
1. One can’t propose unless he proposes something to somebody.
2. One can purpose to do a thing, without proposing it to any one.
How do both these words contain the idea of placing?
Sit, set.
The chief errors in the use of sit and set are two. Some people insist on saying “setting hen” for “sitting hen,” and “the coat sets well” for “sits well.” A few say, “Sit yourself down,” for the somewhat old-fashioned “sit you down” (where the you is nominative) or for “set yourself down.” Similarly this error has been known to occur—“he sat the basket of eggs down.”
Stay, stop.
1. He stopped at Albany; he went no farther.
2. At what hotel are you staying, these days?
Transpire, happen.
A good many things happened that dark night when the boys were out for a lark; but it never transpired what really did happen; nothing leaked out or got to the light.
Spiro means “to breathe.” Trans (across) when in composition means through, out. Is it not clear how the present use of the word comes about? Explain. Compare the words expire, conspire, inspire. How does each get its present meaning?
Wish, want, desire.
1. It is sometimes correct enough to say want in the place of wish.
2. You shall want nothing; all shall be supplied.
3. You shall not want anything you may desire.
Which idea springs out of the other—want from wish, or wish from want?