Not—but only. "Errors frequently arise in the use of not—but only, to understand which we must attend to the force of the whole expression. 'He did not pretend to extirpate French music, but only to cultivate and civilize it.' Here the not is obviously misplaced. 'He pretended, or professed, not to extirpate.'"—Bain.
Notorious. Though this word can not be properly used in any but a bad sense, we sometimes see it used instead of noted, which may be used in either a good or a bad sense. Notorious characters are always persons to be shunned, whereas noted characters may or may not be persons to be shunned.
"This is the tax a man must pay for his virtues—they hold up a torch to his vices and render those frailties notorious in him which would pass without observation in another."—Lacon.
Novice. See [Amateur].
Number. It is not an uncommon thing for a pronoun in the plural number to be used in connection with an antecedent in the singular. At present, the following notice may be seen in some of our Broadway omnibuses: "Fifty dollars reward for the conviction of any person caught collecting or keeping fares given to them to deposit in the box." Should be, to him. "A person may be very near-sighted if they can not recognize an acquaintance ten feet off." Should be, if he.
The verb to be is often used in the singular instead of in the plural; thus, "There is several reasons why it would be better": say, are. "How many is there?" say, are. "There is four": say, are. "Was there many?" say, were. "No matter how many there was": say, were.
A verb should agree in number with its subject, and not with its predicate. We say, for example, "Death is the wages of sin," and "The wages of sin are death."
"When singular nouns connected by and are preceded by each, every, or no, the verb must be singular." We say, for example, "Each boy and each girl studies." "Every leaf, and every twig, and every drop of water teems with life." "No book and no paper was arranged."
Each being singular, a pronoun or verb to agree with it must also be singular; thus, "Let them depend each on his own exertions"; "Each city has its peculiar privileges"; "Everybody has a right to look after his own interest."
Errors are often the result of not repeating the verb; thus, "Its significance is as varied as the passions": correctly, "as are the passions." "The words are as incapable of analysis as the thing signified": correctly, "as is the thing signified."