overshoes. Compare [RUBBERS].
over with: Avoid as incorrect all such sentences as, “When the game was over with, we enjoyed a cold collation.” Here the word “with” is redundant.
owing. Compare [DUE].
own: Some critics object to the use of this word in the sense of confess, but it is sanctioned by literary usage and dates from the seventeenth century. To own up, or to, in the sense of “to make a full confession” or “to admit unreservedly when challenged” is a colloquialism.
P
pack: A word sometimes misapplied especially in speaking of a number of persons; as, “the whole pack.” It is correctly used when applied to dogs or wolves, hence, from the latter application, also to any band of men leagued together for evil purposes; as, “a pack of thieves”: sometimes, also, correctly styled a gang.
pain. Compare [PANE].
pair: Great care should be exercised in applying modifying adjectives to this word. Thus one may say “a new pair of trousers;” “a new pair of scissors;” but not “a new pair of shoes.” There is a distinction in the use—“a new pair” as applied to gloves or shoes implies exchange of one pair for another; here, “a different pair” would be preferred. In general, say, rather, “a pair of new shoes”; “a pair of new gloves.” This word remains pair in the plural when it is preceded by a number: otherwise it takes the s. “Two pair of gloves,” but “many pairs of trousers.”
pane: Sometimes confused with pain. The first designates “a piece, division or compartment, most commonly a plate of window glass”; the second denotes “a distressing or disagreeable emotion.” The spellings of the two words should never be confused, but occasionally are.