separate: One of a class of words which are persistently misspelled. Note that it contains only two “e’s”, one in its first syllable and one in its last; and that “a” forms its second syllable.
serial. Compare [CEREAL].
session. Compare [CESSION].
set, sit: According to strict grammatical rule, sit when referring to posture is always an active intransitive, and set an active transitive. “To sit on eggs” has been characterized as colloquial English, but is sanctioned by the translators of the King James version of the Bible. “As the partridge sitteth on eggs and hatcheth them not” (Jer. xvii. 11). Shakespeare wrote “Birds sit brooding in the snow” (L. L. L. act v. sc. 2). On a poultry-farm the farmhand sets the hen but the hen sits.
settle: Do not speak of settling a bill unless there is some matter in dispute concerning it that requires settlement. Under ordinary circumstances you pay an undisputed account.
severally. See respectively under [RESPECTFULLY].
sewage, sewerage: These words are often confounded. Sewage is the waste matter which is carried off through drains and sewers; sewerage is the system of piping and draining by means of which the sewage is carried off.
shakes, no great: An undesirable colloquialism for “not much good,” “of no great importance.”
shall, will: “Often erroneously interchanged. In general simple futurity is expressed by shall in the first person and will in the second and third, while determination is expressed by will in the first and shall in the second and third. In interrogations in the second and third persons the usage is not so simple, the speaker often putting himself in the place of the one spoken to or spoken of, and using shall or will, as if for the first person.”—Standard Dictionary.
Sheeny: An offensive appellative for a Jew used only by the illiterate and vulgar.