| Faulty Idioms | Correct Idioms |
|---|---|
| in the city Toledo | in the city of Toledo |
| in the year of 1920 | in the year 1920 |
| I hope you a good time | I wish you a good time |
| the Rev. Hopkins | the Reverend Mr. Hopkins |
| possessed with ability | possessed of ability |
| stay to home | stay at home |
| different than | different from |
| independent from | independent of |
| in search for | in search of |
Observe that many idioms are concerned with prepositions. Make sure that a verb or adjective is accompanied by the right preposition. Study the following list of correct idioms:
- accused of (a theft)
- accused by (a person)
- accord with (a person)
- agree with (a person)
- agree to (a proposal)
- agreeable to
- angry at (things or persons)
- angry with (a person)
- careful about (an affair)
- careful of (one's money)
- comply with
- convenient to (a person)
- convenient for (a purpose)
- correspond to (things)
- correspond with (persons)
- dissent from
- enamored of
- entrust to
- free from
- listen to
- part from (a person)
- part with (a thing)
- pleased with
- resolve on
- sympathize with
- take exception to
[b.] Do not carry the standards of conversation into formal writing. Colloquial usage is more free than literary usage. The colloquial sentence That's the man I talked with becomes in writing That is the man with whom I talked. The colloquial sentence It was a cold day but there wasn't any wind blowing is a loose string of words. Written discourse requires greater tension and more care in subordinating minor ideas: The day, though cold, was still. Contractions are proper in conversation, and in personal or informal writing. In formal writing they are not appropriate. And do not let such expressions as He doesn't, We aren't, It's proved, used in talk by careful speakers, mislead you into expressions like He don't, We ain't, It's proven, which violate even colloquial good use.
Exercise:
- He confessed of his inability to comply to the demand.
- Is he from Irish descent? Is humor characteristic with the Irish?
- She was not to home, but I was reluctant against leaving.
- He dissented to the opinion of the committee's majority, for his ideas were utterly different than theirs.
- He got a few jobs as a carpenter that summer, but they didn't pay him much, and so he went to loafing around, and he's been at it ever since.
[Gross Violations of Good Use: Barbarisms, Improprieties, Slang]
66. Avoid gross violations of good use, particularly (a) barbarisms, (b) improprieties, and (c) slang.
[a.] Barbarisms are distortions of words in good use, or coinages for which there is no need. Examples: to concertize, to burgle or burglarize, to jell, alright, a-plenty, most (for almost), performess, fake, pep, tasty, illy, complected, undoubtably, nowheres, soph, lab, gents.
[b.] Improprieties are words wrenched from one part of speech to another, or made to perform an unnatural service. Examples: to suspicion, to gesture, to suicide, a steal, a try, a go, an invite, the eats, humans, some or real or swell (as adverbs), like (as a conjunction).