11. ABSURDITIES AND IMPROPRIETIES.—"I can learn him many things."
It ought to be, "I can teach him." To learn, is to acquire or receive information; to teach, means to communicate it.
"I don't think it is so." You do think, that it is not so.
Ever, always. "I have ever been of this mind." I have always been. Ever and always are not synonymous. Ever refers to one indefinite period of time; as, "If he ever become rich:" always means at all times.
Excuse, pardon. The former signifies to release from an obligation which refers to the future; the latter, to forgive a neglect or crime that is past. "Excuse me for neglecting to call yesterday:" pardon me.
Remember, recollect. We remember a thing which we retain in our mind; we recollect it, when, though having gone from the mind, we have power to call it back.
Defect, deficiency. A thing which is incomplete in any of its parts, is defective; a total absence of the thing, is a deficiency.
This subject will be resumed in the appendix to this work.