The Verbalist Part 5

DISTINGUISH. This verb is sometimes improperly used for _discriminate_.

We _distinguish_ by means of the senses as well as of the understanding; we _discriminate_ by means of the understanding only. "It is difficult, in some cases, to _distinguish between_," etc.: should be, "It is difficult, in some cases, to _discriminate between_," etc. We _distinguish_ one thing _from another_, and _discriminate between_ two or more things.

DOCK--WHARF. The first of these words is often improperly used for the second. Of docks there are several kinds: a _naval dock_ is a place for the keeping of naval stores, timber, and materials for ship-building; a _dry dock_ is a place where vessels are drawn out of the water for repairs; a _wet dock_ is a place where vessels are kept afloat at a certain level while they are loaded and unloaded; a _sectional dock_ is a contrivance for raising vessels out of the water on a series of air-tight boxes. A _dock_, then, is a place into which things are received; hence, a man might fall _into_ a dock, but could no more fall _off_ a dock than he could fall off a hole. A _wharf_ is a sort of quay built by the side of the water. A similar structure built at a right angle with the sh.o.r.e is generally called a _pier_. Vessels lie at _wharves_ and _piers_, not at _docks_.

DONATE. This word, which is defined as meaning to give, to contribute, is looked upon by most champions of good English as being an abomination. _Donation_ is also little used by careful writers.

"_Donate_," says Mr. Gould, "may be dismissed with this remark: so long as its place is occupied by _give_, _bestow_, _grant_, _present_, etc., it is not needed; and it should be unceremoniously bowed out, or thrust out, of the seat into which it has, temporarily, intruded."

DONE. This past participle is often very inelegantly, if not improperly, used thus: "He did not cry out as some have _done_ against it," which should read, "He did not cry out as some have against it"; i. e., "as some _have cried out_ against it."

"Done is frequently a very great offender against grammar," says Cobbett. "_To do_ is the _act of doing_. We see people write, 'I _did_ not speak yesterday so well as I wished to have _done_.' Now, what is meant by the writer? He means to say that he _did_ not speak so well as he then _wished_, or was wishing, _to speak_. Therefore, the sentence should be, 'I did not speak yesterday so well as I wished _to do_.' That is to say, 'so well as I wished to do it'; that is to say, to do or to perform _the act of speaking_.

"Take great care not to be too free in your use of the verb _to do_ in any of its times or modes. It is a nice little handy word, and, like our oppressed _it_, it is made use of very often when the writer is at a _loss_ for what to put down. _To do_ is to _act_, and therefore it never can, in any of its parts, supply the place of a _neuter_ verb. 'How do you do?' Here _do_ refers to the _state_, and is essentially pa.s.sive or neuter. Yet, to employ it for this purpose is very common. Dr. Blair, in his 23d Lecture, says: 'It is somewhat unfortunate that this Number of the "Spectator" did not _end_, as it might have _done_, with the former beautiful period.' That is to say, _done it_. And then we ask, Done what? Not the _act of ending_, because in this case there is _no action_ at all. The verb means _to come to an end_, _to cease_, _not to go any further_. This same verb _to end_ is sometimes an active verb: 'I _end_ my sentence'; _then_ the verb _to do_ may supply its place; as, 'I have not ended my sentence so well as I might have _done_'; that is, done _it_; that is, done, or performed, the _act of ending_. But the Number of the 'Spectator' was no _actor_; it was expected to _perform_ nothing; it was, by the Doctor, wished to have _ceased_ to proceed. 'Did not _end_ as it very well might have ended....' This would have been correct; but the Doctor wished to avoid the _repet.i.tion_, and thus he fell into bad grammar. 'Mr. Speaker, I do not _feel_ so well satisfied as I should have _done_ if the Right Honorable Gentleman had explained the matter more fully.' To _feel_ satisfied is--when the satisfaction is to arise from conviction produced by fact or reasoning--a senseless expression; and to supply its place, when it is, as in this case, a neuter verb, by _to do_, is as senseless. Done _what_? Done _the act of feeling_! 'I do not _feel_ so well satisfied as I should have _done_, or _executed_, or _performed_ the _act of feeling_'! What incomprehensible words!"

DON'T. Everybody knows that _don't_ is a contraction of _do not_, and that _doesn't_ is a contraction of _does not_; and yet _nearly_ everybody is guilty of using _don't_ when he should use _doesn't_. "So you _don't_ go; John _doesn't_ either, I hear."

DOUBLE GENITIVE. An anecdote of Mr. Lincoln--an anecdote of Mr.

Lincoln's. We see at a glance that these two phrases are very different in meaning. So, also, a portrait of Brown--a portrait of Brown's. No precise rule has ever been given to guide us in our choice between these two forms of the possessive case. Sometimes it is not material which form is employed; where, however, it is material--and it generally is--we must consider the thought we wish to express, and rely on our discrimination.

DRAMATIZE. See ADAPT.

DRAWING-ROOM. See PARLOR.

DRESS--GOWN. Within the memory of many persons the outer garment worn by women was properly called a _gown_ by everybody, instead of being improperly called a _dress_, as it now is by nearly everybody.

DRIVE. See RIDE.

DUE--OWING. These two words, though close synonyms, should not be used indiscriminately. The mistake usually made is in using _due_ instead of _owing_. That is _due_ which ought to be paid as a debt; that is _owing_ which is to be referred to as a source. "It was _owing_ to his exertions that the scheme succeeded." "It was _owing_ to your negligence that the accident happened." "A certain respect is _due_ to men's prejudices."

"This was _owing_ to an indifference to the pleasures of life." "It is _due_ to the public that I should tell all I know of the matter."

EACH OTHER. "Their great authors address themselves, not to their country, but to _each other_."--Buckle. _Each other_ is properly applied to two only; _one another_ must be used when the number considered exceeds two. Buckle should have written _one another_ and not _each other_, unless he meant to intimate that the Germans had only two great authors, which is not probable.

EAT. Grammarians differ very widely with regard to the conjugation of this verb; there is no doubt, however, that from every point of view the preferable forms for the preterite and past participle are respectively _ate_ and _eaten_. To refined ears the other forms smack of vulgarity, although supported by good authority. "I _ate_ an apple." "I have _eaten_ dinner." "John _ate_ supper with me." "As soon as you have _eaten_ breakfast we will set out."

EDITORIAL. The use of this adjective as a substantive is said to be an Americanism.

EDUCATION. This is one of the most misused of words. A man may be well acquainted with the contents of text-books, and yet be a person of little _education_; on the other hand, a man may be a person of good education, and yet know little of the contents of text-books. Abraham Lincoln and Edwin Forrest knew comparatively little of what is generally learned in schools; still they were men of culture, men of _education_.

A man may have ever so much book-knowledge and still be a boor; but a man can not be a person of good education and not be--so far as manner is concerned--a gentleman. _Education_, then, is a whole of which Instruction and Breeding are the parts. The man or the woman--even in this democratic country of ours--who _deserves_ the t.i.tle of gentleman or lady is always a person of education; i. e., he or she has a sufficient acquaintance with books and with the usages of social intercourse to acquit himself or herself creditably in the society of cultivated people. Not moral worth, nor learning, nor wealth, nor all three combined, can unaided make a gentleman, for with all three a man might be _uneducated_--i. e., coa.r.s.e, unbred, unschooled in those things which alone make men welcome in the society of the refined.

EFFECTUATE. This word, together with _ratiocinate_ and _eventuate_, is said to be a great favorite with the rural members of the Arkansas legislature.

EFFLUVIUM. The plural of this word is _effluvia_. It is a common error with those who have no knowledge of Latin to speak of "a disagreeable effluvia," which is as incorrect as it would be to talk about "a disagreeable vapors."

EFFORT WITHOUT EFFECT. "Some writers deal in expletives to a degree that tires the ear and offends the understanding. With them everything is _excessively_, or _immensely_, or _extremely_, or _vastly_, or _surprisingly_, or _wonderfully_, or _abundantly_, or the like. The notion of such writers is that these words give _strength_ to what they are saying. This is a great error. Strength must be found in the _thought_, or it will never be found in the _words_. Big-sounding words, without thoughts corresponding, are effort without effect."--William Cobbett. See FORCIBLE-FEEBLE.

EGOIST. "One of a cla.s.s of philosophers who professed to be sure of nothing but their own existence."--Reid.

EGOTIST. "One who talks much of himself."

"A tribe of _egotists_ for whom I have always had a mortal aversion."--"Spectator."

EITHER. This word means, strictly, the _one_ or the _other_ of two.

Unlike _both_, which means two taken collectively, _either_, like _each_, may mean _two considered separately_; but in this sense _each_ is the better word to use. "Give me _either_ of them" means, Give me the one or the other of two. "He has a farm on _either_ side of the river"

would mean that he has two farms, one on each (or either) side of the river. "He has a farm on _both_ sides of the river" would mean that his farm lies partly on the one side of the river and partly on the other.

The use of _either_ in the sense of _each_, though biblical and defensible, may be accounted little if any better than an affectation.

_Neither_ is the negative of _either_. _Either_ is responded to by _or_, _neither_ by _nor_; as, "_either_ this _or_ that," "_neither_ this _nor_ that." _Either_ and _neither_ should not--strictly--be used in relation to more than two objects. But, though both _either_ and _neither_ are strictly applicable to two only, they have been for a very long time used in relation to more than two by many good writers; and, as it is often convenient so to use them, it seems probable that the custom will prevail. When more than two things are referred to, _any_ and _none_ should be used instead of _either_ and _neither_; as, "_any_ of the three," not, "_either_ of the three"; "_none_ of the four," not, "_neither_ of the four."

EITHER ALTERNATIVE. The word _alternative_ means a choice offered between two things. An _alternative writ_, for example, offers the _alternative_ of choosing between the doing of a specified act or of showing cause why it is not done. Such propositions, therefore, as, "You are at liberty to choose _either_ alternative," "_Two_ alternatives are presented to me," "_Several_ alternatives presented themselves," and the like, are not correct English. The word is correctly used thus: "I am confronted with a hard _alternative_: I must either denounce a friend or betray my trust." We rarely hear the word _alternate_ or any of its derivatives correctly p.r.o.nounced.

ELDER. See OLDER.

ELEGANT. Professor Proctor says: "If you say to an American, 'This is a fine morning,' he is likely to reply, 'It is an _elegant_ morning,' or perhaps oftener by using simply the word _elegant_. This is not a pleasing use of the word." This is not American English, Professor, but popinjay English.

ELLIPSIS. The omission of a word or of words necessary to complete the grammatical construction, but not necessary to make the meaning clear, is called an _ellipsis_. We almost always, whether in speaking or in writing, leave out some of the words necessary to the _full_ expression of our meaning. For example, in dating a letter to-day, we should write, "New York, August 25, 1881," which would be, if fully written out, "I am now writing in the city of New York; this is the twenty-fifth day of August, and this month is in the one thousand eight hundred and eighty-first year of the Christian era." "I am going to Wallack's"

means, "I am going to Wallack's _theatre_." "I shall spend the summer at my aunt's"; i. e., at my aunt's _house_.

By supplying the _ellipses_ we can often discover the errors in a sentence, if there are any.

ENJOY BAD HEALTH. As no one has ever been known to _enjoy_ bad health, it is better to employ some other form of expression than this. Say, for example, he is in _feeble_, or _delicate_, health.

ENTHUSE. This is a word that is occasionally heard in conversation, and is sometimes met with in print; but it has not as yet made its appearance in the dictionaries. What its ultimate fate will be, of course, no one can tell; for the present, however, it is studiously shunned by those who are at all careful in the selection of their language. It is said to be most used in the South. The writer has never seen it anywhere in the North but in the columns of the "Boston Congregationalist."

EPIGRAM. "The word _epigram_ signified originally an inscription on a monument. It next came to mean a short poem containing some single thought pointedly expressed, the subjects being very various--amatory, convivial, moral, eulogistic, satirical, humorous, etc. Of the various devices for brevity and point employed in such compositions, especially in modern times, the most frequent is a play upon words.... In the _epigram_ the mind is roused by a conflict or contradiction between the form of the language and the meaning really conveyed."--Bain.

Some examples are:

"When you have nothing to say, say it."

"We can not see the wood for the trees"; that is, we can not get a general view because we are so engrossed with the details.

"Verbosity is cured by a large vocabulary"; that is, he who commands a large vocabulary is able to select words that will give his meaning tersely.

"By indignities men come to dignities."

"Some people are too foolish to commit follies."

"He went to his imagination for his facts, and to his memory for his tropes."

EPITHET. Many persons use this word who are in error with regard to its meaning; they think that to "apply epithets" to a person is to vilify and insult him. Not at all. An _epithet_ is a word that expresses a quality, good or bad; a term that expresses an attribute. "All _adjectives_ are _epithets_, but all _epithets_ are not _adjectives_,"

says Crabb; "thus, in Virgil's Pater aeneas, the _pater_ is an _epithet_, but not an _adjective_." _Epithet_ is the technical term of the rhetorician; _adjective_, that of the grammarian.

EQUALLY AS WELL. A redundant form of expression, as any one will see who for a moment considers it. _As well_, or _equally well_, expresses quite as much as _equally as well_.

EQUANIMITY OF MIND. This phrase is tautological, and expresses no more than does _equanimity_ (literally, "equalmindedness") alone; hence, _of mind_ is superfluous, and consequently inelegant. _Anxiety of mind_ is a scarcely less redundant form of expression. _A capricious mind_ is in the same category.

ERRATUM. Plural, _errata_.

ESQUIRE. An esquire was originally the shield-bearer of a knight. It is much, and, in the opinion of some, rather absurdly, used in this country. Mr. Richard Grant White says on the subject of its use: "I have yet to discover what a man means when he addresses a letter to John Dash, _Esqr._" He means no more nor less than when he writes _Mr._ (master). The use of _Esq._ is quite as prevalent in England as in America, and has little more meaning there than here. It simply belongs to our stock of courteous epithets.

EUPHEMISM. A description which describes in inoffensive language that which is of itself offensive, or a figure which uses agreeable phraseology when the literal would be offensive, is called a _euphemism_.