Write It Right Part 5

_Mad_ for _Angry_. An Americanism of lessening prevalence. It is probable that anger is a kind of madness (insanity), but that is not what the misusers of the word mad mean to affirm.

_Maintain_ for _Contend_. "The senator maintained that the tariff was iniquitous." He maintained it only if he proved it.

_Majority_ for _Plurality_. Concerning votes cast in an election, a majority is more than half the total; a plurality is the excess of one candidate's votes over another's. Commonly the votes compared are those for the successful candidate and those for his most nearly successful compet.i.tor.

_Make_ for _Earn_. "He makes fifty dollars a month by manual labor."

_Mansion_ for _Dwelling_, or _House_. Usually mere hyperbole, a lamentable fault of our national literature. Even our presidents, before Roosevelt, called their dwelling the Executive Mansion.

_Masculine_ for _Male_. See _Feminine_.

_Mend_ for _Repair_. "They mended the road." To mend is to repair, but to repair is not always to mend. A stocking is mended, a road repaired.

_Meet_ for _Meeting_. This belongs to the language of sport, which persons of sense do not write--nor read.

_Militate_. "Negligence militates against success." If "militate"

meant anything it would mean fight, but there is no such word.

_Mind_ for _Obey_. This is a reasonless extension of one legitimate meaning of mind, namely, to heed, to give attention.

_Minus_ for _Lacking_, or _Without_. "After the battle he was minus an ear." It is better in serious composition to avoid such alien words as have vernacular equivalents.

_Mistaken_ for _Mistake_. "You are mistaken." For whom? Say, You mistake.

_Monarch_ for _King, Emperor_, or _Sovereign_. Not only hyperbolical, but inaccurate. There is not a monarch in Christendom.

_Moneyed_ for _Wealthy_. "The moneyed men of New York." One might as sensibly say, "The cattled men of Texas," or, "The lobstered men of the fish market."

_Most_ for _Almost_. "The apples are most all gone." "The returning travelers were most home."

_Moved_ for _Removed_. "The family has moved to another house." "The Joneses were moving."

_Mutual_. By this word we express a reciprocal relation. It implies exchange, a giving and taking, not a mere possessing in common. There can be a mutual affection, or a mutual hatred, but not a mutual friend, nor a mutual horse.

_Name_ for _t.i.tle and Name_. "His name was Mr. Smith." Surely no babe was ever christened Mister.

_Necessaries_ for _Means_. "Bread and meat are necessaries of life."

Not so; they are the mere means, for one can, and many do, live comfortably without them. Food and drink are necessaries of life, but particular kinds of food and drink are not.

_Necessities_ for _Necessaries_. "Necessities of life are those things without which we cannot live."

_Nee_. Feminine of _ne_, born. "Mrs. Jones, _nee_ Lucy Smith." She could hardly have been christened before her birth. If you must use the French word say, _nee_ Smith.

_Negotiate_. From the Latin _negotium_. It means, as all know, to fix the terms for a transaction, to bargain. But when we say, "The driver negotiated a difficult turn of the road," or, "The chauffeur negotiated a hill," we speak nonsense.

_Neither--or_ for _Neither--nor_. "Neither a cat or fish has wool."

Always after neither use nor.

_New Beginner_ for _Beginner_.

_Nice_ for _Good_, or _Agreeable_. "A nice girl." Nice means fastidious, delicately discriminative, and the like. Pope uses the word admirably of a dandy who was skilled in the nice conduct [management] of a clouded cane.

_Noise_ for _Sound_. "A noise like a flute"; "a noise of twittering birds," etc. A noise is a loud or disagreeable sound, or combination or succession of sounds.

_None_. Usually, and in most cases, singular; as, None has come. But it is not singular because it always means not one, for frequently it does not, as, The bottle was full of milk, but none is left. When it refers to numbers, not quant.i.ty, popular usage stubbornly insists that it is plural, and at least one respectable authority says that as a singular it is offensive. One is sorry to be offensive to a good man.

_No Use_. "He tried to smile, but it was no use." Say, of no use, or, less colloquially, in vain.

_Novel_ for _Romance_. In a novel there is at least an apparent attention to considerations of probability; it is a narrative of what might occur. Romance flies with a free wing and owns no allegiance to likelihood. Both are fiction, both works of imagination, but should not be confounded. They are as distinct as beast and bird.

_Numerous_ for _Many_. Rightly used, numerous relates to numbers, but does not imply a great number. A correct use is seen in the term numerous verse--verse consisting of poetic numbers; that is, rhythmical feet.

_Obnoxious_ for _Offensive_. Obnoxious means exposed to evil. A soldier in battle is obnoxious to danger.

_Occasion_ for _Induce_, or _Cause_. "His arrival occasioned a great tumult." As a verb, the word is needless and unpleasing.

_Occasional Poems_. These are not, as so many authors and compilers seem to think, poems written at irregular and indefinite intervals, but poems written for _occasions_, such as anniversaries, festivals, celebrations and the like.

_Of Any_ for _Of All_. "The greatest poet of any that we have had."

_Offhanded_ and _Offhandedly_. Offhand is both adjective and adverb; these are b.a.s.t.a.r.d forms.

_On the Street_. A street comprises the roadway and the buildings at each side. Say, in the street. He lives in Broadway.

_One Another_ for _Each Other_. See _Each Other_.

_Only_. "He only had one." Say, He had only one, or, better, one only.

The other sentence might be taken to mean that only he had one; that, indeed, is what it distinctly says. The correct placing of only in a sentence requires attention and skill.

_Opine_ for _Think_. The word is not very respectably connected.

_Opposite_ for _Contrary_. "I hold the opposite opinion." "The opposite practice."

_Or_ for _Nor_. Probably our most nearly universal solecism. "I cannot see the sun or the moon." This means that I am unable to see one of them, though I may see the other. By using nor, I affirm the invisibility of both, which is what I wanted to do. If a man is not white or black he may nevertheless be a Negro or a Caucasian; but if he is not white nor black he belongs to some other race. See _Neither_.

_Ordinarily_ for _Usually_. Clumsy.

_Ovation_. In ancient Rome an ovation was an inferior triumph accorded to victors in minor wars or unimportant battle. Its character and limitations, like those of the triumph, were strictly defined by law and custom. An enthusiastic demonstration in honor of an American civilian is nothing like that, and should not be called by its name.

_Over_ for _About_, _In_, or _Concerning_. "Don't cry over spilt milk." "He rejoiced over his acquittal."

_Over_ for _More than_. "A sum of over ten thousand dollars." "Upward of ten thousand dollars" is equally objectionable.

_Over_ for _On_. "The policeman struck him over the head." If the blow was over the head it did not hit him.

_Over with_. "Let us have it over with." Omit with. A better expression is, Let us get done with it.

_Outside of_. Omit the preposition.