Democratic Sentinel, Volume 11, Number 7, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 18 March 1887 — Some Misused Words. [ARTICLE]

Some Misused Words.

Acoratftaes is always singular. Cut bias, and not cut on the bias. Allow should not be used for admit. Come to see me, and not come and see me. Bursted is not elegant and is rarely correct. Almost, with a negative, is ridiculous “Almost nothing,” is absurd. The burden of a song means the refrain or chorus, not its sense or meaning. Bountiful applies to persons, not to things, and has no reference to quantity. Affable only applies when speaking of the manner of superiors to inferiors. “Methinks" is formed by the impersonal verb think, meaning seem, and the dative me; and is literally rendered, “it seems to me.” Admire should not be followed with the infinitive. Never say, as many do, “I should admire to go with you, etc. This error is singularly fashionable just now. Allude is now frequently misused when a thing is named, spoken of or described. It should only be used when anything is hinted at in a playful or passing manner. “Allusion is "the by-play of language.”— Tweed's Ntw Grammar. The Scotch and the Welsh princes did homage to the English kings again and again, as when Edgar the Peaceable was rowed on the Biver Dee by eight tributary kings, and again when Macbeth and the other Scotchmen did homage to Canute. The singing and dancing girls of ancient Borne wore the Coan robe, a garment of the finest texture, and almost transparent, so that the forms of the wearers were readily apparent through the drapery, which only partially concealed them.