ABBREVIATIONS.—­For the following exercise consult Hill’s Foundations of Rhetoric, pp. 49-50.

EXERCISE XVII.

Which of these words are in good use?—­

Pianist, harpist, poloist, violinist, phiz, ad, co-ed, curios, exam, cab, chum, gent, hack, gym, pants, mob, phone, proxy, photo, prelim, van, prof, varsity.

MISUSED NOUNS.[22]—­Many errors in English consist in using words in senses which are not authorized.  Sometimes the use of a word in a wrong sense makes the speaker’s meaning obscure.  Sometimes it makes him seem ridiculous, as when a person of the writer’s acquaintance told a friend to clean an oil-painting by washing it in “torpid” water.  In every case the misuse of a word leaves an unpleasant impression on the mind of a cultivated person, and, like all bad English, should be avoided as we avoid bad manners.  In the following definitions and exercises a few nouns[23] are selected for study.  The distinctions given are not always observed by reputable authors, but they indicate the tendency of the best modern usage.

I. A RESEMBLANCE IN SENSE MISLEADS.[24]

HOUSE, HOME.—­A house is a building. Home means one’s habitual abode, “the abiding place of the affections.”  It may or may not be in a house, and it may include the surroundings of a house.

PERSON, PARTY.—­A person is an individual, a party is a company of persons, or, in legal usage, a person who is concerned in a contention or agreement.

SERIES, SUCCESSION.—­A series is a succession of similar things mutually related according to some law. Succession is properly used of several things following one after the other; it denotes order of occurrence only, and does not imply any connection.

STATEMENT, ASSERTION.—­A statement is a formal setting forth of fact or opinion; an assertion is simply an affirmation of fact or opinion.

VERDICT, TESTIMONY.—­A verdict is a decision made by a number of men acting as a single body. Testimony is an expression of individual knowledge or belief.

THE WHOLE, ALL.—­The whole is properly used of something which is considered as one thing.  When a number of persons or things are spoken of, the proper word is all.

[22] TO THE TEACHER.—­It may not be desirable to drill pupils on all the words whose meanings are discriminated here and in chapters V. and VI.  In that case it will be easy to select for study those words which the pupils are most likely to misuse.  The words discriminated in this book are for the most part those which are mentioned in the “Foundations of Rhetoric,” and they have been arranged in the same order.  A few other words often misused by my pupils have been added. [23] For misused verbs and adjectives see pages 92 and 119. [24] “Foundations,” pp. 50-53.