Let it alone and let me be are preferable to leave it alone and leave me be.

A 1

“I have just read an A 1 article on the currency, question in the last issue of the North American Review!” This is an expression from the vocabulary of business converted into the slang of the street.
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Luck

Luck, like behavior, may be either good or bad.  “The carpenter has met with luck; he fell and broke his leg.”  “The manager has met with luck; his salary has been doubled.”  The adjective lucky and the adverb luckily are used only in a favorable sense.

Make way with

This expression is often incorrectly used for make away with; as, “The Judge gave the boot-blacks a Christmas dinner, and the begrimed urchins quickly made way with the turkey and cranberry sauce.”  Say “made away with,” etc.

To make way is to make room, to provide a way, to dispatch.

In our midst

“The doctor settled in our midst.”  Say “among us,” or “in our neighborhood.”

Indorse, Endorse

From the Latin dorsum, the back, these words have come to mean the writing of one’s name across the back of a check or draft or other commercial paper to signify its transfer to another or to secure its payment.  To indorse a man’s arguments or opinions is an incorrect use of the word.

While both forms of spelling the word are in good usage, indorse seems to be coming into more general favor.
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85

In, Into

In is often incorrectly used for into; as, “He hurried up the street and rushed in the store.”  We walk in a room when the walking is wholly within the apartment; we walk into a room when we enter it from some other room or from the outside.

Just going to

“I was just going to write you a letter.”  Say “I was just about to write you a letter.”

Kind of

“James swallowed the dose, and now feels kind of sick.”  Use slightly or somewhat, or some other modifier, instead of kind of.

Knowing

Do not use knowing for skilful or intelligent.  “He is a knowing artist.”  “See him prick up his ears; he is a knowing cur.”

Clever, Smart

In England the word clever is applied to one who is bright, intelligent, ready, apt; in the United States it is often misapplied to one who is good-natured, kind, or accommodating.

“Do you believe in corporal punishment for stupid school-children?”

“Yes; a spanking always makes them smart.”
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86

To express cleverness, brightness, intelligence, aptness, the adjectives clever, bright, intelligent, apt, are better than the word smart.

Posted, Informed