etc. "He had neither time to intercept nor to stop her" (Scott), should be, “He had time neither to intercept," etc. “Some neither can for wits nor critics pass" (Pope), should be, "Some can neither for wits nor critics pass."

Never. Grammarians differ with regard to the correctness of using never in such sentences as, "He is in error, though never so wise"; "charm he never so wisely.” In sentences like these, to say the least, it is better, in common with the great majority of writers, to use ever.

New beginner. All beginners are new, hence to qualify beginner with new is tautological.

News. This word is very often improperly used instead of tidings. The difference between the two words lies therein that to news we may be indifferent, while in tidings we are always interested. News gratifies curiosity; tidings allay anxiety or suspense. News is of public, tidings of individual, interest. What is the news from Washington?" "Have you had any tidings of your brother?"

"His parents received the news [tidings] of his seizure, but beyond that they could learn nothing."

Nice. Archdeacon Hare remarks of the use-or rather misuse of this word: "That stupid vulgarism by which we use the word nice to denote almost every mode of approbation, for almost every variety of quality, and, from sheer poverty of thought, or fear of saying anything definite, wrap up everything indiscriminately in this characterless domino, speaking at the same breath of a nice cheese-cake, a nice tragedy, a nice sermon, a nice day, a nice country, as if a universal deluge of niaiserie-for nice seems originally to have been only niais-had whelmed the whole island." Nice is as good a word as any other in its place, but its place is not everywhere. We talk very properly about a nice distinction, a nice discrimination, a nice calcu

lation, a nice point, and about a person's being nice, and over-nice, and the like; but we certainly should not talk about Othello's being a nice tragedy, about Salvini's being a nice actor, or New York bay's being a nice harbor.*

Nicely. The very quintessence of popinjay vulgarity is reached when nicely is made to do service for well, in this wise: "How do you do?" "Nicely." "How are you?" Nicely."

No. This word of negation is responded to by nor in sentences like this: "Let your meaning be obscure, and no grace of diction nor any music of well-turned sentences will make amends."

"Whether he is there or no." Supply the ellipsis, and we have, "Whether he is there or no there." Clearly, the word to use in sentences like this is not no, but not. And yet our best writers sometimes inadvertently use no with whether. Example: "But perhaps some people are quite indifferent whether or no it is said,” etc.—Richard Grant White. Supply the ellipsis, and we have, “said or no said." In a little book entitled Live and Learn, I find, "No less than fifty persons were there; no fewer," etc. In correcting one mistake, the writer himself makes one. It should be, "Not fewer," etc. If we ask, "There were fifty persons there-were there, or were there not?" the reply clearly would be, "There were not fewer than fifty." "There was по one of them who would not have been proud," etc., should be, "There was not one of them.'

"No is a shortened form of none not one, and there

* The possessive construction here is, in my judgment, not imperatively demanded. There is certainly no lack of authority for putting the three substantives in the accusative. The possessive construction seems to me, however, to be preferable.

fore the indefinite article is pleonastic in 'No stronger and stranger a figure.'"-McCarthy.

None. Commonly treated as a plural: as, "None of them were taller than I." Though none is a contraction of not one, to construe none, in a sentence like this, as a singular, would antagonize prevailing usage. Instead of using none as a singular, it is better to write not one, or no one.

In answer to such a question as, "Did you bring me a letter?" it is quite correct to say, "There was none in your box."

"There is [are] none of us who would relish such treatment."

“All that is being said is said upon [on] the responsibility of the persons who say it; none [not one] of them knows how near the truth he is." Change none to not one,

and the sentence is more emphatic than it would be if knows were changed to know.

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Imagine a land where none is [are] free to write or [to] say anything except what the Government," etc.

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Not. The correlative of not, when it stands in the first member of a sentence, is nor or neither. Not for thy ivory nor thy gold will I unbind thy chain." "I will not do it, neither shall you."

The wrong placing of not often gives rise to an imperfect negation; thus, "John and James were not there," means that John and James were not there in company. It does not exclude the presence of one of them. The negative should precede in this case: "Neither John nor James was there." 'Our company was not present" (as a company, but some of us might have been), should be, "No member of our company was present."

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"I may say, 'What was my astonishment,' and I may say, 'What was not my astonishment,' and I may convey

the same meaning. By the former I mean, 'How great was my astonishment'; by the latter, that no astonishment could be greater than mine was.”—Alford.

Not-but only. "Errors frequently arise in the use of not-but only, to understand which we must attend to the force of the whole expression. He did not pretend to extirpate French music, but only to cultivate and civilize it.' Here the not is obviously misplaced. He pretended, or professed, not to extirpate.'"-Bain.

Nothing like. Often improperly used for not nearly. "She is nothing like as [not nearly so] clever as her sister.” Notorious. Though this word can not be properly used in any but a bad sense, we sometimes see it used instead of noted, which may be used in either a good or a bad sense. Notorious characters are always persons to be shunned, whereas noted characters may or may not be persons to be shunned.

"This is the tax a man must pay for his virtues-they hold up a torch to his vices and render those frailties notorious in him which [that] would pass without observation in another."-Lacon.

Noun Construction. The noun construction is a construction that is well-nigh universally employed, and yet, in strictness, it is commonly-perhaps invariably-ungrammatical. Wordy it certainly always is. By noun construction I would designate that construction that expresses action, doing, without employing a verb in any form soever; as, for example, "It tends to the elimination of the weak and the preservation of the strong."-N. Y. Sun, March 3, 1895.

This sentence is weak-the result of having fifty per cent more syllables than are necessary—and, to my thinking, it is ungrammatical. Its grammar is mended by

changing the nouns elimination and preservation to the verbal nouns eliminating and preserving, and both grammar and rhetoric are mended by employing infinitives, which would give us, “It tends to eliminate the weak and to preserve the strong"-thirteen syllables against twenty-one.

"The determination [determining] of distances with a telemeter," etc.—Standard Dictionary.

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'Education that is not centered on the refinement [refining] and ennoblement [ennobling] of the mind . . is worse than the shadow."-Dawson.

"Chief Byrnes puts at the disposal of Mayor Strong his services for the reformation [reforming] and reorganization [reorganizing] of the police force."-N. Y. Sun.

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'The slowness in the collection [collecting] and circulation [circulating] of news," etc. [better: in collecting and circulating news].

66 'Cleveland must attend to the execution of the income tax."-N. Y. Sun. Execute a tax?! [Attend to the collecting (?)]

"The arrangements for diffusing education and the establishment of newspapers."-N. Y. Sun. Why two forms of expression in the same sentence? Why not "establishing newspapers"?

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In the consideration of [considering] Hamlet's case, nothing should be," etc.-Richard Grant White.

"No department . . . . offered less encouragement to the spirit of monopoly than the production [producing], refinement [refining], and distribution [distributing] of this natural oil."

"It is not by the consolidation or the concentration of powers, but by their distribution, that good government is effected" [It is not by consolidating or concentrating powers, but by distributing them, that, etc.].