Reverend-Honorable. Many persons are in doubt whether they should or should not put the before these adjectives. Emphatically, yes, they should. See Words and Their Uses, by Richard Grant White, for a full discussion of the question; also Good English, by Edward S. Gould.

Rhetoric. The art that has for its object the rendering of language effective is called rhetoric. Without some study of the art of composition no one can expect to write well, or intelligently to judge the literary work of others.

"True ease in writing comes from art, not chance,

As those move easiest who have learned to dance." Ride-Drive. Fashion, both in England and in this country, says that we must always use drive when we speak of going out in a carriage, although ride means, according to all the lexicographers, "To be carried on a horse or other animal, or in any kind of vehicle or carriage."

'The distinction sought to be made between ride and drive, besides being nonsensical, is an aping of an English custom for which we have no taste."-The Examiner.

Right. Singularly enough, this word is made, by some people, to do service for ought, in duty bound, under obligation to; thus, "You had a right to tell me," meaning, "You should have told me." "The Colonists contended that they had no right to pay taxes "meaning, “They were under no obligation to pay taxes "-i. e., that it was unjust to tax them.

The use of right in this sense is offensive to all the

senses.

Rolling. The use of this participial adjective in the sense of undulating is said to be an Americanism.

Whether an Americanism or not, it would seem to be quite unobjectionable.

Rubbers. This word, in common with gums and arctics, is often, in defiance of good taste, used for overshoes.

Rugged. The use of this word in the sense of hardy, robust, is not sanctioned by the best usage; it is an Americanism. Rugged, when properly used, means, rough, uneven, rude, inharmonious. What is rugged has greater irregularities than what is rough.

Run. The imperfect tense of the verb to run is ran, and not run; and the past participle of to run is run.

"Yesterday, as I ran to town, I should have run faster if I had known it was so late."

Sabbath. This term was first used in English for Sunday, or Lord's Day, by the Puritans. Nowadays it is little used in this sense. The word to use is Sunday.

Same. This word, like former and latter and the pronouns, should be used as sparingly as possible. Here is a sentence that it weakens :

"What reformers of this nation want is a chance to appeal from the sovereign people, debauched by the ginmills, to the same [sovereign] people sober."

The diction is greatly improved by repeating the word sovereign.

Sarcasm. Bain says that sarcasm is vituperation softened in the outward expression by the arts and figures of disguise-epigram, innuendo, irony-and embellished with the figures of illustration. Crabb says that sarcasm is the indulgence only of personal resentment, and is never justifiable.

Satire. The holding up to ridicule of the follies and weaknesses of mankind, by way of rebuke, is called satire. Satire is general rather than individual, its object being to

reform abuses. A lampoon, which has been defined as a personal satire, attacks the individual rather than his fault, and is intended to injure rather than to reform.

Said Sheridan: "Satires and lampoons on particular people circulate more by giving copies in confidence to the friends of the parties than by printing them."

Satisfy. This word is often unnecessarily, if not absolutely improperly, used in the sense of convince; thus, "The victim of your wiles is clearly under fourteen years of age, and the Court is satisfied that it was your intention to abandon the child after you had accomplished your purpose."

Saw. The imperfect tense of the verb to see is carelessly used by good writers and speakers when they should use the perfect; thus, “I never saw anything like it before," when the meaning intended is, "I have never [in all my life] seen anything like it before [i. e., until now]." We say properly, "I never saw anything like it when I was in Paris"; but when the period of time referred to extends to the time when the statement is made, it must be have seen. Like mistakes are made in the use of other verbs, but they are hardly as common; yet we often hear such expressions as, "I was never in Philadelphia," "I never went to the theater in my life," instead of have been in Philadelphia, and have gone to the theater. See IMPERFECT TENSE and TENSE.

Scholar-Pupil. "Webster gives as the first meaning of scholar, 'one who attends a school; one who learns of a teacher'; and he further makes the distinction between scholar and pupil as follows: 'A scholar is one who is under instruction; a pupil is one who is under the immediate and personal care of an instructor.' Scholar and pupil, although subject to the distinction thus drawn by Webster,

are nevertheless given by him as synonymous. In general conversation they are almost universally used as interchangeable words.

"It would be a reform in the use of the word if scholar could be limited to learned persons, and pupil limited to youths or others under instruction."-Public Ledger, Philadelphia.

Science. "This word is getting to be woefully misused. The New York School Journal cries out indignantly because The Post of this city has discovered that education is not a science-only an art.' This the Journal calls 'belittling' education. A writer in The Popular Science Monthly (July, 1891) says 'the science of agriculture must always be the mother of its art.' Three books have been published in England recently having respectively the titles, The Art and Science of Brewing, The Science and Art of Butter-making, and Science and Practice of StockExchange Speculation. Then, too, a prize-fighter often is said to have more science' than his opponent. In all these cases 'science' is applied to something that is not a science but an art. According to Webster, science is 'knowledge classified and made available,' and art is 'the application of knowledge or power to practical purposes.' In a word, science is knowing, art is doing. Education is an art, and it is no more belittled by being called an art than sculpture or painting is. It is to the credit of an art to be largely based on science, as education is upon psychology, and modern agriculture upon botany and several others, but confounding the one thing with the other should be avoided."-Our Language.

Score. No painstaking writer ever uses score as it is used in the following sentences: " Miss Sadie Martinot scores a success in the Passport." "Col. Savage, who

wrote My Official Wife, the dramatization of which scored an immediate failure,” etc.—Evening Sun.

"In carrying out this policy they have scored [achieved] several marked successes."-N. Y. Tribune.

Mme. Melba scored a hit [was very successful] at the Worcester musical festival."-Evening Sun.

The man that writes in this way must have a very meager vocabulary.

Section. The use of this word for region, neighborhood, vicinity, part (of the town or country), is said to be a Westernism. A section is a division of the public lands containing six hundred and forty acres.

Seem—Appear. Graham, in his English Synonymes, says of these two words: "What seems is in the mind; what appears is external. Things appear as they present themselves to the eye; they seem as they are represented to the mind. Things appear good or bad as far as we can judge by our senses. Things seem right or wrong as we determine by reflection. Perception and sensation have to do with appearing; reflection and comparison, with seeming. When things are not what they appear, our senses are deceived; when things are not what they seem, our judgment is at fault."

"No man had ever a greater power over himself, or was less the man he seemed to be, which shortly after appeared to everybody, when he cared less to keep on the mask.”—Clarendon. Seldom. The using of this adverb as an adjective is archaic.

‘The seldom [rare or infrequent] use of it.”—Trench. "My Lord Duke's entertainments were both seldom [rare or infrequent] and shabby."-Thackeray.

Seldom or ever. This phrase should be “seldom if ever," or "seldom or never."