them quite as well as they understand themselves. At their very best they are but incoherent diluters of other men's ideas. They have but one thing to recommend them -honesty. They believe in themselves.

"Whatever is dark is deep. Stir a puddle, and it is as deep as a well."-Swift.

"It is certain that Emerson can not be understood by minds competent to understand anything that is worthy of being considered by intellectual men."-George Ticknor Curtis, N. Y. Sun, August 31, 1890.

Synecdoche. The using of the name of a part for that of the whole, the name of the whole for that of a part, or the using of a definite number for an indefinite, is called, in rhetoric, synecdoche. "The bay was covered with sails"i. e., with ships. The man was old, careworn, and gray' i. e., literally, his hair, not the man, was gray. tenths of every man's happiness depends on the reception he meets with in the world." "6 ters." character is named that suits the occasion.

"Nine

He had seen seventy win'Thus spoke the tempter": here the part of the

"His roof was at the service of the outcast; the unfortunate ever found a welcome at his threshold."

"It is a decree of Providence that man shall earn his bread by the sweat of his brow."

Take. I copy from the London Queen: "The verb to take is open to being considered a vulgar verb when used in reference to dinner, tea, or to refreshments of any kind. 'Will you take' is not considered comme il faut; the verb in favor for the offering of civilities being to have.” According to The Queen, then, we must say, "Will you have some dinner, tea, coffee, wine, fish, beef, salad," etc.

Talented. This word has been much assailed. "I regret to see that vile and barbarous vocable talented stealing

out of the newspapers into the leading reviews and most respectable publications," said Coleridge. "Talented is a mere newspaper and hustings word, invented, I believe, by O'Connell," said Carlyle. "Talented is about as bad as possible. What is it? It looks like a participle. From what verb? Fancy such a verb as 'to talent!"" says Dean Alford.

In reply to these gentlemen, Mr. Fitz-Edward Hall, who knows more about the matter than all of them put together, says that, instead of such formations being new, they have been employed for more than three centuries. From Bishop Bale (1553) he cites mitered, caped, and tippeted; and from Feltham (1628) parted-excellently parted = of good parts; while as words in everyday use he gives booted, spurred, bearded, cultured, horned, etc.

Although talented is used by many of those that write best, and although no valid objection can be urged against its use, it would nevertheless be well to use it less than we do, and to make greater use of the words gifted and clever.

Taste of. The redundant of, often used in this country in connection with the transitive verbs to taste, to smell, and to feel, is a Yankeeism. We taste or smell or feel a thing, not taste of nor smell of nor feel of a thing. The neuter verbs to taste and to smell are often followed by of. "If butter tastes of brass"; "For age but tastes of pleasures."

"You shall stifle in your own report,

And smell of calumny."-Shakespeare.

Tautology. Among the things to be avoided in writing is tautology, which is the repeating of the same thought, whether in the same or in different words.

Tautophony. "A regard for harmony requires us, in the progress of a sentence, to avoid repeating a sound by

employing the same word more than once, or using in contiguous words similar combinations of letters. This fault is known as tautology."-Dr. G. P. Quackenbos, Advanced Course of Composition and Rhetoric, p. 300. Dr. Quackenbos is in error. The repetition of the same sense is tautology, and the repetition of the same sound, or, as Dr. Quackenbos has it," the repeating of a sound by employing the same word more than once, or by using in contiguous words similar combinations of letters," is tautophony.

Dr. Quackenbos is equally wrong with regard to the repeating of words. It is often very much better to repeat a word than to employ a synonym. Example:

"It may be possible with freshly drawn blood to distinguish the blood of healthy persons from that of diseased individuals," etc. If individual were correctly used-which it is not it would still have been far better to repeat person.

Teach. To impart knowledge, to inform, to instruct; as, "Teach me how to do it”; “Teach me to swim"; "He taught me to write." The uncultured often misuse learn for teach. See LEARN.

Tense. The errors made in the use of the tenses are manifold. The one most frequently made by persons of culture-the one that everybody makes, would perhaps be nearer the fact—is that of using the imperfect instead of the perfect tense; thus, “I never saw it played but once say have seen. "He was the largest man I ever saw' say have seen. "I never in my life had such trouble": say have had.

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:

Another frequent error, the making of which is not confined to the unschooled, is that of using two verbs in a past tense when only one should be in that time; thus, “I in

"It was my intention to

tended to have gone": say to go. have come" say to come. "I expected to have found you here" say to find. "I was very desirous to have gone": say to go. "He was better than I expected to have found him": say to find.

“I meant, when first I came, to have bought [buy] all Paris."

"I should have thought it an act of tyranny to have inter fered [interfere] with his opinions."

“It had been my intention to have collected [collect] the remnants of Keats's compositions."-Shelley.

"I intended to have insisted [insist] on this sympathy at greater length."-Ruskin.

"I would [should] have liked to have asked [ask]," etc. "We happened to have been [be] present on the occasion."

'He would have liked to have read [read] it to Isola; it would have been pleasant to have heard [hear] his own voice giving due emphasis to the big words."-Mrs. Linton.

Sometimes the error comes of putting the verb that should be in the infinitive in the perfect tense, instead of the verb on which it depends.

"I should like [should have liked] very much to have seen [see] him.”—Sydney Smith.

"There are many of the remaining portions of these aphorisms on which we should like [should have liked] to have dwelt [dwell]."

"It was my determination to have taken [take] possession of the Trent and sent [send] her to Key West as a prize."

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'They would not have dared to have done [do] it if an English man-o'-war had been in sight."

Here is an example of a locution often met with and yet

indefensible: "Several newspapers have been calling attention to this tomfoolery and suggesting that it is time something was [be, or should be, or better, perhaps, for something to be] done to put a stop to it."

Among other common errors are the following: "I seen him when he done it": say "I saw him when he did it." "I should have went home": say gone. "If he had went" say gone. "I wish you had went": say gone. "He has went out": say gone. "I come to town this morning" say came. "He come to me for advice": say came. "It begun very late": say began. "It had already began": say begun. "The following toasts were drank": say drunk. "His text was that God was love": say is love. Another error is made in such sentences as these: "If I had have known": say had known. had have come as he promised": say had come. “If you had have told me": say had told. See IMPERFECT

TENSE.

Testimony. See EVIDENCE.

"If he

Than. Than and as implying comparison have the same case after as before them. "He owes more than me" read, than I-i. e., more than I owe. "John is not so old as her": read, as she—i. e., as she is. We should say, then, "He is stronger than she"; "She is older than he"; "You are richer than I," etc. But it does not always happen that the nominative case comes after than or as. "I love you more than him," "I give you more than him," "I love you as well as him"; that is to say, "I love you more than I love him,” “I give you more than I give him," "I love you as well as I love him." Take away him and put he in all these cases, and the grammar is just as good, but the meaning is quite different. "I love you as well as him," means that I love you as well as I love him;