meant to say,

"The indebtedness of the English tongue

to the French, the Latin, and the Greek," etc.

"The old and [the] new opinions had their active partisans within the walls of the college."

"This construction," Dr. Hodgson remarks, "is correct according to some grammarians, who hold that, if the noun is in the plural, the article must precede the first adjective only. But their rule takes no account of the ambiguity of such sentences as this: 'They drowned the black and white kittens.' Does this mean 'The kittens that were white with black spots,' or 'the kittens that were white and the kittens that were black'? 'The white and black kittens' in the one case, and the white and the black kittens' in the other, leave no room for ambiguity."

Then. The use of this word as an adjective is condemned in very emphatic terms by some of our grammarians, and yet this use of it has the sanction of such eminent writers as Addison, Johnson, Whately, and Sir J. Hawkins. Johnson says, "In his then situation,” which, if brevity be really the soul of wit, certainly has much more soul in it than "In the situation he then occupied." However, it is doubtful whether then, as an adjective, will ever again find favor with careful writers.

Thence. See WHENCE.

Think for. We not infrequently hear a superfluous for tacked to a sentence; thus, "You will find that he knows more about the affair than you think for."

"These men, if you watch them, you will see have an eye to business in everything, and, content with small profits and quick turns, they make in speculation in the street or in pools more than people think for.”—N. Y. Times.

Those kind. "Those kind of apples are best": read, “That kind of apples is best." It is truly remarkable that many persons who can justly lay claim to the possession of considerable culture use this barbarous combination. It would be just as correct to say, "Those flock of geese," or "Those or these drove of cattle," as to say, "Those or these sort or kind of people."

A plural pronoun and a singular noun do not go well together.

Threadbare quotations. Among the things that are in bad taste in speaking and writing, the use of threadbare quotations and expressions is in the front rank. Some of these usés et cassés old-timers are the following:

"Their name is legion"; "Hosts of friends"; "The upper ten"; "Variety is the spice of life"; "Distance lends enchantment to the view"; "A thing of beauty is a joy for ever"; "The light fantastic toe"; "Own the soft impeachment"; "; "Fair women and brave men"; "Revelry by night"; "A rose by any other name would smell as sweet."

Through. When used in the sense of have finished is an Americanism. The locution "I am through" is seldom heard in Great Britain.

Tidings. See NEWS.

To. We often find to, when the sign of the infinitive, separated by an adverb from the verb to which it belongs. Prof. A. P. Peabody says that no standard English writer makes this mistake, and that, as far as he knows, it occurs frequently with but one respectable American writer.

"To, as the sign of the infinitive," says Godfrey Turner, as in to think, to write, to say, is as much a part or particle of the verb as it would be if placed at the end as an inflection. We should not do amiss, I think, were we to join it

on with a hyphen; thus, to-think, to-write, to-say. There are authors, however, who carelessly or conceitedly break up what is to all intents and purposes one word, by wedging an adverb into its body. The habitual phrasing of such writers is 'to mathematically think,' 'to elegantly write,' 'to cogently say.' Not only adverbs, but whole adverbial phrases, are now thrust between the particle to and the main body of the verb. 'To in a certain measure accept,' is a fine specimen, which I captured a few days ago in the jungle of a leading article."

Careful writers and speakers separate to from the infinitive mood only when they have some special reason for doing so. It is one of the things that every dictionist nowadays seeks to avoid.

"To never more [never more to] engage with so deceptive an adversary."-Phila. Ledger.

"The bill is described as an act to better [better to] protect public morals."

"There is a disposition not to tamely [tamely to] yield." --N. Y. Sun.

"It would puzzle the average lawyer to properly [properly to] determine," etc.-Evening Sun.

Admiral S. will go to Formosa to formally [formally to] annex the island."-N. Y. Sun.

'It is said that China hopes to easily [easily to] procure in France funds to enable her to promptly [promptly to] pay the indemnity."-N. Y. Sun.

It is a rule of grammar that to, the sign of the infinitive mood, should not be used for the infinitive itself; thus, "He has not done it, nor is he likely to." Strictly, "nor is he likely to do it." To observe this rule always would be rather pedantic.

Very often to is misused for at; thus, "I have been to

the theater, to church, to my uncle's, to a concert," and so on. In all these cases the preposition to use is clearly at, and not to. See also AND.

Often used redundantly; as, to?" "Where have you been to?"

"Where are you going

To the fore. An old idiomatic phrase, now freely used again.

Tongue. "Much tongue and much judgment seldom go together."-L'Estrange. See LANGUAGE. See page 324.

Toward. Those that profess to know about such things say that etymology furnishes no pretext for the adding of s to ward in such words as backward, forward, toward, upward, onward, downward, afterward, heavenward, earthward, and the like.

Transferred epithet. This is the shifting of a qualifying word from its proper subject to some allied subject. Examples:

"The little fields made green

By husbandry of many thrifty years.” "He plods his weary way." "Hence to your idle bed!" By this figure the diction is rendered more terse and vigorous; it is much used in verse. For the sake of conciseness, it is used in prose in such phrases as the lunatic asylum, the criminal court, the condemned cell, the blind asylum, the cholera hospital, the foundling asylum, and the like.

"Still in harmonious intercourse they lived

The rural day, and talked the flowing heart." "There be some who [that], with everything to make them happy, plod their discontented and melancholy way through life, less grateful than the dog that licks the hand that feeds it."

Transpire. This is one of the most frequently mis

used words in the language. Its primary meaning is, to evaporate insensibly through the pores, but in this sense it is not used; in this sense we use its twin sister, perspire. Transpire is now properly used in the sense of to escape from secrecy; to become known; to leak out; and improperly used in the sense of to occur; to happen; to come to pass, and to elapse.

The word is correctly used thus: "You will not let a word concerning the matter transpire”; “It transpires [leaks out] that S. & B. control the enterprise"; "Soon after the funeral it transpired [became known] that the dead woman was alive"; "It has transpired [leaked out] that the movement originated with John Blank”; “No report of the proceedings was allowed to transpire”; “It has not yet transpired who the candidate is to be"; "At the examination it transpired that Pook has a wife and four children."

The word is incorrectly used thus:

"The Mexican war transpired in 1847"; "The drill will transpire under shelter"; "The accident transpired one day last week"; "Years will transpire before it will be finished"; "More than a century transpired before it was revisited by civilized man.”

"The verb transpire formerly conveyed very expressively its correct meaning, viz., to become known through unnoticed channels; to exhale, as it were, into publicity through invisible pores, like a vapor or [a] gas disengaging itself. But of late a practice has commenced of employing this word . . . as a mere synonym of to happen. This vile specimen of bad English is already seen in the dispatches of noblemen and viceroys."-Mill.

...

Mr. Edgar Fawcett uses transpire in a manner peculiarly his own, as we see by the following example: