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"If they are not competent for the exercise of [to exercise] the franchise, they are incompetent for the administration of [to administer] public affairs."—N. Y. Sun.

Its policy must be free from suspicion either in securing the appropriations or in the assignment of [assigning] the work."-N. Y. Sun.

"The great endowment left by Mr. Lenox for the establishment of [to establish] a library," etc.-N. Y. Sun.

'The imposition [imposing] of a license tax,” etc.— N. Y. Sun.

'Why . . . less objection to landing European forces for the occupation of [to occupy] Corinto than for the occupation of [to occupy] Samana ?"-N. Y. Sun.

"Such war could only be waged [tr. only] for the purpose of [to inflict] punishment, and not for the acquisition of [to acquire] territory."-N. Y. Sun.

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'When France sent war ships for the enforcement of [to enforce] a claim."-N. Y. Sun.

“The collection [collecting] of duties will be conducted,” etc.-N. Y. Sun.

"The policy of the administration has resulted in the establishment of [establishing] a precedent,” etc.-N. Y. Sun.

'England has made other demands, among them the assent of N. to the appointment [appointing] of a commission," etc.-N. Y. Sun.

"The preparation [preparing] of tobacco for use is called curing. It has for its purpose the drying and preservation [preserving] of the leaf as well as the development [developing] of the peculiar aroma."

"The Legislature may provide by-laws for the supervision [supervising], registration [registering], control [controling], and identification [identifying] of all persons."

"Statistics is the science that deals with the collection [collecting], classification [classifying], and tabulation [tabulating] of facts."-Standard Dictionary.

"Economics is the science that treats of the development [developing] of material resources, or of the production [producing], preservation [preserving], and distribution [distributing] of wealth,” etc.—Standard Dictionary.

"It must have been earlier than the time when the

earth became fitted for the reception of [to receive] organ

ized life."

"The quality of being salubrious or favorable to the preservation [preserving] or restoration [restoring] of health."-Standard Dictionary.

"Mr. Iselin is giving unremitting personal care and labor to the supervision [supervising] and development [developing] of the Defender."-N. Y. Sun.

"It is merely a matter of police regulation; it will also be serviceable in the imposition and collection [imposing and collecting] of taxes."-N. Y. Sun.

"The indication of an infinitive by to without the actual expression of the verb to which it belongs is a colloquialism." Rewritten: The indicating of an infinitive with to without the verb it belongs to is a colloquialism. See VERBAL NOUNS.

use.

No use.

If we would be idiomatic, we must say of no

Novice. See AMATEUR. See page 324.

Novitiate-Novice. These words stand in the same relation to each other that consulate stands to consul, yet novitiate is often misused for novice, thus: "Henryson seems to have traveled in his youth as a novitiate [novice] of the Franciscan order."

Both words are properly used thus: "She has been

hitherto little more than a novice, but the intelligence and force she displays as Miriam brings her novitiate to an end."

Novitiate means the state or time of being a novice.

Number. It is not an uncommon thing for a pronoun in the plural number to be used in connection with an antecedent in the singular.

"Fifty dollars reward for the conviction of any person caught collecting or keeping fares given to them to deposit in the box": should be, to him. A person may be very near-sighted if they can not recognize an acquaintance ten feet off." Should be, if he.

The verb to be is often used in the singular when it should be in the plural; thus, "There is several reasons why it would be better": say are. "How many is there?" "There is four": say are. "Was there many?” say were. "No matter how many there was": say were.

say are.

"When singular nouns connected by and are preceded by each, every, or no, the verb must be singular." We say, for example, "Each boy and each girl studies." Every leaf, and every twig, and every drop of water teems with life." “No book and no paper was arranged."

Each being singular, a pronoun or verb to agree with it must also be singular; thus, "Let them depend each on his own exertions"; "Each city has its peculiar privileges"; "Everybody has a right to look after his own interest."

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Errors are often made by not repeating the verb; thus, "Its significance is as varied as the passions": correctly, 'as are the passions." "The words are as incapable of analysis as the thing signified": correctly, "as is the thing signified."

"When the nominative," says Bain, "is a relative pronoun, we must look to the antecedent in order to deter

mine the number of the verb."

"One of the most valuable

books that have [not has] appeared in any language."

"This is one of the best treatises on money and coins that has [have] ever been published."

"I confess I am one of those who am [are] unable to refuse my [their] assent to the conclusions of those philosophers," etc.

"One of those fanciful, exotic combinations that gives [give] the same expression of brilliancy and richness," etc. "One of the first things that opens [open] your eyes to the state of domestic service," etc.

“The plan of Mr. Bright was certainly one of the boldest that has [have] ever been put forward."

'Whereon Don Guzman replied with one of those smiles of his that was [were] so like a sneer."

Numerous. Often used when the proper word is many or large.

Numerous means, consisting of a great number; being many. Though "We have a numerous acquaintance" is permissible, it is not permissible to say, "We have numerous acquaintances" "A large acquaintance' or many acquaintances" is what we should say. Numerous, it would seem, is most used to qualify nouns having a collective signification, such as family, class, army, assembly, and the like; but even then large is usually—perhaps always-the better word to use.

I can not think of a sentence in which numerous is the best adjective to use, when placed before its noun; when placed after its noun the task is easier, and for such a use of the word the following sentence offers an excellent example:

“The reports made to the commissioner by his special agents furnish proof that the land thieves have been more

powerful—if not, in fact, more numerous—than the honest settlers."

O-Oh. It is only the most careful writers that use these two interjections with proper discrimination. The distinction between them is said to be modern. Oh is simply an exclamation, and should always be followed by some mark of punctuation, usually by an exclamation point. "Oh! you are come at last." Oh, help him, you sweet heavens !" 'Oh, woe is me!" "Oh! I die, Horatio." O, in addition to being an exclamation, denotes a calling to or adjuration; thus, "Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth!" "O grave, where is thy victory?" "O heavenly powers, restore him!" "O shame! where is thy blush?'

Obedience. Sometimes misused for response.

"These articles, in the course of [during] their publication, have [omit] aroused [excited] a profound interest [in what?], and the present cheap edition is [published] in obedience [response] to a demand for the papers in a form,"

etc.

We obey a command and respond to a demand.

We say, "In the course of the evening there was an alarm of fire," and "during the evening [i. e., the whole evening] there was a smell of smoke in the hall."

Obliterate. Sometimes, as in the following sentence, misused for destroy:

"Yet writers of standing have often confounded [often confound] these two words, thereby obliterating [destroying] the separate functions of each [their separate functions]."-Dr. Hodgson.

English idiom permits us to say that happiness, peace, or a function has been destroyed, but it does not permit us to say that either of them has been obliterated. Obliterate,