Part 19

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."

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.

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 would pass without observation in another."--Lacon.

NOVICE. See AMATEUR.

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. At present, the following notice may be seen in some of our Broadway omnibuses: "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 instead of in the plural; thus, "There is several reasons why it would be better": say, are. "How many is there?" say, are. "There is four": say, are. "Was there many?" say, were. "No matter how many there was": say, were.

A verb should agree in number with its subject, and not with its predicate. We say, for example, "Death is the wages of sin," and "The wages of sin are death."

"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."

Errors are often the result of 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."

OBSERVE. The dictionaries authorize the use of this word as a synonym of say and remark; as, for example, "What did you observe?" for "What did you say, or remark?" In this sense, however, it is better to leave observe to the exclusive use of those who delight in being fine.

O'CLOCK. "It is a quarter to ten o'clock." What does this statement mean, literally? We understand by it that it lacks a quarter of ten, i. e., of being ten; but it does not really mean that. Inasmuch as to means toward, it really means a quarter after nine. We should say, then, a quarter of, which means, literally, a quarter out of ten.

OF ALL OTHERS. "The vice of covetousness, of all others, enters deepest into the soul." This sentence says that covetousness is one of the other vices. A thing can not be another thing, nor can it be one of a number of other things. The sentence should be, "Of all the vices, covetousness enters deepest into the soul"; or, "The vice of covetousness, of all the vices, enters," etc.; or, "The vice of covetousness, above all others, enters," etc.

OF ANY. This phrase is often used when of all is meant; thus, "This is the largest of any I have seen." Should be, "the largest of all," etc.

OFF OF. In such sentences as, "Give me a yard off of this piece of calico," either the off or the of is vulgarly superfluous. The sentence would be correct with either one, but not with both of them. "The apples fell off of the tree": read, "fell off the tree."

OFTEN. This adverb is properly compared by changing its termination: often, oftener, oftenest. Why some writers use more and most to compare it, it is not easy to see; this mode of comparing it is certainly not euphonious.

OH--O. It is only the most careful writers who 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?"

OLDER--ELDER. "He is the older man of the two, and the oldest in the neighborhood." "He is the elder of the two sons, and the eldest of the family." "The elder son is heir to the estate; he is older than his brother by ten years."

ON TO. We get on a chair, on an omnibus, on a stump, and on a spree, and not on to.

ONE. Certain pronouns of demonstrative signification are called indefinite because they refer to no particular subject. This is one of them. If we were putting a supposition by way of argument or illustration, we might say, "Suppose I were to lose my way in a wood"; or, "Suppose you were to lose your way in a wood"; or, "Suppose one were to lose one's way in a wood." All these forms are used, but, as a rule, the last is to be preferred. The first verges on egotism, and the second makes free with another's person, whereas the third is indifferent. "If one's honesty were impeached, what should one do?" is more courtly than to take either one's self or the person addressed for the example.

One should be followed by one, and not by he. "The better acquainted one is with any kind of rhetorical trick, the less liable he is to be misled by it." Should be, "the less liable one is to be misled by it."

In the phrase, "any of the little ones," one is the numeral employed in the manner of a pronoun, by indicating something that has gone before, or, perhaps, has to come after. "I like peaches, but I must have a ripe one, or ripe ones."

Professor Bain says, in his "Composition Grammar":

"This pronoun continually lands writers in difficulties. English idiom requires that, when the pronoun has to be again referred to, it should be used itself a second time. The correct usage is shown by Pope: 'One may be ashamed to consume half one's days in bringing sense and rhyme together.' It would be against idiom to say 'half his days.'

"Still, the repetition of the pronoun is often felt to be heavy, and writers have recourse to various substitutions. Even an ear accustomed to the idiom can scarcely accept with unmixed pleasure this instance from Browning:

"'Alack! one lies oneself Even in the stating that one's end was truth, Truth only, if one states so much in words.'