You must look to more
leisurely authorities. The speakers and writers on whom you may rely will
not say "to burglarize," "to suspicion," "to enthuse," "plenty rich,"
"real tired," "considerable discouraged," "a combine," or "humans." An
exhaustive list of such errors cannot be inserted here. If you feel
yourself uncertain in these details of usage, you should have access to
such a volume as _The Century Desk Book of Good English_.
EXERCISE - Slovenliness II
1. For each quoted expression in the preceding paragraph compose a
sentence which shall contain the correct form, or the grammatical
equivalent, of the expression.
2. Correct the following sentences:
The tramp suicided.
She was real excited.
He gestured angry.
He was some anxious to get to the eats.
All of us had an invite.
Them boys have sure been teasing the canine.
Another thing to avoid is triteness. The English language teems with
phrases once strikingly original but now smooth-worn and vulgarized by
incessant repetition. It can scarcely be said that you are to shun these
altogether. Now and then you will find one of them coming happily as well
as handily into your speech. But you must not use them too often.
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