Ambrose Bierce,
Write It Right:
Category Archives: L
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Ambrose Bierce, Write It Right: Category Archives: L |
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Last for Past. “Last week.” “The past week.” Neither is accurate: a week cannot be the last if another is already begun; and all weeks except this one are past. Here two wrongs seem to make a right: we can say the week last past. But will we? I trow not.
Laundry. Meaning a place where clothing is washed, this word cannot mean, also, clothing sent there to be washed.
Lay (to place) for Lie (to recline). “The ship lays on her side.” A more common error is made in the past tense, as, “He laid down on the grass.” The confusion comes of the identity of a present tense of the transitive verb to lay and the past tense of the intransitive verb to lie.
There is at least one other pair of English verbs that works the same way: the intransitive verb is ‘fall’, past tense ‘fell’, and the corresponding transitive verb meaning “to cause to fall, knock down, cut down”, is ‘fell’, past tense ‘felled’. It’s not common enough to cause much confusion. The verbs ‘sit’ and ‘set’ are another intransitive-transitive pair, though the past tense of ‘sit’ is not the same as the present tense of ‘set’. Uneducated people still mix them up: “I was settin’ on the porch all day.”
Leading Question. A leading question is not necessarily an important one; it is one that is so framed as to suggest, or lead to, the answer desired. Few others than lawyers use the term correctly.
Is this error at all common today? Perhaps the abundance of television shows depicting lawyers and D.A.s has helped.
Lease. To say of a man that he leases certain premises leaves it doubtful whether he is lessor or lessee. Being ambiguous, the word should be used with caution.
Leave for Let. “Leave it alone.” By this many persons mean, not that it is to be left in solitude, but that is to be untouched, or unmolested.
Lengthways for Lengthwise.
This does not seem to be a problem today. However, everyone says ‘sideways’ for ‘sidewise’, and I see from looking ahead that Bierce is equally opposed to that.
Lengthy. Usually said in disparagement of some wearisome discourse. It is no better than breadthy, or thicknessy.
Less for Fewer. “The regiment had less than five hundred men.” Less relates to quantity, fewer, to number.
Limited for Small, Inadequate, etc. “The army’s operations were confined to a limited area.” “We had a limited supply of food.” A large area and an adequate supply would also be limited. Everything that we know about is limited.
Liable for Likely. “Man is liable to err.” Man is not liable to err, but to error. Liable should be followed, not by an infinitive, but by a preposition.
Likely for Probably. “He will likely be elected.” If likely is thought the better word (and in most cases it is) put it this way: “It is likely that he will be elected,” or, “He is likely to be elected.”
Line for Kind, or Class. “This line of goods.” Leave the word to “salesladies” and “salesgentlemen.” “That line of business.” Say, that business.
Literally for Figuratively. “The stream was literally alive with fish.” “His eloquence literally swept the audience from its feet.” It is bad enough to exaggerate, but to affirm the truth of the exaggeration is intolerable.
There is an even worse misuse of “literally” in Nabokov, a line I know only because Kingsley Amis once made cruel fun of it:
And with his eyes he literally scoured the corners of the cell.
I suppose the poor prisoner removed them first.
Loan for Lend. “I loaned him ten dollars.” We lend, but the act of lending, or, less literally, the thing lent, is a loan.
Locate. “After many removals the family located at Smithville.” Some dictionaries give locate as an intransitive verb having that meaning, but—well, dictionaries are funny.