doubtless be to impart to the ignorant a practical knowledge
of the principles of language, as embodied in treatises on grammar; but
such a good work, however desirable its results, has, in time past, been
too difficult for the promoters of education to complete, and is still too
great to give promise of speedy accomplishment. A better expedient,
bearing immediate fruits, has been adopted in the present volume, which,
while it does not aim to produce a radical reform, cannot fail to render
great service to those who need to improve their usual modes of
expression, and to be more discriminating in their choice of words.

The more frequent and less excusable mistakes that may be noticed in
ordinary conversation or correspondence, are here taken up, one by
one--exposed, explained, and corrected. They consist variously of abuses
of grammar, misapplications of words and phrases, improprieties of
metaphor and comparison, misstatements of meaning, and faults of
pronunciation. They are grouped miscellaneously, _without classification_,
not so much because of the difficulty of devising an arrangement that
would be systematic and intelligible, as from the evident fact that a
division of subjects would render no assistance to those for whom the book
is specially designed; for an appropriate classification would necessarily
derive its features from the forms of grammar, and with these the readers
of this book are supposed to be to a great extent unfamiliar.

The volume is put forth with no flourish of trumpets, and makes no
extravagant pretensions; yet the publishers believe it will be regarded as
a timely and useful work. If the race of _critics_ should not like it--and
while books have their "faults," critics have their "failings"--they are
reminded that he who corrects an old error, may render no less service to
his brethren, than he who discovers a new truth. If the work shall be the
means of saving one sensitive man from a confusion of blushes, in the
presence of a company before which he desired to preserve his equanimity,
it will not have gone forth without a mission of benefit, which will merit
at least one acknowledgment.

INTRODUCTION.

The aim of this book, by correcting a multitude of common errors in the
use of language, is mainly to offer assistance to such persons as need
greater facilities for accurate expression _in ordinary conversation_. It
is not designed to suggest topics of talk, nor to give rules o