e following ideas:

The burning of the hen-coop was a mighty conflagration.
The fact that the point of the pencil was broken profoundly surprised me.
We had a perfectly gorgeous time.
It's a beastly shame that I missed my car.
It is awfully funny that he should die.
The saleslady pulled the washlady's hair.
A cold bath is pretty nice of mornings.
To go a little late is just the article.

Another thing to avoid is the use of words in the wrong parts of speech,
as a noun for a verb, or an adjective for an adverb. Sometimes newspapers
are guilty of such faults; for journalistic English, though pithy, shows
here and there traces of its rapid composition. 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. Above
all, you must rid yourself of any dependence upon them. The scope of this
book permits only a few illustrations of the kinds of words and phrases
meant. But the person who speaks of "lurid flames," or "untiring efforts,"
or "specimens of humanity"--who "views with alarm," or has a "native
heath," or is "to the manner born"--does more than advertise the
scantness of his verbal resources. He brands himself mentally indolent; he
deprives his thought itself of all sharpness, exactness, and power.

EXERCISE - Slovenliness III

Replace with more original expressions the trite phrases (it