ood enough word in its place, but its place is the
dictionary. Say, dinner.

_Bar_ for _Bend_. "Bar sinister." There is no such thing in heraldry
as a bar sinister.

_Because_ for _For_. "I knew it was night, because it was dark." "He
will not go, because he is ill."

_Bet_ for _Betted_. The verb to bet forms its preterite regularly, as
do wet, wed, knit, quit and others that are commonly misconjugated. It
seems that we clip our short words more than we do our long.

_Body_ for _Trunk_. "The body lay here, the head there." The body is
the entire physical person (as distinguished from the soul, or mind)
and the head is a part of it. As distinguished from head, trunk may
include the limbs, but anatomically it is the torso only.

_Bogus_ for _Counterfeit_, or _False_. The word is slang; keep it out.

_Both_. This word is frequently misplaced; as, "A large mob, both of
men and women." Say, of both men and women.

_Both alike_. "They are both alike." Say, they are alike. One of them
could not be alike.

_Brainy_. Pure slang, and singularly disagreeable.

_Bug_ for _Beetle_, or for anything. Do not use it.

_Business_ for _Right_. "He has no business to go there."

_Build_ for _Make_. "Build a fire." "Build a canal." Even "build a
tunnel" is not unknown, and probably if the wood-chuck is skilled in
the American tongue he speaks of building a hole.

_But_. By many writers this word (in the sense of except) is regarded
as a preposition, to be followed by the objective case: "All went but
him." It is not a preposition and may take either the nominative or
objective case, to agree with the subject or the object of the verb.
All went but he. The natives killed all but him.

_But what_. "I did not know but what he was an enemy." Omit what. If
condemnation of this dreadful locution seem needless bear the matter
in mind in your reading and you will soon be of a different opinion.

_By_ for _Of_. "A man by the name of Brown." Say, of the name. Better
than either form is: a man named Brown.

_Calculated_ for _Likely_. "The bad weather is calculated to produce
sickness." Calculated implies calculation, design.

_Can_ for _May_. "Can I go fishing?" "He can call on me if he wishes
to."

_Candidate_ for _Aspirant_. In American politics, one is not a
candidate for an office until formally named (nominated) for it by a
convention, or otherwise, as provided by law or custom. So when a man
who is moving Heaven and Earth to