of the essence
of it--an important and indispensable part of it, determining its
nature; the soul of it.

_Even_ for _Exact_. "An even dozen."

_Every_ for _Entire_, _Full_. "The president had every confidence in
him."

_Every_ for _Ever_. "Every now and then." This is nonsense: there can
be no such thing as a now and then, nor, of course, a number of now
and thens. Now and then is itself bad enough, reversing as it does the
sequence of things, but it is idiomatic and there is no quarreling
with it. But "every" is here a corruption of ever, meaning repeatedly,
continually.

_Ex_. "Ex-President," "an ex-convict," and the like. Say, former. In
England one may say, Mr. Roosevelt, sometime President; though the
usage is a trifle archaic.

_Example_ for _Problem_. A heritage from the text-books. "An example
in arithmetic." An equally bad word for the same thing is "sum": "Do
the sum," for Solve the problem.

_Excessively_ for _Exceedingly_. "The disease is excessively painful."
"The weather is excessively cold." Anything that is painful at all is
excessively so. Even a slight degree or small amount of what is
disagreeable or injurious is excessive--that is to say, redundant,
superfluous, not required.

_Executed_. "The condemned man was executed." He was hanged, or
otherwise put to death; it is the sentence that is executed.

_Executive_ for _Secret_. An executive session of a deliberative body
is a session for executive business, as distinguished from
legislative. It is commonly secret, but a secret session is not
necessarily executive.

_Expect_ for _Believe_, or _Suppose_. "I expect he will go." Say, I
believe (suppose or think) he will go; or, I expect him to go.

_Expectorate_ for _Spit_. The former word is frequently used, even in
laws and ordinances, as a euphemism for the latter. It not only means
something entirely different, but to one with a Latin ear is far more
offensive.

_Experience_ for _Suffer_, or _Undergo_. "The sinner experienced a
change of heart." This will do if said lightly or mockingly. It does
not indicate a serious frame of mind in the speaker.

_Extend_ for _Proffer_. "He extended an invitation." One does not
always hold out an invitation in one's hand; it may be spoken or sent.

_Fail_. "He failed to note the hour." That implies that he tried to
note it, but did not succeed. Failure carries always the sense of
endeavor; when there has been no endeavor there is no failure. A
fa