fastidious, delicately discriminative, and the like. Pope uses the
word admirably of a dandy who was skilled in the nice conduct
[management] of a clouded cane.

_Noise_ for _Sound_. "A noise like a flute"; "a noise of twittering
birds," etc. A noise is a loud or disagreeable sound, or combination
or succession of sounds.

_None_. Usually, and in most cases, singular; as, None has come. But
it is not singular because it always means not one, for frequently it
does not, as, The bottle was full of milk, but none is left. When it
refers to numbers, not quantity, popular usage stubbornly insists that
it is plural, and at least one respectable authority says that as a
singular it is offensive. One is sorry to be offensive to a good man.

_No Use_. "He tried to smile, but it was no use." Say, of no use, or,
less colloquially, in vain.

_Novel_ for _Romance_. In a novel there is at least an apparent
attention to considerations of probability; it is a narrative of what
might occur. Romance flies with a free wing and owns no allegiance to
likelihood. Both are fiction, both works of imagination, but should
not be confounded. They are as distinct as beast and bird.

_Numerous_ for _Many_. Rightly used, numerous relates to numbers, but
does not imply a great number. A correct use is seen in the term
numerous verse--verse consisting of poetic numbers; that is,
rhythmical feet.

_Obnoxious_ for _Offensive_. Obnoxious means exposed to evil. A