Book-bot.com - read famous books online for free

Write It Right - A Little Blacklist of Literary Faults by Ambrose Bierce
page 43 of 59 (72%)
automatically; in recollecting we make a conscious effort.

_Redeem_ for _Retrieve_. "He redeemed his good name." Redemption
(Latin _redemptio_, from _re_ and _dimere_) is allied to ransom, and
carries the sense of buying back; whereas to retrieve is merely to
recover what was lost.

_Redound_ for _Conduce_. "A man's honesty redounds to his advantage."
We make a better use of the word if we say of one (for example) who
has squandered a fortune, that its loss redounds to his advantage, for
the word denotes a fluctuation, as from seeming evil to actual good;
as villification may direct attention to one's excellent character.

_Refused_. "He was refused a crown." It is the crown that was refused
to him. See _Given_.

_Regular_ for _Natural_, or _Customary_. "Flattery of the people is
the demagogue's regular means to political preferment." Regular
properly relates to a rule (_regula_) more definite than the law of
antecedent and consequent.

_Reliable_ for _Trusty_, or _Trustworthy_. A word not yet admitted to
the vocabulary of the fastidious, but with a strong backing for the
place.

_Remit_ for _Send_. "On receiving your bill I will remit the money."
Remit does not mean that; it means give back, yield up, relinquish,
etc. It means, also, to cancel, as in the phrase, the remission of
sins.

DigitalOcean Referral Badge