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

Slips of Speech : a Helpful Book for Everyone Who Aspires to Correct the Everyday Errors of Speaking by John Hendricks Bechtel
page 76 of 253 (30%)
The tendency to increase the number of nouns with the feminine ending
ess should be checked. Avoid poetess, authoress, doctress, and other
newly-invented words of this kind.

Fewer, Less

Fewer refers to number, less to quantity. "He had less friends than I,
and yet he was elected." Say "He had fewer friends." "There were no
less than fifty cows in the field." Use fewer.

Right smart

In some portions of the South the expression right smart is employed
in colloquial discourse to convey
_________________________________________________________________

74

the idea of a large quantity or in large measure; as, "We have right
smart of peaches this summer," meaning "We have a large crop of
peaches;" "He knows right smart of Latin" for "He knows considerable
Latin" or "He is well versed in Latin."

Little bit

"Will you have some of this pudding?"

"If you please. Give me a little bit."

"Did you injure yourself when you fell?"
DigitalOcean Referral Badge