Page:A Desk-Book of Errors in English.djvu/184

plentiful possessive "Happiness comprehends that aggregate of pleasurable sensations which we derive from external objects": it is "a condition in which pleasure predominates over pain or evil; a continued experience of pleasures and joys." "Pleasure is the accompaniment of the moderate and suitable activity of some organ or faculty of the mind."

plentiful. Compare.

plenty: The colloquialism by which plenty, which is a noun, is treated as an adjective or adverb is altogether inadmissible. In such cases plentiful and plentifully should be used. "We have plenty of money." "Cash is plentiful." "We are plentifully supplied"—not "We have plenty enough cash."

plunk: A vulgarism for a silver dollar.

polite, civil, polished: Civil, from the Latin civilis from civis, a citizen, denotes that which is becoming to a citizen. Polite is the Latin politus, participle of polio, polish. Civility is therefore negative, the mere absence of rudeness, whereas politeness is the positive evidence of good breeding. A polite man is naturally so, but a polished man is one who has, by art, acquired the smoothness which comes of having had the rough edges rubbed off. Polite denotes a quality; polished denotes a state.

politics is a singular word of plural form. "His hobby is politics"—not "Politics are his hobby."