Page:A Desk-Book of Errors in English.djvu/203

Rh phrase being adjectival; as, "The Reverend Thomas Jones"; or, if the first name is not used, "The Reverend Mr. Jones"; but Rev. Jones," used widely in the United States, is harsh if not rude. The title or distinction of a husband is not correctly applied to the wife. Never say The Rev. Mrs[.] Smith or Mrs. General Brown, etc.

reverse should not be confounded with converse. Reverse is the opposite or antithesis of something; minus is the reverse of plus. The "converse" is "the opposite reciprocal proposition," reached by transposition of the terms of the proposition, the subject becoming predicate and the predicate subject. The converse of the proposition, "If two sides of a triangle be equal, the angles opposite to those sides are equal," is, "If two angles of a triangle be equal, the sides opposite to those angles are equal."

revolts: The use of this word as a transitive verb, although supported by high authority, is not favored. "This revolts me" is far better expressed by "This is revolting to me."

ride, drive: One rides in a saddle or drives in a carriage; a distinction drawn by English people but condemned as "mere pedantry without a pretense of philological authority" by Gould ("Good English," p. 84). Compare.

rigged out. Compare.

right: In the adverbial sense of in a great degree, 187