Page:A Desk-Book of Errors in English.djvu/23

Rh ground, either for coping with competitors or with difficulties, needs, or demands; as, "to have the advantage of a good education." It is frequently used of what one has beyond another or secures at the expense of another; as, "to have the advantage of another in an argument," or "to take advantage of another in a bargain. Benefit is anything that does one good.

adverbs and the infinitive "to." See.

a few. Condemned as employing the singular article before an adjective plural in sense. Usage sanctions a hundred and a great many, these expressions being viewed as collective. A few is correct idiomatic English, with a sense distinctively different from that of the adjective used alone; as, "A few men can be trusted" (i.e., a small but appreciable number). "Few men can be trusted" (i. e., scarcely any) is practically equivalent to the negative statement "Most men are not to be trusted."

affect. Compare.

against: Never shorten this preposition into again. Such a usage is either dialectical or obsolete; and save in such usage there is no preposition again, or as sometimes spoken by persons careless with their speech agen.

aggravate, exasperate, irritate, provoke: A fever or a misfortune may be aggravated, but not a person.