Page:A Desk-Book of Errors in English.djvu/230

to-morrow turn speaking, and, therefore, "to-morrow will be Christmas day" is preferred. Longfellow (Keramos, line 331) says: "To-morrow will be another day." But the other form also has the sanction of usage, as the following quotations will show:

"To-morrow, what delight is in to-morrow!"—Author:Thomas Buchanan Read, The New Pastoral, bk. vi. l. 163.

"To-morrow is a satire on to-day."—Author:Edward Young, The Old Man's Relapse, l. 6.

The Bible affords numerous instances of this use of "is." Ex. xvi. 23: "The Lord hath said, to-morrow is the rest of the holy Sabbath unto the Lord"; xxxii. 5: "And Aaron made proclamation and said, to-morrow is a feast to the Lord"; I Sam. xx. 5: "Behold to-morrow is the new moon"; Matt. vi. 30: "If God so clothe the grass of the field, which to-day is, and to-morrow is cast into the oven."

Most people would say "Yesterday was Friday." If the thought is fixed upon the name of the day, it is better to use is, if upon the time future it is better to use will be.

toney: A vulgarism for "fancy" or "stylish," either of which is a preferable term.

touch, to: A slang term for "to borrow" not used by persons careful of their diction. Do not say "I touched him for a ten-spot"; say rather, "I borrowed ten dollars from him." 214