Page:A Desk-Book of Errors in English.djvu/245

Rh If referring to the individual officers, the sentence should read "All members of the staff accompanied the general."

whole push, the. See.

widow woman: A pleonasm. Do not use the word widow, which applies only to a woman, with the words woman or lady. It is an error of speech, common in rural districts, against which it is wise to continually guard.

wife. Compare.

wild: A colloquialism for "angry" which is to be preferred.

windbag: A coarse term for a boastful and wordy talker: not used by persons who cultivate a refined diction. "Braggart," "braggadocia," are more elegant, yet equally expressive terms.

with, and: A nominative singular is sometimes used with an objective after with to form, jointly, the subject of a plural verb; as "The captain with all his crew were drowned." But according to best usage the conjunction and is substituted for "with"; thus, "The captain and all his crew were drowned." Where the objective is separated parenthetically by commas, a verb in the singular is used; as, "Aguinaldo, with all his followers, was captured by Gen. Funston."

without: This, as used for "except" or "unless" is at the present day a vulgarism. "Without you intend business, do not call"; say, unless.