Page:A Desk-Book of Errors in English.djvu/25

Rh contractions is never to use them in public speech. This is the instinct of a perfect taste.", English Style, lecture ii. p. 25.

alienate, antagonize: Alienate which means "estrange," should never be used for antagonize, meaning "contend against" or "bring into opposition." Thus, you alienate your friend because you antagonize his views.

all. See under, , and compare.

allege: Do not spell this word alledge. It has no connection whatever with ledge, a shelf. Allege is derived from the Latin adlegio, clear, and came to England with the Normans in the Norman French form aligier, Old French, esligier, from the Latin, ex, out, and litigo, to carry strife. It means, to assert.

alleviate, relieve: Distinguished from relieve, as alleviate, by lightening (Latin ad, to, + levis, light), mitigates or makes less burdensome, and relieve, by removing (Latin re, again, + levis, lifting up), supplies what is wanting.

Alleviation affects internal sensations, affording comparative ease, whereas relief operates upon external conditions, removing pain. You alleviate suffering and relieve distress or poverty.

all of them: This phrase furnishes an excellent example of the common carelessness of speech. Of signifies from or from out; and whereas one can