Page:A Desk-Book of Errors in English.djvu/50

between boiled the point at issue"; "The poor fellow is beside himself." Besides as a preposition means "in addition to" or "except." "Besides wealth he had health"; "Besides death he knew no fear." As an adverb it means "moreover" or "other than." "Besides, it is late"; "He was heedless of all the world besides." Beside, then, conveys the idea of conjunction, separation or comparison; whereas besides implies addition or exception.

between. Compare.

between you and I: This is incorrect. Both pronouns are objects of the preposition between and should be in the objective case; say "between you and me." Compare.

bevy: A word sometimes misapplied. It is applied correctly to a company of girls, a flock of birds, as, quail, grouse, or larks; also to a small herd of deer or heifers.

big, great: Discriminate carefully between these words. Big is not synonymous with great. A man may be physically big but is not necessarily great mentally. Emerson was mentally a great man, and although tall physically he was not a big man. Big and large are synonymous, but while big is more emphatic, large is a more refined or elegant term.

big-bug: A slang term used to denote a person of consequence, actual or self-imagined. Say rather, "A prominent" or, "an important man."