Page:A Desk-Book of Errors in English.djvu/80

difference dissociate Die, as a hyperbole, means, "to have a great desire for," and this sense is an undesirable perversion.

difference: Careful note should be made of the appropriate prepositions. The says:  "Difference between the old and the new; differences among men; a difference in character; of action, of style; (less frequently) a difference (controversy) with a person; a difference of one thing from (incorrectly to) another."

different from: Different to, though common in England, is not sustained by good authority. The best literary usage is uniformly from, following the analogy of the verb differ; one thing differs from or is different from another.

differ from, differ with: One thing may differ from another, or one person may differ from another, as in physique; but one person may differ with another in opinion.

dippy: An extreme vulgarism for "mentally unbalanced."

direct should not be used where address is intended. Do not say "Direct your letters to me at Cook's;" say, rather, "Address your letters," etc.

directly, which means "in a direct or straight course or manner," and so "without medium," has not unnaturally been extended to signify "without medium or intervention of time; immediately."