Page:A Desk-Book of Errors in English.djvu/86

each either Deutsch. The Dutch are Hollanders, and the Germans are "Deutsch" in Germany.

  each, every: These words should never be used with pronouns or verbs in the plural.

each other: Strictly applied to two only, whereas one another implies more than two. "The two friends congratulated each other" (i. e., each one the other). "This commandment I give unto you that ye love one another:" Yet this expression is now used carelessly as a reciprocal pronoun; and Whittier writes "To worship rightly is to love each other."

effect, affect: Distinguish carefully between these terms. To effect means to accomplish; to affect, to influence. By concerted action men may effect reforms which shall affect their condition.

effluvia: A word often used incorrectly from the mistaken idea that it is of the singular number. Do not say "What a disagreeable effluvia" when you wish to draw attention to an unpleasant smell. If you must use the word, say "effluvium."

egg. Compare.

either: An adjective denoting "one or the other of two" often used incorrectly with a plural verb; as, "Either are likely to sail." Now, inasmuch as "either" means "one or the other of two the verb in the sentence should be in the singular and to be