'I do not pretend to be infallible.' Of course not; one does not care to confess oneself a pretender. To pretend is to try to deceive; one may profess quite honestly.
No such word as preventative.
'The man died previous to receipt of the letter.'
Stilted.
'I propose to go to Europe.' A mere intention is not a proposal.
'He made a proposition.' In current slang almost anything is a proposition. A difficult enterprise is 'a tough proposition,' an agile wrestler, 'a slippery proposition,' and so forth.
'A rock of vast proportions.' Proportions relate to form; dimensions to magnitude.
Good Scotch, but bad English.
'The proverbial dog in the manger.' The animal is not 'proverbial' for it is not mentioned in a proverb, but in a fable.
'Jones promises to quit drinking.' In another sense, too, the word is commonly misused, as, 'He has quit the town.' Say, quitted.
'She is quite charming.' If it is meant that she is entirely charming this is right, but usually the meaning intended to be conveyed is less than that – that she is rather, or somewhat, charming.
In this country a word-of-all-work: 'raise children,' 'raise wheat,' 'raise cattle.' Children are brought up, grain, hay and vegetables are grown, animals and poultry are bred.
'It is real good of him.' 'The weather was real cold.'
'I could not realize the situation.' Writers caring for precision use this word in the sense of to make real, not to make seem real. A dream seems real, but is actually realized when made to come true.
To remember is to have in memory; to recollect is to recall what has escaped from memory. We remember automatically; in recollecting we make a conscious effort.
'He redeemed his good name.' Redemption (Latin
'A man's honesty redounds to his advantage.' We make a better use of the word if we say of one (for example) who has squandered a fortune, that its loss redounds to his advantage, for the word denotes a fluctuation, as from seeming evil to actual good; as villification may direct attention to one's excellent character.
'He was refused a crown.' It is the crown that was refused to him. See
'Flattery of the people is the demagogue's regular means to political preferment.' Regular properly relates to a rule (
A word not yet admitted to the vocabulary of the fastidious, but with a strong backing for the place.
'On receiving your bill I will remit the money.' Remit does not mean that; it means give back, yield up, relinquish, etc. It means, also, to cancel, as in the phrase, the remission of sins.
'The actor's rendition of the part was good.' Rendition means a surrender, or a giving back.
A vile word, improperly made. It assumes the Latinized spelling, 'reporter.' The Romans had not the word, for they were, fortunately for them, without the thing.
'He repudiated the accusation.'
'They reside in Hohokus.' Stilted.
See
'They were alike in that respect.' The misuse comes of abbreviating: the sentence properly written might be, They were alike in respect of that – i.e., with regard to that. The word in the bad sense has even been pluralized: 'In many respects it is admirable.'
