Page:A Desk-Book of Errors in English.djvu/91

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Errors in English
enjoy
evacuate

equanimity of mind. A pleonasm since equanimity means "evenness of mind."

'error, don't you make no: An ungrammatical and therefore incorrect phrase sometimes used to assert a fact; say, rather, "make no error."

eruption, irruption: Discriminate carefully between these words. An eruption is a bursting forth as from inclosure or confinement. An irruption is a sudden incursion; an invasion.

eternal, everlasting: Distinguish carefully between these words. That which is eternal is without beginning or end; that which is everlasting is without end only.

euphemism. Compare euphuism.

euphuism is often improperly used for euphemism. Added to the Greek eu, well, is phyē, nature, in the former, and phēmi, speak, in the latter. The former is general and denotes a style, an affectation of speech or writing, whereas euphemism is particular and denotes a figure of speech.

evacuate should be distinguished from vacate. Evacuate does not mean to go away but to make empty; and when the word is used in regard to military movements, evacuation is a mere consequence, result, or at most, concomitant of the going away of the garrison. (R. G. White, Words and Their Uses, ch. 5, p. 109.) To vacate is to surrender possession by removal.

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