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Bechtel, John Hendricks, 1841-

"Slips of Speech : a Helpful Book for Everyone Who Aspires to Correct the Everyday Errors of Speaking"

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The above were all taken from a single discourse. Another peculiarity
of the same speaker was his use of the preposition between. Instead of
saying, "Between him and his father there was a perfect understanding
of the matter," he would say, "Between him and between his father
there was a perfect understanding of the matter."
Young writers will find it a valuable exercise to go through a letter,
essay, or other composition which they have written, with the view of
ascertaining how many words they can eliminate without diminishing the
force of what has been written. An article or two from the daily
paper, and an occasional page from some recent work of fiction will
afford further opportunity for profitable practice in pruning.
Widow woman
"And Jeroboam the son of Nebat, an Ephrathite of Zereda, Solomon's
servant, whose mother's name was Zeruah, a widow woman, even he lifted
up his hand against the king."-- I Kings xi, 26.
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187
The expression is now regarded as an archaism, and not to be used in
modern speech or writing. Omit woman.
Why
Many persons have a foolish habit of beginning their answer to a
question with the word why.


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