sometimes spoken by persons careless with their speech agen.

aggravate, exasperate, irritate, provoke: A fever or a misfortune may be aggravated, but not a person. The person is, perhaps, exasperated or provoked. To aggravate, from the Latin aggravo “to make heavy,” is to intensify, and applies only to conditions of fact; provoke, which calls forth anger, and exasperate, which heightens (or roughens) anger already provoked, allude to mental states. A patient may be so irritated that his condition is aggravated. Here to aggravate is to make worse; to irritate is to annoy, provoke.

ago. Compare SINCE.

agreeable: Do not spell this word agreable. Its component parts are agree plus able; always double the “e” before the “a.” Agreeable is often erroneously used for agreeably in correspondence. In this sense it is a commercial colloquialism, meaning “being in accordance or conformity,” as with some previous action. “Agreeable to your request I have forwarded the goods.” Correctly, this should be rendered “Agreeably with your request, etc.,” meaning “so as to be agreeable.”

agreeably. Compare AGREEABLE.

aid. Compare HELP.

ain’t: Avoid as inelegant. In such a phrase as “he ain’t,” it is both vulgar and ungrammatical; “he isn’t” is the preferred form. “The contraction ain’t for isn’t is a vulgarism which ought not to need criticism. Yet ‘’tain’t so’ said an educated preacher once in my hearing. The safe rule respecting contractions is never to use them in public speech. This is the instinct of a perfect taste.” Austin Phelps, English Style, lecture ii. p. 25.

alienate, antagonize: Alienate which means “estrange,” should never be used for antagonize, meaning “contend against” or “bring into opposition.” Thus, you alienate your friend because you antagonize his views.

all. See under ANY, WHOLE, and compare UNIVERSALLY.

allege: Do not spell this word alledge. It has no connection whatever with ledge, a shelf. Allege is derived from the Latin adlegio, clear, and came to England with the Normans in the Norman French form aligier, Old French, esligier, from the Latin, ex, out, and litigo, to carry strife. It means, to assert.

alleviate, relieve: Distinguished from relieve, as alleviate, by lightening (Latin ad, to, + levis, light), mitigates or makes less burdensome, and relieve, by removing (Latin re, again, + levis, lifting up), supplies what is wanting.

Alleviation affects internal sensations, affording comparative ease, whereas relief operates upon external conditions, removing pain. You alleviate suffering and relieve distress or poverty.

all of them: This phrase furnishes an excellent example of the common carelessness of speech. Of signifies from or from out; and whereas one can subtract a certain quantity from an entire number, one can hardly refer to that number as still existing, in any shape whatever, if one subtracts the whole; for from out implies a remainder. You may say “ship some, or any definite number, say ten of them,” or “ship them all,” but not “ship all of them.”

all over the world: A common but undesirable locution for “all the world over” or “over all the world.”

allow, permit: Discriminate carefully between these words. Allow implies no attempt at hindrance; permit suggests authorization to do. One allows that to which one interposes no objection or takes no step to prevent; one permits that to which one gives express consent or authorization. In some parts of the United States allow is used in the sense of “think, think likely, intend”; as, “he allowed he would go”; “he allowed to pay it.” It is used also in the sense of say. Both uses are wholly inadmissible.

all right: In best usage this term is always written as two words. Formerly alright was in vogue, but it is now obsolete.

allude: This word is frequently used as synonymous with mention, but this is a careless and improper treatment of the term.

Allude is from the Latin alludo, treat lightly, from ad, at, and ludo, play, and should be used only with the sense of “to refer incidentally, indirectly, or by suggestion.” When you toast a hero by name, you certainly do not allude to him, although in so doing you make a pretty allusion to the heroic act with which his name is identified. In toasting Dewey, you do not allude to him but to his deeds off Manila.

allusion: Distinguish between this word and illusion. The former is derived from the Latin ad, at, + ludo, play (treat lightly), and means an incidental suggestion or passing reference, a species of innuendo; the latter is derived from in, on, + ludo play (play tricks on), and means an unreal image presented to the senses.

almost: “An adjective in early English, the use of which has recently been revived, but it has not received the sanction of general usage.”—Standard Dictionary.

An “almost Christian” is, however, a most expressive term, and would oftentimes more nearly express the truth than the absolute and unqualified “Christian.” Compare MOST.