- 15. The fondness for writing 'as well as' for 'and' and 'in case' for 'if ' presumably arises from the fondness of the users for a longer expression. 'In case 'if ' is a stage further on the downward path. 'I am unable to' for 'I cannot' and 'hand over' for 'give' are other common examples of the preference for the longer phrase. 'By the time' is sometimes wrongly used for 'then'. 'By that time' is sometimes wrongly used for 'then'. 'By that time' means 'then'. 'By the time that' means 'when'. Always be as definite as possible.
- 16. 'As such' is often misused. It is correct to say 'Mr. A was then the Superintendent and as such was bound to report- 'but 'Mr. Awas not then the Superintendent and as such he is not to be blamed' is meaningless. 'While such being the case' is a familiar embellishment of criminal complaints, etc. 'While' is here redundant.
- 17. Tenses and moods are misused in almost every note or draft. The misuse of 'had' is one of the commonest errors. The pluperfect 'had' is rightly used to emphasize the priority of one event in the past to another. It is correct to say 'I had gone to bed when the house caught fire' but senseless to say 'I had gone to bed at 10 O'clock last night' ('I went' is correct) - unless the meaning is that you had gone to bed before 10 O'clock. The present tense is wrongly used for the incomplete perfect, as in 'I am record -keeper from 1906. 'I have been record - keeper since 1906' is correct. 'Government press for a reply' should be 'Government are pressing for a reply'. 'The following men now act' is wrong. It should be 'are now acting'. 'Act' means 'usually act' or, habitually act';' are acting' emphasizes the fac t that they are doing so now.
- 18. 'Must have' is sometimes misused for 'should have' or 'ought to have'. 'Must have done it' means that he certainly has done it. It is not to be used to mean that he has not done it but should have. 'Till' is commonly misused in a way that it is positively misleading. 'No reply was received till January last' implies that a reply was received on January 1st but it is erroneously used to mean that even on January 1st no reply had been received. To convey this latter meaning 'up to' with the pluperfect is the correct English- 'Up to January 1st, I had received no reply'.
- 19. Distinguish 'all the stamps have not been punched' which is ambiguous from 'Not all the stamps have been punched' or 'the stamps have not all been punched', which mean that some have been punched and some not. These phrases are commonly confused. 'He has yet to collect Rs.l ,000', is not ordinarily modern English. 'Still has' is correct. 'Yet' may be used with a negative, e.g., 'has not yet applied' and is only used with a positive a verb in special phrases such as 'I have yet to learn'.
- 20. 'So' is not equivalent to 'very'. It is sometimes written 'the peon is so impertinent' 'I warned him so many times ' meaning 'very impertinent', 'very often'. 'Not so bad' means 'rather goods', but this is a colloquial phrase. Similarly, 'too' has generally a relative sense, that is, it implies exacts relatively to a certain standard or object not absolute intensity so to speak (except in a few colloquial phrases such as 'it is too bad'); but it is commonly written 'it is too hot' meaning 'it is very hot'.
- 21. The verb 'to hope' implies pleasurable anticipation. It is used sometimes instead of a natural word such as 'think', and thereby producing comically inappropriate phrases such as 'I hope your honour is ill'. Omission of articles (a, an, the) is a common fault. It