Bryson's Dictionary of Troublesome Words - Bill Bryson [10]
before, prior to. There is no difference between these two except length and a certain inescapable affectedness on the part of prior to. To paraphrase Bernstein, if you would use posterior to instead of after, then by all means use prior to instead of before.
begging the question. Strictly speaking, to beg a question is to present as proof something that itself needs proving. Bernstein cites as an example the sentence “Parallel lines will never meet because they are parallel.” The second half of the sentence only seems to support the first; it doesn’t offer actual proof. The problem is that there is little need for a phrase that describes a specific logical fallacy, whereas there is an evident need for a phrase that describes a question that has not been adequately dealt with. So for many years people have used begging the question in a variety of other senses—to invite a question, to evade a question, to confuse an issue—to the extent that many users, perhaps most, are unaware of the phrase’s original meaning in logic. Those who wish to stay on the side of tradition doubtless have virtue in their corner, but the weight of usage is clearly against them, and I am inclined to think that insisting absolutely on the traditional sense is more a favor to pedantry than to clarity.
behalf. A useful distinction exists between on behalf of and in behalf of. The first means acting as a representative, as when a lawyer enters a plea on behalf of a client, and often denotes a formal relationship. In behalf of indicates a closer or more sympathetic role and means acting as a friend or defender. “I spoke on your behalf” means that I represented you when you were absent. “I spoke in your behalf” means that I supported you or defended you.
behoove (British behove). An archaic word, but still sometimes a useful one. Two points need to be made:
1. The word means necessary or contingent but is sometimes wrongly used for becomes, particularly with the adverb ill, as in “It ill behooves any man responsible for policy to think how best to make political propaganda” (cited by Gowers).
2. It should be used only impassively and with the subject it. “The circumstances behoove us to take action” is wrong. Make it “It behooves us in the circumstances to take action.”
beleaguered. Not -ured.
belles-lettres describes writing that has a literary or esthetic, as opposed to purely informational, value. The word is usually treated as a plural but may be used as a singular. For reasons unconnected to logic, the hyphen is lost and the word itself contracted in the related terms belletrist, belletrism, and belletristic.
bellwether. Not -weather. Wether is an Old English word for a castrated sheep. A bellwether is a sheep that has a bell hung from its neck, by which means it leads the flock from one pasture to another. In general use, it signifies something that leads or shows the way. A bellwether stock is one that is customarily at the head of the pack.
beluga is a type of sturgeon, not a manufacturer or producer of caviar, as is sometimes thought, so the word should not be capitalized (except of course at the start of a sentence).
benzene, benzine. Both are liquid hydrocarbons commonly used as solvents. Benzene is primarily associated with the production of plastics, while benzine most often is encountered as a solvent used in dry-cleaning establishments. In all events, they are different substances and not merely alternative spellings of a single compound.
bereft. “Many children leave school altogether bereft of mathematical skills” (Times, cited by Kingsley Amis in The State of the Language). To be bereft of something is not to lack it but to be dispossessed of it. A spinster is not bereft of a husband, but a widow is (the word is the past participle of bereave).
besides means also or in addition to, not alternatively. Partridge cites this incorrect use: “The wound must have been made by something