A Dictionary of Cont..

nately, one doesn’t encounter much any more.
Some object on the same grounds to under separate
cover, maintaining that if something is
being sent it obviously is not enclosed and hence
is being sent separately. But-although the actual
wording may seem hackneyed-there is
some justification for such a phrase if the object
referred to is such that it might conceivably be
enclosed in the letter. It’s silly to say in a letter,
I’m sending you a crate of oranges under sepnrute
cover, but it may be reassuring to say I’m
sending you the check (or the pamphlet) under
separate cover; though it might be better simply
to say separately.
enclosed please find. Whether find means to come
upon by chance or to obtain by search, the combination
of request and command in the common
phrase enclosed please find has an element
of absurdity in it. You cannot command anyone
to do that which can only happen by chance. It
would be more accurate grammatically (and
considering the number of things which are said
to be enclosed in letters but are not, more accurate
factually) to say enclosed please try to
find. Best of all is not to use the phrase. The
proper procedure, now followed more and more,
is to state in the body of the letter what is to be
enclosed and to have “enclosure” or “encl.”
typed at the bottom as a directive to the stenographer
and an indication to the recipient that the
enclosure was at least ordered.
encomium. The plural is encomiums or encomia.
end may be used as an adjective. When it is, it has
no comparative form but it has a superlative
form endmost.
end; stop; cease; finish; complete; conclude; terminate.
English is rich in terms for bringing to a
stop. Many can be used interchangeably, yet
many are restricted to certain senses, and many
have special idiomatic meanings. To list them
all and to trace and differentiate their meanings,
with illustrations, would take many pages. Only
a few may be mentioned here and those briefly,
just enough to show the variety of possibilities.
A speaker, for example, might end, stop, or
cease his remarks for a number of reasons. He
might have said all he had to say or he might
have been interrupted or silenced. If he finishes,
completes, or concludes his remarks, however,
he has not been interrupted, since he has been
able to put the final touches on his subject, assemble
all its component parts, or bring it to its
planned end. To terminate them could be to
bring them to a planned limit or just to stop
them (He terminated his remarks with a flourish
or At the sight of the dead cat coming
through the air, the Senator terminated his remarks
abruptly). In the latter use there is often
a touch of jocularity.
endeavor; strive; try; attempt. To try is the everyday
verb. To see the folly of pompousness one
only has to substitute endeavor, strive, or attempt
for try in Zf at first you don’t succeed, try,
try, again. None the less, endeavor has its special
uses and advantages. To try means many
things, from straining patience or endurance to
155 endorse
rendering the oil out of something; whereas to
endeavor means only one thing: to make a continuous
effort in the face of difficulties. Then its
very ponderousness gives endeavor an onomatopoeic
advantage in some contexts, for it suggests
the strenuous trying, the energetic attempting
that the word connotes (One should know
God’s word and endeavor to live by it is far
more effective than and try to live by it or and
uttempt to live by it).
To strive is to exert oneself earnestly, with
strenuous effort, towards the accomplishment of
something difficult and laborious (When Ajax
strives some rock’s vast weight to throw).
To atttempt is more formal than to try and
implies the expenditure of somewhat more
effort.
As a noun, try is used colloquially, and more
in England than in America (I’ll have a try at
it). Endeavor and attempt are the everyday
nouns, with endeavor being the more common,
especially in more general senses (The endeavor
was commendable. A man of high endeavor).
Attempt is more likely to be used of a specific
try (His attempt to break the record for the
hundred yard dash was bound to fail under such
weather conditions).
ended; ending. That is ended which has come to
an end at some time in the past (His advances
ended when he found them repulsed). That is
ending which is coming to an end or about to
end (We are ending our engagement at the Garrick
Theater tomorrow). All this is quite clear,
and those who wish to be unambiguous or unconfused
can stick to it. But ending may be used,
as a historic present, to designate something
that is now definitely ended but was not ended
at a time in the past (Zf you will refer to the
inventory for the year ending March 31, 191.5,
you will find, etc.).
endemic. See epidemic.
endless. See eternal.
endless; innumerable. Endless mean boundless,
infinite, interminable, continuous (as in endless
belt). To use it for innumerable, which means
too many to count (The dishes were just endless;
Z never saw so many to wash) is exaggeration.
Of course exaggeration has its place in
humorous talk and writing, but this particular
exaggeration has been made so often that it has
lost most of its meaning, a fact made evident by
the stress which is so often laid on the word to
strengthen it. Then there are instances where the
use of endless for innumerable is ambiguous.
When it is said of so-and-so that he told endless
stories, does it mean that his stories lacked endings,
were pointless, or that the list of them
lacked ending, that they were too many to count,
innumerable?
endorse; indorse. Endorse, both in the sense of
writing on the back of, approving, supporting,
or sustaining is now preferred to indorse, although
indorse is correct and is used more in
America than in England.
Endorse was formerly a purely commercial
word. Writing in 1883, E. A. Freeman said that