A Dictionary of Cont..

his disposal. The transportation facilities of the
metropolitan area make suburban living pleasant
and convenient here).
A faculty (in the sense in which the word
is often confused with facility) is an ability,
natural or acquired, for a particular kind of
action (Boswell’s astonishing faculty for making
friends). It also designates one of the mental
powers, as memory, reason, and so on (AIthough
now in his ninety-third year, he had
full possession of all his faculties).
fact. The phrase the fact that may be used to
introduce a noun clause, especially after a preposition
or a verb that cannot take a clause as
object, as in I am impressed by the fact that you
were there and I don’t like the fact that you
were there. This construction is natural enough
so long as we are talking about a real event in
the past or present. The word it performs this
same function after many prepositions and a
few verbs and is preferred in literary English
for statements about a future or imaginary
event, as in Z don’t like it that you are going
away and see to it that you are on time.
The fact that is a favorite expression in scientific
writing and is greatly overworked. It is
preferred to the literary it and is often inserted
where that is all that is required, as in he demonstrated
the fact that fwo and two make four
and he remembered the fact that supper would
be late. Sentences of this kind show that the
writer has a scientific respect for facts, even
though he cannot identify one.
factious; factitious; fictitious. One is factious who
is motivated solely by party spirit. He is a member
of a faction (a small group within a larger
group) and creates faction (party strife or intrigue).
So that which is factious is caused by
party spirit or strife (These factious quarrels
have almost destroyed the party. The factious
dread prosperity, for they live on discontent).
That is factitious which is artificial. It used
to have a literal meaning (Boyle spoke of Beer,
Ale, or other factitious drinks) but it is now restricted
to immaterial things (Luxury creutes
factitious wants) and is applied to things that
may have their origin in custom or habit but
are not natural. It has the meaning also of conventional
and it means something not spontaneous,
something got up for a particular
occasion (The use of gold and silver is in a great
measure factitious. That the applause which
greeted the candidate was wholly factitious was
shown by the suddenness with which it stopped
when the chairman motioned for silence).
That is fictitious which is based on fiction,
which is represented as real but is actually imaginary.
Thus a factious claim would be one
advanced solely in the interest of party or one
designed to arouse party strife. A factitious
claim is one that would not have been made but
has been created and pushed forward to suit
some private end. A fictitious claim is either
one that has never actually been made or one
that has an entirely imaginary basis.
factitive adjectives. See position of adjectives.
171 fairly
factor is one of the elements that contribute to
bring about a given result (Certainly his drinking
was a factor in his ruin). Hence to speak of
a contributing factor is to be redundant. To use
factor as if it meant simply an occurrence or an
event (as in One of the most pleasant factors of
our trip was a visit to the Mammoth Cave) is
incorrect.
faculty. In England the word faculty, in its educational
sense, retains the old meaning of one
of the departments of teaching in a universitythe
faculty of Medicine, of Law, of Theology,
of Arts. In the United States it designates the
entire teaching staff of a university and sometimes
the administrative staff as well. When used
in this sense, the word means the entire group
and not an individual member of the group.
The ulural form faculties would imulv more
than one school. The singular word maybe used
with a plural verb, as in the faculty are meeting
this afternoon. But it should not be used with
the article a or with a numeral as it is in three
faculty were present. See also facility.
faery; fairy. Fairies are supernatural beings, generally
thought of as diminutive humans, having
magical powers which they exercise capriciously
(The fairy footings on the grass). Their land is
fairyland. Faerie was originally simply a variant
spelling of fairy, but Spenser, in his The Faerie
Queene, impressed on it a meaning of a dim,
mysterious, romantic, imaginative land, beautiful
but with shades of terror and despair,
wholly purged of the undignified gamboling and
hopping about of the fairies (None that breatheth
living aire does know/ Where is that happy
land of Fuery). Keats set the final seal of differentiation
on the word in his reference to
magic casements, opening on the foam,/ Of
perilous seas, in faery lands forlorn.
The use of fairy as a slang term for a male
homosexual is so widespread in America that
it is almost impossible to use the word in public
with any other meaning.
fail may be followed by an infinitive, as in he
failed fo notice it. It could once be followed by
the -ing form of a verb, as in he failed noticing
it, but this construction is now obsolete.
failing. See fault.
fair and square is a hearty banality that has stuck
like a bur in popular speech because it rimes.
It is quite meaningless.
fair; fairly. Fair has been an adverb as long as it
has been an adjective and can be used to qualify
a verb, as in play fair. Like many other adverbs,
such as slow and hard, it cannot be used before
the verb form. And it cannot be used, as fairly
can, to mean “almost,” as in he fair jumped.
Fairly is always an adverb and is not used to
qualify a noun.
fairly means justly, impartially, clearly, distinctly,
handsomely (He will judge fairly between you.
A fairly woven garment). It also means completely,
positively, actually (His hobby has fairly
run away with him). This use is often employed
in exaggeration where the particular emphasis
makes it plain that it means “almost as if”