A Dictionary of Cont..

squalid, dark and fetid). It also means harmful,
injurious, noxious (The noisome pestilence).
It is sometimes misused for noisy. A good corrective
for this error is supplied by a quotation
from the poems of Henry Hirst in the Oxford
English Dictionary: LIegirt with noisome ivy
vines/ That shroud me like a pall.
nom de plume; nom de guerre; pen name; pseudonym.
Finding a name for a writer’s assumed
name seems to be dil-ficult in English. Nom de
plume is a French phrase coined in English
from French words to mean pen name. Pen
name means what it says, but it sounds artificial
and is, for it developed after nom de
plume as a translation of it. Nom de guerre
(war name) is the French term for assumed
name but can be used unself-consciously only
by the French. The Greeks had a word for it,
pseudonym, and if assumed name seems to have
too strong criminal connotations, pseudonym
is probably the least objectionable of the lot.
nominal means being such in name only (The
peace was nominal, for border clashes continued.
He was the nominal ruler, but he was
nothing but a figurehead, the actual functions
of government being controlled entirely by the
Chief Minister). When it is used to describe a
price or consideration, it means named as a
mere matter of form, being trifling in comparison
with the actual value. A nominal fee
is not a low fee but one so low that it is not a
fee at all but merely a token payment. The
business men who served in Washington during
World War I for a dollar a year received a
nominal wage. When nominal is used with
some such limiting word as merely, it designates
complete contrast to something substantia.1.
nominate. See name.
nominative absolute. See participles.
nominative case. The nominative is a Latin case
used to mark the subject of a verb. In modern
English this relationship is shown by position.
See subject of a verb and subjective pronouns.
nonce word. A nonce word is a word coined and
used only for the particular occasion, not
adopted into use (Coleridge’s mammonolatry
-mammon worship). Since in making such a
coinage the author implies that he finds the
immense vocabulary of the English language
insufficient, there is always the danger in its
use of being charged with vanity, affectation,
or ignorance of the language. There is also the
danger of not being understood or of annoying
the reader by compelling him to stop and
puzzle out the meaning of the strange word. If
the author and the reader are clever there may
be the surprise of a fine excess. But it’s risky.
Fowler says don’t try it unless you’re sure
you’re good.
none. At one time the words no and none had the
same relation to each other that my and mine
had. That is, only the form none could be used
alone without a noun; either form could :;tand
before a noun, and no was used before a consonant
and none before a vowel, as in no good
and none evil. This usage had become irregular
by the end of the sixteenth century. In the King
James Bible we find in Deuteronomy 5:7 thou
shalt have none other gods before me, but in
Exodus 20~3 thou shalt have no other gods
before me. In current English none is used
chiefly as a pronoun and no is the regular adjective
form. None may still function as an
adjective provided it is separated from the noun
it qualifies, as in but answer there came none
and better be jocund with the fruitful grape
than sadden after none, or bitter, fruit, but it
cannot stand in the normal adjective position.
We would now say no other gods.
The pronoun none may have a preceding
noun as antecedent, such as cause in men will
fight for any cause, or for none: or the antecedent
may not be expressed, as in none can
now say. The pronoun may be qualified by a
following adjective, such as living in none living
can remember the day and stranger in This glass
had seen some strange things. And surely none
stranger than itself. In they cause none such to
die, such is an adjective qualifying the pronoun
none. This construction is condemned by some
grammarians, but it is traditional, literary
English. None may be followed by an of phrase.
Here none of may mean no part of, as in none
of it is his, but it is more often an emphatic
negative equivalent to not at all as in it’s none
of your business and it’s your misfortune and
none of my own. This too is standard, literary
English. For genitive problems, see double
genitives.
The pronoun none is ordinarily used to make
a negative statement about all the members of
a certain group. A statement of this kind is
essentially plural. But grammar is not logic,
and grammatically the word may be either
singular or plural. It has been used in both
ways for as long as we have any records of the
language. An analysis of English literature
shows that from the time of Malory (1450) to
the time of Milton (16.50), none was treated as
a plural once for every three times it was treated
as a singular; and from the time of Milton to
1917, it was treated as a plural seven times for
every four times that it was treated as a singular.
Its use as a plural has increased noticeably
in the last forty years. In current English, none
is always treated as a plural when it refers to
persons. If we want to have the verb singular we
must now use no one or nobody as the subject.
The modern usage is seen in no one thinks he is
clever, but none except his family know how
stupid he really is. In speaking of things, none
may still be treated as a singular, but it is more
often treated as a plural.
None may also be used as an adverb in some
constructions. It may qualify the comparative
form of an adjective (or adverb) preceded by
the, as in none the worse for it, none the wiser,
none the less surely; or a positive form preceded
by too, as in none too soon, none too sure. In
Great Britain it may be used before a positive
form qualified by so, as in it’s none so pleasant,
but this construction is not often heard in the
United States. None may also be used alone
with a verb to mean not at all, as in I slept none