A Dictionary of Cont..

succor 488
the expression of much in a few words. Its
original meaning was to cut off or to cut short.
A concise style, as Ben Jonson said, is one which
expresses not enough “but leaves something to
be understood.” Thus a succinct style is one in
which a great deal is pressed into a statement, a
concise style is one in which everything except
what is absolutely necessary has been eliminated.
See also compendious; reticent.
succor. See help.
succubus. See incubus.
such. Some grammarians list such as a demonstrative
pronoun or adjective. Like the words
this and that, its meaning ordinarily depends on
something that has just been said or is about to
be said. When this is not the case it is used as a
blank, to represent some specific word or phrase
that is not being provided, as in the record
shows that on such a date he left early.
The adjective such may qualify a mass noun,
as in such knowledge, or a plural, as in such
men. To qualify a true singular we use the
phrase such a, as in such a man. The fact that
such regularly stands before a rather than after
it has led some grammarians to class such as an
adverb. But it is better to consider this simply
an idiom. It has been in use for more than seven
hundred years and has now completely replaced
the normal form seen in to lead such dire attack.
But this does not apply following the word no.
No such thing, for example, is standard English
and no such a thing is questionable.
Such or such a may be used as a pure intensive,
as in such beautiful weather, such a terrible
storm. Some grammarians object to this on the
grounds that such is here being treated as an
adverb. But a great many adjective forms are
used as intensives and this use of such is established
in literature and accepted by well educated
people today. See adjectives as adverbs.
Such is used as a pronoun, or without a following
noun, in literary English. But in speech
there is a strong tendency to replace such with
one, or it, or some other word. One would probably
be substituted for such in he is a friend
and I treat him as such; and it in the grounds for
such being established; this in such was not the
decision; and those who in such as need our
help. Such a one seems to be acceptable when
there is a preceding noun to which it can refer,
as in I have had good teachers, but never such
a one as you describe. When used without a preceding
noun and referring to a human being, it
is usually replaced by some one.
Such can always be followed by as introducing
an explanatory or defining clause, as in
such as know what they want. Formerly it could
be followed by as introducing a clause of result,
as in with such violence and speed as nothing
was able to sustain its force. This construction
is no longer standard. In current English that is
required before a clause of this kind, and an
infinitive must be used after such as to express
result, as in don’t be such a fool as to refuse.
A cardinal number precedes the word such, a~
in of two such lessons When not qualifying a
noun, such may be preceded by none, as in none
such can have been made for hundreds of years.
The phrase none such has the force of “none
like that” or “none of that kind,” and is literary
English. The form no such is now used only as
an adjective before a noun, as in no such nonsense.
such stuff as dreams are made on is the correct
form of the quotation (We are such stuff/ As
dreams are made on, and our little life/ Is
rounded with a sleep-The Tempest, Act IV,
Scene 1 ), but since on here means of, it is
pedantic to correct those who speak it in the
modern version-we are such stuf7 as dreams
are made of. Detached from the full quotation,
the phrase by itself is a cliche.
suds may be treated as a singular or as a plural.
We may say this suds is better than that or these
suds are better than those. But it is a mass word
and not a true plural. We may say much suds or
a great deal of suds but not many suds or several
suds. There is no singular form a sud.
suffer. When this word means “allow” it may be
followed by an infinitive, as in suffer the little
children to come unto me, but not by the -ing
form of a verb. When the word means “experience
pain” it may be followed by the -ing form
with the preposition from, as in I suffer from
knowing it, or by an infinitive, as in I suffer to
think of it. See also sustain.
suffer fools gladly. Usually employed in any one
of several negative forms (not lo suffer fools
gladly, one who doesn’t suffer fools gladly, etc.)
as an expression to describe one who is markedly
impatient with the stupid, the phrase (a
quotation from II Corinthians 11: 19) is now
hackneyed.
suffering; sufferance. Suflering is the act of one
who suffers or a particular instance of that act.
Sufferance now means tolerance of a person
or thing, a tacit allowance but no more. It is
most commonly used in the phrase on suflerante
(He stayed in college only on sufferance
of the dean). It conveys the sense of passive
permission, permission in default of strong
objection.
sufficient; enough. Either of these adjectives can
be used in most contexts, but not both. Suficient
enough is redundant. Both mean adequate
for the want or need, though enough is more
commonly used. Suficient is often felt to be a
little more elegant. See also ample.
sufficiently may be followed by an infinitive, as in
suficiently large to satisfy us. It is sometimes
used with a clause, as in su#iciently large that we
were satisfied, but this is not standard English.
suffixes are usually joined to the preceding word
without a hyphen, as clockwise, manhood, stainless,
spoonful. But there are a few exceptions.
1. Elect, odd, wide, when used as suffixes, are
usually hyphenated, as in president-elect, fortyodd,
nation-wide.
2. Fold is joined without a hyphen to words
of one syllable; otherwise it is written as a separate
word, as in tenfold, twenty fold. (Some
publishers join fold to any single word and print
it separately with compound numbers, as in
twentyfold and twenty-fwo fold.)