Say for Voice.  “He had no say in determining the matter.”  Vulgar.

Scholar for Student, or Pupil.  A scholar is a person who is learned, not a person who is learning.

Score for Win, Obtain, etc.  “He scored an advantage over his opponent.”  To score is not to win a point, but to record it.

Second-handed for Second-hand.  There is no such word.

Secure for Procure.  “He secured a position as book-keeper.”  “The dwarf secured a stick and guarded the jewels that he had found.”  Then it was the jewels that were secured.

Seldom ever.  A most absurd locution.

Self-confessed.  “A self-confessed assassin.”  Self is superfluous:  one’s sins cannot be confessed by another.

Sensation for Emotion.  “The play caused a great sensation.”  “A sensational newspaper.”  A sensation is a physical feeling; an emotion, a mental.  Doubtless the one usually accompanies the other, but the good writer will name the one that he has in mind, not the other.  There are few errors more common than the one here noted.

Sense for Smell.  “She sensed the fragrance of roses.”  Society English.

Set for Sit.  “A setting hen.”

Settee for Settle.  This word belongs to the peasantry of speech.

Settle for Pay.  “Settle the bill.”  “I shall take it now and settle for it later.”

Shades for Shade.  “Shades of Noah! how it rained!” “O shades of Caesar!” A shade is a departed soul, as conceived by the ancients; one to each mortal part is the proper allowance.

Show for Chance, or Opportunity.  “He didn’t stand a show.”  Say, He had no chance.

Sick for Ill.  Good usage now limits this word to cases of nausea, but it is still legitimate in sickly, sickness, love-sick, and the like.

Side for Agree, or Stand.  “I side with the Democrats.”  “He always sided with what he thought right.”

Sideburns for Burnsides.  A form of whiskers named from a noted general of the civil war, Ambrose E. Burnside.  It seems to be thought that the word side has something to do with it, and that as an adjective it should come first, according to our idiom.

Side-hill for Hillside.  A reasonless transposition for which it is impossible to assign a cause, unless it is abbreviated from side o’ the hill.

Sideways for Sidewise.  See Endways.

Since for Ago.  “He came here not long since and died.”

Smart for Bright, or Able.  An Americanism that is dying out.  But “smart” has recently come into use for fashionable, which is almost as bad.

Snap for Period (of time) or Spell.  “A cold snap.”  This is a word of incomprehensible origin in that sense; we can know only that its parents were not respectable.  “Spell” is itself not very well-born.