Institutio Oratoria

As for solecisms connected with expressions of quantity, there are some who will regard phrases such as magnum peculiolum [*]( Lit. A great little fortune. ) as a solecism, because the diminutive is used instead of the ordinary noun, which implies no diminution. I think I should call it a misuse of the diminutive rather than a solecism; for it is an error of sense, whereas solecisms are not errors of sense, but rather faulty combinations of words.

As regards participles, solecisms occur in case and gender as with nouns, in tense as with verbs, and in number as in both. The pronoun admits of solecisms in gender, number and case.

Solecisms also occur with great frequency in connexion with parts of speech: but a bare statement on this point is not sufficient, as it may lead a boy to think that such error consists only in the substitution of one part of speech for another, as for instance if a verb is placed where we require a noun, or an adverb takes the place of a pronoun and so on.

For there are some nouns which are cognate, that is to say of the same genus, and he who uses the wrong species [*](e.g. intus for intro, the genus being adverbs of place. ) in connexion with one of these will be guilty of the same offence as if he were to change the genus. Thus an and aut are conjunctions, but it would be bad Latin to say in a question hic and ille sit [*]( For hic an ille sit? ) ;

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