21 JUNE 1902, Page 14

THE WORD "EXPECT."

[TO THE EDITOR OF TRH " spEcTATort."1 rejoice to see Mr. Clapp's letter in the Spectator of June 14th about the wrong use of the word "expect." But the employment of it with a past tense following has authority. We in Scotland regard the Scotch Education Department as equal to the French Academie in the matter of correct English, and look to it for guidance in such a question. In the present examination for leaving certificates there occurs in the "anecdote" to be rendered into French the following sen- tence: "The Sultan expected he had got King Richard." Not to mention the somewhat colloquial use of the word " got " for "captured," we have here the highest authority for the use of " expect " in the sense which your note eon-