combinations: find out , run out , turn out , cheer up , dry up , make up , and others, each distinguishable in meaning from the simple verb. Lose out is not.

Most. Not to be used for almost.

Most everybody	Almost everybody
Most all the time	Almost all the time

Nature. Often simply redundant, used like character.

Acts of a hostile nature Hostile acts

Often vaguely used in such expressions as a “lover of nature;” “poems about nature.” Unless more specific statements follow, the reader cannot tell whether the poems have to do with natural scenery, rural life, the sunset, the untracked wilderness, or the habits of squirrels.

Near by. Adverbial phrase, not yet fully accepted as good English, though the analogy of close by and hard by seems to justify it. Near, or near at hand, is as good, if not better.

Not to be used as an adjective; use neighboring.

Oftentimes, ofttimes. Archaic forms, no longer in good use. The modern word is often.

One hundred and one. Retain the and in this and similar expressions, in accordance with the unvarying usage of English prose from Old English times.

One of the most. Avoid beginning essays or paragraphs with this formula, as, “One of the most interesting developments of modern science is, etc.;” “Switzerland is one of the most interesting countries of Europe.” There is nothing wrong in this; it is simply threadbare and forcible-feeble.

A common blunder is to use a singular verb in a relative clause following this or a similar expression, when the relative is the subject.

One of the ablest men that has attacked this problem. One of the ablest men that have attacked this problem.

Participle for verbal noun.

Do you mind me asking a question?	Do you mind my asking a question?
There was little prospect of the Senate accepting even this compromise.	There was little prospect of the Senate's accepting even this compromise.

In the left-hand column, asking and accepting are present participles; in the right-hand column, they are verbal nouns (gerunds). The construction shown in the left-hand column is occasionally found, and has its defenders. Yet it is easy to see that the second sentence has to do not with a prospect of the Senate, but with a prospect of accepting. In this example, at least, the construction is plainly illogical.

As the authors of The King's English point out, there are sentences apparently, but not really, of this type, in which the possessive is not called for.

I cannot imagine Lincoln refusing his assent to this measure.