à gauche. Note the omission of the article before a

substantive forming, with a préposition, an adjective or adverbial phrase. Ex. : La porte de gauche, the left-hand side door ; aller à pied, to walk ; monter à cheval, to ride '; être de garde, to be on duty.

sur la pointe du pied, on tiptoe {K.B.—B^x^ la pointe des pieds is not unusual). Observe that tlie name of anytliiug is determined by the definite article, which is called by Littré a determinative adjective. Ex. : Le mieux est souvent l'ennemi du bien = let well aloue.

bien, quite. Before an adjective or an adverb, bien ( = tout à fait) is s}'nonymous with fort, très, as in Latin : ^;Ze?iMî?i hene lumen = une lumière éclatante ; it is also used as an adverb of quantity ( = beaucoup). Cf. hene multos inermes — bien des gens désarmés. Force is now less used in that sensé than it was in the seventeenth century. Ex. : force gens = many people. La renommée n'en dit pas force bien (ilolière) = He is not well spoken of.

sonnent, strike [lit. ring]. Note that the French conception of au action, as regards its subject, is the

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aini or resuit, rather than the means employed to attaiii it. Cf. To strike a match = allumer une allumette ; to strike a bargain = conclure ou faire un marché.

2. 1. il m'a dit, lie said to me. Note the almost exclusive lise of the past indefinite, contrary to English usage, lu conversation and correspondence, because that tense simply marks in French the fact that what the verb expresses belongs to the past, but (1) the past definite fixes the past tinie, and (2) the imperfect adds to the statement the idea of duration, répétition, or coïncidence. Cf. J'ai arrosé le jardin ; Romulus bâtit Rome ; Milon de Crotone mangeait vingt livres de viande à un repas. (See Stjnthdic French Gravimar, § 110, e.)