A third class of errors of a more conscious or semi-conscious description is due to the =substitution= of words or forms of similar meaning. Thus, for λέγει we may have εἶπε or ἔφη or ἀπεκρίνατο, or the simple form may be replaced by the compound or _vice versa_, or one preposition may be substituted for another.[254] Separate words are very frequently transposed without seriously affecting the sense. Thus, in Acts iv. 12, we find nearly all the possible permutations of the three words ονομα εστιν ετερον actually represented—viz., in addition to this (2) ονομα ετερον εστιν; (3) ετερον ονομα εστιν; (4) εστιν ετερον ονομα; (5) εστιν ονομα ετερον.[255] On Luke xvii. 10, Merx says (_Die vier kanonischen Evangelien_, p. 246): “Let it be observed that the position of ἀχρεῖοι fluctuates between (1) δοῦλοι ἀχρεῖοί ἐσμεν; (2) δοῦλοί ἐσμεν ἀχρεῖοι D, and (3) ἀχρεῖοι δοῦλοί ἐσμεν. Such fluctuations are due to the different arrangement of a word that did not originally belong to the text, but was appended as a note and afterwards incorporated with the text. Such fluctuations point to the interpolation of the fluctuating word.” This judgment has to be accepted with caution. For one thing, it is not at all clear which word it is that fluctuates. In this particular case, one might say that δοῦλοι fluctuates as much as ἀχρεῖοι, and the copula still more. Moreover such an interpolation becomes at once an integral part of the text, and its insertion is no longer visible. Only if several copies were made of that exemplar in which the interpolation was first introduced could fluctuation of this sort originate. Such transpositions are much more frequently of a harmless order, as each one may perceive for himself. The writer’s thoughts fly faster than his pen and anticipate a word that should not come in till later. One of the most frequent cases of transposition is that of Ἰησοῦς Χριστός and Χριστὸς Ἰησοῦς in the Pauline Epistles. [Sidenote: Additions.]