A First Book in Writing English

Oral Exercise.—Why are the following subjects unfit for short themes? Suggest two or three theme topics that might be derived from each. 1. George Washington. 2. Snow. 3. War. 4. Evening. 5. Light. 6. Politeness.

Oral Exercise.—Name several limited subjects that would be available if you were trying to interest legitimately (a) an audience of college men, (b) an audience of high school boys, (c) an audience of high school girls, (d) an audience of business men.

Theme.—Choose one of the following subjects, and think how to secure for it the interest of persons three or four years younger than yourself. Think of some intelligent boy or girl, one who, though considerably your junior, distinctly commands your respect, and explain to him high school ways of studying either (a) physiography, or (b) history, or (c) Latin, or (d) manual training, or (e) English, or some other subject. The theme should consist of one paragraph, of about 200 words.

Oral and Written Exercise.—Choose three of the following subjects, and think what illustrations you would use to make them clear to different audiences. Draw upon your knowledge of the things that are most familiar to the experience of each audience. Jot down memoranda of the illustrations that you suggest, and afterward compare notes in the oral discussion. For example,

Explain, by illustration:—

• A gentleman, to a gamin.
• Ice, to a native of the tropics.
• The charm of foot-ball, to a girl.
• The pleasure of work, to a shirk.
• Wagner’s music, to a deaf painter.
• The charm of foot-ball, to a soldier.
• The solar system, to a child of eight.
• Oranges, to a native of the polar regions.
• The charm of a true lady, to an awkward lad.
• The Jungle Book, to a North American Indian.
• A newsboy’s life, to an earl’s son or a millionnaire’s son.
• A sleepless night, to a person who sleeps like a top.
• A headache, to a person who never had a headache.
• The charm of Stevenson, to a reader of dime novels.
• Taking gas at the dentist’s, to a person who never lost a tooth.
• An encyclopædia, to a man who never heard of such a book.
• Paragraph construction, to a youth who cares only for the shop.
• The danger of open windows, to a child who never heard of death.
• Some good monthly, to a bright boy or girl who had never seen a magazine.

Transitions between Paragraphs.—Suppose that a given theme is a unit, no idea being admitted that does not bear on the topic; suppose, further, that the paragraphs are units, each treating a distinct part of the theme idea; it remains to be sure that the reader gets easily from paragraph to paragraph. Sometimes the writer is so anxious to make each paragraph a unit in itself that the reader does not feel at once that the new section has anything to do with the preceding.

Look back to the theme on the Glimpse of the Lake. There were three things to talk about: water, boats, fishing. At the end of the paragraph on the water the attention must be led over without any jar to the subject of boats. The last idea of the water paragraph was that the edge of the lake grew white and distinct. In beginning the new paragraph, we may refer to that idea. “Breaking through that white streak of water near the shore comes a dark something,” etc.

Now look at the paragraph on fishing. How does the writer try to get over to the fishing from the boats? Explain in recitation.

The joints of the theme should be smooth and strong, like the joints of bamboo—not a rude joint made by chisel and hammer.

Written Exercise.—The instructor will hand you in class your themes thus far written. Go over them carefully, trying by revision to make the thought connection closer between the paragraphs. For the future, always read carefully the whole paragraph before beginning the next.

Transitions between Sentences.—Within the paragraph each sentence should grow vitally out of the preceding. “Connection is the soul of good writing,” said the great translator, Jowett of Balliol. Plan sentences ahead; and read each sentence before you write the next. Make it impossible for people to say of you as they used to say of Emerson, “His sentences read equally well in any order.” Make it impossible to pick a sentence out and set it down elsewhere, without tearing the theme as Æneas rent young Polydore.

Frequently the sentences can be bound tighter together by beginning the next with a reference to some idea contained in the preceding. Burke, pleading in Parliament for America, said: “But with regard to her own internal establishment, she may, I doubt not she will, contribute in moderation. I say in moderation, for she ought not to be permitted to exhaust herself. She ought to be reserved to a war, the weight of which, with the enemies that we are most likely to have, must be considerable in her quarter of the globe. There she may serve you, and serve you essentially.” Here the last words of each sentence suggest the first words of the next. Of course this way of getting coherence is easily overdone; but it is very valuable, nevertheless.

It is easy to discover the order in which Ruskin wrote the following sentences, here printed in wrong order. Find the true arrangement, and tell how it was found.

Oral Exercise.—Change either the grammatical construction or the order of words wherever you think such change will increase the coherence of the following paragraph.

“We were coasting down chapel hill. In western New York, this is one of many similar long hills. This state is indeed a coaster’s paradise in many parts. The particular paradise I speak of, saw, however, a disastrous fall of a brave young Adam and a gentle young Eve. Williams, I mean by this, who was coming like a meteor down the hill, with Miss —— in front of him on the “bob-sled,” as he reached the bridge, was thrown out of the track. Luckless bridge! it ought to have been guarded by stout rails. There were no rails, however, and across the narrow canyon, Williams, with his precious charge, took a flying leap. On the other side of it, five feet below, was a wooden abutment. The lives of the young people were saved by this; for the sled shot across the gulf and landed on the projection. We picked the adventurers up from this perilous perch. They were more surprised than hurt. But after he had time to think, Williams confessed that he was never more frightened in his life; for he thought of the thirty feet of space below that wooden ledge.”

CHAPTER VIII
ON CORRECTNESS IN CHOICE OF WORDS

Authority.—If the art of writing is the art of saying what we mean, we must use words that the reader will understand. Of course the word reader is rather general: there are readers and readers. An article written for adults would show different words from one written for children. For the purposes of this chapter, our typical reader is the American or the Englishman who has a good public school training. This “average man” may in theory happen to live in London, or in Maine, or, again, in Texas. Now, there are certain words used in Texas that are not used in London or in Maine. In parts of New Jersey and Pennsylvania a small pail is called a “blickey.” Most natives of Chicago never heard the word. Such words as “blickey” are called provincialisms or localisms, and are ruled out. Our words must be national. This need not mean international; many words are used in England that need not be used in America, and vice versâ. The American speaks of switching a train; the Englishman speaks of shunting it. With the former the train goes up a steep grade; with the latter it goes up a gradient. The Englishman calls baggage, luggage, a word that Americans are more likely to use of those pieces only that can be carried in the hand. It is to be presumed that national differences of this sort are known to American and Englishman alike; therefore there is no reason why either should change from the usage of his country. Good English is essentially the same in all English-speaking countries.

One other matter is suggested by the words national usage. A nation is composed of all sorts and conditions of men. Each class, each trade and profession, has its own pet expressions and contractions. Good usage does not recognize these. The dialect of the college, or the ball-ground, or the counting-room, or the law-courts, is racy enough and proper enough in its place; but it has no place in standard English. A student may flunk, but only in school. A book of accounts can be posted, but not a man.

Again, our words must not be so old-fashioned or obsolete that they are unintelligible. They must be present. Let once meant “to hinder.” Naturally no one would use it in this sense to-day.

Many words that are both national and present are not permitted, since they are not reputable. They are used, but wrongly so; used by the careless and the uneducated. A great number of such expressions are perfectly well understood wherever English is spoken, but if one employs them one will be set down as careless or ignorant; for example, ain’t is intelligible to all, but its use is known to be a mark of vulgarity; such a word is called a vulgarism. Most slang consists of vulgarisms, though some slang finally becomes reputable English. Reputable words are those employed by the best writers. By best is meant writers who have literary distinction, and who know and regard the structure and history of English literary words. In this day, when everybody scribbles and prints, there are countless writers whose usage is not really reputable. The newspapers, though they have done much to free modern English from pedantry, are not usually reputable in usage. The English of very many novelists is in bad repute. Even certain writers of eminence, such as Dickens and Thomas Hughes, are guilty of using unreputable words and senses of words. Such essayists as Matthew Arnold and John Fiske; such writers of fiction as Thackeray, Hawthorne, Stevenson, and Henry James; such historians as Green and Parkman—these men are in general safe models in matters of usage.

To sum up, then; if we would be understood, and would be reckoned as educated persons, we must use words that are reputable, national, and present. Good usage is the employment of such words and, senses of words as the body of reputable writers sanction by their own practice to-day. Notice that the body of reputable writers is specified. No one author makes good use, any more than one swallow makes a summer. When a critic wishes to prove by authority that a given expression is English, he must be able to quote it from many authors.

The Dictionary.—A dictionary is a codification of good usage. Indeed, a large dictionary codifies also much bad usage, explaining in the case of the latter the particular form of badness, whether local usage, or colloquial usage, or vulgar usage. Such a dictionary also outlines the history of each word, so far as this is known; it can here be learned what was standard English yesterday, what three centuries ago. A dictionary habit is indispensable to every one. When in doubt about the present meaning or pronunciation of a word, or curious as to its history, look it up. Have an abridged dictionary of your own,—the less abridged the better,—but consult also the unabridged books frequently. Every author rediscovers the charm that lies in the dictionary. To find that charm, every word of the given explanations should be read, and the system of diacritical marks, which show syllabification, accent, vowel, and consonant sounds, should be studied.

Barbarisms.—Lord Chesterfield writes to his son: “The first thing you should attend to is, to speak whatever language you do speak, in its greatest purity, and according to the rules of grammar; for we must never offend against grammar, nor make use of words which are not really words.”

A word that is not in a good dictionary, or is there branded as provincial or as vulgar, is not really a word, and should not be used. An expression that has not been recognized by good use is called a barbarism. Often such terms are incorrectly formed, as when they are coined by ignorant persons; often they are corruptions of words. Motorneer is wrongly coined; slick is corrupted from sleek. Motorneer is made up of motor plus the ending er. The ne is left over from the discarded steam engine, for motorneer is made by false analogy from engineer. The proper word is motorman. If there is need for a new word in the language,—and the need often arises in these days of invention,—its component parts should be from the same tongue, and it should be formed by strict analogy, on the model of some correct, accepted word. Examine such a word as shadowgraph, which the more careless newspapers began to use as soon as the “Roentgen rays” were discovered. Shadow is English; graph is Greek,—a termination that should be added only to a Greek word. Various correct formations have been proposed for the ray-picture—scotograph, radiograph, skiagraph, etc. It remains to be seen which one of these words will become established. Examine the word electrocution. It is formed on the false analogy of execution. Execution is from the Latin ex + sequor, meaning “to follow up,” or, so to speak, “to chase down.” The man who invented electrocution could not have known that sequor was a part of execution. He merely tied together electro and cution, thinking perhaps that cution meant cutting or killing. Electro is from the Greek (meaning “amber,” the substance by rubbing which some one discovered electricity), and in strictness should not be joined to a Latin termination, even if that be correct. We might easily have had a good English word for death in the electrical chair; but as matters stand, there is no one recognized word for this idea.

Other barbarisms are: burglarize, to enthuse (a bad coinage from enthusiasm), an invite, double entendre and nom de plume (two expressions which are neither accepted French nor accepted English), walkist, a combine, preventative (for preventive), reportorial, managerial, to suicide, gent, pants (the trade name, but not the literary), photo, prof., spoonsful. Words brought into the English from other languages, and not yet recognized by good use, are also barbarisms. Such words are said to be not yet Anglicized. They are referred to as alienisms, and most may be classified as Latinisms, Hellenisms (or Greek words), Teutonisms (chiefly German words), Gallicisms (French words). A word peculiar to America is an Americanism; one peculiar to England is a Briticism. Some Americanisms and Briticisms are not really barbarisms, but are warranted by the canon of national use.

The following words are as yet alienisms: artiste, sobriquet, beau monde, faux pas, entre nous, etc. Certain other words are Anglicized: amateur, omelette, etiquette, litterateur, etc. The temptation to sprinkle foreign words unnecessarily into one’s English reaches most persons sooner or later. It should be withstood. The English language is rich enough to furnish forth any man’s vocabulary.

Many words that may finally become good English are not yet accepted. To be on the safe side one should say: point of view, not standpoint; upon, not onto; written permission, not a permit; he doesn’t, not he don’t.[30]

In the list given above it is remarked of pants that it is a trade name (for what are ordinarily known as trousers or pantaloons). Commercial English and literary English are two different things; and while a careful novelist would hardly write about wheatena, or flexibone, or autoharp, he might talk about them in the shops. Yet these words are not correctly formed; and the same thing is unhappily true of other trade names.

Improprieties.—Suppose, now, that a writer uses a good English word, but uses it in a sense not found in the best authors. In this case he uses the word improperly; he commits an impropriety. Sometimes two words sound so much alike that they are mistaken one for the other; for instance, accept and except. Sometimes the two words mean nearly the same thing, and so come to be confused; for example, continual and continuous. The following list gives the words that are most frequently mistaken for each other. In the illustrative sentences each such word is correctly used, and in all cases the other word would be incorrect or at least less desirable if substituted for it.

Nouns

Ability, capacity.

1. The capacity of man’s memory is great.

2. Capacity for learning and ability for doing are secrets of success.

What idea do these words share?

Acceptance, acceptation.

1. His acceptance was graceful.

2. You use the word in its usual acceptation.

Each of these words contains the idea to take. In what sense may this be said?

Access, accession.

1. Access to the director is easy.

2. The library has received an accession of books.

3. She was seized with an access of grief.

4. The Tsar celebrated his accession to the throne.

Each of these words contains the idea of entrance. Access means the entrance of a person into a room or into the presence of another; also the entrance of a flood of emotion into the mind. Accession means the entrance of a person into the rights of a position; also the entrance of books or other objects to a collection,—an addition to the collection.

Act, action.

1. Character is developed by action.

2. Our own acts for good or ill speak for us.

Explain how both these words hold the idea of do.

Advance, advancement.

1. The swallow comes with the advance of the season.

2. He has received advancement.

3. Each advance of Napoleon was swift.

What idea have these two words in common? Explain how they differ.

Alternative, choice.

1. There is no alternative; he must go.

2. There are only three choices.

Alternative is a choice between —— things.

Avocation, vocation.

1. My regular calling, or vocation, is teaching; but for an avocation I spend my holidays in photography.

2. Dr. Weir Mitchell is a physician; but his regular vocation of medicine doesn’t prevent him from following the delightful avocation of letters.

Both these words have the idea of calling. Explain how they differ. (What does ab mean in Latin?)

Balance, remainder.

1. The balance of the sum is due.

2. The remainder of the day is spent.

What relation exists between balancing (a book) and remainder?

Character, reputation.

1. His reputation for integrity is good.

2. His character is beyond reproach.

3. A man cannot always control his reputation, but he can control his character.

Character is what a man ——; reputation is what people —— of him.

Compliment, complement.

1. Woman’s mind is by many considered the complement of man’s, supplying certain things that the masculine mind has not.

2. His compliments are really flatteries.

3. The secretary supplied the army with its complement of stores.

Council, counsel.

1. His counsel defended him in the trial.

2. Let good counsel prevail.

3. The council of ten gave good counsel.

Define these two words. What idea have they in common?

Falseness, falsity.

Arnold was a traitor; and the falseness of his character was proved by the falsity of his statements.

What idea do these words share? Frame definitions.

Invention, discovery.

Edison discovered certain laws of sound and by them invented the phonograph. This invention is not as yet very useful; but the discovery of the laws was important.

What idea do these words share? Frame definitions.

Limit, limitation.

1. There should be no limitation of the commander’s authority.

2. There were no limits to his delight.

What common idea have these words? Define each.

Majority, plurality.

A majority is more than half the whole number. A plurality is the excess of votes received by one candidate above another. When there are several candidates, the one who receives more votes than any other has a plurality.

In what respect are these words alike in meaning? in what unlike?

Observation, observance.

1. His observation of the habits of birds was keen.

2. His observance of the Sabbath was strict.

Is watch the best word for the idea shared by these words? Discuss.

Observation, remark.

1. Johnson’s observations of men were keen.

2. Johnson’s observations were made with his eyes; his remarks, with his tongue; and Boswell, by recording the remarks, recorded the observations.

What relation has a remark to an observation?

Party, person.

1. A party in a silk hat must be a party of Liliputians.

2. The party of the first part was two persons.

3. A seedy person joined the party.

4. I refuse to be a party to the deed.

Is the idea of a part always contained in the word party? Discuss.

Part, portion.

1. Esau sold his portion, the part allotted him.

2. The human body has many parts.

3. Waiter, one portion of roast beef will do!

What is a portion?

Prominent, predominant.

There were many prominent men in Lincoln’s cabinet, but the President was always predominant among them.

Consult the unabridged as to the origin of these words.

Recipe, receipt.

If receipt comes from the Latin meaning “taken,” it is easy to see why when money is taken a receipt is given. Recipe is a Latin imperative, meaning “take”; naturally it is the right word for a formula in cooking; “take” so much salt, so much meal, so much water—and lo! a johnny cake.

Relative, relation.

One may have many relatives with whom he does not keep up close relations.

Is relation preferably an abstract noun, or a concrete?

Residence, house.

1. Do not say residence when you mean house; the simpler word is the better.

2. He has his residence in his house.

3. His residence, or place of residence, is Montreal.

Sewage, sewerage.

The sewage flows through the system of sewerage.

Site, situation.

1. Lovely is Zion for situation.

2. The site of Troy was repeatedly built upon, each new Troy being in turn destroyed by fire or by some enemy.

3. The situation of Chicago by the lake gives the city fresh breezes.

What kind of place is a site? What is a situation?

Verbs

Accept, except.

1. All Cretans are liars, runs the proverb: the proverb excepts none.

2. He accepted the invitation.

Both words have the idea of take. How is this true of except?

Affect, effect.

1. Even the rumor affected his belief, changing it slightly.

2. He effected a junction with the other army.

Which of these words could properly govern reconciliation? mind? health? release? conduct after release? destruction? conscience? peace of mind? Which one of the two words requires for an object a noun expressing an action?

Aggravate, irritate, tantalize.

1. Tantalus was tantalized by the sight of inaccessible fruit.

2. He aggravates the difficulty by trying to excuse his act.

3. He is aggravating his cold by going out.

4. He irritates me by his teasing.

5. The gravity of our case is but aggravated by delay.

Allude, mention.

1. Nobody would allude to an experience so unpleasant to all that party.

2. He alluded to Washington as the Father of his Country.

3. He mentioned several ways of accomplishing the work; then he went back to his duties, not alluding to the subject again.

Can a person allude to a thing without assuming knowledge of it on the part of an audience? Can a thing be alluded to for the first time? if so, would it be the first time it was spoken of? Make allusions to several great men without mentioning their names.

Antagonize, alienate.

1. By antagonizing the views of his friends, he alienated their sympathies from him.

2. He alienated his friends by antagonizing them.

Begin, commence.

These words are often interchangeable, but commence is the more formal. Begin is the better word ordinarily.

Bring, fetch.

1. Come here and bring the book.

2. Go and fetch the book.

Define these two words. What is their common idea?

Claim, assert, etc.

1. Claim means to assert a right to a thing as one’s own. It means neither to say, to assert, to declare, to maintain, to hold, to allege, nor to contend.

2. He claims the right to be heard.

3. He maintains that he ought to be heard.

4. He asserts that such is the fact.

Note.—It is better not to use claim with the conjunction that.

Degrade, demean, debase.

1. Being in disgrace, the captain was degraded from his rank.

2. He demeans himself sometimes well, sometimes ill.

3. He debases [or degrades] himself by his profanity.

Give a synonym for demean.

Drive, ride.

In England one rides only when one is on horseback; one is said to drive if in a carriage. In America one drives when one holds the reins; but we go driving even when the coachman drives. There is also excellent authority for take a ride, and go riding, when conveyance in a carriage is meant.

Endorse, approve, second.

1. He seconded all his friend’s propositions.

2. He endorsed the check across the top.

3. He approved his colleague’s act.

What is a dorsal fin? What does endorse mean, by etymology?

Got, gotten, have.

1. Got is perhaps preferable to gotten.

2. Don’t say you’ve got a thing when you merely have it, without having secured it.

What idea is common to get and have?

Guess, think, reckon.

1. I think I shall go.

2. He reckoned the cost before he started.

3. I guess there are a hundred.

[The habitual misuse of guess is an American fault.]

Intend, calculate.

1. She received his apologies with a resentment they were likely, but were not intended, to inspire.[31]

2. He aimed at the animal a blow calculated to kill it.

3. I fully intend to go, but cannot calculate how soon.

Let, leave.

1. Let me be! Don’t bother me when I want to study.

2. Let me alone!

3. Leave me alone here.

4. Let go! Unhand me.

Let once meant “to hinder.” Now it means the opposite—“permit.”

Lie, lay.

The chief trouble with the first of these two words seems to concern the past tense: “He laid down on the sofa.”

Locate, settle.

1. He located his house there (not located there).

2. He settled in Chicago.

Loan, lend.

It is not incorrect to use loan in the sense of lend, but lend is the less formal and the preferable word.

May, can.

May it not be said that any person who has not learned the difference between these two words, can hardly be permitted to call himself a user of good English?

It is not hard to see why people confuse these two words. Often the questioner feels that, for all practicable purposes, the refusal of his request will make a barrier over which he cannot go. When he says “Can I go,” he is feeling, “Will you make it possible for me to go? for unless you consent I cannot go—I cannot afford to, or I cannot conscientiously, or I cannot and remain on right terms with you.” Nevertheless, may is the only right word to use in asking permission.

Proved, proven.

1. The point was not proved.

2. Verdict: “Not proven.” Proven is a Scotch legal term, wrongly supposed by some persons to be preferable to proved out of the court-room.

Purpose, propose.

1. One can’t propose unless he proposes something to somebody.

2. One can purpose to do a thing, without proposing it to any one.

How do both these words contain the idea of placing?

Sit, set.

The chief errors in the use of sit and set are two. Some people insist on saying “setting hen” for “sitting hen,” and “the coat sets well” for “sits well.” A few say, “Sit yourself down,” for the somewhat old-fashioned “sit you down” (where the you is nominative) or for “set yourself down.” Similarly this error has been known to occur—“he sat the basket of eggs down.”

Stay, stop.

1. He stopped at Albany; he went no farther.

2. At what hotel are you staying, these days?

Transpire, happen.

A good many things happened that dark night when the boys were out for a lark; but it never transpired what really did happen; nothing leaked out or got to the light.

Spiro means “to breathe.” Trans (across) when in composition means through, out. Is it not clear how the present use of the word comes about? Explain. Compare the words expire, conspire, inspire. How does each get its present meaning?

Wish, want, desire.

1. It is sometimes correct enough to say want in the place of wish.

2. You shall want nothing; all shall be supplied.

3. You shall not want anything you may desire.

Which idea springs out of the other—want from wish, or wish from want?

Adjectives and Adverbs

Apt, likely, liable.

1. He is apt at languages.

2. He is likely to fail if he does not properly prepare himself. [Here apt was possible, but not so good as likely.]

Apt means “fitted,” “fit.” How could such an idea as “It is apt to rain this month” spring from the idea of fit?

3. He is likely to succeed if only he tries.

4. He is liable to arrest and quarantine,—though not likely to be arrested,—merely because he is liable to come down with a contagious disease.

With what kind of feeling does a person look forward to a thing to which he is liable?

Continual, continuous.

1. A continual dropping is a Biblical phrase.

2. A continuous dropping would not be a dropping at all. It would be a stream.

What idea have these words in common?

Funny, odd.

1. It is odd that I haven’t heard of this before.

2. It is a funny sight to see Fido trying desperately to catch his own tail.

Can you explain something of the mental process by which a child comes to say funny so frequently, and strange so rarely? Is it all a matter of imitation, or is there some other reason? Are there not more of strange things in a child’s experience than of funny things?

Healthy, healthful.

Healthful food makes a healthy man.

Give a synonym for healthful as applied to food.

Imminent, eminent, immanent.

1. The eminent Latin writer, Livy, speaks of Hannibal’s elephants as looming up—eminentes—through the mist.

2. That God is immanent in all the world was a doctrine of the Greek fathers; they meant that he pervades and is diffused throughout it.

3. The sword of Damocles hung imminent, suspended by a hair.

4. He is in imminent danger of disgrace.

With which two of these words is the idea of threaten connected? Which has the idea of remain, or stay, in it?

In, into.

1. Bruno looked up into his master’s face.

2. He got into the chariot.

3. He sprang into the lake, while I stayed in the boat.

4. Once in the lake, he swam round.

What difference in the use of these words?

Last, latest.

1. The last page of the book is done.

2. The latest news from the patient is bad.

Does latest imply anything as to the future?

Last, preceding.

1. Let each paragraph be joined smoothly with the preceding.

2. The last paragraph ends the theme.

Mad, angry.

1. There is no reason for being angry.

2. Much learning hath made thee mad.

3. He was mad with rage—fairly insane.

Most, almost.

1. Most men are optimists.

2. Almost every man loves praise.

Parse the words italicized above.

Mutual, common.

1. Our common friend is the better expression, though Dickens has made famous the corresponding worse usage.

2. Friendship may be mutual; a friend cannot.

3. Separated by mountains and by mutual fear.

What is meant by reciprocal? Which word is a synonym of reciprocal?

Oral, verbal.

1. Miles Standish’s act of sending the Indians a snake-skin filled with powder and ball, was a message, but not a verbal message.

2. If you are to see John, let me send him this oral message: Never say die.

3. The corrections did not affect the truth of the statements, but only the manner: they were verbal corrections.

4. The telegraph operator translates into verbal form the message that he hears in the ticking of his receiver.

The Latin word os means mouth; the Latin word verbum means a word. Do oral and verbal keep the sense of the Latin words? Can a verbal message be oral? Can an oral message be verbal? Is an oral message ordinarily verbal? Can you imagine an oral message that is not verbal?

Posted, informed.

1. The ledger is well posted.

2. The editor is well informed.

Can you see the slightest reasonable advantage in speaking of a person as well posted? In other words, does this commercial slang lend any real force?

Practicable, practical.

His scheme won’t work; it isn’t practicable. I’m afraid he isn’t so practical a schemer as we thought.

Quite, somewhat, very, rather, entirely, wholly.

1. Quite never means “very,” “rather,” or “somewhat.” It means “wholly.”

2. Harry is quite well; he is never sick.

3. Yes, I like him rather well.

4. Thank you; I’m quite myself again.

Curtail quite, and you get another good English adjective from the same root. How is this shorter word related in sense to the longer? With which of the following expressions can quite be used? Well (adj.), sick, recovered, pretty, finished, settled, nice, good, assured, patient, used up, satisfied, a good deal, fine, a hero, a way, a mile, a noise, a failure, a lot, a hundred, a few, a good many, a million, a dozen, some, well (adv.), a while, an hour, your debtor, every one, all, around, through, under, o’erthrown, down, elated, in a rage, underestimate, vanquished, quarrelsome, lovely, everywhere, crestfallen.

Real, really, extremely.

1. I think he’s a real Count.

2. I think he’s extremely mean.

3. He’s really a very fine fellow.

Parse the words italicized above.

Some, somewhat.

1. The sick man is somewhat better this morning.

2. Some men have greatness thrust upon them.

Parse the words italicized above.

Without, unless.

1. I can’t go unless there is a holiday.

2. I can’t go without getting permission.

Parse the words italicized above.

Oral Exercise.—The following sentences are from John Ruskin. No improprieties occur in the originals. Within each pair of brackets a word is given, sometimes the right word, sometimes the wrong word. Study the meaning of each sentence, and satisfy yourself as to what is the best expression for each place in question.

1. The ennobling difference between one man and another—between one animal and another—is precisely in this, that one feels more than another. If we were sponges, perhaps sensation might not be easily [gotten] for us; if we were earth-worms, [apt] at every instant to be cut in two by the spade, perhaps too much sensation might not be good for us.

2. But chiefly of all, she is taught to extend the [limitations] of her sympathy.

3. Very ready we are to say of a book, “How good this is—that’s exactly what I think!” But the right feeling is, “How [odd] that is! I never thought of that before, and yet I see it is true; or if I do not now, I hope I shall some day.”

4. I believe, then, with this exception, that a girl’s education should be nearly, in its course and material of study, the same as a boy’s; but [entirely] differently directed. A woman in any rank of life ought to know whatever her husband is [liable] to know, but to know it in a different way.

5. I do not blame them for this, but only for their narrow motive in this. I would have them [want] and [assert] the title of “lady” provided they [allege] not merely the title, but the office and duty signified by it.

6. And not less wrong—perhaps even more foolishly wrong (for I will [expect] thus far what I hope to prove)—is the idea that woman is only the shadow and attendant image of her lord.

7. But now, having no true [avocation], we pour our whole masculine energy into the false business of money-making.

8. Having then faithfully listened to the great teachers, that you may enter into their thoughts, you have yet this higher [advancement] to make,—you have to enter into their hearts.

9. And, lastly, a great nation does not mock Heaven and its Powers by pretending belief in a revelation which [asserts] the love of money to be the root of all evil, and [claiming], at the same time that it is actuated, and [proposes] to be actuated, in all chief national deeds and measures, by no other love.

10. But an education “which shall keep a good coat on my son’s back; which shall [capacitate] him to ring with confidence the visitors’ bell at double-belled doors; which shall result ultimately in the establishment of a double-belled door to his own [residence]—in a word, which shall lead to [advance] in life—this we pray for on bent knees; and this is all we pray for.” It never seems to occur to the parents that there may be an education which in itself is [advance] in Life; that any other than that may perhaps be [advancement] in Death; and that this essential education might be more easily [gotten] or given, than they [guess], if they set about it in the right way, while it is for no price and by no favor to be [got], if they set about it in the wrong.

11. The chance and scattered evil that may here and there haunt, or hide itself in, a powerful book, never does any harm to a noble girl; but the emptiness of an author oppresses her, and his amiable folly [degrades] her. And if she can have [access] to a good library of old and classical books, there need be no choosing at all. Keep the modern magazine and novel out of your girl’s way; turn her loose into the old library every day, and [let] her alone.

Oral Exercise.—Examine the italicized words in the following sentences, taken from a newspaper. According to a good dictionary, which are barbarisms? What ones are here incorrectly used? Which ones are colloquial—permitted in talking familiarly, but not in writing? Suggest better expressions.

1. Her prospects for a long career on this earth are quite favorable.

2. The galvanic battery was applied every hour without producing any more satisfactory results, but hope did not abandon the resurrectionists.

3. When the police arrived they discovered that Burdick was wearing a bogus police star and he was arrested.

4. “If you’ll throw that gun away and put up your dukes like a gentleman, I’ll come down there and sew a button onto you!”

5. Mr. Hanna was decidedly late in showing up at headquarters.

6. It buttons down the front with the finest white pearl buttons of quite large size.

7. Makers of sporting goods say there are a lot of bicyclists who are ready and waiting to take up every new thing.

8. I spotted two of my countrywomen at once.

9. It has been thus far an exceptionably busy campaign.

Oral Exercise.—The following sentences are from Stevenson’s volume, Virginibus Puerisque. As in the preceding exercise, decide on the best word for each place in question.

1. Think of the heroism of Johnson, think of that superb indifference to mortal [limit] that set him upon his dictionary, and carried him through triumphantly to the end!

2. [Most] everybody in our land ... can understand and sympathize with an admiral or a prize-fighter.

3. When he comes to ride with the king’s pardon, he must bestride a chair, which he will so hurry and belabor and on which he will so furiously [demean] himself, that the messenger will arrive, if not bloody with spurring, at least fiery red with haste. If his romance involves an accident upon a cliff, he must clamber in person about the chest of drawers and fall bodily [onto] the carpet, before his imagination is satisfied.

4. Surely all these are [practicable] questions to a neophyte entering upon life with a view to play.

5. A sedentary population ... can [noways, in no wise] explain to itself the gaiety of these passers-by.

6. To borrow and [demean] an image, all the evening street-lamps burst into song.

7. But the conservative, while lauding progress, is ever timid of innovation; his is the hand upheld to [council] pause; his is the signal advising slow [advance].

Oral Exercise.—The following sentences are from Mrs. Gaskell’s Cranford. As before, decide on the best word for each place in question.

1. There were rules and regulations for visiting and calls; and they were announced to any young people, who might be [stopping] in the town.

2. He must have been upwards of sixty at the time of the first visit I paid to Cranford after I had left it as a [residence].

3. She was evidently nervous from having [expected] my call.

4. My request evidently pleased the old gentleman, who took me all [round, around[32]] the place, and showed me his six and twenty cows, named after the different letters of the alphabet.

5. I can’t [wholly] remember the date, but I think it was in 1805 that Miss Jenkyns wrote the longest [series, succession] of letters.

6. She never laughed at his jokes ...; and that [aggravated] him.

7. He was very, very [mad] indeed, and before all the people he lifted up his cane and flogged Peter!

8. “Shell-fish are sometimes thought not very [healthy].”

9. The writer of the letter ... was dead long ago; and I, a stranger, not born at the time when this occurrence [took place], was the one to open it.

10. I seized the opportunity, and wrote and despatched an [acceptation] in her name.

11. He thought each shawl more beautiful than the [last].

12. I could not see that the little event in the shop below had in the least damped Miss Matty’s curiosity as to the make of sleeves or the [set, sit] of skirts. [If neither sit nor set is right here, how recast the sentence?]

13. Miss Matty [anticipated] the sight of the glossy folds.

14. The Gordons ... were now [expected] to return very soon; and Miss Matty, in her sisterly pride, [expected] great delight in the joy of showing them Mr. Peter.

15. However, we all sat eyes right, square front, gazing at the [tantalizing] curtain.

16. We (at least I) had doubts as to whether she really would enjoy the little adventure of having her house [burglarized], as she [protested] she would.

17. Miss Jenkyns ... never got over what she called Captain Brown’s disparaging [observations] upon Dr. Johnson as a writer of light and agreeable fiction.

18. It (Death) was a word not to be [alluded to] to ears polite.

Oral Exercise.—The following sentences are from Lord Chesterfield’s letters to his son. As in the preceding exercise, choose the best word for each place in question.

1. Your own [remarks] upon mankind, when compared with those which you will find in books, will help you fix the true point.

2. There is nothing which I more wish that you should know, and which [less] people do know, than the true use and value of time.

3. Your [neglect] of dress, while you were a schoolboy, was pardonable, but would not be so now.

4. The [reputations] of kings and great men are only to be learned in conversation; for they are never fairly written during their lives.

5. What does Chesterfield mean by “in a good sense,” in the following? “Another, speaking in defence of a gentleman upon whom a censure was moved, happily said that he thought the gentleman was more liable to be thanked and rewarded, than censured. You know, I presume, that liable can never be used in a good sense.”

Review Exercise.—Let each word of the following list be taken up by itself. Each member of the class should give a sentence of his own, using the given word correctly.

Access, acceptance, alternative, avocation, observation, ability, capacity, character, discovery, limitation, party, portion, predominance, residence, except (verb), affect, effect, allude, claim, purpose, transpire, liable, apt, somewhat, quite, mad, practicable.