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Putnam's Phrase Book / An Aid to Social Letter Writing and to Ready and Effective Conversation, with Over 100 Model Social Letters and 6000 of the World's Best English Phrases cover

Putnam's Phrase Book / An Aid to Social Letter Writing and to Ready and Effective Conversation, with Over 100 Model Social Letters and 6000 of the World's Best English Phrases

Chapter 151: PARTIAL
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About This Book

This practical phrase dictionary collects about six thousand ready expressions organized synonymously for conversation, social letter writing, and public speaking, followed by a guide to using the phrases, over one hundred model social letters across categories including condolence, congratulation, appreciation, introductions, invitations, recommendations, resignations, thanks, and replies, and a comprehensive index. The foreword emphasizes courtesy, optimism, and assistance in difficult tasks such as composing condolence letters, and the samples demonstrate ways to combine and adapt phrases. Readers are guided in composing their own social letters by consulting the phrase lists and the instructional sections.

I take great pleasure in sending hearty congratulations and best wishes

It is with heartfelt pleasure I——

I cannot refrain from sending a few words of congratulation that——

We offer you our cordial congratulations and best wishes

My most sincere congratulations are yours

I hope in a few days to be able to offer my congratulations in person

Accept hearty congratulations

With most sincere congratulations

I write to offer my heartfelt congratulations

You will receive many hearty congratulations but none more sincere than mine

It must have been a great joy to you. I heartily congratulate you

I applaud you

For Letters of Introduction

It gives me great pleasure to introduce to you ————

I take this opportunity of presenting to you ————

I take great pleasure in making known to you ————

This letter is presented by my friend ————

I shall regard it as a kindness to myself if——

Any courtesy you can extend to ————

I shall appreciate any assistance you may give to ————

I shall regard any attention you can pay ———— as a personal favor

I shall warmly appreciate any attention you may pay to ————

For Letters of Invitation

Will you give us the pleasure of your company to——

I am asking a few friends to——

It would be a pleasure to have you——

Will you join us in——

The pleasure of your company is requested to——

Hoping that your engagements will permit

In anticipation of seeing you next——

———— requests the presence of ————

———— requests the pleasure of your presence at——

For Letters of Regret

I write at once to thank you, regretting most sincerely that——

I very much regret that I cannot accept your kind invitation to——

I regret that a previous engagement will prevent my acceptance of your very kind invitation to——

I very much regret that I cannot avail myself of the opportunity to——

I am grateful to you for your kind invitation, but——

I regret that I am unable to comply with your request because——

I regret extremely that——

For Letters of Thanks

Please accept my grateful acknowledgments for——

I will ever cherish your beautiful gift

My compliments and thanks to ————

Thank you most heartily for the——

Many thanks for the——

With hearty thanks for your kind thought of me

Best of thanks for your kind thought of me

I cannot express my thanks for the kindness which prompted you to——

Many thanks for the kind remembrance

With grateful appreciation for——

Thank you most heartily for——

How can I ever hope to repay you for——

I am extremely grateful to you for——

I am sending this letter as the silent messenger of my thanks and good wishes to you

I must find some way to make due acknowledgment of your goodness to me

I trust I may be able to do you some service, that I may be worthy of your kind approbation

I will not write more but wait until a better opportunity enables me to more fully express myself

Please allow me to send my most thankful acknowledgments for the favor you have conferred upon me

I know not how to express my grateful thanks for your——

The grateful sense I have of your kindness will never be erased from my mind

I take this first opportunity to send you my thanks for——

You have exceedingly obliged me by——

I beg to acknowledge, with thanks, the receipt of——

I am grateful to you for your kind expression of sympathy

Though your kind letter has waited so long for a reply, you may be assured that I was not unmindful of its messages of sympathy

Please accept my warmest thanks for your kindness

I am deeply indebted to you for——

I received your very agreeable letter, and hasten to give you my most hearty thanks for your——

I thank you for your hospitality

We had a most delightful time while with you

For Letters with Gifts

Please accept this little memento of our regard

Please accept this ———— as a token of high esteem and regard

Please accept as an evidence of unchanging friendship this ————

Please accept this token with my best wishes for many happy returns of your birthday

Will you be so kind as to accept the enclosed ————

I am sending to you a little token of my high regard

(CONCLUDING ASSURANCES)

For Christmas Letters

I send you tender tidings of regard this Christmas Day

I hope you will lack nothing to make a Merry Christmas

On this day I think of you, and wish you happiness without limit

May all joys combine to give you a happy Christmas Day

With best wishes and heartiest greetings for Christmas

I wish you a joyful Christmas from the bottom of my heart

With kind remembrances and all good wishes for a Merry Christmas and a Bright New Year

With best wishes for a Merry Christmas and a New Year of health and happiness

The best of good wishes for a happy Christmas

May Christmas bring you plenteous store of happiness and joy

Heaps of Christmas wishes

With the kindest thoughts and the best of good wishes for a happy Christmas

I heartily send all good Christmas wishes to you and yours

For Letters of Condolence

My prayer is that you may be wonderfully sustained by Him who hath said, “Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.”

Most sincerely yours,

I commend you to Him who hath said, “There shall be no more death, neither sorrow.”

Affectionately yours,

May you have great comfort in the presence of Him who hath said, “I will not leave you destitute.”

Your friend,

Ever remember the good word which tells us that “He shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself.”

Faithfully yours,

Though we pass through the valley and the darkness of death let us fear no evil since He is with us.

Ever your friend,

God gives us a fine assurance concerning the future in the word which says, “For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.”

Most sincerely yours,

With a prayer for every blessing on your self,

Affectionately, your friend,

Be assured of our cordial esteem and fervent prayers.

Very sincerely yours,

May God that comforteth those that are cast down comfort you in this trial is the prayer of

Your friend,

We can meet the trials of life in the comforting conviction that this mortal must put on immortality.

With warmest regards,

No doubt you are inclined to say that all is vanity and vexation of spirit, but do not do so for He knoweth the way that we take.

Faithfully yours,

Now that the time has come that you are “Like Niobe, all tears” also the rather remember the word which says that “God shall wipe away all tears.”

Most sincerely yours,

We send our love and commend you to Him who hath said He will “Swallow up death in victory.”

Most sincerely yours,

While your heart is heavy, and one feel quite deserted, yet we can be much comforted in remembering that “He knoweth our frame.” and is ever mindful of us.

With sincere sympathy,

Your friend,

For New Year Letters

May this New Year turn out to be the happiest and the best

With best New Year wishes

May all your plans and wishes come true in this New Year

May the New Year be a happy year for you

A joyous New Year

With all best wishes for a splendid New Year

With all the kindest wishes for good health and good fortune throughout the year

With my most hearty greetings and sincere good wishes for you for all the coming year

With best wishes for a year of great blessing

May the New Year be full of the kindliest benedictions

With kind wishes for a year of the brightest prospects

For General Letters

I am ever, with sincerest regard,

Your friend,

Remember me very kindly to ————

Sincerely,

I beg to be most kindly remembered to ————

With cordial regard,

Accept the sincerest esteem of

Your friend,

My compliments to your ————

Very sincerely,

With sincere regard,

With kindest respects to your whole family,

Yours affectionately,

I beg you will give my affectionate respects to all.

Most cordially yours,

———— best and kindest wishes accompany mine.

Most sincerely,

With truest regard,

With my best wishes for your recovery, and kindest regard to ————

I remain, affectionately yours,

———— joins me in kindest regards and best wishes.

Sincerely yours,

Kind remembrance to all, and doubly to ————.

As ever,

If you are at ————, remember me kindly to——

Yours ever,

Give my kind respects to ————

Very sincerely yours,

We join in affectionate regards to ————

Sincerely,

———— present their respects, with those of

Yours truly,

———— desire me to add their kind regards to mine,

Your affectionate friend,

With truest good wishes.

As ever,

When you see ———— assure ———— of my kind remembrance.

Sincerely yours,

With my best regards to ————

I remain your friend,

With our joint regards to ————, I am ever,

Yours sincerely,

My most affectionate respects to ————

Yours sincerely,

With kindest regards of my family and myself,

I am sincerely yours,

Yours ever, my dear and honored friend, with true regard,

———— desires particularly to be remembered.

Yours ever,

With every sentiment of regard.

Your greatly obliged friend,

With truest sentiments of affectionate esteem.

Your friend,

———— sends her best love.

Yours ever most affectionately,

———— joins in every kind wish and remembrance.

Yours ever,

With cordial wishes for your health,

I am,

Yours very sincerely,

My best respects to ————

Very faithfully yours,

———— is away or I should have been charged with ———— kindest regards to you.

Very sincerely,

My best respects and kindest remembrances to the whole family circle at ————

Very sincerely yours,

We unite in kindest remembrance to your family.

Sincerely yours,

———— begs her most affectionate remembrance to you.

Affectionately yours,

(FINAL ASSURANCES)

Conventional

Very sincerely yours,

Yours most sincerely,

Very respectfully,

Sincerely yours,

Respectfully yours,

To Friends

Yours faithfully,

Yours affectionately,

Heartily yours,

Yours in all fellowship,

Warmly your friend,

Your affectionate friend,

Yours ever truly,

Ever warmly yours,

With warmest regards,

Yours in heart,

For Lovers

All yours,

As ever,

Your own,

Yours forever and ever,

Ever with the whole heart yours,

Most devotedly yours,

Yours constantly,

Yours ever,

Ever yours,

Yours, with love,

To Relatives

Your loving ————,

Affectionately your ————,

Your devoted ————,

With much love,

Your ever loving ————,

Devotedly your ————,

With much affection, your ————,

LIKENESS

Similarity Resemblance

As like as two peas

A striking parallel

As like as two drops of water

Nearly identical in appearance

The same in essential characteristics

Cast in the same mold

A striking similitude between——

Having a very close resemblance

A speaking likeness

It is somewhat analogous to——

It typifies most perfectly the——

With a very exact resemblance

There is no material difference between——

Terms which will be tantamount to——

Have you been struck with the similarity between——

It bears an evident analogy to——

Cut out of the same cloth

You can make it tally with——

LOSS

Damage Waste

This particular milk has been spilt

Incalculable waste and loss will be avoided if——

Doomed to ethical decline

Irreparable loss

Rapidly sapping the strength of——

In the blackness of darkness forever

Where does it end

LOVE

Attachment Affection

He’s the great heart-maker

Winsomely and lovingly

The sacrifices of love

Matchless kindness

Unwavering love

A redeeming love-energy

A glad service of love

A legacy of love

A flame of sacred love

The sweet kingdom of God’s love

The wondrous story of God’s love

The wonderful words of life

The genial flame of affection

The marvel of His love

The love that conquers

Love divine, all loves excelling

The glorious sense of the Divine right of love

Made beautiful by Divine love

The warm yearning intimacy of God’s love

The sweet and unpolluted flower of love

The richest joys out of heaven

If our bosom burns with the fires of love

Love that translated us from alienation to family favor

Love, pure, warm, and changeless

Songs of redeeming love

An eye of love

A heaven of love

Abounding love

With undiminished love

Love is the universal language

What the world needs is love

MANLY

Strong Upright

The sanctifying love of a strong victorious man

A patient, loving, uncomplaining soul

A clear-eyed seer of the things of God

An uncompromising foe of evil

Sagacious in spiritual things

A mind full of vigorous hopeful uplifting thoughts

He has a wonderful experience of grace

He passed through the fires of affliction

He is a graduate of the University of Difficulty

We are resolved to lay no stumbling-blocks in the way of the progress of the redemption of the world

We have the abiding consciousness that we are fundamentally right with God

He is in the apostleship of spiritual beauty

A great lover of mankind

He takes a living, loving interest in men

Moral worth

Resolved not to depart from the channel of truth

Holy in character

A warmth of temperament

Generous impulses

The imposing grace of a noble self-restraint

A chaste refinement of spirit

Splendid reserve power

Well content to go down to the grave unpraised

Taking steps toward the threshold of heaven

Walking in the blessed path of peace, power, and purity

A nobility of life

Worthy of more attention than it has yet received

A worthy friend

Hands full of character and delicacy

With unfaltering lip and heart

Men who love their fellow-men and prove their love by service

He did not once deviate from his principles

He has a profound contempt for show and humbug

Men broad-brained and broad-shouldered for the task

Men of breadth of outlook

Men who foresee great things

Large-hearted and clear-eyed men

Real leaders

Men who keep in the straight path of duty

Every man shall bear his own burden

Men whose fidelity merits the highest praise

Men who would dare hell-heat or Arctic cold

Men whose intentions were never open to honest doubt

A man whose happiness was in serving others

Strong men

Untinged by prejudice

Clouded by no unfriendliness

Without acrimony

With no preconceived theories

In whole-hearted simplicity

Above suspicion

With entire frankness

No feeling of estrangement

A gleam of friendly light

The right mental attitude

The right hand of fellowship

In the sunshine of a genial nature

In the genial glow of the firelight

Of gentle mien

The contagion of noble lives

A rare maturity of judgment

He has an unswerving loyalty to principle

He has an unconquerable purpose to be true

He is unfalteringly devoted to duty

He is inflexible in purpose

He is not paralysed by fear of consequences

He is beautifully loyal to——

He is proof against all blandishments

He sits tight in the saddle

MEMORIES

Impressions Sentiments

Among the most haunting memories of——

I treasure the memory of it as one of my most precious recollections

A time full of happy memories

I brought away with me a store of happy memories

Rich in historical memories

It moves me to happy memories

It entitles him to grateful remembrance

There are no disturbing reminders

They can console themselves with the reflection that——

It was reminiscent of——

I have many choice recollections of——

Etched forever by the——

MILITARISTIC

Martial Soldierly

The zone of hostilities

The harmless victims of war

Tactical retreat

Martial enthusiasm

A crack regiment

Universal disarmament

Strict neutrality

The inevitable horrors of war

A military advantage

The ruthlessness of war

The neutrality of nations

The international equivalent of the policeman’s club

The lust of empire

The cruel indignities of war

The long-nurtured passions of a nation

When the thunders of war are heard around the world

The arbitrament of arms

A test of materialism

An age crammed with war

The federation of the world

The policy of military preparedness

The patriotism of the common people

A military tattoo in the streets

The dominant military power in the world

The nightmare menace of war

The crime of Cain multiplied a million fold

The maintenance of peace

A sin against civilization

The stunning sense of some great calamity

The futility of militarism

The theater of hostilities

The allied armies

The pitiful misery of the people

An appalling cost of human life

The diplomatic corps

A compact front

Wanton destruction

The military camarilla at ————

Military necessity

Deliberate and wanton vandalism

With ruthless hand

The guilty madness of war

The inveterate belligerence of ————

A crushing indictment of Twentieth-Century civilization

The city tense with the excitement due to militarism

Imbued with the spirit of war

Prepared for vigorous operations

Under cover of the artillery

The oft-trodden battle-ground of the Low Countries

A warless world

An armed peace

The mailed fist

A religion of valor

The terrorism of military might

MYSTERIOUS

Dark Inscrutable

Into those invisible regions where we cannot follow

Clothed in a cloak of mystery

The fascination of the inscrutable

In some incomprehensible way

It seems a Sphinx whose riddle no man can read

Shrouded in mystery

A great deal of hokus-pokus

Hidden under the impenetrable veil of metaphor

Absolutely inexplicable

It was Greek to me.

Julius Cæsar, I., 2

Some enigma, some riddle.

Love’s Labour’s Lost, III., 1

A bottomless sea of speculation

NECESSARILY

Needfully Essentially

The pressure of absolute necessity

I am under the imperative necessity of——

It is absolutely essential that——

It must needs be that——

Infinitely more so now

The imperative necessity of——

The need is urgent that——

Of all the essential cogs in the world’s great machine the——

Of extreme importance

Of vital necessity

Conditions will make it imperative that——

It is of prime importance to——

The first and most important requisite of——

Put to it

The supreme need of the hour is——

It is time for him to come to the scratch and——

All important factors in the case

As much as plants need sunshine

Indispensably necessary

The imperative needs of——

In the vigorous school of necessity

OPPORTUNE

Timely Seasonable

Every door is open

Virgin soil

A work in which every man may bear a share

Seize with avidity this opportunity to——

The time seems ripe to——

The keynote to——

Entrée to all the best

Open sesame

A plain opportunity for——

We must take opportunity by the forelock

Had I been so disposed, I——

The hour of opportunity

Now is the time of all times to——

OPPOSITION

Protestation Objection

Nothing could go more against the grain with me than——

He set his face like flint against——

There is a decided opposition to——

It is one of the counts in the indictment against him that——

He was debarred from——

With strongly divergent opinion

He should be unhorsed

A man who must be discriminated against

It is sheer nonsense to——

The thinness of that kind of argument is seen in——

Hotly contested

His one weapon of defense is——

He made of this fact a telling answer to those who——

It is common to hear deprecations of——

He would have made a more happy effect if——

All this is in direct contradiction to——

Through flinty opposition

Persistently hostile

It has only one defect——it is not true

I differ from him very widely

It is a cry that is raised in the old senseless spiteful way

It is scarcely worth raising our heads to look at

I assure you such is not the case

I think it would be quite inadvisable to do so

It is a convincing demonstration of the fatuity of the notion that——

The latest and most absurd theory is——

Issues which are poles apart in their true significance

I regret to be compelled to join issue with you

The answer will be a firm and decided negative

I have inly resented the——

I must with all respect demur

It is a wooden-headed scheme

It represents everything repugnant to my convictions

I cannot refrain from expressing my regret that——

It is a manifest absurdity

In which case I should remonstrate

I protested in vain

It is very annoying to me

I fervently hope not

A good stout protest

It is out of the question

A decided negative

It is time to protest and to protest vigorously

I won’t hear it without a protest——

It has not even the saving grace of——

He met with stout opposition

He came out squarely against——

He rubbed the cat the wrong way

They will brook no trifling

A point-blank refusal

There is just ground for objection in the fact that——

It is not exactly fitting that——

There could be no greater fallacy

It was the only rift in a perfect lute

Unless they made a fidget about it

The whole plan is repellent

The suggestion arouses in us only moral disgust

Give it the lie

Such an opinion runs counter to the facts

He delivered a frontal attack upon——

It is playing at cross-purposes

Promptly and vigorously disposed of

It is going to get a short shrift

A railing accusation

A storm of protest

Stubborn resistance

In the face of mighty passions and desires

In the teeth of clenched antagonisms

It is time to protest and to protest vigorously

Not under any circumstances

Too heavily handicapped

A disposition in some to resent

A combination of hindrances

Without flinching

An insuperable barrier

I have the greatest aversion to——

He met with a hot welcome

A defiant note

OPTIMISM

Cheer Gladness

I am very sanguine about it

In a highly gratifying way

It is refreshing to know that——

The uplift of great ideas

All clouds do not rain

No day is so long but has its evening

No news is good news

All is not lost that is delayed

One of the most heartening signs of the days is——

We are with you to the last man and the last dollar

I have a crumb of consolation in the thought that——

We can say with much assurance that——

The plan has attractive features

With unalloyed satisfaction

This is no time to intone funeral ululations

Let us strengthen each other’s hands in God

We need a ringing message to steel the purpose

We are with you from center to outer edge

The news is decidedly reassuring

I was splendidly heartened by——

A word of magnificent promise

A happy confidence

Let’s make the best of it.

Coriolanus, V., 6

A day of great things

One of the bright sides of a dark picture is——

Our lucky star was in the ascendant

In spite of dismal forebodings

In the heyday of confidence

He meets every situation with an inspiration

On the victory side

In the mountains of God

A harbinger of success

Life’s brightest meaning

A bad beginning may make a good ending

No such inept and doleful talk has been coming from——

Cheering in a high degree

In his happiest mood

The outlook is in the highest degree encouraging

We have reason to thank God and take courage

Everything is propitious

The night is long that never finds a day

A pack of blessings

A buoyant optimism

Prospects are very bright for the success of——

The finest game in the world

I have nothing dismal to remember

A happy earnest life

Without grudge or grumbling

A hopeful attitude

An attitude of assurance

An inborn belief in the superiority of——

Always hailed with joy

Quickening and cheerful influences

Assuredly we shall win

Of splendid augury

The habit of expectancy

A hopeful prospect

A promising beginning on intelligent lines

It is bound to accomplish a world of good

A brisk cheerful sense of things present and things to come

Some cheerful hope-laden ideas

No gloomy forebodings

We will have the fun of beginning again

An abiding optimism

With high expectations

Not a lurking doubt or suspicion lingers

The most hopeful sign of the times is

I know nothing more pleasant than to

This is indeed good fortune

How pleasant it is to

I have had a great piece of luck

Let us turn to more pleasant reflections

But, after all, in this as in everything else one must be hopeful

Unquestioned confidence

Without the least misgiving

It is an assured success

Conscious of being able to cope with the situation

Genuine confidence

It is in no wise inimical to your interests

To believe him guilty of deliberate mendacity would be painful

With undiminished confidence

With radiant hopes

We are able for it

A place of peace and unfailing cheeriness

A cheery greeting

In high glee

With many a cheering smile

He manifests a cheerful willingness

Deeply and unfeignedly happy

It is a cheerful sign of progress when

He is capable of taking the highest view which the circumstances of the case may admit

He has the habit of holding an expectant attitude

To attain that will be a supreme delight

He is all the time pressing forward with keen expectancy

There are many hopeful aspects of the situation

The situation is greatly improved

May we have a part in bringing in a new and better day

A happy augury for the future

A happy prospect

Like a sunbeam on a winter’s day

With superb optimism

Let us do it with a shout

A jubilant mood

I am fully prepared for all eventualities

He is quite sure of himself

He has a new and sure grip on the facts

In the full assurance of success

It may be averred with confidence that——

I have every assurance that——

In the result alone will be confidence

I have the certitude of all this

He staked his faith on——

With the easy assurance of——

PARTIAL

Incomplete Meager

A beggarly account of——

The whole truth is not known

That is not the sole question

We have not heard the whole of the facts

He does but scant justice to——

PASSION

Fervency Zeal

Like a fire in the bones

With soul aflame for truth and justice

His one absorbing passion

His whole concern centered in——

The thought was like a raging fever

With a great strain of the eternal in his message

A spiritual passion which would break through all formal proprieties

He seemed obsessed with the desire to——

PATIENCE

Endurance Forbearance

What can’t be cured must be endured

A small stock of patience

Time brings everything to those who wait

We must placidly bear the strain of——

You have an infinite deal of patience

With the most angelic patience

Least said, soonest mended

PATRIOTIC

Democratic Loyal

Putting other ambitions aside in order to serve his country

A noble temper of patriotism

The great humane movements of events towards liberty

The accents of democracy

Against the notion that whatever is profitable is right

A passion for ideals

The unspeakable boon of freedom

The foundations of a mighty nation

Aflame with the spirit of opposition against tyrannies

A thorough-going patriot

A magnificent spirit of self-abnegation

In the ardor of self-sacrifice

Hearts afire with love for liberty

Unshakable loyalty

Emblem of everything we hold most dear and desirable

A royal pride of country

Soundly and unimpeachably a loyal citizen

The new patriotism

The golden age of the federation of the world

A world-wide democracy

A United States of the world

A world patriotism

A universal alliance

A league of peace

A glorious future for the nations of the world

International patriotism

A democracy as broad as humanity

International federation

The new prosperity

One of our chief claims to glory is——

Universal democracy

A supreme court of arbitrament

A peace federation

The end of autocracies

The end of secret diplomacy

It is subversive of every principle of our democracy

Pan-Americanism

The menace of military might——

The most far-reaching extensions of freedom and democracy the world has ever known

The unconquerable mind of freemen

As fine soldiers as ever despised death

Shakespeare

This land of such dear souls, this dear-dear land.

King Richard II., II., 1

Let all the ends thou aim’st at be thy country’s, Thy God’s, and truth’s.

King Henry VIII., III., 2

God, for some strong purpose, steel’d the hearts of men.

King Richard II., V., 2

Let men say we be men of good government.

I. King Henry IV., I., 2

Now join your hands, and with your hands your hearts, that no dissension hinder government.

III. King Henry VI., IV., 6

I do love my country’s good with a respect more tender, more holy and profound.

Coriolanus, III., 3

I have watch’d the night, ay, night by night, in studying good for England.

II. King Henry VI., III., 1

England never did, nor never shall, lie at the proud foot of a conqueror.

King John, V., 7

In our country’s cause fell bravely.

Cymbeline, V., 4

Good fortune bids us pause, and smooth the frowns of war with peaceful looks.

III. King Henry VI., II., 6

PENALTY

Punishment Forfeit

Sent to cool his heels in——

He got what was due to him

He is face to face with the remorseless judgment of his times

He would have been put to it to have gotten into a worse quagmire than——

This will make interesting reading for——

Reaping a dragon-tooth harvest

The direct result of his own unsocial acts

The direful consequences of——

PERPLEXED

Nonplused Mystified

Utterly at sea

I am really at the end of my tether

I am mightily at a loss to know what——

This further complicates the problem

And in like quandary I find myself touching the——

It is very vague

I had it inchoately in my mind

We cannot make much of it

His thoughts do not run in the natural order of sequence

An inextricable dilemma

My wits faint.

Romeo and Juliet, II., 4

Involved in inextricable confusion

Left in a mood of perplexity

Utterly inscrutable

The problem is surely perplexing

Full of confusion worse confounded

It would serve only to becloud the issue

A question of sufficient complexity to tax the power of the wisest

PESSIMISTIC

Cynical Gloomy

A peddler of pessimism

He has always had a plentiful stock of gloomy ideas

A heart of lead in my breast

It hangs like a dark pall over——

The unpleasant intelligence of——

The most ominous feature of it all was——

Any attempt was foredoomed to failure

No rosy delusions should be permitted to warp our judgment

There is a little of the melancholy element in——

Augured evil

Doleful recollections

Smothered under the wet blanket of——

He indulges in the gloomiest forebodings

A most discouraging frame of mind

Fallen into the Slough of Despond

I found myself under my juniper tree

It is the very mystery of perversity

He is in a woeful state of mind

A sense of desolation

There came upon my heart an intolerable burden of despondency

A dreary conclusion

The unexpected and adverse strokes of fortune

A damper of my hopes

A gloomy consolation

A discouraging moment

Friendless, homeless, hopeless, undone

Impossible of accomplishment

Grave symptoms

A forlorn hope

A nameless foreboding

One has to be optimistic to find anything hopeful in the present outlook

A somber and mournful aspect

A sign of ill omen

He has the habit of dating existence by the memory of its burdens

A sea of trouble

Under the pressure of calamity

A welter of sordid interests

A very flood of wretchedness

A sorry plight

Moments when one grows sick of mankind

Inexpressibly miserable

A very gloomy report

He is etching the black pictures deeper and deeper into his consciousness

By some strange fatality

Hearts bursting with despair

A terrible legacy

With a groan of sickening remorse

With a sense of desolation

Many vicissitudes

All true in a finished civilization

He has seen many a bitter day of sorely tried hopes

The many accessories of evil

Crushed by burdens

The misspent strivings of mankind

Errant human nature

To move in paralyzing dread

Man is born to trouble as the sparks fly upward

A particularity which converts every trifle into a thorn

A dark and stormy sea

PICTURESQUE

Poetic Graphic

The singing river

The place of wraithing tempests

The mood of poetry

The slow wind crooning among the pines

The dank odor of autumn leaves

The scent of damask roses

A skein of cloud

A star of orange light

A dim blue haze

A gently sloping hill

A shimmer of golden sunlight

A blossom passing fair

Delicious days

A cloud of fire

Lingering lover-wise

A billowy prairie

Nodding grasses

Rugged seas

The merriest voices of the spring

Deathless music

The jargon of the tempest

Lovely, ivy-mantled

Checkered with sunlight and shadow

The distant gloom of foreboding mountains

Bewilderments of beauty

The ermine of the snows

Marble dawns

The first kindling stars of dusk

Pine-grown mountains

En rapport with the earth

A bewildering field of fragrance and delight

A robe of verdure

The inviting air

Lovely clusters

Gracefully pendent

Delicately adorned

The balmy breath of spring

Fair as virgin snows

Grand with imperial purple

The silence of eternity

PLEASED

Glad Delighted

Sweeter than honey and the honey-comb

I am quite in raptures with——

To my great satisfaction, I——

I do not know a pleasure more appealing than——

You cannot imagine what pleasure it gives me to——

I went on my way with a merry heart

There is a certain undiluted bliss in——

Cheering in a high degree

Could anything be more agreeable than——

As bright as a sunbeam

I am very glad and genuinely pleased that——

I think it admirable and meets the case fully

The most gratifying features of the——

Frank delight

Out of sheer enjoyment of doing it

I dote upon it

It was most gratifying

I enjoyed it prodigiously

Not an inconsequential part

This is indeed a pleasure

I greatly rejoice in the——

We always look back with pleasure to——

It is gratifying to know that——

I was never so proud of it as I am to-day

This is the panacea for all my disabilities

This is the elixir of life

I had the good fortune to——

This is certainly ideal

Enamored of——

Perfectly in raptures over——

To my agreeable disappointment I found that——

Genuinely glad

I am quite delighted

We were delighted beyond measure

To my inexpressible delight

Much to our profit and delight

In the most delightful fashion

A day I still recall with pleasure

It exceeded my greatest expectation

A wonderful time

This is the sort of thing I enjoy

I like the idea very much

That’s simply splendid

There is an unfailing charm in it

A delightful idea truly

I like it prodigiously

Isn’t that jolly

Of first-rate merit

I was highly pleased with it

It was in the best taste

It is a beautiful piece of industrial accomplishment

I call it a delightful spectacle

A capital idea

Altogether a fine thing

A sentiment worthy of emulation

A source of constant pleasure

A very real asset

With none of the slight faults of immaturity

It is an uplifting habit

The sight filled me with admiration

Of no ordinary cleverness

It was perfectly splendid

It is a fine instance of

It called forth unqualified admiration

It was strikingly impressive

The result exceeded my most sanguine expectations

The finest flower that ever blossomed

It is an amiable habit by no means to be discouraged

Genuine gratification

Much to our profit and delight

POINT