 Section 1 of the Verbalist The Verbalist, a manual devoted to brief discussions of the right and the wrong use of words, and to some other matters of interest to those who would speak and write with propriety. By Alfred Ayres, a.k.a. Thomas Embley Ossman, we remain shackled by timidity till we have learned to speak with propriety, Johnson. As a man is known by his company, so a man's company may be known by his manner of expressing himself. Swift Pref. Note. The title page sufficiently sets forth the end this little book is intended to serve. For convenience's sake I have arranged in alphabetical order the subjects treated of, and for economy's sake I have kept in mind that, quote, he that uses many words for the explaining of any subject doth, like the cuttlefish, hide himself in his own ink. End of quote. The curious inquirer, who sets himself to look for the learning in the book, is advised that he will best find it in such works as George P. Marsh's Lectures on the English Language, Fitz Ward Hall's Recent Exemplifications of False Philology, and Modern English, Richard Grant White's Words and Their Uses, Edward S. Gould's Good English, William Matthews' Words, Their Use, and Abuse, Dean Alford's The Queen's English, George Washington Moon's Bad English, and The Dean's English, Blank's Vocalisms and Other Errors of Speech, Alexander Bain's English Composition and Rhetoric, Bain's Higher English Grammar, Bain's Composition Grammar, Quackenbos' Composition and Rhetoric, John Nicholl's English Composition, William Cobbett's English Grammar, Peter Bullion's English Grammar, Gould Brown's Grammar of English Grammars, Graham's English Synonyms, Krab's English Synonyms, Bigelow's Handbook of Punctuation, and Other Kindred Works. Suggestions and criticisms are solicited, with the view of profiting by them in future editions. If the verbalist receive as kindly a welcome as its companion volume the ortho-opist has received, I shall be content, A. A. New York, October 1881, As Chew Find Words as You Would Rooge, Hare Kant is properly a double-distilled lie, The Second Power of a Lie, Carlisle. If a gentleman be to study any language it ought to be that of his own country, Locke. In language the unknown is generally taken for the magnificent, Richard Grant White. He who has a superlative for everything wants a measure for the great or small. Lavater. Inaccurate writing is generally the expression of inaccurate thinking, Richard Grant White. To acquire a few tongues is the labor of a few years, but to be eloquent in one is the labor of a life, anonymous. Words and thoughts are so inseparably connected that an artist in words is necessarily an artist in thoughts. Wilson Flag. It is an invariable maxim that words which add nothing to the sense or to the clearness must diminish the force of the expression. Campbell. Obscurity of thought and propriety of diction are commonly found together. Obscurity of expression generally springs from confusion of ideas. Macaulay. He who writes badly thinks badly. Confusiveness in words can proceed from nothing but confusiveness in the thoughts which give rise to them. Cobbett. The Verbalist. A. Anne. The second form of the indefinite article is used for the sake of euphony only. Herein everybody agrees, but what everybody does not agree in is that it is euphonious to use Anne before a word beginning with an aspirated H, when the accented syllable of the word is the second. For myself, so long as I continue to aspirate the H's in such words as heroic, harangue, and historical, I shall continue to use A before them. And when I adopt the cockney mode of pronouncing such words, then I shall use Anne before them. To my ear it is just as euphonious to say I will crop off from the top of his young twigs a tender one, and will plant it upon an high mountain and eminent, as it is to say Anne harangue, and heroic, or Anne historical. Anne is well enough before the doubtful British aspiration, but before the distinct American aspiration it is wholly out of place. The reply will perhaps be, but these H's are silent. The change of accent from the first syllable to the second neutralizes their aspiration. However true this may be in England it is not at all true in America. Hence we Americans should use A and not Anne before such H's until we decide to ape the cockney mode of pronouncing them. Errors are not unfrequently made by omitting to repeat the article in a sentence. It should always be repeated when a noun or an adjective referring to a distinct thing is introduced. Take for example the sentence, He has a black and white horse. If two horses are meant, it is clear that it should be He has a black and a white horse. Refer to the ability capacity. The distinctions between these two words are not always observed by those who use them. Capacity is the power of receiving and retaining knowledge with facility. Ability is the power of applying knowledge to practical purposes. Both these faculties are requisite to form a great character. Capacity to conceive and ability to execute designs. Capacity is shown in quickness of apprehension. Ability supposes something done. Something by which the mental power is exercised in executing or performing. What has been perceived by the capacity. Abortive An outlandish use of this word may be occasionally met with, especially in the newspapers. A lad was yesterday caught in the act of abortively appropriating a pair of shoes. That is abortive, that is untimely, that has not been born its full time, that is immature. We often hear abortion used in the sense of failure, but never by those that study to express themselves in chaste English. Above There is little authority for using this word as an adjective. Instead of the above statement, say the foregoing statement. Above is also used very inelegantly for more than, as above a mile, above a thousand, also for beyond, as above his strength. Accident Refer to Casualty Accord He, the Secretary of the Treasury, was shown through the building, and the information he desired was accorded him. Reporters English The heroes prayed, and palaced from the skies accords their vow. Pope The goddess of wisdom when she granted the prayers of her worshipers may be said to have accorded. Not so, however, when the clerks of our sub-treasury answer the inquiries of their chief. Accused Refer to Blame it on Acquaintance Refer to Friend Add This abbreviation for the word advertisement is very justly considered a gross vulgarism. It is doubtful whether it is permissible under any circumstances. Adapt Dramatize In speaking and in writing of stage matters these words are often misused. To adapt a play is to modify its construction with the view of improving its form for representation. Plays translated from one language into another are usually more or less adapted, in other words altered, to suit the taste of the public before which the translation is to be represented. To dramatize is to change the form of a story from the narrative to the dramatic, in other words to make a drama out of a story. In the first instance the product of the playwright's labor is called an adaptation. In the second a dramatization. Adjectives Very often adjectives stand where adverbs might be expected as drink deep. This looks strange, standing erect. We have also examples of one adjective qualifying another adjective as wide open, red hot, the pale blue sky. Sometimes the corresponding adverb is used but with a different meaning as I found the way easy, easily. It appears clear, clearly. Although there is a propriety in the employment of the adjective in certain instances, yet such forms as indifferent well, extreme bad, are grammatical errors. He was interrogated relative to that circumstance, should be relatively or in relation to. It is not unusual to say I would have done it independent of that circumstance, but independently is the proper construction. The employment of adjectives for adverbs is accounted for by the following considerations. 1. In the classical languages the neuter adjective may be used as an adverb and the analogy would appear to have been extended to English. 2. In the oldest English the adverb was regularly formed from the adjective by adding E as soft, soft E, and the dropping of the E left the adverb in the adjective form, thus clen. Adverb became clean and appears in the phrase clean gone, fast, fast, to stick fast. By a false analogy many adjectives that never formed adverbs in E were freely used as adverbs in the Age of Elizabeth. Thou didst it excellent. Equal for equally good. Excellent well. This gives precedent for such errors as those mentioned above. 3. There are cases where the subject is qualified rather than the verb, as with verbs of incomplete predication, being, seeming, arriving, etc. In the matter seems clear, clear is part of the predicate of matter. They arrived safe, does not qualify, arrived, but goes with it to complete the predicate. So he sat silent. He stood firm. It comes beautiful, and it comes beautifully, have different meanings. This explanation applies especially to the use of participles as adverbs, as in Subbhi's lines on Lodor. The participial epithets applied there, although appearing to modify came, are really additional predications about the water in elegantly shortened form. The church stood gleaming through the trees. Gleaming is a shortened predicate of church, and the full form would be the church stood and gleamed. The participle retains its force as such, while acting the part of a coordinating adjective, complement to stood. Gleaming is little more than gleamed. The feeling of adverbial force and gleaming arises from the subordinate participle form joined with a verb, stood, that seems capable of predicating by itself. Passing strange is elliptical. Passing, surpassing, what is strange? Being. The comparative adjectives, wiser, better, larger, etc., and the contrasting adjectives different, other, etc., are often so placed as to render the construction of the sentence awkward, as that is a much better statement of the case than yours, instead of that statement of the case is much better than yours. Yours is a larger plot of ground than John's, instead of your plot of ground is larger than John's. This is a different course of proceeding from what I expected, instead of this course of proceeding is different from what I expected. I could take no other method of silencing him than the one I took, instead of I could take no method of silencing him other than the one I took. Gould's Good English, page 69. Administer. Carson died from blows administered by policeman Johnson. New York Times. If policeman Johnson was as barbarous as is this use of the verb to administer, it is to be hoped that he was hanged. Governments, oaths, medicine, affairs, such as the affairs of state, are administered, but not blows, they are dealt. Adopt. This word is often used instead of to decide upon, and of to take, thus the measures adopted by Parliament, as the result of this inquiry, will be productive of good. Better, the measures decided upon, etc., instead of what course shall you adopt to get your pay, say what course shall you take, etc. Adopt is properly used in a sentence like this. The course or measures proposed by Mr. Blank was adopted by the committee. That is, what was Blanks was adopted by the committee. A correct use of the word, as to adopt, means to assume as one's own. Adopt is sometimes so misused that its meaning is inverted. Wanted to adopt in the heading of advertisements, not unfrequently, is intended to mean that the advertiser wishes to be relieved of the care of a child, not that he wishes to assume the care of one. Aggravate. This word is often used when the speaker means to provoke, irritate, or anger. Thus it aggravates, provokes me to be continually found fault with. He is easily aggravated, irritated. To aggravate means to make worse, to heighten. We therefore very properly speak of aggravating circumstances. To say of a person that he is aggravated is as incorrect as to say that he is palliated. Agriculturist. This word is to be preferred to agriculturalist. Refer to conversationist. Alike. This word is often most bunglingly coupled with both. Thus these bonnets are both alike, or worse still if possible both just alike. This reminds one of the story of Sam and Jem who were very like each other, especially Sam. All. Refer to universal. All over. The disease spread all over the country. It is more logical and more emphatic to say the disease spread over all the country. Allegory. An elaborated metaphor is called an allegory. Both are figurative representations, the words used signifying something beyond their literal meaning. Thus in the 80th Psalm the Jews are represented under the symbol of a vine. Thou hast brought a vine out of Egypt. Thou hast cast out the heathen and planted it. Thou preparedst room before it and didst cause it to take deep root and it filled the land. The hills were covered with the shadow of it, and the boughs thereof were like the goodly cedars. She sent out her boughs unto the sea and her branches unto the river. Why hast thou then broken down her hedges, so that all they which passed by the way do pluck her? The bore out of the wood doth waste it, and the wild beasts of the field doth devour it. An allegory is sometimes so extended that it makes a volume, as in the case of Swift's Tale of a Tub, Arbuthnot's John Bull, Bunyan's Pilgrim Progress, etc. Fables and parables are short allegories. Allow. This word is frequently misused in the West and South, where it is made to do service for assert or to be of opinion. Thus he allows that he has the finest horse in the country. Allude. The treatment this word has received is to be specially regretted, as its misuse has well nigh robbed it of its true meaning, which is to intimate delicately, to refer to without mentioning directly. Allude is now very rarely used in any other sense than that of to speak of, to mention, to name, which is a long way from being its legitimate signification. This degradation is doubtless a direct outcome of untutored desire to be fine and to use big words. Alone. This word is often improperly used for only. That is alone which is unaccompanied. That is only of which there is no other. Virtue alone makes us happy means that virtue unaided suffices to make us happy. Virtue only makes us happy means that nothing else can do it. That that, and that only, not alone, can do it. This means of communication is employed by man alone. Dr. Krakenbos should have written by man only. Refer also to only. Amateur. Navas. There is much confusion in the use of these two words, although they are entirely distinct from each other in meaning. An amateur is one versed in or a lover and practiser of any particular pursuit, art, or science, but not engaged in it professionally. A novice is one who is new or inexperienced in any art or business, a beginner, a tyro, a professional actor then, who is new and unskilled in his art is a novice and not an amateur. An amateur may be an artist of great experience and extraordinary skill. Ameliorate. The help of the empress of Germany is greatly ameliorated. Why not say improved? Among. Refer to between. Amount of perfection. The observant reader of periodical literature often notes forms of expression which are perhaps best characterized by the word bizarre. Of these queer locutions amount of perfection is a very good example. Mr. G. F. Watts in the nineteenth century says quote an amount of perfection has been reached which I was by no means prepared for end of quote. What Mr. Watts meant to say was doubtless that a degree of excellence had been reached. There are not a few who, in their prepossession for everything transatlantic, seem to be of opinion that the English language is generally better written in England than it is in America. Those who think so are counseled to examine the diction of some of the most noted English critics and essayists, beginning if they will, with Matthew Arnold. Few vulgarisms are more common than the use of and for two examples. Come and see me before you go. Try and do what you can for him. Go and see your brother if you can. In such sentences as these the proper particle to use is clearly two and not and. And is sometimes improperly used instead of or. Thus it is obvious that a language like the Greek and Latin, language, etc., should be a language like the Greek or the Latin, language, etc. There is no such thing as a Greek and Latin language. Answer. Reply. These two words should not be used indiscriminately. An answer is given to a question, a reply to an assertion. When we are addressed we answer, when we are accused we reply. We answer letters and reply to any argument statements or accusations they may contain. Crab is an error in saying that replies are used in personal discourse only. Replies as well as answers are written. We very properly write, I have now I believe answered all your questions and replied to all your arguments. A rejoinder is made to a reply. Who goes there, he cried, and receiving no answer he fired. The advocate replied to the charges made against his client. Anticipate. Lovers of big words have a fondness for making this verb do duty for expect. Anticipate is derived from two Latin words meaning before and to take, and when properly used means to take beforehand, to go before so as to preclude another, to get the start or ahead of, to enjoy, possess, or suffer in expectation, to foretaste. It is therefore misused in such sentences as her death is hourly anticipated. By this means it is anticipated that the time from Europe will be lessened two days. Antithesis. A phrase that opposes contraries is called an antithesis. I see a chief who leads my chosen sons all armed with points, antitheses, and puns. The following are examples. Though gentle, yet not dull, strong, without rage, without or flowing, full. Contrasted fault is through all their manners rain. Though poor, luxurious, though submissive, vain, though grave, yet trifling, zealous, yet untrue, and in impenance planning sins anew. The following is an excellent example of personification and antithesis combined. Talent convinces, genius but excites. That tasks the reason this the soul delights. Talent from sober judgment takes its birth and reconciles the pinion to the earth. Genius unsettles with desires the mind, contented not till earth be left behind. In the following extract from Johnson's Life of Pope, individual peculiarities are contrasted by means of antithesis. Of genius. That power which constitutes a poet. That quality without which judgment is cold, and knowledge is inert. That energy which collects, combines, amplifies, and animates. The superiority must with some hesitation be allowed to dryden. It is not to be inferred that of this poetical vigor Pope had only a little, because dryden had more. For every other writer, since Milton must give place to Pope. And even of dryden it must be said that if he has brighter paragraphs, he has not better poems. Dryden's performances were always hasty, either excited by some external occasion, or extorted by domestic necessity. He composed without consideration and published without correction. What his mind could supply at call or gather in one excursion was all that he sought and all that he gave. The dilatory caution of Pope enabled him to condense his sentiments, to multiply his images, and to accumulate all that study might produce or chance might supply. If the flights of dryden, therefore, are higher, Pope continues longer on the wing. If of dryden's fire the blaze is brighter, of Pope's the heat is more regular and constant. Dryden often surpasses expectation and Pope never falls below it. Dryden is read with frequent astonishment, and Pope with perpetual delight. Dryden's page is a natural field rising into inequalities, and diversified by the varied exuberance of abundant vegetation. Forms is a velvet lawn, shaven by the scythe and leveled by the roller. There are forms of antithesis in which the contrast is only of a secondary kind. Any. This word is sometimes made to do service for at all. We say properly, she is not any better, but we cannot properly say she does not see any, meaning that she is blind. Anybody Else Public school teachers are informed that anybody else's is correct. New York Times, Sunday, July 31st, 1881. An English writer says, in such phrases as anybody else and the like, else is often put in the possessive case as anybody else's servant, and some grammarians defend this use of the possessive case, arguing that somebody else is a compound noun. It is better grammar and more euphonious to consider else as being an adjective, and to form the possessive by adding the apostrophe and s to the word that else qualifies, thus, anybody's else, nobody's else, somebody's else. Anyhow, an exceedingly vulgar phrase says Professor Matthews, in his words, their use in abuse. Its use, in any manner, by one who professes to write and speak the English tongue with purity, is unpardonable. Professor Matthews seems to have a special dislike for this colloquialism. It is recognized by the lexicographers, and I think is generally accounted, even by the careful, permissible in conversation, though incompatible with dignified diction. Anxiety of mind. Refer to equanimity of mind. Apostrophe. Turning from the person or persons to whom a discourse is addressed, and appealing to some person or thing absent, constitutes what in rhetoric is called the apostrophe. The following are some examples. O gentle sleep, nature's soft nurse, how have I frighted thee, that thou no more wilt weigh my eyelids down, and steep my senses in forgetfulness? Sail on, thou lone imperial bird of quenchless eye and tireless wing. Help, angels, make assay, bow, stubborn knees, and heart with strings of steel, be soft as sinews of the newborn babe. All may yet be well. Appear. Refer to seam. Appreciate. If any word in the language has caused to complain of ill treatment, this one has. It means to estimate justly, to set the true value on men or things, their worth, beauty, or advantages of any sort whatsoever. Thus an overestimate is no more appreciation than is an underestimate. Hence it follows that such expressions as I appreciate it, or her, or him, highly cannot be correct. We value, or prize things highly, not approximately appreciate them highly. This word is also very improperly made to do service for rise, or increase, in value. Thus land appreciates rapidly in the west. Dr. L. T. Townsend londers in the use of appreciate in his Art of Speech, Volume 1, page 142, thus. The laws of harmony may allow copiousness, in parts of a discourse, in order that the condensation of other parts may be the more highly appreciated. Apprehend. Comprehend. The English often use the first of these two words where we use the second. Both express an effort of the thinking faculty, but to apprehend is simply to take an idea into the mind. It is the mind's first effort. While to comprehend is fully to understand. We are dull or quick of apprehension. Children apprehend much that they do not comprehend. Trench says, we apprehend many truths which we do not comprehend. Apprehend, says Krab, expresses the weakest kind of belief, the having of the least idea of the presence of a thing. Apt. One misused for likely and sometimes for liable. What is he apt to be doing? Where shall I be apt to find him? If properly directed it will be apt to reach me. In such sentences as these likely is the proper word to use. If you go there you will be apt to get into trouble. Here either likely or liable is the proper word according to the thought the speaker would convey. Artics Refer to rubbers. Artists. Of late years this word has been appropriated by the members of so many crafts that it has well nigh been despoiled of its meaning. Your cook, your barber, your tailor, your bootmaker, and so on to satiety are all artists. Painters, sculptors, architects, actors, and singers nowadays generally prefer being thus called rather than to be spoken of as artists. As. Not as I know. Read. Not that I know. This is not as good as the last. Read. Not so good. It may be complete so far as the specification is concerned. Correctly, as far as. As preceded by such or by same has the force of a relative applying to persons or to things. He offered me the same conditions as he offered you. The same conditions that would be equally proper. Refer also to like. Ascribe. Refer to impute. At. Things are sold by not at auction. The scene is more beautiful at night than by day. Say by night. At all. It is not strange for my uncle is king of Denmark. Had Shakespeare written it is not at all strange. It is clear that his diction would have been much less forcible. I do not wish for any at all. I saw no one at all. If he had any desire at all to see me he would come where I am. The at all in sentences like these is superfluous. Yet there are instances in which the phrase is certainly a very convenient one and seems to be unobjectionable. It is much used and by good writers. At best. Instead of at best and at worst we should say at the best and at the worst. At last. Refer to at length. At least. This adverbial phrase is often misplaced. The Romans understood liberty at least as well as we. This must be interpreted to mean the Romans understood liberty as well as we understand liberty. The intended meaning is that whatever things the Romans failed to understand they understood liberty. To express this meaning we might put it thus. The Romans understood at least liberty as well as we do. Liberty at least the Romans understood as well as we do. A tear at least is due to the unhappy. At least a tear is due to the unhappy. A tear is due at least to the unhappy. A tear is due to the unhappy at least. All express different meanings. This cannot often at least be done. This cannot be done often at least. One. It often happens that this cannot be done. Two. It does not often happen that this can be done. So man is always capable of laughing. Man is capable of laughing always. Bane. At length. This phrase is often used instead of at last. At length we manage to get away. Read at last. At length we heard from him. To hear from anyone at length is to hear fully. In other words, in detail. With regard to the use of this and certain other words of like formation, Mr. Gould, in his Good English, says, Poet means simply a person who writes poetry. And author, in the sense under consideration, a person who writes poetry or prose. Not a man who writes, but a person who writes. Nothing in either word indicates sex. And everybody knows that the functions of both poets and authors are common to both sexes. Hence, authorists and poetists are superfluous. And they are superfluous also in another respect, that they are very rarely used. Indeed, they hardly can be used independently of the name of the writer as Mrs. or Miss or a female Christian name. They are besides philological absurdities because they are fabricated on the false assumption that their primaries indicate men. They are, moreover, liable to the charge of affectation and prettiness to say nothing of pedantic pretension to accuracy. If the ESS is to be permitted, there is no reason for excluding it from any noun that indicates a person. And the next editions of our dictionaries may be made complete by the addition of righteress, officeress, manageress, superintendentess, secretarius, treasurous, walkerous, talkerous, and so on to the end of the vocabulary. Avocation Refer to Vocation End of Section 1 Recording by Bill Borst Section 2 of The Verbalist This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org Recording by Bill Borst The Verbalist by Alfred Ayers Section 2 Bad Cold Through Determined Bad Cold Inasmuch as colds are never good, why say a bad cold? We may talk about slight colds and severe colds, but not about bad colds. Baggage Refer to Luggage Balance This word is very frequently and very erroneously used in the sense of rest, remainder. It properly means the excess of one thing over another, and in this sense and in no other should it be used. Hence it is improper to talk about the balance of the addition, of the evening, of the money, of the toasts, of the men, etc. In such cases we should say the rest or the remainder. Barbarism Defined as an offense against good usage by the use of an improper word, in other words, a word that is antiquated or improperly formed. Preventative, enthuse, agriculturalist, donate, etc. are barbarisms. Refer also to Solicism. Bend to We not unfrequently hear a superfluous two tacked to a sentence, thus where have you been to? Beg We often see letters begin with the words, I beg to acknowledge the receipt of your favor, etc. We should write, I beg leave to acknowledge, etc. No one would say I beg to tell you, instead of I beg leave to tell you. Begin Commence These words have the same meaning. Careful speakers, however, generally prefer to use the former. Indeed, there is rarely any good reason for giving the preference to the latter. Refer also to Commence. Being built Refer to is being built. Belongings An old idiomatic expression now coming into use again. Beside In the later unabridged editions of Webster's dictionary we find the following remarks concerning the use of these two words. Quote, Beside and besides, whether used as prepositions or adverbs, have been considered synonyms from an early period of our literature, and have been freely interchanged by our best writers. There is, however, a tendency in present usage to make the following distinction between them. One, that beside be used only and always as a preposition with the original meaning by the side of, as to sit beside a fountain, or with the closely allied meaning aside from or out of, as this is beside our present purpose. Paul thou art beside thyself. The adverbial sense to be wholly transferred to the cognate word. Two, But besides, as a preposition, take the remaining sense in addition to, as besides all this, besides the consideration here offered. There was a famine in the land besides the first famine, and that it also take the adverbial sense of moreover, beyond, etc., which had been divided between the words. As besides, there are other considerations which belong to this case. End of quote Best Refer to at best. Between This word is often misused for among. Thus the word fellow, however much in use it may be between men, sounds very objectionable from the lips of women. London Queen Should be among men. Queen is used in reference to two things, parties or persons. Among In reference to a greater number. Castor and Pollux with one soul between them. You have among you many a purchased slave. Blame it on. Here is a gross vulgarism which we sometimes hear from persons of considerable culture. They use it in the sense of accuse or suspect. Thus he blames it on his brother, meaning that he accuses or suspects his brother of having done it, or of being at fault for it. Bogus A colloquial term incompatible with dignified diction. Both. We sometimes hear such absurd sentences as they both resemble each other very much. They are both alike. They both met in the street. Both is likewise redundant in the following sentence. It performs at the same time the offices both of the nominative and objective cases. Bound. The use of this word in the sense of determined is not only inelegant but indefensible. I am bound to have it, should be I am determined to have it. Bravery Courage The careless often use these two words as though they were interchangeable. Bravery is inborn, is instinctive, courage is the product of reason, calculation. There is much merit in being courageous, little merit in being brave. Men who are simply brave are careless, while the courageous man is always cautious. Bravery often degenerates into temerity. Moral courage is that firmness of principle which enables a man to do what he deems to be his duty, although his action may subject him to adverse criticism. True moral courage is one of the rarest and most admirable of virtues. Alfred the Great, in resisting the attacks of the Danes, displayed bravery. In entering their camp as a spy, he displayed courage. Bring. Fetch. Carry. The indiscriminate use of these three words is very common. To bring is to convey, to or toward. A simple act. To fetch means to go and bring. A compound act. To carry often implies motion from the speaker. And is followed by a way or off, and thus is opposed to bring and fetch. Yet one hears such expressions as, Go to Mrs. D's and bring her this bundle. And here you may fetch her this book also. We use the words correctly thus, fetch, or go bring, me an apple from the cellar. When you come home bring some lemons. Carry this book home with you. British Against American English. The most important peculiarity of American English is a laxity, irregularity, and confusion in the use of particles. The same thing is indeed observable in England, but not to the same extent, though some gross departures from idiomatic propriety, such as different to, for different from, are common in England, which none but very ignorant persons would be guilty of in America. In the tenses of the verbs I am inclined to think that well educated Americans conform more closely to grammatical propriety than the corresponding class in England. In general I think we may say that in point of naked syntactical accuracy the English of America is not at all inferior to that of England, but we do not discriminate so precisely in the meaning of words, nor do we habitually in either conversation or in writing express ourselves so gracefully, or employ so classic addiction as the English. Our taste in language is less fastidious, and our licenses and inaccuracies are more frequently of a character indicative of want of refinement and elegant culture than those we hear in educated society in England. The causes of the differences in pronunciation between the English and the Americans are partly physical and therefore difficult if not impossible to resist, and partly owing to a difference of circumstances. Of this lighter class of influences the universality of reading in America is the most obvious and important. The most marked difference is perhaps in the length or prosodical quantity of the vowels, and both of the causes I have mentioned concurred to produce this effect. We are said to draw our words by protracting the vowels and giving them a more diphthongal sound than the English. Now an Englishman who reads will habitually utter his vowels more fully and distinctly than his countrymen who does not. And upon the same principle a nation of readers, like the Americans, will pronounce more deliberately and clearly than a people so large a proportion of whom are unable to read as in England. From our universal habit of reading there are results not only a greater distinctness of articulation, but a strong tendency to assimilate the spoken to the written language. Thus Americans incline to give every syllable of a written word a distinct enunciation, and the popular habit is to say dictionary, military, with a secondary accent on the penultimate instead of syncing the third syllable as is so common in England. There is no doubt something disagreeably stiff in an anxious and affected conformity to the very letter of orthography, and to those accustomed to a more hurried utterance we may seem to draw when we are only giving a full expression to letters, which though etymologically important the English habitually slur over sputtering out as a Swedish satirist says one half of the word and swallowing the other. The tendency to make the long vowels diphthongle is noticed by foreigners as a peculiarity of the authority of our language, and this tendency will of course be strengthened by any cause which produces greater slowness and fullness of articulation. Since the influence of the habit of reading, there is some reason to think that climate is affecting our articulation. In spite of the coldness of our winters, our flora shows that the climate of even our northern states belongs upon the whole to a more southern type than that of England. In southern latitudes, at least within the temperate zone, articulation is generally much more distinct than in the northern regions. Hence the pronunciation of Spanish, Italian, Turkish as compared with English, Danish, and German. Participating then in the physical influences of a southern climate, we have contracted something of the more distinct articulation that belongs to a dry atmosphere in a clear sky. And this view of the case is confirmed by the fact that the inhabitants of the southern states incline like the people of southern Europe to throw the accent toward the end of the word, and thus, like all nations that use that accentuation, bring out all the syllables. This we observe very commonly in the comparative northern and southern pronunciation of proper names. I might exemplify by citing familiar instances, but lest that should seem invidious, it may suffice to say that, not to mention more important changes, many a northern member of Congress goes to Washington a dactyl or a trochee, and comes home an amphibrac or an iambus. Why or how external physical causes, as climate and modes of life should affect pronunciation we cannot say. But it is evident that material influences of some sort are producing a change in our bodily constitution, and we are fast acquiring a distinct national Anglo-American type. That the delicate organs of articulation should participate in such tendencies is altogether natural. And the operation of the causes, which give rise to them, is palpable even in our handwriting, which if not uniform with itself, is generally, nevertheless, so unlike common English script as to be readily distinguished from it. To the joint operation then of these two causes, universal reading and climatic differences, we must describe our habit of dwelling upon vowel and diphthongal sounds or of drawing, if that terms insisted upon. But it is often noticed by foreigners as both making us more readily understood by them when speaking our own tongue, and with a flexibility of organ which enables us to inquire a better pronunciation of other languages than is usual with Englishmen. In any case, as in spite of the old adage, speech has given us that we may make ourselves understood. Our drawing, however prolonged, is preferable to the nauseous, foggy, mumbling thickness of articulation which characterizes the cockney, and is not unfrequently affected by Englishmen of a better class. George P. Marsh Brian's prohibited words refer to index expurgatorious, but this word is misused in various ways. I do not doubt, but he will be here. Read doubt that. I should not wonder, but read if. I have no doubt, but that he will go. Suppress but. I do not doubt, but that it is true. Suppress but. There can be no doubt, but that the burglary is the work of professional cracksmen. New York Herald. Doubt that, and not but that. A careful canvas leaves no doubt, but that the nomination, etc. Suppress but. There is no reasonable doubt, but that it is all it professes to be. Suppress but. The mind no sooner entertains any proposition, but it presently hastens, etc. Read than. No other resource but this was allowed him. Read than. Buy. Refer to at. Calculate. This word means to ascertain by computation, to reckon, to estimate. And say some of the purists it never means anything else when properly used. If this is true we cannot say a thing is calculated to do harm, but must if we are ambitious to have our English irreproachable choose some other form of expression, or at least some other word, likely, or apt, for example. That, however, says that to her, whose great example is so well calculated, to inspire, etc. And the first two of the three sentences are well enough calculated for ushering, etc. Calculate is sometimes vulgarly used for intend, purpose, expect, as he calculates to get off to moral. This word is sometimes used very absurdly as Brown's essays are of a much higher caliber than Smith's. It is plain that the proper word to use here is order. Cant. Cant is a kind of affectation. Affectation is an effort to sail under false colors. An effort to sail under false colors is a kind of falsehood. And falsehood is a term of Latin origin which we often use instead of the stronger Saxon term lying. Who is not familiar, writes Dr. William Matthews, with scores of pet phrases and cant terms which are repeated at this day apparently without a thought of their meaning. Whoever attended a missionary meeting without hearing the Macedonian cry and an account of some little interest and fields white for the harvest. Who is not weary of the ding-dong of our Zion and the solicism of in our midst, and who does not long for a verbal millennium when Christians shall no longer feel to take and grant to give. How much I regret, says Coleridge, that so many religious persons of the present day think it necessary to adopt a certain cant of manner and phraseology and of tone of voice as a token to each other one another. They improve this and that text, and they must do so and so in a prayerful way, and so on. Capacity Refer to Ability Caption This word is often used for heading, but thus used it is condemned by careful writers. The true meaning of caption is a seizure, an arrest. It does not come from a Latin word meaning ahead, but from a Latin word meaning to seize, carat. Cobbett writes of the carat to his son. The last thing I shall mention under this head is the carat, which is used to point upward to a part which has been omitted, and which is inserted between the line where the carat is placed and the line above it. Things should be called by their right names, and this should be called the blundermark. I would have you, my dear James, scorn the use of the thing. Think before you write, let it be your custom to write correctly and in a plain hand. Be careful that neatness, grammar, and sense prevail when you write to a blacksmith about shoeing a horse, as when you write on the most important subjects. Habit is powerful in all cases, but its power in this case is truly wonderful. When you write, bear constantly in mind that someone is to read and to understand what you write. This will make your handwriting and also your meaning plain. Far, I hope, from my dear James will be the ridiculous. The contemptible affectation of writing in a slovenly or illegible hand, or that of signing his name otherwise than in plain letters. Carry. Refer to bring. Case. Many persons of considerable culture continually make mistakes in conversation in the use of the cases, and we sometimes meet with gross errors of this kind in the writings of authors of repute. Witness the following. And everybody is to know him except I. George Meredith in the tragic comedies. English edition. Volume 1, page 33. Let's you and I go. Say me. We cannot say let I go. Simply let's go, in other words let us go, or let you and me go. He is as good as me, say as I. She is as tall as him, say as he. You are older than me, say than I. Nobody said so but he, say but him. One can master a grief but he that hath it. Correctly but him. John went out with James and I, say and me. You are stronger than him, say than he. Between you and I, say and me. Between you and they, say and them. He gave it to John and I, say and me. You told John and I, say and me. He sat between him and I, say and me. He expects to see you and I, say and me. You were a dunce to do it, who, me, say I. Supply the ellipsis and we should have who, me a dunce to do it. Where are you going, who, me, say I. You can't say me going, who do you mean, say whom. Was it them, say they. If I was him, I would do it, say were he. If I was her, I would not go, say were she. Was it him, say he. Was it her, say she. For the benefit of those whom he thought were his friends, say who. This error is not easy to detect on account of the parenthetical words that follow it. If we drop them, the mistake is very apparent, thus for the benefit of those whom were his friends. On the supposition, says Bane, that the interrogative who has whom for its objective. The following are errors. Who do you take me to be? Who should I meet the other day? Who is it by? Who did you give it to? Who too? Who for? But considering that these expressions occur with the best writers and speakers, that they are more energetic than the other form, and that they lead to no ambiguity, it may be doubted whether grammarians have not exceeded their province in condemning them. Cobbett, in writing of the pronouns, says, When the relatives are placed in the sentence at a distance from their antecedents or verbs or prepositions, the ear gives us no assistance. Who of all the men in the world do you think I saw today? Who for the sake of numerous services the office was given to? In both these cases it should be whom? Bring the verb in the first, and the preposition in the second case, closer to the relative, as who I saw, to who the office was given. And you see the error at once, but take care. Whom of all the men in the world do you think was chosen to be sent as an ambassador? Whom for the sake of his numerous services had an office of honor bestowed upon him? These are nominative cases, and ought to have who. That is to say, who was chosen? Who had an office? Most grammarians, says Dr. Bain in his higher English grammar, have laid down this rule. The verb to be has the same case after as before it. Macaulay censures the following as a solicism. It was him that Horace Walpole called a man who never made a bad figure but as an author. Thackeray similarly averts to the same deviation from the rule. Is that him? said the lady in questionable grammar. But notwithstanding this continues Dr. Bain. We certainly hear in the actual speech of all classes of society such expressions as it was me, it was him, it was her, more frequently than the prescribed form. Footnote. If this is true in England, it is not true in America, nowhere in the United States is such questionable grammar as this frequently heard in cultivated circles. End footnote. This shy creature my brother says is me, where at me I'd show him the difference. Clarissa Harlow. It is not me you are in love with. Addison. Footnote. It may be confidently affirmed that with good speakers, in the case of negation, not me is the usual practice. Bain. This I confidently affirm is not true in America. A.A. End footnote. If there is one character more base than another, it is him who etc., Sidney Smith. If I were him, if I had been her etc. The authority of good writers is strong on the side of objective forms. There is also the analogy of the French language. For while I am here is je suis ici, the answer to who is there is moi, me. And say moi, it is me, is the legitimate praise. However say je, it is I. But moi, according to all French grammarians, is very often in the nominative case. Moi is in the nominative case when used and replied to who is there, and also in the phrase say moi, which makes it is I the correct translation of the phrase, and not it is me. The French equivalent of I, I am here, is moi, je suis ici. The Frenchman uses moi in the nominative case when je would be inharmonious. Euphony with him is a matter of more importance than grammatical correctness. Bechamel gives many examples of moi in the nominative. Here are two of them, mon avocate moi somme de cet avis qui veut aller avec lui, moi. If we use such phraseology as it is me, we must do as the French do, consider me as being in the nominative case, and offer euphony as a reason for thus using it. When shall we put nouns or pronouns preceding verbal or participial nouns as they are called by some grammarians, infinitives in I and G as they are called by others, in the possessive case? I am surprised at John's, or his, or your, etc., refusing to go. I am surprised at John, or him, you, etc., refusing to go. In the latter sentence, refusing is a participle. The latter construction is not so common with pronouns as with nouns, especially with such nouns, as do not readily take the possessive form. They prevented him going forward, better, they prevented his going forward. He was dismissed without any reason being assigned. The boy died through his clothes being burned. We hear little of any connection being kept up between the two nations. The men rode vigorously for fear of the tide turning against us. But most examples of the construction without the possessive form are obviously due to mere slovenliness. In case of your being absent, here being an infinitive, verbal, or participial noun, qualified by the possessive your, in case of you being present, here being would have to be construed as a participle. The possessive construction is, in this case, the primitive and regular construction. The other is a mere lapse. The difficulty of adhering to the possessive form occurs when the subject is not a person. It does not seem safe to rely on the rule of demand creating supply. In strictness, demands creating supply. A petition was presented against the license being granted. But for the awkwardness of extending the possessive to impersonal subjects, it would be right to say against the licenses being granted. He had conducted the ball without any complaint being urged against him. The possessive would be suitable, but undesirable and unnecessary. End quote. End quote. Though the ordinary syntax of the possessive case is sufficiently plain and easy, there is perhaps among all the puzzling and disputable points of grammar nothing more difficult of decision than are some questions that occur respecting the right management of this case. The observations that have been made show that possessives before participles are seldom to be approved. The following example is manifestly inconsistent with itself. And in my opinion the three possessives are all wrong. The kitchen, too, now begins to give dreadful note of preparation. Not from armorers accomplishing the knights, but from the shopmaids chopping force-meat, the apprentices cleaning knives, and the journeymen receiving a practical lesson in the art of waiting a table. The daily instances of men dying around us say, rather, of men dying around us. The leading word in sense ought not to be made the adjunct in construction. End quote. Gould Brown. Casualty This word is often heard with the incorrect addition of a syllable, casualty, which is not recognized by the lexicographers. Some writers object to the word casualty and always use its synonym, accident. Celebrity A number of celebrities witnessed the first representation. This word is frequently used, especially in the newspapers, as a concrete term, but it would be better to use it in its abstract sense only, and in sentences like the one above to say distinguished persons. Character Reputation These two words are not synonyms, though often used as such. Character means the sum of distinguishing qualities. Actions, looks, words, steps form the alphabet by which you may spell characters. Lavater Reputation means the estimation in which one is held. One's reputation, then, is what is thought of one's character. Consequently, one may have a good reputation and a bad character, or a good character and a bad reputation. Calumny may injure reputation, but not character. Sir Peter does not leave his character behind him, but his reputation, his good name. Cheap The dictionaries define this adjective as meaning bearing a low price, or to be had at a low price. But nowadays good usage makes it mean that a thing may be had, or has been sold, at a bargain. Hence in order to make sure of being understood it is better to say low priced, when one means low priced, than to use the word cheap. What is low priced, as everybody knows, is often dear, and what is high priced is often cheap. A diamond necklace might be cheap at ten thousand dollars, and a pinchback necklace dear at ten dollars. Cherubim The Hebrew plural of cherub. We are authorized, says Dr. Campbell, both by use and analogy to say either cherubs and seraphs according to the English idiom, or cherubim and seraphim according to the Oriental. The former suits better the familiar, the latter the solemn, style. As the words cherubim and seraphim are plural, the terms cherubim's and seraphim's as expressing the plural are quite improper. Philosophy of Rhetoric Citizen This word properly means one who has certain political rights, when therefore it is used as it often is to designate persons who may be aliens, yet, to say the least, betrays a want of care in the selection of words. Several citizens were injured by the explosion. Here some other word persons, for example, should be used. Clever In this country, the word clever is most improperly used in the sense of good-natured, well disposed, good-hearted. It is properly used in the sense in which we are want most inelegantly to use the word smart, though it is a less colloquial term and is a wider application. In England, the phrase a clever man is the equivalent of the French phrase une homme d'esprit. The word is properly used in the following sentences. Every work of archbishop, weightily, must be an object of interest to the admirers of clever reasoning. Cobbett's letter, very clever, but very mischievous. Bonaparte was certainly as clever a man as ever lived. Climax A clause, a sentence, a paragraph, or any literary composition whatsoever is said to end with a climax when, by an artistic arrangement, the more effective is made to follow the less effective in regular gradation. Any great departure from the order of ascending strength is called an anticlimax. Here are some examples of climax. Give all diligence. Add to your faith virtue, and to virtue knowledge, and to knowledge temperance, and to temperance patience, and to patience godliness, and to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness charity. It is every year of a wise man's life but a criticism on the past. Those whose life is the shortest live long enough to laugh at one half of it. The boy despises the infant, the man the boy, the sage both, and the Christian all. What a piece of work is man. How noble in reason, how infinite in faculties, in form and moving, how express and admirable, in action how like an angel, in apprehension how like a god. C.O. The prefix C.O. should be used only when the word to which it is joined begins with a vowel, as in co-eval, co-incident, co-operate, etc. C.O.N. is used when the word begins with a consonant, as in contemporary, conjunction, etc. Co-partner is an exception to the rule. Commence The Britons use or misuse this word in a manner peculiar to themselves. They say, for example, commenced merchant, commenced actor, commenced politician, and so on. Dr. Hall tells us that commence has been employed in the sense of begin to be, become, set up as, by first-class writers, for more than two centuries. Local speakers make small use of commence in any sense. They prefer to use its Saxon equivalent, begin. Refer also to begin. Comparison When only two objects are compared, the comparative and not the superlative degrees should be used. Thus Mary is the older of the two, John is the stronger of the two, Brown is the richer of the two, and the richest man in the city. Which is the more desirable, health or wealth? Which is the most desirable, health, wealth, or genius? Of two such lessons, why forget, the nobler and the manlier one? Completed This word is often incorrectly used for finished. That is complete, which lacks nothing. That is finished, which is had all done to it that was intended. The builder of a house may finish it, and yet leave it very incomplete. Condyne It is safe to say that most of those who use this word do not know its meaning, which is suitable, deserved, merited, proper. His efforts shall not lack condyne praise. In other words, his endeavors shall not lack proper, or their merited praise. A villain condinely punished is a villain punished according to his desserts. To use condyne in the sense of severe is just as incorrect as it would be to use deserved or merited in the sense of severe. Confirmed Invalid This phrase is a convenient mode of expressing the idea it conveys, but it is difficult to defend in as much as confirmed means strengthened, established. Consequence This word is sometimes used instead of importance or moment, as they were all persons of more or less consequence, read, of more or less importance. It is a matter of no consequence, read, of no moment. This word says Mr. Richard Grant White in his Words and Their Uses is perverted from its true meaning by most of those who use it. Consider means to meditate, to deliberate, to reflect, to evolve in the mind, and yet it is made to do service for think, suppose, and regard. Thus I consider his course very unjustifiable. I have always considered it my duty, etc. I consider him as being the cleverest man of my acquaintance. Contemptible This word is sometimes used for contemptuous. An old story says that a man once said to Dr. Parr, Sir, I have a contemptible opinion of you. That does not surprise me, returned the doctor. All your opinions are contemptible. What is worthless or weak is contemptible. Despicable is a word that expresses a still more intense degree of the contemptible. A traitor is a despicable character, while a paltrune is only contemptible. Continually Refer to perpetually. Continue on The on in this phrase is generally superfluous. We continued on our way is idiomatic English, and is more euphonious than the sentence would be without the particle. The meaning is we continue to travel on our way. In such sentences, however, as continue on, he continued to read on, the fever continued on for some hours, and the like. The on generally serves no purpose. Conversationist This word is to be preferred to conversationalist. Mr. Richard Grant White says that conversationalist and agriculturalist are inadmissible. On the other hand, Dr. Fitz Ward, Hall, says, As for conversationist and conversationalist, agriculturalist and agriculturalist, as all are alike legitimate formations it is for convention to decide which we are to prefer. Convoke, convene At one time and another there has been some discussion with regard to the correct use of these two words. According to Crab, quote, There is nothing imperative on the part of those that assemble or convene, and nothing binding on those assembled or convened. One assembles or convenes by invitation or request. One attends to the notice or not at pleasure. Convoke, on the other hand, is an act of authority. It is the call of one who has the authority to give the call. It is heated by those who feel themselves bound to attend. End of quote. Properly then, President Arthur convokes, not convenes, the Senate. Corporal, corporal These adjectives, though regarded as synonyms, are not used indiscriminately. Corporal is used in reference to the body or animal frame in its proper sense. Corporal to the animal substance in an extended sense, opposed to spiritual. Corporal punishment, corporeal or material form or substance. That to corporeal substances could add speed most spiritual. Milton What seemed corporal melted as breath into the wind. Shakespeare Couple In its primitive signification this word does not mean simply two, but two that are united by some bond, such as, for example, the tie that unites the sexes. It has, however, been so long used to mean two of a kind considered together that in this sense it may be deemed permissible. Though the substitution of the word two for it would often materially improve the diction. Courage Refer to bravery, crime, vice, sin. The confusion that exists in the use of these words is due largely to an imperfect understanding of their respective meanings. Crime is the violation of the law of a state. Hence, as the laws of states differ, what is crime in one state may not be crime in another. Vice is a course of wrongdoing, and is not modified either by country, religion, or condition. As for sin, it is very difficult to define what it is. As what is sinful in the eyes of one man may not be sinful in the eyes of another. What is sinful in the eyes of a Jew may not be sinful in the eyes of a Christian, and what is sinful in the eyes of a Christian of one country may not be sinful in the eyes of a Christian of another country. In the days of slavery to harbor a runaway slave was a crime, but it was in the eyes of most people neither a vice nor a sin. Crushed out The rebellion was finally crushed out. Out of what? We may crush the life out of a man, or crush a man to death, and crush not crush out a rebellion. Cultured This word is said to be a product of Boston, an excellent place for anybody or anything to come from. Many persons object to its use on the ground that there can be no such participle adjective, because there is no verb in use from which to form it. We have in use the substantive culture. But though the dictionaries recognize the verb to culture, we do not use it. Be this objection valid or be it not, cultured, having but two syllables while its synonyms cultivated has four, it is likely to find favor with those who employ short words when they convey their meaning as well as long ones. Other adjectives of this kind are moneyed, whiskered, slippered, lettered, talented, cottage'd, lily'd, anguished, gifted, and so forth. This word is often used instead of strange or remarkable, a curious fact, better, a remarkable fact. A curious proceeding, better, a strange proceeding. Dangerous He is pretty sick, but not dangerous. Dangerous people are generally most dangerous when they are most vigorous. Say rather, he is sick, but not in danger. A gentleman once began a letter to his bride, thus, My dearest Maria. The lady replied, My dear John, I beg that you will mend either your morals or your grammar. You call me your dearest Maria. Am I to understand that you have other, Maria's? Moon's bad English. Deceiving You are deceiving me. Not unfrequently, deceiving is used when the speaker means trying to deceive. It is when we do not suspect deception that we are deceived. Decimate This word, meaning as it properly does to tithe, to take the tenth part, is hardly permissible in the sense in which it is used in such sentences as the regiment held its position, though terribly decimated by the enemy's artillery, though terribly tithed would be equally correct. Demine This word is sometimes erroneously used in the sense of to debase, to disgrace, to humble. It is a reflexive verb, and its true meaning is to behave, to carry, to conduct, as he demeans himself in a gentlemanly manner. In other words, he behaves or carries or conducts himself in a gentlemanly manner. Denude The vulture, says Brand, has some part of the head and sometimes of the neck denuded of feathers. Most birds might be denuded of the feathers on their heads. Not so, however, the vulture, for his head is always featherless. A thing cannot be denuded of what it does not have. Denuding a vulture's head and neck of the feathers is like denuding an eel of its scales. Deprecate Strangely enough, this word is often used in the sense of disapprove, censure, condemn. As he deprecates the whole proceeding. Your course from the first to last is universally deprecated. But according to the authorities, the word really means to endeavor, to avert by prayer, to pray exemption or deliverance from, to beg off, to entreat, to urge against. Daniel kneeled upon his knees to deprecate the captivity of his people. Hew it, despite. This word is often incorrectly preceded by in and followed by of. Thus, in despite of all our efforts to detain him, he set out, which should be despite all our efforts, etc., or in spite of all our efforts, etc., determined, refer to bound. End of Section 2, Recording by Bill Borst.