ESCHEW fine words as you would rouge.—HARE.

Cant is properly a double-distilled lie; the second power of a lie.-CARLYLE.

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.

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.

Propriety of thought and propriety of diction are com monly found together. Obscurity of expression generally springs from confusion of ideas.—Macaulay.

vi

THE VERBALIST.

A. Errors are not infrequently made by omitting to repeat the article in a sentence. It should always be repeated before an adjective that qualifies a distinct thing. "He has a black and white horse." If two horses is meant, it is clear that it should be, "He has a black and a white one."

"The creed supposes the coexistence of a benevolent and [a] malevolent principle." A principle can not be at once benevolent and malevolent.

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'Something is said of the speculative doubts and difficulties through which he won his way to a more settled and [a] happier frame of mind." The repetition here is not imperative; it is simply a question of euphony.

Sometimes pleonastic:

"No stronger and stranger a figure than his is described in our modern history of England." Not only is the a here superfluous, but the sentence is otherwise most clumsily constructed. It is bettered thus: "No figure stronger and stranger than his is described,” etc.; or, “No figure is described in our modern history of England stronger and stranger than his."

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 knowl

1

edge 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.”— Graham's English Synonymes.

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 borne its full time, that is immature. We often hear abortion used in the sense of failure, but never by those who study to express themselves in chaste English.

Above. There is little authority for using this word as an adjective or as a noun. Such expressions as "the above statement or "it seems from the above" are not sanctioned by careful writers. It is better to say, "the foregoing or preceding statement, or paragraph." Such expressions as the above-mentioned, the above referred to, and the above related are perhaps permissible, but the diction would be bettered by using already instead of above.

Above is also used inelegantly for more than; as, "above a mile,' "above a thousand"; also inelegantly used for beyond; as, "above his strength."

"The floor of it was not much above [more than] a hundred feet across."-Hammond.

Accept of. We are not without authority for the locution accept of, nevertheless the of is unnecessary, no matter what sense the verb is used in. We accept presents, not accept of them.

Accident. See 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 Pallas 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.

Accord is sometimes misused for award thus, "The Queen's prize was accorded to our townsman," etc. Accuse. See BLAME IT ON.

Acquaintance. See FRIEND.

Ad.

This abbreviation for the word advertisement is very justly considered a gross vulgarism. It is doubtful whether it is ever permissible.

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— i. e., 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—i. e., 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. Adjectives are often properly used where the tyro in grammar would expect to find an adverb; as, "drink deep," "this looks strange," "he looks bad,” “he stood erect."

as,

Adjectives sometimes properly qualify other adjectives;
"wide open,"
""red hot," "pale blue."

Such sentences as the following are common, yet they are all incorrect: "He was questioned relative [relatively] to the matter ; "I should have done it independent [independently] of that circumstance"; "previous [previously] to my arrival"; "subsequent [subsequently] to the election."

Such comparatives as wiser, better, larger, etc., and the contrasting adjectives different, other, etc., are often so placed as to render the construction 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 mine," instead of "Your plot of ground is larger than mine"; "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 doing it than the one I took," instead of "I could take no method of doing it other than the one I took."

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 the 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) roposed by Mr. Blank was adopted by the committee";