The Century Vocabulary Builder
by
Creever & Bachelor
Part 6 out of 7
EXERCISE L
Trace each of the following words from its literal to its figurative
applications, giving synonyms for each of its uses.
Open Bright Stiff Hard
Low Cool Sharp Flat
Keen Strong Dull Raw
Small Odd Warm Deep
Eccentric
Thus far in this chapter we have been considering many-sided words. We
must now turn to a certain class of facts and ideas that deserve better
understanding and closer analysis than we usually accord them.
These facts and ideas are supposed to be matters of common knowledge. And
in their broad scope and purport they are. Because acquaintance with them
is taken for granted it behooves us to know them. Yet they are in reality
complicated, and when we attempt to deal with them in detail, our
assurance forsakes us. All of us have our "blind sides" intellectually--
quake to have certain areas of discussion entered, because we foresee that
we must sit idly by without power to make sensible comment. Unto as many
as possible of these blind sides of ourselves we should pronounce the
blessed words, "Let there be light." We have therefore to consider certain
matters and topics which are supposed to belong to the common currency of
social information, but with which our familiarity is less thoroughgoing
than it should be.
What are these facts and topics? Take for illustration the subject of
aeronautics. Suppose we have but the vaguest conception of the part played
or likely to be played by aircraft in war, commerce, and pleasure. Suppose
we are not aware that some craft are made to float and others to be driven
by propellers. Suppose such terms as Zeppelin, blimp, monoplane, biplane,
hydroplane, dirigible have no definite import for us. Does not our
knowledge fall short of that expected of well-informed men in this present
age?
Or take military terms. Everybody uses them--clergymen, pacifists,
clubmen, social reformers, novelists, tramps, brick-layers, Big-Stickers.
We cannot escape them if we would. We ourselves use them. But do we use
them with precise and masterly understanding? You call one civilian
colonel and another major; which have you paid the higher compliment? You
are uncertain whether a given officer is a colonel or a major, and you
wish to address him in such fashion as will least offend his sensitiveness
as to rank and nomenclature; which title--colonel or major--is the less
perilous? You are told that a major has command of a battalion; does that
tell you anything about him? You are told that he has command of a
squadron, of a brigade, of a platoon; do these changes in circumstances
have any import for you? If not, you have too faltering a grasp upon
military facts and terminology.
The best remedy for such shortcomings is to be insatiably curious on all
subjects. This of course is the ideal; nobody ever fully attains it.
Nevertheless Exercise M will set you to groping into certain broad matters
relevant to ordinary needs. Thereafter, if your purpose be strong enough,
you will carry the same methods there acquired into other fields of
knowledge.
You may object that all this is as much mental as linguistic--that what is
proposed will result in as large accessions of general information as of
vocabulary. Let this be admitted. Deficiencies of language are often,
perhaps almost invariably, linked with deficiencies of knowledge.
To repair the one we must at the same time repair the other. This may seem
a hard saying to those who seek, or would impart, mere glibness of phrase
without regard for the substance--who worship "words, words, words"
without thought of "the matter." There is such a thing as froth of
utterance, but who has respect therefor or is deceived thereby? Speech
that is not informed is like a house without a foundation. You should not
desire to possess it. Abroad in this world of ours already are too many
people who darken counsel by words without knowledge.
EXERCISE M
A second lieutenant is the commissioned officer of lowest grade in the
United States army. Name all the grades from second lieutenant to the
grade that is highest.
An admiral is the officer of highest grade in the United States navy. Name
all the grades down to that which is lowest.
Name as many as possible of the different ranks of the clergy in the Roman
Catholic Church, in the Church of England.
Give ascendingly the five titles in the British nobility.
Name the different kinds of vehicles.
Name the different kinds of schools.
Name all the different kinds of boats and ships (both ancient and modern)
you can think of.
Give the nautical term for the right side of a ship, for the left side of
a ship, for the front, for the rear, for the forward portion, for the rear
portion.
Name the various kinds of bodies of water (oceans, rivers, lagoons, etc.)
Give all the terms of relationship of persons, both by blood and by
marriage. What relation to you is your grandfather's brother? your
cousin's daughter?
Name all the bones of the human head.
Give the names of the different parts of a typical flower.
Name as many elements as you can. What is the number usually given? What
was the last element discovered, and by whom?
Name the elements of which water is composed. Name the principal elements
in the composition of the air.
Make as long a list as possible (up to thirty) of words that appeal to the
sense of sight (especially color words and motion words), to the sense of
hearing, of smell, of taste, of touch.
Find words descriptive of various expressions in the human face.
Name all the terms you can associated with law, with medicine, with
geology.
Name the planets, the signs of the zodiac, as many constellations as you
can.
Name the seven colors of the spectrum, and for each name give all the
synonyms you can. What are the primary colors? the secondary colors?
Give the various races into which mankind has been divided, and the color
of each.
Name every kind of tree you can think of, every kind of flower, every kind
of animal, every kind of bird.
X
SUPPLEMENTARY LIST OF WORDS
You have already mastered many words, but a glance at any page of the
dictionary will convince you that you have not mastered all. Nor will you,
ever. Their number is too great, and too many of them are abstrusely
technical.
Nevertheless there remain many words that you should bring into your
vocabulary. Most of them are not extremely usual; on the other hand they
are not so unusual that you would encounter them but once in a lifetime.
The majority of them are familiar to you, perhaps; that is, you will have
a general feeling that you have seen them before. But this is not enough.
Do you know exactly what they mean? Can you, when the occasion comes, use
them?-use them promptly and well? This is the test.
Many of the words are absolutely new so far as this book is concerned.
They have not been discussed or attached to any list. Many are not
entirely new. They have appeared, but not received such emphasis that they
are sure to stand fast in your memory. Or some cognate form of them may
have been mastered, yet they themselves may remain unknown. Thus you may
know _commendation_ but not _commendatory, credulous_ but not
_incredulity, invalid_ but not _invalidate_ or
_invalidity_. One of the best of all ways to extend your vocabulary
is to make each word of your acquaintance introduce you to its immediate
kinsmen, those grouped with it on the same page of the dictionary.
This chapter puts you on your mettle. Hitherto you have been given
instructions as to the way to proceed, Now you must shift for yourself.
The words, to be sure, are corraled for you. But you must tame them and
break them, in order that on them you may ride the ranges of human
intercourse. If you have not yet learned how to subdue them to your will
and use, it would be futile to tell you how. You have been put in the way
of mastering words. The task that henceforth confronts you is your own.
You must have at it unaided.
It is true that, in the exercise that follows, specific help is given you
on a limited number of the words. But this help is only toward discovering
the words for yourself before you have seen them in a list. And for most
of the words not even this meager assistance is given.
EXERCISE - Supplementary
Each of the following groups of words is preceded by sentences in which
blanks should be filled by words from that group. But do your best to fill
these blanks properly before you consult the group at all. You must learn
to think of, or think up, the right word instead of having it pointed out
to you.
These benefits were not inherent in the course he had taken; they were
purely ____. Anything which existed before Noah's flood is called ____.
His left hand, which had ceased, to grow during his childhood, was now
withered from its long ____. Certain books once belonging to the Bible
have been discarded by the Protestants as ____. When Shakespeare makes
Hector quote Aristotle, who lived long after the siege of Troy, he is
guilty of an ____. Whatever causes the lips to pucker, as alum or a green
persimmon, is spoken of as ____.
Abash, abbreviate, abduct, aberrant, aberration, abeyance, abhorrent,
abject, abjure, aboriginal, abortive, abrade, abrasion, abrogate,
absolution, abstemious, abstention, abstruse, accelerate, accentuate,
acceptation, accessary, accession, accessory, acclamation, acclivity,
accolade, accomplice, accost, acerbity, acetic, achromatic, acidulous,
acme, acolyte, acoustics, acquiescence, acquisitive, acrimonious, acumen,
adage, adamantine, addict, adduce, adhesive, adipose, adjudicate,
adolescence, adulation, adulterate, advent, adventitious, aerial,
affability, affidavit, affiliate, affinity, agglomerate, agglutinate,
aggrandizement, agnostic, alignment, aliment, allegorical, alleviate,
altercation, altruistic, amalgamate, amatory, ambiguity, ambrosial,
ameliorate, amenable, amenity, amity, amnesty, amulet, anachronism,
analytical, anathema, anatomy, animadversion, annotate, anomalous,
anonymous, antediluvian, anterior, anthology, anthropology, antinomy,
antiquarianism, antiseptic, aphorism, apocryphal, aplomb, apostasy,
apparatus, apparition, appellate, appertain, appetency, apposite,
approbation, appurtenance, aquatic, aqueous, aquiline, arbitrary, archaic,
arduous, aromatic, arrear, articulate, ascetic, asperity, asphyxiate,
asseverate, assiduity, assimilate, astringent, astute, atrophy, attenuate,
auditory, augury, auscultation, austerity, authenticate, authenticity,
auxiliary, avidity.
The man wished to fight; he was in ____ mood. There is only a handful of
these things; yes, a mere ____. Slight mishaps like these lead to quips
and mutual ____. His conduct is odd, grotesque, ____.
Baccalaureate, badinage, bagatelle, baleful, ballast, banality, baneful,
beatitude, bellicose, belligerent, benefaction, beneficent, benison,
betide, bibulous, bigotry, bizarre, bombastic, burlesque.
This effect was not obtained all at once; it was ____. These subjects
belong to the same general field of knowledge as those; the two sets
are ____. He is a skilled judge of art, a ____. The Southern states were
unwilling to remain in the Union; they could be kept only by ____. Monks
take upon themselves the vow of ____. No, this animal does not live on
vegetation; it is a ____ animal.
Cacophonous, cadaverous, cadence, callow, calumny, capillary, captious,
cardinal, carnal, carnivorous, castigate, cataclysm, catastrophe,
category, causality, cavernous, celebrity, celibacy, censorious, ceramics,
cerebration, certitude, cessation, charlatan, chimerical, chronology,
circuitous, circumlocution, citation, clandestine, clarify, clemency,
coadjutor, coagulate, coalesce, coercion, cogency, cognizant, cohesion,
coincidence, collusion, colossal, comatose, combustible, commendatory,
commensurate, commiserate, communal, compatibility, compendium,
complaisant, comport, composite, compulsive, compulsory, computation,
concatenate, concentric, concessive, concomitant, condign, condiment,
condolence, confiscatory, confute, congeal, congenital, conglomerate,
congruity, connivance, connoisseur, connubial, consensus, consistence,
consort, constriction, construe, contentious, context, contiguity,
contiguous, contingent, contortion, contravene, contumacious, contumacy,
contumelious, convergent, conversant, convivial, correlate, corrigible,
corroborate, corrosive, cosmic, covenant, crass, credence, crescent,
criterion, critique, crucial, crucible, cryptic, crystalline, culmination,
culpable, cumulative, cupidity, cursive, cursory, cutaneous, cynosure.
His course was not prescribed for him by superiors; his powers were ____.
The suppression of these anarchistic tendencies has required ____
measures. She was just entering society, and was proving herself a popular
____. Yes, this tree loses its leaves every year; it is a ____ tree. He
pretends that his ____ are sound, because he can read the stars.
Debilitate, debonair, debutante, decadence, decapitate, deciduous,
declivity, decompose, decorous, dedicatory, deduction, deferential,
deficiency, deglutition, dehiscence, delectable, delete, deleterious,
delineate, deliquescent, demarcation, demimonde, demoniac, denizen,
denouement, deprecate, depreciate, derelict, derogatory, despicable,
desuetude, desultory, deteriorate, diacritical, diagnosis, diaphanous,
diatribe, didactic, diffusive, dilatory, dilettante, dipsomania,
dirigible, discommode, discretionary, discursive, disintegrate, disparity,
dispensable, disseminate, dissimulation, dissonant, distain, divagation,
divination, divulge, dolor, dorsal, drastic, dubiety, duress, dynamic.
These facts do not circulate except among a limited group of people; they
are therefore ____. The departure of the children of Israel from Egypt was
a general ____. His philosophy, instead of conforming to a single system,
was ____. Lamb wrote admirable letters; he has a delightful ____ style.
The period at which our days and nights are of equal length is the ____
period.
Ebullient, ecclesiastical, echelon, eclectic, ecstatic, edict, eerie,
effervescent, efficacious, effrontery, effulgence, effusion, egregious,
eleemosynary, elicit, elite, elucidate, embellish, embryonic, emendation,
emissary, emission, emollient, empiric, empyreal, emulous, encomium,
endue, enervate, enfilade, enigmatic, ennui, enunciate, environ, epicure,
epigram, episode, epistolary, epitome, equestrian, equilibrium,
equinoctial, equity, equivocate, eradicate, erosion, erotic, erudition,
eruptive, eschew, esoteric, espousal, estrange, ethereal, eulogistic,
euphonious, evanescent, evangelical, evict, exacerbate, excerpt,
excommunicate, excoriate, excruciate, execrable, exegesis, exemplary,
exhalation, exhilarate, exigency, exodus, exonerate, exorbitant, exotic,
expectorate, expeditious, explicable, explicit, expunge, extant,
extemporaneous, extrinsic.
He deceives himself by this argument, for the argument is utterly ____.
No complicated action can be planned in absolute detail; much must depend
on ____ circumstance.
Fabricate, fabulous, facetious, factitious, fallacious, fallible,
fastidious, fatuous, feasible, feculence, fecundity, felicitous,
felonious, fetid, feudal, fiducial, filament, filtrate, finesse, flaccid,
flagitious, floriculture, florid, fluctuate, foible, forfeiture,
fortuitous, fractious, franchise, frangible, frontal, froward, furtive.
The advice was both unasked and unwelcome; it was purely ____. Throughout
the World War the ____ of Germany over the other Central European powers
was unquestioned. Buffaloes naturally go together in herds; they are ____.
Galaxy, galleon, garrulity, gesticulate, gormand, granivorous,
grandiloquent, gravamen, gratuitous, gregarious, habitue, hallucination,
harbinger, hardihood, heckle, hectic, hedonist, hegemony, heinous,
herbivorous, heretic, hermaphrodite, heterodox, heterogeneous, hibernate.
histrionic, hoidenism, homiletics, homogeneous, hydraulic, hypothesis.
We cannot understand God's ways; they are ____. Nor need we expect to
change them; they are ____. If an animal has no backbone, it is ____. A
boy so confirmed in his faults that we cannot correct them is ____.
Idiosyncrasy, illicit, immaculate, immanent, imminent, immobile, immure,
immutable, impalpable, impeccable, impecunious, imperturbable, impervious,
implacable, implicit, impolitic, imponderable, importunate, imprecation,
impromptu, improvise, imputation, inadvertent, inamorata, inanity,
incarcerate, inchoate, incidence, incision, incongruent, inconsequential,
incontinent, incorporeal, incorrigible, incredulity, incumbent,
indecorous, indigenous, indigent, indite, indomitable, ineluctable,
inexorable, inexplicable, inferential, infinitesimal, infinitude,
infraction, infusion, inhibit, innocuous, innuendo, inopportune,
insatiable, inscrutable, insidious, inspissated, insulate, intangible,
integral, integument, interdict, internecine, intractable, intransigent,
intrinsic, inure, invalidate, inveigh, inveigle, invertebrate, invidious,
irrefragable, irrefutable, irrelevant, irreparable, irrevocable, iterate.
He overpraised people; he was always engaged in extravagant ____ of
somebody or other. The small man who has written a book becomes
pretentious at once and regards himself as one of the ____. Thatcher is
always engaged in lawsuits; he is the most ____ man I ever saw.
Jocose, jocund, jurisprudence, juxtaposition, kaleidoscopic, labyrinth,
lacerate, lackadaisical, lacrimal, laity, lambent, lampoon, largess,
lascivious, laudable, laudation, lavation, legionary, lethargic,
licentious, lineal, lingual, literati, litigious, loquacity, lubricity,
lucent, lucre, lucubration, lugubrious.
Those soldiers are fighting, not for principle, but for pay; they are
____. Iron that is not heated cannot be hammered into shape; it is not
____.
Machination, macrocosm, magisterial, magniloquent, maladroit, malfeasance,
malignity, malleable, mandate, matutinal, medieval, mephitic, mercenary,
mercurial, meretricious, metamorphose, meticulous, microcosm,
misanthropic, misogyny, misprision, mitigate, monitor, mortuary,
mundane, mutable.
It is a government by the few; therefore an ____. All the men of influence
in the state give offices to their kinsmen; the system is one of ____.
Yes, grandfather is eighty years old today; he has become an ____.
Nebulous, nefarious, negation, neophyte, nepotism, neurotic, noisome,
nomenclature, nonchalant, non sequitur, nucleus, nugatory, obdurate,
objurgation, obligatory, obloquy, obsequious, obsession, obsolete,
obstreperous, obtrusive, obtuse, obverse, obviate, occult, octogenarian,
officious, olfactory, oleaginous, oligarchy, ominous, onomatopceia,
opacity, opaque, opprobrious, oracular, orthodox, oscillate, osculate,
ostensible, ostentation, ostracize, outre, ovation, overture.
In England the eldest son inherits the title and the estate, but Americans
do not take to a system of ____. You are always putting off until tomorrow
what you could do today; do you think it pays to ____ thus? An ambassador
whose powers are unlimited is called an ambassador ____. Beasts or men
that are given to plundering are ____.
Pabulum, pageantry, paginate, palatial, palliate, palpable, panacea,
panegyric, panorama, paradoxical, paramount, parasite, parochial,
paroxysm, parsimonious, parturition, patois, patriarchal, patrician,
patrimony, peccadillo, pecuniary, pedantic, pellucid, pendulous,
penultimate, penurious, peregrination, perfunctory, peripatetic,
periphery, persiflage, perspicacious, perspicuity, pertinacious,
pharmaceutic, phenomenal, phlegmatic, phraseology, pictorial, piquant,
pique, plagiarize, platitudinous, platonic, plebeian, plenipotentiary,
plethora, pneumatic, poignant, polity, poltroon, polyglot, pontifical,
portentous, posterior, posthumous, potent, potential, pragmatic, preamble,
precarious, precocious, precursor, predatory, predestination, predicament,
preemptory, prelate, preliminary, preposterous, prerequisite, prerogative,
presentiment, primogeniture, probation, probity, proclivity,
procrastinate, prodigal, prodigious, prodigy, profligate, progenitor,
proletarian, prolific, prolix, promiscuous, promissory, propaganda,
propensity, prophylactic, propinquity, propitiatory, propitious,
proprietary, prorogue, proselyte, prototype, protuberant, provender,
proximity, prurient, psychical, psychological, puerile, pug-nacious,
puissant, punctilious, pungent, punitive, pusillanimous, putrescent,
pyrotechnics.
The coil of wire, being ____, instantly resumed its original shape. Some
one must arrange these papers for publication; will you be their ____?
Poe's mind had a bent toward ____: it could reason out a whole chain of
circumstances from one or two known facts. He showed a disposition not to
comply with these instructions; yes, he was ____.
Rabbinical, rancorous, rapacious, ratiocination, rational, raucous,
recalcitrant, recant, recapitulate, recession, reciprocal, reciprocate,
recluse, recondite, recreant, recrudescence, rectilinear, rectitude,
recumbent, redactor, redress, redound, refractory, refulgent, rejuvenate,
relevant, rendezvous, rendition, reparation, repercussion, repertory,
replenish, replete, replevin, reprehend, reprobate, repulsive, requisite,
rescind, residue, residuum, resilient, resplendent, resurgence,
resuscitate, reticulate, retribution, retrograde, retrospect, rigorous,
risible, rodomontade, rudimentary, ruminate.
His position carries no responsibility; it is a ____. The moon revolves
about the earth, and is therefore the earth's ____. His work keeps him at
his desk all day; it is ____ work. Your words incite men to disorder and
rebellion; they are ____.
Saccharine, sacerdotal, sacrament, sacrilege, salient, salubrious,
sardonic, satellite, saturnine, schism, scurrilous, sectarian, secular,
sedative, sedentary, seditious, sedulous, segregate, seismograph,
senescent, sententious, septuagenarian, sequester, sibilant, similitude,
sinecure, sinuous, solicitous, solstice, somnolent, sophisticated,
sophistry, sorcery, spasmodic, specious, spirituelle, splenetic,
spontaneity, sporadic, spurious, stipend, stipulate, stoical, stricture,
stringency, stultify, stupendous, sublimity, suborn, subpoena, subsidiary,
subsidy, substratum, subtend, subterfuge, subterranean, subvention,
subvert, sudorific, supercilious, supernal, supervene, supine,
supposititious, surreptitious, surrogate, surveillance, susceptible,
sustenance, sycophantic, syllogism, sylvan, symmetrical, symposium,
synchronize, synonymous, synopsis, synthesis.
The small stream flows into the larger one and is its ____. The thick
glass roof lets through sufficient light for us to see by; it is ____. You
will not find him hard to manage; he has spirit enough, yet is ____.
Tactile, tangible, tantamount, temerity, tenable, tenacious, tentative,
tenuous, termagant, terrestrial, testimentary, thaumaturgic, therapeutic,
titular, torso, tortuous, tractable, traduce, transcendent,
transfiguration, transient, transitory, translucent, transverse, travesty,
tribulation, tributary, truculent, truncate, turbid, turpitude, tyro.
He is so extravagantly fond of his wife that I should call him ____.
Christ died for others; it was a ____ death. The most notable quality in
Defoe's narrative is its likeness to actual facts, or in a word, its ____.
Ubiquity, ulterior, ululation, umbrage, unanimous, undulate, urbanity,
usurious, uxorious, vacillate, vacuous, vandalism, variegate velocity,
venal, venereal, venial, venous, veracious, verdant, verisimilitude,
vernacular, versatile, vestal, vibratory, vicarious, vicissitude,
virulence, viscid, viscous, vitiate, vitreous, vituperate, vivacious,
volatile, volition, voluminous, voluptuary, voluptuous, voracious, votive,
vulnerable, whimsical, zealot.
XI
RETROSPECT
DO you never, while occupying a dental chair and deploring the necessity
that drives you to that uncomfortable seat, admire the skill of the
dentist in the use of his instruments? A great many of these instruments
lie at his hand. To you they appear bewildering, so slightly different are
they from each other. Yet with unerring readiness the dentist lays hold of
the one he needs. Now this facility of his is not a blessing with which a
gracious heaven endowed him. It is the consequence and reward of hard
study, and above all of work, hard work.
You have been ambitious of like skill in the manipulation of words. Had
you not been, you would never have undertaken this study. You have
perceived that when you speak or write, words are your instruments. You
have wished to learn how to use them. Now for every idea you shall ever
have occasion to express await throngs of vocables, each presenting its
claims as a fit medium. These you must pass in instantaneous review, these
you must expertly appraise, out of these you must choose the words that
will best serve your purpose. With practice, you will make your selections
unconsciously. You will never, of course, quite attain the infallibility
of the dentist; for linguistic instruments are more numerous than dental,
and far more complex. But you will more and more nearly approximate the
ideal, will more and more nearly find that right expression has become
second nature with you.
All this is conditioned upon labor faithful and steadfast. Without labor
you will never be adept. At the outset of our study together we warned you
that, though we should gather the material and point the way, you yourself
must do the work. This book is not one to glance through. It is one to
dwell with, to toil with. It exacts much of you-makes you, for each page
you turn, pay with the sweat of your brain.
But, assuming that you have done your part, what have you gained? Without
answering this question at all fully, we may at this juncture engage in a
brief retrospect.
First of all, you have rid yourself of the notion that words are dead
things, unrealities worthy of no more than wooden and mechanical
employment. As much as anything else in the world, words are alive and
responsive, are fraught with unmeasured possibilities of good or ill.
You have taken due cognizance of the fact that words must be considered in
the aggregate as well as individually, and have reckoned with the pitfalls
and dangers as well as with the advantages of their use in combination.
But the basis of everything is a keener knowledge of words severally. You
have therefore come to study words with the zest and insight you exhibit
(or should exhibit) in studying men. Incidentally, you have acquired the
habit of looking up dictionary definitions, not merely to satisfy a
present need, but also to add permanently to your linguistic resources.
You have carried the study of individuals farther. You have come to know
words inside and out. Such knowledge not only assists you in your dealings
with your contemporaries; it illuminates for you great literature of the
past that otherwise would remain obscure. How much keener, for example, is
your understanding of Shakespeare's passage on the Seven Ages of Man
because of your thorough acquaintance with the single word
_pantaloon_! How quickly does the awe for big words slip from you
when you perceive that _precocious is_ in origin the equivalent of
_half-baked!_ What intimacy of insight into words you feel when you
find that a _companion is_ a _sharer of one's bread_! What a
linking of language with life you discover when you learn the original
signification of _presently_, of _idiot_, of _rival_, of
_sandwich_, of _pocket handkerchief_! And what revelations as
into a mystic fraternalism with words do you obtain when you confront
such a phrase as "the bank _teller_" or "cut to the _quick"!
_Not only have words become more like living beings to you; you have
learned to think of them in relations analogous to the human. You can
detect the blood kinship, for example, between _prescribe_ and
_manuscript_, and know that the strain of _fact_ or fie or fy in
a word is pretty sure to betoken making or doing. You know that there are
elaborate intermarriages among words. You recognize _phonograph_, for
example, as a married couple; you even have confidential word as to the
dowry brought by each of the contracting parties to the new verbal
household.
You have discovered, further, that the language actually swarms with
"pairs"--words joined with each other not in blood or by marriage but
through meaning. You have so familiarized yourself with hundreds of these
pairs that to think of one word is to call the other to mind.
Finally, and in many respects most important of all, you have acquired a
vast stock of synonyms. You have had it brought to your attention that the
number of basic ideas in the world is surprisingly small; that for each of
these ideas there is in our language one generic word; that most people
use this one word constantly instead of seeking the subsidiary term that
expresses a particular phase of the idea; and that you as a builder of
your vocabulary must, while holding fast to the basic idea with one hand,
reach out with the other for the fit, sure material of specific words. Nor
have you rested in the mere perception of theory. You have had abundant
practice, have yourself covered the ground foot by foot. You can therefore
proceed with reasonable freedom from the commoner ideas of the human mind
to that expression of definite aspects of them which is anything but
common.
You have not, of course, achieved perfection. There still is much for you
to do. There always will be. Nevertheless in the ways just reviewed, and
in various other ways not mentioned in this chapter, you have made
yourself verbally rich. You are one of the millionaires of language. When
you speak, it is not with stammering incompetence, but with confident
readiness. When you write, it is with energy and assurance in the very
flow of the ink. Where you had long been a slave, you have become a
freeman and can look your fellows in the eye. You have the best badge of
culture a human being can possess. You have power at your tongue's end.
You have the proud satisfaction of having wrought well, and the
inspiration of knowing that whatever verbal need may arise, you are
trained and equipped to grapple with it triumphantly.
APPENDICES
_Appendix I_
THE DRIFT OF OUR RURAL POPULATION CITYWARD
(An editorial)
To an individual who from whatever motives of personal advantage or mere
curiosity has made himself an observer of current tendencies, the drift of
our rural population cityward gives food for serious reflection. This
drift is one of the most pronounced of the social and economic phenomena
of the day. Its consequences upon the life, welfare, and future of the
great nation to which we are proud to acknowledge our whole-hearted
allegiance are matters of such paramount importance to all concerned that
we should turn aside more often than we do from the distracting exactions
of our ordinary activities to give them prolonged and earnest
consideration.
A generation or so ago human beings were content to spend the full term of
their earthly existence amid rural surroundings, or if in their declining
days they longed for more of the comforts and associations which are among
the cravings of mortality, it was an easy proposition to move to the
nearest village or, if they were too high and mighty for this simple
measure to satisfy them, they could indulge in the more grandiose
performance of residing in the county seat. But nowadays our people want
more. Rich or poor, tall or dumpy, tottering grandmothers or babies in
swaddling-clothes, they long for ampler pastures. Their brawny arms or
hoary heads must bedeck nothing less than the metropolis itself, and
perchance put shoulders to the wheel in the incessant grind of the urban
treadmill. Can you beat it? Unquestioned profit does not attend the
migration. It stands to reason that some of the very advantages sought
have been sacrificed on the altar of the drift cityward. Let us say you
have your individual domicile or the cramped and sunless apartment you dub
your habitation within corporate limits. Does that mean that the
privileges of the city are at your disposal, so that you have merely to
reach forth your hand and pluck them? Well, hardly! You certainly do not
reside in the downtown section, or if you do, you wish to heaven you
didn't. And you can reach this section only with delay and inconvenience,
whether in the hours of business or in the subsequent period devoted to
the glitter of nocturnal revelry and amusement.
But whatever the disadvantages of the city, the people who endure them are
convinced that to go back to the vines and figtrees of their native heath
would be jumping out of the frying pan into the fire. Why? Well, for one
thing, there is no such thing as leisure in the areas that lie beyond
those vast aggregations of humanity which constitute our cities. Not only
are there innumerable and seemingly interminable chores that must follow
the regular occupations of the day, but a thousand emergencies due to
chance, weather, or the natural cussedness of things must be disposed of
as they arise, regardless of what plans the rustic swain cherishes for the
use of his spare time. Urban laborers have contrived by one means or
another to bring about a limitation of the number of hours per diem they
are forced to toil. To the farmers such an alleviation of their hardships
is not within the realm of practicability. They kick about it of course.
They say it's a blooming nuisance. But neither their heartburnings nor
their struggles can efface it as a fact.
Again, the means of entertainment are more limited, and that by a big lot,
with the farmer than with those who dwell in the cities. It is all very
well to talk about the blessings of the rural telephone, rural free
delivery, and the automobile. These things do make communication easier
than it used to be, but after all they're only a drop in the bucket and do
little to stop the drift cityward. We may remark just here that if you
live a thousand miles from nowhere and are willing to drive your Tin
Lizzie into town for "the advantages," you aren't likely to get much even
along the line of the movies, and you'll get less still if what you're
after is an A-1 school for your progeny.
Finally, the widespread impression that the farmer is a bloated and
unscrupulous profiteer has done much to disgust him with his station and
employment in life. We don't say he's the one and only when it comes to
the virtues. Maybe he hasn't sprouted any wings yet. What if he hasn't?
The cities, with their brothels, their big business, and their municipal
governments--you wouldn't have the face to say that there's anything wrong
with them, now would you? Oh, no! Of course not! The farmer pays high for
his machinery and goes clear to the bottom of his pocketbook when he has
to buy shoes or a sack of flour, but let him have a steer's hide or a
wagon load of wheat to sell, and it's somebody else's ox that's gored.
Consumers pay big prices for farm products, goodness knows, but they don't
pay them to the farmer. Not on your tintype. The middleman gets his, you
needn't question that. We beg pardon a thousand times. We mean the
middle_men_. There's no end to those human parasites.
And so farmer after farmer breaks up the old homestead and contributes his
mite to the drift cityward. What will be the result that comes out of it
all? The effect upon the farmer deserves an editorial all to itself. Here
we must limit ourselves to the effects on the future of our beloved
American nation. And even these we can now do no more than mention; we
lack space to elaborate them. One effect, if the tendency continues, will
be such a reduction in home-produced foodstuffs that we shall have to
import from other countries lying abroad a good portion of the means of
our physical sustenance, and shall face such an increase in the cost of
the same that thousands and thousands of our people will find it
increasingly harder as the years pass by to maintain their relative
economic position. Another effect will be that our civilization, which to
this point has sprawled over broad acres, will become an urban
civilization, penned in amid conditions, restraints, privations, and
perhaps also opportunities unprecedented in our past history and unknown
to the experience we have had hitherto. A final effect will be that our
most conservative class, the rural populace, will no longer present
resistance that is formidable to the innovations which those who hold
extreme views are forever exhorting us to embrace; and the result may well
be that the disintegration of this staying and stabilizing element in our
citizenship--one that retards and mollifies if it does not inhibit
change--will produce consequences in its train which may be as dire as
they are difficult to foretell.
_Appendix_ 2
CAUSES FOR THE AMERICAN SPIRIT OF LIBERTY
(From the _Speech on Conciliation with the Colonies_)
By EDMUND BURKE
In this character of the Americans, a love of freedom is the predominating
feature which marks and distinguishes the whole; and as an ardent is
always a jealous affection, your Colonies become suspicious, restive, and
untractable whenever they see the least attempt to wrest from them by
force, or shuffle from them by chicane, what they think the only advantage
worth living for. This fierce spirit of liberty is stronger in the English
Colonies probably than in any other people of the earth, and this from a
great variety of powerful causes; which, to understand the true temper of
their minds and the direction which this spirit takes, it will not be
amiss to lay open somewhat more largely.
First, the people of the Colonies are descendants of Englishmen. England,
Sir, is a nation which still, I hope, respects, and formerly adored, her
freedom. The Colonists emigrated from you when this part of your character
was most predominant; and they took this bias and direction the moment
they parted from your hands. They are therefore not only devoted to
liherty, but to liberty according to English ideas, and on English
principles. Abstract liberty, like other mere abstractions, is not to be
found. Liberty inheres in some sensible object; and every nation has
formed to itself some favorite point, which by way of eminence becomes the
criterion of their happiness. It happened, you know, Sir, that the great
contests for freedom in this country were from the earliest times chiefly
upon the question of taxing. Most of the contests in the ancient
commonwealths turned primarily on the right of election of magistrates; or
on the balance among the several orders of the state. The question of
money was not with them so immediate. But in England it was otherwise. On
this point of taxes the ablest pens, and most eloquent tongues, have been
exercised; the greatest spirits have acted and suffered. In order to give
the fullest satisfaction concerning the importance of this point, it was
not only necessary for those who in argument defended the excellence of
the English Constitution to insist on this privilege of granting money as
a dry point of fact, and to prove that the right had been acknowledged in
ancient parchments and blind usages to reside in a certain body called a
House of Commons. They went much farther; they attempted to prove, and
they succeeded, that in theory it ought to be so, from the particular
nature of a House of Commons as an immediate representative of the people,
whether the old records had delivered this oracle or not. They took
infinite pains to inculcate, as a fundamental principle, that in all
monarchies the people must in effect themselves, mediately or immediately,
possess the power of granting their own money, or no shadow of liberty can
subsist. The Colonies draw from you, as with their life-blood, these ideas
and principles. Their love of liberty, as with you, fixed and attached on
this specific point of taxing. Liberty might be safe, or might be
endangered, in twenty other particulars, without their being much pleased
or alarmed. Here they felt its pulse; and as they found that beat, they
thought themselves sick or sound. I do not say whether they were right or
wrong in applying your general arguments to their own case. It is not
easy, indeed, to make a monopoly of theorems and corollaries. The fact is,
that they did thus apply those general arguments; and your mode of
governing them, whether through lenity or indolence, through wisdom or
mistake, confirmed them in the imagination that they, as well as you, had
an interest in these common principles.
They were further confirmed in this pleasing error by the form of their
provincial legislative assemblies. Their governments are popular in an
high degree; some are merely popular; in all, the popular representative
is the most weighty; and this share of the people in their ordinary
government never fails to inspire them with lofty sentiments, and with a
strong aversion from whatever tends to deprive them of their chief
importance.
If anything were wanting to this necessary operation of the form of
government, religion would have given it a complete effect. Religion,
always a principle of energy, in this new people is no way worn out or
impaired; and their mode of professing it is also one main cause of this
free spirit. The people are Protestants; and of that kind which is the
most adverse to all implicit submission of mind and opinion. This is a
persuasion not only favorable to liberty, but built upon it. I do not
think, Sir, that the reason of this averseness in the dissenting churches
from all that looks like absolute government is so much to be sought in
their religious tenets, as in their history. Every one knows that the
Roman Catholic religion is at least coeval with most of the governments
where it prevails; that it has generally gone hand in hand with them, and
received great favor and every kind of support from authority. The Church
of England too was formed from her cradle under the nursing care of
regular government. But the dissenting interests have sprung up in direct
opposition to all the ordinary powers of the world, and could justify that
opposition only on a strong claim to natural liberty. Their very existence
depended on the powerful and unremitted assertion of that claim. All
Protestantism, even the most cold and passive, is a sort of dissent. But
the religion most prevalent in our Northern Colonies is a refinement on
the principle of resistance; it is the dissidence of dissent, and the
protestantism of the Protestant religion. This religion, under a variety
of denominations agreeing in nothing but in the communion of the spirit of
liberty, is predominant in most of the Northern Provinces, where the
Church of England, notwithstanding its legal rights, is in reality no more
than a sort of private sect, not composing most probably the tenth of the
people. The Colonists left England when this spirit was high, and in the
emigrants was the highest of all; and even that stream of foreigners which
has been constantly flowing into these Colonies has, for the greatest
part, been composed of dissenters from the establishments of their several
countries, who have brought with them a temper and character far from
alien to that of the people with whom they mixed.
Sir, I can perceive by their manner that some gentlemen object to the
latitude of this description, because in the Southern Colonies the Church
of England forms a large body, and has a regular establishment. It is
certainly true. There is, however, a circumstance attending these Colonies
which, in my opinion, fully counterbalances this difference, and makes the
spirit of liberty still more high and haughty than in those to the
northward. It is that in Virginia and the Carolinas they have a vast
multitude of slaves. Where this is the case in any part of the world,
those who are free are by far the most proud and jealous of their freedom.
Freedom is to them not only an enjoyment, but a kind of rank and
privilege. Not seeing there, that freedom, as in countries where it is a
common blessing and as broad and general as the air, may be united with
much abject toil, with great misery, with all the exterior of servitude;
liberty looks, amongst them, like something that is more noble and
liberal. I do not mean, Sir, to commend the superior morality of this
sentiment, which has at least as much pride as virtue in it; but I cannot
alter the nature of man. The fact is so; and these people of the Southern
Colonies are much more strongly, and with an higher and more stubborn
spirit, attached to liberty than those to the northward. Such were all the
ancient commonwealths; such were our Gothic ancestors; such in our days
were the Poles; and such will be all masters of slaves, who are not slaves
themselves. In such a people the haughtiness of domination combines with
the spirit of freedom, fortifies it, and renders it invincible.
Permit me, Sir, to add another circumstance in our Colonies which
contributes no mean part towards the growth and effect of this untractable
spirit. I mean their education. In no country perhaps in the world is the
law so general a study. The profession itself is numerous and powerful;
and in most provinces it takes the lead. The greater number of the
deputies sent to the Congress were lawyers. But all who read, and most do
read, endeavor to obtain some smattering in that science. I have been told
by an eminent bookseller, that in no branch of his business, after tracts
of popular devotion, were so many books as those on the law exported to
the Plantations. The Colonists have now fallen into the way of printing
them for their own use. I hear that they have sold nearly as many of
Blackstone's Commentaries in America as in England. General Gage marks out
this disposition very particularly in a letter on your table. He states
that all the people in his government are lawyers, or smatterers in law;
and that in Boston they have been enabled, by successful chicane, wholly
to evade many parts of one of your capital penal constitutions. The
smartness of debate will say that this knowledge ought to teach them more
clearly the rights of legislature, their obligations to obedience, and the
penalties of rebellion. All this is mighty well. But my honorable and
learned friend on the floor, who condescends to mark what I say for
animadversion, will disdain that ground. He has heard, as well as I, that
when great honors and great emoluments do not win over this knowledge to
the service of the state, it is a formidable adversary to government. If
the spirit be not tamed and broken by these happy methods, it is stubborn
and litigious. _Abeunt studia in mores_. This study renders men
acute, inquisitive, dexterous, prompt in attack, ready in defence, full of
resources. In other countries, the people, more simple, and of a less
mercurial cast, judge of an ill principle in government only by an actual
grievance; here they anticipate the evil, and judge of the pressure of the
grievance by the badness of the principle. They augur misgovernment at a
distance, and snuff the approach of tyranny in every tainted breeze.
The last cause of this disobedient spirit in the Colonies is hardly less
powerful than the rest, as it is not merely moral, but laid deep in the
natural constitution of things. Three thousand miles of ocean lie between
you and them. No contrivance can prevent the effect of this distance in
weakening government. Seas roll, and months pass, between the order and
the execution; and the want of a speedy explanation of a single point is
enough to defeat a whole system. You have, indeed, winged ministers of
vengeance, who carry your bolts in their pounces to the remotest verge of
the sea. But there a power steps in that limits the arrogance of raging
passions and furious elements, and says, _So far shalt thou go, and no
farther_. Who are you, that you should fret and rage, and bite the
chains of nature? Nothing worse happens to you than does to all nations
who have extensive empire; and it happens in all the forms into which
empire can be thrown. In large bodies the circulation of power must be
less vigorous at the extremities. Nature has said it. The Turk cannot
govern Egypt and Arabia and Kurdistan as he governs Thrace; nor has he the
same dominion in Crimea and Algiers which he has at Brusa and Smyrna.
Despotism itself is obliged to truck and huckster. The Sultan gets such
obedience as he can. He governs with a loose rein, that he may govern at
all; and the whole of the force and vigor of his authority in his center
is derived from a prudent relaxation in all his borders. Spain, in her
provinces, is, perhaps, not so well obeyed as you are in yours. She
complies, too; she submits; she watches times. This is the immutable
condition, the eternal law of extensive and detached empire.
Then, Sir, from these six capital sources--of descent, of form of
government, of religion in the Northern Provinces, of manners in the
Southern, of education, of the remoteness of situation from the first
mover of government-from all these causes a fierce spirit of liberty has
grown up. It has grown with the growth of the people in your Colonies, and
increased with the increase of their wealth; a spirit that unhappily
meeting with an exercise of power in England which, however lawful, is noc
reconcilable to any ideas of liberty, much less with theirs, has kindled
this flame that is ready to consume us.
_Appendix 3_
PARABLE OF THE SOWER
(Matthew 13:3,8 and 18-23)
And he spake many things unto them in parables, saying,
Behold, a sower went forth to sow;
And when he sowed, some seeds fell by the way side,
and the fowls came and devoured them up:
Some fell upon stony places, where they bad not much earth:
and forthwith they sprung up, because they had no deepness of earth:
And when the sun was up, they were scorched;
and because they had no root, they withered away.
And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprung up, and choked them:
But other fell into good ground, and brought forth fruit,
some an hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold.
Hear ye therefore the parable of the sower.
When any one heareth the word of the kingdom, and understandeth it not,
then cometh the wicked one, and catcheth away that which was sown in his
heart. This is he which received seed by the way side.
But be that received the seed into stony places, the same is he
that heareth the word, and anon with joy receiveth it.
Yet he hath not root in himself, but dureth for a while: for when
tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the word, by and by he is
offended.
He also that received seed among the thorns is he that heareth the word;
and the care of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, choke the
word, and he becometh unfruitful.
But he that received seed into the good ground is he that heareth the
word, and understandeth it; which also beareth fruit, and bringeth forth,
some an hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.
_Appendix 4_
THE SEVEN AGES OF MAN
_(As You Like It, II, vii, 139-166)_
By WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players:
They have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His acts being seven ages. At first the infant,
Mewling and puking in the nurse's arms.
And then the whaling school-boy, with his satchel,
And shining morning face, creeping like snail
Unwillingly to school. And then the lover,
Sighing like furnace, with a woful ballad
Made to his mistress' eyebrow. Then a soldier,
Full of strange oaths, and bearded like the pard
Jealous in honor, sudden and quick in quarrel,
Seeking the bubble reputation
Even in the cannon's mouth. And then the justice,
In fair round belly with good capon lin'd,
With eyes severe, and beard of formal cut,
Full of wise saws and modern instances;
And so he plays his part. The sixth age shifts
Into the lean and slipper'd pantaloon,
With spectacles on nose and pouch on side,
His youthful hose well say'd, a world too wide
For his shrunk shank; and his big manly voice,
Turning again toward childish treble, pipes
And whistles in his sound. Last scene of all,
That ends this strange eventful history,
Is second childishness and mere oblivion,
Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything.
_Appendix 5_
THE CASTAWAY
(From _Robinson Crusoe_)
By Daniel Defoe
And now our case was very dismal indeed; for we all saw plainly that the
sea went so high that the boat could not escape, and that we should be
inevitably drowned. As to making sail, we had none, nor, if we had, could
we have done anything with it; so we worked at the oar towards the land,
though with heavy hearts, like men going to execution; for we all knew
that when the boat came near the shore, she would be dashed in a thousand
pieces by the beach of the sea. However, we committed our souls to God in
the most earnest manner; and the wind driving us towards the shore, we
hastened our destruction with our own hands, pulling as well as we could
towards land.
What the shore was, whether rock or sand, whether steep or shoal, we knew
not; the only hope that could rationally give us the least shadow of
expectation, was if we might happen into some bay or gulf, or the mouth of
some river, where by great chance we might have run our boat in, or got
under the lee of the land, and perhaps made smooth water. But there was
nothing of this appeared; but as we made nearer and nearer the shore, the
land looked more frightful than the sea.
After we had rowed, or rather driven, about a league and a half, as we
reckoned it, a raging wave, mountain-like, came rolling astern of us, and
plainly bade us expect the _coup de grace_. In a word, it took us
with such a fury that it overset the boat at once; and separating us as
well from the boat as from one another, gave its not time hardly to say,
"O God!" for we were all swallowed up in a moment.
Nothing can describe the confusion of thought which I felt, when I sank
into the water; for though I swam very well, yet I could not deliver
myself from the waves so as to draw breath, till that wave having driven
me, or rather carried me, a vast way on towards the shore, and having
spent itself, went back, and left me upon the land almost dry, but half
dead with the water I took in. I had so much presence of mind, as well as
breath left, that seeing myself nearer the mainland than I expected, I got
upon my feet, and endeavored to make on towards the land as fast as I
could, before another wave should return and take me up again; but I soon
found it was impossible to avoid it; for I saw the sea come after me as
high as a great hill, and as furious as an enemy, which I had no means or
strength to contend with: my business was to hold my breath, and raise
myself upon the water, if I could; and so by swimming to preserve my
breathing, and pilot myself towards the shore if possible; my greatest
concern now being that the wave, as it would carry me a great way toward
the shore when it came on, might not carry me back again with it when it
gave back towards the sea.
The wave that came upon me again buried me at once twenty or thirty feet
deep in its own body, and I could feel myself I carried with a mighty
force and swiftness towards the shore a very great way; but I held my
breath, and assisted myself to swim still forward with all my might. I was
ready to burst with holding my breath, when as I felt myself rising up,
so, to my immediate relief, I found my head and hands shoot out above the
surface of the water; and though it was not two seconds of time that I
could keep myself so, yet it relieved me greatly, gave me breath and new
courage. I was covered again with water a good while, but not so long but
I held it out; and finding the water had spent itself, and began to
return, I struck forward against the return of the waves, and felt ground
again with my feet. I stood still a few moments to recover breath, and
till the waters went from me, and then took to my heels, and ran with what
strength I had, farther towards the shore. But neither would this deliver
me from the fury of the sea, which came pouring in after me again; and
twice more I was lifted up by the waves and carried forwards as before,
the shore being very flat.
The last time of these two had well-nigh been fatal to me; for the sea
having hurried me along, as before, landed me, or rather dashed me,
against a piece of a rock, and that with such force as it left me
senseless, and indeed helpless, as to my own deliverance; for the blow,
taking my side and breast, beat the breath as it were quite out of my
body; and had it returned again immediately, I must have been strangled in
the water; but I recovered a little before the return of the waves, and
seeing I should be covered again with the water, I resolved to hold fast
by a piece of the rock, and so to hold my breath, if possible, till the
wave went back. Now, as the waves were not so high as at first, being
nearer land, I held my hold till the wave abated, and then fetched another
run, which brought me so near the shore that the next wave, though it went
over me, yet did not so swallow me up as to carry me away; and the next
run I took I got to the mainland; where, to my great comfort, I clambered
up the cliffs of the shore, and sat me down upon the grass, free from
danger and quite out of the reach of the water. I was now landed, and safe
on shore, and began to look up and thank God that my life was saved, in a
case wherein there was some minutes before scarce any room to hope. I
believe it is impossible to express, to the life, what the ecstasies and
transports of the soul are when it is so saved, as I may say, out of the
very grave: and I do not wonder now at that custom, when a malefactor, who
has the halter about his neck, is tied up, and just going to be turned
off, and has a reprieve brought to him--I say, I do not wonder that they
bring a surgeon with it, to let him blood that very moment they tell him
of it, that the surprise may not drive the animal spirits from the heart,
and overwhelm him.
"For sudden joys, like griefs, confound at first."
I walked about on the shore, lifting up my hands, and my whole being, as I
may say, wrapt up in a contemplation of my deliverance; making a thousand
gestures and motions, which I cannot describe; reflecting upon all my
comrades that were drowned, and that there should not be one soul saved
but myself; for, as for them, I never saw them afterwards, or any sign of
them, except three of their bats, one cap, and two shoes that were not
fellows.
I cast my eyes to the stranded vessel, when, the breach and froth of the
sea being so big, I could hardly see it, it lay so far off; and
considered, Lord! how was it possible I could get on shore?
After I had solaced my mind with the comfortable part of my condition, I
began to look round me, to see what kind of place I was in, and what was
next to be done: and I soon found my comforts abate, and that, in a word,
I bad a dreadful deliverance: for I was wet, had no clothes to shift me,
nor anything either to eat or drink, to comfort me; neither did I see any
prospect before me but that of perishing with hunger, or being devoured by
wild beasts: and that which was particularly afflicting to me was, that I
had no weapon, either to hunt and kill any creature for my sustenance, or
to defend myself against any other creature that might desire to kill me
for theirs. In a word, I had nothing about me but a knife, a tobacco-pipe,
and a little tobacco in a box. This was all my provision; and this threw
me into terrible agonies of mind, that for awhile I ran about like a
madman. Night coming upon me, I began with a heavy heart, to consider what
would be my lot if there were any ravenous beasts in that country, seeing
at night they always come abroad for their prey.
All the remedy that offered to my thoughts, at that time, was to get up
into a thick busby tree, like a fir, but thorny, which grew near me, and
where I resolved to sit all night, and consider the next day what death I
should die, for as yet I saw no prospect of life. I walked about a furlong
from the shore, to see if I could find any fresh water to drink, which I
did to my great joy; and having drunk, and put a little tobacco in my
mouth to prevent hunger, I went to the tree, and getting up into it,
endeavored to place myself so that if I should sleep I might not fall. And
having cut me a short stick, like a truncheon, for my defense, I took up
my lodging; and being excessively fatigued, I fell fast asleep, and slept
as comfortably as, I believe, few could have done in my condition, and
found myself more refreshed with it than I think I ever was on such an
occasion.
When I waked it was broad day, the weather clear, and the storm abated, so
that the sea did not rage and swell as before; but that which surprised me
most was, that the ship was lifted off in the night from the sand where
she lay, by the swelling of the tide, and was driven up almost as far as
the rock which I at first mentioned, where I had been so bruised by the
wave dashing me against it. This being within about a mile from the shore
where I was, and the ship seeming to stand upright still, I wished myself
on board, that at least I might save some necessary things for my use.
When I came down from my apartment in the tree, I looked about me again,
and the first thing I found was the boat, which lay, as the wind and sea
had tossed her up, upon the land, about two miles on my right hand. I
walked as far as I could upon the shore to have got to her; but found a
neck, or inlet, of water between me and the boat, which was about half a
mile broad; so I came back for the present, being more intent upon getting
at the ship, where I hoped to find something for my present subsistence.
A little after noon I found the sea very calm and the tide ebbed so far
out, that I could come within a quarter of a mile of the ship. And here I
found a fresh renewing of my grief; for I saw evidently that if we had
kept on board, we had been all safe: that is to say, we had all got safe
on shore, and I had not been so miserable as to be left entirely destitute
of all comfort and company, as I now was. This forced tears to my eyes
again; but as there was little relief in that, I resolved, if possible, to
get to the ship-, so I pulled off my clothes, for the weather was hot to
extremity, and took the water. But when I came to the ship, my difficulty
was still greater to know how to get on board; for, as she lay aground,
and high out of the water, there was nothing within my reach to lay hold
of. I swam round her twice, and the second time I espied a small piece of
rope, which I wondered I did not see at first, hanging down by the
fore-chains so low that, with great difficulty, I got hold of it, and by
the help of that rope got up into the forecastle of the ship. Here I found
that the ship was bulged, and had a great deal of water in her hold; but
that she lay so on the side of a bank of hard sand, or rather earth, that
her stern lay lifted up upon the bank, and her head low, almost to the
water. By this means all her quarter was free, and all that was in that
part was dry; for you may be sure my first work was to search, and to see
what was spoiled and what was free. And, first, I found that all the
ship's provisions were dry and untouched by the water, and being very well
disposed to eat, I went to the bread-room, and filled my pockets with
biscuit, and ate it as I went about other things, for I had no time to
lose. I also found some rum in the great cabin, of which I took a large
dram, and which I had, indeed, need enough of to spirit me for what was
before me. Now I wanted nothing but a boat, to furnish myself with many
things which I foresaw would be very necessary to me.
It was in vain to sit still and wish for what was not to be had; and this
extremity roused my application. We had several spare yards, and two or
three large spars of wood, and a spare topmast or two in the ship: I
resolved to fall tp work with these, and I flung as many of them overboard
as I could manage for their weight, tying every one with a rope, that they
might not drive away. When this was done I went down the ship's side, and
pulling them to me I tied four of them together at both ends, as well as I
could, in the form of a raft, and laying two or three short pieces of
plank upon them, crossways, I found I could walk upon it very well, but
that it was not able to bear any great weight, the pieces being too light.
So I went to work, and with the carpenter's saw I cut a spare topmast into
three lengths, and added them to my raft, with a great deal of labor and
pains. But the hope of furnishing myself with necessaries encouraged me to
go beyond what I should have been able to have done upon another occasion.
My raft was now strong enough to bear any reasonable weight. My next care
was what to load it with, and how to preserve what I laid upon it from the
surf of the sea: but I was not long considering this. I first laid all the
planks or boards upon it that I could get, and having considered well what
I most wanted, I first got three of the seamen's chests, which I had
broken open and emptied, and lowered them down upon my raft; the first of
these I filled with provisions--viz., bread, rice, three Dutch cheeses,
five pieces of dried goat's flesh (which we lived much upon), and a little
remainder of European corn, which had been laid by for some fowls which we
brought to sea with us, but the fowls were killed. There had been some
barley and wheat together; but, to my great disappointment, I found
afterwards that the rats had eaten or spoiled it all. As for liquors, I
found several cases of bottles belonging to our skipper, in which were
some cordial waters; and, in all, about five or six gallons of arrack.
These I stowed by themselves, there being no need to put them into the
chest, nor any room for them. While I was doing this, I found the tide
began to flow, though very calm; and I had the mortification to see my
coat, shirt, and waistcoat, which I had left on shore upon the sand, swim
away. As for my breeches, which were only linen, and open-kneed, I swam on
board in them and my stockings. However, this put me upon rummaging for
clothes, of which I found enough, but took no more than I wanted for
present use, for I had other things which my eye was more upon; as, first,
tools to work with on shore: and it was after long searching that I found
out the carpenter's chest, which was indeed a very useful prize to me, and
much more valuable than a ship-lading of gold would have been at that
time. I got it down to my raft, whole as it was, without losing time to
look into it, for I knew in general what it contained.
My next care was for some ammunition and arms. There were two very good
fowling-pieces in the great cabin, and two pistols. These I secured first,
with some powder-horns, a small bag of shot, and two old rusty swords. I
knew there were three barrels of powder in the ship, but knew not where
our gunner had stowed them; but with much search I found them, two of them
dry and good, the third had taken water. Those two I got to my raft, with
the arms. And now I thought myself pretty well freighted, and began to
think how I should get to shore with them, having neither sail, oar, nor
rudder; and the least capful of wind would have overset all my navigation.
I had three encouragements: first, a smooth, calm sea; secondly, the tide
rising, and setting in to the shore; thirdly, what little wind there was
blew me towards the land. And thus, having found two or three broken oars,
belonging to the boat, and besides the tools which were in the chest, two
saws, an axe, and a hammer, with this cargo I put to sea. For a mile, or
thereabouts, my raft went very well, only that I found it drive a little
distant from the place where I had landed before: by which I perceived
that there was some indraught of the water, and consequently, I hoped to
find some creek or river there, which I might malze use of as a port to
get to land with my cargo.
As I imagined, so it was. There appeared before me a little opening of the
land. I found a strong current of the tide set into it; so I guided my
raft as well as I could, to keep in the middle of the stream.
But here I had like to have suffered a second shipwreck, which, if I had,
I think verily would have broken my heart; for, knowing nothing of the
coast, my raft ran aground at one end of it upon a shoal, and not being
aground at the other end, it wanted but a little that all my cargo had
slipped off towards the end that was afloat, and so fallen into the water.
I did my utmost, by setting my back against the chests, to keep them in
their places, but could not thrust off the raft with all my strength;
neither durst I stir from the posture I was in; but holding up the chests
with all my might, I stood in that manner near half an hour, in which time
the rising of the water brought me a little more upon a level; and a
little after, the water still rising, my raft floated again, and I thrust
her off with the oar I had into the channel, and then driving up higher, I
at length found myself in the mouth of a little river, with land on both
sides, and a strong current or tide running up. I looked on both sides for
a proper place to get to shore, for I was not willing to be driven too
high up the river; hoping in time to see some ship at sea, and therefore
resolved to place myself as near the coast as I could.
At length I spied a little cove on the right shore of the creek, to which,
with great pain and difficulty, I guided my raft, and at last got so near,
that reaching ground with my oar, I could thrust her directly in. But here
I had like to have dipped all my cargo into the sea again; for that shore
lying pretty steep-that is to say, sloping--there was no place to land but
where one end of my float, if it ran on shore, would lie so high, and the
other sink lower, as before, that it would endanger my cargo again. All
that I could do was to wait till the tide was at the highest, keeping the
raft with my oar like an anchor, to hold the side of it fast to the shore,
near a flat piece of ground, which I expected the water would flow over;
and so it did. As soon as I found water enough, for my raft drew about a
foot of water, I thrust her upon that flat piece of ground, and there
fastened or moored her, by sticking my two broken oars into the ground-one
on one side, near one end, and one on the other side, near the other end;
and thus I lay till the water ebbed away, and left my raft and all my
cargo safe on shore.
_Appendix 6_
READING LISTS
One of the best ways to _know_ words is through seeing them used by
the masters. For this reason, as well as for many others, you should read
extensively in good literature. The following lists of prose works may
prove useful for your guidance. They are not intended to be exclusive, not
intended to designate "the hundred best books." Rather do they name some
good books of fairly varied types. These are not all of equal merit, even
in their use of words. Some use words with nice discrimination, some with
splendid vividness and force. For each author only one or two books are
named, but in many instances you will wish to read further in the author,
perhaps indeed his entire works.
Boswell, James: _Life of Samuel Johnson_
Bradford, Gamaliel: _Lee the American; American Portraits, 1875-1900_
Franklin, Benjamin: _Autobiography_
Grant, U. S.: _Personal Memoirs_
Irving, Washington: _Life of Goldsmith_
Paine, A. B.: _Life of Mark Twain_
Walton, Izaak: _Lives_
Addison, Joseph: _Spectator Papers_
Bryce, Sir James: _The American Commonwealth_
Burke, Edmund: _Speech on Conciliation_
Burroughs, John: _Wake Robin_
Chesterton, G. K.: _Heretics_
Crothers, S. M.: _The Gentle Reader_
Dana, R. H., Jr.: Two _Years Before the Mast_
Darwin, Charles: _Origin of Species_
Emerson, R. W.: _Essays_
Irving, Washington: _Sketch Book_
Lincoln, Abraham: _Speeches and Addresses_
Lucas, E. V.: _Old Lamps for New_
Macaulay, T. B.: _Essays_
Muir, John: _The Mountains of California_
Thoreau, H. D.: _Walden_
Twain, Mark: _Life on the Mississippi_
Allen, James Lane: _The Choir Invisible_
Austen, Jane: _Pride and Prejudice_
Barrie, Sir James M.: _Sentimental Tommie_
Bennett, Arnold: _The Old Wives' Tale_
Blackmore, R. D.: _Lorna Doone_
Bunyan, John: _Pilgrim's Progress_
Cable, G. W.: _Old Creole Days_
Conrad, Joseph: _The Nigger of the Narcissus_
Defoe, Daniel: _Robinson Crusoe_
Dickens, Charles: _David Copperfield_
Eliot, George: _Adam Bede_
Galsworthy, John: _The Patrician_
Goldsmith, Oliver: _The Vicar of Wakefield_
Hardy, Thomas: _The Return of the Native_
Harte, Bret: _The Luck of Roaring Camp_ (short story)
Hawthorne, Nathaniel: _The Scarlet Letter_
Hergesheimer, Joseph: _Java Head_
Hudson, W. H.: _Green Mansions_
Kingsley, Charles: _Westward Ho_!
Kipling, Rudyard: _Plain Tales from the Hills_ (short stories)
London, Jack: _The Call of the Wild_
Merrick, Leonard: _The Man Who Understood Women (volume of short
stories); _The Actor Manager_
Mitchell, S. Weir: _Hugh Wynne, Free Quaker_
Norris, Frank: _The Octopus_
Poe, Edgar Allan: _The Fall of the House of Usher_ (short story)
Poole, Ernest: _The Harbor_
Scott, Sir Walter: _Ivanhoe_
Smith, F. Hopkinson: _Colonel Carter of Cartersville_
Stevenson, R. L.: _Treasure Island_
Tarkington, Booth: _Monsieur Beaucaire_
Thackeray, W. M.: _Vanity Fair_
Twain, Mark: _Huckleberry Finn_
Wells, H. G.: _Tono Bungay_
Wharton, Edith: _Ethan Frome_
Wister, Owen: _The Virginian_
INDEX.
The index comprises, besides miscellaneous items, four large classes of
matter: (1) topics, including many minor ones not given separate textual
captions; (2) all individual words and members of pairs explained or
commented on in the text; (3) the key syllables, but not the separate
words, of family groups; (4) the first or generic term, but not the other
terms, in all assemblies of synonyms; hence, this book can be used as a
handbook of ordinarily used synonyms.
_Abandon_, Synonyms of,
_Abase_, Synonyms of,
_Abettor_, Synonyms of,
_Abolish_, Synonyms of,
_Abridge_
Abstract vs. concrete terms. Also see _Words_
_Absurd_
_Accumulate_
_Acknowledge_, Synonyms of,
_Acquit_, Synonyms of,
_Act_ family
_Active_, Synonyms of,
_Advise_, Synonyms of,
Aeronautics, Familiar terms in,
_Affair_
_Affect_
_Affecting_, Synonyms of,
_Affront_, Synonyms of,
_Afraid_, Synonyms of,
_Ag_ family
_Agnostic_, Synonyms of,
_Allay_, Synonyms of,
_Allopath_
_Allow_, Synonyms of,
_Altitude_
_Amicable_
_Amuse_, Synonyms of,
Analysis. See _Vocabulary_ and _Synonyms_
Analysis, Rhetorical,
Anglo-Saxon words in modern English. See _Native words_
_Anim_ family
_Anni, annu_ family
_Announce_, Synonyms of,
_Answer_, Synonyms of,
_Antipathy_, Synonyms of,
Antonyms
_Appreciate_
_Apprehend_
_Apricot_
_Ardor_
_Argument_
_Artful_
_Artifice_, Synonyms of,
_Ascend_
_Ascend_, Synonyms of,
_Ascribe_
_Ascribe_, Synonyms of,
_Ask_, Synonyms of,
_Assail_
_Associate_, Synonyms of,
_Attach_, Synonyms of,
_Attack_; Synonyms of,
_Attention_
_Audi, auri_ family
Audience, Adapting discourse to,
_Auto_ family
_Avert_
_Awkward_, Synonyms of,
_Backhanded_
_Bald heads_
_Bare_
_Base_
_Bear_
_Bedlam_
_Beef_
_Begin_, Synonyms of,
_Belief_, Synonyms of,
_Belittle_, Synonyms of,
_Bind_, Synonyms of,
_Bit_, Synonyms of,
_Bite_, Synonyms of,
Blood relationships between words.
Small groups of words so related. Also see _Words_
_Bluff_, Synonyms of,
_Boast_, Synonyms of,
_Body_, Synonyms of,
_Bold_
_Bombastic_, Synonyms of, Books of synonyms, List of,
_Boor_
_Boorish_, Synonyms of,
_Booty_, Synonyms of,
Boys, Kinds of,
_Brand, brun_ family
_Break_
_Break_, Synonyms of,
_Breakfast_
_Bridegroom_
_Bright_
_Brittle_, Synonyms of,
_Brotherly_
_Building_, Synonyms of,
Burke, Edmund. See _Causes for the American Spirit of Liberty_
_Burn_ family
_Burn_, Synonyms of,
_Burn with indignation_
_Busy_, Synonyms of,
_By and by_
_Cad_ family
_Calf_
_Call_, Synonyms of,
_Calm_, Synonyms of,
_Cant_ family
_Cap(t)_ family
_Capricious_
_Care_, Synonyms of,
_Careful_, Synonyms of,
_Cart before the horse_,
_Cas_ family
"Castaway, The" (Defoe). Comments and assignments on,
"Causes for the American Spirit of Liberty" (Burke).
Comments and assignments on,
_Cede, ceed, cess_ family
_Ceive, ceit, cept_ family
_Celebrate_, Synonyms of, Celibates, Verbal,
_Censure_
_Cent_ family
_Cent_ family
_Charm_ (noun), Synonyms of,
_Charm_ (verb), Synonyms of,
_Chant_ family
_Cheat_, Synonyms of,
Child. See _How a child becomes acquainted_, etc.
_Choke_, Synonyms of,
_Choose_, Synonyms of,
_Chron_ family
_Church_
_Churl_
_Cid_ family
_Cide_ family
_Cigar_
_Cip_ family
_Circumstances_
_Cis(e)_ family
Classes of words, in general, (also see _Words_);
in your own vocabulary,
Classic words, distinguished from native; in modern English,
_Clear_
_Clodhopper_
_Close_
_Close the door to_,
_Coax_, Synonyms of,
_Cold_
Coleridge, S. T., Quotation from,
_Color_, Synonyms of,
_Combine_, Synonyms of,
_Comfort_, Synonyms of,
_Common_
_Companion_
_Complain_, Synonyms of,
_Conchology_
_Concise_, Synonyms of,
_Condescend_, Synonyms of,
_Condition_
_Confirm_, Synonyms of,
_Confirmed_, Synonyms of,
_Confound_
_Congregate_
_Connect_, Synonyms of,
Connotation
_Constable_
_Contagious_
_Continual_, Synonyms of,
_Continuous, continual_
_Contract_, Synonyms of,
_Conversation_
_Copy_, Synonyms of,
_Cordiality_
_Corp(s)_ family
_Corrode_
_Corrupt_, Synonyms of,
_Costly_, Synonyms of,
_Coterie_, Synonyms of,
_Counterfeit_
_Courage_, Synonyms of,
_Course_ family
_Coxcomb_
_Crafty_
_Crease, cresce, cret, crue_ family
_Cred, creed_ family
_Crestfallen_
_Crisscross_
_Critical_, Synonyms of,
_Criticism_
_Crooked_, Synonyms of,
_Cross_
_Cross_, Synonyms of,
_Crowd_, Synonyms of,
_Crowsfeet_
_Crude_
_Cruel_, Synonyms of,
_Cry_
_Cry_, Synonyms of,
_Cunning_
_Cur_ family
_Cure_ family
_Curious_, Synonyms of,
_Cut_, Synonyms of,
_Daily_
_Dainty_, Synonyms of,
_Daisy_
_Dandelion_
_Danger_, Synonyms of,
_Darken_, Synonyms of,
_Dead_, Synonyms of,
_Deadly_, Synonyms of,
_Death_, Synonyms of,
_Decay_, Synonyms of,
_Deceit_, Synonyms of,
_Deceptive_, Synonyms of,
_Decorate_, Synonyms of,
_Decorous_, Synonyms of,
_Deface_, Synonyms of,
_Defeat_, Synonyms of,
_Defect_, Synonyms of,
Definitions, of words; Dictionary vs. informal;
How to look up in a dictionary,
Defoe, Daniel. See _The Castaway_
_Degrade_
_Delay_, Synonyms of,
_Demean_
_Democrat_
_Demon_
_Demoralize_, Synonyms of,
_Deny_, Synonyms of,
_Deportment_, Synonyms of,
_Deprive_, Synonyms of,
Description
_Despise_, Synonyms of,
_Despondency_, Synonyms of,
_Destroy_, Synonyms of,
_Detach_, Synonyms of,
_Determined_, Synonyms of,
_Deviate_
_Devilish_
_Devout_, Synonyms of,
_Dexterity_
_Dic, dict_ family
Dictionaries, List of; How to use,
_Die_, Synonyms of,
_Differ_
_Difficulty_, Synonyms of,
_Dign_ family
_Dilapidated_
_Dip_, Synonyms of,
_Dirty_, Synonyms of,
_Disaster_
_Discernment_, Synonyms of,
_Discharge_
Discords, Verbal
Discourse, at first hand; adapted to audience,
_Disease_, Synonyms of,
_Disgraceful_, Synonyms of,
_Disgusting_, Synonyms of,
_Dishonor_, Synonyms of,
_Disloyal_, Synonyms of,
_Dispel_, Synonyms of,
_Dissatisfied_, Synonyms of,
_Diurnal_
_Divide_, Synonyms of,
_Do_, Synonyms of,
_Doctrine_, Synonyms of,
_Doom, Doomsday_
_Dream_, Synonyms of,
_Dress_, Synonyms of,
"Drift of Our Rural Population Cityward, The" (Editorial),
Comments and assignments,
_Drink_, Synonyms of,
_Drip_, Synonyms of,
_Drunk_, Synonyms of,
_Dry_, Synonyms of,
_Duc, duct_ family
_Dull_
_Dur(e)_ family
_Early_, Synonyms of,
_Eat_, Synonyms of,
Editorial. See _The Drift of Our Rural Population Cityward_
_Effect_
_Egregious_
_Ejaculate_
_Elicit_, Synonyms of,
_Embarrass_, Synonyms of,
_Embrace_
_Encroach_, Synonyms of,
_End_, Synonyms of,
_Enemy_
_Enemy_, Synonyms of,
_Engine_
_Enni_ family
_Enormity, enormousness_
_Enough_, Synonyms of,
_Entice_, Synonyms of,
_Erase_, Synonyms of,
_Error_ family
_Error_, Synonyms of,
_Estimate_, Synonyms of,
_Eternal_, Synonyms of,
_Eu_ family
_Eugenics_
_Ex_ family
_Examination_
_Example_, Synonyms of,
_Exceed_, Synonyms of,
_Exclude_
_Excuse_, Synonyms of,
_Expand_, Synonyms of,
_Expel_, Synonyms of,
_Experiment_, Synonyms of,
_Explain_, Synonyms of,
Explanation (Exposition)
_Explicit_, Synonyms of,
_Expression_
_Face_, Synonyms of,
_Fact_ family
_Faculty_, Synonyms of,
_Failing_, Synonyms of,
_Fair_
_False_
_Fame_, Synonyms of,
Families, Verbal,
_Famous_, Synonyms of,
_Fashion_, Synonyms of,
_Fast_
_Fast_, Synonyms of,
_Fasten_ Synonyms of,
_Fat_, Synonyms of,
_Fate_, Synonyms of,
_Fatherly_
_Fawn_, Synonyms of,
_Fear_, Synonyms of,
_Feat, fect, feit_ family
_Feign_, Synonyms of,
_Fellow_
_Feminine_, Synonyms of,
_Fer_ family
_Fertile_, Synonyms of,
_Fic(e)_ family
_Fiddle_
_Fiendish_, Synonyms of,
_Fight_, Synonyms of,
_Financial_, Synonyms of,
_Fin(e)_ family
_Firm_
_Fit_, Synonyms of,
_Flag, The_
_Flame_, Synonyms of,
_Flat_
_Flat_, Synonyms of,
_Flatter_, Synonyms of,
_Flect, flex_ family
_Flee_, Synonyms of,
_Fleeting_, Synonyms of,
_Flexible_, Synonyms of,
_Flit_, Synonyms of,
_Flock_, Synonyms of,
_Flock together_
_Flow_, Synonyms of,
_Flu, fluence, flux_ family
_Foe_
_Follow_, Synonyms of,
_Follower_, Synonyms of,
_Fond_
_Fond_, Synonyms of,
_Force_, Synonyms of,
_Foretell_, Synonyms of,
_Fort_ family
Fossils in modern English, List of,
_Found_ family
_Fract, frag_ family
_Fracture_
_Frank_, Synonyms of,
Franklin, Benjamin, and _Spectator Papers_,
_Fraternal_
_Free_
_Free_, Synonyms of
French and Norman-French words occurring in modern English
_Freshen_, Synonyms of,
_Fret_
_Friendly_
_Friendly_, Synonyms of,
_Frighten_, Synonyms of,
_Frigid_
_Frown_, Synonyms of,
_Frugal_, Synonyms of,
_Frustrate_, Synonyms of,
_Fug(e)_ family
_Fuse_ family
_Fy_ family
_Game_, Synonyms of,
_Gather_, Synonyms of,
_Gen_ family
General facts and ideas with which acquaintance assumed,
General ideas, as best basis for study of synonyms,
General vs. specific terms. Also see _Words_
Genus and species
_Ger, gest_ family
Germanic words in modern English
_Get_, Synonyms of,
_Get on to_
"Gettysburg Address" (Lincoln); Comments on,
_Ghost_
_Ghost_, Synonyms of,
_Gift_, Synonyms of,
_Give_, Synonyms of,
_Glad_, Synonyms of,
_Go out of one's way_
_Good_
_Good_ family
_Goodby_
_Grade_ family
_Gram_ family
_Grand_, Synonyms of,
_Graph_ family
_Gray hair_
_Great_
_Greedy_
Greek prefixes List of,
Greek stems, List of,
Greek words in modern English
_Greet_, Synonyms of,
_Gress_ family
_Grief_, Synonyms of,
_Grieve_, Synonyms of,
_Groom_
_Grudgingly_
_Guard_, Synonyms of,
_Guileless_
_Hab_ family
_Habit_, Synonyms of,
_Habitation_, Synonyms of,
_Hale_ family
_Half-baked_
_Harass_, Synonyms of,
_Hard_
_Harmful_, Synonyms of,
_Harsh_
_Haste_, Synonyms of,
_Hate_, Synonyms of,
_Hatred_, Synonyms of,
_Have_, Synonyms of,
_Hayseed_
_Head foremost_
_Headstrong_, Synonyms of,
_Heal_ family
_Healthful_, Synonyms of,
_Heathen_
_Heavy_, Synonyms of,
_Height_
_Help_ (noun), Synonyms of,
_Help_ (verb), Synonyms of,
_Hesitate_, Synonyms of,
_Hib_ family
_Hide_, Synonyms of,
_High_, Synonyms of,
_Highstrung_
_Hinder_ Synonyms of,
_Hint_, Synonyms of,
_Hot_ family
_Hole_, Synonyms of,
_Holy_, Synonyms of,
_Home_
_Homeopath_
_Homesickness_
_Hopeful,_ Synonyms of,
_Hopeless_, Synonyms of,
_Hose_
_House_
How a child becomes acquainted with the complexity of life and language
_Hug_,
_Humor_
_Hussy_
_Idiot_
_Idle_
_Ig_ family
_Ignorant_, Synonyms of,
_Imp_
Imperfectly understood facts and ideas
_Impolite_, Synonyms of,
_Importance_, Synonyms of,
_Imposter_, Synonyms of,
_Imprison_, Synonyms of,
_Improper_, Synonyms of,
_Impure_, Synonyms of,
_In a minute_
_Inborn_, Synonyms of,
_Incense_
_Incite_, Synonyms of,
_Incline_, Synonyms of,
_Inclose_, Synonyms of,
_Increase_, Synonyms of,
_Indecent_, Synonyms of,
_Infantry_
_Infectious_
_Ingenious_
_Inner_
_Innocent_
_Innuendo_
_Insane_, Synonyms of,
_Insanity_, Synonyms of,
_Insinuate_
_Insipid_, Synonyms of,
_Instances_
_Instigate_
_Insult_
_Intention_, Synonyms of,
_Internal_
_Interpose_, Synonyms of,
_Investigate_
_Irreligious_, Synonyms of,
_Irritate_, Synonyms of,
_It_ family
"Ivanhoe" (Scott), Quotation from,
_Ject_ family
_Join_, Synonyms of,
_Journey_, Synonyms of,
_Jud_ family
_Jump on_
_Junct_ family
_Jur, jus_ family
_Jure_ family
_Just_
Key-syllables, Variations in form of; Misleading resemblance between;
Lists of,
_Kick_
_Kill_, Synonyms of,
_Kind_, Synonyms of,
_Kindle_, Synonyms of,
Kinships between words. See _Blood relationships between words;
Marriages between words; Words_
_Knave_
_Knowledge_
_Lack_, Synonyms of,
_Lame_, Synonyms of,
_Large_, Synonyms of,
_Late_ family
Latin prefixes, List of,
Latin stems, List of,
Latin words in modern English. See _Classic words_
_Laugh_, Synonyms of,
_Laughable_, Synonyms of,
_Lead_, Synonyms of,
_Lect, leg_ family
_Lengthen_, Synonyms of,
_Lessen,_ Synonyms of,
_Lewd_
_Liberal_, Synonyms of,
_Lie_ (noun), Synonyms of,
_Lie_ (verb), Synonyms of,
_Lig_ family
_Likeness_, Synonyms of,
_Limp_, Synonyms of,
_List_, Synonyms of,
Literal vs. figurative terms and applications. Also see _Words_
_Loc, loco, local, locate_ family
_Locu_ family
_Log_ family
_Look_, Synonyms of,
Loose use of words
_Loquy_ family
_Lord_
_Lose steam_
_Loud_, Synonyms of,
_Love_
_Love_, Synonyms of,
_Low,_ Synonyms of,
_Loyal_, Synonyms of,
_Luc, lum, lus_ family
_Lude, lus_ family
_Lunatic_
_Lurk_, Synonyms of,
_Lust_
_Make_, Synonyms of,
_Make one's pile_
_Man_, as a generic term,
_Man, manu_ family
_Mand_ family
_Manifest_, Synonyms of,
_Manly_
_Many_, Synonyms of,
Many-sided words
_Margin_, Synonyms of,
_Marriage_, Synonyms of,
Marriages between words. Also see _Words_
_Marshal_
_Masculine_, Synonyms of,
_Matinee_
_Matrimonial_, Synonyms of,
_Meaning_, Synonyms of,
_Meet_, Synonyms of,
_Meeting_, Synonyms of,
_Melt_, Synonyms of,
_Memory_, Synonyms of,
_Mercy_, Synonyms of,
_Mere, merely_
_Meter, metri_ family
Military terms, Familiar
_Mis(e), mit_ family
_Misrepresent_, Synonyms of,
_Mix_, Synonyms of,
_Mob_ family
_Model_, Synonyms of,
_Modern_
_Mono_ family
_Mort_ family
_Mortal_
_Mortify_
_Mot(e)_ family
_Mother_
_Motive_, Synonyms of,
_Move_ family
_Move_, Synonyms of,
_Mot(e)_ family
_Name_, Synonyms of,
Narration
_Nasturtium_
_Nat(e)_ family
Native words, distinguished from classic; in modern English,
_Near_, Synonyms of,
_Neat_, Synonyms of,
_Needful_, Synonyms of,
_Negligence_, Synonyms of,
_New_, Synonyms of,
_Nice_, Synonyms of,
_Nickname_
_Noble_ family
_Noise_
_Noisy_, Synonyms of,
_Nostalgia_
_Nostril_
_Nostrum_
_Not(e), nor(e)_ family
_Noticeable_, Synonyms of,
_Objective_
_Occupation_, Synonyms of,
_Offspring_
_Old_, Synonyms of,
_Ology_ family
_Omen, ominous_
Opposites
_Order_ (noun), Synonyms of,
_Order_ (verb), Synonyms of,
_Oversight_, Synonyms of,
_Ox_
_Pacify_, Synonyms of,
_Pagan_
Pairs, Three types of; Lists of or assignments in; as Synonyms,
_Pale_, Synonyms of,
_Pan_ family
_Pantaloon_
"Parable of the Sower"; Comments and assignments on,
"Parable of the Prodigal Son"; Comments on,
Parallels
Paraphrasing
_Pard_
_Parlor_
_Parson_
_Part_, Synonyms of,
Parts of Speech, Wrong,
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