Words: Their Use and Abuse |
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Page 23
... fact , he has but fearlessly used the wealth of the language that lies buried in the pages of Noah Webster . It is only by thus working in the mines of language that one can fill his storehouses of expression , so as to be above the ...
... fact , he has but fearlessly used the wealth of the language that lies buried in the pages of Noah Webster . It is only by thus working in the mines of language that one can fill his storehouses of expression , so as to be above the ...
Page 25
... fact , new modes of speech , which are quickly familiarized by practice . The engine driver shuts off the steam at ... facts and even complicated trains of thought . Roscius , the Ro- man actor , claimed that he could express a sentiment ...
... fact , new modes of speech , which are quickly familiarized by practice . The engine driver shuts off the steam at ... facts and even complicated trains of thought . Roscius , the Ro- man actor , claimed that he could express a sentiment ...
Page 29
... fact that a writer , instead of employing words loosely and at hap - hazard , chooses only those which are the exact vesture of his thought . As he only can be called a well - dressed man whose clothes exactly fit him , being neither ...
... fact that a writer , instead of employing words loosely and at hap - hazard , chooses only those which are the exact vesture of his thought . As he only can be called a well - dressed man whose clothes exactly fit him , being neither ...
Page 32
... fact , is the sense . You de- stroy the significance of the sentence as well as its ring ; you lessen the intensity of the meaning as well as the verbal force . " At his pleasure , " says Professor Marsh , " he separates his lightning ...
... fact , is the sense . You de- stroy the significance of the sentence as well as its ring ; you lessen the intensity of the meaning as well as the verbal force . " At his pleasure , " says Professor Marsh , " he separates his lightning ...
Page 33
... Facts may be forgotten , learn- ing grow commonplace , startling truths dwindle into mere truisms ; but a grand or beautiful style can never lose its freshness or its charm . For his gorgeous style , even more than for his colossal ...
... Facts may be forgotten , learn- ing grow commonplace , startling truths dwindle into mere truisms ; but a grand or beautiful style can never lose its freshness or its charm . For his gorgeous style , even more than for his colossal ...
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Common terms and phrases
adjective Anglo-Saxon Archbishop Whately asked beauty called century character charm Cicero common corruption critic Demosthenes derived diction dictionary doubt eloquence England English language etymologists etymology expression fact familiar feeling force French genius German give grammar Greek guage heart hence Hengest human hundred ideas improprieties Italian J. H. Newman Johnson learned less Lindley Murray literature living London Lord matter Max Müller meaning meant Milton mind modern monosyllables moral nations nature never nickname noble once orator origin passage persons phrases poet remark reply rhetoric Roman Rufus Choate Saxon says secret sense sentence Shakspeare signify solecisms Solomon's vineyards sophism soul sound speak speakers speech spirit style Sydney Smith syllable talk tell term things thought tion tongue translated true truth utterance verb verbal verse vocabulary vulgar W. W. Skeat whole writer
Popular passages
Page 131 - The Prince of Cumberland! that is a step On which I must fall down, or else o'erleap, For in my way it lies. Stars, hide your fires; Let not light see my black and deep desires: The eye wink at the hand; yet let that be Which the eye fears, when it is done, to see.
Page 329 - Three years she grew in sun and shower; Then Nature said: "A lovelier flower On earth was never sown; This child I to myself will take; She shall be mine, and I will make A lady of my own. "Myself will to my darling be Both law and impulse; and with me The girl in rock and plain, In earth and heaven, in glade and bower, Shall feel an overseeing power, To kindle or restrain.
Page 131 - Saul and Jonathan were lovely and pleasant in their lives, and in their death they were not divided ; they were swifter than eagles, they were stronger than lions.
Page 184 - Could I embody and unbosom now, That which is most within me, — could I wreak My thoughts upon expression, and thus throw Soul, heart, mind, passions, feelings, strong or weak, All that I would have sought, and all I seek, Bear, know, feel, and yet breathe — into one word, And that one word were lightning, I would speak ; But as it is, I live and die unheard, [sword.
Page 142 - While expletives their feeble aid do join; And ten low words oft creep in one dull line : While they ring round the same unvaried chimes, With sure returns of still expected rhymes ; Where'er you find " the cooling western breeze...
Page 302 - In words, as fashions, the same rule will hold; Alike fantastic, if too new, or old: Be not the first by whom the new are tried, Nor yet the last to lay the old aside.
Page 231 - Oft did the harvest to their sickle yield, Their furrow oft the stubborn glebe has broke ; How jocund did they drive their team afield ! How bowed the woods beneath their sturdy stroke ! Let not Ambition mock their useful toil, Their homely joys and destiny obscure.
Page 124 - tis a common proof, That lowliness is young ambition's ladder, Whereto the climber-upward turns his face; But when he once attains the upmost round, He then unto the ladder turns his back, Looks in the clouds, scorning the base degrees By which he did ascend: so Caesar may; Then, lest he may, prevent.
Page 176 - And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, Alleluia, for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth.
Page 148 - And Abraham answered and said, Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord, which am but dust and ashes: peradventure there shall lack five of the fifty righteous: wilt thou destroy all the city for lack of five?