Words: Their Use and Abuse |
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Page 7
... forever . " The only impeccable authors , " says Hazlitt , " are those that never wrote . " Any just , well - meant criticism , however severe , the author will gratefully welcome ; to that which springs from an instinctive.
... forever . " The only impeccable authors , " says Hazlitt , " are those that never wrote . " Any just , well - meant criticism , however severe , the author will gratefully welcome ; to that which springs from an instinctive.
Page 64
... meant honesty , now means only civility ? It was in the latter half of the reign of Louis XIV . that the word honnête exchanged its primitive for its present meaning . Till then , according to good authority , when a man's descent was ...
... meant honesty , now means only civility ? It was in the latter half of the reign of Louis XIV . that the word honnête exchanged its primitive for its present meaning . Till then , according to good authority , when a man's descent was ...
Page 86
... meant a man born of a noble family , or gens , as the Romans called it ; but as such persons were usually possessed of wealth and leisure , they were generally distinguished by greater refinement of manners than the working classes ...
... meant a man born of a noble family , or gens , as the Romans called it ; but as such persons were usually possessed of wealth and leisure , they were generally distinguished by greater refinement of manners than the working classes ...
Page 110
... meant no lack of pith or power . The whole momentum of his large and healthy brain went into those homely sentences , rousing and feeding the rude and the cultured hearer's hunger alike , as sweet bread and juicy meat satisfy a natural ...
... meant no lack of pith or power . The whole momentum of his large and healthy brain went into those homely sentences , rousing and feeding the rude and the cultured hearer's hunger alike , as sweet bread and juicy meat satisfy a natural ...
Page 165
... meant to describe the bitter tears with which he bewailed his crime ; but when such language is used for trifles , there remains nothing stronger for the awful crises of human life . It is like Draco's code , -death for larceny , and ...
... meant to describe the bitter tears with which he bewailed his crime ; but when such language is used for trifles , there remains nothing stronger for the awful crises of human life . It is like Draco's code , -death for larceny , and ...
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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?