The Verbalist Part 1

The Verbalist.

by Thomas Embly Osmun, (AKA Alfred Ayres).

PREFATORY NOTE.

The t.i.tle-page sufficiently sets forth the end this little book is intended to serve.

For convenience' sake I have arranged in alphabetical order the subjects treated of, and for economy's sake I have kept in mind that "he that uses many words for the explaining of any subject doth, like the cuttle-fish, hide himself in his own ink."

The curious inquirer who sets himself to look for the learning in the book is advised that he will best find it in such works as George P.

Marsh's "Lectures on the English Language," Fitzedward Hall's "Recent Exemplifications of False Philology," and "Modern English," Richard Grant White's "Words and Their Uses," Edward S. Gould's "Good English,"

William Mathews' "Words: their Use and Abuse," Dean Alford's "The Queen's English," George Washington Moon's "Bad English," and "The Dean's English," Blank's "Vulgarisms and Other Errors of Speech,"

Alexander Bain's "English Composition and Rhetoric," Bain's "Higher English Grammar," Bain's "Composition Grammar," Quackenbos' "Composition and Rhetoric," John Nichol's "English Composition," William Cobbett's "English Grammar," Peter Bullions' "English Grammar," Goold Brown's "Grammar of English Grammars," Graham's "English Synonymes," Crabb's "English Synonymes," Bigelow's "Handbook of Punctuation," and other kindred works.

Suggestions and criticisms are solicited, with the view of profiting by them in future editions.

If "The Verbalist" receive as kindly a welcome as its companion volume, "The Orthoepist," has received, I shall be content.

A. A.

NEW YORK, _October_, 1881.

Eschew fine words as you would rouge.--HARE.

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

If a gentleman be to study any language, it ought to be that of his own country.--LOCKE.

In language the unknown is generally taken for the magnificent.--RICHARD GRANT WHITE.

He who has a superlative for everything, wants a measure for the great or small.--LAVATER.

Inaccurate writing is generally the expression of inaccurate thinking.--RICHARD GRANT WHITE.

To acquire a few tongues is the labor of a few years; but to be eloquent in one is the labor of a life.--ANONYMOUS.

Words and thoughts are so inseparably connected that an artist in words is necessarily an artist in thoughts.-WILSON FLAGG.

It is an invariable maxim that words which add nothing to the sense or to the clearness must diminish the force of the expression.--CAMPBELL.

Propriety of thought and propriety of diction are commonly found together. Obscurity of expression generally springs from confusion of ideas.--MACAULAY.

He who writes badly thinks badly. Confusedness in words can proceed from nothing but confusedness in the thoughts which give rise to them.--COBBETT.

THE VERBALIST.

A--AN. The second form of the indefinite article is used for the sake of euphony only. Herein everybody agrees, but what everybody does not agree in is, that it is euphonious to use _an_ before a word beginning with an aspirated _h_, when the accented syllable of the word is the second. For myself, so long as I continue to aspirate the _h's_ in such words as _heroic_, _harangue_, and _historical_, I shall continue to use _a_ before them; and when I adopt the c.o.c.kney mode of p.r.o.nouncing such words, then I shall use _an_ before them. To my ear it is just as euphonious to say, "I will crop off from the top of his young twigs a tender one, and will plant it upon _an_ high mountain and eminent," as it is to say _an_ harangue, _an_ heroic, or _an_ historical. _An_ is well enough before the doubtful British aspiration, but before the distinct American aspiration it is wholly out of place. The reply will perhaps be, "But these _h's_ are silent; the change of accent from the first syllable to the second neutralizes their aspiration." However true this may be in England, it is not at all true in America; hence we Americans should use _a_ and not _an_ before such _h's_ until we decide to ape the c.o.c.kney mode of p.r.o.nouncing them.

Errors are not unfrequently made by omitting to repeat the article in a sentence. It should always be repeated when a noun or an adjective referring to a distinct thing is introduced; take, for example, the sentence, "He has a black and white horse." If two horses are meant, it is clear that it should be, "He has a black and _a_ white horse." See THE.

ABILITY--CAPACITY. The distinctions between these two words are not always observed by those who use them. "_Capacity_ is the power of receiving and retaining knowledge with facility; _ability_ is the power of applying knowledge to practical purposes. Both these faculties are requisite to form a great character: capacity to conceive, and ability to execute designs. Capacity is shown in quickness of apprehension.

Ability supposes something done; something by which the mental power is exercised in executing, or performing, what has been perceived by the capacity."--Graham's "English Synonymes."

ABORTIVE. An outlandish use of this word may be occasionally met with, especially in the newspapers. "A lad was yesterday caught in the act of _abortively_ appropriating a pair of shoes." That is abortive that is untimely, that has not been borne its full time, that is immature. We often hear _abortion_ used in the sense of failure, but never by those that study to express themselves in chaste English.

ABOVE. There is little authority for using this word as an adjective.

Instead of, "the _above_ statement," say, "the _foregoing_ statement."

_Above_ is also used very inelegantly for _more than_; as, "above a mile," "above a thousand"; also, for _beyond_; as, "above his strength."

ACCIDENT. See CASUALTY.

ACCORD. "He [the Secretary of the Treasury] was shown through the building, and the information he desired was _accorded_ him."--Reporters' English.

"The heroes prayed, and Pallas from the skies _Accords_ their vow."--Pope.

The G.o.ddess of wisdom, when she granted the prayers of her worshipers, may be said to have _accorded_; not so, however, when the clerks of our Sub-Treasury answer the inquiries of their chief.

ACCUSE. See BLAME IT ON.

ACQUAINTANCE. See FRIEND.

AD. This abbreviation for the word _advertis.e.m.e.nt_ is very justly considered a gross vulgarism. It is doubtful whether it is permissible under any circ.u.mstances.

ADAPT--DRAMATIZE. In speaking and in writing of stage matters, these words are often misused. To _adapt_ a play is to modify its construction with the view of improving its form for representation. Plays translated from one language into another are usually more or less _adapted_; i.

e., altered to suit the taste of the public before which the translation is to be represented. To _dramatize_ is to change the form of a story from the narrative to the dramatic; i. e., to make a drama out of a story. In the first instance, the product of the playwright's labor is called an _adaptation_; in the second, a _dramatization_.

ADJECTIVES. "Very often adjectives stand where adverbs might be expected; as, 'drink _deep_,' 'this looks _strange_,' 'standing _erect_.'

"We have also examples of one adjective qualifying another adjective; as, '_wide_ open,' '_red_ hot,' 'the _pale_ blue sky.' Sometimes the corresponding adverb is used, but with a different meaning; as, 'I found the way _easy_--_easily_'; 'it appears _clear_--_clearly_.' Although there is a propriety in the employment of the adjective in certain instances, yet such forms as '_indifferent_ well,' '_extreme_ bad,' are grammatical errors. 'He was interrogated _relative_ to that circ.u.mstance,' should be _relatively_, or _in relation to_. It is not unusual to say, 'I would have done it _independent_ of that circ.u.mstance,' but _independently_ is the proper construction.

"The employment of adjectives for adverbs is accounted for by the following considerations:

"(1.) In the cla.s.sical languages the neuter adjective may be used as an adverb, and the a.n.a.logy would appear to have been extended to English.

"(2.) In the oldest English the adverb was regularly formed from the adjective by adding 'e,' as 'soft, soft_e_,' and the dropping of the 'e'

left the adverb in the adjective form; thus, '_claene_,' adverb, became 'clean,' and appears in the phrase '_clean_ gone'; '_faeste_, fast,' 'to stick _fast_.' By a false a.n.a.logy, many adjectives that never formed adverbs in _-e_ were freely used as adverbs in the age of Elizabeth: 'Thou didst it _excellent_,' '_equal_ (for _equally_) good,'

'_excellent_ well.' This gives precedent for such errors as those mentioned above.

"(3.) There are cases where the subject is qualified rather than the verb, as with verbs of incomplete predication, 'being,' 'seeming,'

'arriving,' etc. In 'the matter seems _clear_,' 'clear' is part of the predicate of 'matter.' 'They arrived _safe_': 'safe' does not qualify 'arrived,' but goes with it to complete the predicate. So, 'he sat _silent_,' 'he stood _firm_.' 'It comes _beautiful_' and 'it comes _beautifully_' have different meanings. This explanation applies especially to the use of participles as adverbs, as in Southey's lines on Lodore; the participial epithets applied there, although appearing to modify 'came,' are really additional predications about 'the water,' in elegantly shortened form. 'The church stood _gleaming_ through the trees': 'gleaming' is a shortened predicate of 'church'; and the full form would be, 'the church stood _and gleamed_.' The participle retains its force as such, while acting the part of a coordinating adjective, complement to 'stood'; 'stood gleaming' is little more than 'gleamed.'

The feeling of adverbial force in 'gleaming' arises from the subordinate participial form joined with a verb, 'stood,' that seems capable of predicating by itself. '_Pa.s.sing_ strange' is elliptical: 'pa.s.sing (surpa.s.sing) _what is_ strange.'"--Bain.