The Verbalist Part 10

--Written on the bedchamber door of Charles II, by the Earl of Rochester.

LEARN. This verb was long ago used as a synonym of _teach_, but in this sense it is now obsolete. To _teach_ is to give instruction; to _learn_ is to take instruction. "I will _learn_, if you will _teach_ me." See TEACH.

LEAVE. There are grammarians who insist that this verb should not be used without an object, as, for example, it is used in such sentences as, "When do you leave?" "I leave to-morrow." The object of the verb--home, town, or whatever it may be--is, of course, understood; but this, say these gentlemen, is not permissible. On this point opinions will, I think, differ; they will, however, not differ with regard to the vulgarity of using _leave_ in the sense of _let_; thus, "_Leave_ me be"; "_Leave_ it alone"; "_Leave_ her be--don't bother her"; "_Leave_ me see it."

LEND. See LOAN.

LENGTHY. This word is of comparatively recent origin, and, though it is said to be an Americanism, it is a good deal used in England. The most careful writers, however, both here and elsewhere, much prefer the word _long_: "a _long_ discussion," "a _long_ discourse," etc.

LENIENCY. Mr. Gould calls this word and _lenience_ "two philological abortions." _Lenity_ is undoubtedly the proper word to use, though both Webster and Worcester do recognize _leniency_ and _lenience_.

LESS. This word is much used instead of _fewer_. _Less_ relates to quant.i.ty; _fewer_ to number. Instead of, "There were not _less_ than twenty persons present," we should say, "There were not _fewer_ than twenty persons present."

LESSER. This form of the comparative of _little_ is accounted a corruption of _less_. It may, however, be used instead of _less_ with propriety in verse, and also, in some cases, in prose. We may say, for example, "Of two evils choose the _less_," or "the _lesser_." The latter form, in sentences like this, is the more euphonious.

LIABLE. Richard Grant White, in inveighing against the misuse of this word, cites the example of a member from a rural district, who called out to a man whom he met in the village, where he was in the habit of making little purchases: "I say, mister, kin yer tell me whar I'd be _li'ble_ to find some beans?" See, also, APT.

LIE. See LAY.

LIKE--AS. Both these words express similarity; _like_ (adjective) comparing things, _as_ (adverb) comparing action, existence, or quality.

Like is followed by an object only, and does not admit of a verb in the same construction. _As_ must be followed by a verb expressed or understood. We say, "He looks _like_ his brother," or "He looks _as_ his brother _looks_." "Do _as_ I do," not "_like_ I do." "You must speak _as_ James does," not "_like_ James does." "He died _as_ he had lived, _like_ a dog." "It is _as_ blue _as_ indigo"; i. e., "as indigo is."

LIKE, TO. See LOVE.

LIKELY. See APT.

LIT. This form of the past participle of the verb _to light_ is now obsolete. "Have you _lighted_ the fire?" "The gas is _lighted_." _Het_ for _heated_ is a similar, but much greater, vulgarism.

LOAN--LEND. There are those who contend that there is no such verb as _to loan_, although it has been found in our literature for more than three hundred years. Whether there is properly such a verb or not, it is quite certain that it is only those having a vulgar _penchant_ for big words who will prefer it to its synonym _lend_. Better far to say "_Lend_ me your umbrella" than "_Loan_ me your umbrella."

LOCATE--SETTLE. The use of the verb _to locate_ in the sense of _to settle_ is said to be an Americanism. Although the dictionaries recognize _to locate_ as a neuter verb, as such it is marked "rarely used," and, in the sense of _to settle_, it is among the vulgarisms that careful speakers and writers are studious to avoid. A man _settles_, not _locates_, in Nebraska. "Where do you intend to _settle_?" not _locate_.

See, also, SETTLE.

LOGGERHEADS. "In the mean time France is at _loggerheads internally_."--"New York Herald," April 29, 1881. Loggerheads _internally_?!

LOOKS BEAUTIFULLY. It is sometimes interesting to note the difference between _vulgar_ bad grammar and _genteel_ bad grammar, or, more properly, between non-painstaking and painstaking bad grammar. The former uses, for example, adjectives instead of adverbs; the latter uses adverbs instead of adjectives. The former says, "This bonnet is trimmed _shocking_"; the latter says, "This bonnet looks _shockingly_." In the first sentence the epithet qualifies the verb _is trimmed_, and consequently should have its adverbial form--_shockingly_; in the second sentence the epithet qualifies the _appearance_--a noun--of the bonnet, and consequently should have its adjectival form--_shocking_. The second sentence means to say, "This bonnet presents a shocking appearance." The bonnet certainly does not really _look_; it is _looked at_, and to the _looker_ its appearance is _shocking_. So we say, in like manner, of a person, that he or she looks _sweet_, or _charming_, or _beautiful_, or _handsome_, or _horrid_, or _graceful_, or _timid_, and so on, always using an adjective. "Miss Coghlan, as Lady Teazle, looked _charmingly_."

The grammar of the "New York Herald" would not have been any more incorrect if it had said that Miss Coghlan looked _gladly_, or _sadly_, or _madly_, or _delightedly_, or _pleasedly_. A person may look _sick_ or _sickly_, but in both cases the qualifying word is an adjective. The verbs to _smell_, to _feel_, to _sound_, and to _appear_ are also found in sentences in which the qualifying word must be an adjective and not an adverb. We say, for example, "The rose smells _sweet_"; "The b.u.t.ter smells _good_, or _bad_, or _fresh_"; "I feel _glad_, or _sad_, or _bad_, or _despondent_, or _annoyed_, or _nervous_"; "This construction sounds _harsh_"; "How _delightful_ the country appears!"

On the other hand, to _look_, to _feel_, to _smell_, to _sound_, and to _appear_ are found in sentences where the qualifying word must be an adverb; thus, "He feels his loss _keenly_"; "The king looked _graciously_ on her"; "I smell it _faintly_." We might also say, "He feels _sad_ [adjective], because he feels his loss _keenly_" (adverb); "He appears _well_" (adverb).

The expression, "_She seemed confusedly_, or _timidly_," is not a whit more incorrect than "_She looked beautifully_, or _charmingly_." See ADJECTIVES.

LOVE--LIKE. Men who are at all careful in the selection of language to express their thoughts, and have not an undue leaning toward the superlative, _love_ few things: their wives, their sweethearts, their kinsmen, truth, justice, and their country. Women, on the contrary, as a rule, _love_ a mult.i.tude of things, and, among their loves, the thing they perhaps love most is--taffy.

LUGGAGE--BAGGAGE. The former of these words is generally used in England, the latter in America.

LUNCH. This word, when used as a substantive, may at the best be accounted an inelegant abbreviation of _luncheon_. The dictionaries barely recognize it. The proper phraseology to use is, "Have you _lunched_?" or, "Have you had your _luncheon_?" or, better, "Have you had _luncheon_?" as we may in most cases presuppose that the person addressed would hardly take anybody's else luncheon.

LUXURIOUS--LUXURIANT. The line is drawn much more sharply between these two words now than it was formerly. Luxurious was once used, to some extent at least, in the sense of _rank growth_, but now all careful writers and speakers use it in the sense of _indulging_ or _delighting in luxury_. We talk of a _luxurious_ table, a _luxurious_ liver, _luxurious_ ease, _luxurious_ freedom. Luxuriant, on the other hand, is restricted to the sense of _rank_, or _excessive_, growth or production; thus, _luxuriant_ weeds, _luxuriant_ foliage or branches, _luxuriant_ growth.

"Prune the _luxuriant_, the uncouth refine, But show no mercy to an empty line."--Pope.

MAD. Professor Richard A. Proctor, in a recent number of "The Gentleman's Magazine," says: "The word _mad_ in America seems nearly always to mean _angry_. For _mad_, as we use the word, Americans say _crazy_. Herein they have manifestly impaired the language." Have they?

"Now, in faith, Gratiano, You give your wife too unkind a cause of grief; An 'twere, to me, I would be _mad at_ it."

--"Merchant of Venice."

"And being exceedingly _mad_ against them, I persecuted them even unto strange cities."--Acts xxvi, II.

MAKE A VISIT. The phrase "_make_ a visit," according to Dr. Hall, whatever it once was, is no longer English.

MALE. See FEMALE.

MARRY. There has been some discussion, at one time and another, with regard to the use of this word. Is John Jones married _to_ Sally Brown or _with_ Sally Brown, or are they married to each other? Inasmuch as the woman loses her name in that of the man to whom she is wedded, and becomes a member of his family, not he of hers--inasmuch as, with few exceptions, it is her life that is merged in his--it would seem that, _properly_, Sally Brown is married _to_ John Jones, and that this would be the proper way to make the announcement of their having been wedded, and not John Jones _to_ Sally Brown.

There is also a difference of opinion as to whether the active or the pa.s.sive form is preferable in referring to a person's wedded state. In speaking definitely of the _act_ of marriage, the pa.s.sive form is necessarily used with reference to either spouse. "John Jones was married to Sally Brown on Dec. 1, 1881"; not, "John Jones _married_ Sally Brown" on such a date, for (unless they were Quakers) some third person married him to her and her to him. But, in speaking indefinitely of the _fact_ of marriage, the active form is a matter of course. "Whom did John Jones marry?" "He married Sally Brown." "John Jones, when he had sown his wild oats, married [married himself, as the French say] and settled down." _Got married_ is a vulgarism.

MAY. In the sense of _can_, _may_, in a negative clause, has become obsolete. "Though we _may_ say a horse, we _may_ not say a ox." The first _may_ here is permissible; not so, however, the second, which should be _can_.

MEAT. At table, we ask for and offer beef, mutton, veal, steak, turkey, duck, etc., and do not ask for nor offer _meat_, which, to say the least, is inelegant. "Will you have [not, take] another piece of _beef_ [not, of _the_ beef]?" not, "Will you have another piece of _meat_?"

MEMORANDUM. The plural is _memoranda_, except when the singular means a book; then the plural is _memorandums_.

MERE. This word is not unfrequently misplaced, and sometimes, as in the following sentence, in consequence of being misplaced, it is changed to an adverb: "It is true of men as of G.o.d, that words _merely_ meet with no response." What the writer evidently intended to say is, that _mere_ words meet with no response.

METAPHOR. An _implied_ comparison is called a metaphor; it is a more terse form of expression than the simile. Take, for example, this sentence from Spenser's "Philosophy of Style": "As, in pa.s.sing through the crystal, beams of white light are decomposed into the colors of the rainbow; so, in traversing the soul of the poet, the colorless rays of truth are transformed into brightly-tinted poetry." Expressed in metaphors, this becomes: "The white light of truth, in traversing the many-sided, transparent soul of the poet, is refracted into iris-hued poetry."

Worcester's definition of a _metaphor_ is: "A figure of speech founded on the resemblance which one object is supposed to bear, in some respect, to another, or a figure by which a word is transferred from a subject to which it properly belongs to another, in such a manner that a _comparison is implied, though not formally expressed_; a comparison or simile comprised in a word; as, 'Thy word is a _lamp_ to my feet.'" A _metaphor_ differs from a _simile_ in being expressed without any sign of comparison; thus, "the _silver_ moon" is a _metaphor_; "the moon is bright as silver" is a simile. Examples:

"But look, the morn, in russet mantle clad, Walks o'er the dew of yon high eastern hill."

"Canst thou not minister to a mind diseased-- Pluck from the memory a rooted sorrow?"

"At length Erasmus Stemmed the wild torrent of a barbarous age, And drove those holy Vandals off the stage."

"Censure is the tax a man pays to the public for being eminent."

METONYMY. The rhetorical figure that puts the effect for the cause, the cause for the effect, the container for the thing contained, the sign, or symbol, for the thing signified, or the instrument for the agent, is called _metonymy_.

"One very common species of _metonymy_ is, when the badge is put for the office. Thus we say the _miter_ for the priesthood; the _crown_ for royalty; for military occupation we say the _sword_; and for the literary professions, those especially of theology, law, and physic, the common expression is the _gown_."--Campbell.

Dr. Quackenbos, in his "Course of Composition and Rhetoric," says: "_Metonymy_ is the exchange of names between things related. It is founded, not on resemblance, but on the relation of, 1. Cause and effect; as,'They have _Moses_ and _the prophets_,' i. e., their writings; '_Gray hairs_ should be respected,' i. e., _old age_. 2.

Progenitor and posterity; as, 'Hear, O Israel!' i. e., _descendants of Israel_. 3. Subject and attribute; as, '_Youth_ and _beauty_ shall be laid in dust,' i. e., _the young_ and _beautiful_. 4. Place and inhabitant; as, 'What _land_ is so barbarous as to allow this injustice?' i. e., what _people_. 5. Container and thing contained; as, 'Our _ships_ next opened fire,' i. e., our _sailors_. 6. Sign and thing signified; as, 'The _scepter_ shall not depart from Judah,' i. e., _kingly_ power. 7. Material and thing made of it; as, 'His _steel_ gleamed on high,' i. e., his _sword_."

"Pet.i.tions having proved unsuccessful, it was determined to approach the throne more boldly."

MIDST, THE. See IN OUR MIDST.