HOW TO USE THIS BOOK

The study of words, phrases, and literary expressions is a highlyinteresting pursuit. There is a reciprocal influence between thought andlanguage. What we think molds the words we use, and the words we use reactupon our thoughts. Hence a study of words is a study of ideas, and astimulant to deep and original thinking.

We should not, however, study "sparkling words and sonorous phrases" withthe object of introducing them consciously into our speech. To do so wouldinevitably lead to stiltedness and superficiality. Words and phrasesshould be studied as symbols of ideas, and as we become thoroughlyfamiliar with them they will play an unconscious but effective part in ourdaily expression.

We acquire our vocabulary largely from our reading and our personalassociates. The words we use are an unmistakable indication of our thoughthabits, tastes, ideals, and interests in life. In like manner, thehabitual language of a people is a barometer of their intellectual, civil,moral, and spiritual ideals. A great and noble people express themselvesin great and noble words.

Ruskin earnestly counsels us to form the habit of looking intensely atwords. We should scrutinize them closely and endeavor to grasp theirinnermost meaning. There is an indefinable satisfaction in knowing how tochoose and use words with accuracy and precision. As Fox once said, "I amnever at a loss for a word, but Pitt always has the word."

All the great writers and orators have been diligent students of words.Demosthenes and Cicero were indefatigable in their study of language.Shakespeare, "infinite in faculty," took infinite pains to embody histhought in words of crystal clearness. Coleridge once said of him thatone might as well try to dislodge a brick from a building with one'sforefinger as to omit a single word from one of his finest passages.

Milton, master of majestic prose, under whose touch words became as livingthings; Flaubert, who believed there was one and one only best word withwhich to express a given thought; De Quincey, who exercised a weird-likepower over words; Ruskin, whose rhythmic prose enchanted the ear; Keats,who brooded over phrases like a lover; Newman, of pure and melodiousstyle; Stevenson, forever in quest of the scrupulously precise word;Tennyson, graceful and exquisite as the limpid stream; Emerson, oftrenchant and epigrammatic style; Webster, whose virile words sometimesweighed a pound; and Lincoln, of simple, Saxon speech,--all theseillustrious men were assiduous in their study of words.

Many persons of good education unconsciously circumscribe themselveswithin a small vocabulary. They have a knowledge of hundreds of desirablewords which they do not put into practical use in their speech or writing.Many, too, are conscious of a poverty of language, which engenders in thema sense of timidity and self-depreciation. The method used for building alarge vocabulary has usually been confined to the study of single words. This has produced good results, but it is believed that eminently betterresults can be obtained from a careful study of words and expressions, asfurnished in this book, where words can be examined in their context.
It is intended and suggested that this study should be pursued inconnection with, and as a supplement to, a good standard dictionary. Fifteen minutes a day devoted to this subject, in the manner outlined,will do more to improve and enlarge the vocabulary than an hour spent indesultory reading.

There is no better way in which to develop the mental qualities ofclearness, accuracy, and precision, and to improve and enlarge theintellectual powers generally, than by regular and painstaking study ofjudiciously selected phrases and literary expressions.