INTRODUCTION

The most powerful and the most perfect expression of thought and feelingthrough the medium of oral language must be traced to the mastery ofwords. Nothing is better suited to lead speakers and readers of Englishinto an easy control of this language than the command of the phrase thatperfectly expresses the thought. Every speaker's aim is to be heard andunderstood. A clear, crisp articulation holds an audience as by the spellof some irresistible power. The choice word, the correct phrase, areinstruments that may reach the heart, and awake the soul if they fall uponthe ear in melodious cadence; but if the utterance be harsh and discordantthey fail to interest, fall upon deaf ears, and are as barren as seed sownon fallow ground. In language, nothing conduces so emphatically to theharmony of sounds as perfect phrasing--that is, the emphasizing of therelation of clause to clause, and of sentence to sentence by thesystematic grouping of words. The phrase consists usually of a few wordswhich denote a single idea that forms a separate part of a sentence. Inthis respect it differs from the clause, which is a short sentence thatforms a distinct part of a composition, paragraph, or discourse. Correctphrasing is regulated by rests, such rests as do not break the continuityof a thought or the progress of the sense.

GRENVILLE KLEISER, who has devoted years of his diligent life to impartingthe art of correct expression in speech and writing, has provided manyaids for those who would know not merely what to say, but how to say it.He has taught also what the great HOLMES taught, that language is a templein which the human soul is enshrined, and that it grows out of life--outof its joys and its sorrows, its burdens and its necessities. To him, aswell as to the writer, the deep strong voice of man and the low sweetvoice of woman are never heard at finer advantage than in the earnest butmellow tones of familiar speech. In the present volume Mr. Kleiserfurnishes an additional and an exceptional aid for those who would have amint of phrases at their command from which to draw when in need of thegolden mean for expressing thought. Few indeed are the books fitted to-dayfor the purpose of imparting this knowledge, yet two centuries agophrase-books were esteemed as supplements to the dictionaries, and havenot by any manner of means lost their value. The guide to familiarquotations, the index to similes, the grammars, the readers, themachine-made letter-writer of mechanically perfect letters ofcongratulation or condolence--none are sententious enough to supply theneed. By the compilation of this praxis, Mr. Kleiser has not only suppliedit, but has furnished a means for the increase of one's vocabulary bypractical methods. There are thousands of persons who may profit by thesystematic study of such a book as this if they will familiarizethemselves with the author's purpose by a careful reading of thepreliminary pages of his book. To speak in public pleasingly and readilyand to read well are accomplishments acquired only after many days, weekseven, of practise.
Foreigners sometimes reproach us for the asperity and discordance of ourspeech, and in general, this reproach is just, for there are many personswho do scanty justice to the vowel-elements of our language. Althoughthese elements constitute its music they are continually mistreated. Weflirt with and pirouette around them constantly. If it were not so,English would be found full of beauty and harmony of sound. Familiar withthe maxim, "Take care of the vowels and the consonants will take care ofthemselves,"--a maxim that when put into practise has frequently led tothe breaking-down of vowel values--the writer feels that the common customof allowing "the consonants to take care of themselves" is pernicious. Itleads to suppression or to imperfect utterance, and thus producesindistinct articulation.
The English language is so complex in character that it can scarcely belearned by rule, and can best be mastered by the study of such idioms andphrases as are provided in this book; but just as care must be taken toplace every accent or stress on the proper syllable in the pronouncing ofevery word it contains, so must the stress or emphasis be placed on theproper word in every sentence spoken. To read or speak pleasingly oneshould resort to constant practise by doing so aloud in private, orpreferably, in the presence of such persons as know good reading when theyhear it and are masters of the melody of sounds. It was Dean Swift'sbelief that the common fluency of speech in many men and most women wasdue to scarcity of matter and scarcity of words. He claimed that a masterof language possessed a mind full of ideas, and that before speaking, sucha mind paused to select the choice word--the phrase best suited to theoccasion. "Common speakers," he said, "have only one set of ideas, and oneset of words to clothe them in," and these are always ready on the lips.Because he holds the Dean's view sound to-day, the writer will venture towarn the readers of this book against a habit that, growing far too commonamong us, should be checked, and this is the iteration and reiteration inconversation of "the battered, stale, and trite" phrases, the like ofwhich were credited by the worthy Dean to the women of his time.
Human thought elaborates itself with the progress of intelligence. Speechis the harvest of thought, and the relation which exists between words andthe mouths that speak them must be carefully observed. Just as nothing ismore beautiful than a word fitly spoken, so nothing is rarer than the useof a word in its exact meaning. There is a tendency to overwork both wordsand phrases that is not restricted to any particular class. The learnedsin in this respect even as do the ignorant, and the practise spreadsuntil it becomes an epidemic. The epidemic word with us yesterday wasunquestionably "conscription"; several months ago it was "preparedness."Before then "efficiency" was heard on every side and succeeded insuperseding "vocational teaching," only to be displaced in turn by "lifeextension" activities. "Safety-first" had a long run which was broughtalmost to abrupt end by "strict accountability," but these are merereflections of our cosmopolitan life and activities. There are others thatstand out as indicators of brain-weariness. These are most frequently metin the work of our novelists.
English authors and journalists are abusing and overworking the wordintrigue to-day. Sir Arthur Quillercouch on page 81 of his book "On theArt of Writing" uses it: "We are intrigued by the process of manufactureinstead of being wearied by a description of the ready-made article." Mrs.Sidgwick in "Salt and Savour," page 232, wrote: "But what intrigued herwas Little Mamma's remark at breakfast," From the Parliamentary news, onelearns that "Mr. Harcourt intrigued the House of Commons by his sustainedsilence for two years" and that "London is interested in, and not a littleintrigued, by the statement." This use of intrigue in the sense of"perplex, puzzle, trick, or deceive" dates from 1600. Then it fell into astate of somnolence, and after an existence of innocuous desuetude lastingtill 1794 it was revived, only to hibernate again until 1894. It owes itsnew lease of life to a writer on The Westminster Gazette, a London journalfamous for its competitions in aid of the restoring of the dead meaningsof words.
One is almost exasperated by the repeated use and abuse of the word"intimate" in a recently published work of fiction, by an author whoaspires to the first rank in his profession. He writes of "the intimatedimness of the room;" "a fierce intimate whispering;" "a look that wasintimate;" "the noise of the city was intimate," etc. Who has not heard,"The idea!" "What's the idea?" "Is that the idea?" "Yes, that's the idea,"with increased inflection at each repetition. And who is without a friendwho at some time or another has not sprung "meticulous" upon him? Anotherexample is afforded by the endemic use of "of sorts" which struck Londonwhile the writer was in that city a few years ago. Whence it came no oneknew, but it was heard on every side. "She was a woman of sorts;" "he is aTory of sorts;" "he had a religion of sorts;" "he was a critic of sorts."While it originally meant "of different or various kinds," as hats ofsorts; offices of sorts; cheeses of sorts, etc., it is now useddisparagingly, and implies something of a kind that is not satisfactory,or of a character that is rather poor. This, as Shakespeare might havesaid, is "Sodden business! There's a stewed phrase indeed!" [Footnote:Troilus and Cressida, act iii, sc. 1.]
The abuse of phrases and the misuse of words rife among us can be checkedby diligent exercises in good English, such as this book provides. Theseexercises, in conjunction with others to be found in different volumes bythe same author, will serve to correct careless diction and slovenlyspeech, and lead to the art of speaking and writing correctly; for, afterall, accuracy in the use of words is more a matter of habit than oftheory, and once it is acquired it becomes just as easy to speak or towrite good English as bad English. It was Chesterfield's resolution not tospeak a word in conversation which was not the fittest he could recall.All persons should avoid using words whose meanings they do not know, andwith the correct application of which they are unfamiliar. The best spokenand the best written English is that which conforms to the language asused by men and women of culture--a high standard, it is true, but one notso high that it is unattainable by any earnest student of the English tongue.

FRANK H. VIZETELLY.