In order to gain practice in determining the precise meanings, let us study certain words that are used carelessly, or with hesitation, and others that offer opportunity for nice distinction.

Synonyms are words so similar in meaning that they need to be carefully distinguished.

Exercises

408. Study carefully the correct use of each noun in the following list:1

Character ("what a man is"), reputation ("what others think of him"). Council (a family council, the common council), counsel ("It was ill counsel that misled the girl"). Custom, habit. ("Custom is a frequent repetition of the same act; habit, the effect of such repetition." The custom of early rising may become a good habit. "A custom is followed; a habit is acquired.") Discovery (an "uncovering" of something already in existence, as a star). Invention ("the contrivance and production of something that did not before exist," as the telephone).

1For further information consult dictionaries and books of synonyms. In this list, and in others that follow, the object is to point out the fundamental meaning of a word.

Emigration (e, "out," + migrare, "to move"), immigration (in, "in," + migrare).

Majority ("more than half the whole number"), plurality. ("When there are more than two candidates, the one who receives the plurality of votes may have less than a majority") If A receives 50 votes, B 40, and C 30, A has a plurality of 10 over B. Does A have a majority ?

Middle, center. (Center is often more precise than middle; compare the center and the middle of a room).

Person, party. (A party is a company of persons, unless a person be a party to a contract).

Plenty ("a full supply"), abundance ("a great plenty, as much as can be wanted, or more").

Vocation, avocation. (Avocation is " that which calls one away from one's proper business - from one's vocation.")

409. In the following sentences, show whether the use of the nouns in italics is correct or incorrect, and substitute a better word whenever you can:

1. One should be careful of his reputation, but more careful of his character.

2. A man of good reputation may find it hard to live down a bad character.

3. The city council approved of the action of the school committee.

4. He gave his friends good council but seldom followed it himself.

5. A gentleman has the custom of removing his hat when entering a room, because it is a common habit in our country.

6. It is his habit to give each of his friends a birthday gift.

7. The invention of the power of steam led to the discovery of the steam engine.

8. Canada needs immigration; England, emigration: the former has too few inhabitants; the latter, too many.

9. In England an Englishman who comes to the United States is looked upon as an emigrant, but in the United States he is considered an immigrant.

10. A plurality may be more than half; a majority is always more than half.

11. The governor won a decisive victory over his opponents, for he had not only a substantial majority but also an actual plurality.

12. The center of a circle is a point.

13. This horse will not keep in the center of the road.

14. The fence runs across the middle of the field.

15. Five persons were in a small party that went to the theater last night.

16. He is a party to the agreement.

17. I met a party at the station who asked me the way to the Capitol.

18. A plenty is less than an abundance.

19. What is an abundance to a frugal person will scarcely seem a plenty to a spendthrift.

20. There was such a plenty of fish in the rivers and lakes that the early settlers thought there would always be an abundance.

21. Alpine tourists choose mountain climbing as an avocation, but to the guides it is a precarious vocation.

22. So many persons have made stamp collecting their vocation that stamp selling has become a regular avocation.

410. Write sentences to illustrate the correct use of each of the foregoing nouns.

411. After noting the meanings of the verbs in the following list, study the sentences. Show whether the use of each verb in italics is correct or incorrect, and substitute a better word whenever you can.

Begin (enter upon something new), start (as an intransitive verb, suggests motion). (As he began to write, the train started).

Bring (take along in coming), fetch (go and bring), carry (take along with one).

Can (ability), may (liberty, probability).

Effect (accomplish), affect (act upon, or influence). (Some persons are affected by the weather. He effected his purpose).

Happen (come to pass), transpire (come to light).

Lay (transitive), lie (intransitive).

Learn (intransitive), teach (transitive).

Raise (transitive), rise (intransitive).

Set (transitive), sit (intransitive).

Stop (cease to move), stay (remain).

1. The band began to play as the President's train started.

2. He started to read the story, but laid it aside unfinished.

3. John, go into the house and fetch me my gloves.

4. Fetch a pail of water from the spring.

5. He walked to the station and brought the valise all the way.

6. I am certain that I may do the problem, if I can have more time.

7. You may open the door if you can; I tried to open it but could not.

8. Can I borrow a pencil ?

9. A passenger can carry one hundred and fifty pounds of baggage on a first-class ticket.

10. Dampness quickly affects salt.

11. The mild weather soon effected a change in the patient's health.

12. The listeners were visibly effected by his sad story.

13. The story of the guilt of the Camorra transpired as the trial proceeded.

14. Events transpired quickly after the first shots were fired.

15. It transpired that he had been falsifying his accounts for many years.

16. I wish that you would lay down and rest.

17. The stone lay beside the wall.

18. Talkative people lay themselves open to blame.

19. After studying for an hour, he laid the book on the table and went into the next room to lie on the sofa, but found his brother already laying there. He then picked up a magazine that lay on the desk, and with a paper knife that some one had lain on the window sill began to cut the leaves.

20. A bright student with a good textbook can learn himself much.

21. He is going to teach a lesson.

22. He learned his friend how to skate.

23. They raised him from the ground.

24. The bird rose higher and higher in the air.

25. As they were sitting on the veranda, they saw the sun set1 behind the forest.

26. The hen set upon thirteen eggs.

27. Please sit down, and I will set the table near you.

1 Set is both transitive and intransitive. As a transitive verb it means to "place" or "put in position"; as an intransitive verb, it means to "sink out of sight" or "come to an end."

28. A good sign for a railroad crossing is "Stop! Look! and Listen!"

29. I really ought not to stay, but I will stop five minutes.

30. My father is stopping in town over night.

412. In order to fix the meanings of the verbs in the foregoing list, use each of them in a sentence of your own.

413. After noting the meanings of this group of words, show whether the use of each word in italics in sentences 1-37 is correct or incorrect, and substitute a better word whenever you can.

Apparently (seemingly), evidently (clearly), manifestly (in a manner very distinctly evident).

Apt, likely, liable. (Apt indicates physical or natural inclination: as, apt to work faithfully; apt to mold. "Likely may suggest the same idea, or it may express mere external probability or chance: as, He is likely to come at any moment. Liable in this connection is properly used only of exposure to evil; as, liable to accident, liable to be hurt, that is, exposed to the danger of being hurt.")

Awful (awe-inspiring). Not synonymous with very.

Each ("all of any number, considered one by one"), every ("differs from each in giving less prominence to the selection of the individual"). "Father gave each of the children something" calls attention to every child separately. "There was a gift for every child" means that all the children were remembered with a gift, - no child was forgotten.

Grand (used in connection with something which has real grandeur).

Splendid (used in connection with something which has splendor).

Healthy (in good health; as, a healthy child), healthful (health giving; as, healthful exercise, healthful climate), wholesome (tending to promote health of body or mind; as, wholesome food, wholesome truths).

Oral (spoken), verbal (in words, whether spoken or written).

New, novel (novel means "strange" as well as "new").

Real (as adjective, "She is real"); really (as adverb, "It is really good").

Quite (wholly). Not to be used in the sense of not quite.

Some (as an adjective), something (as a noun), somewhat (as an adverb).

1. Man is evidently going to master the air in time, as he has mastered the sea.

2. He was manifestly discouraged by his three successive failures.

3. His recitation manifestly proves that he cannot learn anything about geometry.

4. A careless reader is apt to mispronounce his words.

5. He is always apt in his quotations.

6. A busy man is liable to have more spare time than an idle one.

7. If he ventures too far out on that thin ice, he is likely to fall into the water.

8. The eruption of Mount Pelee must have been an awful sight.

9. He has an awful poor voice.

10. Each one of the audience felt that he was being spoken to personally.

11. Every farmer needs to study the weather.

12. He took care to speak to each one in private.

13. The word that best describes the Colorado canon is the adjective grand.

14. This ice is simply grand for skating.

15. The autumn foliage along the Hudson is a splendid sight.

16. I think it is just splendid that you can come boating with us.

17. A healthy diet must be plain.

18. All the family look healthy.

19. A person who wishes to remain healthy should eat wholesome food and employ himself in healthful work.

20. Some parts of Africa are not healthy for Europeans.

21. The air of the Bermuda Islands is said to be very wholesome.

22. The class may prepare for an oral examination.

23. I told him to deliver a verbal answer, as I did not have time to prepare a written one.

24. A verbal language is much superior to a language of signs.

25. The first umbrella was a novel sight, and its owner was pursued by a jeering crowd.

26. It was real kind of her to call to see us.

27. He has just bought a novel tennis racket.

28. Is the report really true ? Is she real well ?

29. These artificial flowers look almost grand, and are certainly a real good piece of work.

30. He gave us quite a long time for the examination.

31. He is quite well.

32. I have not quite finished the book.

33. This picture cost some more than that one.

34. We caught some fish, but we are hoping for somewhat better luck next time.

35. "Are you tired?" "Some."

36. Something evidently is needed to complete the picture-puzzle.

37. Give some of that paper to your sister, and something more to me. (How many of the three words, "some," "something," and "somewhat" may be used in this sentence?)

414. Illustrate in sentences of your own the meaning of each word in the foregoing group.

415. Look up the meaning of the following words, unless you understand them thoroughly, and be prepared to substitute for each asterisk the best word for the place.

Abandon, Forsake, Desert

1. The vessel was in such a dangerous condition that the captain decided to * her.

2. The soldier * his post.

3. If he would only * his idle ways, he would succeed.

Accurate, Correct

4. The answer to the question in algebra is *.

5. You must learn to be more * in your work; it is seldom *.

Couple, Pair, Two

6. I will give you * dollars for the book.

7. The * celebrated their golden wedding.

8. The woman purchased a * of French gloves.

Except, Unless

9. He will not go to the meeting * you go.

10. No one spoke at the meeting * the chairman.

11. I am mistaken; all the answers * the first are wrong.

Hanged, Hung

12. The pirate was * from his own yardarm.

13. The sails * from the yards in tatters.

14. The clothes were * on the line.

Business, Profession

15. The retired merchant had been employed in this * for twenty years.

16. A doctor's * is one that requires great energy.

Less, Fewer

17. He has * studies now than he had last year.

18. He puts * time on his studies than he did formerly.

Congressman, Representative

19. A * is not always a *, but a * is always a *.

20. A senator is a *, but he is not a *.

Depot, Station

21. I will meet you at the * in time to take the train.

22. Please see that my trunk is sent to the *, as I want it sent as freight.

2*3. The * is too small to accommodate the tourists that come here in the summer.

Page, Leaf

24. Please turn to * twenty in the book.

25. A * has been torn from the dictionary.

26. Four * make eight *.

Theme, essay

27. The class will write a daily *.

28. He has been working on (a, an) * for a month.

29. Lord Macaulay wrote (a, an) * on Lord Clive.

College, university.

30. Harvard * has many opportunities for the graduate student.

31. I am going to * when I graduate from the high school.

Enunciation, Pronunciation

32. His * of address is correct.

33. The speaker's * was so poor that few in the audience could hear him.

Funny, Odd, Queer, Strange.

34. It is (a, an) * looking house; in fact, there are no others like it in this part of the country.

35. He told a very * story, which set us all laughing.

36. He found that in a * city it is not easy to obtain employment.

37. His * appearance is due to his old-fashioned clothes.

38. Such (an, a) * looking house is seldom seen.

Guess, think. (To guess means to form an opinion on hidden or very slight grounds. To think means to exercise the higher intellectual faculties).

39. Can you * what the answer will be ?

40. I * that I shall go home at four o'clock.

41. I * it is time to ring the bell.

42. Do not try to * the word that will fit this sentence, but try to * the matter out.

Nice, good, fine. {Nice denotes a minute or delicate distinction, as in the following sentence: He shows a nice knowledge of the use of synonyms).

43. It is a very * day.

44. A * name is rather to be chosen than great riches.

45. There is a * distinction between ability and capacity.

Almost, Most.

46. Dinner is * ready to be served.

47. In this country * of the houses are built of wood.

48. I had * finished my lessons when you called.

49. He had * decided to go.

50. He spends * of his time reading.

416. Write sentences in which you use the following synonyms correctly:

(1) ask, beg; (2) alternative, choice; (3) angry, mad; (4) amount, number, quantity; (5) accept, except; (6) agitated, excited; (7) broad, wide; (8) ceaseless, continuous; (9) comrade, friend, acquaintance; (10) calculate, intend.

417. Be prepared to explain the difference in meaning between the words in each of the following groups of synonyms, and to use them in sentences:

1. bold, courageous, fearless.

2. customary, prevailing, usual.

3. dangerous, terrible.

4. desire, want, wish.

5. difficult, laborious.

6. drive, ride.

7. excuse, pardon.

8. expect, suppose.

9. fix, mend, repair.

10. flock, crowd, herd, drove, gang.

11. gift, present.

12. home, house, building, residence.

13. high, lofty, tall.

14. honest, sincere.

15. hurtful, mischievous, ruinous.

16. large, colossal, vast.

17. last, latest, preceding.

18. nice, pleasant, attractive.

19. probably, presumably.

20. repay, satisfy.

21. reason, purpose, propose.

22. sewage, sewerage.

23. squander, waste, spend.

24. team, carriage.