Practical Exercises in English Part 26

1. The Amazon _captivated (captured)_ our hero.

2. The king _depreciated (deprecated)_ Napoleon's effort to raise a new army.

3. The readiness with which men _impute (impugn)_ motives is much to be regretted.

EXERCISE LVI.

_Insert the proper word in each blank, and give the reason for your choice:--_

ACCREDIT, CREDIT.

1. Mr. Lowell was ----ed as Minister Plenipotentiary to England.

2. These reasons will ---- his opinion.

3. He did not ---- the strange report.

4. The contribution of five dollars previously ----ed to Mr. Williams came from Mr. Brown.

5. Mr. Sherman is well ----ed as a writer on finance.

6. The bank has not ----ed me with the interest on the deposit.

ARISE, RISE.

7. The court ---- at four o'clock.

8. At the discharge of a gun whole flocks of quail would ----.

9. The idea of a reward did not ---- in his mind.

10. Most of these appalling accidents ---- from negligence.

11. The men ---- against their officers.

12. Other cases of mutiny may ----.

CAPTIVATE, CAPTURE.

13. Her husband was ----d in the battle of Gettysburg.

14. Mr. S. was ----d by the young widow's beauty.

15. Let us attack them now and try to ---- the whole squad.

16. It is not merely what Chaucer has to say, but even more the agreeable way he has of saying it, that ----s our attention and gives him an a.s.sured place in literature.

DEPRECIATE, DEPRECATE.

17. Financial panics are likely to follow a--d currency.

18. His purpose was--d by all who knew it.

19. Both parties--war.

20. It is natural for those who have not succeeded to--the work of those who have.

21. He--s his daughter's desire to earn her own living.

22. An injurious consequence of asceticism was a tendency to--the character and the position of woman.

IMPUGN, IMPUTE.

23. We cannot deny the conclusion of a proposition of Euclid without--ing the axioms which are the basis of its demonstration.

24. The gentleman--s my honesty.

25. The power of fortune is confessed only by the miserable, for the happy--all their success to prudence and merit.

26. Mr.X. is uncharitable; he always--s bad motives.

II. A RESEMBLANCE IN SENSE MISLEADS.[94]

ANTAGONIZE, OPPOSE.--To _antagonize_ means properly "to struggle against," "to oppose actively," or "to counteract." "In England, antagonizing forces must be of the same kind, but in the political phraseology of the United States a person may antagonize (i.e., oppose) a measure."[95]

CALCULATE, INTEND.--To _calculate_ means properly "to compute mathematically," or "to adjust or adapt" for something. In the sense of _intend_ it is not in good use.

CARRY, BRING, FETCH.--To _carry_ means "to take along in going;" to _bring_ means "to take along in coming;" to _fetch_ means "to go, get, and bring."

CHAMPION, SUPPORT.--The word _champion_ is very much overworked, being often used in the general sense of "support." It should be restricted to cases in which there is the idea of entering the lists as champion of a cause.

CLAIM, a.s.sERT, ALLEGE, MAINTAIN, DECLARE, AFFIRM, STATE.--To _claim_ means properly "to demand as one's own or one's due." It is often loosely used, especially in the United States, for "a.s.sert," "allege," "maintain,"

"declare," or "affirm." To _a.s.sert_ is "to say or declare in the face of implied denial or doubt." To _allege_ is "to a.s.sert without proof." To _maintain_ is "to uphold by argument." To _declare_ is "to say publicly, clearly, or emphatically." To _affirm_ is "to a.s.sert on one's reputation for knowledge or truthfulness." To _state_, which is also often misused in the sense of "say," "a.s.sert," "allege," "declare," or "affirm," means properly "to express formally and in detail;" it always implies detail.

(See "Foundations," pp. 113, 114, and "Practical Exercises," p. 99.)

CONFESS, ADMIT.--"_Admit_, in cases into which the idea of confession does not enter, is preferable to _confess_. On grounds of idiom, however, 'I must confess' and the parenthetical 'I confess' are exempt from the operation of this rule."[96]

DEMAND, ASK.--_To demand_ means "_to ask_ for with authority or with insistence." The use of "demand" in the sense of "ask" is borrowed, possibly, from the French use of _demander_.

HIRE, LET, LEASE.--_To hire_ means "to obtain the use of;" _to let_, "to give the use of." _To lease_ means "to give the use of by lease." The owner of a house _leases_ it; the person who occupies it _takes a lease_ of it.

LEARN, TEACH.--_Learn_ means to "acquire" knowledge, not to "impart"

it. In the latter sense the proper word is _teach_.

"I have more information to-day than I had before," said Mr. Sheehan.

"This has learned you something," said Mr. Goff.

"Oh no," replied Mr. Sheehan, "it has taught me something."[97]

LIKE, LOVE.--_Like_ and _love_ differ greatly in strength or warmth, and may differ in kind. _Like_ may be feeble and cool, and it never has the intensity of _love_. We may _like_ or even _love_ a person; we only _like_ the most palatable kind of food. With an infinitive, _like_ is the common word, _love_ being appropriate only in the hyperbole of poetical or rhetorical feeling.[98]

MATERIALIZE, APPEAR.--_To materialize_ properly means "to make or to become physically perceptible;" as, "by means of letters we materialize our ideas and make them as lasting as ink and paper;" "the ideas of the sculptor materialize in marble."

PLEAD, ARGUE.--See _plea, argument,_ p. 29.

STAY, STOP.--"_Stay,_ as in 'At what hotel are you staying?' is preferable to _stop_, since _stop_ also means 'to stop without staying.'"[99]

TRANSPIRE, HAPPEN.--_To transpire_ means properly "to escape from secrecy to notice," "to leak out;" it should not be used in the sense of _to happen._

[94] "Foundations," pp. 110-114.

[95] Murray's Dictionary.

[96] A.S. Hill: Principles of Rhetoric, revised edition, p. 18.

[97] Newspaper report.

[98] See the Century Dictionary.

[99] A.S. Hill: Principles of Rhetoric, revised edition, p. 19.

EXERCISE LVII.

_Tell the difference in meaning between--_

1. Please _bring (fetch)_ a chair from the next room.

2. You had better _carry (bring)_ an umbrella with you.

3. He _a.s.serts (alleges, maintains, declares, affirms, says)_ that he has been robbed.