1 00:00:00,240 --> 00:00:06,719 Chapter twenty seven, Growing a vocabulary quote, boys flying kites haul in their 2 00:00:06,799 --> 00:00:12,919 white winged birds. You can't do that way when you're flying words. Careful 3 00:00:12,960 --> 00:00:18,359 with fire is good advice. We know careful with words is ten times doubly 4 00:00:18,480 --> 00:00:25,239 so. Thoughts unexpressed may sometimes fall back dead, but God himself can't kill 5 00:00:25,280 --> 00:00:32,000 them when they're said unquote Will Carton, the First Settler's story. The term 6 00:00:32,079 --> 00:00:37,119 the cabulary has a special as well as a general meaning. True. All 7 00:00:37,200 --> 00:00:41,479 the cabulies are grounded in the everyday words of the language, out of which 8 00:00:41,520 --> 00:00:47,479 grow the special vocabularies. But each such specialized group possesses a number of words 9 00:00:47,479 --> 00:00:52,399 of peculiar value for its own objects. These words may be used in other 10 00:00:52,479 --> 00:00:57,000 vocabularies also, but the fact that they are suited to a unique order of 11 00:00:57,119 --> 00:01:03,920 expression marks them as of special value to a particular craft or calling. In 12 00:01:03,920 --> 00:01:07,040 this respect, the public speaker differs not at all from the poet, the 13 00:01:07,159 --> 00:01:12,079 novelist, the scientist, the traveler. He must add to his everyday's stock 14 00:01:12,519 --> 00:01:19,319 words of value for the public presentation of thought. Quote. A study of 15 00:01:19,359 --> 00:01:25,159 the discourses of effective orators discloses the fact that they have a fondness for words 16 00:01:25,640 --> 00:01:30,840 signifying power, largeness, speed, action, color, light, and all 17 00:01:30,879 --> 00:01:38,560 their opposites. They frequently employ words expressive of the various emotions. Descriptive words, 18 00:01:38,879 --> 00:01:46,400 adjectives used in fresh relations with nouns, and apt epithets are freely employed. 19 00:01:47,280 --> 00:01:52,760 Indeed, the nature of public speech permits the use of mildly exaggerated words, 20 00:01:52,879 --> 00:01:56,840 which, by the time they have reached the hearer's judgment, will leave 21 00:01:56,959 --> 00:02:02,760 only a just impression. Unquote footnote How to attract and hold an audience Jay 22 00:02:02,920 --> 00:02:14,639 berg Asonvine Form the book note habit. To possess a word involves three things. 23 00:02:15,240 --> 00:02:19,479 To know its special and broader meanings, to know its relation to other 24 00:02:19,560 --> 00:02:23,240 words, and to be able to use it. When you see or hear 25 00:02:23,280 --> 00:02:29,120 a familiar word used in an unfamiliar sense, jot it down, look it 26 00:02:29,199 --> 00:02:34,879 up, and master it. We have in mind a speaker of superior attainments 27 00:02:34,919 --> 00:02:39,479 who acquite as vocabulary by noting all new words he heard or read. These 28 00:02:39,520 --> 00:02:46,319 he mastered and put into youths. Soon as vocabulary became large, varied and 29 00:02:46,479 --> 00:02:52,719 exact. Use a new word accurately five times, and it is yours. 30 00:02:53,879 --> 00:02:59,240 Professor Alberty Hancock says quote and authors. The cabulary is of two kinds, 31 00:02:59,639 --> 00:03:06,479 later and dynamic latent those words he understands, dynamic those he can readily use. 32 00:03:07,879 --> 00:03:12,479 Every intelligent man knows or the words he needs, but he may not 33 00:03:12,599 --> 00:03:17,719 have them all ready for active service. The problem of literary diction consists in 34 00:03:17,840 --> 00:03:24,479 turning the latent into the dynamic. Unquote, Your dynamic vocabulary is the one 35 00:03:24,520 --> 00:03:31,520 you must especially cultivate. In his essay on a college magazine in the volume 36 00:03:31,759 --> 00:03:38,000 Memories and Portraits, Stevenson shows how he rose from imitation to originality in the 37 00:03:38,120 --> 00:03:44,479 use of words. He had particular reference to the formation of his literary style. 38 00:03:45,039 --> 00:03:49,479 But words are the raw materials of style, and his excellent example may 39 00:03:49,520 --> 00:03:55,759 well be followed judiciously by the public speaker. Words in their relations are vastly 40 00:03:55,800 --> 00:04:01,520 more important than words considered singly. Quote. Whenever I read a book or 41 00:04:01,560 --> 00:04:05,879 a passage that particularly pleased me, in which a thing was said or an 42 00:04:05,919 --> 00:04:12,840 effect rendered with propriety, in which there was either some conspicuous force or some 43 00:04:12,879 --> 00:04:17,360 happy distinction in the style, I must sit down at once and set myself 44 00:04:17,399 --> 00:04:23,639 to ape that quality. I was unsuccessful, and I knew it, and 45 00:04:23,720 --> 00:04:30,279 tried again and was again unsuccessful, and always unsuccessful. But at least in 46 00:04:30,319 --> 00:04:34,680 these vain bouts I got some practice in rhythm, in harmony, in construction 47 00:04:34,920 --> 00:04:42,399 and coordination of parts. I have thus played the sedulous ape to Hazlet, 48 00:04:42,720 --> 00:04:46,920 to Lamb, to Wordsworth, to Sir Thomas Browne, to Defoe, to 49 00:04:46,040 --> 00:04:51,519 Hawthorne, to Montaigne, that like it or not is the way to learn 50 00:04:51,560 --> 00:04:56,680 to write, whether I have profited or not. That is the way. 51 00:04:57,720 --> 00:05:01,360 It was the way Keeps learned. And there never a finer temperament for literature 52 00:05:01,360 --> 00:05:06,519 than Keeps. It is the great point of these imitations that there still shines 53 00:05:06,560 --> 00:05:12,800 beyond the student's reach, his inimitable model. Let him try as he please. 54 00:05:13,120 --> 00:05:16,199 He is still sure of failure. And it is an old and very 55 00:05:16,279 --> 00:05:25,839 true saying that failure is the only high road to success. Form the reference 56 00:05:25,920 --> 00:05:30,639 book Habit. Do not be content with your general knowledge of a word press 57 00:05:30,720 --> 00:05:38,439 your study until you have mastered its individual shades of meaning and usage. Mere 58 00:05:38,519 --> 00:05:45,319 fluency is sure to become despicable, but accuracy never. The dictionary contains the 59 00:05:45,399 --> 00:05:51,079 crystallized usage of intellectual giants. No one who would write effectively dare despise its 60 00:05:51,079 --> 00:05:58,240 definitions and discriminations. Think, for example, are the different meanings of mantle, 61 00:05:58,720 --> 00:06:02,720 or model, or quantity. Any late edition of an unabridged dictionary is 62 00:06:02,759 --> 00:06:10,959 good and is worth making sacrifices to own. Books of synonyms and antonyms, 63 00:06:11,079 --> 00:06:15,720 used cautiously, for there are a few perfect synonyms in any language, will 64 00:06:15,759 --> 00:06:20,480 be found of great help. Consider the shades of meaning among such word groups 65 00:06:20,519 --> 00:06:29,000 as thief, peculator, defaulter, embezzler, burglar, yeggman, robber, 66 00:06:29,439 --> 00:06:34,560 bandit, marauder, pirate, and many more, while the distinctions among Hebrew, 67 00:06:34,959 --> 00:06:42,399 jew Israelite, and Semite. Remember that no book of synonyms is trustworthy 68 00:06:42,480 --> 00:06:48,000 unless used with a dictionary. A thesaurus of the English Language by doctor Francis 69 00:06:48,040 --> 00:06:55,040 A. March is expensive, but full and authoritative. Of smaller books of 70 00:06:55,079 --> 00:07:00,879 synonyms and antonyms there are plenty. A footnote a book of synonyms and antonyms 71 00:07:00,920 --> 00:07:06,240 is in preparation for this series. The Writer's Library Study the Connectives of English 72 00:07:06,279 --> 00:07:14,480 Speech. Fernard's book on this title is a mine of gems, unsuspected pitfalls, 73 00:07:14,600 --> 00:07:19,360 line the loose use of and or for while, and a score of 74 00:07:19,399 --> 00:07:28,319 tricky little connectives word derivations of rich and suggestiveness. Our English throws so much 75 00:07:28,360 --> 00:07:32,879 to foreign tongues and has changed so much with the centuries that whole addresses may 76 00:07:32,920 --> 00:07:38,600 grow out of a single root idea hidden away in an ancient word origin. 77 00:07:39,600 --> 00:07:46,319 Translation also is excellent exercise in word mastery and consorts well with the study of 78 00:07:46,399 --> 00:07:53,680 derivations. Phrase books that show the origins of familiar expressions will surprise most of 79 00:07:53,800 --> 00:08:01,079 us by showing how carelessly everyday's speech is used. Brewers Addictionary of Phrase and 80 00:08:01,279 --> 00:08:07,480 Fable, Edward's Word Facts and Phrases, and the Thorntons and American Glossary are 81 00:08:07,560 --> 00:08:13,800 all good the last and expensive work in three volumes. A prefix or a 82 00:08:13,879 --> 00:08:20,199 suffix mayes centrally change the force of the stem, as in Master four and 83 00:08:20,439 --> 00:08:31,040 Master Lee contempt a ball and contemptuous, envious and envy a ball. Thus, 84 00:08:31,079 --> 00:08:35,799 to study words in groups according to their stems, prefixes and suffixes is 85 00:08:35,799 --> 00:08:41,799 to gain a mastery over their shades of meaning and introduce us to other related 86 00:08:41,840 --> 00:08:46,480 words. Do not favor one set or kind of words more than another. 87 00:08:48,200 --> 00:08:52,360 Quote sixty years and more ago, Lord Brewham, addressing the students of the 88 00:08:52,480 --> 00:08:58,879 University of Glasgow, laid down the rule that the native Anglo Saxon part of 89 00:08:58,919 --> 00:09:03,519 our vocabulary was to be favored at the expent of that other part which has 90 00:09:03,559 --> 00:09:07,080 come from the Latin and Greek. The roar was an impossible one, and 91 00:09:07,240 --> 00:09:13,080 Lord Brewham himself never tried seriously to observe it, nor in truth as any 92 00:09:13,080 --> 00:09:18,399 great writer made the attempt. Not only is our language highly composite, but 93 00:09:18,480 --> 00:09:26,279 the component words have in the quince's phrase happily coalesced. It is easy to 94 00:09:26,440 --> 00:09:33,240 jest at words in osity and ation, as dictionary words and the like. 95 00:09:33,519 --> 00:09:39,360 But even Lord Brewham would have found it difficult to dispense with pomposity and imagination 96 00:09:39,919 --> 00:09:48,320 unquote footnote composition and rhetoric J. M. Hart. The short, vigorous 97 00:09:48,399 --> 00:09:54,440 Anglo Saxon will always be preferred for passages of special thrust and force, just 98 00:09:54,600 --> 00:10:00,720 as the Latin will continue to furnish us with flowing and smooth expressions to mingle. 99 00:10:00,799 --> 00:10:03,960 All sorts, however, will give variety, and that is most to 100 00:10:05,000 --> 00:10:11,600 be desired. Discuss words with those who know them. Since the language of 101 00:10:11,639 --> 00:10:16,960 the platform follows closely the diction of every day's speech, many useful words may 102 00:10:18,000 --> 00:10:22,840 be acquired in conversation with cultivated men, and when such discussion takes the form 103 00:10:22,879 --> 00:10:28,879 of disputation as to the meanings and usages of words, it will prove doubly 104 00:10:28,000 --> 00:10:37,080 valuable. The development of word power marches with the growth of individuality. Search 105 00:10:37,200 --> 00:10:43,600 faithfully for the right word. Books of reference are tripled in value when their 106 00:10:43,600 --> 00:10:48,000 owner has a passion for getting the kernels out of their shells. Ten minutes 107 00:10:48,039 --> 00:10:54,200 a day will do. Wonders for the nutcracker quote. I'm growing so peevish 108 00:10:54,200 --> 00:10:58,240 about my writing, says Flabet. I am like a man whose ear is 109 00:10:58,360 --> 00:11:05,159 true, but who plays falsely on the violin. His fingers refuse to reproduce 110 00:11:05,279 --> 00:11:11,000 precisely those sound of which he has the inward sense. Then the tears come 111 00:11:11,120 --> 00:11:15,960 rolling down from the poor scraper's eyes, and the bow falls from his hand. 112 00:11:16,559 --> 00:11:22,200 Unquote, the same brilliant frenchman sent the sound advice to his pupil Guidamo 113 00:11:22,320 --> 00:11:28,399 passon quote. Whatever may be the thing which one wishes to say, there 114 00:11:28,480 --> 00:11:31,759 is but one word for expressing it, only one verb to animate it, 115 00:11:33,080 --> 00:11:37,320 only one adjective to qualify it. It is essential to search for this word, 116 00:11:37,799 --> 00:11:43,240 for this verb, for this adjective, until they are discovered and to 117 00:11:43,279 --> 00:11:50,559 be satisfied with nothing else unquote what a savage lander once wrote, quote I 118 00:11:50,679 --> 00:11:56,200 hate false words and seek with care, difficulty, and moroseness those that fit 119 00:11:56,320 --> 00:12:01,639 the thing. Unquote. So did sentimental Tommy, as related by James M. 120 00:12:01,720 --> 00:12:07,559 Barry in his novel bearing his hero's name as a title, No Wonder 121 00:12:07,639 --> 00:12:13,799 t Sanders became an author and a lion. Tommy with another lad is writing 122 00:12:13,799 --> 00:12:20,639 an essay on a day in church in competition for a university's scholarship. He 123 00:12:20,679 --> 00:12:24,960 gets on finally, until he pauses for lack of a word. For nearly 124 00:12:26,000 --> 00:12:30,679 an hour, he searches for this elusive thing, until suddenly he is told 125 00:12:30,679 --> 00:12:35,279 that the allotted time is up and he has lost. Barry may tell the 126 00:12:35,360 --> 00:12:39,480 rest quote essay. It was no more an essay than a twig is a 127 00:12:39,600 --> 00:12:45,159 tree for the gaucherd stuck in the middle of his second page. Yes, 128 00:12:45,480 --> 00:12:50,120 stuck is the right expression, as his chagrined teacher had to admit when the 129 00:12:50,159 --> 00:12:54,480 boy was cross examined he had not been up to some of his tricks. 130 00:12:54,519 --> 00:13:00,759 He had stuck, and his explanations, as you will admit, merelyphasized his 131 00:13:00,919 --> 00:13:05,399 incapacity. He had brought himself to public scorn for lack of a word. 132 00:13:07,600 --> 00:13:11,000 What word, they asked testily, But even now he could not tell. 133 00:13:13,279 --> 00:13:16,600 He had wanted a Scotch word that would signify how many people were in church, 134 00:13:18,039 --> 00:13:20,679 and it was on the tip of his tongue, but would come no 135 00:13:20,840 --> 00:13:24,600 farther. Puckle was nearly the word, but it did not mean so many 136 00:13:24,639 --> 00:13:28,960 people as he meant. The hour had gone by, just like winking. 137 00:13:30,360 --> 00:13:33,320 He had forgotten all about time. Whilst searching his mind for the word. 138 00:13:35,519 --> 00:13:41,200 The other five examiners were furious, you little tatty Dooley. Cathro roared, 139 00:13:41,799 --> 00:13:45,240 whether not a dozen words to while from? If you had an ill will 140 00:13:45,320 --> 00:13:50,240 to puckle? What ailed you at mansie? Or I thought of mansie, 141 00:13:50,279 --> 00:13:56,039 replied Tommy woefully, for he was ashamed of himself. But but a mansie's 142 00:13:56,120 --> 00:14:01,039 a swarm. It would mean that the folk in the kirk were buzzing thegither 143 00:14:01,200 --> 00:14:05,399 like bees instead of sitting still. Even if it does mean that, said 144 00:14:05,440 --> 00:14:11,679 mister Duffy with impatience, what was the need of being so particular? Surely 145 00:14:11,720 --> 00:14:16,639 the art of essay writing consists in using the first word that comes and hurrying 146 00:14:16,679 --> 00:14:22,679 on That's how I did, said the proud McCloughlin, Tomy's second competitor. 147 00:14:24,559 --> 00:14:28,960 I see, interposed, mister Gloak, that McCloughlin speaks of there being a 148 00:14:30,080 --> 00:14:35,000 mask of people in the church. Mask is a fine Scotch word. I 149 00:14:35,159 --> 00:14:39,639 thought of mask, whimpered Tommy. But that would mean the kirk was crammed, 150 00:14:39,960 --> 00:14:45,720 and I just meant it to be middling. Four flow would have done, 151 00:14:45,759 --> 00:14:50,799 suggested mister Lonimer. Flows, but a handful, said Tommy Curen. 152 00:14:50,879 --> 00:14:58,799 Then you Jackanapes Curran's know enough. Mister Lorimer flung up his hands in despair. 153 00:15:00,000 --> 00:15:03,759 I wanted something between Karen and mask, said Tommy, doggedly, yet 154 00:15:03,759 --> 00:15:09,879 almost at the crying mister Ogilvie, who had been hiding his admiration with difficulty, 155 00:15:11,200 --> 00:15:15,639 spread a net for him. You said you wanted a word that meant 156 00:15:15,759 --> 00:15:20,879 middling full. Well, why did you not say middling full or fell mask? 157 00:15:22,879 --> 00:15:26,279 Yes? Why not, demanded the ministers, unconsciously caught in the net. 158 00:15:28,440 --> 00:15:33,799 I wanted one word, replied Tommy, unconsciously avoiding it. You jewel, 159 00:15:35,600 --> 00:15:39,799 muttered mister Ogilvie under his breath. But mister Cathroe would have banged the 160 00:15:39,840 --> 00:15:43,559 boy's head had not. The ministers interfered. It is so easy too to 161 00:15:43,600 --> 00:15:48,799 find the right word, said mister Glogue. It's no, it's difficult as 162 00:15:48,799 --> 00:15:54,519 to hit a squirrel, cried Tommy. And again mister Ogilvie nodded approval. 163 00:15:54,519 --> 00:15:58,600 And then an odd thing happened. As they were preparing to leave the score, 164 00:16:00,320 --> 00:16:03,720 Catherine, having previously run Tommy up by the neck. The door opened 165 00:16:03,759 --> 00:16:07,799 a little, and there appeared in the aperture the face of Tommy, tear 166 00:16:07,960 --> 00:16:14,120 stained but excited. I ken the word now, he cried. It came 167 00:16:14,159 --> 00:16:18,519 to me at once. It is handel, mister Ogilvy said, in an 168 00:16:18,600 --> 00:16:22,519 ecstasy to himself. He had to think of it till he got it, 169 00:16:22,679 --> 00:16:29,879 And he got it. The Laddie is a genius. Unquote. Questions and 170 00:16:30,039 --> 00:16:38,279 exercises One, What is the derivation of the word vocabulary? Two briefly discussed 171 00:16:38,279 --> 00:16:45,360 any complete speech given in this volume with reference to a exactness, be variety 172 00:16:45,840 --> 00:16:52,440 and see charm in the use of words. Three give original examples of the 173 00:16:52,519 --> 00:16:57,159 kinds of words studies referred to on pages three, three seven and three three 174 00:16:57,240 --> 00:17:04,720 eight. Deliver a short talk on any subject using at least five words which 175 00:17:04,720 --> 00:17:11,240 have not been previously in your dynamic vocabulary. Five. Make a list of 176 00:17:11,240 --> 00:17:18,400 the unfamiliar words found in any address you may select. Six. Deliver a 177 00:17:18,480 --> 00:17:25,480 short extemporaneous speech giving your opinions on the merits and demerits of the use of 178 00:17:25,599 --> 00:17:32,200 unusual words in public speaking. Seven. Try to find an example of the 179 00:17:32,279 --> 00:17:37,559 overuse of unusual words in a speech. Eight have you used reference books in 180 00:17:37,599 --> 00:17:45,559 words studies? If so, state with what result. Nine Find as many 181 00:17:45,640 --> 00:17:52,200 synonyms and antonyms as possible for each of the following words excess, rare, 182 00:17:52,960 --> 00:18:02,039 severe, beautiful, clear, happy, difference, care, skillful, involved, 183 00:18:03,000 --> 00:18:10,759 enmity, prophet, absurd, evident, faint, friendly, harmony, 184 00:18:11,359 --> 00:18:17,240 hatred, honest, inherent. End of Section twenty seven.