rocities, should be avoided as a plague.

Consistent, persistent, insistent word-study is of inestimable value
to a speaker. And since all people speak, it follows that it would
benefit everybody.

EXERCISES

1. Explain what is meant by each entry in the foregoing list.

2. List some verbal curiosities you have met recently. Examples: "Mr.
Have-it-your-own-way is the best husband." "He shows a great deal of
stick-to-it-iveness."

3. What should be the only condition for using foreign expressions?
Can you show how foreign words become naturalized? Cite some foreign
words used in speech.

4. Are archaic (old-fashioned), obsolete (discarded), and obsolescent
(rapidly disappearing) terms more common in speech or books? Explain
and illustrate.

Synonyms. As has already been suggested, a copious vocabulary must not
be idle in a person's equipment. He must be able to use it. He must be
able to discriminate as to meaning. This power of choosing the exact
word results from a study of synonyms. It is a fact that no two words
mean _exactly_ the same thing. No matter how nearly alike the two
meanings may appear to be, closer consideration will unfailingly show
at least a slight difference of dignity, if nothing more--as _red_ and
_crimson_, _pure_ and _unspotted_. Synonyms, then, are groups of words
whose meanings are almost the same. These are the words which give so
much trouble to learners of our language. A foreigner is told that
_stupid_ means _dull_, yet he is corrected if he says _a stupid
knife_. Many who learn English as a native tongue fail to comprehend
the many delicate shades of differences among synonyms.

In this matter, also, a dictionary goes so far as to list synonyms,
and in some cases, actually adds a discussion to define the various
limits. For fuller, more careful discrimination a good book of
synonyms should be consulted. Except for some general consideration of
words which everyone is certain to use or misuse, it is better to
consult a treatise on synonyms when need arises than to study it
consecutively. In consultation the material will be fixed by instant
use. In study it may fade before being employed; it may never be
required.

The subjoined paragraphs show entries in two different volumes upon
synonyms:

Adjacent, adjoining, contiguous. Adjacent, in Latin,
_adjiciens_, participle of _adjicio_, is compounded of _ad_
and _jacio_, to lie near. _Adjoining_, as the word implies,