Synonymy

“ In the strictest sense, synonymous words scarcely exist; rarely, if ever, are any two words in any language equivalent or identical in meaning; where a difference in meaning can not easily be shown, a difference in usage commonly exists, so that the words are not interchangeable. By synonymous words (or synonyms) we usually understand words that coincide or nearly coincide in some part of their meaning, and may hence within certain limits be used interchangeably, while outside of those limits they may differ very greatly in meaning and use. ”

“ Verb, “I know very well that when people want to name a thing they must use a noun. But do you suppose that when they have simply named a thing they have made a sentence? Not a bit of it. To make a sentence you must tell something about the thing that you have named; you must say whether it is or has or does anything, as: ‘Ice is cold,’ ‘Puss has a tail,’ ‘Blackbirds sing.’ Is, has, sing, are verbs, and so are all words that speak of being, having, or doing, and without some such word you cannot make a sentence.” ”

“ To parse a noun is to state the class to which it belongs, its gender, number, case, and its grammatical relation to other words in the sentence.
The changes in meaning and use which nouns undergo with or without a change in form, are called their inflections.
The inflections of the noun are number and case.
EXERCISE.
Parse all the nouns in the following sentences:—
Model.—John, a proper, concrete noun; masculine gender; singular number; nominative case, subject of lost.
Teacher’s, a common, concrete noun; masculine or feminine gender; singular number; possessive case, possessing book. ”

“ It is the office of a work on synonyms to point out these correspondences and differences, that language may have the flexibility that comes from freedom of selection within the common limits, with the perspicuity and precision that result from exact choice of the fittest words to express each shade of meaning outside of the common limits. To consider synonymous words identical is fatal to accuracy; to forget that they are similar, to some extent equivalent, and sometimes interchangeable, is destructive of freedom and variety. ”

“ A compound subject or predicate consists of two or more simple subjects or predicates, joined, when necessary, by conjunctions.
Either the subject or the predicate, or both, may be compound.
The Parts of Speech
9. In accordance with their use in the sentence, words are divided into eight classes called parts of speech,—namely, nouns, pronouns, adjectives, verbs, adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions, and interjections.
(1) A noun is the name of a person, place, or thing.
(2) A pronoun is a word used instead of a noun. It designates a person, place, or thing without naming it. ”

“ Or with a reversed fortune a word lives on as a noun, but has perished as a verb—thus as a noun substantive, a ‘slug’, but no longer ‘to slug’ or render slothful; a ‘child’, but no longer ‘to child’, (“childing autumn”, Shakespeare) ; a ‘rape’, but not ‘to rape’ (South) ; a ‘rogue’, but not ‘to rogue’; ‘malice’, but not ‘to malice’; a ‘path’, but not ‘to path’; or as a noun adjective, ‘serene’, but not ‘to serene’, a beautiful word, which we have let go, as the French have ‘sereiner’ [151] ; ‘meek’, [136] but not ‘to meek’ (Wiclif) ; ‘fond’, but not ‘to fond’ (Dryden) ”

“ Reasonable questions should be encouraged, but the class should not be allowed to become a debating society. The meaning of English words is not a matter of conjecture, and all disputed points should be promptly referred to the dictionary—usually to be looked up after the recitation, and considered, if need be, at the next recitation. The majority of them will not need to be referred to again, as the difficulties will simply represent an inferior usage which the dictionary will brush aside. One great advantage of synonym study is to exterminate colloquialisms. ”

“ Throughout this book synonyms means words that are similar in meaning or which express the same general idea with shades of difference. Those who use this work should bear in mind that all words that are classified as synonyms cannot be used interchangeably; that there are differences in meaning between them; and that, before using an unfamiliar word, they should ascertain its meaning and usage in a dictionary. Antonyms are words that are opposed to another word in meaning. Such words are helpful when it is desired to express contrasted or conflicting ideas or thoughts. ”

“ When the article the precedes the word number, used as a subject, the verb should be in the singular; otherwise the verb is plural: [The number of pupils in our schools is on the increase. A number of children have been playing in the sand pile] .
6. The pronoun you always takes a plural verb, even if its meaning is singular: [You were here yesterday] .
7. A collective noun takes a singular or plural verb, according as the collection is thought of as a whole or as composed of individuals.
+59. Tense.+—The power of the verb to show differences of time is called tense. ”

“ CHAPTER VI VERBS § 72. The MHG. verb has the following independent forms:—one voice (active) , two numbers, three persons, two tenses (present and preterite) , two complete moods (indicative and subjunctive, the latter originally the optative) , besides an imperative which is only used in the present tense; two verbal nouns (the present infinitive, and the gerund, generally called the inflected infinitive) , a present participle with active meaning, and one verbal adjective (the past participle) . ”

“ Nouns, pronouns, or groups of words that are used as nouns or pronouns, are called by the general term, Substantives.
3. Adjective; a word used to limit or qualify the meaning of a noun or a pronoun; as, good, five, tall, many.
The words a, an, and the are words used to modify nouns or pronouns. They are adjectives, but are usually called Articles.
4. Verb; a word used to state something about some person or thing; as, do, see, think, make.
5. Adverb; a word used to modify the meaning of a verb, an adjective, or another adverb; as, very, slowly, clearly, often.
6. Preposition ”

“ So darkness, which in English appears to have no plural, is expressed in Latin by tenebræ, in French by ténèbres, which have no singular. It is necessary that every noun should be understood to be of one number or the other; for, in connecting it with a verb, or in supplying its place by a pronoun, we must assume it to be either singular or plural. ”

“ In Chapter VIII you were given lists of synonyms and made the distinctions yourself. Near the close of Chapter VIII you were given words and discovered for yourself what their synonyms are. This third stage might seem to reveal to you the full joys and benefits of your researches in this subject. Certainly to find a new word for an old one is an exhilarating sort of mental travel. And to find a new word which expresses exactly what an old one expressed but approximately is a real acquisition in living. But you are not yet a perfectly trained hunter of synonyms. ”

“ Excepting those who have made a thorough study of language most persons will discover with surprise how difficult it is to answer any set of the Questions or to fill the blanks in the Examples without referring to the synonym treatment in Part I., or to a dictionary, and how rarely they can give any intelligent reason for preference even among familiar words. ”

“ One main office of a book of synonyms is to reveal to such persons the unsuspected riches of their own language; and when a series of words is given them, from which they may choose, then, with intelligent choice of words there comes of necessity a clearer perception of the difference of the ideas that are to be expressed by those different words. ”

“ Then if on occasion hindered by perpetual business you had no time to compose a speech, did you not fortify yourself with certain hurried yet valuable recreations in the way of study, by collecting synonyms, at times by searching out remarkable words? so as to turn the periods of old writers and their clauses by the system of synonyms [8] ; to render refined what was vulgar, and fresh what was soiled, fit in some image, throw in a figure, embellish with a good old word, add a patina of age. ”

“ Special instruction in the use of synonyms is necessary, for the reason that few students possess the analytical power and habit of mind required to hold a succession of separate definitions in thought at once, compare them with each other, and determine just where and how they part company; and the persons least able to do this are the very ones most in need of the information. The distinctions between words similar in meaning are often so fine and elusive as to tax the ingenuity of the accomplished scholar ”

“ Turn back to Lists A, B, C, D, E, and F. Discriminate between the members of each pair contained in these lists. Frame sentences to illustrate the correct use of the words.
VII SYNONYMS IN LARGER GROUPS (1) In considering pairs we have, without using the word, been studying synonyms. For most pairs are synonyms (or in some instances antonyms) that hunt in couples. We must now deal with synonyms, and incidentally antonyms, as they associate themselves in larger groups.
A vocabulary is impoverished. Why? Nine times in ten, because of a disregard of synonyms. ”

“ The principle of proceeding from the known to the unknown may be applied to synonyms in various ways. Two of these—the two of most importance—we must consider here.
First, you should reckon with your personal, demonstrated needs. Just as you have already analyzed your working vocabulary for its general limits and shortcomings, so should you analyze it with particular reference to your poverty in synonyms. Watch your actual speech; make a list of the words—nouns, verbs, and adjectives particularly—that you employ again and again. ”

“ A verb that is regularly intransitive sometimes takes as object a noun whose meaning closely resembles its own.
A noun in this construction is called the cognate object of the verb and is in the objective case (p. 52) .
13. A noun, or a group of words consisting of a noun and its modifiers, may be used adverbially. Such a noun is called an adverbial objective (p. 53) .
14. An appositive is in the same case as the substantive which it limits (p. 42) .
15. A pronoun must agree with its antecedent in gender, number, and person (p. 55) . ”

“ And in order that the reader may find quickly what he seeks, whenever the first or second letter of a word is changed, we shall mark it with azure blue.' His preface ends with an appeal. 'This arrangement I have worked out with great labour; yet not I, but the grace of God with me. I entreat you therefore, reader, do not contemn my work as something rude and barbarous.'
The most striking feature of the dictionary is its etymology. Almost every word is supplied with a derivation, often very far-fetched. ”

“ Difficulties connected with Vocabulary are considered first. The student is introduced, almost at once, to Synonyms. He is taught how to define a word, with and without the aid of its synonyms. He is shown how to eliminate from a word whatever is not essential to its meaning. The processes of Definition and Elimination are carefully explained: a system or scheme is laid down which he can exactly follow ”

“ A true discussion of synonyms is definition by comparison, and for this there must be something definite with which to compare. When the standard is settled, approximation or differentiation can be determined with clearness and certainty. It is not enough to tell something about each word. ”

“ The acknowledged doctrine of all the teachers of English grammar, that the inflection of our auxiliaries and preterits by st or est is peculiar to "the solemn style," leaves us no other alternative, than either to grant the propriety of here dropping the suffix for the familiar style, or to rob our language of any familiar use of the pronoun thou forever. ”

“ Thus, in general use term is more restricted than word, expression, or phrase; a term is a word that limits meaning to a fixed point of statement or to a special class of subjects, as when we speak of the definition of terms, that is of the key-words in any discussion ”

“ To parse a verb is to state its class, its conjugation, its voice, its mode, its tense, its person, and number, and its subject.
Model.—The boys have broken the window.
Have broken, a verb, transitive; strong conjugation (break, broke, broken) ; active voice; indicative mode; present perfect tense, third person; plural number, agreeing with its subject boys.
Model.—If they help my friend I shall be glad.
Help, a verb, transitive; weak conjugation (help, helped, helped) ; active voice; subjunctive mode; present tense; third person; plural number, agreeing with its subject they. ”

“ Cull, from the Latin colligere, commonly means to collect, as well as to select. In a garden we cull the choicest flowers.
Antonyms: Prepositions:
Choose from or from among the number; choose out of the [105] army; choose between (or betwixt) two; among many; choose for the purpose.
CIRCUMLOCUTION. Synonyms:
Circumlocution and periphrasis are roundabout ways of expressing thought; circumlocution is the more common, periphrasis the more technical word. Constant circumlocution produces an affected and heavy style; occasionally, skilful periphrasis conduces both to beauty and to simplicity. ”

“ Take song and die. First, find all the satisfactory synonyms you can for yourself. Then if possible improve your list by studying the list under the corresponding word in Exercise A. Finally, compare your revised list with the one in Exercise C.
EXERCISE C After three introductory groups (dealing with thoroughly concrete ideas and words) the synonyms in this exercise are arranged alphabetically according to the first word in each group.
Discriminate the words in each group, and fill each blank in the illustrative sentences with the word that conveys the meaning exactly. ”