VI
WORDS IN PAIRS
Our first task in this volume was the study of words in combination. Our second was the study of individual words in two of their aspects—first, as they are seen in isolation, next as they are seen in verbal families. Now our third task confronts us. It is the study of words as they are associated, not in actual blood kinship, but in meaning.
Such an association in meaning may involve only two words (pairs) or larger groups. In this chapter we shall confine ourselves to the study of pairs.
Of the relationship between pairs there are three types. In the first the words are hostile to each other. In the second they may easily be confused with each other. In the third they are parallel with each other. We shall examine the three types successively.
But we must make an explanation first. Although we shall, in this and the following chapters, have frequent occasion to give the meanings of individual words, we shall give them without regard to dictionary methods. We shall not attempt formal, water-tight, or exhaustive definitions; our purpose is to convey, in the simplest and most human manner possible, brief general explanations of what the words stand for.
<Opposites>
Pairs of the first type are made up of words by nature opposite to each other, or else thought of as opposite because they are so often contrasted. Here is a familiar, everyday list:
east, west straight, crooked myself, others large, small pretty, ugly major, minor laugh, cry walk, ride light, darkness top, bottom hard, soft friend, enemy sweet, sour clean, dirty temporal, spiritual meat, drink merry, sad means, extremes land, water private, public Jew, Gentile man, woman noisy, quiet independent, dependent old, new general, particular sublime, ridiculous age, youth wholesale, retail give, receive sick, well savage, civilized pride, humility brain, brawn wealth, poverty constructive, destructive soul, body positive, negative
None of these words needs explaining. If you think of one of them, you will think of its opposite; at least its opposite will be lurking in the back of your mind. As proof of this fact you have only to glance at the following list, from which the second member of each pair is omitted:
hot — black — boy — in — off — over — love — wrong — strong — wet — first — day — long — fast — good — hope — least — asleep — buy — left — alive — winter — war — succeed — creditor — fat — internal — wise — drunk —
Many words of a more difficult kind are thus pitted against each other, and we learn them, not singly, but in pairs. At least we should. As good verbal hunters we should be alert to the chance of killing two birds with one stone.
Allopath and homeopath, for example, are difficult opposites. We know of the existence of the two classes of medical practitioners; we know that they use different methods; but beyond this our knowledge is likely to be hazy. Let us set out, then, to learn the two words. The best way is to learn them together. Allopathy means other suffering, homeopathy like suffering. An allopath uses remedies which create within the patient a condition that squarely conflicts with the further progress of the disease. A homeopath prescribes medicines (in small doses) which produce within the patient the same condition that the disease would produce; he "beats the disease to it," so to speak—takes the job himself and leaves the disease nothing to do. The allopath travels around a race-track in the opposite direction from the disease, and thwarts it through a head-on collision. The homeopath travels around the race-track in the same direction as the disease, and thwarts it by pulling at the reins. If we consider the two words together and get these ideas in mind, we shall have no further trouble with allopaths and homeopaths—except, perhaps, when they have rendered their services and presented their bills.
Objective and subjective are also a troublesome pair. A thing is objective if it is an actual object or being, if it exists in itself rather than in our surmises. A thing is subjective if it is the creature of a state of mind, if it has its existence in the thought or imagination of some person or other. Thus if I meet a bear in the wilds, that bear is objective; whatever may be the state of my thoughts, he is there—and it would be to my advantage to reckon with this fact. But if a child who is sent off to bed alone says there is a bear in the room, the bear is subjective; it is not a living monster that will devour anybody, but a creature called into the mind of the child through dread.
EXERCISE - Opposites
Study the following words in pairs. Consult the dictionary for actual meanings. Then test your knowledge by embodying each word of each pair in a sentence, or in an illustration like those of the race-track and the bear in the preceding paragraphs.
superior, inferior concord, discord export, import domestic, foreign fact, fiction prose, poetry verbal, oral literal, figurative predecessor, successor genuine, artificial positive, negative practical, theoretical optimism, pessimism finite, infinite longitude, latitude evolution, revolution oriental, occidental pathos, bathos sacred, profane military, civil clergy, laity capital, labor ingress, egress element, compound horizontal, perpendicular competition, coöperation predestination, freewill universal, particular extrinsic, intrinsic inflation, deflation dorsal, ventral acid, alkali synonym, antonym prologue, epilogue nadir, zenith amateur, connoisseur anterior, posterior stoic, epicure ordinal, cardinal centripetal, centrifugal stalagmite, stalactite orthodox, heterodox homogeneous, heterogeneous monogamy, polygamy induction, deduction egoism, altruism Unitarian, Trinitarian concentric, eccentric herbivorous, carnivorous deciduous, perennial esoteric, exoteric endogen, exogen vertebrate, invertebrate catalectic, acatalectic
<Words Often Confused>
Pairs of the second type are made up of words which are often confused by careless writers and speakers, and which should be accurately discriminated.
Sometimes the words are actually akin to each other. Continuous- continual and enormity-enormousness are examples. Sometimes they merely look or sound much alike. Mean-demean and affect- effect are examples. Sometimes the things they designate are more or less related, so that the ideas behind the words rather than the words themselves are responsible for the confusion. Contagious-infectious and knowledge-wisdom are examples. Let us distinguish between the two members of each of the pairs named.
A thing is continuous if it suffers no interruption whatever, continual if it is broken at regular intervals but as regularly renewed. Thus "a continuous stretch of forest"; "the continual drip of water from the eaves."
Enormity pertains to the moral and sometimes the social, enormousness to the physical. Thus "the enormity of the crime," "the enormity of this social offense"; "the enormousness of prehistoric animals."
Demean is often used reproachfully because of its supposed relation to mean. But it has nothing to do with mean. The word with which to connect it is demeanor (conduct). Thus "We observed how he demeaned himself" implies no adverse criticism of either the man or his deportment. Both may be debased to be sure, but they may be exemplary.
To affect means to feign or to have an influence upon, to effect to bring to pass. Thus "He affects a fondness for classical music," "The little orphan's story affected those who heard it"; "We effected a compromise." Affect is never properly used as a noun. Effect as a noun means result, consequence, or practical operation. Thus "The shot took instant effect"; "He put this idea into effect."
A disease is contagious when the only way to catch it is through direct contact with a person already having it, or through contact with articles such a person has used. A disease is infectious when it is presumably caused, not by contact with a person, but through widespread general conditions, as of climate or sanitation.
Our knowledge is our acquaintance with a fact, or the sum total of our information. Our wisdom is our intellectual and spiritual discernment, to which our knowledge is one of the contributors. Knowledge comprises the materials; wisdom the ability to use them to practical advantage and to worthy or noble purpose. Knowledge is mental possession; wisdom is mental and moral power.
EXERCISE - Confused
1. Consult the dictionary for the distinction between the members of each of the following pairs. In each blank of the illustrative sentences insert the word appropriate in meaning.
<Ability, capacity.> ____ to receive knowledge. ____ to impart knowledge.
<Abstain, refrain.> He ____ from laughter. He steadfastly ____ from evil courses.
<Abstinence, temperance.> Though he always displayed ____, he did not carry it to the point of ____.
<Accept, except.> I shall ____ most of the suggestions, but must ____ the one made by Mr. Wheeler.
<Accept, receive>. When the package was ____ at the local post office, Bayard refused to ____ it.
<Ache, pain>. The dull ____ of his head. A sharp ____ below shoulder-blade. I have known the ____ of cold hands. "My heart ____, and a drowsy numbness ____ My sense, as though of hemlock I had drunk."
<Address, tact>. With firmness and ____ he set about reconciling the factions. Her ____ enabled her to perceive that something was amiss.
<Adhere, cohere>. The magnetized iron filings ____. The cold iron ____ to the boy's tongue.
<Adherence, adhesion>. The ____ of the heated particles to each other was instantaneous. Amid these trials their ____ to the cause was unshaken.
<Admission, admittance>. His ____ to the room was forced. He obtained ____ into a fraternal order.
<Admit, confess>. When he ____ that he had a weapon, he practically ____ that he had slain the man.
<Adverse, averse>. He was ____ to going. Their answer was ____.
<Advice, counsel>. In this emergency he sought ____. He asked my ____ as to the best place to hang the picture.
<Aggravate, irritate>. To let these mishaps ____ you is to ____ your suffering.
<Allusion, illusion>. It is an ____ to suppose that I made any ____ to you.
<Allusion, reference>. It was more than a possible ____; it was an unmistakable ____.
<Amateur, novice>. Though we call him a(n) ____, he is in skill by no means the ____ you might think him.
<Ambiguous, equivocal>. You are unintentionally ____. These words are deliberately ____.
<Anticipate, expect>. Since we ____ the enemy to advance, would it not be wise to ____ him?
<Appearance, aspect>. He was handsome in ____. The ____ of the sky was ominous.
<Apprehend, comprehend>. "Lovers and madmen have such seething brains, Such shaping fantasies, that ____ More than cool reason ever ____."
<Ardor, fervor>. The ____ of the worshipers. The ____ of the soldiers.
<Artist, artisan>. The ____ who was decorating the walls called to an ____ who was mixing mortar.
<Ascent, ascension>. We easily made the ____ of the slope, and from the summit witnessed the balloon ____.
<Ascent, assent.> He gave his ____ when I proposed that we wait for the others to complete the ____ to this point.
<Ascribe, impute.> I ____ it to you as a fault rather than ____ it to you as an honor.
<Assembly, assemblage.> It was an informal ____. The ____ considered the matters it had been called to discuss.
<Assent, consent.> When told that the measure would advance his interests, he ____; but he would not ____ to it.
<Avenge, revenge.> The injury was slight, but he ____ it with unsparing malice. "____, O Lord, thy slaughtered saints."
<Avocation, vocation.> The lawyer, besides his regular ____, had the collecting of birds' eggs as his ____.
<Aware, conscious.> Though not ____ of the seriousness of his malady, he was ____ of the pain it caused him.
<Balance, remainder.> Darrell added the ____ of the coins, but not even they brought about the ____ he sought between assets and obligations.
<Bashful, modest.> Though ____ socially, he was not what you would term a ____ man.
<Behavior, conduct.> His ____ in this time of trial was exemplary. She praised the ____ of the children at the party.
<Belief, faith.> He possibly had ____, but not an active ____.
<Benignant, benign.> Her social manner was ____. The ____ influence of sunlight.
<Beside, besides.> ____ his personal friends, many people he had not even met stood ____ his sickbed.
<Blanch, whiten.> At this threat the face of the heroine ____. With a pail of cheap paint he ____ the dingy wall.
<Blessing, benediction.> After telling his parishioners to be mindful of their ____, the clergyman pronounced the ____.
<Blockade, siege.> Daily attacks on exposed redoubts marked the progress of the ____. The fleet lay there in silent ____ of the port.
<Bravery, bravado.> The incident proved that his ____ was not founded in real ____.
<Bring, fetch.> When you come, ____ the official documents with you. ____ me the scales you will find in the granary yonder.
<Broad, wide.> A man with ____ shoulders stood in the ____, open doorway.
<Bury, inter.> After they had solemnly ____ their comrade, they ____ the treasure. They also ____ their comrade's dog.
2. Consult the dictionary for the distinction between the members of each of the following pairs. Determine whether the words are correctly used in the illustrative sentences. (Some are; some are not.)
<Can, may.> Can I stay at home this afternoon, papa? Because of the floods, the train beyond doubt may not get through.
<Character, reputation.> His character among them was very good. A man's reputation can never be taken from him.
<Childish, childlike.> Your conduct is peevish; it is childishly so. Her innocence was childlike.
<Cite, quote.> He was always citing snatches of Tennyson. We might quote Hamlet's soliloquy on suicide as an example of Shakespeare's ability to go to the heart of deep questions.
<Claim, assert.> He claimed that Jefferson was our third President. He asserted that bears sleep through the winter.
<Clothing, costume.> At the masquerade ball we each wore special clothing. The mariner who had swum from the wreck to the desert shore had not a shred of costume.
<Comfort, ease.> Comfort after labor. The ease of owning a home.
<Commercial, mercantile.> Petty commercial transactions. A mercantile treaty.
<Common, mutual.> This pavilion was the common play-house for the children of the neighborhood. Ward and Aker held this property as their mutual possession.
<Complement, compliment.> This addition is the complement of our quota. He paid his dancing partner a compliment.
<Complement, supplement.> His downrightness is the complement of his uprightness. As a supplement to his wages he received an occasional bonus.
<Complete, finish.> He put in the completing touches. He had finished the task.
<Composure, equanimity.> His composure was not to be shaken. After this inner tumult came equanimity.
<Comprehensible, comprehensive.> Numbers of such magnitude are scarcely comprehensible. That men by the million should die for a cause is a thing not really comprehensive.
<Compulsion, obligation.> Who does not feel within him a compulsion to help the weak? It was through obligation, through having slave-drivers stand over them, that these wretched folk built the pyramids.
<Congratulate, felicitate.> I congratulated my friend on his appointment to the commission. I also felicitated the stranger on his appointment.
<Consecutive, successive.> Three consecutive convictions proved the ability of the prosecuting attorney. The quiet passing of successive summer days.
<Contemptible, contemptuous.> Its size was insignificant, even contemptible. He won the prize by a contemptuous trick.
<Continuation, continuance.> The investigator was surprised to find the tradition of such long continuation. We waited impatiently for the continuance of the story in the next issue.
<Corporal, corporeal.> I am more and more amazed at the perfection of man's corporal frame. His corporeal vigor was unusual.
<Correct, rectify.> A man may correct many of his false judgments on current affairs by studying history. The mistake is ours; it shall be rectified.
<Cozy, snug.> The cozy fit of a garment. A snug place by the fire.
<Crawl, creep.> We crawled forward at dawn to surprise their outposts. In his humility he fairly crept on the earth.
<Credible, creditable.> I do not doubt it; it is entirely credible. The success of the antidote seemed scarcely creditable.
<Credit, accredit.> Though he is the official and credited ambassador, his assertions are not accredited.
<Cure, heal.> I cured the dog's wounds. The physician declared he could heal leprosy.
<Custom, habit.> "A custom more honor'd in the breach than the observance." Is it your custom to watch the clock while you eat? The habit in that region was to rise at cockcrow.
<Decided, decisive.> A decided battle. A decisive fault in manners.
<Definite, definitive.> We still await a definite edition of this author's works. His answer was so definitive that we no longer doubted what he meant.
<Demesne, domain.> Clive added India to the British demesne. The king went riding through his personal domain.
<Deprecate, depreciate.> The German mark has deprecated in value. He depreciated the praise they were lavishing upon him.
<Descent, dissent.> They tied themselves together with a rope in order to make their dissent safer. The dissent to a lower plane of conversation was what he most desired.
<Discovery, invention.> The discovery of the wireless telegraph is Marconi's chief claim to remembrance. The invention of a water passage between Tierra del Fuego and the mainland was the work of Magellan.
<Discriminate, distinguish.> He could not discriminate individuals at that distance. Any man can distinguish right from wrong.
<Disinterested, uninterested.> His course was entirely generous and disinterested. Most visitors to art galleries have an uninterested manner.
<Disposal, disposition.> This disposal of the matter is authoritative, final. His disposition of his forces was well-considered.
<Dissatisfied, discontented.> Though the colonists were dissatisfied for the moment, they could hardly be called discontented.
<Distinct, distinctive.> The distinct quality of his character was aggressiveness. There were four separate and distinctive calls.
<Dramatic, theatrical.> An affected, dramatic manner. A truly theatrical situation.
<Dry, arid.> A dry plain. An arid place to sleep in.
<Dumb, mute.> The man stood dumb with surprise. Always be kind to mute animals.
<Durable, lasting.> Our joy is durable. Oak is a lasting wood.
3. Consult the dictionary for the distinction between the members of each of the following pairs. Frame sentences to illustrate the correct use of the words. (Some of the words in this list, as well as some in other parts of the chapter, are considered in larger groups in the chapters following.)
earth, world efficiency, efficacy egoism, egotism eldest, oldest elemental, elementary elude, evade emigrate, immigrate enough, sufficient envy, jealousy equable, equitable equal, equivalent essential, necessary esteem, respect euphemism, euphuism evidence, proof exact, precise exchange, interchange excuse, pardon exempt, immune expect, suppose expedite, facilitate
facsimile, copy familiar, intimate fancy, imagination farther, further feeling, sentiment feminine, effeminate fervent, fervid fewer, less fluid, liquid first (or last) two, two first (or last) food, feed foreign, alien force, strength forgive, pardon
gayety, cheerfulness genius, talent gentle, tame genuine, authentic glance, glimpse grateful, thankful grieve, mourn
hanged, hung happen, transpire happiness, pleasure healthy, healthful hear, listen heathen, pagan honorable, honorary horrible, horrid human, humane
illegible, unreadable image, effigy imaginary, imaginative impending, approaching imperious, imperial imply, infer in, into inability, disability ingenious, ingenuous intelligent, intellectual insinuation, innuendo instinct, intuition involve, implicate irony, sarcasm irretrievable, irreparable
judicious, judicial just, equitable justify, warrant
lack, want languor, lassitude later, latter lawful, legal lax, slack leave, let lend, loan liable, likely libel, slander lie, lay like, love linger, loiter look, see loose, lose luxurious, luxuriant
majority, plurality marine, maritime martial, military moderate, temperate mood, humor moral, ethical moral, religious mutual, reciprocal myth, legend
natal, native nautical, naval near, close necessaries, necessities needy, needful noted, notorious novice, tyro
observance, observation observe, perceive obsolete, archaic omnipresent, ubiquitous on, upon oppose, resist opposite, contrary oppress, depress
palliate, extenuate passionate, impassioned pathos, pity patron, customer peculiar, unusual perspicuity, perspicacity permeate, pervade permit, allow perseverance, persistence pertain, appertain pictorial, picturesque pitiable, pitiful pity, sympathy pleasant, pleasing politician, statesman practicable, practical precipitous, precipitate precision, preciseness prejudice, bias prelude, overture pride, vanity principal, principle process, procedure procure, secure professor, teacher progress, progression propitious, auspicious proposal, proposition tradition, legend truth, veracity
quiet, quiescent
raise, rear raise, rise ransom, redeem rare, scarce reason, understanding reasonable, rational recollect, remember regal, royal reliable, trustworthy requirement, requisite restive, restless reverse, inverse ride, drive rime (or rhyme), rhythm
sacred, holy salutation, salute scanty, sparse scholar, student science, art scrupulous, conscientious serf, slave shift, expedient sick, ill silent, taciturn sit, set skilled, skilful slender, slim smart, clever sociable, social solicitude, anxiety stay, stop stimulus, stimulation strut, swagger suppress, repress
termination, terminus theory, hypothesis tolerate, permit torment, torture tradition, legend truth, veracity
unbelief, disbelief unique, unusual
varied, various variety, diversity venal, venial vengeance, revenge verse, stanza vindictive, revengeful visit, visitation visitant, visitor
wander, stray warn, caution will, volition wit, humor witness, see womanish, womanlike worth, value
<Parallels>
Pairs of the third type are made up of words parallel in meaning. This class somewhat overlaps the second; many terms that are frequently confused are parallels, and parallelism is of course a cause of confusion.
Parallels are words that show likeness in meaning. Likeness, not sameness. Yet at one time actual sameness may have existed, and in many instances did. Nowadays this sameness has been lost, and the words have become differentiated. As a rule they still are closely related in thought; sometimes, however, the divergence between them is wide.
Why did words having the same meaning find lodgment in the language in the first place? The law of linguistic economy forbids any such happening, and only through sheer good fortune did English come to possess duplications. The original Anglo-Saxon did not contain them. But the Roman Catholic clergy brought to England the language of religion and of scholarship, Latin. Later the Normans, whose speech as a branch of French was an offshoot of Latin, came to the island as conquerors. For a time, therefore, three languages existed side by side in the country—Anglo- Saxon among the common folk, Latin among the clergy, and Norman-French at the court and among the nobility. The coalescing of the three (or of the two if we count Latin in its direct and indirect contributions as one) was inevitable. But other (mostly cognate) languages also had a part in the speech that was ultimately evolved. The Anglo-Saxon element was augmented by words from Dutch, Scandinavian, and the Germanic tongues in general; and Latin was reinforced by Greek. Thus to imply, as is sometimes done, that modern English is simply a blend of Anglo-Saxon and Latin elements is misleading. Native and classic are the better terms to use, provided both are used broadly. Native must include not only Anglo-Saxon but the other Germanic elements as well, and classic must include French and Greek as well as Latin.
The welding of these languages made available two—in some instances more than two—words for a single object or idea. What became of these duplicates? Sometimes one of the words was dropped as needless. Oftentimes, however, both were retained—with such modifications in meaning that thereafter they designated, not the same object or idea, but different forms or aspects of it. Thus they became parallels, and the new language waxed rich with discriminations which neither of the component tongues had possessed.