misuse or needless repetition. Instead of overdoing nice and lovely as applied to persons, give a chance to agreeable, amiable, attractive, charming, delightful, engaging, entertaining, good-natured, gracious, kind, kind-hearted, lovable, magnetic, pleasant, pleasing, sweet, sweet-spirited, sweet-tempered, unselfish, winning, winsome. For substitutes for awful and horrid, read the following paragraph:1 Awful should not be used of things which are merely disagreeable or annoying, nor of all that are alarming and terrible, but only of such as bring a solemn awe upon the soul, as in the presence of a superior power; as, the awful hush before the battle. That which is awful arouses an oppressive reverence, that which is august an admiring reverence; we speak of the august presence of a mighty monarch, the awful presence of death. We speak of an exalted station, a grand mountain, an imposing presence, a majestic cathedral, a noble mien, a solemn litany, a stately monarch, an august assembly, the awful scene of the Judgment Day. The Century Dictionary speaks of " an awful sight, a dreadful disaster, a fearful leap, a frightful chasm." QUESTIONS 1. What are the three kinds of adjectives? 5. Which adjectives require the use of more for the comparative and most for the superlative? 6. What is the caution about each? 1 From Fernald's English Synonyms, Antonyms, and Prepositions. EXERCISES I Insert an adjective or an adverb in each of the following blanks; give a reason for your choice: 1. This apple tastes 2. Violets smell 3. The struggle for existence weighs on all alike. 4. Your dress sits on you. 5. A man always feels after doing an unselfish act. 6. The air feels-to-day. II Tell what adjectives you would use in describing: 1. an ideal face for a woman 2. an ideal character for a man 3. an ideal soldier 4. your favorite book III Note the accuracy and appropriateness of the adjectives in these selections. In the first, Macaulay is describing the character of William of Orange; in the second, a writer in the New York Times is commending the good work of the Boy Scouts of America : It was remarked that his spirits were never so high and his manners never so gracious and easy as amidst the tumult and carnage of a battle. Even in his pastimes he liked the excitement of danger. Cards, chess, and billiards gave him no pleasure. The chase was his favorite recreation; and he loved it most when it was most hazardous. His leaps were sometimes such that his boldest companions did not like to follow him. He seemed to have thought the most hardy field sports of England effeminate, and to have pined in the great park of Windsor for the game which he had been used to drive to bay in the forests of Guelders, wolves, and wild boars, and huge stags with sixteen antlers. The audacity of his spirit was the more remarkable because his physical organization was unusually delicate. From a child he had been weak and sickly. In the prime of manhood his complaints had been aggravated by a severe attack of smallpox. He was asthmatic and consumptive. His slender frame was shaken by a constant hoarse cough. He could not sleep unless his head was propped by several pillows, and could scarcely draw his breath in any but the purest air. Cruel headaches frequently tortured him. Exertion soon fatigued him. The physicians constantly kept up the hopes of his enemies by fixing some date beyond which, if there were anything certain in medical science, it was impossible that his broken constitution could hold out. Yet, through a life which was one long disease, the force of his mind never failed, on any occasion, to bear up his suffering and languid body. - MACAULAY: History of England. A clean, healthy, sane influence is diffused by the Boy Scouts of America, and it ought to be the pride of every family to have a son enrolled among them. Though they are a civic organization they are trained in the qualities, physical, mental, and spiritual, that make stout-hearted and faithful soldiers. As it is the creed of the Boy Scouts to be honest and fearless, lovers of clean sport, adepts in woodcraft, prompt to aid and quick to act, always dependable and ever loyal, there can be no better soldiers. And the finest citizenship flowers from the seed of their endeavor. They have an esprit de corps that qualifies them for the most urgent civic service. A good Boy Scout cannot be a slack and indifferent citizen. There can be no appeal for service to which the Boy Scouts do not respond as a unit. They rally for a good cause with an enthusiasm delightful to see. They have the faith that moves mountains. It is not necessary to tell again the story of what they did here at home during the war in the Liberty Loan and War Savings Stamps campaigns, and how they helped the Red Cross, the Knights of Columbus, the Salvation Army, and the United War Work Committee. Can any one have forgotten their volunteer emergency duty during the influenza epidemic in all parts of the country? Simply, but very impressively, President Wilson said in his recent proclamation reminding his countrymen of Boy Scout Week: "They have not only demonstrated their worth to the nation, but have also materially contributed to a deeper appreciation by the American people of the higher conception of patriotism and good citizenship." It is because the Boy Scouts of America do big things in such a joyous and effective way that the most distinguished men feel honored by association with them. Inspiring is their peace cry: "The war is over, but our work is not." The Boy Scouts of America have an enrollment of 375,000; it can be and should be ten times as strong, and if it were so, the country would go on surely and safely about the job of reconstruction and better government. There is not an organization in the country more worthy of support and confidence than the Boy Scouts of America. -New York Times, June 10, 1919. |