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CHAPTER IX

THE ENLARGEMENT AND IMPROVEMENT OF THE VOCABULARY

The vocabulary of any person is the number of words which that person habitually uses; or, in a wider sense, the number of words that he readily understands when he hears or reads them. As regards expression, the first sense only is of importance, namely: the number of words that one habitually or readily uses. Persons are numerous who recognize a twenty-dollar gold-piece or bank-note, when they see it; but they very seldom see either, and for all practical purposes of life they are as if those denominations of money did not exist. We are rich only by the money in our actual possession or ready for us on call. Similarly, our vocabulary is the aggregate of words we have in actual possession, so that we can produce them on demand. A former American consul at Rome remarked on one occasion, "Though I have been resident at Rome for twenty years, and can understand anything that an Italian gentleman or lady may say, I can not yet understand the talk of the common people on the street. Yet these people all understand what a gentleman or lady may say to them in pure Italian." That is, the common people recognize the better speech when it comes before them, but for all the ordinary purposes of life, the pure Italian does not exist for them.

This is, to a considerable degree, the case with the average American schoolboy and schoolgirl, and with

the slightly educated classes of the community, though much modified by our general system of public instruction. The children and the crowd understand the scholarly style when they hear or read it, but they regard it as a kind of dress-parade speech, which they would never think of using in common life; and they would soon find themselves confused, if they should try to speak it. There is an anecdote in a recent paper of a mother who was much annoyed by her boy's way of talking to his dog. "Tom," she said, "why will you constantly say to Jeff, 'Set up,' when you know perfectly well you ought to say 'sit up'?" "Oh, well, mother," Tom cheerfully replied, "of course I have lots of grammar, but I don't want to waste it on him, when he's only a dog."

But the great object of the study of language is, to gain command of a pure, noble, and elegant type of speech, which shall come readily to tongue or pen, and which shall not be too good for daily use. At the same time one who aspires to literary composition or public speaking should be able to rise still above what is good and admirable for ordinary use, and to employ a choicer style of especial dignity, according to the demands of the subject and the occasion.

The important consideration is, what range of words each one of us has available as the means of expression of our own thought. If we go back to the etymology of the word "vocabulary," which is from voco, call, we may say that the vocabulary of every person is the number of words he has ready on call.

The English language contains upward of 400,000 words, for more than that number have been actually listed in the Standard Dictionary. But the words actually used by any one person are the merest fraction of

this vast store. Dr. George P. Marsh, writing in 1850, and estimating the number of English words then in actual use at 100,000, says:

"Now there are persons who know this vocabulary in nearly its whole extent, but they understand a large proportion of it, very much as they are acquainted with Greek or Latin, that is, as the dialect of books or of special arts or professions, and not as a living speech, the common language of daily and hourly thought. Or if, like some celebrated English and American orators, living and dead, they are able upon occasion to bring into the field in the war of words even the half of this vast array of light and heavy troops, yet they habitually content themselves with a much less imposing array of verbal force, and use for ordinary purpose but a very small proportion of the words they have at their command. Out of our immense magazine of words and their combinations, every man selects his own implements and

weapons.

"Few writers or speakers use as many as 10,000 words, ordinary persons of fair intelligence not above three or four thousand. If a scholar were required to name, without examination the authors whose English vocabulary was the largest, he would probably specify the all-embracing Shakespeare and the all-knowing Milton. And yet, in all the works of the great dramatist there occur not more than 15,000 words, in the poems of Milton not above 8,000.

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"To those whose attention has not been turned to the subject, these are surprising facts, but if we run over a few pages of a dictionary and observe how great a proportion of the words are such as we do not ourselves individually use, we shall be forced to conclude that we each find a very limited vocabulary sufficient for our own purposes."

Even a small vest-pocket dictionary contains some 25,000 words. From the number of English words actually used, listed, and defined we see how wide is the range of possible choice. Probably there is not one of us who could not greatly improve our power of expression by increasing the number of well-chosen words

ready for use at our pleasure. Many persons would be astonished, if their conversation could be reproduced by dictaphone, to find how often they repeat some few words, or even some single word. They would find the same characteristic in their own hastily written letters. That is, they are unconsciously restricting themselves to an exceedingly limited vocabulary, when a wider range of words would be, not only more elegant, but also more interesting and expressive. An extreme instance of such limitation may be seen in the following copy of a letter taken from an old English publication:

"I got on horseback within ten minutes after I got your letter. When I got to Canterbury, I got a chaise for town, but I got wet through before I got to Canterbury, and I have got such a cold as I shall not be able to get rid of in a hurry. I got to the Treasury about noon, but, first of all, I got shaved and dressed. I soon got into the secret of getting a memorial before the Board, but I could not get an answer then. However, I got intelligence from the messenger that I should most likely get an answer the next morning. As soon as I got back to my inn, I got to bed. It was not long before I got to sleep. When I got up in the morning, I got myself dressed, and got my breakfast, that I might get out in time to get an answer to my memorial. As soon as I got it, I got into the chaise and got to Canterbury by three, and about tea-time I got home. I have got nothing more to say."

Here the unfortunate word "get" occurs in some form twenty-eight times. The use of nineteen new words is urgently called for, besides the varying of phrase at other points. By these slight changes the letter may be made very presentable. Thus:

"I mounted on horseback within ten minutes after I received your letter. When I reached Canterbury, I procured a chaise for town, but I had become wet through before I arrived at Canterbury, and I have taken such a cold as I shall not be able to recover from in a hurry. I went to the

Treasury about noon, but first of all I took care to be shaved and dressed. I soon learned the secret of bringing a memorial before the Board, but I could not secure an answer then. However, I obtained intelligence from the messenger that I should most likely receive an answer the next morning. As soon as I returned to my inn, I had my supper, and went to bed. It was not long before I fell asleep. When I arose in the morning, I dressed and ate my breakfast, that I might go out in time to obtain an answer to my memorial. As soon as I received it, I got into the chaise, and arrived at Canterbury by three, and about tea-time I reached home. I have nothing more to say."

It is to be noticed that none of the words thus supplied are out of the ordinary. All are such as any intelligent person should be able to use without a second thought. The illustration shows, however, that a speaker or writer needs to have at command a very considerable number of good words, in order to express himself well, even in a brief communication.

But mere number of words is not enough; they must be excellent, appropriate, felicitous words. Every one has heard persons who, in public address and in conversation, had an inexhaustible supply of words with a readily exhaustible supply of thought, making us recall Hamlet, who, in his answer to an intrusive question: "What do you read, my lord?”

replied,

"Words, words, words;"

or the glib talker caricatured in "The Merchant of Venice": "Gratiano speaks an infinite deal of nothing; more than any man in all Venice." An abundant, but ill-chosen and ill-assorted vocabulary gives one the impression you gain in going through some bargain-stores, where the articles are numerous enough and cheap in price, but also cheap in quality, and you feel that you

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