Hands-free narration of this study — good for the car.
Synopsis
Every calling, including public speaking, needs a specialized stock of words beyond the everyday vocabulary — orators favor words of power, largeness, speed, action, color, light, emotion, and fresh, apt epithets. The chapter urges the 'book-note habit': jot down unfamiliar words encountered in reading or hearing, look them up, and put them into active use, since using a new word accurately five times makes it truly one's own. Quoting Professor Hancock, it distinguishes an author's latent vocabulary (words merely understood) from his dynamic vocabulary (words readily usable), and the speaker's task is turning the latent into the dynamic. Robert Louis Stevenson's practice of imitating admired stylists ('played the sedulous ape') is offered as a model discipline. The chapter also commends forming the 'reference-book habit' — dictionaries, books of synonyms and antonyms used cautiously alongside a dictionary, studies of connectives, word derivations, and phrase origins — and warns against favoring only Anglo-Saxon or only Latinate words, since English profits from mingling both. Flaubert's and Landor's passion for the single exact word, and the story of Tommy Sandys who lost a scholarship essay-contest by searching too long for one precise Scotch word, illustrate the value — and the cost — of searching faithfully for the right word.
Key points
- Public speakers, like poets and novelists, must add specialized words of power, action, color, and emotion to their everyday vocabulary.
- Form the 'book-note habit': record unfamiliar words, master their meanings, and use each new word accurately about five times until it becomes yours.
- Distinguish latent vocabulary (words merely understood) from dynamic vocabulary (words readily used) — the goal is turning latent into dynamic.
- Form the 'reference-book habit': dictionaries, synonym books (used cautiously with a dictionary), and studies of derivations and phrase origins sharpen word-mastery.
- Do not favor Anglo-Saxon over Latinate words or vice versa; mingling both gives variety, though short Anglo-Saxon words suit force and Latin words suit smoothness.
Key texts
- Proverbs 25:11
- Colossians 4:6
- Ecclesiastes 12:10
- Proverbs 15:23
From the book
Chapter XXVII — Growing a Vocabulary · Open the reader
- “Use a new word accurately five times and it is yours.”
- “Whatever may be the thing which one wishes to say, there is but one word for expressing it, only one verb to animate it, only one adjective to qualify it.”
- “I hate false words, and seek with care, difficulty, and moroseness those that fit the thing.”
Put it into practice
- When you meet an unfamiliar word in reading or conversation, write it down, look it up, and use it accurately five times.
- Own and consult a good unabridged dictionary regularly, checking books of synonyms only alongside it.
- Mix short, forceful Anglo-Saxon words with flowing Latinate words rather than favoring only one kind.
- Comprehension
1. What kinds of words does the chapter say effective orators are especially fond of?
- Comprehension
2. Describe the 'book-note habit' recommended for building vocabulary.
- Doctrinal Clarity
3. Explain the difference between latent and dynamic vocabulary as Professor Hancock defines it.
- Doctrinal Clarity
4. What does Stevenson's practice of playing 'the sedulous ape' illustrate about developing word-mastery?
- Contrast
5. Contrast the chapter's warning about books of synonyms with its counsel about dictionaries.
- Contrast
6. Contrast favoring only Anglo-Saxon words with favoring only Latin-derived words, as the chapter discusses through Lord Brougham's failed rule.
- Application
7. What lesson does the story of Tommy Sandys searching for one word teach about the search for exact language, and where might you apply it in your own speaking or writing?
- Application
8. Which of the vocabulary-building habits described here (book-notes, reference books, discussing words with others, searching for the right word) do you currently practice, and which could you add?
- Comprehension
9. According to the chapter, what value does discussing words with cultivated people add to vocabulary growth?
- Scripture
10. What does Flaubert's advice to Maupassant teach about word choice?