Fifteen Thousand Useful Phrases

<h5 id="id00066">PLAN OF STUDY</h5> <p id="id00067">First examine the book in a general way to grasp its character, scope, and purpose. Carefully note the following plan of classification of the various kinds of phrases, and choose for initial study a section which you think will be of the most immediate value to you.</p> <h5 id="id00068">I. USEFUL PHRASES II. SIGNIFICANT PHRASES III. FELICITOUS PHRASES IV. IMPRESSIVE PHRASES V. PREPOSITIONAL PHRASES VI. BUSINESS PHRASES VII. LITERARY EXPRESSIONS VIII. STRIKING SIMILES IX. CONVERSATIONAL PHRASES X. PUBLIC SPEAKING PHRASES XI. MISCELLANEOUS PHRASES</h5> <p id="id00069">There are many advantages in keeping before you a definite purpose in your study of this book. A well-defined plan will act as an incentive to regular and systematic effort, and incidentally develop your power of concentration.</p> <p id="id00070">It is desirable that you set apart a certain convenient time each day for this study. Regularity tends to produce maximum results. As you progress with this work your interest will be quickened and you will realize the desirability of giving more and more time to this important subject.</p> <p id="id00071">When you have chosen a section of the book which particularly appeals to you, begin your actual study by reading the phrases aloud. Read them slowly and understandingly. This tends to impress them more deeply upon your mind, and is in itself one of the best and most practical ways of acquiring a large and varied vocabulary. Moreover, the practise of fitting words to the mouth rapidly develops fluency and facility of speech.</p> <p id="id00072">Few persons realize the great value of reading aloud. Many of the foremost English stylists devoted a certain period regularly to this practise. Cardinal Newman read aloud each day a chapter from Cicero as a means of developing his ear for sentence-rhythm. Rufus Choate, in order to increase his command of language, and to avoid sinking into mere empty fluency, read aloud daily, during a large part of his life, a page or more from some great English author. As a writer has said, "The practise of storing the mind with choice passages from the best prose writers and poets, and thus flavoring it with the essence of good literatures, is one which is commended both by the best teachers and by the example of some of the most celebrated orators, who have adopted it with signal success."</p> <p id="id00073">This study should be pursued with pencil in hand, so that you may readily underscore phrases which make a special appeal to you. The free use of a pencil in marking significant parts of a book is good evidence of thoroughness. This, too, will facilitate your work of subsequent review.</p> <p id="id00074">The habit of regularly copying, in your own handwriting, one or more pages of phrases will be of immense practical value. This exercise is a great aid in developing a facile English style. The daily use of the pen has been recommended in all times as a valuable means of developing oral and literary expression.</p> <p id="id00075">A helpful exercise is to pronounce a phrase aloud and then fit it into a complete sentence of your own making. This practice gives added facility and resourcefulness in the use of words.</p> <p id="id00076">As an enthusiastic student of good English, you should carefully note striking and significant phrases or literary expressions which you find in your general reading. These should be set down in a note-book reserved for this exclusive purpose. In this way you can prepare many lists of your own, and thus greatly augment the value of this study.</p> <p id="id00077">The taste for beauty, truth, and harmony in language can be developed by careful study of well-selected phrases and literary expressions as furnished in this book. A good literary style is formed principally by daily study of great English writers, by careful examination of words in their context, and by a discriminating use of language at all times.</p> <p id="id00078">GRENVILLE KLEISER.<br/> New York City, July, 1917<br/></p> <div style="break-after:column;"></div><br />