to use

sentence, or, as in the examples given above, it may contain two sentences; but usually it contains more than two. The first line of a paragraph begins a little farther from the edge of the page than the other lines: it is printers' language- INDENTED. In printed books, this rule is, for the sake of novelty, sometimes departed from, the beginning of the paragraph being indicated in some other way. In manuscript, paragraphs should always be indented.

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THE FOUNDATIONS OF RHETORIC

Book I.

WORDS AND NOT WORDS

Chapter I.

OF GOOD USE

WORDS are, or are not, words for the purposes of English prose composition, according as they are, or are not, in PRESENT, NATIONAL, and REPUTABLE use.

Present Use. - If a word is in present use, it matters not whether it is very old, e. g., "cart;" or comparatively new, e. g., "omnibus;" or very new, e. g., "bicycle." It matters not whether it is derived from the Anglo-Saxon, e. g., "tooth;" from the Latin, e. g., "circus;" from the Greek, e. g., "telephone;" from the French, e. g., "charity;" from the Dutch, e. g., "yacht;" from the Arabic, e. g., "alkali ;" from the North American Indian, e. g., succotash; "from the brain of a chemist, e. g., 66 " from a gas; caricature in a political campaign, e. g., "gerrymander;" or from an unknown source, e. g., "caucus."

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Some words are in present use for verse or for historical novels, but are not in present use for ordinary prose: e.g., enow for "enough," hath for "has," welkin for "sky," ere for "before," vale for "valley," hooves for "hoofs," kine for "cows," whilom or erst for "once," sooth for "true," carven for "carved," dole for "gift," doff for "take off," don for * put on," steed for "horse," twain for "two."

National Use.-To be in national use, a word must be understood, and understood in the same sense, in every part of the country, and in every class or profession.

A word that is peculiar to one city, state, or group of states, is not national: e. g., barge, local for a kind of "omnibus;" gums, local for "india-rubber overshoes;" to tote and to pack, local for "to carry;" yon or yonder, local for "that;" to coast (on sled or bicycle); to lope (of a horse); to allow, local for "to assert" or "to declare;" right, local for "very;" to watch out, local for "to take care."

A word that, either in itself or in the sense given to it, is peculiar to one class or profession, is not national: e. g., in painters' dialect, scumbling; in physiologists' dialect, reactions; in college dialect, grind, sport; in nautical dialect, douse the topsails, in stays, box-hauling, to luff; in dressmakers' dialect, to cut on the bias; in miners' dialect, to pan out, to strike oil; in photographers' dialect, to focus, in lawyers' dialect, on the docket.

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For Americans, a word that, however common in Great Britain, is never used in the United States, is not national. An American should say "coal" rather than coals, "pitcher" rather than jug, "street railway" rather than tramway, “take” rather than take in "The Times," not only because his main purpose should be to make himself understood, but also because it is an affectation to differ ostentatiously from one's neighbors. On general grounds, one may prefer lift to "elevator," or post-card to "postal card;" but, as lift and post-card, though universal in England, are very rarely seen or heard in America, we should be slow to use them here.

Since, however, uniformity in language is desirable, a word that is in universal use in England and is often used in America should be adopted in preference to one that is common here, but unknown there: e. g., "railway ” rather than railroad; "station" rather than dépôt; "clever" in