effective orators discloses the fact that they have a fondness for words

signifying power, largeness, speed, action, color, light, and all their

opposites. They frequently employ words expressive of the various emotions.

Descriptive words, adjectives used in _fresh_ relations with nouns, and apt

epithets, are freely employed. Indeed, the nature of public speech permits the

use of mildly exaggerated words which, by the time they have reached the

hearer's judgment, will leave only a just impression."[32]

 

_Form the Book-Note Habit_

 

To possess a word involves three things: To know its special and broader

meanings, to know its relation to other words, and to be able to use it. When

you see or hear a familiar word used in an unfamiliar sense, jot it down, look

it up, and master it. We have in mind a speaker of superior attainments who

acquired his vocabulary by noting all new words he heard or read. These he

mastered and _put into use_. Soon his vocabulary became large, varied, and

exact. Use a new word accurately five times and it is yours. Professor Albert E.

Hancock says: "An author's vocabulary is of two kinds, latent and dynamic:

latent--those words he understands; dynamic--those he can readily use. Every

intelligent man _knows_ all the words he needs, but he may not have them all

ready for active service. The problem of literary diction consists in turning

the latent into the dynamic." Your dynamic vocabulary is the one you must

especially cultivate.

 

In his essay on "A College Magazine" in the volume, _Memories and Portraits_,