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1 Fifteen Thousand Useful PhrasesFifteen Thousand Useful PhrasesProject Gutenberg's Fifteen Thousand Useful Phrases , by Greenville Kleiser This eBook is for the use ofanyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away orre-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online : Fifteen Thousand Useful Phrases A Practical Handbook Of Pertinent Expressions, Striking Similes,Literary, Commercial, Conversational, And Oratorical Terms, For The Embellishment Of Speech AndLiterature, And The Improvement Of The Vocabulary Of Those Persons Who Read, Write, And SpeakEnglishAuthor: Greenville KleiserRelease Date: May 10, 2006 [EBook #18362]Language: EnglishCharacter set encoding: ASCII** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK Fifteen Thousand Useful Phrases **Produced by Don Kostuch[Transcriber's Notes] Original "misspellings" such as "fulness" are Thousand Useful Phrases1 Unfamiliar (to me) words are defined on the right side of the page in square brackets.

2 For example:abstemious diet [abstemious = Eating and drinking in moderation.]The blandness of contemporary (2006) speech would be relieved by the injection of some of these gems:"phraseological quagmire""Windy speech which hits all around the mark like a drunken carpenter."[End Transcriber's Notes]BY GRENVILLE KLEISERHOW TO BUILD MENTAL POWER A book of thorough training for all the faculties of the mind. Octacloth, $ , net; by mail, $ TO SPEAK IN public A practical self-instructor for lawyers, clergymen, teachers, businessmen, andothers. Cloth, 543 pages, $ net; by mail, $ TO DEVELOP SELF-CONFIDENCE IN SPEECH AND MANNER A book of practical inspiration:trains men to rise above mediocrity and fearthought to their great possibilities. Commended to ambitious 320 pages, $ net; by mail, $ TO DEVELOP POWER AND PERSONALITY IN SPEAKING Practical suggestions in English,word-building, imagination, memory conversation, and extemporaneous speaking.

3 Cloth, 422 pages, $ ; by mail, $ TO READ AND DECLAIM A course of instruction in reading and declamation which will developgraceful carriage, correct standing, and accurate enunciation; and will furnish abundant exercise in the use ofthe best examples of prose and poetry. Cloth, $ , net; by mail, $ SPEECHES AND HOW TO MAKE THEM In this work Mr. Kleiser points out methods by whichyoung men may acquire and develop the essentials of forcible public speaking. Cloth $ , net; by mail,$ TO ARGUE AND WIN Ninety-nine men in a hundred know how to argue to one who can argue andwin. This book tells how to acquire this power. Cloth, 320 pages, $ , net; by mail, $ ,HUMOROUS HITS AND HOW TO HOLD AN AUDIENCE A collection of short stories, selections andsketches for all occasions. Cloth, 326 pages, $ , net; by mail. $ GUIDE TO public SPEAKING The only extensive, comprehensive encyclopedic work of itskind ever issued.

4 The best advice by the world's great authorities upon oratory, preaching, platform and pulpitdelivery, voice-building, argumentation, debate, rhetoric, personal power, mental development, etc. Cloth, 655pages, $ : by mail. $ ON TALKING Practical suggestions for developing naturalness, sincerity, and effectiveness inconversation. Cloth, $ , net; by mail, $ Thousand Useful Phrases A practical handbook of felicitous expressions for enriching thevocabulary. 12 mo, cloth, $ , net; by mail. $ Thousand Useful Phrases2 INSPIRATION AND IDEALS Practical help and inspiration in right thinking and right living. 12 mo, cloth,$ , net: by mail, $ WORLD'S GREAT SERMONS Masterpieces of Pulpit Oratory and biographical sketches of thespeakers. Cloth, 10 volumes. Write for KLEISER'S PERSONAL LESSONS IN public SPEAKING and the Development ofSelf-Confidence, Mental Power, and Personality. Twenty-five lessons, with special handbooks, side-talks,personal letters.

5 Etc. Write for KLEISER'S PERSONAL LESSONS IN PRACTICAL ENGLISH Twenty lessons, with DailyDrills, special books, personal letters, etc. Write for Thousand Useful Phrases A PRACTICAL HANDBOOK OF PERTINENTEXPRESSIONS, STRIKING SIMILES, LITERARY. COMMERCIAL, CONVERSATIONAL, ANDORATORICAL TERMS, FOR THE EMBELLISHMENT OF SPEECH AND LITERATURE, AND THEIMPROVEMENT OF THE VOCABULARY OF THOSE PERSONS WHO READ, WRITE. AND SPEAKENGLISHBY GRENVILLE KLEISERFORMERLY INSTRUCTOR IN public SPEAKING AT YALE DIVINITY SCHOOL, YALEUNIVERSITY; AUTHOR OF "HOW TO SPEAK IN public ," "HOW TO DEVELOP POWER ANDPERSONALITY IN SPEAKING," "HOW TO DEVELOP SELF-CONFIDENCE IN SPEECH ANDMANNER," "HOW TO ARGUE AND WIN," "HOW TO READ AND DECLAIM," "COMPLETE GUIDETO public SPEAKING," AN INTRODUCTION BY FRANK H. VIZETELLY, , EDITIONFUNK & WAGNALLS COMPANY NEW YORK AND LONDON 1919 COPYRIGHT, 1917, BY FUNK & WAGNALLS COMPANY (Printed in the United States of America) -----Copyright under the Articles of the Copyright Convention of the Pan-American Republics and the UnitedStates, August 11, 1910 ------ Published.

6 October, 1917 One cannot always live in the palaces and state apartments of language, but we can refuse to spend our days insearching for its vilest slums. --William WatsonWords without thought are dead sounds; thoughts without words are nothing. To think is to speak low; tospeak is to think aloud. --Max MullerThe first merit which attracts in the pages of a good writer, or the talk of a brilliant conversationalist, is the aptchoice and contrast of the words employed. It is indeed a strange art to take these blocks rudely conceived forthe purpose of the market or the bar, and by tact of application touch them to the finest meanings anddistinctions. --Robert Louis StevensonIt is with words as with sunbeams, the more they are condensed, the deeper they burn. --SoutheyNo noble or right style was ever yet founded but out of a sincere heart. --RuskinFifteen Thousand Useful Phrases3 Words are things; and a small drop of ink, falling like dew upon a thought, produces that which makesthousands, perhaps millions, think.

7 --ByronA good phrase may outweigh a poor library. --Thomas W. HigginsonPLAN OF CLASSIFICATIONSECTION I. Useful Phrases II. SIGNIFICANT Phrases III. FELICITOUS Phrases Phrases V. PREPOSITIONAL Phrases VI. BUSINESS Phrases VII. LITERARYEXPRESSIONS VIII. STRIKING SIMILES IX. CONVERSATIONAL Phrases X. public SPEAKINGPHRASES XI. MISCELLANEOUS PHRASESINTRODUCTIONThe most powerful and the most perfect expression of thought and feeling through the medium of orallanguage must be traced to the mastery of words. Nothing is better suited to lead speakers and readers ofEnglish into an easy control of this language than the command of the phrase that perfectly expresses thethought. Every speaker 's aim is to be heard and understood. A clear, crisp articulation holds an audience as bythe spell of some irresistible power. The choice word, the correct phrase, are instruments that may reach theheart, and awake the soul if they fall upon the ear in melodious cadence; but if the utterance be harsh anddiscordant they fail to interest, fall upon deaf ears, and are as barren as seed sown on fallow ground.

8 Inlanguage, nothing conduces so emphatically to the harmony of sounds as perfect phrasing--that is, theemphasizing of the relation of clause to clause, and of sentence to sentence by the systematic grouping ofwords. The phrase consists usually of a few words which denote a single idea that forms a separate part of asentence. In this respect it differs from the clause, which is a short sentence that forms a distinct part of acomposition, paragraph, or discourse. Correct phrasing is regulated by rests, such rests as do not break thecontinuity of a thought or the progress of the KLEISER, who has devoted years of his diligent life to imparting the art of correct expressionin speech and writing, has provided many aids for those who would know not merely what to say, but how tosay it. He has taught also what the great HOLMES taught, that language is a temple in which the human soulis enshrined, and that it grows out of life--out of its joys and its sorrows, its burdens and its necessities.

9 Tohim, as well as to the writer, the deep strong voice of man and the low sweet voice of woman are never heardat finer advantage than in the earnest but mellow tones of familiar speech. In the present volume Mr. Kleiserfurnishes an additional and an exceptional aid for those who would have a mint of Phrases at their commandfrom which to draw when in need of the golden mean for expressing thought. Few indeed are the books fittedto-day for the purpose of imparting this knowledge, yet two centuries ago phrase-books were esteemed assupplements to the dictionaries, and have not by any manner of means lost their value. The guide to familiarquotations, the index to similes, the grammars, the readers, the machine-made letter-writer of mechanicallyperfect letters of congratulation or condolence--none are sententious enough to supply the need. By thecompilation of this praxis, Mr. Kleiser has not only supplied it, but has furnished a means for the increase ofone's vocabulary by practical methods.

10 There are thousands of persons who may profit by the systematic studyof such a book as this if they will familiarize themselves with the author's purpose by a careful reading of thepreliminary pages of his book. To speak in public pleasingly and readily and to read well are accomplishmentsacquired only after many days, weeks even, of sometimes reproach us for the asperity and discordance of our speech, and in general, this reproachis just, for there are many persons who do scanty justice to the vowel-elements of our language. Althoughthese elements constitute its music they are continually mistreated. We flirt with and pirouette around themconstantly. If it were not so, English would be found full of beauty and harmony of sound. Familiar with themaxim, "Take care of the vowels and the consonants will take care of themselves,"--a maxim that when putinto practise has frequently led to the breaking-down of vowel values--the writer feels that the commonFifteen Thousand Useful Phrases4custom of allowing "the consonants to take care of themselves" is pernicious.