ADJECTIVES

Be sparing in the use of epithets and of adjectives and adverbs generally. Especially avoid the use of superlatives. Superlatives are seldom true. Rarely is a man the most remarkable man in the country in any particular; rarely is an accident the worst in the history of the city. Better understate than overstate; better err on the side of moderation than excess. William Cobbett says: "Some writers deal in expletives to a degree that tires the ear and offends the understanding. With them everything is excessively, or immensely, or extremely, or vastly, or surprisingly, or wonderfully, or abundantly, or the like. The notion of such writers is that these words give strength to what they are saying. This is a great error. Strength must be found in the thought or it will never be found in the words. Big sounding words, without thoughts corresponding, are effort without effect."

Be sure to remember that nee means born. It is of course impossible then to speak of Mrs. Doe, nee Mary Roe, as one is never born with a Christian name, but Mrs. Doe, nee Roe. And, of all things when a widow has remarried, do not write Mrs. Richard Roe, nee Mrs. John Doe.

Adjectives, if wisely used, give desirable color to a story. A thesaurus will brighten up a reporter's adjectival vocabulary. These are suggestions for possible substitutions of fresh words for more or less hackneyed words:

fast—fleet, swift

good—meritorious, laudable

repentant—penitent, contrite

temperate—abstemious

intemperate—penitent, contrite

modest—decorous

distressing—piteous, pitiable, rueful

witty—jocose, nimble-witted

fearful—timid, apprehensive, tremulous

crafty—cunning, artful

frank—ingenuous, guileless

Prefer agreeable to nice, which means accurate; and long to lengthy.

Words like perfect and unique cannot be compared. Never write, more perfect, most perfect, most unique.

Eschew the word very. It seldom strengthens a sentence.

It is better to use such words as feline, bovine, canine, human as adjectives only.

Prefer several or many to a number of.

Healthy means possessing health, as, a healthy man. Healthful means conducive to health, as, healthful climate, surroundings, employment. Do not use healthful in speaking of food, but wholesome.

Parlous is archaic. Don't use the phrase in these parlous times. The word in good usage is perilous.

Nobody has explained the difference between actual photographs and photographs.

Awful means inspiring awe, fearful inspiring fear, and terrible inspiring terror.

Anxious implies anxiety. Say eager if you mean it.

The first meaning of hectic is habitual. The second meaning is fevered. It connotes heat more particularly than red.

Great care is needed in using these three words: livid, lurid and weird. Livid means primarily black and blue. It also means a grayish blue or lead color, as flesh by contusion. It doesn't mean anything else. Lurid means a pale yellow, ghastly pale, wan; figuratively it means gloomy or dismal, grimly terrible or sensational. When used in its first sense it is properly applicable to the yellow flames seen through smoke. It does not mean fiery red. In its figurative sense it can be used to describe a series of incidents calculated to shock or to stun by the enormity of them. Weird means primarily pertaining to witchcraft and is used in reference to the witches in "Macbeth." It also means unearthly, uncanny, eerie. A green light might be called weird. It must not be used to mean peculiar, as, She wore a weird hat.

YOUR AUDIENCE

Says Irvin S. Cobb: I'd rather have my work read by thousands of people throughout the country than be the author of the greatest classic that ever mouldered on a shelf.

In my opinion, the masses are worth our art. If we believe in a democratic form of government we should believe in a democratic attitude toward the art of the short story, and I, for one, frankly admit that I write for the shop girl and business man rather than for the high-brow critic. That does not mean you must necessarily choose between them, but if I had to choose I would let the critic go.

DEFENDER OF CIVIL LIBERTY . . . STRENGTHENER OF LOYALTY . . . PILLAR AND STAY OF DEMOCRATIC GOVERNMENT.

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