*WEBSTER'S New AMERICAN DICTIONARY 1959 BOOKS, INC. NEW YORK

Lincolnian Simplicity

   The first sentence in Lincoln's Gettysburg Address offers a worth-while example

of construction so simple and yet so powerful that more than one comma could not

be employed in it without intrusion : "Fourscore and seven years ago our father brought

forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition

that all men are created equal."   Note how one trifle more of the seasoning of punc-

tuation would detract from the flavor.

   And then note how the FLAVOR would flatten out, in the next sentence of the

Address, if the commas were removed : "The world will little note, nor long remember,

what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here."   The two commas are

employed for FLAVORING only.  They could be omitted without obscuring the meaning.

   Note, again, in the next following sentence, how Lincoln's simple, direct sentence

construction defies the comma : "We have come to dedicate a portion of that field as a 

final resting place of those who here gave their lives that the nation might live."

Nowhere in the Address is a comma used for other than FLAVOR--any one might

be omitted without impairing the meaning, except possibly the one after "nation"

in the first sentence.

VI Punctuation, the Lubricating Agent

page 1188

Webster's New American Dictionary

~

*WEBSTER'S

New   AMERICAN

DICTIONARY

COMPLETELY NEW AND UP TO DATE.  PLANNED AND

WRITTEN BY MODERN EDUCATORS AND LEXICOGRAPHERS

ESPECIALLY TO SERVE THE ESSENTIAL REQUIREMENTS

OF SCHOOL, COLLEGE, AND SELF-EDUCATION AT HOME

Managing Editor

LEWIS M. ADAMS

Editor-in-chief

EDWARD N. TEALL, A.M.

C. RALPH TAYLOR, A.M.,

Author of Self-Education Department and Associate Editor;

Editor "The Home University Encyclopedia," "New American Encyclopedia,"

author of "Vital English"

Simplified Self-Education Treatises on:

GRAMMAR           PUNCTUATION           VOCABULARY TESTS    

          WRITING               PRONUNCIATION       WORDS MISPRONOUNCED    

 SPEAKING             CAPITALIZATION       DANGER FLAGS              

Illustrated -- Self-pronouncing -- Synonyms -- Antonyms

This Dictionary is not published by the original pub-

lishers of Webster's Dictionary, or by their successors

1959

B O O K S ,   I N C .

NEW YORK

COPYRIGHT, 1939, 1940, 1941, 1944, 1947
BY BOOKS,   INC.





ALL RIGHTS RESERVED UNDER THE INTERNATIONAL
COPYRIGHT CONVENTION OF PAN-AMERICAN REPUBLICS





PRINTED   IN   THE  UNITED  STATES  OF  AMERICA
BY  THE   COLONIAL  PRESS  INC.,  CLINTON,   MASS.

C O N T E N T S

WORDS, THE TOOLS OF PERSONAL POWER AND SUCCESS, AND THE 

     SECRETS OF THEIR EFFECTIVE USE--Introduction

INTRODUCTION

A GUIDE TO THE USE OF THIS BOOK

BRITISH SPELLING

KEY TO PRONUNCIATION

New Words Department

60,000 STREAMLINED MODERN DEFINITIONS, WITH SYNONYMS AND

     ANTONYMS ; Illustrated

A GUIDE TO SELF-EDUCATION THROUGH THE USE OF THE DICTIONARY

     I   SELF-EDUCATION :

          (1)     Teaching Oneself

          (2)     The Learning Process

          (3)     Practical Applications

     II   GRAMMAR MADE INTERESTING AND EASY TO REMEMBER

          (1)     The Value of Grammar

          (2)     The Sentence as a Tool of Power

          (3)     The Parts of Speech--A Treasure Hunt

     III   MAKING USE OF THE TOOLS

          (1)     How to Use a Dictionary

          (2)     Vocabulary Tests

    IV    ANSWERS

     V    DANGER FLAGS

     VI    PUNCTUATION, THE LUBRICATING AGENT

     VII    PRONUNCIATION, THE PERSONAL MAGNET

     VIII   WORDS OFTEN MISPRONOUNCED

     IX     PRONUNCIATION OF LATIN AND GREEK NAMES

     X      SPELLING BY RULES THAT REMAIN VIVID

 

     XI     WORDS COMMONLY MISSPELLED

     XII    CAPITALIZATION

     XIII   COMPOUNDING AND SEPARATING FOR EFFECTIVENESS

     XIV   PREFIXES AND SUFFIXES, A TEST OF YOUR INGENUITY

     XV    USE OF ITALICS

ABBREVIATIONS

MOTTOES, MAXIMS, QUOTATIONS, AND PHRASES

SIGNS AND SYMBOLS

WEIGHTS AND MEASURES

Words--The Tools of Personal Power and Success--

The Secrets of Their Most Effective Use

REPOSING in the contents of this Dictionary is a huge reservoir of

power--power so potent as to provide an instrument for attaining

success in life to anyone who will make use of it.   For herein lie the

basic tools by which man has carved out his present modicum of civiliza-

tion--the tools of expression and of communication.

   Down through the ages, from the very beginning of civilization to and

within the present time, those who have best understood and practiced

the use of these tools have wielded powerful influence upon their fellow

men and have themselves reaped great rewards.