medicine or a dietician select food, so you cannot become an overlord of
words without first fighting battles to subjugate them. Hence this volume
is for you less a labor-saving machine than a collection and arrangement
of materials which you must put together by hand. It assembles everything
you need. It tags everything plainly. It tells you just what you must do.
In these ways it makes your task far easier. _But the task is yours_.
Industry, persistence, a fair amount of common sense--these three you must
have. Without them you will accomplish nothing.

Even with them--let the forewarning be candid--you will not accomplish
everything. You cannot learn all there is to be learned about words, any
more than about human nature. And what you do achieve will be, not a
sudden attainment, but a growth. This is not the dark side of the picture.
It is an honest avowal that the picture is not composed altogether of
light. But as the result of your efforts an adequate vocabulary will some
day be yours. Nor will you have to wait long for an earnest of ultimate
success. Just as system will speedily transform a haphazard business into
one which seizes opportunities and stops the leakage of profits, so will
sincere and well-directed effort bring you promptly and surely into an
ever-growing mastery of words.



CONTENTS


CHAPTERS

I. REASONS FOR INCREASING YOUR VOCABULARY.