t received such emphasis that they
are sure to stand fast in your memory. Or some cognate form of them may
have been mastered, yet they themselves may remain unknown. Thus you may
know _commendation_ but not _commendatory, credulous_ but not
_incredulity, invalid_ but not _invalidate_ or
_invalidity_. One of the best of all ways to extend your vocabulary
is to make each word of your acquaintance introduce you to its immediate
kinsmen, those grouped with it on the same page of the dictionary.

This chapter puts you on your mettle. Hitherto you have been given
instructions as to the way to proceed, Now you must shift for yourself.
The words, to be sure, are corraled for you. But you must tame them and
break them, in order that on them you may ride the ranges of human
intercourse. If you have not yet learned how to subdue them to your will
and use, it would be futile to tell you how. You have been put in the way
of mastering words. The task that henceforth confronts you is your own.
You must have at it unaided.

It is true that, in the exercise that follows, specific help is given you
on a limited number of the words. But this help is only toward discovering
the words for yourself before you have seen them in a list. And for most
of the words not even this meager assistance is given.

EXERCISE - Supplementary

Each of the following groups of words is preceded by sentences in which
blanks should be filled by words from that group. But do your best to fill
these blanks properly before you consult the group at all. You must learn
to think of, or think up, the right word instead of having it pointed out
to you.

These benefits were not inherent in the course he had taken; they were
purely ____. Anything which existed before Noah's flood is called ____.
His left hand, which had ceased, to grow during his childhood, was now
withered from its long ____. Certain books once belonging to the Bible
have been discarded by the Protestants as ____. When Shakespeare makes
Hector quote Aristotle, who lived long after the siege of Troy, he is
guilty of an ____. Whatever causes the lips to pucker, as alum or a green
persimmon, is spoken of as ____.

Abash, abbreviate, abduct, aberrant, aberration, abeyance, abhorrent,
abject, abjure, aboriginal, abortive, abrade, abrasion, abrogate,
absolution, abstemious, abstention, abstruse, accelerate, accentuate,
acceptation, accessary, accession, accessory, acclamation, acclivity,
accolade, a