A Dictionary of Cont..

Here the is an adverb of degree and means “that
much.” In literary English this adverbial the is
not used unless something else is said somewhere
in the context that has a bearing on “that
much.” For this reason, adverbial the is sometimes
called a conjunction. The “something else”
may refer to the cause of the increase, as for if
in the example given; or it may refer to the
amount. The amount is frequently “none” or
“all,” as in none the worse and all the .better.
Sometimes a double adverbial the is used to
show that two increases are equal, as .in the
more the merrier, the more he gets the more he
wants. A comparative form should not be used
with both the and than. The adjective t.he requires
or implies of, as in the keener of the two,
the keener man. Adverbial the merely indicates
that additional information is available, and is
never used in making a comparison. A the which
serves neither function should not be used, as it
is in if you are not the politer I will slap you.
Sometimes a comparison of equality, requiring
as . . . as, and a comparison of inequality, requiring
than, are combined in the same statement,
as in he had as much or more troubl(e than
I did and he had more or at least as much
trouble as I did. In both cases the comparisons
have been telescoped. In the first sentence a
second as, needed for a comparison of equality,
has been lost. In the second sentence a than,
needed for the inequality, is lost. Some grammarians
object to telescoped constructions of
this kind, but they are acceptable, and customary,
English. If one wants to please the igrammarians
he can avoid the problem by writing,
for example, he had as much trouble as I a’id, or
more.
There are a number of words in English ending
in -ior, such as superior, inferior, posterior,
interior, senior, which are Latin comparatives.
In English they are not felt as comparatives and
may be qualified by more or less. But they may
also be used alone in making comparisons.
When they are, they require the preposition ro
and not the conjunction than.
A few words, such as former, latter, #elder,
inner, upper, are English comparative forms that
are no longer used in making comparisons. They
are now felt as simple adjectives which name a
relationship and describe or identify individuals.
We may say the latter period, the elder man,
but we cannot say this period is latter than, this
man is elder than.
comparisons are odious is a proverb, and no wise
man would agree to exclude proverbs from his
speech or writing. But he will take care to use
them sparingly and only when the occasion calls
without doubt for their use. This one is hackneyed-though
of course its wisdom is prof’ound
and useful. That comparisons are odorous is
from Much Ado About Nothing and no wise
man will attempt to cheat Shakespeare of whatever
honor there is in its wit.
compasses. In referring to an instrument for drawing
circles, the singular form compass may be
used, as in fix one foot of the compass here, and
the plural compasses in speaking of several such
107 competent
instruments, as in we have three compasses, But
the plural form is also used in speaking of one
instrument, as in fix one foot of the compasses
here, and three instruments are called three pairs
of compnsses. Both constructions are standard
English today. Only the singular form compass
is used as the first element in a compound, as in
a compass leg.
cumpel; impel. Compel and impel both mean the
application of a force, physical or otherwise, to
cause something to be done. Compel has now
more the sense of coercion, of constraining someone
to do something which he does not want to
do (The failure of the bank compelled them to
retrench severely and to adopt a wholly different
way of living). To impel is to urge forward
(The wave behind impelled the wave before)
and in all figurative uses it has the sense of
constraining or inciting towards a goal (A sense
of duty impels me to speak in favor of the
measure). Both words may be followed by an
infinitive, as in he compelled her to lead a dreary
life, but not by the -ing form of a verb. We
cannot say he compelled her to leading a dreary
life.
compendious means concise, or containing the
substance of a subject in brief form (A dictionary
is u compendious work). It is sometimes
misused, perhaps because of the similarity of its
sound to stupendous and tremendous, to mean
a large book or treatise. A compendious work
may be large or small, but its compendiousness
has nothing to do with its size.
compendium. The plural is compendiums or compendia.
compensate; compensation. To compensate is to
counterbalance, to offset, to make up for. The
application of the term to payment for services
rendered was originally a stilted piece of elaborate
politeness, a way of saying “Of course we
wouldn’t do anything so vulgar as to pay you;
we offer this sum merely to offset the loss of
your time.” It is like calling a fee an honorarium,
by which it is implied that the one offering
the sum could not hope to pay what the speaker’s
time and wisdom are really worth and is making
merely a token payment. In America the term
compensation has been used so much for wages
or salary that il is now standard in that sense,
with none of the connotation of making amends
for loss or damage (The salaries of American
judges are rather low in comparison with the
compensation offered to judicial officers in
Europe) that it would have in English usage.
competent; competence. To be competent is to be
properly qualified, to be adequate, to have abilities
sufficient to the purpose. In regard to any
great or difficult undertaking, it is plainly high
praise to be competent; but in critical reviews,
particularly of dramatic and musical performances,
where superlatives are the rule, the word
is almost condemnatory, meaning that the performer
had abilities sufficient for the purpose
but nothing more (Smith’s performance was
competent but the applause of the evening was
reserved for Jones).
Competent may be followed by an infinitive,