A Dictionary of Cont..

He wus quick to orient himself to rhe commu&y).
Many American colleges have what they call
orientation courses, broad general introductory
courses, usually in the social sciences, intended
for the beginning student. Their professed
purpose is to enable the student to “place” himself
in history or the social structure of the
world-or whatever the subject of the course
may be. Since it is assumed that any introductory
course serves this vague purpose to some
extent, the term is unnecessary and pompous.
ornamental; ornate; decorative. Anything is ornumental
which is used for ornament (The plaid
cape was more ornamental than useful). There
is perhaps an echo of our Puritan background,
a suggestion in the word of something unncxessary
and often a further suggestion of something
insubstantial or tinselly. That is ornate
which is elaborately or sumptuously adorned,
showily splendid. Since modem taste disapproves
of the sumptuous and since there is
far more show of splendor than actual splendor,
the word often carries a connotation of disparagement,
especially in reference to speech. Decorative
is a more favorable word, suggesting a
becoming ornamentation, something which fittingly
adds to an appearance of festivity.
The Englishman, Collins, holds that ornamental
is an active term and that ornate and
decorutive are synonymous passive terms but
American usage does not make these distinctions.
ostensible; ostensive; ostentatious. Although the
dictionaries recognize ostensible and ostensive
as synonyms, there are distinctions in their use
which can be ambiguous and it is better not to
use them interchangeably. Ostensible is a wellknown
adjective, suitable for general use. Ostensive
is a little-known, usually specialized
term which should be used with discrimination.
That is ostensible which is given out or outwardly
appears to be, is professed or pretended
(His ostensible motive was charity; his actual
motive was self-glorification). Ostensive means
showing, but its primary meaning is showing
in logic, setting forth a general principle by
virtue of which a proposition must be true. An
ostensive demonstration (in mathematics;) is
a demonstration which plainly and directly
demonstrates the truth of a proposition, as distinct,
say, from a reductio ad absurdum.
If that is ostensible which shows on the
surface and that is ostensive which shows logically
beyond cavil, that is ostentatious which
is overly showy, pretentious, demonstrative beyond
need in order to impress others. It is now
a disparaging word, though in the days when
public demonstrations of even affection were
staged for political purposes it was not always
so. When Octavius, in Shakespeare’s Antony
and Cleopatra, told his sister that her quiet and
unexpected return to Rome had prevented the
ostentation of his love, he merely meant that
she had made it impossible for him to have
her received with the pageantry and splendor
343 ought
which, as his loved sister, was her due. She had
prevented him from making a public demonstration
of his regard for her and this he felt
was, under the circumstances, a political error.
0 tempora! 0 mores! When the contemplation
of Catiline’s wickedness moved Cicero in 63 B.C.
to exclaim in horror at the times and the manners
that could produce such a monster, he so
expressed the indignation of all who view with
alarm that his phrase has been repeated ever
since. Of late it has been so often repeated that
it has become a cliche, the more meaningless
because finally even our orators prefer (like
Cicero) to speak in their own language.
other; otherwise. Other was once the ordinal
form for the cardinal number two and meant
what we now mean by second. It now has the
vaguer meaning of additional or different from,
but it is still used occasionally in its earlier
sense, as in we bake every other day. Because
it was once an ordinal number other may stand
before a cardinal, as ;n the other two men, and
because it no longer is an ordinal, it may stand
after a cardinal, as in the two other men.
Other is primarily an adjective and may
qualify either a singular or a plural noun, as in
the other man and the other men. It may also
be treated as a noun and given singular, plural,
and genitive forms, as other, others, other’s,
others’. (When used in this way it is ordinarily
called a pronoun.) The adjective form other
may be used alone as a noun in speaking of
more than one person, as in like other of the
world’s great men and two other among that
handful of young soldiers. This construction is
acceptable before the word of; otherwise, the
plural form others is preferred.
Other, in any of its forms, may be used in
a comparison with than, as in another world
than ours. Other followed by from, as in another
world from this, is not standard English.
Other is sometimes used as an adverb before
than, as in it was impossible for her to speak
other than kindly. This construction is acceptable
in the United States, but the regular adverbial
form otherwise is generally preferred in
any position that would call for an adverb. The
form otherwise may be used to qualify a preceding
noun, as in the workers, industrial or
otherwise. Very often this is an elaborate way
of saying something that could be said more
simply. But there is nothing wrong with the construction
grammatically. A noun may always be
followed by an adjective or an adverb, or by
both, as the noun is in angel visits, few and fur
between.
ought is an old past subjunctive form of the verb
owe. It has no corresponding present subjunctive
form. See subjunctive mode.
Grammatically, ought is a past tense form,
just as went is. The verb has no imperative, no
infinitive, no past participle, no -ing form, and
therefore cannot follow (that is, cannot be dependent
on) another verb. We can no more
say had ought, did ought, used to ought, than
we can say had went, did went, used to went.