A Dictionary of Cont..

it means cognizant, keenly aware (usually
followed bv of, as in He was sensible of his
intellectual* lit&ations) ; appreciable, considerable
(There has been a sensible increase in ,the
warmth of our winters in the past thirty years
or There has been a quite sensible reduction in
the price of coffee during the past six months).
It can also mean capable of being perceived by
the senses (Plato regarded the sensible universe
as an imperfect imitation of the real universe)
or perceptible to the mind; conscious; or capable
of feeling or perceiving, as organs or parts
of the body (though for this meaning the negative,
insensible, is more often used since, in
many contexts-such as The stomach is a sensible
orgon-there might be a ludicrous ambiguity
) .
Sensitive means endowed with sensation
(Despite the local anaesthetic, his jaw was still
sensitive); readily affected by external agencies
or influences (Most politicians are sensitive Co
public opinion); having acute mental or emotional
sensibility, easily affected, pained or
annoyed (A favorite theme of the modern novel
is the education of the sensitive young man);
pertaining to or connected with the senses or
sensation. The word also has certain specialized
scientific meanings. In physiology it means
having a low threshold of sensation, responding
easily to stimulation (Some plants are highly
sensitive; their leaves draw back when touche#d).
In chemistry and biochemistry it means highly
susceptible to certain agents (Photographic
films and plates are sensitive to light). In
physics and mechanical matters it means constructed
to indicate, measure, or be affected by,
small amounts or changes, as a balance or
thermometer. In radio it means easily affected
by external influences, especially radio waves.
sensible; sensitive; susceptible. Sensible of e:xpresses
emotional consciousness (I am sensible
of the suffering you are undergoing. I am
sensible of the many kindnesses that you have
shown me). Sensitive to expresses acute feeling
(His pallid skin was sensitive to the glaring sunlight).
Susceptible to or of expresses quick
reaction to stimulus (In his weakened condition
he was very susceptible to colds). Used by itself
and of a young man susceptible usually means
easily affected by female charms. In this sense
it is almost a clicht.
sensitiveness; sensitivity; sensibility. Sensitiveness
is the general term to describe the state Ior
quality of being sensitive in both physiological
and psychological contexts, having a capacity
of sensation and of responding to external
stimuli (Parts of the body which lose all sensitiveness
are likely to be seriously injured).
Sensitivity is the especially physiological version
of sensitiveness. It describes the ability of an
organism or part of an organism to react to
stimuli; degree of susceptibility to stimulation
(If the sensitivity of women were really, as so
often claimed, superior to that of men, they
would be universally employed as piano-tuners,
441 sentence adverbs
tea-tasters, and wool-sorters). Sensitivity is
often used where sensitiveness would be more
appropriate (as in It was generally felt that his
sensitivity over the scandal was excessive).
Sensibility does not refer to being sensible
but to being sensitive, in a special way. It
now means the capacity to respond to aesthetic
or emotional stimuli, delicacy of emotional or
intellectual perception. William Elton (A guide
to the New Criticism, Chicago, 1953, p. 39)
limits the word to define “an innate sensitivity
of the poet which permits him to absorb the
appropriate experience, and to create, out of
that experience, the substance and feeling of
art.”
sensual; sensuous; sensory. Sensory means pertaining
to sensation; noting a structure that
conveys an impulse that results or tends to
result in sensation, as a nerve. The word
sensory is easily distinguishable from sensual
and sensuous which are sometimes confused.
Sensuous means of or pertaining to the
senses, as opposed to the intellect. It was apparently
invented by Milton who wanted to
avoid certain connotations of sensual. He referred
to poetry as being simple, sensuous, and
passionate. Coleridge picked the word up in
1814, attributing it correctly to Milton but
adding vaguely that it had also been used “by
many other of our elder writers.” Thus sensuous
refers favorably to what is experienced through
the senses. Sensual, meanwhile, has rather
strengthened the taint that Milton wished to
avoid and now refers entirely to those enjoyments
derived from the senses with a connotation
of grossness or lewdness (sensual excesses,
the sensual pleasures of the glutton).
sent. See send.
sentence adverbs. An adverb may qualify one
word in a sentence or it may qualify the entire
statement. When it qualifies a single word it
normally stands immediately before that word.
(See adverbs.) When it qualifies the entire statement
it may stand in any of several positions,
but as a rule there is very little choice as to
which of these it must occupy. A misplaced
adverb simply does not say what the speaker
intended it to.
1. In a declarative sentence, that is, in a
sentence that makes an assertion, the primary
position for a sentence adverb is immediately
before or actually inside the verb form. In a
simple tense where there is no auxiliary verb,
the adverb stands between the subject and the
verb, as in he soon forgot. (Simple tenses of
the verb to be are an exception and are discussed
below under the second position for
sentence adverbs.) In the other tenses the
adverb normally follows the first auxiliary, as
in he will never forget and he has never been
forgotten.
If an adverb is placed between the subject
and the first auxiliary verb, it puts a heavy
stress on the auxiliary. This is sometimes appropriate
in an emphatic or contradictory state.-