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It seemed to me that, if there was to be any competition in the matter, I stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. ibid. The chances are a hundred to one that we have no trouble.

ibid.

6. ACCOMPANY, ATTEND, ESCORT, CONVOY.

Accompany

the most general word to go along with, to go in company with; to play an accompaniment to. When used of things it means 'to be associated with, to be connected with'.

Attend to follow or accompany a person for purposes of duty; to be present for purposes of worship, instruction, business, entertainment, etc. We attend those whom we are bound to serve. When used figuratively it denotes result or consequence (a cold attended with fever).

Escort to accompany for the purpose of protection or as a mark of honour.

Convoy to accompany on the way either by sea or land; used esp. of ships of war transporting troops or accompanying merchant

vessels.

--

WATTS-DUNTON.

I went accompanied by my mother and brother. He told me also that he took a constitutional walk every day, and asked me if I would accompany him. - ibid.

Perhaps you would like to accompany mademoiselle? G. MOORE. A damp fog or mist accompanied by wind is a precursor of rain. G. F. CHAMBERS.

Manisty could not attend the ambassador to his carriage. MRS. WARD. When he was going, he was often attended to the water side by a great retinue of lords and gentlemen. T. B. MACAULAY.

Mary herself attended the mass service according to the old usage.

MANDELL CREIGHTON.

His surgeon was killed while attending on him. J. A. FROUDE.

The surgeon who attended us both, loudly admired our mutual delicacy in sparing arteries and vital organs.

G. MEREDITH.

We declined to be attended by link-boys; they would have hurt our sense of independence. ibid.

Diseases often attend intemperance.

After him followed the governor gallantly dressed and escorted by a company of soldiers and the officials of the prison. H. RIDER HAGGARD. The King therefore went, in a coach escorted by some of his body guards, through Turnham Green to the river. T. B. MACAULAY.

The Ambassador examined her through his half-closed eyes, and he meekly offered to escort her indoors to see his pictures. MRS. WARD.

On this occasion, however, she was unescorted except by a serving woman somewhat older than herself. H. RIDER HAGGARD.

-

C. OMAN.

The French king had collected an army in Normandy to invade England, and ordered up his ships from Brest to convoy it. On 10 June the Agamemnon was sent back to Bastia, to convoy the troops to the western side of the island. J. K. LAUGHTON.

Captain Bulsted convoyed me to pretty Irish-eyed Julia Rippinger.

G. MEREDITH.

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7. ACKNOWLEDGE, OWN, CONFESS, AVOW.

Acknowledge

the most general term to admit the knowledge

of; to admit the validity or the claims of; to report the receipt of. We acknowledge a debt, a favour, a letter, a fault, a mistake, a claim, the authorship of a book, etc.

Own to admit as a fact said esp. of things to one's disadvantage: a fault, a mistake, one's weakness or incapacity. The word is often used colloquially in the sense of 'to grant, to concede'.

Confess the strongest terin to make admission of something discreditable to ourselves: a sin, crime, weakness, theft, debt, fault, guilt, etc.

Avow a literary word always used in a good sense to declare boldly and openly one's principles, beliefs, opinions, feelings, or motives. The word implies consciousness of right in the person who acts.

While we thus acknowledge our limits, there is also reason for wonder at the extent to which science has mastered the system of nature. — J. TYNDALL. Thus science has taught us to acknowledge law and order everywhere.

A. W. BICKERTON.

A. BIRRELL.

I cheerfully acknowledge Mr. Collins's right to speak out. Europe has acknowledged him (scil. Ruskin) as a master of the beautiful and as the soul of our modern English art. F. HARRISON.

He acknowledges that it is his.

CONAN DOYLE.

I have carefully acknowledged my obligations to preceding writers.

E. DOWDEN.

I own myself an ass. R. L. STEVENSON.

Let each side own its fault and make amends! R. BROWNING.

He is and frankly owns himself to be a bookish man from the crown of his head to the sole of his foot.

A. BIRRELL.

I own that I have my doubts about the bears and serpents in the tales by the Baron.

A. LANG.

He had never before met a young unmarried woman who would have confessed to him any such knowledge. -H. FREDERIC.

CONAN DOYLE.

I confess that I can make neither head nor tail of it.
Horror at sin forces the sinner to confess it. J. A. FROUde.
She confessed she believed the devil went about in the night. - G. MEREDITH.

Interpretations of this kind, tacit or avowed, prevailed widely. H. SPENCER. Edward's first step was to avow his union with the widow of a slain Lancastrian, Dame Elizabeth Grey. J. R. GREEN.

By the next step the master of that nation avowed his mastery.-E. A. FREEMAN. Her nearest relatives were Mary Stuart and the House of Suffolk, one the avowed, the other the secret claimant of her throne. J. R. GREEN.

8. ACQUAINTANCE, FAMILIARITY, INTIMACY.

Acquaintance between persons implies that they know each other and have occasional intercourse: nodding acquaintance, speaking -, visiting

Familiarity implies frequent intercourse, and exists between persons who know each other well enough to dispense with constraint and ceremony; the word is sometimes used in an unfavourable sense for an undue liberty in act or speech.

Intimacy implies very close intercourse, and exists between people who communicate their thoughts and feelings freely to each other.

I dare say you think me too familiar on short acquaintance. · H. FREDERIC. So far as personal acquaintance went, the Irish had been to him only a name. ibid.

CONAN DOYLE.

I have some slight acquaintance with him. He had already made the intimate acquaintance of three men who were to be lifelong friends as well as rivals in genius. W. SHARP.

Children resent familiarity from strangers.

RUDYARD KIPLING.

-

R. L. STEVENSON.

The abstract butler never stoops to familiarity. A poor nature would have slipped, in the course of these familiarities, into a sort of worthless toleration of me. ibid.

Familiarity breeds contempt.

Young Lord Cressett, her husband, began to grumble concerning her intimacy with a man old enough to be her grandfather. G. MEREDITH. Hester made friends with her, in spite of the warnings of Mrs. Gresley that kindness was one thing and intimacy another. M. CHOLMONDELEY. Current scandal had indeed for several months accused Nelson and Lady Hamilton of an undue intimacy. J. K. LAUGHTON.

Janet now confessed to me that their intimacy had never known reserve.

G. MEREDITH.

9. ACTION, ACT, DEED, FACT, FEAT, EXPLOIT, ACHIEVEMENT.

Action

=

the most general term

denotes the exertion of energy.

In action in a state of acting as opposed to rest. In a special sense the word expresses the taking of legal steps to establish a claim and to punish or redress a wrong.

Act denotes the exercise of power by a moral agent. An act is single, individual, and momentary; an action is a complex of acts and occupies some time in doing: a thoughtless act; an act of cruelty, folly, crime.

Deed

--

graver and more formal than act and action is used for a great and important act, and with special reference to the result accomplished. A deed is good or bad, an act voluntary or involuntary.

=

Fact denotes something that has really occurred or is actually the case (in fact; the fact of the matter the truth). Used with reference to an evil deed in the phrases to confess the fact, before or after the fact.

Feat an act of remarkable strength, skill, or dexterity; a surprising trick: a feat of arms.

Exploit a performance displaying conspicuous bravery and skill; a spirited or heroic act: the exploits of Alexander the Great.

Achievement a remarkable and successful action; an important. result obtained by triumphing over enormous difficulties. Exploits are brilliant; but, as a rule, without any permanent result; an achievement is always enduring in its effect.

He still hoped to show himself a man of action instead of a mere dreamer and dawdler. LESLIE STEPHEN.

Every sudden emotion, including astonishment, quickens the action of the heart. C. DARWIN.

Byron.. has not a great artist's profound and patient skill in combining an action or in developing a character. MATTHEW ARNOLD.

Hot-headed men do not always pause to calculate the consequences of their actions. J. A. FROUDE.

During this time, too, several actions against him were brought or threatened on account of his conduct in the West Indies. J. K. LAUGHTON.

-

His very last act was to write a letter to a poor curate, enclosing a cheque for £25.

M. PATTISON.

At last his dim feelings grew more distinct, and took shape in thoughts and at last in acts. H. G. WELLS.

The last act of this brief and full existence was already near at hand.

R. L. STEVENSON.

It is lamentably true that this pupil of the great philosopher Aristotle showed the half barbarian in some acts of cruel injustice. — E. SANDERSON.

The story of Blake's deeds is worth telling. W. H. FITCHETT.

The Egyptian frescoes and the wall-sculptures of the Assyrians represent the deeds of leading men. H. SPENCER.

The murder was undoubtedly the deed of Bothwell.

J. R. GREEN.

You will soon have to answer for your deed at a higher court than the Assizes. CONAN DOYLE.

Here is a case in which it is very useful to distinguish between fact and hypothesis.

T. H. HUXLEY.

We are face to face with the fact that no great poetry is just now writing.

W. E. HENLEY.

H. SPENCER.

A candid admission of this fact is not without its reward. Historical facts can never be demonstrated with a completeness of proof which can leave no room for doubt. J. A. FROUDE.

Although this piece of legerdemain was performed regularly before two or four pairs of eyes, we could never catch him in the fact. — R. L. STEVENSON.

Round their camp-fire assembled savages tell the event of the day's chase; and he among them who has done some feat of skill or agility is duly lauded. H. SPENCER.

Such a feat implies not only admirable quickness of appreciation, but a rare literary faculty. LESLIE STEPHEN.

This grand feat of arms roused new life in the provinces, both Dutch and Belgian. F. HARRISON.

He was still the idol of the local clubs, and capable in his sober spells of amazing feats both of strength and endurance. MRS. WARD.

A little while ago . . everybody felt a more or less shamefaced satisfaction in the exploits of prize-fighters. And the exploits of the Admirals are popular to the same degree, and tell in all ranks of society. — R. L. STEVENSON. The prince, it is superfluous to mention, forgot none of those who served him in this great exploit. ibid.

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No wonder that after such an exploit Montrose overrated the possible results of his achievement. S. R. GARDINER.

He felt that to bring about a South African Dominion would be understood and admired in England as a brilliant and useful achievement. J. A. FROUde.

Do great works of art, the big achievements of the great artists, appeal to you, stir you up?

H. FREDERIC.

Shelley knew quite well the difference between the achievement of such a poet as Byron and his own.

MATTHEW ARNOLD.

What, after all, have these wonderful achievements done to elevate human nature? J. A. FROUDE.

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