But the majority of speakers and writers pay more heed to rough
general substance than to separate instruments and items. Hence we have
thought best to begin where most work is going on already--with words in
combination.
As you turn from the groups to the individuals, you must understand that
your labors will be onerous and detailed. You must not assume that by
nature all words are much alike, any more than you assume that all men are
much alike. Of course the similarities are many and striking, and the
fundamental fact is that a word is a word as a man is a man. But you will
be no adept in handling either the one or the other until your knowledge
goes much farther than this. Let us glance first at the human variations.
Each man has his own business, and conducts it in his own way--a way never
absolutely matched with that of any other mortal being. All this you may
see. But besides the man's visible employment, he may be connected in
devious fashions with a score of enterprises the public knows nothing
about. Furthermore he leads a private life (again not precisely
corresponding to that of any other), has his hobbies and aversions, is
stamped with a character, a temperament of his own.
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