Our
second was the study of individual words in two of their aspects--first,
as they are seen in isolation, next as they are seen in verbal families.
Now our third task confronts us. It is the study of words as they are
associated, not in actual blood kinship, but in meaning.
Such an association in meaning may involve only two words (pairs) or
larger groups. In this chapter we shall confine ourselves to the study of
pairs.
Of the relationship between pairs there are three types. In the first the
words are hostile to each other. In the second they may easily be confused
with each other. In the third they are parallel with each other. We shall
examine the three types successively.
But we must make an explanation first. Although we shall, in this and the
following chapters, have frequent occasion to give the meanings of
individual words, we shall give them without regard to dictionary methods.
We shall not attempt formal, water-tight, or exhaustive definitions; our
purpose is to convey, in the simplest and most human manner possible,
brief general explanations of what the words stand for.
Pairs of the first type are made up of words by nature opposite to each
other, or else thought of as opposite because they are so often
contrasted.
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