LIST H

Study the discriminations between the members of the following pairs.  Determine whether the words are correctly used in the illustrative sentences. (Some are; some are not.)

Friendly, amicable. Friendly denotes goodwill positive in quality though perhaps limited in degree; we may be friendly to friends, enemies, or strangers. Amicable is negative, denoting absence of open discord:  it is used of those persons between whom some connection already exists.  “The newcomer has an amicable manner.”  “Both sides were cautious, but at last they reached a friendly settlement.”  “I have only amicable feelings for an enemy who is thus merciful.”  “The two met, if not in a friendly, at least in an amicable way.”

Willing, voluntary.  Both words imply an act of the will; but willing adds positive good-nature, desire, or enthusiasm, whereas voluntary conveys little or nothing of the emotional attitude. Voluntary is often thought of in contrast with mechanical.  “They made willing submission.”  “They rendered whole-hearted and voluntary service.”  “Though torn by desire to return to his mother, he willingly continued his journey away from her.”  “The sneeze was unwilling.”

Greedy, voracious. Greedy denotes excessiveness (usually habitual) of appetite or, in its figurative uses, of desire; it nearly always carries the idea of selfishness. Voracious denotes intense hunger or the hasty and prolonged consumption of great quantities of food; it may indicate, not habitual selfishness, but the stress of circumstances.  “Nobody else I know is so greedy as he.”  “The young poet was voracious of praise.”  “Trench, though a capital fellow, was so hungry that he ate voraciously.”

Offspring, progeny. Offspring is likely to be used when our thought is chiefly on the children, progeny when our thought is chiefly on the parents. Offspring may be used of one or many; progeny is used in collective reference to many.  “He was third among the progeny who won distinction.”  “They are the progeny of very rich parents.”  “Clayton left his offspring well provided for.”

Ghost, spirit. Ghost is the narrower term.  It never expresses, as spirit does, the idea of soul or of animating mood or purpose.  With reference to incorporeal beings, it denotes (except in the phrase “the Holy Ghost”) the reappearance of the dead in disembodied form. Spirit may denote a variety of incorporeal beings—­among them angels, fairies (devoid of moral nature), and personalities returned from the grave and manifested—­seldom visibly—­through spiritualistic tappings and the like.  “The superstitious natives thought the spirit of their chief walked in the graveyard.”  “The ghost of the ancestors survives in the descendants.”  “I can call spirits from the vasty deep.”