Fifteen Thousand Useful Phrases - A Practical Handbook of Pertinent Expressions, Striking Similes - Commercial, Conversational, and Oratorical Terms for Embellishment of Speech and Literature

Oct 1, 2026

Fifteen Thousand Useful Phrases presents a practical handbook for improving English vocabulary and oral and written expression. It emphasizes the mastery of words and correct phrasing to achieve harmony, clarity, and effective communication. The introduction explains how a phrase functions within sentences and how rests support continuous meaning. The book organizes material into categories spanning useful phrases, significant and felicitous phrases, prepositional and business phrases, literary expressions, striking similes, conversational phrases, public speaking phrases, and miscellaneous phrases.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryLiterature

FormatPDF

Pages485

Reading Time12 h 27 min

AccessFree to download

PLAN OF CLASSIFICATION

SECTION I. USEFUL PHRASES

SECTION II. SIGNIFICANT PHRASES

SECTION III. FELICITOUS PHRASES

SECTION IV. IMPRESSIVE PHRASES

SECTION V. PREPOSITIONAL PHRASES

SECTION VI. BUSINESS PHRASES

SECTION VII. LITERARY EXPRESSIONS

SECTION VIII. STRIKING SIMILES

SECTION IX. CONVERSATIONAL PHRASES

SECTION X. PUBLIC SPEAKING PHRASES

SECTION XI. MISCELLANEOUS PHRASES

INTRODUCTION

Fifteen Thousand Useful Phrases Open Education Project OKFN, India FIFTEEN THOUSAND USEFUL PHRASES A PRACTICAL HANDBOOK OF PERTINENT EXPRESSIONS, STRIKING SIMILES, LITERARY. COMMERCIAL, CONVERSATIONAL, AND ORATORICAL TERMS, FOR THE EMBELLISHMENT OF SPEECH AND LITERATURE, AND THE IMPROVEMENT OF THE VOCABULARY OF THOSE PERSONS WHO READ, WRITE. AND SPEAK ENGLISH GRENVILLE KLEISER Fifteen Thousand Useful Phrases Open Education Project OKFN, India Open Knowledge Foundation Network, India : Open Education Project Help spreading the light of education. Use and share our books . It is FREE. Educate a child. Educate the economically challenged. Share and spread the word! Show your support for the cause of Openness of Knowledge . facebook: [https://www.facebook.com/OKFN.India](https://www.facebook.com/OKFN.India) twitter: [https://twitter.com/OKFNIndia](https://twitter.com/OKFNIndia) Website: [http://in.okfn.org/](http://in.okfn.org/) Fifteen Thousand Useful Phrases Open Education Project OKFN, India One cannot always live in the palaces and state apartments of language, but we can refuse to spend our days in searching for its vilest slums.—William Watson Words without thought are dead sounds; thoughts without words are nothing. To think is to speak low; to speak is to think aloud. —Max Muller The first merit which attracts in the pages of a good writer, or the talk of a brilliant conversationalist, is the apt choice and contrast of the words employed. It is indeed a strange art to take these blocks rudely conceived for the purpose of the market or the bar, and by tact of application touch them to the finest meanings and distinctions.—Robert Louis Stevenson It is with words as with sunbeams, the more they are condensed, the deeper they burn. —Southey No noble or right style was ever yet founded but out of a sincere heart. —Ruskin Words are things; and a small drop of ink, falling like dew upon a thought, produces that which makes thousands, perhaps millions, think.—Byron A good phrase may outweigh a poor library. —Thomas W. Higginson PLAN OF CLASSIFICATION SECTION I. USEFUL PHRASES II. SIGNIFICANT PHRASES III. FELICITOUS PHRASES IV. IMPRESSIVE PHRASES V. PREPOSITIONAL PHRASES VI. BUSINESS PHRASES VII. LITERARY EXPRESSIONS VIII. STRIKING SIMILES IX. CONVERSATIONAL PHRASES X. PUBLIC SPEAKING PHRASES XI. MISCELLANEOUS PHRASES INTRODUCTION The most powerful and the most perfect expression of thought and feeling through the medium of oral language must be traced to the mastery of words. Nothing is better suited to lead speakers and readers of English into an easy control of this language than the command of the phrase that perfectly expresses the thought. Every speaker's aim is to be heard and understood. A clear, crisp articulation holds an audience as by the spell of some irresistible power. The choice word, the correct phrase, are instruments that may reach the heart, and awake the soul if they fall upon the ear in melodious cadence; but if the utterance be harsh and discordant they fail to interest, fall upon deaf ears, and are as barren as seed sown on fallow ground. In language, nothing conduces so emphatically to the harmony of sounds as perfect phrasing—that is, the emphasizing of the relation of clause to clause, and of sentence to sentence by the systematic grouping of words. The phrase consists usually of a few words which denote a single idea that forms a separate part of a sentence. In this respect it differs from the clause, which is a short sentence that forms a distinct part of a composition, paragraph, or discourse. Correct phrasing is regulated by rests, such rests as do not break the continuity of a thought or the progress of the sense. GRENVILLE KLEISER, who has devoted years of his diligent life to imparting the art of correct expression in speech and writing, has provided many aids for those who would know not merely what to say, but how to say it. He has tau

FAQs

What is the main purpose of Fifteen Thousand Useful Phrases?

To help speakers and readers of English gain easy control of the language through mastery of words, correct phrasing, and a large set of practical expressions.

How does the book define a phrase compared with a clause?

A phrase is usually a few words expressing a single idea as a separate part of a sentence, while a clause is a short sentence that forms a distinct part of a composition, paragraph, or discourse.

How is the content organized in the handbook?

It follows a plan of classification with sections covering useful phrases, significant and felicitous phrases, impressive phrases, prepositional and business phrases, literary expressions, striking similes, conversational phrases, public speaking phrases, and miscellaneous phrases.

Oct 1, 2026

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