From Oscar Wilde's essay *The Decay of Lying* (1891). Select the word that fits the blank. "Mr. Henry James writes fiction as if it were a painful duty, and wastes upon mean motives and imperceptible 'points of view' his neat literary style, his ______ phrases, his swift and caustic satire."

Wilde is itemising the **virtues** of Henry James's prose that are being wasted on unworthy material. *Neat literary style*, *swift and caustic satire* — these are praise terms. The blank must therefore describe the *phrases* in flattering language: well-chosen, gracefully apt. "Felicitous" — apt, well-suited, fortunate in choice — captures exactly what Wilde is naming. A *felicitous phrase* is one that lands precisely, with effortless rightness. - "Monotonous" and "pompous" are pejoratives that would break the list of virtues. - "Obscure" is neutral-to-negative; Wilde is consistently complimenting James's style itself, only condemning its waste. *Felicity* (noun) means *aptness, happy quality* and survives in *felicitous* (adjective). Both contrast with *infelicitous*, *awkwardly chosen*.