its correlative t, because it is made to unite with a preceding aspirate. In the present state of the language, this rule is quite uniform, as may be seen in the past tenses and participles of several verbs; as, looked look'd = lookt. This will account for the changes in many of the verbs now called irregular; 1s, weep, weeped wep'd wept. So sleep, creep. 3. When they represent two liquids, they are always similar (5, 8, 9), and their sounds, with some exceptions, readily coalesce; as arm, elm, barn, marl. N becomes silent after m, as in hymn, and after 7 in kiln. 4. When they represent, the one a mute, and the other a liquid, even though dissimilar, their sounds readily unite; as, spend, spent, halt, hart. (See 5, 10, (d).) 5. When two identical letters (double letters) come together, whether standing for mutes or liquids, they seldom represent more than a single sound (11, 3); thus, egg, butt, ebb, whiff = eg, but, eb, whif. 14. Union of Vowels and Consonants. 1. Any consonant sound may unite with a vowel sound; as, an, no, did, call. 15. Exercise. 1. Point out the vowel combinations in the following words; tell whether the diphthongs are proper or improper :— Fear, pear, voice, sound, pierce, receive, Europe, people, view, adieu, beauty, though, chief, fail, Cæsar, how, sew, gaol, mail, deal. 2. Point out the consonant combinations in the following, and tell what letters are identical, and what are changed into their correlatives:— Birds, blend, apt, capped, clapped, buzz, mats, heads, beads, brought, off, skiff, pass, insist, first, faced, round, word, gird, gold, sold, bulb, verb, worm, last, craft, compact, acts. SYLLABLES. 16. Formation of Syllables. 1. A syllable is a letter or combination of letters uttered with one impulse of the voice; as, mat, mat-ter, ma-te-ri-al. 2. The essential part of a syllable is a vowel. NOTE.-By vowel here is meant a vowel sound, whether represented by a single letter, a diphthong or a triphthong. 3. A syllable may consist,- (a.) Of a vowel; as, a-cre, ci-ther. Union of liquids,-of identical letters,-of vowels and consonants. Syllables. essential part of, (b.) Of a vowel with one or more consonants prefixed; as, ba-sis, bri-er, three, phhi-sis. (c.) Of a vowel with one or more consonants affixed; as, in, elf, inter-ests, earths. (d.) Or a vowel with one or more consonants both prefixed and affixed; as, n-00-n, tr-u-th, thr-u-sts. 4. A vowel is said to be modified by the consonant which unites with it. Thus, in model, o, and not e, is modified by d. 5. The process of combining elementary parts is called synthesis, and that of separating a combination into its elements is called analysis. NOTE. In analyzing a syllable, let the learner tell, (1.) the essential part, that is, the vowel or diphthong; (2.) the consonant or combination (13.) of consonants which is prefixed to it; (3.) the consonant or combination of consonants which is affixed to it. 17. Exercise. MODELS FOR ANALYZING SYLLABLES. An... is a syllable consisting of two elements:— A n... is the essential element,-it is a vowel. (Give its sound.) Break. is a syllable consisting of three parts: ea... is the essential part,-it is a diphthong (why?), improper (why?); e is silent,- -a only is sounded. (Give its sound.) Br... is a union (13.) of two consonants, both representing subvocals, b and r, which are prefixed to ea. (Give their sounds separately, then together.) k . . . . is a consonant representing an aspirate, and is affixed to ea. (Give its sound.) 1. Analyze the following syllables, and describe each element: Kite, dog, numb, boat, friend, truth, day, wax, bat, view, sound, aid, meet, suit, rude, the, think, sit, leave, three, bursts, threats. 2. Form syllables by prefixing ONE consonant to a, ay, ey, ou, ieu, y; TWO Or MORE consonants to e, oo, oe, i, ou, oi, ee, ea, ay, ey; by affixing ONE, TWO, or THREE consonants to any five of the above vowels or diphthongs. 3. Form ten syllables in which one, two, or more consonants shall be prefixed and affixed to any vowel or union of vowels. WORDS. 18. Words Classified by their Syllables. 1. A word is one or more syllables used as the sign of an idea. Formation of syllables. Vowel modified. Synthesis. Analysis. Words. REMARK.-Written words are used to represent both sounds and ideas. As the representatives of sounds, they are classified according to the number of syllables they contain. 2. A word of one syllable is called a monosyllable; as, boy, pen, tree. 3. A word of two syllables is called a dissyllable; as, na-ture, faith-ful. 4. A word of three syllables is called a trisyllable; as, nat-u-ral, faith-ful-ness. 5. A word of four or more syllables is called a polysyllable; as, unnut-u-ral, un-faith-ful-ness. 6. Accent is a stress of the voice placed upon a particular syllable, to distinguish it from others. 7. Every word of more than one syllable has one of its syllables accented. 8. The accented syllable may be either the first, last, or a middle syllable; as, du'ty, belong', pre-parling. 9. Some words have a primary and secondary accent; as, in'! defat'igable, incomprehen'sible. NOTE. In analyzing a word according to its syllables, it should be separated by (31, 1), the accented syllable pointed out, and then each syllable analyzed as in (17). 19. Exercise. MODELS FOR ANALYZING WORDS. Faithfulness. is a trisyllable; repeat (18, 4). Faith ..... is the accented syllable; repeat (18, 6). ful and ness. are unaccented syllables. Change the accent first to ful, then to ness; restore it to its true place. Analyze each syllable, (17). 1. Analyze and describe the following words:— Beat, said, tree; friendship, social, himself, stately; complaining, interpret, indolence; incessantly, condemnation, interdicting, domesticate; consanguinity, confederation, impenetrable; mispronunciation, incomprehensible, indefatigable; impenetrability; incomprehensibility. 2. Correct the accent in the following words : Local', indolence, memorable, ig/noble, frequently, lament/able, actual, indisputable, immuta/ble, retro/spect, com/pletion, lateʼral. 3. Change the accent in the following words to the second syllable, and give their meaning:— August, con'jure, des'ert, en'trance, min'ute, pres/ent, project, in'valid. Monosyllables. Dissyllables. Trisyllables. Polysyllables. Accent. 4. Write the following words upon your slate, and divide them into syllables, marking the accented syllable: Conscience, detecting, inability, indubitable, commotion, laborious, relate, detestation, infesting, exemplary. MODEL. Con/science. 20. Primitive, Derivative, and Compound Words. 1. A word in no way derived from a radical is a primitive word; as, form, harm. 2. A radical is a word or part of a word wholly underived from any other word. 3. A word formed by joining to a radical some letter or sylla ble, to modify its meaning, is a derivative word; as, re-form, harm-less. 4. A word formed by uniting two or more entire words is a compound word; as, inkstand, schoolhouse. 5. The parts of those compounds which have been long in use are generally united closely; as, nevertheless, sunrise; in others, the hyphen (-) is used to separate the parts; as, labor-saving. 21. Exercise. 1 Tell which of the following words are PRIMITIVE, which DERIVATIVE, and which cOMPOUND: Bright, fair, told, meek, some, playful, joyless, income, bookstore, play-mate, cloud-capped, ink, housetop, fearful, reform, dismember, dreary. 2. Form derivative words from the following primitives, and draw a line under the added syllable or letter :— Hope, fear, harm, love, care, know, peer, ape, weed, cloud, form, grade, place, joy, truth, poet, fade, weep, laugh. MODEL. Hopeless. 3. Form compound words by joining some appropriate word to each of the following: Air, chest, alms, bank, birth, bill, fire, eye, weed, toll, wood, foot, work, play, land, busy, tree, breeze. MODEL. Air-pump. SPELLING. 22. Spelling Defined. Spelling is the art of representing words by their proper letters; Primitive, derivative, and compound words. Radicals. Spelling. it may be treated of under the three classes of words,—primitive, derivative, and compound. PRIMITIVE WORDS. 23. Rules for Primitives. NOTE.-The spelling of primitive words should be learned mainly from the dictionary or spelling book. The following are the most obvious rules:— 1. RULE I. Monosyllables ending in f, l, or s, preceded by a single vowel, double the final consonant; as, stuff, bell, miss. If, of, as, gas, was, has, yes, is, his, this, us, thus, are exceptions. 2. RULE II. Words ending in any other consonant than ƒ, 1, or s, do not double the final letter; as, put, rap, on, trim, brag, star. Add, odd, ebb, egg, inn, bunn, err, burr, purr, butt, buzz, fuzz, are exceptions. DERIVATIVE WORDS-PREFIXES. 24. Rules for applying Prefixes. NOTE. In the formation of derivative words, the final letters of the primitive, as well as those of the prefix, often undergo a change. Hence the following rules should be studied with care. 1. That part of a derivative word which is placed before the radical is called a prefix; as, re-turn, pre-pay. NOTE. In applying prefixes to radicals, certain changes often take place, to render the sound more agreeable. These changes are made according to the following rules: 2. RULE I. DROPPING THE FINAL LETTER.-The final letter of a prefix is sometimes omitted; as, co-existent, for con-existent; ant-arctic, for anti-arctic. 3. RULE II. CHANGING THE FINAL LETTER.-The final letter of a prefix is often changed to one which will harmonize, in sound, with the initial letter of the radical; as, im-pious, for in-pious. (a.) The final letter of the prefix generally becomes the same as the first letter of the radical; as, il-limitable. (b.) The principal prefixes which undergo this change are ad (ac, af, ag, al, an, ap, ar, as, at); con (cog, com, col, cor); en (ein); e (ex, ec, ef); dis (dif, di); ob (of, oc, op); sub (suc, suf, sug, sup, sur); syn (sym, syl). Primitives in f, 1, or s. Prefixes. Rules for final letter. |