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Bil' Bo'at Boo't Bush' U'se But' Boy' Lou't

ACCENT.

Syllables are connected so as to form words, by the use of accent.

Accent is a stress of the voice, laid on one syllable in a word, which distinguishes that syllable from the rest.

Accent is made two ways; either by dwelling longer upon one syllable in a word, than the rest; or, by giving one syllable a smarter stroke of the voice, in utterance. When the accent is made by dwelling on a syllable, it is on a vowel; as in paper, fever, final, glory, tu'tor. When the accent is made by a smart stroke of the voice, it is on a consonant, and the preceding vowel is always short; as in rap'id, rebel, river, modern, cus'tom. Every word in the English language, of more syllables than one, has one syllable distinguished by accent; and every monosyllable, a letter. In words of many syllables, there are commonly two accents perceived; the one stronger, the other fainter as in literature, im' portu"ne, as certa"in, or"atory.

SIMPLE AND COMPOUND Words.

Words are either simple or compound.

A simple word is that which cannot be divided into two or more words and retain sense; as work, man, federal, add. A compound word is that which is made up of two or more words; as, workman, antifederal, superadd.

Compound words are generally formed by prefixing one or more syllables to the primitive; as, hold, uphold: mix, intermix.

PRIMITIVE AND DERIVATIVE WORDS.

Words are either primitive or derivative.

A primitive word is that which is not derived from any word in our language; as, love.

A derivative word is that which comes from some other word; as from love, are derived loving, love-ly, love-liness.

EMPHASIS.

Words are connected so as to form sentences, by the use of emphasis.

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Emphasis is a forcible s

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Bee't Bet' Bi'te

stress of the voice laid on certain words in a sentence, in order to convey the meaning.

CADENCE.

Cadence is a falling of the voice at the close of a sentence.

LETTERS.

A letter is a character standing as the representative of

some articulate sound.

In the English alphabet there are twenty six characters; viz. a, b, c, d, e, f, g, h, i, j, k, l, m, n, 0, p; q r, s, t, u V, W, X, Y, Z. These are divided into vowels and consonants.

The vowels are, a, e, i, o, u, w, y.

The consonants are, b, c, d, f, g, h, j, k, l, m, n, p, q, r, s,

v, x, Z.

The consonants are divided into mutes and semivowels.
The mutes are, b, d, g, k, p, t.

The semi vowels are, f, l, m, n, r, s, V, Z.

REMARKS ON THE CHARACTERS.

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Two of the consonants are superfluous; c, and q: c having always the power of k, s, or z; an q, that of k. Two are marks of compound sounds; 7, and x., is the compound sound of ed ez-ba; and x, that of ks, or gz H is no mark of any articulate sound, but a mere effort of the breath. I and u, as sounded in bite, u use, are not simple ...sounds, but diphthongs. Thus, deducting the seven characters above mentioned, there remain but nineteen to represent all the simple sounds in our tongue, which, in reality, amount to twenty eight : Consequently, make a complete alphabet, in which every sound should have a mark peculiar to itself, there ought to be nine more characters or let

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In order to supply the deficiency of characters which represent the sounds of the vowels, we are obliged give the same character different sounds. Thus, the letter a has three different sounds; as in bake, bark, ball.

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Bit' Bo'at Boo't Bush' U'se But' Boy' Bou't

E has two; as in beet, bet. I has a diphthongal sound, as in bite; and a vocal sound, as in bit. O has two sounds, as in boat, boot. U has a diphthongal sound, as in use; and a vocal sound, as in but.

To supply the deficiency of characters, which represent the sounds of the consonants, we use the combinations th, sh, ng. Th represents two different sounds; an aspirated sound, as in breath; and a liquid sound, as in weather.

The simple sound ezh has no character to represent it, being formed by the sound of ex (commonly marked by s) coming before the diphthongal sounds ya, ye, yo, yoo, (mark. ed by ia, ie, io, and u) which being rapidly uttered, will un avoidably run into the simple sound exh; as in elysian, osier, occasion, usual, pleasure.*

PAUSES, OR STOPS.

The CHARACTERS made use of to mark PAUSES, are,

1. (,) The Comma,

2. ;) The Semicolon, 3. (The Colon,

4. (.) The Period,

5. (?) The Interrogation

Point,

6. (!) The Exclamation or Admiration Point.

POINTS EXPLAINED.

1. The Comma marks a pause while the reader may

count one.

2. The Semicolon, while he may count one, two.

3. The Colon, while he may count one, two, three.

4. The Period, while he may count one, two, three, four. The Interrogation and Exclamation Points are indeterminate as to their time, and may be equivalent, in that respect, to a semicolon, a colon, or a period, as the sense requires.

*The Author acknowledges himself indebted to the late Mr. SHERIDAN, for many of the foregoing observations.

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Bake Bark Back Ball Box' Bee't Bet' Bi'te

The other MARKS or CHARACTERS made use of in writing, are,

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