a:

ǎ:

ā:

a:

a:

ĕ:

EXERCISES.

VOWEL SOUNDS.

· (as in far.) Fa'ther, arm, arʼmy, are, alms, art, aunt, ah, laugh, taunt, flaunt, gaunt, balm, path, calf, calm, daunt, gape, guard, half, haunt, heart, hearth, heark'en, salve, sergeant, wrath.

(short, as in hăt.) At, apt, ac'rid, am'ber, bade, barrel, clam'ber, ca-năl', catch, fi-nance', gam'ut, gas, gath ́er, rath'er, plaid, bar'on, sac'ra-ment, mall, bal'co-ny, de-cant'er, stamp, in-hab'it, lar'um, rail'ler-y, tap'es-try, tar'ry.

(long, as in hāte.) Ale, an'gel, cham'ber, day, freight, o-bey', dan'ger, feign, gauge, grange, great, in-veigh', jail, prey, sleigh, steak, straight, blaʼzon, range, cam'bric, fla'grant, pa'tri-ot, pas'try.

·(broad, as in fall.) All, al'so, aught, awful, awl, balk, bal'sam, broad, cough, ex-alt', ought, salt, sauce, thought, trough (pronounced trawf), naugh'ty, daugh'ter, orb, lord, law, saw, morn, sau'cer, sau'cy, swarm, warn, ward, sward, swar'thy, hal'ter, al'ter, thrall'dom (spelt also thral'dom), ap-pall' (spelt also appal'), auction, halt.

· (indeterminate, as in ask, grasp. By some authorities, including Walker and Smart, the a in this class of words has the sound of short a, as in hut. Good usage, in some parts of the country, gives it a sound as open as that of a in far, father. Worcester assigns to it an intermediate place between the sounds of a in fut and a in far. As this intermediate sound is necessarily vague and undefined, teachers must use their discretion in choosing from the authorities.) Mask, grasp, ad-vance', pass, basket, branch, glance, dance, clasp, cask, flask, last, mast, fast, grass.

(as in care, share. Marked by Walker like long ã, as in hāte; but it is obviously a modification of this sound.) Dare, pair, bear, air, ere (meaning before), e'er (contraction of ev'er), ne'er (contraction of nev'er), rare, fair, lair, re-pair', snare.

(long, as in me.) Cede, brief, ca-price', de-ceit', con-ceit', de'mon, ea'gle, e'en, e'go-tist, ei'ther, nei'ther, fa-tigue', field, fiend, key, in-vei'gle, ma-rine', people, pique, quay (kē), re-ceipt', seize, siege, eel, ma-chine', po-lice', ra-vine', beard, mien, lei'sure, deed.

ĕ:-(short, as in mět.) Bed, a-gain', a-gainst', a'ny, bread, cel'lar, cleanse, deaf, en'gine, er'ring, fet'id, for-get', friend, get, guess,

i:

୪ :

heav'en, heifer, ket'tle, leopard, ma'ny, mer'ry, peasant, preface, ready, realm, said, says, tep'id, yet.

(as in her.) Herd, fern, fer'vid, bird, pearl, learn, earl, earth, heard, mercy, mirth, girl, con-firm', per'son, term, worm, stern, germ, e-ter'nal, terse, word, worth, worse, nurse, de-ter'inine, pert, re-hearse', first, nurst, worst, burst, furl, curl, world, whirl. (These sounds are now usually classed together, though some nic critics would have a difference in the vowel sounds of first, burst, girl, curl, &c.)

- (short, as in hit.) Bid, fill, been, build, bus'y, England, give, mirror, pretty, guilt, sieve, spirit, syn'od, vine'yard, wit'ty, wom'en, withe (the th aspirate, as in hăth), mount'ain, cap'tain, fount'ain, min'ute, mas'cu-line, gen'u-iǹe.

u:

(long, as in find; a compound vowel sound.) Bind, ap-ply', al-ly', buy, eye, guide, guile, high, in-dict', isle, o-blige', rye, sigh, sky, time, mild, child.

(long, as in nōte). Boat, beau, bone, both, bol'ster, bowl, bourn, bow'sprit, brooch, force, porch, portrait, co'coa, do'tard, dough, droll, en-gross', foe, follow, fel'low, mor'row, gourd, knoll, loth, most, only, o'ral, pa-trol', scroll, sew, strew, sloth, soap, stone, soul, toad, troll, trow, whole, woe.

-(short, as in got.) Hot, dross, flor'id, product, column, gloss, grov'el, hov'el, joc'und, knowledge, moth, qual'i-ty, sorry, swamp, squad'ron, trode, wan, wand, was, fore'head, watch, dollar, clock, nov'el, log, frog.

(as in full.) Book, butch'er, could, cush'ion, hook, look, pull, pul'pit, push, put, should, wolf, wool'en, wo'man, wood, would.

00:-(long, as in cool.) Bloom, bal-loon', bruise, ca-noe', croup, cruise, do, fruit, group, lose, moon, move, poor, prove, pru'dent, rheum, rou-tine' (pronounced roo-teen'), rude, rule, shoe, sur-tout', true, two, un-couth', who, prune.

(short, as in but.) Cut, a-bove', a-mong', blood, broth'er, color, com'bat, come, cous'in, does, done, dost, doth, double, dove, e-nough', flood, flourish, front, con-front', hurry, joust, mon'ey, none, nothing, some, tongue, young, slough (pronounced sluff), son, monk.

(long, as in mute. One of the vices of American pronunciation is to pervert the y sound of long u into oo; calling duke dook, dū'ty

ou:

dooty, tune toon, &c. Long u after r, in the same syllable, owing to the trilled quality of the r, may take the sound of long oo; after the other consonants it should retain its normal sound.) Cube, dew, due, feud, knew, neu'tral, new, pro-duce', stew, stu’dent, stupid, tube, Tues'day, tu'mid, tu'tor, con'sti-tute, in'sti-tute, view.

(as in house. This sound is often perverted into eeow, as if house were heeouse; cow, keeow. Nothing could be more offensive to correct ears.) Brow, cloud, down, dow'ry, crowd, drought, noun, count'y, now, out, powder, pro-nounce', town, vow, en-dow-ment. (as in voice. This sound we often hear perverted into long i, as if poi'son were pison; boys, bize. Avoid the tendency.) Boil, broil, choice, coin, foi'ble, hoist, joist, join, joint, loin, loi'ter, oil, oys'ter, point, poise, soil, spoil, toil, voy'age, roy'al.

CONSONANT SOUNDS.

h:-(as in hay.) Hall, ex-hort', ex-haust', ex-hib'it, harts'horn, host'ler (pronounced hos'ler), hum'ble, hom'age, while, whim, why, white, which.

ng:-(as in king. This sound is often clipped by bad readers. Do not say robin for rob'bing, mornin for morn'ing, &c.) Act'ing, be'ing, length, bank, sing, wrong, wring, see'ing, fill'ing, black'ing, giving, hang'ing.

m:

1:

r:

(as in maim. In such words as helm, elm, realm, chasm, prism, en-thu'si-asm, &c., beware of the tendency to convert them into helum, elum, &c.) Blame, column, con-demn', emp'ty, gum, hymn, lamb, limn (lim), e'go-tism, lim'ner, phlegm (flem), sol'emn, tempt'er.

(as in nun. In the following words we have Italicized the unsounded letters) Ba'sin, chick'en, con-dign', dead'en, deafen, e'ven, foreign, fro'zen, has'ten, heav'en, kneel, Lat'in, often rea'son, sat'in, slov'en, sto'len.

(as in lull. In the following words we have Italicized the unsounded letters). A'ble, cas'tle, chap'el, coun'sel, coun'cil, driv'el, e'vil, flan'nel, flow, grov'el, isle, par'cel, ti'tle, travel, wea'sel.

-(trilled, as in rough; untrilled, as in more.) Bring, grape, libra-ry, pray, try, strive, trill, tray. Ar'dor, but'ter, care, ex-pire', or'der, pure, virtue, mar'tyr.

2

p and b:

COGNATE CONSONANT SOUNDS.

(p, aspirate, as in pipes.) Apt, hap'py. pert, pomp, prop'er. (b, vocal, as in bribe.) Babe, barb, bib, bulb, ebb, glebe, tube, cub, blab.

. and V: (f, aspirate, as in fife.) Chafe, draught, ep'i-taph, graph'ic, half, oft'en, soft'en, sphere, trough (trof), pamphlet, pheasant, lymph, nymph, hyphen. (v, vocal, as in valve.) Brave, drive, halve, hive, of, Stephen, viv'id, void.

th in thin, and th in this: (th, aspirate, as in thin.) Both, breath, e'ther, lōth, mouth, oath, pan'ther, path, sixth, thank, think, trðth, truth, thou'sandth, twelfth. —(th, vocal, as in this.) Breathe, bathe, baths, be-neath', blithe, booth, booths, ei'ther, mouth (when a verb), mouths, oaths, paths, the, thither, with.

t and d: (t, aspirate, as in trite.) Debt, doubt, drought, hurt, kite, in-dict', laughed, sub'tle, test, time, vict'ual, wrecked.—(d, vocal, as in did.) Deed, charmed, could, ebbed, judged, made, would, should. k and g: -(k, aspirate, as in kick.) Ache, af-fect', chord, clear, clock, conch, dis'tich, ep'och, folks, flac'cid (flak'sid), quake, quick, skep'tic. (g, vocal, as in gag.) Gib'ber, gid'dy, gig, gim'let, gimp, keg, phys-i-og'no-my, ragʻged, rogue, vague.

8 and Z (s, aspirate, as in sister.) Dose, gas, griefs, hosts, cent, cease, prec'i-pice, false, fas'ci-nate, scene, scep'ter, sci'ence, tac'it, use (when a noun), verse, ver-bose'. — (z, vocal, as in gaze.) Doze, baths, caves, has, hous'es, is, oaths, ob-serves', re-sume', use (when a verb), ven'i-son, views, was, ways.

sh and z as in az'ure:

-(sh, aspirate, as in shine.) Chaise, cha-rade', chan-de-lier', chiv'al-ry, ma-chine', marsh, shall, shriek, shrill, shrink, shrub, shrine, shrimp, shroud, shrew.—(z, vocal, as in az'ure.) Glaʼzier, lei'sure, o'sier, rouge, treas'ure, vision.

ch and j:

- (ch, aspirate, as in each.) Beach, chair, chest, check, chin, inch, march, milch, much, niche, satch'el, scorch.—(j, vocal, as in jar.) Age, huge, jump, gel'a-tin, gel'id, gem, gib'bet, gibe, giblet, gip'sy, gist, refuge, reg'is-ter, a-nal'o-gy, stage, jail, gin'ger, judge, sug-gest', gyve, je-june'.

w and y, when they end a word or syllable, as in now, dow'ry, fly'ing, try, become vowels. When they begin a word or syllable, as in will, a-ward', ye, they are regarded as having the force of consonants.

THE UNACCENTED VOWEL SOUNDS, &c.

A feeble enunciation of the unaccent'ed syllables is a common fault but an over precision should be avoided; practice the following: ev'er-y, de-liv'er-er, de-liv'er-ance, mu'sic-al, med'al, en'er-gy, rev'er-ent, civ’il, re'al.

;

Of the perversion of the diphthongs ou and oi, by which count is converted into caount, town into taown, &c., and voice into vice, joint into jint, &c., we have already spoken. Persons habituated to this fault are generally unaware of it.

Do not change the w at the end of the words saw, law, draw, &c., to r, as if they were sor, lor, dror, &c.

Do not give the sound of short u to short a before nt and ss, in a final unaccented syllable, as in arʼro-gant, in'fant, tres'pass, main'te-nance, dor'mant, re-luc'tant; or the same sound of u to the final syllables en, ent, and ěnce, as in con-tentment, gen'tle-men, prov'i-dence, in'so-lent. In these syllables there should be a delicate sound of short a and short e, without stress.

The vowel before final l, in e'vil, driv'el, grov'el, &c., is unsounded; but in most other words it should be sounded in the unaccented syllable; as, pen'cil, an'vil, fi'nal, me'dal, nov'el, model, par'cel, chap'el, rev'el. Short i before n is subject to the same remark; as, Lat′in, mat'in, satʼin, cer'tain, mount'ain, cap'tain, fountain (pronounced cer'tin, &c.) But in cous'in, ba'sin, &c., the i is not heard

Short e before n, when they make a final syllable not under accent, should be sounded, in sud'den, kitchen, slov'en, chil'dren, lin'en, chick'en, &c., and also before d in hun'dred; but in nearly all other words ending in unaccented en, the e of this syllable should be silent; as, heav'en, e-lev'en, garden, giv'en, e'ven, often, o'pen, soft'en, &c.; and the o should be silent in dea'con, par'don, trea'son, weap'on, ba'con, bea'con, per'son, rea'son, &c.

EXPLANATIONS.

In the spelling and defining lessons, the following abbreviations have been used a for adjective; ad. for adverb; con. for conjunction; n. for name or noun; obs. for obsolete; pl. for plural; pp. for participle passive; ppr. for participle present; prep. for preposition; pret. for preterit tense; v. i. for verb intransitive; v. t. for verb transitive.

Forms indicating the pronunciation of the whole or a part of a word are sometimes placed in parenthesis between the word and the definition. The long vowel mark, or måkron, and the short vowel mark, or breve, are occasionally placed over vowel letters, in the text. This is generally