First Page:
{Transcribers Notes:
Do you remember how to spell "pharmacopoeia" or "Winnipiseogee"? This was
for sixth grade! Here is a chance to expand your vocabulary or just enjoy
a trip to the grade school of 1900.The original text uses a specialized font to indicate pronunciation.
Italics are used to specify words or syllables in the text. The
approximations given here retain only the emphasis (accent). See the DOC
or PDF format for the original graphics.
Don Kostuch}
ECLECTIC EDUCATIONAL SERIES.
McGUFFEY'S [Registered]
ECLECTIC
SPELLING BOOK.
REVISED EDITION.
McGuffey Editions and Colophon are Trademarks of
John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
NEW YORK CHICHESTER WEINHEIM BRISBANE SINGAPORE TORONTO
PREFACE.
In revising this book, care has been taken to preserve all the excellences
that have so long and so favorably distinguished McGUFFEY'S ECLECTIC
SPELLING BOOK: and the chief changes that have been made, have been
suggested by the evident plan of the original work.
The old system of indicating the pronunciation by numerals, called
"superiors," has been abandoned, and the diacritical marks used by Webster
have been adopted. The Revised Speller conforms in orthography,
pronunciation, and syllabication to the latest edition of Webster's
Unabridged Dictionary. Exercises have been given on each of the
distinctive marks used in the book, as will be seen by reference to
Lessons 36 57.
A number of lessons have been added in the department of prefixes and
suffixes, and now nearly all the more common of these etymological
principles have been explained. (See Lessons 136 167.) In arranging the
text of the several lessons, the object has been not to appeal merely to
arbitrary memory, but to associate each lesson with some principle of
sound, meaning, or accent, which would tend to aid the pupil in acquiring
a knowledge of our language. Several distinct lessons on pronunciation are
given, and towards the close of the book numerous lessons of difficult
words in orthography have been introduced.
Instead of indicating silent letters by italics, as has hitherto been
done, a new type has been made in which such letters are canceled, thus
enabling the pupil to discover their status at a glance.
The pages have been enlivened, as in the other books of this Series, by
attractive engravings.
The publishers take pleasure in acknowledging the valuable services of
W. B. Watkins, D. D., who planned and executed this revision.
DECEMBER, 1879.
16
Copyright, 1879, by Van Antwerp, Bragg & Co.
THE ENGLISH ALPHABET.
The English Alphabet consists of twenty six letters, viz.:
a,b,c,d,e,f,g,h,i,j,k,l,m,n,o,p,q,r,s,t,u,v,w,x,y,z.
Letters are divided into VOWELS and CONSONANTS.
The Vowels are those letters which can be perfectly sounded without the
aid of any other letter. The vowels are a, e, i, o, u, w, and y.
The vowel sounds of w and y are the same as those of u and i. A, e, and o
are always vowels. I, u, w, and y are sometimes consonants.
A Diphthong is the union of two vowels in one sound. When both vowels are
sounded, the diphthong is called PROPER, because then it is really a
DIPHTHONG, or double sound; that is, the sounds of the vowels unite; as,
oi in oil; ou in sound.
When only one of the vowels is sounded, the diphthong is called IMPROPER,
because then, as one of the vowels is silent, it is not properly a
DIPHTHONG, though it takes that name; as, oa in boat, ui in suit, where a
and i are silent.
The following diphthongs are in common use, viz.: oi, oy, ou, ow, ae, ai,
au, aw, ay, ea, ei, eo, eu, ew, ey, ia, ie, oa, oe, ua, ue, ui; as in
toil, boy, round, plow, seal, coal, head, sail, say, aught, yeoman. Of
these, oi, oy, ou, and ow are generally proper diphthongs; though
sometimes ou and ow are improper, as in famous, where o is silent, and in
slow, where w is silent.
A Triphthong is the union of three vowels in one syllable; as, eau in
beau, iew in view. The triphthong is properly a union of letters, not
sounds.
OF THE VARIOUS SOUNDS... Continue reading book >>
