A triphthong is three vowels joined in one syllable; as, eau in beau, iew in view.

A proper triphthong is a triphthong in which all the vowels are sounded; as, uoy in buoy.

An improper triphthong is a triphthong in which only one or two of the vowels are sounded; as, eau in beauty.

Obs. 1.-The diphthongs in English are twenty-nine. Some of them, being variously sounded, may be either proper or improper. Obs. 2.-The proper diphthongs are thirteen; ay—ia, ie, io-oi, ou, ow, oy-ua, ue, ui, uo, uy.

Obs. 3.-The improper diphthongs are twenty-six; aa, ae, ai, ao, au, aw, ay-ca, ee, ei, eo, eu, ew, ey—ie—oa, oe, oi, oo, ou, ow—ua, ue, ui, uo, uy.

Obs. 4.-The only proper triphthong is uoy, given in the example above; unless uoi, as in quoit, may be added.

Obs. 5.-The improper triphthongs are sixteen; awe, aye—cau, eou, ewe, eye-ieu, iew, iou-oeu, owe-uai, uaw, uay, uea, uee.

Obs. 6.-In dividing words into syllables, we are to be directed chiefly by the ear; it may however be proper to observe, as far as practicable, the following rules:

I. Consonants should generally be joined to the vowels or diphthongs which they modify in utterance; as, ap-os-tol-i-cal.

II. Two vowels coming together, if they make not a diphthong, must be parted in dividing the syllables; as, a-e-ri-al.

III. Derivative and grammatical terminations should generally be separated from the radical words to which they have been added; as, harm-less, great-ly, connect-ed.

IV. Prefixes, in general, form separate syllables; as, mis-place, out-ride, up-lift: but if their own primitive meaning be disregarded, the case may be otherwise; thus, re-create and rec-reate are words of different import.

V. Compounds, when divided, should be divided into the simple words which compose them; as, no-where.

VI. At the end of a line, a word may be divided, if necessary; but a syllable must never be broken.

CHAPTER III.-OF WORDS.

A Word is one or more syllables spoken or written as the sign of some idea, or of some manner of thought.

SPECIES AND FIGURE OF WORDS.

Words are distinguished as primitive or deriv

The former

ative, and as simple or compound. division is called their species; the latter, their figure.

A primitive word is one that is not formed from any simpler word in the language; as, harm, great, connect.

A derivative word is one that is formed from some simpler word in the language; as, harmless, greatly, connected.

A simple word is one that is not compounded, not composed of other words; as, watch, man.

A compound word is one that is composed of two or more simple words; as, watchman, nevertheless.

Obs. 1.-Permanent compounds are consolidated; as, bookseller, schoolmaster: others, which may be called temporary compounds, are formed by the hyphen; as, glass-house, negro-merchant.

Obs. 2.-The compounding of words produces new ones, which are not always good; and the sundering of just compounds produces solecisms, or ungrammatical phrases. Hence the figure of words should be subjected to rules. To supply so obvious a want, I have framed the following hints:

I. COMPOUNDS.-Words regularly or analogically united, and commonly known as compounds, should never be needlessly broken apart.

II. SIMPLES.-When the simple words would only form a regu lar phrase, of the same meaning, the compounding of any of them ought to be avoided.

III. THE SENSE.-Words otherwise liable to be misunderstood, must be joined together, or written separately, as the sense and construction may happen to require.

IV. ELLIPSES.-When two or more compounds are connected in one sentence, none of them should be split to make an ellipsis of half a word.

V. THE HYPHEN.-When the parts of a compound do not fully coalesce, as to-day, to-night, to-morrow; or when each retains its original accent, so that the compound has more than one, or one that is movable, as first-born, hanger-on, laughter-loving, the hyphen should be inserted between thein.

VI. No HYPHEN.-When a compound has but one accented syl lable in pronunciation, as watchword, statesman, gentleman, and the parts are such as admit of a complete coalescence, no hyphen should be inserted between them.

CHAPTER IV.-OF SPELLING.

Spelling is the art of expressing words by their proper letters.

Obs. This important art is to be acquired rather by means of the spelling-book or dictionary, and by observation in reading, than by the study of written rules. The orthography of our language is attended with much uncertainty and perplexity: many words are variously spelled by the best scholars, and many others are not usually written according to the analogy of similar words. But to be ignorant of the orthography of such words as are uniformly spelled and frequently used, is justly considered disgraceful. The following rules may prevent some embarrassment, and thus be of service to the learner.

RULES FOR SPELLING.

RULE I-FINAL F, L, OR S.

Monosyllables ending in f, l, or s, preceded by a single vowel, double the final consonant: as, staff, mill, pass; except three inf -clef, if, of; four in l—bul, nul, sal, sol; and eleven in s-as, gas, has, was, yes, is, his, this, us, thus, pus.

RULE II.-OTHER FINALS.

Words ending in any other consonant than f, l, or s, do not double the final letter; except abb, ebb, add, odd, egg, inn, err, burr, purr, yarr, butt, buzz, fuzz, and some proper names.

RULE III.-Doubling.

Monosyllables, and words accented on the last syllable, when they end with a single consonant preceded by a single vowel, or by a vowel after qu, double their final consonant before an additional syllable that begins with a vowel: as, rob, robber; permit, permitting; acquit, acquittal, acquitting.

EXCEPTION.-X final, being equivalent to ks, is never doubled.

RULE IV.-NO DOUBLING.

A final consonant, when it is not preceded by a single vowel, or when the accent is not on the last syllable, should remain single before an additional syllable: as, toil, toiling; visit, visited; general, generalize.

Exo.-But I and s final are often doubled, (though perhaps improperly,) when the last syllable is not accented: as, travel, travelled; bias, biassed.

RULE V.-RETAINING.

Words ending with any double letter, preserve it double before

any additional termination not beginning with the same letter; as in the following derivatives; seeing, blissful, oddly, hilly, stiffness, illness, smallness, carelessness, agreement, agreeable.

Exc. The irregular words, fled, sold, told, dwelt, spelt, spilt, shalt, wilt, blest, past, and the derivatives from the word pontiff, are exceptions to this rule.

RULE VI.-FINAL E.

The final e mute of a primitive word is generally omitted before an additional termination beginning with a vowel: as, rate, ratable; force, forcible; rave, raving; eye, eying.

Exc.-Words ending in ce or ge retain the e before able or ous, to preserve the soft sound of c and g: as, peace, peaceable; change, changeable; outrage, outrageous.

RULE VII.-FINAL E.

The final e of a primitive word is generally retained before an additional termination beginning with a consonant: as, pale, pale ness; lodge, lodgement.

Exo.-When the e is preceded by a vowel, it is sometimes omit ted; as, true, truly; awe, awful: and sometimes retained; as, rue, rueful; shoe, shoeless.

RULE VIII.-FINAL Y.

The final y of a primitive word, when preceded by a consonant, is changed into i before an additional termination: as, merry, merrier, merriest, merrily, merriment; pity, pitied, pities, pitiest, pililess, pitiful, pitiable.

Exo. Before ing, y is retained, to prevent the doubling of i; as pity, pitying. Words ending in ie, dropping the e by RULE VI, change i into y, for the same reason; as, die, dying.

Obs. When a vowel precedes, y should not be changed; as, day, days; valley, valleys; money, moneys; monkey, monkeys.

RULE IX-COMPOUNDS.

Compounds generally retain the orthography of the simple words which compose them; as, hereof, wherein, horseman, recall, uphill, shellfish.

Exc.-In permanent compounds, the words full and all drop one 1; as, handful, careful, always, withal: in others, they retain both; as, full-eyed, all-wise, save-all.

Obs. Other words ending in 7 sometimes improperly drop one 7, when taken into composition, as miscal, downhil. This excision is reprehensible, because it is contrary to general analogy, and because both letters are necessary to preserve the sound, and show the derivation of the compound. Where is the consistency of writ ing recall, miscal-inthrall, bethral_windfall, downfal-laystall thumbstal-waterfall, overfal-molehill, dunghil-windmill, twibil -clodpoll, enrol?-[See Johnson's Dictionary, first American edïtion 4to.]

CHAPTER V.-EXERCISES.

EXERCISE I.-Divide the following words into their proper syllables. Vengeance, permission, whosoever, divisible, recollection, rational, premeditate, reflected, inflexibility, extraordinary, unnecessary, preparation, aëriform, aqueduct, iniquity, triennial, conscientiousness, ratio, appreciate, impressible, archipelago, resurrection, abecedarian, simultaneously, prejudice, pronunciation, propitious, catalogue, polysyllable, miscellaneous, omniscience, recommenda

tion.

EXERCISE II.-State from what primitive word each of the following derivatives is formed, and according to which of the Rules for Spelling.

Compelled, skillful, holiday, happiness, courageous, rebellion, traveler, believing, achievement, spoonful, galloping, beautiful, deluder, salable, changeable, narrator, juiciness, improvement, loveliness, beggar, spotted, preference, preferred, variable, conveyance, thralldom, agreeable, deriving, shoeing, business, icicle, impel, beginner, manumitting.

EXERCISE III.-Form as many derivatives as possible from the following primitives.

Excel, visit, commit, worship, bury, beauty, travel, judge, sincere, refer, vary, agree, full, delay, busy, tie, differ, occur, expel, benefit, duty, plan, despoil, narrate, beg, peril, receive, instruct, assemble, pity, define, mimic, compose, form, value, charge, animate, combat, acquit, abridge, critic, allege, merchant, tyrant, fancy, dry, oinit, achieve, whole, compel, tall, debt, write, cancel, rob, spell.

EXERCISE IV.-Correct the errors in the following words according to the Rules for Spelling.

Scof, repell, til, untill, rareity, chimnies, crosness, outstriped, pasport, blisful, slothfull, merryness, instiling, refered, preferrable, referible, duely, welspent, benefitted, improveing, defering, controll, controlable, dulness, forgeting, bigotted, untieing, moveable, pontifficate, forceible, aweful, annull, handfull, al-powerfull, fruitfullness, miscal, wherin, perillous, fulfil, appall, uphil.

EXERCISE V.-Analyze the following words, and state to which of the Rules for Spelling they are exceptions.

Excellence, judgment, bounteous, gaiety, said, egg, yes, argument, wholly, abridgment, traveller, gaseous, unpaid, crystalline, cancelling, development, mutinous, denying, kidnapping, daily, charitable, plenteous, babyhood, truly, this, add, unparalleled, biassed, dryly, awful, welfare, wherefore, chilblain, welcome, Christmas.