87. Happiness in religion, and insufficiency of the world 197 GRAMMAR is the art of speaking properly, reading well, and writing correctly. It contains four grand divisions, viz. ORTHOGRAPHY, or the art of spelling. PROSODY, or the art of pronouncing and reading. ANALOGY, or the derivation and meaning of words. SYNTAX, or the use of words in forming sentences. OF ORTHOGRAPHY. There are twenty-six letters in the English language, viz. a, b, c, d, e, f, g, h, i, j, k, l, m, n, o, p, q, r, s, t, 11, " w. x, y, z. Of these, five letters, that is, a, e, i, o, u are always vowels, and y, is a vowel only when it comes at the end of a word; the other twenty letters are consonants. By a vowel I mean a letter which has a perfect and distinct sound of itself: on the contrary, a consonant signifies a letter which cannot form a distinct sound without a vowel either before or after it. When two vowels meet together, they are called double vowels; without a vowel either single or double, no syllable or word can possibly be formed; and there are just so many syllables in a word, as there are vowels, single or double. RULES FOR SPELLING. 1. When a consonant comes between two vowels, in dividing the syllables it must go to the latter, as pa-per, ri-ver. 2. When two consonants of the same kind come together in the middle of a word, they must be divided, as in bor-row, com-mon. 3. When two or more consonants come together in the middle of a word, they must be placed according to the distinct sound, which generally happens to fall on the last syllable, as in be-spread, re-store; yet in pub-lish, whim-per, &c. they are best divided, because the pronunciation requires it. 4. Two vowels in the middle of a word, that have distinct sounds, must be placed in different syllables. A word of one syllable is called a monosyllable; a word of two syllables a dissyllable; words of three syllables are termed trisyllables; and words of many syllables, polysyllables. OF PROSODY. As Prosody teaches a graceful manner of pronouncing any thing we speak or read, it is one of the politest accomplishments we can retain. In pronouncing syllables and words, two things are to be regarded, viz. quantity and accent; that is, every syllable must be sounded according to its proper quantity, and every word of two or more syllables must have its proper accent. Quantity is the distinction of syllables into long and short. The short quantity is known by a quick pronunciation, as not; and the long quantity by a slow pronunciation, as note; the latter takes twice the time in pronouncing that the former does. The accent is that particular stress of voice which is laid upon some particular syllable in a word, as in Ro in Roman; and the emphasis is a remarkable stress of voice laid upon some particular word in a sentence, to make the sense more striking; thus in the sentence, I will walk home, if the emphasis is placed upon I, it means myself, and not any other person; if the em phasis is placed on walk, it insinuates I do not mean to ride; and if it is placed on home, it signifies it is home I mean to go to, and not to any other place. A principal thing in prosody is to be thoroughly acquainted with the points and stops, as they regulate the voice in what you read, and prevent confusion and perplexity; their names and marks are as follows: Comma Period, or Full Point Note of Interrogation Note of Admiration The comma makes a small part of a sentence, where short breathing time may be permitted without in |