When two vowels meet together, they are called double vowels; without a vowel, either single or double, no syl-lable 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 dis tinct sound, which generally happens to fall on the last sylla ble, 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 prosedy teaches a graceful manner of pronouncing any thing we speak, or read, it is one of the politest accomplishments we can attain.

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 peculiar stress of voice which is laid upon some particular syllable in a word, as on Ró 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 kome, if the emphasis is placed upon I, it means myself, and not any other person; if the emphasis 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 intend to go to, and not any other place.

A principal thing in prosody is to be thoroughly ac quainted 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 follow:.

Comma
Semicolon
Colon

Period, or Full Point.
Note of Interrogation.
Note of Admiration

The comma makes a small part of a sentence, where a short breathing-time may be permitted without injuring the sense, and allows you to stop while you can deliberately say one. The semicolon divides the sense into portions, and allows you to stop while you can say one, one. The colon marks where the sense is complete, but not the sentence, and allows you to stop while you can count one, one, one. The period marks where the sense is complete, and allows you to stop while you can say one, one, one, one. The note of interrogation is placed after all questions; and the note of admiration after all sudden emotions of the soul, or every thing which gives surprise; the breathing-times at. both are the same as at the period.

Though rules may greatly assist, they cannot complete the learner in this part of grammar; because it does not depend upon so much a set of principles laid down, as upon a close imitation of others; we can only therefore recommend it to those who wish to qualify themselves in this useful and ornamental part of grammar, to observe with attention, and diligently imitate the manner and practice of the politest speakers, and most accomplished readers.

ANALOGY.

Analogy, or the meaning of words, comprising etymology or their derivation, is the most extensive parts of speech:

Names, or noun substantives, as they have been called, express all things that are objects of the senses, or understanding, or every thing that we can see, feel, smell, hear, taste, or conceive, as a picture, a blow, a stink, a sound, sweetness, time, fortune, &c...

There are three sorts of names, common, proper, and personal. Common names express the whole species or kind,. as mun, city, river, are common to all men, all cities, all rivers.

Proper names distinguish particulars from others of the same kind, as John is the name of a particular man, Lon-don of a particular city, Thames of a particular river.

Personal names, which have been usually called pronouns, are such as are used instead of other names, in order to avoid the repetition of the same word, as I instead of my name, thou or you instead of your name, he and she instead: of his name, or her name, and it where there is no distinction of sex.

There are three persons in these names, the first is the person speaking, the second is the person spoken to, the third is the person spoken of

There are two numbers, singular and plural; the singular number speaks of one, as man, the plural of more than one, as men. Some words have no plural, as London, York,, and others no singular, as ashes, bellows, &c.

The persons are used in both numbers, thus:

First person I, or me

we, us,

Second ditto - thou, or you - ye, or you..

Third ditto he, she, it, this, that, they, these, those.. Names have two genders, masculine and feminine. The masculine gender expresses the male, as man, horse, and the feminine the female, as woman, mare. There are

besides two modes of gender, the neuter and doubtful; the neuter expresses things without life, which consequently can have no sex, as a stick, or a stone; the doubtful requires another word to explain it, as sparrow, requires either cock or hen to be placed before it, to determine its gender.

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Of QUALITIES.

Qualities, or as they have been called adjectives, are words expressive of the manners, properties, affections, and qualities, of names, or things, as good, bad, black, white, &c.

Qualities are distinguished by making sense with the word thing after them, as good thing, bad thing; black thing, white thing, &c.

Names are sometimes changed into the nature of qualities, as man's nature, for the nature of man; Pope's works, for the works of Pope; the King's palace, for the palaceof the King-these are termed positive qualities, and answer to the genitive case of the Latin; the possessive quality is the only case we have in English.

Qualities are compared by two degrees formed from the word in its positive state-thus if the quality in its positive state is black, in the comparative degree, it is blacker, or more black, and in the superlative degree, or the utmost increase, or diminution of its first quality, it is blackest, or most black.

Of AFFIRMATIONS.

Affirmations, which have been called verbs, express being, doing, or suffering, viz. being, as John is; doing, as I love; suffering, as I am beaten.

There are three times, or tenses, the present, past, and future, or things now doing, that have been done, or will be done hereafter; these are again subdivided into the time not perfectly past, and the time long past.

The present time affirms the thing, as love, dance; the past time generally ends in ed, as loved, danced; the other times are expressed by have, shall, will; as I do love, he shall love, she will love; thus the personal names I, thou, he, she, they, &c. are assistant to the affirmations, and denote their number and person. As only two times, or tenses, are expressed by the affirmative itself, its other times, and manners, are denoted by the nine following words, do, will, shall, may, can, must, ought, have, am, or be, which are called helping affirmations.

Of PARTICIPLES.

Participles denote some circumstance of an action, and join words together; hence they are called the manners of words, and are of four sorts, viz.

Adverbs denote the manner or quality of the affirmation, or verb, as I fought well, which shows in what manner I fought.

Prepositions denote some circumstance of action, and show the relation of words to each other; as I'll go OVER the bridge, you live WITHOUT the city, where over and without are prepositions.

Conjunctions join words and sentences together, as Bob went to the fair, AND I went with him. In which sentencethe word and is a conjunction, and joins its two distinct parts together.

Interjections denote some sudden emotion or passion of the soul, and are independent of any other words, as oh! alas! indeed! ah! hush! hark! &c.

Of SYNTAX.

Syntax, or the composition of sentences, teaches you to apply what you have learnt in the foregoing rules.

A sentence must contain absolutely, at least one affirmation and one name, of which something is affirmed, asGod is just. This is called a simple sentence; but if we say. God is just, but man is unjust, it is a compound sentence, as it contains two simple sentences joined together by the conjunction, but.

The chief rule in the construction of sentences is, that the affirmation must agree with the name in number and person, as John runs well, where the proper name JOHN, and the affirmation runs, are both in the third person singular, and consequently to find the name in any sentence which should agree with the affirmation, ask the question, Who? and the answer given it, as in the above. sentence, say Who runs well? Answer, JOHN-John is therefore the name to agree with the affirmation runs.

The name of multitude must be singular; thus, the crowd. is great, not are great, because it is but one crowd.