Produced by Don Kostuch
{Transcribers Notes:Do you remember how to spell "pharmacopoeia" or "Winnipiseogee"? This wasfor sixth grade! Here is a chance to expand your vocabulary or just enjoya 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. Theapproximations given here retain only the emphasis (accent). See the DOCor PDF format for the original graphics.
Don Kostuch}
McGUFFEY'S [Registered]
McGuffey Editions and Colophon are Trademarks of
John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
PREFACE.In revising this book, care has been taken to preserve all the excellencesthat have so long and so favorably distinguished McGUFFEY'S ECLECTICSPELLING-BOOK: and the chief changes that have been made, have beensuggested 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 Websterhave been adopted. The Revised Speller conforms in orthography,pronunciation, and syllabication to the latest edition of Webster'sUnabridged Dictionary. Exercises have been given on each of thedistinctive marks used in the book, as will be seen by reference toLessons 36-57.
A number of lessons have been added in the department of prefixes andsuffixes, and now nearly all the more common of these etymologicalprinciples have been explained. (See Lessons 136-167.) In arranging thetext of the several lessons, the object has been not to appeal merely toarbitrary memory, but to associate each lesson with some principle ofsound, meaning, or accent, which would tend to aid the pupil in acquiringa knowledge of our language. Several distinct lessons on pronunciation aregiven, and towards the close of the book numerous lessons of difficultwords in orthography have been introduced.
Instead of indicating silent letters by italics, as has hitherto beendone, a new type has been made in which such letters are canceled, thusenabling the pupil to discover their status at a glance.
The pages have been enlivened, as in the other books of this Series, byattractive 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 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 theaid 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 oare always vowels. I, u, w, and y are sometimes consonants.
A Diphthong is the union of two vowels in one sound. When both vowels aresounded, the diphthong is called PROPER, because then it is really aDIPHTHONG, or double sound; that is, the sounds of the vowels unite; as,oi in oil; ou in sound.
When only