About the Book
The publisher of this book utilises modern printing technologies as well as photocopying processes for reprinting and preserving rare works of literature that are out-of-print or on the verge of becoming lost. This book is one such reprint.
Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: ENGLISH GRAMMAR is the art of speaking and writing the English language with propriety. It is divided into four parts, Orthography, Etymology, Syntax, and Prosody; which treat of letters, syllables, words, and sentences. ORTHOGRAPHY. Orthography teaches the nature and powers of letters, and the just method of spelling words. A letter is the first principle or least part of a word. There are twenty-six letters in the English language, called the English Alphabet, namely, a, b, c, d, e, f, g, h, i, j, k, 1, m, n, o, p, q, r, s, t, u, v, w, x, y, z; and these are divided into vowels and consonants. A vowel is a letter which makes a full and distinct sound of itself. The vowels are a, e, i, o, u, and sometimes w, and y. Wand Kare consonants when they begin a word, or syllable; in every other situation they are vowels. A consonant is a letter which cannot make u distinct sound of itself, or without the help of a vowel. All letters except the vowels are consonants. The consonants are sometimes divided into mutes and semi-vowels; b, c, d, g, h, p, q, t, are called mules, because they cannot be sounded at all without a vowel. Their sound begins with a consonant, and cannot be prolonged. Li m, n, r, f, s, are called semi-vowels, because they have an imperfect sound of themselves ; which can be continued at pleasure, and all begin their sound with a vowel, partaking somewhat of the nature thereof. A diphthong is the union of two vowels in one syllable: as ou in sound. When both vowels are sounded, it is called a proper diphthong; if but one of them is sounded, it is called an improper diphthong. A triphthong is the union of three vowels in one syllable ; as eau in beauty. The simple sounds of the vowels may be found in the following scheme. 4i...
