FIRST LESSONS IN COMPOSITION. LESSON I. LETTERS, VOWELS, CONSONANTS, SYLLABLES. WHAT is a letter? A letter is a character used to represent a sound of the human voice. How many letters are there in the English language? Repeat them. A, b, c, d, e, f, g, h, i, j, k, l, m, n, o, p, q, r, 8, t, u, v, w, x, y, z. What are the letters, when taken together in their regular or der, as above, called? The Alphabet. How many of these letters can be sounded alone? Five. Which are they? A, e, i, o, u. What do we call these? VOWELS. What is a vowel ? A vowel is a letter that represents a complete Lound. Try to sound b. Can it be sounded alone ?* No; not unless a vowel is joined to it. What are such letters as cannot be sounded alone, called? CONSONANTS. What is a consonant ? A consonant is a letter that does not represent a complete sound. Are there any letters which are sometimes vowels, and at other times consonants? Yes; w and y. In the word kindly, how many distinct sounds are there? What are these parts forming distinct sounds called? What is a syllable ? A syllable is one or more letters combined so as to form a distinct sound. Divide the word ramrod into syllables. Ram-rod. Divide the word minister into syllables. Min-is-ter. Divide the word sister into syllables; Henry; sickness; manful; manfully; elephant; wilderness; contemplate; circumstance; commiserate; Constantinople. You have said that w and y are sometimes vowels, and at other times consonants; when are they consonants? When they begin a syllable. When are w and y vowels? When they do not begin a syllable. Is w a vowel or a consonant in wine? in wife? in new? in westerly? in Yorktown? in bow? in world? in William? in water-work? in saw? in wave? Is y a vowel or a consonant in youth? in Mary? in boy? in yesterday? in New-York? in yawn? in syllable? How many and which of the letters are always vowels? *The teacher will do well to make the pupil thoroughly understand the difference between the name of a letter and its sound, and to illustrate the point by several examples. Five; a, e, i, o, u. How many and which of the letters are vowels, when they do not stand at the commencement of a word or syllable ? Two; w and y. How many and which are always consonants? Nineteen; b, c, d, f, g, h, j, k, l, m, n, p, q, r, s, t, v, X, Z. LESSON II. WORDS.-PARTS OF SPEECH.-ARTICLES. WHAT do you use when you want to speak your thoughts? WORDS. What is a word? A word is what is spoken or written as the sign of an idea; as, book. How are words divided? Into different classes, called PARTS OF SPEECH. How many parts of speech are there, and what are they called? Nine: viz., Article, Noun, Pronoun, Adjective, Verb, Adverb, Conjunction, Preposition, and Interjection. What is the first part of speech? The ARTICLE. What is an Article ? An Article is a word placed before another word, to show whether it is used in a particular, or in a general sense. How many articles are there? Two; The, and An or A. When we say the man, what do we mean? Some particular man. When we say a man, do we refer to a particular man? |