BOOK FIRST.

PART FIRST.

PRELIMINARY EXERCISES.

CHAPTER I.

TERMINAL PUNCTUATION.

[IT is presumed that the student into whose hands this Manual is placed, has acquired a correct orthography, and considerable facility in penmanship, such as is imparted in all good schools by what are called dictation exercises. If this is not the case, let him at once be set to work in such exercises, and continued in them, until he can, with accuracy and dispatch, write down whatever is dictated to him.

In the course of such exercises, the pupil will soon feel the need of some directions as to the use of capitals and points. Let the teacher, therefore, require him to memorize, and teach him to apply, the following rules:]

§ 1. The termination of every complete sentence is, in written or printed discourse, indicated by a full stop. There are three full stops; viz.:

The period (.);

The interrogation point (?);

The exclamation point (!).

§ 2. The period is placed at the end of declarative and imperative sentences.

§ 3. The period is also placed after every abbreviation; as, Jas. Clarke, Esq. Sep. 16th, A. D. 1860.

§ 4. The interrogation point is placed after every ques

tion.

§ 5. The exclamation point is placed after every exclamation, whether it be a complete sentence, a phrase, or only one word.

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THE USE OF CAPITALS.

§ 6. The first word of every separate and complete sentence should commence with a capital.

§ 7. The first word of every line of poetry should begin with a capital.

§ 8. All proper nouns, and words used as proper nouns, and adjectives derived from proper nouns, should begin with capitals.

§ 9. If a proper name consists of a phrase, every noun and adjective in the phrase should begin with a capital.

§ 10. The subject of the discourse, and a technical term when introduced to be explained, are written with capital initials.

§ 11. The pronoun I and the vocative interjection O are always capitals.

EXAMPLES.

It was customary to crown the kings of France at Rheims; but this place, at the death of Charles VI, being in possession of the English, his son, the Dauphin, could not go there to be crowned.

When Romance had reached this part of her story, the mother smiled, and History tittered aloud.

In the next year Burke published his "Essay on the Sublime and Beautiful."

"Brown Exercise rejoiced to hear,

And Sport leaped up, and seized his beechen spear."

"True prayer

Has flowed from lips wet with Castilian dews."

(For examples under 10 see ? 30, 31, 32.)

QUOTATIONS.

§ 12. When one writer introduces into his composition the exact language of another, the expression is called a quotation.

If merely the words are used, but it is not stated whose words they are, the quotation is said to be informal.

But if it is expressly stated that a person has spoken or used the words, the quotation is said to be formal.

If it is stated that a person uttered the sentiment cited, but the exact words are not given, the expression is sometimes called an indirect quotation, but it is, properly, no quotation at all.

§ 13. A quotation, whether formal or informal, must be indicated by quotation marks; thus: ".

A formal quotation should also commence with a capital. An indirect quotation requires no distinguishing mark whatever.

EXAMPLES.

INFORMAL QUOTATIONS.-In all your intercourse with the world remember that "evil communications corrupt good manners."

Afterwards they formed, or undertook to form, "a more perfect union."

FORMAL QUOTATIONS.-And when he saw their faith he said unto the sick of the palsy, "Man, thy sins are forgiven thee."

"Let me make the ballads of a nation," said Fletcher of Saltoun, "and I care not who makes its laws."

INDIRECT QUOTATIONS. —Wesley said that the world was his parish.

Boswell has remarked of Oglethorpe, that even the great Johnson did not hesitate to acknowledge the value of his patronage.

CHAPTER II.

INFLECTIONAL ORTHOGRAPHY.

§ 14. Many words are formed from other words of the language by adding letters to them, or otherwise changing their spelling. This method of forming one word from another is called Derivation. A word thus formed from another is called a derivative word. A word that is not thus formed is called a primitive word.

§ 15. Every derivative word consists of two parts: the root or radical, and the added part. The added part is called a prefix if placed at the beginning of the radical, and a suffix if placed at the end of it.

The radical is the part to which the prefix or suffix is joined. It may be a primitive word, or a derivative, capable of being analyzed into a simple radical and its added párt.

The process of placing prefixes to radicals in English is so simple, requiring little or no change in the spelling, that no rules need be laid down for it. But the annexing of suffixes is more difficult, and requires some directions to be given.

§ 16. Derivation by suffixes is of two kinds. In one kind, the meaning of the word, and generally, its office as a part of speech, are altered, as well as the spelling, or form of the word. In the other kind, the meaning of the word is altered only so far as its grammatical properties or accidents are concerned. This kind of derivation is called Inflection.

The inflectional or grammatical suffixes used in English are the following:

-ething.

S

-'s -ed

§ 17. The suffix s has two uses:

er

-est

1. It is added to common nouns to form their plural regularly.

2. It is added to the first radical of a verb to form the third person singular of the present tense. § 18. The suffix 's has two uses:

1. It is added to nouns in the singular to form the possessive case.

2. It is added to letters, marks, figures, and sometimes to proper names, when it is desired to express them in the plural.

§ 19. The suffix ed is added to the first radical of regular verbs to form their second radical, which is the form of the past tense and the perfect participle.

§ 20. The suffix er is added to the root of monosyllabic and some dissyllabic adjectives to form their comparative degree.

§ 21. The suffix est has two uses:

1. It is added to the radical of monosyllabic and dissyllabic adjectives to form their superlative degree.

2. It is added to the first or second radical of a verb when it has for its subject the pronoun thou. § 22. The suffix eth was in former times used to form the third person singular of the present tense of verbs, as we now use the suffix s.

§ 23. The suffix ing is added to the first radical of verbs to form their imperfect (present) participle.

RULES FOR CHANGES.

§ 24. When the suffix s is to be added to a radical, it is not in every instance immediately joined to the last letter, but takes an intervening e as a uniting vowel, thus converting the suffix s into es. This occurs in the following cases:

1st. When the last letter of the radical is such as to obscure the sound of s following it. In this case the suffix es forms an additional syllable; as, box, box-es; church, church-es; wash, wash-es.

2d. When the final letter of the radical is o or y, preceded by a consonant; as, negro, negroes; potato, potatoes.

To this rule there are some exceptions in usage, but the rules are gradually reducing all to a uniformity.

The following words change f into v and then take the inter