III. WORDS-PREFIXES, AFFIXES, ETC..

IV. SYNTAX, AND ANALYSIS OF SENTENCES

V. COMPOSITION

APPENDIX I.

APPENDIX II.

THE CLASS AND HOME-LESSON BOOK

OF

ENGLISH GRAMMAR.

CHAPTER I.

GRAMMAR.

1.-GRAMMAR teaches us how to read, write, and spell correctly.

2.-We write and speak by the aid of words. All the words spoken or written by a nation form the language of that nation.

3.-Words are made up of syllables, and syllables are composed of one or more letters.

4.-That part of grammar which treats upon spelling is termed ORTHOGRAPHY.

ORTHOGRAPHY.

5.-In the English language words are made up from twenty-six letters, called the alphabet. These letters are written and printed in two different forms, thus: 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,

which are called the capital letters; and

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,

called small letters.

6.-Capital letters are used at the beginning of the name: Of a person, as John, Mary, Leonard, &c.

Of a place, as London, France, India, &c.
Of every sentence, as Live and let live, &c.
Of every line of poetry, as Little white lily, &c.
Of important events, as The Reformation, &c.
Of titles, as Prince of Wales, &c.

7.—The letter I, when it signifies the name of a person, is always a capital; so is O when used alone.

8.-The alphabet consists of two kinds of letters, vowels and consonants.

9.-Vowels are letters having a clear open sound, which can be spoken by themselves. They are five, a, e, i, o, and u. Two, w and y, sometimes are vowels. If they do not begin a word they are vowels, whilst if they begin a word, as wet, yet, they are semi-vowels (semi means half).

10. The other nineteen letters are called consonants. They are b, c, d, f, g, h, j, k, l, m, n, p, q, r, s, t, v, x, Of these, h is simply a breathing, and on this account is called the aspirate.

Z.

11.-SYLLABLES. A syllable is a word, or portion of a word, that can be spoken by one effort of the voice; thus by, me, in, thee, &c., are examples of syllables.

12. A word consisting of one syllable is called a mono-syllable, as man, boy, &c.; if of two syllables it is called a dis-syllable, as pret-ty, pen-ny, &c.; if of three, a tri-syllable, as con-so-nant; if of more than three, a poly-syllable, as per-e-grin-a-tion, in-ter-na-tion-al, &c. 13.-Two vowels sounded together form a diphthong, as e in Cæsar, oy in boy, ea in meal, &c.; three vowels pronounced together form a triphthong, as eau, in beauty.

EXERCISE I.

1. Write out ten words each containing a diphthong. 2. Write out a list of twenty mono-syllables.

dis-syllables.
tri-syllables.
poly-syllables.

QUESTIONS FOR EXAMINATION.

What does grammar teach? What are the letters of a language called? How many kinds of letters are there used in writing? When should capital letters be used? Into how many

kinds or classes of letters is the alphabet divided? When are w and y vowels? when semi-vowels? What is a syllable? What is a word of one syllable called, of two, of three, of more than three? When two vowels are pronounced together what do they form?

CHAPTER II.

OF ETYMOLOGY.

14.-THIS part of grammar teaches us all about the different kinds of words, their origin, and the changes they undergo in writing and speaking.

15.-All the words in the English language are divided into nine different groups or classes, called the NINE PARTS OF SPEECH. These are named as follows:

:

16.-In order to be able to tell the part of speech to which a word belongs, it is necessary to notice carefully the distinguishing peculiarities of each class.

DEFINITIONS.

17.-An ARTICLE is a word put before a noun to show whether that noun is used in a particular or a general sense; as the table, meaning some particular table; or, a table, meaning any table.

18.-A NOUN is the name of any person, place, object, or quality; as John, London, table, honesty. Remember noun means name.

19.-A PRONOUN is a word which is used instead of a noun; thus, instead of saying "Mary went to school, and Mary ran home as soon as Mary could," we say, Mary went to school, and she ran home as soon as she could;" or "he cries," instead of "John cries;" "it is heavy," instead of "lead is heavy." Remember pronoun means for-noun.

20.-An ADJECTIVE is a word which qualifies or describes (that is, tells you some quality or description of a noun); as poor boy, large table, beautiful flower, &c.

21.-A VERB is a word which tells you what anything or anybody does; as to be, meaning to exist; to live, to walk, to laugh, to cry, to die, &c.

22.-An ADVERB is a word which qualifies a verb,