u short, as in tub. A drum, a drum, Macbeth doth come. High in his pathway hung the sun. For love is heaven, and heaven is love. Hush! hush! thou vain dreamer! Somewhere on a sunny bank buttercups are bright.

u middle, as in full. - The good woman stood to look at the wolf. Sir, you've pulled my bell as if you'd pull it off the wire. Full many a flower is born to blush

unseen.

u short and obtuse, as in für. - One murder makes a

villain. Turn and turn, and yet go on and turn again. Stern were her looks. The bird that whirls in air. oi as in voice. Rejoice, still cried the crowd, rejoice. With songs of joy your voices raise. An hour of joy, an age of woe.

ou as in sound. And often, when I go to plough, the ploughshare turns them out. Not from one lone cloud, but every mountain now hath found a tongue.

ACCENT AND EMPHASIS

Accent is a greater stress which is laid upon one syllable of a word than upon the others. The accented syllable is noted by a short mark, thus ('), placed just above the syllable at the right; as in ban'ner, win'dow, alone', return', forgiv'ing.

Emphasis is a greater stress which is laid upon one or more words in a sentence than upon the others. Emphasis is placed upon the important word or words to bring out more fully the meaning of the sentence.

1 The double accent mark when used in pronunciation, in this book, denotes that the aspirated sound of the succeeding consonant is thrown back on the preceding syllable; thus, petition (petish'on.)

Emphatic words are sometimes indicated by Italics, and sometimes by CAPITAL LETTERS.

As a knowledge of ACCENT and EMPHASIS is essential to GOOD READING, the pupil should be made acquainted with the nature of each, and the distinction between them, for they are frequently confounded. Every word of two or more syllables has, in pronunciation, an accent upon one of the syllables; and some of the longer or more difficult words have, in addition to the principal accent, a secondary, or weaker one. And in every sentence, and clause of a sentence, there are one or more words which should be pronounced with a greater degree of force than the other words. We cannot give words their proper pronunciation unless we know the accented syllables, nor can we bring out the full meaning of a sentence unless we know the emphatic words. The accented syllables of words we learn by noticing the pronunciation of correct speakers, and by referring, in cases of doubt, to a dictionary. The emphatic words in a sentence we can learn only by knowing their relative importance in it, and the precise meaning which the writer intended to convey. When the meaning of a sentence is known, the emphatic words, are naturally and spontaneously suggested to us, just as they are to persons speaking their own sentiments. Accent often gives way to emphasis when the sense requires a syllable to be emphasized that is not accented, as in the first example below.

EXAMPLES OF EMPHASIS.

1. What is done, cannot be undone.

2. When I am older, I will praise Him better. 3. What they know by reading, I know by action. 4. It is not so easy to hide one's faults as to mend them.

5. Could'st thou not have patience with him one night? Lo, I have borne with him these hundred years.

6. An hour passed on the Turk awoke;

That bright dream was his last;

He woke to hear his sentry's shriek,

To arms! They come! The GREEK! The GREEK! 7. Pet. How bright and goodly shines the moon! Kath. The moon! the sun: it is not moon-light now. Pet. I say it is the moon that shines so bright. Kath. I know it is the sun that shines so bright.

3

INFLECTION.

Inflection is a slide or bend of the voice, either upward or downward, from the usual level of a sen

tence.

The upward, or rising inflection, is usually indicated by an acute accent ('), and the downward, or falling inflection, by the grave accent (').

RISING INFLECTION.

The rising inflection is generally applied to single words, though it often extends through several; and sometimes through an entire sentence. In definite questions, - that is, such as may be answered by Yes or No, it takes the form of a gradual rise, varied only by emphatic words. The following diagrams will show the direction of the voice in the more common cases of the rising inflection.

The air, the earth, the water, teem with delighted existence.

1. Good morning, Henry'. Are you going to school' ?

2. Did you ever try' to help it, John' ?

3. Sun', Wáter, and Wind', and Bird' say, No.

4. Do you see yonder cloud, that's almost in the shape of a camel'?

FALLING INFLECTION.

The falling inflection usually commences at a point above the key, and slides down toward it, and to it when the thought is completed. When a sentence ends with a graver sentiment than the opening one, the voice may fall below the key.

What are you going to

Every leaf is of a different

form;

every

do about it?

Indefinite questions- that is, such as cannot be answered by Yes or No-are usually delivered with a downward slide from the emphatic word to the end of the sentence.

plant

and no

justice on earth.

If our cause is not just, there is

EXAMPLES OF FALLING INFLECTION.

1. Stop! Stand still! Hark!

2. Tell the truth'; that is the best excuse at all times.

3. Why stand ye here i'dle?

4. What do you call' the play?

5. When shall we get to the top' of the hill? 6. Charge', Chester, Charge! On', Stanley, on'!

RISING AND FALLING INFLECTIONS.

See page 28 for examples illustrating these principles.

The following are the more general and obvious principles for the use of the Inflections, to which there are many exceptions. There are many sentences and clauses which might very properly be read with either the rising or falling inflection, according to the reader's conception of the idea intended to be conveyed. As a general principle, positive and complete assertion may be said to have the falling inflection, and doubtful or incomplete, the rising.

The rising inflection is generally required

1. When the sense is incomplete or suspended.

2. In words and phrases of address, except when they are emphatic or long. 3. In language of tender emotion, politeness, gentle entreaty, and poetic expression.

4. In questions that can be answered by Yes or No; except when the question is asked or repeated in an emphatic or an impatient tone.

5. Where such words are inserted in a sentence as Saying, Said, Replying or Replied, Exclaimed, &c., the voice is suspended or kept up.

The falling inflection is generally required —

6. When the sense is complete or terminated; but when a sentence consists of several clauses expressing complete sense, the last but one may take the rising inflection.

7. In questions that cannot be answered by Yes or No.

8. In answers to questions, except when given in a careless or slightly disrespectful manner.

9. In language of deep emotion, as of authority, bold encouragement, surprise denunciation, or terror.

10. When words or clauses are compared, contrasted, or in antithesis, the for mer part generally has the rising inflection, and the latter the falling; but,

11. When negation is opposed to affirmation, the negative member of the sentence generally has the rising inflection, and the affirmative member the falling, in whichever order they occur.

12. All rules for the rising inflection are liable to be modified by strong emphasis, which overrides every thing else, and gives to the voice the falling inflection, or a form of the circumflex, with a strong downward slide.

**The following examples are numbered so as to refer to the numbering of the above general principles of inflection.

EXAMPLES OF INFLECTION.

1. With his conduct last evening', I was not pleased. Here waters', woods', and winds', in concert join.

2. My friends', I come not here to talk. How is this, my father'! do you not believe' me'? Well, sir', the victim was' I yet fear to expose your friend. On'!

ye brave', who rush to glory or the grave'!

3. My mother'! when I learned that thou wast dead', Say', wast thou con'scious of the tears' I shed? Awake, little girl'; 'tis time to arise'; Come, shake drowsy sleep from your eyes. It is true, Charles', we ought to be obliging to one another'; you shall have my kite to-day' and to-morrow.

4. Can you read'? Will you lend me your kite'? Had Thebes a hundred gates', as sung by Homer'? Can wealth', or honor', or pleasure', satisfy the soul' ?

Came

5. Alas! he said, the ride has wearied you. men and women in dark clusters round, sóme crying Let them up! they shall not fall; and 6thers, Let them lie! for they have fallen'.

6. I will praise God with my voice'; for I may praise him, though I am but a little child'. Come, let us go forth into the fields'; let us see how the flowers