Some of the pupils understood the diacritical marks for the short sounds of o and i; others did not. None knew the meaning of the mark above the o of the second syllable.
“Well,” said Miss Merlin, “let us see how the dictionary is ready to help us. Look at the words written at the bottom of the page. They are all little words that you know. What letter is marked in the first eight words?”
The pupils near enough the dictionary to read replied, “The letter a.” “And,” added Mary, “each a is marked in a different way.”
“Read the words with the marked a’s and see if you can discover the reason why each a has a different mark,” said Miss Merlin.
Mary read the words, pronouncing each clearly and distinctly. When she had finished every child was ready to answer; but Miss Merlin smiled at Mary, who said, “The a in each word has a sound different from all the other a’s.”
In the same way the pupils discovered the different sounds of e, i, o, and u. “Those are all the vowel sounds,” said Alice.
“Yes,” added John, “and the dictionary man has arranged them in alphabetical order. Didn’t he stick close to the alphabet though!”
“These little words at the bottom of the page are called key words,” said Miss Merlin. “Can any one tell why?”
The pupils thought for a moment. Then Tom said, “I know. Because they unlock the pronunciation of the new word.”
“Good,” said Miss Merlin, “pronounce the first syllable in our new word on the board, Tom, using the key word.”