When a consonant is doubled (not forming a digraph) the two are generally separated; beg-gar, bril-liant, cun-ning.
The old-fashioned method of oral spelling by syllables m-a-s-mas-t-e-r-ter-master will be found extremely useful in teaching correct syllabication. It is recommended that constant use be made of it in spelling drill.
ACCENT
When a word consists of two syllables one of them receives more stress of voice than the other. This stress of voice is called accent. If the word consists of three or more syllables there is usually another syllable stressed in somewhat less degree. This is called a secondary accent. In some cases there may even be a third accent if the word is very long; In'-come, val-e-tu'-di-na'-ri-an. This fact arises from the tendency natural to all human speech to take more or less musical forms. The monotony of a series of stressed or of unstressed sounds would be unbearable. The pronunciation of such a series would be a highly artificial and very difficult performance. Correct pronunciation is very greatly concerned with the proper placing of the accent. Indeed the meaning of a familiar word may be quite obscured by a misplaced accent. For example, he-red'-it-ary is a very familiar word, but when pronounced he-red-it'-ary, as it was habitually by a friend of the author, we have to stop and think before catching the meaning.
The placing of the accent in English is subject to two general rules.
I The accent clings to the syllable which gives the meaning to the word, or in technical terms, the root syllable, re-call', in-stall', in-stal-la'-tion (accent falling on the syllable which defines the word as a noun), in-her'-it.
II Where the root syllable is not known the accent falls on the first syllable, with secondary accents following at intervals to relieve the voice.
This last tendency not infrequently supersedes the other, partly from the natural habit of the language, and partly because the average man is not an etymologist and knows very little about the derivation of the words he uses. For example, in Shakespeare's time English people followed the first rule and said re-ven'-ue, but now we say rev'-e-nue.
These two rules will serve as a good general guide to accent. Attention should be paid to the pronunciation of good speakers, and care taken to follow it. In case of doubt the dictionary should be consulted and the proper accent carefully fixed in the mind.