The instructor should drill the pupils in spelling not only these “catch” words, but a wide range of English words. These lessons may be taken to advantage from some of the books mentioned in the list for supplementary reading, from any other good spelling book, or even from the pages of any well printed book or magazine. The words should be given out orally and written down by the pupil. A good exercise is the reading of a paragraph from any good book, or some stanza of poetry, the passage read to be taken down by the pupil with care to spell, punctuate, and capitalize properly.
A number of topics sometimes treated under the head of spelling will be found discussed in the “Printer's Manual of Style” (No. 41).
PRONUNCIATION
The English language is a difficult one to pronounce as well as to spell. This arises from two causes. The English language has some sounds not generally found in other languages, such as w and th. As has already been pointed out, the alphabet fits the language very badly. Careful lexicographers indicate no less than seven sounds of a, five of e, three of i, four of o and six of u, as shown in the following table:
ā as in āle
[Ia] as in sen[Ia]te
ă as in ăm
á as in ásk
[a:] as in [a:]ll
ä as in fäther
(a) as in fin(a)l
ē as in ēve
ĕ as in ĕnd
[Ie] as in ev[Ie]nt
ẽ as in fẽrn
(e) as in prud(e)nce
ī as in īce
[Ii] as in [Ii]dea
ĭ as in pĭn
ō as in ōld
[Io] as in [Io]pen
ŏ as in ŏdd
ô as in ôrb
ū as in ūse
[Iu] as in [Iu]nite
ŭ as in ŭp
[u:] as in r[u:]de
[u=] as in f[u=]ll
û as in ûrn
In addition to these there are diphthongs, combinations of vowel sounds pronounced as one syllable, such as
ou as in out
oi as in oil
There are also a number of digraphs or combinations of vowels or consonants which have but one sound, such as
ai as in rain
eo as in people
ou as in soup
ou as in soul
ph as in phalanx
ch as in chorus or chair