LESSON I.—GRAMMAR.
1. What is the name, or title, of this book? 2. What is Grammar? 3. What is an English Grammar? 4. What is English Grammar, in itself? and what knowledge does it imply? 5. If grammar is the art of reading, writing, and speaking, define these actions. What is it, to read? 6. What is it, to write? 7. What is it, to speak? 8. How is grammar to be taught, and by what means are its principles to be made known? 9. What is a perfect definition? 10. What is an example, as used in teaching? 11. What is a rule of grammar? 12. What is an exercise? 13. What was language at first, and what is it now? 14. Of what two kinds does the composition of language consist? and how do they differ? 15. What are the least parts of language? 16. What has discourse to do with sentences? or sentences, with points? 17. In extended compositions, what is the order of the parts, upwards from a sentence? 18. What, then, is the common order of literary division, downwards, throughout? 19. Are all literary works divided exactly in this way? 20. How is Grammar divided? 21. Of what does Orthography treat? 22. Of what does Etymology treat? 23. Of what does Syntax treat? 24. Of what does Prosody treat?
PART FIRST, ORTHOGRAPHY.
LESSON II.—LETTERS.
1. Of what does Orthography treat? 2. What is a letter? 3. What is an elementary sound of human voice, or speech? 4. What name is given to the sound of a letter? and what epithet, to a letter not sounded? 5. How many letters are there in English? and how many sounds do they represent? 6. In what does a knowledge of the letters consist? 7. What variety is there in the letters? and how are they always the same? 8. What different sorts of types, or styles of letters, are used in English? 9. What are the names of the letters in English? 10. What are their names in both numbers, singular and plural? 11. Into what general classes are the letters divided? 12. What is a vowel? 13. What is a consonant? 14. What letters are vowels? and what, consonants? 15. When are w and y consonants? and when, vowels? 16. How are the consonants divided? 17. What is a semivowel? 18. What is a mute? 19. What letters are reckoned semivowels? and how many of these are aspirates? 20. What letters are called liquids? and why? 21. What letters are reckoned mutes? and which of them are imperfect mutes?
LESSON III.—SOUNDS.
1. What is meant, when we speak of the powers of the letters? 2. Are the sounds of a language fewer than its words? 3. How are different vowel sounds produced? 4. What are the vowel sounds in English? 5. How may these sounds be modified in the formation of syllables? 6. Can you form a word upon each by means of an f? 7. Will you try the series again with a p? 8. How may the vowel sounds be written? and how uttered when they are not words? 9. Which of the vowel sounds form words? and what of the rest? 10. How many and what are the consonant sounds in English? 11. In what series of words may all these sounds be heard? 12. In what series of words may each of them be heard two or three times? 13. What is said of the sounds of j and x? 14. What is said of the sounds of c and g? 15. What is said of sc, or s before c? 16. What, of ce, ci, and ch? 17. What sounds has the consonant g? 18. In how many different ways can the letters of the alphabet be combined? 19. What do we derive from these combinations of sounds and characters?
LESSON IV.—CAPITALS.
1. What characters are employed in English? 2. Why should the different sorts of letters be kept distinct? 3. What is said of the slanting strokes in Roman letters? 4. For what purpose are Italics chiefly used? 5. In preparing a manuscript, how do we mark these things for the printer? 6. What distinction of form belongs to each of the letters? 7. What is said of small letters? and why are capitals used? 8. What things are commonly exhibited wholly in capitals? 9. How many rules for capitals are given in this book? and what are their titles? 10. What says Rule 1st of books? 11. What says Rule 2d of first words? 12. What says Rule 3d of names of Deity? 13. What says Rule 4th of proper names? 14. What says Rule 5th of titles? 15. What says Rule 6th of one capital? 16. What says Rule 7th of two capitals? 17. What says Rule 8th of compounds? 18. What says Rule 9th of apposition? 19. What says Rule 10th of personifications? 20. What says Rule 11th of derivatives? 21. What says Rule 12th of I and O? 22. What says Rule 13th of poetry? 23. What says Rule 14th of examples? 24. What says Rule 15th of chief words? 25. What says Rule 16th of needless capitals?
[Now turn to the first chapter of Orthography, and correct the improprieties there quoted for the practical application of these rules.]