110. “The Emperor of Russia is a formidable sovereign:” pronounce formidable with the accent on for, and not on mid.
111. Before the words heir, herb, honest, honor, and hour, and their compounds, instead of the article a, we make use of an, as the h is not sounded; likewise before words beginning with h, that are not accented on the first syllable: such as heroic, historical, hypothesis, &c., as, “an heroic action;” “an historical work;” “an hypothesis that can scarcely be allowed.” The letter h is seldom mute at the beginning of a word; but from the negligence of tutors, and the inattention of pupils, many persons have become almost incapable of acquiring its just and full pronunciation. It is, therefore, incumbent on teachers to be particularly careful to inculcate a clear and distinct utterance of this sound.
112. “He was such an extravagant young man, that he soon spent his whole patrimony.” This construction, which is much used, is not so elegant as, “He was so extravagant a young man,” &c.
113. “The girl speaks distinct:” say, distinctly. Never use Adjectives as Adverbs.
114. “The accident of which he was reading, occurred not far from Reading:” pronounced the first italicized word to rhyme with feeding, and the other, with wedding.
115. The combination of letters ough is pronounced in eight different ways, as follows: 1. Though, in which it is pronounced o; 2. Through, pronounced oo; 3. Plough, ow; 4. Sought, awe; 5. Cough, off; 6. Rough, uff; 7. Borough, ugh; 8. Lough, ok. The following sentence, which is of doubtful authorship, affords an example of each of these eight modes of pronunciation: “I put (1) dough (6) enough in the (5) trough near the (3) slough by the (8) lough, to last the ducks that I (4) bought at the (7) borough (2) through the day.”
116. “I saw his august majesty, the Emperor of Hayti, last August:” pronounce the former word with the accent on gust; the latter, on Au.
117. “She is quite the lady:” say, She is very lady-like in her demeanor.
118. “He is seldom or ever out of town:” say, seldom or never, or, seldom if ever.
119. “We laid down to sleep:” say, we lay down, &c. We can say, however, “we laid him down to sleep.”