The Elementary Spelling Book: Being an Improvement on the American Spelling BookThe "father of American scholarship and education," American lexicographer NOAH WEBSTER (1758-1843) was an author whose astonishingly prolific career included numerous textbooks for elementary education. Prior to his works coming into wide use in the late 18th century, colonial and American students learned from primers imported from England. Webster single-handedly prompted a democratization of American English in how his textbooks taught American children to read, spell, and pronounce words, and in how he "Americanized" spelling, changing some c's to s's, dropping some l's and u's. Without Webster, George Bernard Shaw may never have been able to quip that England and America were two nations separated by a common language. Webster's basic textbook, first called The First Part of the Grammatical Institute of the English Language and later The American Spelling Book, became, in 1829, The Elementary Spelling Book. Though the book went through hundreds of editions, this replica edition represents the last, greatest, and arguably the most influential one. It is an extraordinary firsthand look at how American English was shaped. |
From inside the book
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Page 8
... diphthong is the union of two simple vowel sounds , as ou ( aoo ) in out , oi ( ạĩ ) in noise . The English Alphabet consists of twenty - six letters , or single characters , which represent vowel , conso- nant , and diphthongal sounds ...
... diphthong is the union of two simple vowel sounds , as ou ( aoo ) in out , oi ( ạĩ ) in noise . The English Alphabet consists of twenty - six letters , or single characters , which represent vowel , conso- nant , and diphthongal sounds ...
Page 10
... diphthongs oi and oy is the same and uniform ; as , in join , joy . The pronunciation of the diphthongs ou and ow is the same and uniformn ; as , in sound , now . But in the termination ous , ou is not a diphthong , and the ...
... diphthongs oi and oy is the same and uniform ; as , in join , joy . The pronunciation of the diphthongs ou and ow is the same and uniformn ; as , in sound , now . But in the termination ous , ou is not a diphthong , and the ...
Other editions - View all
The Elementary Spelling Book: Being an Improvement on the American Spelling Book Noah Webster No preview available - 2017 |
The Elementary Spelling Book: Being an Improvement on the American Spelling ... Noah Webster No preview available - 2017 |
Common terms and phrases
ACCENTED al low ÂRE āte BÄR bil i ty BĨRD CÂRE çen çent çep çer ÇH=SH cial cious çişm consonant denotes digraph diphthong diş eŎn eôr EXIST FALL FOLLOWING WORDS foot fōre FOUR SYLLABLES ĢET HẼR işm la tion LÅST letters ling LINK log ie MARÏNE māte ment mět moon MOVE nant nouns oŭs păr pěn poşe PREY PRONOUNCED PULL ra phy rāte ri ous ri ty RULE sion sive SÓN SYLLABLES tain tāte těn THÊRE THREE SYLLABLES tial tion eon tion ex tious tive trae trans tūre ū lar ū lāte ū lous ū ous UNMARKED ūre Verbs viş vowel WHẠT WOLF WORDS OF FOUR WORDS OF THREE