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it a mingled mass of twigs and foliage that completely obscured the view some of the largest trees were seen bending and writhing under the gale others suddenly snapped across and many after a momentary resistance fell uprooted to the earth the mass of branches twigs foliage and dust that moved through the air was whirled onward like a cloud of feathers and on passing disclosed a wide space filled with fallen trees naked stumps and heaps of shapeless ruins which marked the path of the tempest this space was about a fourth of a mile in breadth and to my imagination resembled the dried-up bed of the Mississippi the horrible noise resembled that of the great cataracts of Niagara and as it howled along in the track of the desolating tempest produced a feeling in my mind that it is impossible to describe

7. While the war continued without any decisive success on either side a calamity happened in London which threw the people into great consternation fire breaking out in a baker's house near the bridge spread itself on all sides with such rapidity that no efforts could extinguish it till it laid in ashes a considerable part of the city the inhabitants without being able to provide effectually for their relief were reduced to be spectators of their own ruin and were pursued from street to street by the flames which unexpectedly gathered round them three days and nights did the fire advance and it was only by blowing up houses that it was at last extinguished the king and the duke used their utmost endeavors to stop the progress of the flames but all their industry was unsuccessful about four hundred streets and thirteen thousand houses were reduced to ashes the causes of the calamity were evident the narrow streets of London the houses built entirely of wood the dry season and a violent east wind which blew these were so many concurring circumstances which rendered it easy to assign the reason of the destruction that ensued but the people were not satisfied with this obvious account.

127. Be prepared to write from dictation the following conversation, inserting the necessary quotation marks. Make a new paragraph each time the speaker changes:

Tell me do you think there is such a thing as a horse's function I do Would you then describe the function of a horse or of anything else

whatever as that work for the accomplishment of which it is either the sole or the best instrument I do not understand Look at it this way Can you see with anything besides eyes Certainly not Can you hear with anything besides ears No Then should we not justly say that seeing and hearing are the functions of these organs Yes certainly Again you might cut off a vine shoot with a carving knife or chisel or many other tools Undoubtedly But with no tool I imagine so well as with the pruning knife made for the purpose True Then shall we not define pruning to be the function of the pruning knife By all means Now then I think you will better understand what I wished to learn from you just now when I asked whether the function of a thing is not that work for the accomplishment of which it is either the sole or the best instrument I do understand and I believe that this is in every case the function of a thing

128. Write a letter to your teacher, explaining why you stood well in a certain study during the last term.

129. Write an entertaining letter of considerable length to a real, or imaginary, sick friend, with the purpose of amusing and cheering the invalid.

CHAPTER VII

SPELLING: WORD FORMATION AND CAPITALIZATION

46. Ways of learning to spell. It is probably true that many persons remember a word as they remember a face. For them the ideal way to learn to spell is to look carefully at the words as they read. But some of us do not master spelling in that way. There are scores of words that we see day after day and yet misspell. In many instances we must make a special effort in order to spell accurately.

If one who has unusual difficulty with spelling will keep a list of the words that puzzle him, and review this list from day to day, he will find himself making steady improvement. One who masters five words a day for a year will be able to spell a snug little vocabulary at the end of that time. Fifteen hundred everyday words make a tolerably comfortable outfit for a poor speller.

Sometimes the mere writing of a word will determine the spelling. The moment we write receive we know that it is correct. But if we are likely to have further trouble with that word, suppose we write it thus, to call special attention to the letters that puzzle:

recEIve.

This method may help us remember such words as believe, decEIVE, SIEGE, SEIZE, villAIN, village, grammar, superintendEnt, and many another. Or, if we prefer, we may under

score such letters, thus: receive, believe, siege, grammar, villain; or receive, believe, siege, etc. With or without increasing the size of the doubtful letters, it will be an aid in mastering the spelling of any word to write it out plainly several times.

The spelling aloud of words which are troublesome will often be helpful in fixing them in mind. One person can remember best what he sees, another what he hears. If the plan of writing repeatedly the words which we misspell is not sufficient to correct our common faults, we should practice spelling them aloud. Always welcome a spelling match, even if you are not often at the head of the line. The more difficulty you have in staying there, the more eager you should be to take advantage of all kinds of help.

EXERCISE

130. Explain, using illustrations, how you would teach yourself permanently the correct spelling of some word that you have habitually misspelled. The following may suggest ideas for your talk:

1. Looking carefully at a word.

2. Writing a word several times.

3. Spelling certain words aloud.

4. Using a troublesome word frequently.

47. Rules for Spelling.

Many persons find rules useful.

For them the following are included:

1. Monosyllables, and words accented on the last syllable, which end in a single consonant following a single vowel, double the final consonant before a suffix beginning with a vowel: as, beg, beggar; regret, regretted.

NOTE. In the derivative, if the accent falls on a different syllable, the rule does not apply: as, refér, réference.

2. Final y following a consonant changes to i before a suffix: as, busy, business; library, libraries; spy, spies.

EXCEPTIONS: 1. Before ing and ish the y is kept to avoid doubling the i: as, carry, carrying; baby, babyish.

2. y is not changed in derivatives of wry, sky, shy, sly, spry. NOTE. Words ending in y following a vowel are regular, except lay, laid; pay, paid; say, said; stay, stayed or staid.

3. Words ending in an unaccented e drop the e before a suffix beginning with a vowel: as, force, forcible; invite, invited; desire, desirable. EXCEPTIONS: I. Hoeing, mileage, shoeing, toeing.

2. Dyeing, singeing, and tingeing keep the e to distinguish these words from dying, singing, and tinging.

3. Words ending in ce and ge keep the e before able and ous in order to retain the soft sound of c and g: as, courage, courageous; peace, peaceable.

4. Words ending in ie drop the e and change the i to y before adding ing (to avoid doubling the i): as, die, dying; lie, lying; tie, tying.

4. In words in which the diphthongs ei and ie are pronounced e, as in he, c is followed by ei, all other letters by ie: as, ceiling, receive, piece, siege, niece. Seize, leisure, and weird are exceptions.

EXERCISE

131. State the rule for spelling which, on the whole, you consider best worth remembering, and illustrate its use by three examples.

48. The Formation of Plurals. The plural of most nouns is formed by adding s to the singular. When, however, the sound of s makes an extra syllable, es is added: as, lunch, lunches.

EXCEPTIONS: 1. Nouns ending in y following a consonant change y to i and add es: as, ally, allies; cry, cries.

2. Nouns ending in o following a consonant generally add es: as, potato, potatoes; but the s alone is added to piano, solo, halo, and some others.

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