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often used, is placed before a long or general note, to mark it as a note, without giving it a particular reference.

19. [g] The Cedilla is a mark borrowed from the French, by whom it is placed under the letter c to give it the sound of s before a oro; as, in the words, "façade," "Alençon.” In Worcester's Dictionary, it is attached to three other letters, to denote their soft sounds: viz., Gas J; Ș as Z; ș as gz.

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[For oral exercises in punctuation, the teacher may select any well-pointed book, to which the foregoing rules and explanations may be applied by the pupil. application of the principles of punctuation, either to points rightly inserted, or in the correction of errors, is as easy a process as ordinary syntactical parsing or correcting; and, in proportion to the utility of these principles, as useful. The exercise, in relation to correct pointing, consists in reading some passage, in successive parts, according to its points; naming the latter, as they occur; and repeating the rules or doctrines of punctuation, as the reasons for the marks employed.]

CHAPTER II.-UTTERANCE.

Utterance is the art of vocal expression. It includes the principles of pronunciation and elocution.

SECTION I.-OF PRONUNCIATION.

Pronunciation, as distinguished from elocution, is the utterance of words taken separately.

Pronunciation requires a knowledge of the just powers of the letters in all their combinations, and of the force and seat of the accent.

I. The Just Powers of the letters, are those sounds which are given to them by the best readers.

II. Accent is the peculiar stress which we lay upon some particular syllable of a word, whereby that syllable is distinguished from the rest; as, grám-mar, gram-mú-ri-an.

Every word of more than one syllable, has one of its syllables accented.

When the word is long, for the sake of harmony or distinctness, we often give a secondary or less forcible accent to an other syllable; as, to the last of tém-per-a-túre, and to the second of in-dém-ni-fi-cá-tion.

A full and open pronunciation of the long vowel sounds, a clear articulation of the consonants, a forcible and well-placed accent, and a distinct utterance of the unaccented syllables, distinguish the elegant speaker.

[For a full explanation of the principles of pronunciation, the learner is re ferred to Walker's Critical Pronouncing Dictionary; for authorities in reference te variable usage, to the Universal and Critical Dictionary of J. E. Worcester.]

SECTION II.-OF ELOCUTION.

Elocution is the utterance of words that are arranged into sentences, and form discourse.

Elocution requires a knowledge, and right application, of emphasis, pauses, inflections, and tones.

I. Emphasis is the peculiar stress of voice which we lay upon some particular word or words in a sentence, which are thereby distinguished from the rest, as being more especially significant.

II. Pauses are cessations in utterance, which serve equally to relieve the speaker, and to render language intelligible and pleasing. The duration of the pauses should be proportionate to the degree of connexion between the parts of the discourse.

III. Inflections are those peculiar variations of the human voice, by which a continuous sound is made to pass from one note, key, or pitch, into an other. The passage of the voice from a lower to a higher or shriller note, is called the rising or upward inflection. The passage of the voice from a higher to a lower or graver note, is called the falling or downward inflection. These two opposite inflections may be heard in the following examples: 1. The rising, "Do you mean to go?" 2. The falling, "When will you go?"

OBS.-Questions that may be answered by yes or no, require the rising inflection; those that demand any other answer, must be uttered with the falling inflection.

IV. Tones are those modulations of the voice, which depend upon the feelings of the speaker. They are what Sheridan denominates “the language of emotions." And it is of the utmost importance, that they be natural, unaffected, and rightly adapted to the subject and to the occasion: for, upon them, in a great measure, depends all that is pleasing or interesting in elocution.

CHAPTER III.-FIGURES.

A Figure, in grammar, is an intentional deviation from the ordinary spelling, formation, construction, or application, of words. There are, accordingly, figures of Orthography, figures of Etymology, figures of Syntax, and figures of Rhetoric. When figures are judiciously employed, they both strengthen and adorn expression. They occur more frequently in poetry than in prose; and several of them are merely poetic licenses.

SECTION I.-FIGURES OF ORTHOGRAPHY.

A Figure of Orthography is an intentional deviation from the ordinary or true spelling of a word.

The principal figures of Orthography are two; namely, Mi-me'-sis and Ar'-cha-ism.

I. Mimesis is a ludicrous imitation of some mistake or mispronunciation of a word, in which the error is mimicked by a false spelling, or the taking of one word for an other; as, "Maister, says he, have you any wery good weal in your vállet?"-Columbian Orator, p. 292. Ay, he was porn at Monmouth, captain Gower."-Shak, "I will description the matter to you, if you be capacity of it."-Id.

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"Perdigious! I can hardly stand."-Lloyd.

II. An Archaism is a word or phrase expressed according to ancient usage, and not according to our modern orthography; as, "Newe grene chese of smalle clammynes comfortethe a hotte stomake."-T. PAYNEL: Tooke's Diversions, ii, 132. "With him was rev'rend Contemplation pight,

Bow-bent with eld, his beard of snowy hue."-Beattie.

SECTION II.-FIGURES OF ETYMOLOGY.

A Figure of Etymology is an intentional deviation from the ordinary formation of a word.

The principal figures of Etymology are eight; namely, A-phar-e-sis, Pros'-the-sis, Syn'-co-pe, A-poc'-o-pe, Par-a-go'-ge, Di-ar-e-sis, Syn-ær'-e-sis, and Tme'-sis.

I. Apheresis is the elision of some of the initial letters of a word: as, 'gainst, 'gan, 'neath,—for against, began, beneath. II. Prosthesis is the prefixing of an expletive syllable to a word: as, adown, appaid, bestrown, evanished, yclad,—for down, paid, strown, vanished, clad.

III. Syncope is the elision of some of the middle letters of a word: as, med'cine, for medicine; e'en, for even; o'er, for over; conq'ring, for conquering; se'nnight, for sevennight.

IV. Apocopè, is the elision of some of the final letters of a word: as, tho', for though; th', for the; t'other, for the other.

V. Paragogè is the annexing of an expletive syllable to a word: as, withouten, for without; deary, for dear; Johnny, for John.

VI. Diaresis is the separating of two vowels that might form a diphthong: as, coöperate, not cooperate; aëronaut, not aeronaut; orthoëpy, not orthopy.

VII. Synæresis is the sinking of two syllables into one: as, seest, for seest; tacked, for tack-ed; drowned, for drown-ed.

OBS.-When a vowel is entirely suppressed in pronounciation, (whether retained in writing or not,) the consonants connected with it, fall into an other syllable; thus, tried, triest, loved or lov'd, lovest or lov'st, are monosyllables; except in solemn discourse, in which the e is generally retained and made vocal.

VIII. Tmesis is the inserting of a word between the parts of a compound; as, "On which side soever;"—"To us ward;" "To God ward.”

SECTION III.-FIGURES OF SYNTAX.

A Figure of Syntax is an intentional deviation from the ordinary construction of words.

The principal figures of Syntax are five; namely, El-lip'-sis, Ple'-o-nasm, Syl-lep'-sis, En-al'-la-ge, and Hyper'-ba-ton.

I. Ellipsis is the omission of some word or words which are necessary to complete the construction, but not necessary to convey the meaning. Such words are said to be understood; because they are received as belonging to the sentence, though they are not uttered.

Almost all compound sentences are more or less elliptical. There may be an omission of any of the parts of speech, or even of a whole clause; but the omission of articles or interjections can scarcely constitute a proper ellipsis. Examples: 1. Of the Article; as, "A man and [a] woman.”—“The day, [the] month, and [the] year."

2. Of the Noun; as, "The common [law] and the statute law."-"The twelve [apostles]."-" One [book] of my books.” -"A dozen [bottles] of wine.

3. Of the Adjective; as, "There are subjects proper for the one, and not [proper] for the other."—Kames.

4. Of the Pronoun; as, "I love [him] and [7] fear him.”"The estates [which] we own."

There never can be an ellipsis of any thing which is either unnecessary to the con struction or necessary to the sense, for to say what we mean and nothing more, never can constitute a deviation from the ordinary gra amatical construction of words. As a figure of Syntax, therefore, the ellipsis can be only of such words as are so evidently suggested to the reader, that the writer is as fully answerable for them as if he had written them. To suppose an ellipsis where there is none, or to overlook one where it really occurs, is to pervert or mutilate the text, in order to accommodate it to the parser's ignorance of the principles of syntax. There never can be either a general uniformity or a self-consistency in our methods of parsing, or in our notions of grammar, till the true nature of an ellipsis is clearly ascertained; so that the writer shall distinguish it from a blundering omission that impairs the sense, and the reader be barred from an arbitrary insertion of what would be cumbrous and useless. By adopting loose and extravagant ideas of the nature of this figure, some pretenders to learning and philosophy have been led into the most whimsical and opposite notions concerning the grammatical construction of language. Thus, with equal absurdity, Cardell and Sherman, in their Philosophic Grammars, attempt to confute the doctrines of their predecessors, by supposing ellipses at pleasure. And while the former teaches, that prepositions do not govern the objective case, but that every verb is transitive, and governs at least two objects, expressed or understood, its own and that of a preposition; the latter, with just as good an argument, contends, that no verb is transitive, but that every objective case is governed by a preposition expressed or understood. A world of nonsense for lack of a definition!

5. Of the Verb; as, "Who did this? I" [did it].-"To whom thus Eve, yet sinless" [spoke].

6. Of the Participle; as, "That [being] o'er, they part." 7. Of the Adverb; as, " He spoke [wisely] and acted wisely." -"Exceedingly great and [exceedingly] powerful."

8. Of the Conjunction; as, “The fruit of the Spirit is love, [and] joy, [and] peace, [and] long-suffering, [and] gentleness, [and goodness, [and] faith, [and] meekness, [and] temperance." Gal., v, 22. The repetition of the conjunction is called Polysyndeton; and the omission of it, Asyndeton.

9. Of the Preposition; as, "[On] this day."-"[In] next month."-" He departed [from] this life."-"He gave [to] me a book."-"To walk [through] a mile."

10. Of the Interjection; as, “Oh! the frailty, [Oh!] the wickedness of men!"

11. Of a Phrase or Clause; as, "The active commonly do more than they are bound to do; the indolent [commonly do] less" [than they are bound to do].

II. Pleonasm is the introduction of superfluous words. This figure is allowable only, when, in animated discourse, it abruptly introduces an emphatic word, or repeats an idea to impress it more strongly; as, "He that hath ears to hear, let him hear!"-" All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth!"-"There shall not be left one stone upon an other, that shall not be thrown down."-"I know thee who thou art."Bible. A Pleonasm is sometimes impressive and elegant; but an unemphatic repetition of the same idea, is one of the worst faults of bad writing.

III. Syliepsis is agreement formed according to the figurative sense of a word, or the mental conception of the thing spoken of, and not according to the literal or common use of the term; it is therefore, in general, connected with some figure of rhetoric: as, "The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory."--John, i, 14. "Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria, and preached Christ unto them.”—Acts, viii, 5. "While Evening draws her crim、 son curtains round."-Thomson.

IV. Enallagè is the use of one part of speech, or of one modification for an other. This figure borders closely upon solecism; and, for the stability of the language, it should be

* Deviations of this kind are, in general, to be considered solecisms; otherwise the rules of grammar would be of no use or authority. Despuuter, an ancient Latin grammarian, gave an improper latitude to this figure, under the name of Antiptosis; and Behourt and others extended it still further. But Sanctius says, " Antiptosi grammaticorum nihil imperitius, quod figmentum si esset verum, frustra quæreretur, quem casum verba regerent." And the Messieurs De Port Royal reject the figure

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