accent remains on the last syllable double a final consonant if it is preceded by a single vowel. Examples: hopping, forgetting, referring. Exception: transferable. Tranquillity doubles a consonant preceded by a double vowel.

(Rules 3 and 5 apply thus to the case of participles: when we pronounce a syllable short before a suffix, we usually double the consonant, otherwise not: batting, debating; canning, caning; dinning, dining; hopping, hoping; lopping, loping; mopping, moping; robbing, robing; shinning, shining; slopping, sloping; written, writing; batted, bated; canned, caned; dinned, dined; hopped, hoped; lopped, loped; mopped, moped; robbed, robed; shinned, shined; slopped, sloped.)

RULE 6.A polysyllable whose accent remains on the first syllable, or recedes from the last syllable before a suffix, does not double a final consonant. Examples: prefer, preference; benefit, benefited; also (preferably) traveler, equaled, worshiped.

RULE 7.- (a) Numbers like the following take the hyphen : seventy-three, seventy-third.

(b) The hyphen is needed in a compound adjective, if there is any doubt as to the meaning when the hyphen is omitted. "Red-hot iron" may be a different idea from "red hot iron."

(c) Many a word once compounded is now written solid, that is, as a single word: railroad, steamboat, anybody, anything, raindrop, forever, schoolboy, schoolhouse, schoolmate, schoolfellow (but school days, school teacher, school district); myself, yourself (but one's self); childlike, lifelike. All right is never a compound, but always two words.

RULE 8. -The following words end in ible, whereas a very much larger number end in able: accessible, admissible, audible, combustible, comprehensible, contemptible, credible, defensible, discernible, divisible, fallible, flexible, forcible, horrible, illegible, impossible, incorrigible, indelible, indivisible, invincible, invisible, irresistible, permissible, possible, responsible, sensible, visible.

RULE 9. The possessive singular of a monosyllable ending in s is regularly made by adding 's, pronounced as an extra syllable, and in America the same rule is very properly coming to be applied to words of more than one syllable, thus: Jones's, Burns's, Higgins's. For the polysyllable ending in the sound of

s, merely the apostrophe is sometimes required, as in the plural. Thus: "Moses' seat"; "conscience' sake."

RULE 10. In such words as believe, receive, etc., i follows 1, The order of letters in the ugly word lice will

but e follows c.

fix this in memory.

RULE 11. When a word ends in o preceded by another vowel, the plural is formed by adding s. Example: cameos. If o is preceded by a consonant, the plural is usually formed by adding es. Examples: echoes, heroes, mosquitoes, potatoes. Chief exceptions: halos, pianos, solos.

RULE 12.- Word-breaking. (a) When the derivation permits, divide a word after a vowel: propo-sition. (b) Avoid divisions of fewer than three letters. (c) Divide before ing in participles, except in twin-kling, chuc-kling, etc. (d) Observe the following divisions: provi-sion, reli-gion, etc.; fea-ture, fortune, pic-ture, presump-tuous, etc.; espe-cial, inhabit-ant, peculiar, pro-cess, knowl-edge, atmos-phere, hemi-sphere.

RULE 13. - Capitals. — Capitalize nouns and adjectives in titles of themes, but not verbs nor adverbs except in cases of unusual emphasis.

A LIST OF ABOUT SIXTEEN HUNDRED WORDS OFTEN MISSPELLED

NOTE. The four dictionaries consulted are the Century, the Standard, Webster, and Worcester. In most cases the combined authority of the Century and the Standard has been given greater weight than the combined authority of Webster and Worcester. Occasionally, however, the preference of Webster and Worcester is the preference of the list, as in the case of æsthetic, a word coined by a German scholar to mean a given thing, and therefore a word which, in a simplified spelling, loses half its force. Simplification of spelling is apparently a desirable thing, but in the practical application is a most dangerous thing. Apart from its effect on the meaning and the literary value of the word, it is often unhappy in its effect on the very matter it is meant to represent the sound. The country is even now in danger of losing the proper pronunciation of program on account of the

shortened form. As to British forms, words ending in our, as honour, are not thus given. There is enough affectation among young people without the addition of these Anglicisms. More dignified and sonorous than the American form they may possibly be; but honor was dignified and sonorous enough for Augustus Cæsar, and should be for American schoolboys. On the other hand, the distinctively British forms anyone, everyone, someone, are recognized; they name ideas quite different from any one, every one, some one. Also the longer forms of judgement and acknowledgement are given second place because most dictionaries give them second place, rather than because it seems reasonable to violate so wide an analogy (Rule 1) and to deal summarily with two words over which the human mind might profitably linger.

course,

It is recommended that, before the end of his high-school the student be required to know the meaning, the pronunciation, and the spelling of every word in the list. There are extremely few words in it that do not name something already contained in his experience, and none that, under proper circumstances, may not properly occur in his themes.

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Abbreviations: (C.) Century, (S.) Standard, (Web.) Webster's International, (Wor.)

= Worcester.

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