A

PRONOUNCING

SPELLING-BOOK

OF THE

ENGLISH LANGUAGE.

BY J. E. WORCESTER, LL. D

BOSTON:

BREWER AND TILESTON,

17 MILK STREET.

NEW YORK: J. W. SCHERMERHORN & CO.

HARVARD
UNIVERSITY
LIBRARY

Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1857, by

JOSEPH E. WORCESTER,

Lu the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the District of Massachusetts.

PREFACE.

THERE are now so many spelling-books of different degrees of excel lence, more or less in use in this country, that it may well be thought not desirable to have their number increased; but the compiler has been desired to prepare one suitable to be used in connection with his Dictionaries, conformed to them in orthography and pronunciation, and having the same system of notation in marking the sounds of the letters.

The design has been to give both the orthography and pronunciation which are in accordance with the practice of the best writers and speakers both in England and in the United States. With respect to orthography, the best American writers vary little from the established English usage. The most noted difference relates to a number of words ending in or or our; as, favor, honor, or favour, honour. In this country it is the prevailing practice to omit the u; though in England it is the general custom to retain it in a number of words, the most of which are dissyllables.

In the orthography and orthoepy of the English language there are many irregularities and difficulties; and in this book an attempt has been made so to classify the words as to present these irregularities and difficulties distinctly to the mind of the learner, that he may see and become familiarized with the irregularities, and enabled easily to overcome the difficulties.

The greatest difficulty in spelling English words arises from the different modes in which several of the elementary sounds of the language are represented by the letters of the alphabet; and from the use of the same letter, or the same combination of letters, to express different sounds. The long sound of a, for example, is represented in eight different ways; as in fate, aid, bay, they, veil, break, gauge, gaol. On the other hand, the letter a stands for five different sounds, as given in the Key; and, besides, it has the sound of short o, as in (3)