.:S. The Meeting of two Vowels together in one Word, vix ae, ei, oo, ou, &c. &c. are called Dipthongs.

M What are the proper Dipthongs ?

S. Those that have both Vowels fully sounded; aś, ai, in Bait; ei, in Reign; oo, in Good; ou, in Bound, &c.

M. What are the improper Dipthongs?

S. Those in which only one of the Vowels is sounded; thus, a in Bread, Dead, &c. o in Feoffe, People, &c. u in built, guilt, are not sounded.

M. What do you mean by a Tripthong?

S. Tripthongs consist of three Vowels following each other; as eau in Beauty, ieu in adieu, lieu; the two first of which lose their Sound.

Most ofour Tripthongs being derived from the French Language, retain the Sound which they had in their original Tongue; as Beau, is Bo, and Lieu. tenant is pronounced Liftenant, &c.

Of Consonants.

1, Of the Consonant (C).

M. How is the Consonant C sounded?

S. It sounds hard like & before the Vowels a, o, and u, as, Can, cope, curl, &c. but it sounds soft like s before e, i, or y as, ci, cit, cite; also Cedar, Cellar, Centry, Cinder, Cistern, and cypher, are all pronounced si, sit, site, Sedar, Sellar, &c.

N. B. Proper Names of Men and Places are an exception to this Rules føre founds like k in Aceldama, Cenckrea, &c.

S. In proper Names of Men and Places: Achan (is prenounced Akan) Achish, Baruch, Enoch, &c.

N. B. The Words Arch, Archbishop, Cherubim, &c. are Exceptions to this Rule; but ch before the Vowel a is like k, viz. Archangel is Arkangel.

M. Is not ch sometimes sounded like qu?

S. Yes; for Choir and Chorister, are pronounced like Quire and Quirister.

M. is not ch sounded like sh

S. Yes; in many Words; thus, Capuchin, Champaign, Chevalier, Machine, are pronounced, Capusheen, Shampaign, Shevalier, Masheen, &c.

3. Of(G) (Gh) (Gn) and (Ph).

M. How is the Letter g sounded

S. G before e and i has the same sound as the long j (or

1

ja): thus, Gelly, Gem, Gender, Giant, Gill, are pronounced
Felly, Jem, Fender, &c.

N. B. Gilbert, and fome other proper Names and Places, are excepted.
M. How is gh sounded

S. Sometimes like g only, as in Ghost, Gherkins, &c. sometimes it sounds like f, as in Cough, laugh, &c. and in many Words it has no sound at all, as in high, nigh, sigh, &c. N. B. G is not founded in Grafk, Gnat, Gnaw, Gnomon, nor in Bagnio, Seraglio, &c, for these Words are pronounced Nafk, Nat, Now, Nomon, &c. M. How is gn sounded?

S. Words ending in gn sound like ne; as in Sign, resign, which are pronounced Sine, resine.

M How is ph sounded.

S. Ph in general sounds like f; as in Phantom, Philip, Phrenxy: and being joined with th, they lose their sound except ; thus Phthisick is pronounced Tisick or Tisic.

4. Of (S) (Sc) and (Sch).

M. Does not s often sound like z ?_

S. Yes; as in Glasier, Miser, wiser, &c. and sometimes it has no sound at all; as Isle, Lisle, Carlisle, Viscount, &c. are pronounced lle, Lile, Carlile, Vicount, &c.

M. How is SC sounded?

S. When sc comes before e ori, one of them loses its sound; as in Scepter, Science, Scion, &c. but before à, o, and u, sounds like k; as in Scalp, scold, Scull, &c.

M. How is sch sounded?

S Like sc or sk; as in Scholar, School, &c. and in some Words both c and are mute; as in Schedule, Schism, &c. which are pronounced Sedule and Sism. But some have pronounced the same Word Shedule.

M. Have ci, sci, and ti always their natural sound? S. No; for they all sound like shi, before o in particular; but ci and ti sound also like shi, before a: Thus, vicious, tenacious, &c are pronounced vishious, tenashious; Conscience, conscious, &c. are pronounced Consbience, consbious, &c. and Motion, Oration, are sounded like Moshun, Orashun, &c. &c. so also partial, special, &c. are pronounced parshial, speshial, &c. 6. Of Xi).

M. How is xi pronounced?

S. The x is sounded like k or ks, and sometimes xi sounds

like shi: Thus, Anxiety, anxious, &c. are pronounced Anksiety, ankshious. &c.

Of the Vowel and Confonant (ij), and the Vowel and Confonant (u v).

M What is the difference between these two Letters, i and j? S. More than many Persons are aware of, for they differ as much as any two Letters, and have no relation to each. other. The same is to be observed of the two Letters u and v. M. But how may I know when I am to use them in their proper Places?

S. By calling j,ja, and by calling v, vee; and then whenever ja or vee will spell the Word, you will know it is not to be ; or น.

M. Give me an Example?

S. Suppose you ask me to spell John, Joseph, Jewel, &c. I spell them with a long 7 (or Ja) because Ja will spell them; but when you are to write or spell Isaac or Iron, then use I, because I won't sound before the Consonants r or s, &c. Thus it is with V, for Venture, Value, &c. must have v before them; but under, upbold, &c. cannot have v, for it would be ridiculous to write uphold, uphold, and as wrong to write Value, Value, &c. &c.

An easy Guide to English Grammar, by Way of Question and
Answer: Designed for the Use of Schools, &c.

Let all the foreign Tongues alone,
Till you can read and spell your own.

TABLE I. Of GRAMMAR in general,

Master.

WHAT

do you mean by Grammar? Scholar. Grammar signifies the Art of Speaking and Writing our native Language aright, and according to Rule.

M. What do you mean by Parts of Speech?

S. They are several, distin& Parts, into which a Tongue or Language is divided; and some Languages have more

than others.

M. How many Parts of Speech are there in the English Tongue?

S. Nine.

M. What are they called?

S. Article, Noun, Pronoun, Verb, Particle, Adverb, Conjunction, Preposition, and Interjection.

M. Has every Language nine Parts of Speech?

S. No: The Latin has but eight, for it does not consider the article as such.

M But is not the Name of any of those Parts of Speech the same in every Language.

S. Yes: A Noun or a Verb in English, is a Noun or a Verb in the Latin Tongue, and in all others.

TABLE II. Of the ARTICLES A or An, and The. Master. THAT do you mean by an Article ?

WHAT

Scholar. An Article is a small Word placed before a Noun, in order to express more fully its nature and signification; as A Man, A Horse, A Tree, A Book, &c.

M. How many Articles are there?

S. Two; the Article A or An, and the Article The; which have a different use and signification.

M. What is the Use of the Article A or An ?

S. The Article A or An is the same; only A is used before a Consonant, and An before a Vowel. Thus we say, A Man, A Book, &c. but we write or say, An Eye, An Ear,

N. B. When the Article comes before H, then either A or An may be used. as A Horfe, A Hand, A Habit; or An Horfe,, An Hand, An Habit.

ways write An Hour, which is pronounced An Our.

M. How is the Article The used?

But we al

S. This Article shews the identity or Reality of a Thing itself; as, The King, The Church, &c. signifies that very King and Church we are now speaking of.

Master.

HAT is Noun ?

WHAT

Ala Nour is the Name of a Thing ; that is, every Thing that can be seen, felt, or conceived, is a Noun.

M. How many Kinds of Nouns are there?

S. Two; Nouns Substantive, and Nouns Adjective.

M. How may I know a Noun Substantive from a Noun Adjective?

S. A Noun Substantive (as was said before) is the Name of

any Substance or Thing; as, Man, Beast, Bird, Fish, Foul, Church, House, Chair, Stool, Knife, Fork, Needle. Pin, &c. are Substantives. Things also that we cannot see, but have a Conception of, are Substantives; as-Joy, Sorrow, Life, Death, -Time, Eternity, &c.

M. Is there but one sort of Nouns Substantive ?..

S. Yes, there are two sorts; Nouns Substantive proper and common.

M. What is a proper Substantive?

S. Proper Names of Men, Places, &c. as Peter, John, Mary, London, Bristol, &c. are Substantives proper ; for John and Mary is not the Name of every Man and Woman, nor is London the Name of every City.

M. Very well; and pray what is a Substantive common? The Name of every Thing of the same Sort, Kind or Quality; thus, Man, Woman, Spirit, City, Water, Joy, Sorrow, &c. for a Man is called a Man, be he small or great; a Spirit, a Spirit, be it good or bad; a City, a City, be it small or large; and Water is Water, be it salt or fresh, &c.

Of NOUNS ADJECTIVE.

M. What is a Noun Adjective?

S. Nouns Adjective serve to express the Nature, Manner, and Quality of Nouns Substantive; as, good, bad, great, small, black, blue, red, &c. are Adjectives; but they want some other word to be joined to them, in order to make the Sense complete. Thus, a good Boy, a bad Man, a great House, a black Coat, where good, bad, great, and black, are all Adjectives; and Boy, Man, House, and Coa, are the Substantives.

M. Please to name me a few more Adjectives ?

S. I will, and you may soon perceive that the following Words. rude, wicked, barbarous, confident, dextrous, furious, eternal, quarrelsome, confounded, renowned, commanding, everlasting, sanctifying, &c. &c. &c. have no full-meaning, till joined with Substantives; but when we say, rude, wicked, confident, barbarous Wretch: A dexterous Fellow: A furious Dog: An eternal, everlasting Being, &c we have then a just Idea of the meaning of the Sentence.

M. Does not the Article The sometimes accompany Adjectives ? S. Yes; and then they often become Substantives in sense and meaning, and are wrote with a capital Letter; Thus, God rewards the Righteous, and punishes the Wicked: Or thus, Constantine the G.eat; Gorge the Renowned; means Constan tine the great Emperor, and George the renowned King.