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your thought into a single word. The child says to his father, up, meaning, take me up into your lap; or, book, meaning, this thing in my hand is a book.

These first words always deal with the things that can be learned by the senses; they express the child's ideas of these things.

We have spoken of thoughts and sentences; let us see now if we can find out just what a thought is, and what a sentence is.

As a sentence is a group of words expressing a thought,—the body, of which the thought is the soul,—and so is something which we can hear or see, while a thought is not, let us try to find out what a thought is by looking at a sentence.

In any such sentence as this, Spiders spin, something is said or asserted about something. Here it is said or asserted of the insects,

spiders, that they spin.

The sentence, then, consists of two parts,-the name of that of which something is said, and that which is said of it.

The first of these parts we call the Subject of the sentence; the second, the Predicate.

Now, if the sentence, composed of two parts, expresses the thought, there must be in the thought two parts to be expressed. And there are two; viz., something of which we think, and that which we think about it. In the thought expressed a moment ago, the insects, spiders, are the something of which we think, and their spinning is what we think or judge of them. In the sentence expressing this thought, the word spiders names that of which we think, and the word spin tells what we think or judge of them

Not every group of words is necessarily a sentence, because it may not be the expression of a thought. Spiders spinning is not a sentence. Neither of the two ideas for which the words stand is thought of the other or asserted of it.

reason.

Soft feathers, The shining sun, are not sentences, and for the same Feathers are soft, The sun shines, are sentences. Here the asserting word is supplied, and something is said of something else. The shines sun is not a sentence, for, though it contains the asserting word shines, the arrangement is such that no assertion is made, and so no thought is expressed.

How are our first

Questions on the Talk.-What do we use words for? thoughts expressed? What do our first words express? What is a sentence?

What is it made up of? What is each part called? Of what two parts is a thought composed? Why is spiders spinning not a sentence? sentence? Convert the shining sun into a sentence. sentence?

Why is the shining sun not a
Why is the shines sun not a

LESSON 3.

A TALK ON SOUNDS AND LETTERS.

We have already told you that in expressing our ideas and thoughts we use two kinds of words, spoken words and written words.

We learned the spoken words first. Mankind spoke long before they wrote. Not until people wished to communicate with those at a distance, or had thought out something worth handing down to aftertimes, did they need to write.

But speaking was easy. The air, the lungs, and the organs of the throat and mouth were at hand. The first cry was a suggestion. Sounds and noises were heard on every side, provoking imitation, and the need of speech, for the purposes of communication, was imperative.

Spoken words are made up of sounds. There are about forty sounds in the English language. The different combinations of these give us all the words of our spoken tongue. That you may clearly understand these sounds, we will tell you something about the human voice.

In talking, the air driven out from your lungs beats against two flat muscles, stretched, like bands, across the top of the windpipe, and causes them to vibrate up and down. This vibration makes sound. Take a thread, put one end between your teeth, hold the other with thumb and finger, draw it tight and strike it, and you will understand how voice is made. The shorter the string or the tighter it is drawn, the faster will it vibrate and the higher will be the pitch of the sound. The more violent the blow, the farther will the string vibrate and the louder will be the sound. Just so with these vocal bands or cords. The varying force with which the breath strikes them, and their differ

ent tensions and lengths at different times, explain the different degrees of loudness and the varying pitch of the voice.

If the voice thus produced comes out through the mouth held well open, a class of sounds is formed which we call vowel sounds.

But if the voice is held back or obstructed by the palate, tongue, teeth, or lips, one kind of the sounds called consonant sounds is made. If the breath is driven out without voice, and is held back by these same parts of the mouth, the other kind of consonant sounds is formed.

The written word is made up of characters, or letters, which represent to the eye these sounds that address the ear.

You are now prepared to understand us when we say that the vowels are the letters that stand for the open sounds of the voice, and that the consonants are the letters that stand for. the sounds made by the obstructed voice and the obstructed breath.

The alphabet of a language is a complete list of its letters. A perfect alphabet would have one letter for each sound, and only one. Our alphabet is imperfect in at least these three ways:

1. Some of the letters are superfluous; c stands for the sound of 8 or of k, as in city and can; q has the sound of k, as in quit; and x that of ks, gz, or z, as in expel, exist, and Xenophon.

2. Combinations of letters sometimes represent single sounds; as, th in thine, th in thin, ng in sing, and sh in shut.

3. Some letters stand each for many sounds. Twenty-three letters represent over forty sounds. Every vowel does more than single duty; e stands for two sounds, as in mete and met; i for two, as in pine and pin; o for three, as in note, not, and move; u for four, as in tube, tub, full, and fur; a for six, as in fate, fat, far, fall, fast, and fare.

W is a vowel when it unites with a preceding vowel to represent a vowel sound, and so is y when it has the sound of i, as in now, by, boy, newly.

The various sounds of the several vowels and even of the same vowel are caused by the different shapes which the mouth assumes. These changes in its cavity produce, also, the two sounds that unite in each of the compounds, ou, oi, ew, and in the alphabetic i and o.

[blocks in formation]

The consonants in column 1 represent the sounds made by the obstructed voice; those in column 2, except h (which is simple though strong breathing), represent those made by the obstructed breath. The letters are mostly in pairs. Now note that the tongue, teeth, lips, and palate are placed in the same relative position to make the sounds of both letters in any pair. The difference in the sounds of the letters of any pair is simply this: there is voice in the sounds of the letters in column 1, and only whisper in those of column 2. Give the sound of any letter in column 1, as b, g, v, and the last or vanish ing part of it is the sound of the other letter of the pair.

Let the teacher write these letters on the board, as above, and drill the pupils on their sounds till they can see and make these distinctions. Exercise them on the vowels also.

Questions on the Talk.-Which precedes, speaking or writing? When did people need to write? What do we use in speaking? Of what are spoken words composed? How many sounds are there in our language? How is voice made? Give the illustrations. On what do pitch and loudness depend? What are vowel sounds? What are consonant sounds? What are the two kinds of consonant sounds? What are letters? What are vowels? What are consonants? What is a perfect alphabet? How is ours imperfect? What are the three useless letters, and for what do they stand? What combinations of letters stand for single sounds? Make the sounds of the vowels. When are w and y vowels? What does changing the cavity of the mouth do to the sound? In making the vowel sounds note these changes. In sounding ou, oi, etc., how does the mouth change? What are the let ters in column 1 called? In column 2 ? In what respect do the sounds of the letters paired resemble each other? How do they differ? Make all these sounds by them selves. What are the four things that we wish you to distinguish? Illustrate.

In closing this last formal talk with you, we wish to emphasize one point brought before you. Here is a pencil, a real thing; we carry

in memory a picture of the pencil, which we call an idea; and there are the two words naming this idea, the spoken and the written. Learn to distinguish clearly these four things.

LESSON 4.

ANALYSIS AND THE DIAGRAM.

DEFINITION.-A Sentence is the expression of a thought in

words.

Direction.-Let the pupils be exercised on these sentences :

Model.-Spiders spin. Why is this a sentence? Ans.-Because it expresses a thought. Of what is something thought? Ans.-* Spiders. Which word tells whe is thought? Ans.-* Spin.

1. Tides ebb.
2. Liquids flow.

3. Steam expands.

5. Iron melts.

4. Carbon burns.

6. Powder explodes.

7. Leaves tremble. 8. Worms crawl. 9. Hares lcap.

You see that in these sentences there are two parts. The parts, as you have learned, are the Subject and the Predi

cate.

DEFINITION.-The Subject of a sentence names that of which something is thought.

DEFINITION.—The Predicate of a sentence tells what is

thought.

DEFINITION.-The Analysis of a sentence is the separation of it into its parts.

Direction. Analyze these sentences:

Model.-Beavers build. This is a sentence, because it expresses a thought. Beavers is the subject, because it names that of which something is thought; build is the predicate, because it tells what is thought.

1. Squirrels climb.

2. Blood circulates.

3. Muscles tire.

4. Heralds proclaim.
5. Apes chatter.
6. Branches wave.

7. Corn ripens.

8. Birds twitter. 9. Hearts throb.

* Spiders, standing in Roman, names our idea of the real thing; spin, used merely as a word, is in Italics. This use of Italics the teacher and pupil will please note.

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