VI.  OF THE LETTER F.

The consonant F has one unvaried sound, which is heard in fan, effort, staff:  except of, which, when simple, is pronounced ov.

VII.  OF THE LETTER G.

The consonant G has two sounds;—­the one hard, guttural, and peculiar to this letter; the other soft, like that of j.  G before a, o, u, l, r, or at the end of a word, is hard; as in game, gone, gull, glory, grace, log, bog; except in gaol.  G before e, i, or y, is soft; as in gem, ginger, elegy.  Except—­1.  In get, give, gewgaw, finger, and a few other words. 2.  When a syllable is added to a word ending in g:  as, long, longer; fog, foggy.

G is silent before m or n in the same syllable; as in phlegm, apothegm, gnaw, design.  G, when silent, usually lengthens the preceding vowel; as in resign, impregn, impugn.

Gh at the beginning of a word has the sound of g hard; as in ghastly, gherkin, Ghibelline, ghost, ghoul, ghyll:  in other situations, it is generally silent; as in high, mighty, plough, bough, though, through, fight, night, bought.  Gh final sometimes sounds like f; as in laugh, rough, tough; and sometimes, like g hard; as in burgh.  In hough, lough, shough, it sounds like k, or ck; thus, hock, lock, shock.

VIII.  OF THE LETTER H.

The sound of the consonant H, (though articulate and audible when properly uttered,) is little more than an aspirate breathing.  It is heard in hat, hit, hot, hut, adhere.

H at the beginning of a word, is always sounded; except in heir, herb, honest, honour, hospital, hostler, hour, humble, humour, with their compounds and derivatives. H after r, is always silent; as in rhapsody, rhetoric, rheum, rhubarb.  H final, immediately following a vowel, is always silent; as in ah, Sarah, Nineveh, Shiloh.

IX.  OF THE LETTER I.

The vowel I has three sounds, each very common to it, and perhaps properly its own:—­

1.  The open, long, full, or primal i; as in life, fine, final, time, bind, child, sigh, pint, resign.  This is a diphthongal sound, equivalent to the sounds of middle a and open e quickly united.

2.  The close, curt, short, or stopped i; as in ink, limit, disfigure, mimicking.

3.  The feeble, faint, or slender i, accentless; as in divest, doctrinal, diversity.

This third sound is equivalent to that of open e, or ee uttered feebly. I generally has this sound when it occurs at the end of an unaccented syllable:  except at the end of Latin words, or of ancient names, where it is open or long; as in literati, Nervii, Eli, Levi.