in spoken language; otherwise the learner is misguided, and seduced by false representations into injurious errors.”—­Wilson’s Essay on Gram., p. 37.  Through the influence of books in which the words are divided according to their sounds, the pronunciation of the language is daily becoming more and more uniform; and it may perhaps be reasonably hoped, that the general adoption of this method of syllabication, and a proper exposition of the occasional errors of ignorance, will one day obviate entirely the objection arising from the instability of the principle.  For the old grammarians urged, that the scholar who had learned their rules should “strictly conform to them; and that he should industriously avoid that random Method of dividing by the Ear, which is subject to mere jumble, as it must be continually fluctuating according to the various Dialects of different Countries.”—­British Grammar, p. 47.

OBS. 8.—­The important exercise of oral spelling is often very absurdly conducted.  In many of our schools, it may be observed that the teacher, in giving out the words to be spelled, is not always careful to utter them with what he knows to be their true sounds, but frequently accommodates his pronunciation to the known or supposed ignorance of the scholar; and the latter is still more frequently allowed to hurry through the process, without putting the syllables together as he proceeds; and, sometimes, without forming or distinguishing the syllables at all.  Merely to pronounce a word and then name its letters, is an exceedingly imperfect mode of spelling; a mode in which far more is lost in respect to accuracy of speech, than is gained in respect to time.  The syllables should not only be distinctly formed and pronounced, but pronounced as they are heard in the whole word; and each should be successively added to the preceding syllables, till the whole sound is formed by the reunion of all its parts.  For example:  divisibility.  The scholar should say, “Dee I, de; Vee I Ess, viz, de-viz; I, de-viz-e; Bee I Ell, bil, de-viz-e-bil; I, de-viz-e-bil-e; Tee Wy, te, de-viz-e-bil-e-te.”  Again:  chicanery.  “Cee Aitch I, she; Cee A, ka, she-ka; En E Ar, nur, she-ka-nur; Wy, she-ka-nur-e.”  One of the chief advantages of oral spelling, is its tendency to promote accuracy of pronunciation; and this end it will reach, in proportion to the care and skill with which it is conducted.  But oral spelling should not be relied on as the sole means of teaching orthography.  It will not be found sufficient.  The method of giving out words for practical spelling on slates or paper, or of reading something which is to be written again by the learner, is much to be commended, as a means of exercising those scholars who are so far advanced as to write legibly.  This is called, in the schools, dictation.

IMPROPRIETIES FOR CORRECTION.

ERRORS IN SYLLABICATION.