Teaching Spelling – Words frequently mispronounced, or improperly accented

Teaching Spelling – Words frequently mispronounced, or improperly accented.

Lesson 198.

Words frequently mispronounced, or improperly accented.

in’nate       chol’er ic      se’cre to ry
ter’mites     gon’fa lon      dec’re to ry
way’lay       cen’tu ple      ex’ple to ry
slaugh’ter    re’tro cede     con sis’to ry
frag’ile      nu’cle us       pre cep’to ry
car’riage     cen’tau ry      rep’er to ry
thor’ough     co quet’ry      chi rur’ger y
sched’ule     sto mach’ic     sperm a ce’ti
grand’eur     in’ter stice    pan e gyr’ist
hir sute’     ce ram’ic       pan’e gy rize
ben’zine      re volt’ing     mel lif’lu ous

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Spelling – Teaching Spelling – ACCENT

ACCENT
When a word consists of two syllables one of them receives more stress of
voice than the other. This stress of voice is called accent. If the word
consists of three or more syllables there is usually another syllable
stressed in somewhat less degree. This is called a secondary accent. In
some cases there may even be a third accent if the word is very long;
_In’-come_, _val-e-tu’-di-na’-ri-an_. This fact arises from the tendency
natural to all human speech to take more or less musical forms. The
monotony of a series of stressed or of unstressed sounds would be
unbearable. The pronunciation of such a series would be a highly artificial
and very difficult performance. Correct pronunciation is very greatly
concerned with the proper placing of the accent. Indeed the meaning of a
familiar word may be quite obscured by a misplaced accent. For example,
_he-red’-it-ary_ is a very familiar word, but when pronounced
_he-red-it’-ary_, as it was habitually by a friend of the author, we have
to stop and think before catching the meaning.

The placing of the accent in English is subject to two general rules.

     I  The accent clings to the syllable which gives the meaning to the
     word, or in technical terms, the root syllable, _re-call’_,
     _in-stall’_, _in-stal-la’-tion_ (accent falling on the syllable
     which defines the word as a noun), _in-her’-it_.

     II  Where the root syllable is not known the accent falls on the
     first syllable, with secondary accents following at intervals to
     relieve the voice.

This last tendency not infrequently supersedes the other, partly from the
natural habit of the language, and partly because the average man is not an
etymologist and knows very little about the derivation of the words he
uses. For example, in Shakespeare’s time English people followed the first
rule and said _re-ven’-ue_, but now we say _rev’-e-nue_.

These two rules will serve as a good general guide to accent. Attention
should be paid to the pronunciation of good speakers, and care taken to
follow it. In case of doubt the dictionary should be consulted and the
proper accent carefully fixed in the mind.

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Spelling List

Lesson 121.

cir’cus     ca pac’i ty      an’a gram
cur’few     com par’i son    am’bi ent
cur’tain    com par’a tive   al’li gate
fer’tile    com pat’i ble    cal’a mine
fer’vid     con cav’i ty     hal’cy on
fur’nace    de clar’a tive   Jes’u it
fur’long    di ag’o nal      ped’i gree
mer’maid    di am’e ter      reg’is ter
nerv’ous    dog mat’ic al    rev’el ry
pur’chase   em bas’sa dor    skep’tic al
sur’face    de prav’i ty     ver’i ly

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Words accented on the first Syllable

Lesson 106.

Words accented on the first Syllable.

cler’ic al      fes’ti val   li’bra ry
el’e gy         eth’ic al    like’li hood
em’i grant      her’ald ry   mi’cro cosm
em’per or       her’e tic    mi’cro scope
ep’i gram       her’o ism    ni’tro gen
pa’pa cy        di’a lect    ped’ant ry
fla’gran cy     di’a gram    ped’es tal
fra’gran cy     di’a ry      med’i cine
ra’di ance      fin’er y     lex’i con
sla’ver y       i’vo ry      sed’u lous
main’te nance   pli’a ble    quer’u lous

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Words accented on the Penult

Wow – I wonder how many people are around who actually know what that means?

Does anyone use the word penultimate any more? 

 If you don’t know …

Penultimate is “second to last” and Penult is second to last syllable:

In grammar, the ultima is the last syllable in a word, and the penult or penultima is specifically the second to last syllable 

Lesson 71.

Words accented on the Penult.

a mend’ed      con tent’ed     di lem’ma
an gel’ic      re flect’ive    dis tem’per
ap pen’dix     de crep’it      do mes’tic
as sem’bly     de fend’ant     em bel’lish
as sess’ment   de mer’it       em bez’zle
pa rent’al     re fresh’ing    re dun’dant
po et’ic       re plen’ish     a sun’der
pre sent’ed    re sent’ment    con cur’rent
pu tres’cent   re splen’dent   ef ful’gent
pre vent’ive   sur ren’der     en cum’ber

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