ciation, and accent. This consideration
is necessarily brief, and no attempt has been made to give the rules for
spelling which are so frequently found in spelling books, or any of them.
In the writer's opinion such rules are of very little practical value. Good
spelling is not so much the result of remembering and applying rules as it
is of observation, practice, and memory. The lists of certain types of
troublesome words may be found useful for ready reference.

Syllable formation, pronunciation, and accent are considered because it is
hoped that the volumes of this series, particularly those in Part VI
(Correct Literary Composition) and Part VIII (History of Printing), will
contribute something to the general education of the apprentice as well as
to his skill in the trade.

CONTENTS

SPELLING

PRONUNCIATION

ACCENT

DIVISION OF WORDS

RULES FOR DIVISION OF WORDS

IMPORTANCE OF SPACING

DIVISION IN LINES OF DISPLAY

SUPPLEMENTARY READING

REVIEW QUESTIONS

DIVISION OF WORDS

The division of words when the words do not exactly fit the register of the
line has always been a source of trouble. In the days of the manuscript
makers devices such as crowding letters, reducing their size, or omitting
them altogether were freely used and words were arbitrarily divided when
the scribes so desired. During the greater part of the time every scribe
divided as he pleased, often in ways which seem very strange to us, like
the Greek custom of dividing always after a vowel and even dividing words
of one syllable. With the invention of printing, however, the number of
these devices was greatly diminished. It became a matter of spacing out the
line or dividing the word. Of course that meant frequent word division and
called for a systematization of rules with regard to this division. These
rules for division are necessarily based on spelling and syllabication.

SPELLING

The idea that there is one right way to combine the letters representing a
certain sound or group of sounds, that is a word, and that all other ways
are wrong and little short of shameful is a comparatively new idea among
us. The English speaking folk held down to a comparatively recent time that
any group of letters which approximately represented the sound was amply
sufficient as a symbol of the word. This sort of phonetic spelling was
commonly followed, and followed with great freedom. No obligation was
recognized to be c