Division of Words | Page 6

is long and accented; _en-a-bling_,
_He-brew_, _i-dler_.
(_b_) When the following vowel is an accented syllable; _o-blige_,
_re-dress_.
When two or three consonants capable of beginning a syllable come
between two sounded vowels one may be joined to the preceding
vowel.
(_a_) When the vowel is short; _tab-let_, _res-cue_, _mus-ket_.
(_b_) When the consonants are st, str, or sp, if either the preceding or
following vowel is accented; _mis-tress_, _aus-tere_, _oys-ter_,
_sus-pect_.
When a consonant is doubled (not forming a digraph) the two are
generally separated; _beg-gar_, _bril-liant_, _cun-ning_.
The old-fashioned method of oral spelling by syllables

_m-a-s-mas-t-e-r-ter-master_ will be found extremely useful in
teaching correct syllabication. It is recommended that constant use be
made of it in spelling drill.

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.

DIVISION OF WORDS
When the words do not fit the line what shall we do? The early printers
used only one kind of spaces. In setting a line of type they proceeded
until there was no room in the line for the next complete word of the
copy. Then they filled out the line with spaces and began the next word
on the next line. The length of the register being known in advance and
nothing but spaces being used in setting the line, the compositor was
spared much that makes composition at once a hard labor and a fine art.
The result was an irregular margin at the right such as we now see in
typewritten letters.
With improvements in types and typography the squaring out of the
page soon came into fashion. In many cases this can be done by the
careful use of spaces so as to bring a certain number of words squarely
out to the end of the line. There have been printers who have insisted
that this should always be done. Their efforts have not, however, been
successful. They result in a freakish looking page with white spots in
the lines where letters or words have been spaced out to fill the register.
It would be better, on the whole, to resort to the practice of the old
masters and leave the right-hand margin irregular.
Ordinarily the difficulty has been met by dividing words and putting a
part of a word on one line and the rest of it on another, indicating the
break by a hyphen. The hyphen in such a case is always the closing
character in the first line. Clearly this division must be so made as to
assist the reader in his task. The primary purpose of all printing is to be

read. Anything that adds to the legibility of the printing improves it;
anything that detracts from its legibility harms it. How can we so divide