McGuffeys Fifth Eclectic Reader | Page 7

having made his creatures, take no further' care of them, or
does he preserve and guide them'?
REMARK.--Where or is used conjunctively, this rule does not apply;
as, Will the law of kindness' or of justice' justify such conduct'?

CIRCUMFLEX.
The circumflex is a union of the rising and falling inflections. Properly

speaking, there are two of these, the one called the rising circumflex, in
which the voice slides down and then up; and the other, the falling
circumflex, in which the voice slides upward and then downward on
the same vowel. They may both be denoted by the same mark, thus, (^).
The circumflex is used chiefly to indicate the emphasis of irony, of
contrast, or of hypothesis.
EXAMPLES.
1. Queen. Hamlet, you have your father much offended. Hamlet.
Madam, you have my father much offended.
2. They offer us their protec'tion. Yes', such protection as vultures give
to lambs, covering and devouring them.
3. I knew when seven justices could not make up a quarrel; but when
the parties met themselves, one of them thought but of an if; as, If you
said so, then I said so; O ho! did you say so! So they shook hands and
were sworn brothers.
REMARKS.--In the first example, the emphasis is that of contrast. The
queen had poisoned her husband, of which she incorrectly supposed her
son ignorant, and she blames him for treating his father-in-law with
disrespect. In his reply, Hamlet contrasts her deep crime with his own
slight offense, and the circumflex upon "you" becomes proper.
In the second example the emphasis is ironical. The Spaniards
pretended that they would protect the Peruvians if they would submit to
them, whereas it was evident that they merely desired to plunder and
destroy them. Thus their protection is ironically called "such protection
as vultures give to lambs," etc.
In the third example, the word "so" is used hypothetically; that is, it
implies a condition or supposition. It will be observed that the rising
circumflex is used in the first "so," and the falling, in the second,
because the first "so" must end with the rising inflection and the second
with the falling inflection, according to previous rules.

MONOTONE.
When no word in a sentence receives an inflection, it is said to be read
in a monotone; that is, in nearly the same tone throughout. This
uniformity of tone is occa-sionally adopted, and is fitted to express
solemnity or sublimity of idea, and sometimes intensity of feeling. It is
used, also, when the whole sentence or phrase is emphatic. In books of
elocution, when it is marked at all, it is generally marked thus (---), as
in the lines following.
EXAMPLES.
Hence! loathed melancholy! Where brooding darkness spreads her
jealous wings, And the night raven sings; There, under ebon shades and
low-browed rocks, As ragged as thy locks, In deep Cimmerian darkness
ever dwell.

IV. ACCENT.
In every word which contains more than one syllable, one of the
syllables is pronounced with a somewhat greater stress of voice than
the others. This syllable is said to be accented. The accented syllable is
distinguished by this mark ('), the same which is used in inflections.
EXAMPLES.
Love'ly, re-turn', re-mem'ber, Con'stant, re-main', a-sun'der, Mem'ber,
a-bide', a-ban'don, Win'dow, a-tone', rec-ol-lect', Ban'ner, a-lone',
re-em-bark',
REMARK.--In most cases custom is the only guide for placing the
accent on one syllable rather than another. Sometimes, however, the
same word is differently accented in order to mark its different
meanings.

EXAMPLES.
Con'jure, to practice enchantments. Con-jure', to entreat. Gal'lant, brave.
Gal-lant', a gay fellow. Au'gust, a month. Au-gust', grand.
REMARK.--A number of words used sometimes as one part of speech,
and sometimes as another, vary their accents irregularly.
EXAMPLES.
Pres'ent, noun. Pres'ent, adjective. Pre-sent', verb. Com'pact, noun.
Com-pact', adjective. Com-pact', verb.
In words of more than two syllables there is often a second accent
given, but more slight than the principal one, and this is called the
secondary accent; as, car'a-van'', rep''ar-tee', where the principal accent
is marked (') and the secondary (''); so, also, this accent is obvious in
nav''-i-ga'tion, com''pre-hen'sion, plau''si-bil'i-ty, etc. The whole subject,
however, properly belongs to dictionaries and spelling books.

V. EMPHASIS.
A word is said to be emphasized when it is uttered with a greater stress
of voice than the other words with which it is connected.
REMARK 1.--The object of emphasis is to attract particular attention
to the word upon which it is placed, indicating that the idea to be
conveyed depends very much upon that word. This object, as just stated,
is generally accomplished by increasing the force of utterance, but
sometimes, also, by a change in the inflection, by the use of the
monotone, by pause, or by uttering the words in a very low key.
Emphatic words are