PREFACE. THE AMERICAN WORD BOOK offers a carefully developed and progressive plan for teaching the forms and values of everyday English words. Short lessons, judicious grading, the introduction of new terms in connection with those already familiar, the constant appeal to the intelligence as well as to the memory, are the means by which the pupil is trained to use an enlarged vocabulary and encouraged in the exact expression of thought. Lists of words often mispronounced are provided, together with many comparative exercises, including synonyms, words of opposite meaning, words of several meanings, words spelled alike and pronounced differently, and words pronounced alike and spelled differently. In these, as in all terms defined and in all selections for dictation, the use of diacritical marks is designed to lead naturally to the intelligent use of the dictionary. Lessons on prefixes and suffixes and easy exercises in word building form an attractive introduction to the subject of etymology, and awaken interest in the structure of our language. |