SEVENTH AND EIGHTH YEARS.
BY ELMER W. CAVINS,
TEACHER OF ORTHOGRAPHY IN ILLINOIS STATE NORMALUNIVERSITY.
INTRODUCTION BY
DR. EDWIN C. HEWETT.
SECOND EDITION—JANUARY, 1906.
PUBLISHED BY C. M. PARKER,
TAYLORVILLE, ILLINOIS.
Copyright, 1904, by C. M. Parker.
This book is prepared for teachers and pupils who use the IllinoisState Course of Study. The outline in Orthography for the Seventh andEighth Years is the basis of all that is included herein. Three fifthsor more of this work is word analysis which, valuable as it is,teachers as a rule are unable to teach without the aid of a text,never having learned much of it themselves. What, for example, can theaverage teacher unaided do toward writing a list of words to beanalyzed which contain the root ann, meaning year? He might turn inthe dictionary to annual, anniversary, and annuity, but he mustfall back on his acquired knowledge for such as, biennial,centennial, millennium, perennial, and superannuate. Andhaving the list, very many teachers, as well as pupils, need help inthe analysis.
The aim of this book has been to set down in an orderly and convenientform such facts as are needed by those who follow the State Course ofStudy.
Emphasis has been placed upon word analysis. The author believes thatthis has more value in education than is generally attributed to it.When Mr. Kennedy named his work on word analysis “What Words Say”, hegave it the best possible title. Composite words have a wealth ofmeaning; each syllable is significant. And, as a rule, only to thosewho can read this significance does the word yield its full meaning.Accuracy is the mark of a scholar. Accuracy in speech and in theunderstanding of speech cannot be attained by those whose knowledge ofwords is vague and general. Pupils should early learn how to interpretwhat words say, and to discriminate carefully in the use of words,for these are the tools which they are to use in all the variousdepartments for acquiring knowledge.
Normal, Ill., Aug. 30, 1904.
E. W. Cavins.
I have long thought that the careful, discriminating study of words ismuch neglected in our schools. And I am glad to approve, and help toforward, anything that will promote such a study.
Not only will such a study improve a person's language greatly, but itwill, at the same time, do much to improve the clearness and precisionof his thinking; thought and language have a reciprocal effect.
If a child, while young, can be made to be interested in wordsthemselves,—their origin, their exact meaning, their relations toeach other and some of the changes in their meaning which result fromtheir use,—he will be likely to retain that interest through life; itwil