A good exercise is the reading of a paragraph from any good book, or some stanza of poetry, the passage read to be taken down by the pupil with care to spell, punctuate, and capitalize properly.
A number of topics sometimes treated under the head of spelling will be found discussed in the "Printer's Manual of Style" (No.

41).
PRONUNCIATION The English language is a difficult one to pronounce as well as to spell.
This arises from two causes.

The English language has some sounds not generally found in other languages, such as _w_ and _th_.

As has already been pointed out, the alphabet fits the language very badly.

Careful lexicographers indicate no less than seven sounds of _a_, five of _e_, three of _i_, four of _o_ and six of _u_, as shown in the following table: [=a] as in [=a]le [Ia] as in sen[Ia]te [)a] as in [)a]m a as in ask [a:] as in [a:]ll ae as in faether (a) as in fin( a)l [=e] as in [=e]ve [)e] as in [)e]nd [Ie] as in ev[Ie]nt [~e] as in f[~e]rn (e) as in prud( e)nce [=i] as in [=i]ce [Ii] as in [Ii]dea [)i] as in p[)i]n [=o] as in [=o]ld [Io] as in [Io]pen [)o] as in [)o]dd o as in orb [=u] as in [=u]se [Iu] as in [Iu]nite [)u] as in [)u]p [u:] as in r[u:]de [u=] as in f[u=]ll u as in urn In addition to these there are diphthongs, combinations of vowel sounds pronounced as one syllable, such as _ou_ as in _out_ _oi_ as in _oil_ There are also a number of digraphs or combinations of vowels or consonants which have but one sound, such as _ai_ as in _rain_ _eo_ as in _people_ _ou_ as in _soup_ _ou_ as in _soul_ _ph_ as in _phalanx_ _ch_ as in _chorus_ or _chair_ _C_ has two sounds, hard before _a_, _o_, and _u_, as in _cat_, _cot_, and _cut_, and soft before _e_, _i_, and _y_, as in _cell_, _city_, and _cycle_.
_G_ has two sounds, hard before _a_, _o_, and _u_, as in _gate_, _gone_, and _gun_, soft before _e_, _i_, and _y_, as in _gem_, _gin_, and _gyve_, although it is sometimes hard before _i_ as in _girl_.
_Ch_ is sometimes soft as in _chair_ and _arch_, and sometimes hard as in _choir_.
_Th_ has two sounds, soft, or surd, as in _thin_ and _death_, and hard, or sonant, as in _then_ and _smooth_.
_S_ has two sounds, soft, or surd, as in _soft_ and _this_, and hard, or sonant, as in _has_ and _wise_.
We have, therefore, twenty-six letters with which to express fifty or more sounds, not counting the digraphs and diphthongs.
Correct pronunciation depends upon three things, correct sounding of the letters, correct division into syllables, and correct placing of the accent.
A syllable is the smallest separately articulated, or pronounced, element in speech, or one of the parts into which speech is broken.