Grammar-Homonyms, What is a syllable?,What is accent?

Homonyms

A homonym is a word having the same sound as another but differing from it in meaning. Use each of the following in a sentence to show its meaning.

    aloud         draft         fowl          principal
    allowed       draught       foul          principle

    ascent        faint         gate          peal
    assent        feint         gait          peel

    aught         canvas        great         quire
    ought         canvass       grate         choir

    bad           cereal        hew           seen
    bade          serial        hue           scene

    bale          cession       kernel        soul
    bail          session       colonel       sole

    berry         cite          leased        strait
    bury          site          least         straight

    boy           coarse        lesser        stair
    buoy          course        lessor        stare

    by            compliment    mite          sweet
    buy           complement    might         suite

    council       feign         miner         there
    counsel       fain          minor         their

    current       flour         need          wood
    currant       flower        knead         would


Do the same with the following:

    aisle         clause        kill          sail
    isle          claws         kiln          sale
    awl           climb         key           ring
    all           clime         quay          wring

    base          draught       lie           serge
    bass          draft         lye           surge

    blew          dew           medal         sole
    blue          due           meddle        soul

    bough         done          peer          shone
    bow           dun           pier          shown

    bread         dual          pore          steel
    bred          duel          pour          steal

    bear          flue          profit        stationary
    bare          flew          prophet       stationery

    bridal        freeze        quarts        wade
    bridle        frieze        quartz        weighed

    capital       guilt         rest          wave
    capitol       gilt          wrest         waive

    ceiling       heard         root          wrap
    sealing       herd          route         rap

Syllabication

What is a syllable?

Choose a word and notice that every vowel sound in it makes a syllable. Therefore, you never have two vowels in one syllable unless the two are pronounced as one sound.

In pronouncing notice carefully to which syllable a consonant belongs; s in dif-fer-ent, beau-ti-fy, dai-sy.

Divide the following words into syllables. If you cannot decide with which syllable a consonant belongs, consult a dictionary.

    paper      grocer     rotate     mystery

    tomato     erect      repeat     regular

    vinegar    polish     general    arithmetic

If a syllable, especially an accented syllable, ends in a vowel, what is usually the length of the vowel?

If the syllable ends in a consonant, what is usually the length of the vowel of the syllable?

When a consonant is doubled, the division is usually made between the two letters; as,

    blot-ter            skip-ping           remit-tance

    neces-sary          throt-tle           span-ning

As a rule, a prefix constitutes one syllable; as,

    pro-long    pre-fer    con-stant   de-fect     ad-mit

    re-ceive    se-lect    dis-trust   e-merge     im-merse

As a rule, a suffix constitutes one syllable; as,

    labor-er          soft-ly           beauti-fy         selec-tion

    mole-cule         revolution-ist    percent-age       fanat-ic

When two or more letters together give one sound, they must not be divided; as,

    math-ematics     ex-change        paragraph-ing    abolish-ing

    bow-ing          toil-ing         nation-al        gra-cious

Can a word of one syllable be divided?

Do not divide a syllable of one letter from the rest of the word. The division ever-y is wrong.

Divide the following words into syllables, using the suggestions given in the preceding exercise:

    accountant        dissatisfaction   manufacturer      reference

    advertisement     economy           material          repeatedly

    anecdote          employment        mechanical        salesman

    annually          energetic         neighborhood      security

    application       environment       occupation        separate

    automobile        especially        opportunity       signature

    beginning         establishment     organized         specification

    collection        expenditure       permanent         stenography

    comparison        factory           preparation       suburban

    competent         furniture         president         superintend

    confirmation      illustration      quotation         systematic

    consequence       impression        realize           telephone

    correspondence    improvement       receptacle        treasurer

    counterfeit       judgment          recognition       unanimous

    customer          machinist         recommend         unusual

Accent

What is accent?

Divide into syllables, indicate the accent, and pronounce the following:

    expand        volume        defect        interesting

    mischievous   usually       incomparable  theatre

    exquisite     tedious       hospitable    generally

    column        inquiry       impious

In the following words the meaning changes with the accent. Use each word in a sentence to show its meaning.

    ob´ject    subject    contrast   desert

    ob-ject´   insult     protest    extract

    tor´ment   essay      conflict   compact

    tor-ment´  transfer   compound   survey

    minute (notice the vowel change)

    refuse (notice the consonant change)

Bring to class a list of words that you have heard mispronounced in your classes. Be sure that you can pronounce them correctly.

The following words are frequently mispronounced. Divide them into syllables, mark the accent, and pronounce carefully.

    municipal     exquisite     champion      accurately

    interesting   gondola       inquiry       Genoa

    influence     finance       inexplicable  alias

    illustrate    deficit       despicable    expert

    inventory     pretense      mischievous   impious

    alternate     dirigible     perfume       detail