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THINGS TO REMEMBER

161

I am sorry I could not see you on Saturday. Indeed I did not forget!

Now go on and finish the letter. Tell why you did not go, and whether or not you can accept the invitation for next Saturday.

End your letter as Walter ended his.

Where did Walter live? You can find out by looking at the heading of his letter (p. 157). Write Walter's address as it should appear on the envelope of his letter.

VIII. CORRECTING LETTERS 1

IX. THINGS TO REMEMBER

1. The names of the months and their abbreviations begin with capital letters.

2. The names of the days of the week and their abbreviations begin with capital letters.

3. Every abbreviation is followed by a period.

4. In writing dates there is a comma to separate the part that tells the day of the month from the part that tells the year.

5. The names of places - such as cities, states, and countries - begin with capital letters.

6. The name of the person addressed at the beginning of a friendly letter is followed by a comma.

1 Note to the teacher: See Marual, page 138.

Read the first thing above that you are "to remember," then write the name of a month and its abbreviation correctly.

Read (2), then write the name of a day and its abbreviation.

After reading (3), write the abbreviations for "Mister," "Street," and the name of your state. After reading (4), write the date for today.

After reading (5), write the name of your street, of the city or town, and of the state in which you live.

After reading (6), begin a letter that you might write from your home, by writing the heading and the name of the person addressed.

X. CHAPTER TEST

Your uncle has sent you a book for a birthday present. It is just what you wanted and you are delighted to have it. But the copy sent is imperfect, thirty pages are blank. This spoils the story for you.

Write a letter to your uncle, thanking him for the gift, telling him of the blank pages, and asking him if you may return the book to him to have it exchanged for a perfect copy.

Study again the heading and address in Walter's letter, so that you may be sure to punctuate yours correctly.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

PROVING ABILITY TO SPEAK AND TO WRITE THE LANGUAGE OF AMERICA

Note to the teacher: This chapter usually completes the work of Grade Five. The test exercises of the chapter can be given successfully only by use of your Manual.

Read again the first story in your book. The boy in the story promised that at the end of a year he would come back to Mr. Carson's office and prove that he had learned to speak the speech of America.

For one year you have been studying this book; now you are going to have some tests to prove how well you have learned to speak and to write your country's language.

I. SPEAKING CLEARLY AND DISTINCTLY

Philip Gibbs, the great war writer, tells a story of a girl whose clear, beautiful speech was very much admired. She was born in the poorest part of a great city, and had been brought up with people who spoke carelessly and incorrectly and in disagreeable voices. She had not attended good schools. When asked how she had learned to speak so clearly and distinctly and in a pleasing

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voice, she answered, "I learned by reading beautiful rhymes and poems."

Below are some rhymes and poems. Read them

as the girl read them — clearly, distinctly, and in a pleasing voice.

1. Summer fading, winter comes-
Frosty mornings, tingling thumbs,
Window robins, winter nooks,

And the picture story books.

ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON

2. Help the weak if you are strong,
Help the old if you are young,
Own a fault if you are wrong,

If you're angry, hold your tongue.

3. Boys flying kites haul in their white-winged birds; You can't do that when you are flying words.

4. He lost the game; no matter for that
He kept his temper and swung his hat
To cheer the winners: a better way
Than to lose his temper and win the day.

5. Give me of your bark, O Birch Tree!
Of your yellow bark, O Birch Tree! . .
Give me of your boughs, O Cedar! . .
Give me of your roots, O Tamarack! .
Give me of your balm, O Fir Tree!

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HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW

II.

PRONOUNCING WORDS CORRECTLY

PRONOUNCING WORDS CORRECTLY

165

1. Read the words written below, pronouncing every one correctly. These are common words that every American should speak just right.

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2. Read the following, being careful of troublesome words:

Again I see a hundred sunbeams flit across my desk. They are more beautiful and more precious than diamonds; but I never can catch them, because every time I put out my hand hoping to get something, there is nothing.

3. Make sentences using the words in the list under (1).

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