The Mother Tongue, Book I: Lessons in Speaking, Reading and Writing English · Secs. 171–174 · Part 1: Part First
50. The hyphen and syllables
Goal: Your child divides words into syllables and puts a hyphen where a word breaks at the end of a line.
You'll need
- The book, open to this lesson
- Paper and pencil (a notebook kept just for this book works well)
What's in the book
Section 171 explains the hyphen used when a word is divided at the end of a line, with the rule that the break comes between syllables. Section 172 asks for ten divided words from the reader. Sections 173 and 174 give long lists of words to divide into syllables.
The lesson, step by step
Look for hyphens
Turn to the Gemila story (Section 30) and find words broken at the ends of lines. Your child reads each one and notices the little mark.
The rule
Read Section 171 together.
The division must always be made between two syllables.
A word of one syllable is never divided.
Clap the syllables
Clap the syllables of a few words aloud: mas-ter, win-dow, black-ber-ry. Each clap is one syllable.
Divide (Section 173)
Your child writes twelve words from Section 173 divided into syllables with hyphens. Clap each word first.
Check it gently
Compare with the Answers. Dictionaries sometimes differ a little; any break between real syllables is fine. If a break is in the middle of a syllable, clap it again together and let your child move it.
More (Section 174)
If time allows, do ten more from Section 174. Save the rest for another day.
What a good result looks like
Example (written for this guide, not from the book):
pic-nic, but-ter-fly, win-ter-time
If "butterfly" came at the end of a line, it could be split "but-" and "terfly" or "butter-" and "fly".
Afterwards
Section 172: find ten words divided at the end of a line in any book and copy them with their hyphens.
Answers to the book's problems
Section 173: mas-ter, beg-gar, run-ning, storm-ing, char-coal, win-ter, west-ern, win-dow, gold-en, child-ish, lit-tle, rest-less, tri-umph, ca-ress-ing, black-ber-ry, for-tune, mis-for-tune, ad-van-tage, spell-ing, di-vid-ed, sep-a-rate, play-ground, men-tion, fan-ci-ful. Section 174: net-work, store-house, ridge-pole, noth-ing, pic-tures, beau-ti-ful, ban-ner, lon-ger, an-y-thing, some-times, hun-dreds, dis-miss, vil-lage, start-ed, peo-ple, hap-pened, vi-o-lin, wel-come, some-thing, dif-fer-ent, to-geth-er, twist-ed, an-i-mal, vis-i-tor, fin-gered, wood-peck-er, chick-en, fright-ened, at-ten-tion, crack-ling, gov-ern-ment, gal-lop-ing, dis-tance, hap-pi-ly, di-rec-tion, im-ag-ine, black-ened, an-swer-ing, pos-si-ble, syl-la-ble, Fred-er-ick, mul-ti-ply. In writing, avoid leaving a single letter alone at the end or start of a line.
Worked out for this site from the scan. If a number in your copy differs, trust the book.