GENERAL DIRECTIONS

It will be noticed that the so-called "neutral e", 9, is not to be found in the phonetic renderings of the pronunciation of French words in this Vocabulary (and throughout this course).

Average English-speaking students of French, owing to their natural tendencies with regard to the sounding of certain vowels, do not produce the correct sound of this "neutral e", which is really an intermediary between œ and 0 (see Chart III, No. 8, a and 9, a), unless they actually aim at pronouncing 0, (9,a); e.g., mercredi (merkradi), pronounced by an English-speaking student, usually sounds like (merkredi) ; table (tabla) usually sounds like (table), or, which is still worse, (tabel). It has been the constant expérience of the author that an expeditive way of dealing with this defective tendency is to oblige the students to aim at the sound 0 whenever, in reality, they are expected to pronounce accurately the so-called "neutral e". For this reason, the phonetic rendering of the "neutral e" sound is given by means of the symbol 0, and when that sound is preceded by another syllable, the vowel sound of that syllable has often been lengthened; e.g., instead of tabla the Vocabulary gives ta\bl0, which shows the correct pronunciation in what may be called an exaggerated, enlarged form.

Indications as to nouns, adjectives, verbs, adverbs, pronouns, prépositions, and conjunctions have been omitted in this Vocabulary. The English équivalents are deemed to be a sumcient guide.

Adjectives are given in both genders, when thèse have différent forms, each with its respective pronunciation.

Students are expected to consult carefully No. 43, on pp. 305-307 as to the proper pronunciation of numerals, separately, before consonants, and before vowels and h mute.

Words beginning with the aspirated h are shown in the ASSIGNED VOCABULARIES (pp. 250-291); e.g., p. 253, lesson 4, under Féminine Nouns: la huitième; p. 269, lesson 19, under Masculine Nouns: le hangar; etc.

Words beginning with h mute are shown similarly; e.g., p. 253, lesson 4, under Féminine Nouns: l'herbe.

ABBREVIATIONS

Acc.

Dat f. .

Accusative (see p. 293) Dative (see p. 293) féminine

Gen

Genitive (sec p. 293) masculine

Nominative (see p. 293) optional

Nom.

opt.