1001 Questions and Answers on Orthography and Reading — Story, Setting & Ideas

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Authors: Hathaway, B. A. (Benjamin Adams), 1852-1929 Digital Source: Project Gutenberg Gutenberg Release Year: 2004 First Publication Year: Not confirmed

Key Word: Elocution; Reading; English language -- Pronunciation; English language -- Orthography and spelling; English language -- Usage Target Reader: Readers of public-domain and historical texts

Book Edition: Project Gutenberg digital edition Book Language: en

Edition facts

Words 22,349

Reading time 98 min

Text sections 5

The source record for 1001 Questions and Answers on Orthography and Reading — Story, Setting & Ideas measures this digital text at 22,349 words, 1 hr 38 min estimated reading time, and 5 detected text sections.

The text analysis averages about 9.5 words per sentence, while the detected sections provide another way to judge how the source is divided.

Project Gutenberg metadata also associates the work with “Elocution,” connecting these edition facts with the source record’s subject description.

Source: Project Gutenberg record #14403

A late-19th-century catechism-style drill book on spelling, pronunciation, and elocution, pairing technical definitions with practical exercises for teachers and self-study.

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They were a tribe of people who came from the land of the Low Germans and settled in Britain in the fifth century.

63. _What does the word England mean?_ "The land of the Angles."

64. _Why is our language sometimes called the "Teutonic language"?_ Because it is derived from the ancient Germans, who were called Teutons.

65. _What kind of words end in ize?_ Verbs derived from the Greek.

66. _What kind of words end in ise?_ Most words derived from the French.

67. _Why is the English called a Composite Language?_ Because it is derived from so many different sources.

68. _Does adding a single consonant to a word ever make an additional syllable?_ It does.

69. _Give examples._ Grade, grad-ed; confide, con-fi-ded.

70. _Can a word be compound and derivative at the same time?_ It can; as, ball-player.

71. _How distinguish between an affix and a part of a compound word?_ If all the parts retain their literal signification they form a compound; if not, the part which loses its signification becomes an affix in a derivative.

72. _Is the word outside compound or derivative?_ It is compound.

73. _Is the word outrun compound or derivative?_ It is derivative.

74. _What is Derivation?_ That branch of etymology which treats of the sources of the words of a language.

75. _How many kinds of Derivation?_ Two.

76. _What are they?_ Paronymous and Historical.

77. _What is Paronymous derivation?_ That part of etymology which treats of present sources of English words.

78. _Give examples of Paronymous derivation._ Kingdom, from king; Manly, from man, etc.

79. _What is Historical derivation?_ That part of etymology which treats of the foreign sources of the English language.

80. _Give examples of Historical derivation._ Book, from boc; Moon, from mona, etc.

81. _When use a, and when an, in a sentence?_ Use a before all words beginning with a consonant sound, and use an before words beginning with a vowel sound, _h_ mute, or _h_ initial, if the accent is on any other syllable than the first.

82. _Why do words in the English language become obsolete?_ Because it is a living language.

83. _What is a new word?_ One that has recently come into use.

84. _Name some new words._ Outsider, intensify, repudiate, and idiom.

85. _What is meant by suspended animation of a word?_ A word that passes out of use for a while and then resumes its place in literature.

86. _Give examples of suspended words._ The words reckless, abate, and abandon, fell into disuse in the seventeenth century, but have since been revived.

87. _What letters are called the pivots?_ Y and w.

88. _Why are they so called?_ Because of their peculiar sounds in changing from vowels to consonants.

89. _What kind of new words should be avoided?_ Any word formed contrary to the genius of the language.

90. _What is meant by idiom?_ A peculiar mode of expression.

91. _What is diction?_ Diction treats of the selection and right use of words.

92. _When is our diction pure?_ When we use only such words as belong to the idiom of our language.

93. _What are Synonyms?_ Words having a similar signification.

94. _What is a Synonymicon?_ A dictionary of synonymous words.

95. _What is meant by a reputable word?_ One that is used by educated people.

96. _What is an Anacoluthic word?_ One that is unnecessary to the completion of a sentence.

97. _What is an Idiomatic word?_ A word belonging to an individual language.

98. _What is an Ideographical language?_ One in which the characters represent ideas rather than sounds.

99. _Can there be a derivative word without an affix?_ There can; as, brought from bring.

100. _What is Dactylology?_ The art of spelling words with the fingers.

101. _What is the Pythagorean letter?_ Y.--_Am. Cyclopedia_.

102. _Why so called?_ Because its Greek original represents the sacred triad used to designate the diverging paths of virtue and vice.

NUMERICAL VALUES OF THE LETTERS.

1. _What is meant by the Numerical value of letters?_ Its value as a numeral used in the notation of different languages.

2. _Have all the letters Numerical value?_ All except J, U, W, and Y.

3. _What is the Numerical value of A?_ 500.

4. _By whom used?_ The ancient European Nations.

5. _What is the Numerical value of B?_ 300.

6. _By whom used?_ The Romans.

7. _What is the Numerical value of C?_ 100 in the Roman notation.

8. _What is the Numerical value of D?_ 500 in the Roman notation.

9. _What is the Numerical value of E?_ 5.

10. _By whom used?_ The ancient Greeks.

11. _What is the Numerical value of F?_ 40 in some of the Ancient notations; 80 in the Arabian; and 10,000 in the Armenian.

12. _What is the Numerical value of G?_ 400.

13. _By whom used?_ The Latins.

14. _What is the Numerical value of H?_ 100 in the Greek notation; and 200 in the Latin.

15. _What is the Numerical value of I?_ 1 in the Roman notation; and 100 in some of the Ancient notations.

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B. A. Hathaway’s 1001 Questions and Answers on Orthography and Reading (1888) is a drill manual cast as a catechism: each page poses a numbered question and supplies a terse answer. The book’s prefatory note claims it “partially” meets a need for works on orthography, since grammars “devote such a limited space” to orthoepy and technical spelling. The catalog subjects—elocution, pronunciation, spelling, usage—are all represented, but the excerpts reveal a narrower focus: the reading section (questions 60–120) concentrates on vocal mechanics (movement, cadence, emphasis) and rhetorical categories (climax, anti-climax, personation), with almost no attention to comprehension or literary interpretation.

Catechism as Pedagogy

The question-and-answer format is not merely a gimmick; it reflects a specific theory of learning. Each answer is a single sentence or phrase, often a definition: “What is Orthography? The science and art of the Letters of a language.” The book assumes that memorizing these definitions will build a foundation for correct reading and spelling. The excerpts show no worked examples, no student exercises, and no extended explanations—only the Q&A pairs. This structure aligns with the series’ advertised use for “teachers and pupils,” but it also means the book functions as a reference of approved terminology rather than a guide to practice.

The Vocabulary of Vocal Performance

The reading section introduces a specialized lexicon for describing oral delivery. Terms such as “suspensive quantity” (prolongation of voice without a pause), “orotund” (intensified pure tone), and “aspirated tone” (whispered speech) are defined in quick succession. The book distinguishes six kinds of movement (very slow to very rapid) and five styles of reading (description, argument, narration, persuasion, exhortation). These categories are presented as objective, with no acknowledgment that they might overlap or that a single passage could combine styles. The emphasis is on classification, not on how a reader might choose among them.

Orthography’s Narrow Scope

Despite the catalog subject “English language — Usage,” the orthography section (questions 1–59) deals almost entirely with letters, sounds, and spelling rules. Topics include numerical values of letters, diacritical marks, prefixes and suffixes, and abbreviations. There is no discussion of word choice, register, or grammar. The book’s definition of orthography as “the science and art of the Letters of a language” deliberately excludes meaning. This limited scope may explain why the author felt existing grammars gave the subject short shrift: he treats orthography as a purely technical domain, separable from composition or literature.

Readers should approach this book as a period artifact of drill-based instruction. The Q&A format rewards browsing: one can open to any page and find a self-contained definition. But the book offers no guidance on applying its terms to actual texts. For a fuller picture of late-19th-century language teaching, compare it with contemporary rhetorics or readers that include model passages and exercises.

There’s a particular tenderness in old drill books, those stern lists of pronunciations and rules. I sometimes think of them beside the quiet anatomy of Vertebrata, its careful bones and nerves. Both share a patient faith in naming things rightly, as if saying a word correctly, or tracing a sinew, might somehow hold the world steady for a while longer. Text Book of Biology, Part 1: Vertebrata — Themes and Context feels like that same gentle afternoon light, falling on different desks.