242. The vowel \ may be joined, either finally or initially, to each of the diphthongs, I, OI, OW, ew, by a light tick, struck at a sharp angle to the part of the sign to which it is attached, as in buying, toying, vowing, Dewey, genii, etc.

Table Of Plural-Vowel Signs.

243. Horizontal Signs Inclined. - The horizontal plural signs, for greater ease in writing, may be inclined a little towards the slant of the stems Chay and Ree; thus drawing, showy, ^/T folio, boyish.

244.   License in Use of Plural Signs. - As a rule the plural signs are intended to represent groups of vowels in which there is the constant element i. And yet they may sometimes be used with safety and advantage for groups which have some other unaccented short-vowel in place of the i; as in the words mayor (No. 2), theater (No. 3), Noah and Owen (No. 11), vial and viol (No. 16), vowel and avowal (No. 18), fuel (No. 19), etc. So, too, in a plural sign, the breve for i may also stand for the long-vowel e, as in using No. 4 for e-a in lago, No. 5 for e-a in creator, No. 7 for e-d in theatrical, No. 13 for e-o in geometrical, No. 14 for e-o in theology, etc.

245.   The phonographer will find all of the plural signs given in the table quite useful at times : but the ones that will occur most frequently, and should, therefore, be thoroughly mastered, are Nos. 2(a-I), 5 (I-a), 7 (I-a), IO(a-I), 11 (o-I). 12 (0-1), 13 (I-o), 14 (I-O), 15 (I-u), and 19 (e\v-I).

Reading Exercise.

Writing Exercise.

246. Clayey, gayety, deviate, create, creation, Amelia, Assyria, Bolivia, menial, drawing, sawing, showy, heroic, shoeing, shrewish, folio, Ontario, Gideon, odium, gluey, vacuity, Noah, fuel, riot, vial or viol.