Hugo's Italian simplified complete (1918)
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| Hugo's Italian simplified complete |
--Consisting of I.--A Simple but complete grammar ... II.--Italian reading made easy ... III.--Italian conversation simplified ... IV.--A Key to the exercises in the grammar
Ever since it was published some twenty years ago, Hugo's Italian Grammar, which simplified for the first time the intricacies of that language, has been the standard work on the subject.
All previous textbooks had been written from the teacher's rather than the student's point of view, and were therefore almost incomprehensible to the average individual, by reason of the technical nature of their contents.
The numerous editions of Hugo's Grammar printed and sold having necessitated the preparation of new stereo* plates, the opportunity has been taken to make various alterations and additions, suggested by the experience of nearly a quarter of a century.
A few misprints that crept into the first edition have been corrected, much additional matter has been inserted, and the Italian in the examples and exercises has been carefully revised and re-revised by competent natives.
Among other improvements, copious exercises on the Subjunctive Mood have been added; and the Polite Form has been introduced much earlier in the course than was the case with the original edition. Throughout the Key, this form of address is given side by side with the ordinary Second Person Plural, it being essential that students should become thoroughly familiar with both.
The pronunciation of every new word is given in the early lessons; but as every Italian word is pronounced ac- cording to the few simple rules given on pages 5 to 9, the student can hardly give the wrong sound to any letter or combination of letters, after a week or two's practice. The only difficulty lies in knowing in what words the STRESS falls irregularly. This is clearly indicated in the Imitated Pronunciation; and as an additional aid, stressed Vowel, if irregular, is printed in bolder type, throughout both the Grammar and the Key.
Hugo's Italian Grammar, although compact, is complete, inasmuch as it contains every rule that a foreigner need know. It is not made needlessly bulky and complicated by the addition of rules which also hold good in English. The student simply needs to know in what respect the language he is learning differs in construction from his native language.
The old-fashioned method was to deal with each part of speech fully in turn, without attempting to distinguish between trivial detail and matters of fundamental importance. In Hugo's textbooks, this unintelligent plan is avoided.
The principles of construction are presented to the student in the order of their practical importance, each one leading naturally from another. This applies especially to the Verbs. Instead of giving the whole conjugation in one lesson, mixing the really im- portant tenses with the rarely used ones, and leaving the student to learn them as best, he can, Hugo's method gives one tense only at a time, and shows the easiest way of forming fresh tenses from those already learnt. Special attention is called to our important Original Rules on the formation of the tenses of Irregular Verbs (see page 80). When these rules have been mastered, it will be found that many tenses looked on as irregular are really regular. T
he Augmentative and Diminutive terminations were needlessly introduced into some grammar by a pedant more than a century ago; and his idea was copied by all succeeding grammarians, until we had the courage to ignore precedent, and relegate this utterly trivial matter to its proper position. These terminations have in the past made many a student discontinue the study of Italian in despair. Yet a knowledge of them is absolutely useless because no foreigner can possibly know to which words they may be added.
A dictionary will always tell him this; it is the grammarian's province to teach what cannot be found in dictionaries, and this is exactly what Hugo's Grammars do, in a simple, practical, and concise way.
Author: Charles Hugo
Publication Date:1918
Author: Charles Hugo
Publication Date:1918
Publisher Philadelphia, D. McKay
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