Words accented on the last syllable but one--_An'chor_, _ar'gue_, _h['a]sten_, _f['a]ther_, _f['o]xes_, _sm['i]ting_, _h['u]sband_, _m['a]rket_, _v['a]pour_, _b['a]refoot_, _arch['a]ngel_, _besp['a]tter_, _dis['a]ble_, _terr['i]fic_. Words accented on the last syllable but two--_R['e]gular_, _an'tidote_, _for'tify_, _susc['e]ptible_, _incontrov['e]rtible_. Words accented on the last syllable but three (rare)--_R['e]ceptacle_, _r['e]gulating_, _t['a]lkativeness_, _['a]bsolutely_, _l['u]minary_, _in['e]vitable_, &c. A great number of words are distinguished by the accent alone. The following list is from Nares' Orthoepy, a work to which the reader is referred. An _['a]ttribute_. To _attr['i]bute_. The month _A['u]gust_. An _aug['u]st_ person. A _com'pact_. _Comp['a]ct_ (close). To _con'jure_ (magically). _Conj['u]re_ (enjoin). _Des'ert_, wilderness. _Des['e]rt_, merit. _Inv['a]lid_, not valid. _Inval['i]d_, a sickly person. _M['i]nute_, 60 seconds. _Min['u]te_, small. _S['u]pine_, part of speech. _Sup['i]ne_, careless, &c. {168} That class of words that by a change of accent are converted from nouns into verbs (_s['u]rvey_, _surv['e]y_, _c['o]ntrast_, _contr['a]st_, &c.) will be noticed more at large in the Chapter on Derivation. s. 236. In words like _th['i]nking_, _f['o]xes_, _lon'ger_, _len'gthen_, &c. we have two parts; first the original word, the root, or the radical part, as _think_, _fox_, _long_, _length_, &c.; and next, the inflectional, or the subordinate part, _-ing_, _-es_, _-er_, _-en_, &c. To assert as a universal rule that the _accent is always on the root, and never on the subordinate part of a word_, is too much. Although in the _English_ language such an assertion (with one exception) is found true; by the French and other languages it is invalidated. In words like _len'g-then-ing_, we have a _second_ inflectional or subordinate syllable; and the accent remains in its original place, _absolutely, but not relatively_. _It is all the farther from the end of the word._ Besides indicating the propriety of determining the place of the accent by counting from the end, rather than the beginning of a word, this circumstance indicates something else. Imagine the English participles to be declined, and to possess cases, formed by the addition of fresh syllables. In this case the word _len'gthening_ would become a quadri-syllable. But to throw the accent to the fourth syllable from the end is inconvenient. Hence a necessity of removing it from the radical, and placing it on an inflectional syllable. The German word _l['e]ben_ (to _live_) illustrates the foregoing sentence. _L['e]b-_ is the root, _l['e]b-end_=_living_, from whence _leb['e]ndig_=_lively_ (with the accent on an inflectional syllable), although this last word might without inconvenience have been accented on the first syllable; that being only the third from the end.