Confusion between the radical and inflectional syllables of a word, arising from the situation of the accent, may work the deterioration of a language. s. 237. In _t['y]rant_ and _pres['u]me_, we deal with single words; and in each _word_ we determine which _syllable_ is accented. {169} Contrasted with the sort of accent that follows, this may be called a _verbal_ accent. In the line, Better for _us_, perhaps, it might appear, (POPE'S _Essay on Man_, I. 169.) the pronoun _us_ is strongly brought forward. An especial stress or emphasis is laid upon it, denoting that _there are other beings to whom it might not appear_, &c. This is collected from the context. Here there is a _logical_ accent. "When one word in a sentence is distinguished by a stress, as more important than the rest, we may say that it is _emphatical_, or that an _emphasis_ is laid upon it. When one syllable in a word is distinguished by a stress, and more audible than the rest, we say that it is accented, or that an accent is put upon it. Accent, therefore, is to syllables what emphasis is to sentences; it distinguishes one from the crowd, and brings it forward to observation."--(Nares' Orthoepy, Part II. Chap. I.) s. 238. Accent plays an important part in determining the nature of certain compound words--For this, see the Chapter on Composition. It also plays an important part in determining the nature of the English metres--See Prosody. Thirdly (the subject of the present section), it plays an important part in all systems of orthography. The quotation from Professor Lee's Hebrew Grammar, in p. 149, is referred to; and a particular attention to a somewhat difficult subject is requisite. The _u_ in the word _monument_ is what a classic would call _short_. The second _syllable_ in the word _monument_ is what a classical scholar would call _short_. The vowel is _short_, and the syllable taken altogether is _short_. Herein it agrees with the first syllable _mon-_. It differs, however, from the syllable _mon-_ in being destitute of an accent, _m['o]nument_. With the third syllable _-ment_, it agrees in the eyes of an Englishman, but differs in the eyes of a scholar. The vowels _u_ and _e_ are equally short, and, as the Englishman measures by the vowel {170} the syllables _-u_ and _-ment_ are both short. Not so, however, with the scholar. He measures by the syllable and determines that the _e_, although naturally a short vowel, is made _long_ by position. However, in being each destitute of an accent the syllables _-u_ and _-ment_ agree. Be it remarked a second time that the accent in _m['o]nument_ lies on the first syllable. Now the _-u_ in _m['o]nument_ although _short_, is not _dependent_.