Excerpt from Webster's Elementary-School Dictionary: Abridged From Webster's New International DictionaryRzahzing the importance of this introductory book, the editors have studied its problems with the greatest care; have consulted with teachers and superintendents as to the proper scope of the vocabulary; have sought special help in the selection of the words used in elementary science and technical subjects, and have endeavored to learn how best to present a word's meanings to immature minds.As a consequence of this study, it was decided to limit the vocabulary in size; to devote more space to developing a word's meaning. Especially by the use of illustrative sentences or phrases; to include for the first time in an elementary dictionary discriminated synonyms; to give more infor mation than heretofore respecting the spelling of inflected forms, such as the plurals of nouns, the present and past participles of verbs, the cases of pronouns, and the comparative and superlative forms of adjectives; to show more clearly how one word is connected with another in sentences (for examlile, the prepositions with which a verb is customarily used); and to define the important idiomatic phrases the meaning of which it is often impossible to learn from the ordinary school dictionary. Another innova tion is the grouping together of the pictures of certain classes of objects so that the individual differences become more evident.In no sense is the elementary-school Dictionary a revision of any pre vious work. It is abridged from Webster's New International Dictionary, and, where possible, retains the language of the original definitions; but frequent use was made of Webster's secondary-school Dictionary where simplification seemed desirable, and independent work carried the simpli fication still further so as to meet the needs of the elementary grades. In plan and presentation, therefore, the Elementary is entirely new, and the illustrative examples especially were studied and chosen from independent sources.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.