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 usage, wil make it easier for those who write English to spel in accordance with the usage then current than it is today to spel in accordance with the usage now current. This applies, of course, more especially to those who shal be taught the new usage originally than to those who hav laboriously learnd the present usage by force of memory, and who may prefer to adopt the new. But even these, when they shal hav masterd the few simple principles set forth in this Handbook, wil find it easier to spel correctly—that is, in accordance with current usage.

This wil be because every simplification proposed eliminates one or more of the present irregularities, and iether extends the prevailing analogy, or substitutes a simpler and more reasonable analogy—in most cases based on historic precedent—for two or more conflicting analogies.

It needs no profound argument to demonstrate that the more nearly English spelling can be made to approach absolute regularity, by doing away with confusing and arbitrary exceptions, with conflicting analogies, and with needless or misleading silent letters, the easier it wil be to learn it and to write it.

One Final Rule for Spelling

With the ultimate adoption of a fonetic scheme of notation, there would be only one rule for spelling—"Spel as yu pronounce." It would then be easier to spel correctly than incorrectly. It is no objection that in that case individuals might not always agree with one another as to the spelling of certain words, or with the spelling representing the conventional standard of pronunciation. Since the spelling would correctly represent the speech of the writer, it would present no