Writing examples and tips

 

More phonics rules

The vowels are "a,e,i,o, and u"; also sometimes "y" & "w". This also includes the diphthongs "oi,oy,ou,ow,au,aw, oo" and many others.

The consonants are all the other letters which stop or limit the flow of air from the throat in speech. They are:

"b,c,d,f,g,h,j,k,l,m,n,p,qu,r,s,t,v,w,x,y,z,ch,sh,th,ph,wh, ng, and gh".

1. Sometimes the rules don't work. There are many exceptions in English because of the vastness of the language and the many languages from which it has borrowed. The rules do work however, in the majority of the words.
2. Every syllable in every word must have a vowel. English is a "vocal" language; Every word must have a vowel.
3. "C" followed by "e, i or y" usually has the soft sound of "s". Examples: "cyst", "central", and "city".
4. "G" followed by "e, i or y" usually has the soft sound of "j". Example: "gem", "gym", and "gist".
5. When 2 consonants are joined together and form one new sound, they are a consonant digraph. They count as one sound and one letter and are never separated. Examples: "ch,sh,th,ph and wh".
6. When a syllable ends in a consonant and has only one vowel, that vowel is short. Examples: "fat, bed, fish, spot, luck".
7. When a syllable ends in a silent "e", the silent "e" is a signal that the vowel in front of it is long. Examples: "make, gene, kite, rope, and use".
8. When a syllable has 2 vowels together, the first vowel is usually long and the second is silent. Examples: "pain, eat, boat, res/cue, say, grow". NOTE: Diphthongs don't follow this rule; In a diphthong, the vowels blend together to create a single new sound. The diphthongs are: "oi,oy,ou,ow,au,aw, oo" and many others.
9. When a syllable ends in any vowel and is the only vowel, that vowel is usually long. Examples: "pa/per, me, I, o/pen, u/nit, and my".
10. When a vowel is followed by an "r" in the same syllable, that vowel is "r-controlled". It is not long nor short. "R-controlled "er,ir,and ur" often sound the same (like "er"). Examples: "term, sir, fir, fur, far, for, su/gar, or/der".

Basic Syllable Rules

1. To find the number of syllables:

• count the vowels in the word,
• subtract any silent vowels, (like the silent "e" at the end of a word or the second vowel when two vowels a together in a syllable)
• subtract one vowel from every diphthong, (diphthongs only count as one vowel sound.)
• the number of vowels sounds left is the same as the number of syllables.

The number of syllables that you hear when you pronounce a word is the same as the number of vowels sounds heard. For example:

The word "came" has 2 vowels, but the "e" is silent, leaving one vowel sound andone syllable.

The word "outside" has 4 vowels, but the "e" is silent and the "ou" is a diphthong which counts as only one sound, so this word has only two vowels sounds and therefore, two syllables.

2. Divide between two middle consonants.

Split up words that have two middle consonants. For example:

hap/pen, bas/ket, let/ter, sup/per, din/ner, and Den/nis. The only exceptions are the consonant digraphs.

Never split up consonant digraphs as they really represent only one sound. The exceptions are "th", "sh", "ph", "th", "ch", and "wh".

3. Usually divide before a single middle consonant.

When there is only one syllable, you usually divide in front of it, as in:

"o/pen", "i/tem", "e/vil", and "re/port". The only exceptions are those times when the first syllable has an obvious short sound, as in "cab/in".

4. Divide before the consonant before an "-le" syllable.

When you have a word that has the old-style spelling in which the "-le" sounds like "-el", divide before the consonant before the "-le". For example: "a/ble", "fum/ble", "rub/ble" "mum/ble" and "this/tle". The only exception to this are "ckle" words like "tick/le".

5. Divide off any compound words, prefixes, suffixes and roots which have vowel sounds.

Split off the parts of compound words like "sports/car" and "house/boat". Divide off prefixes such at "un/happy", "pre/paid", or "re/write". Also divide off suffixes as in the words "farm/er", "teach/er", "hope/less"

and "care/ful". In the word "stop/ping", the suffix is actually "-ping" because this word follows the rule that when you add "-ing" to a word with one syllable, you double the last consonant and add the "-ing".

Stress Patterns

When a word has more than one syllable, one of the syllables is always a little louder than the others. The syllable with the louder stress is the accented syllable. It may seem that the placement of accents in words is often random or accidental, but these are some rules that usually work.

1. The stress is often on the first syllable. Examples: ba'/sic, pro'/gram.
2. In words that have suffixes or prefixes, the accent is usually on the main root word. Examples: box'/es, un/tie'.
3. If de-, re-, ex-, in-,po-, pro-, or a- is the first syllable in a word, it is usually not accented. Examples: de/lay', ex/plore'.
4. Two vowel letters together in the last syllable of a word often indicates an accented last syllable. Examples: com/plain', con/ceal'.
5. When there are two like consonant letters within a word, the syllable before the double consonants is usually accented. Examples: be/gin'/ner, let'/ter.
6. The accent is usually on the syllable before the suffixes -ion, ity, -ic, -ical, -ian, -ial, or -ious, and on the second syllable before the suffix -ate. Examples: af/fec/ta'/tion, dif/fer/en'/ti/ate.
7. In words of three or more syllables, one of the first two syllables is usually accented. Examples: ac'/ci/dent, de/ter'/mine.

First of all, you need to know what the consonants and vowels are.
English Vowels: a,e,i,o,u, and sometimes y, w
When "y" or "w" appears at the beginning of a word or syllable, it is / they are NOT vowels
English Consonants: b, c, d, f, g, h, j, k, l, m, n, p, q, r, s, t, v, x, z, (and w & y if occurring at the beginning of a word or syllable)
Now, you need to know the vowel sounds:
Y and W:
As vowels: boy, cow
As consonants: you, wool

English spelling rules

Rule #1: CVC rule.

[CVC = Consonant-Vowel-Consonant]

The vowel is short! (99% true) [in CVCC the vowel is also short] (99% true)

Examples: rat, hen, sit, not, cut

Rule #2: CVC + silent “e” rule

[Mr. Silent "e" says, "Change your sound!"]

The vowel is long! (99% true)

Example: rate, here, site, note, cute

Rule #3: hard “c” / soft “c” rule

a) Hard "C" : When c+a OR c+o OR c+u exists, then "c" has the /k/ sound.

(It doesn't matter if the vowel is short or long).

Examples: The con man can put a cane into a cone and a cub into a cube.

b) Soft "C" : When c+e OR c+i OR c+y exists, then "c" has the /s/ sound.

(It doesn't matter if the vowel is short or long).

Examples: The city center has a circle.

More Ex.): I will recite the cyclical cycles of circular cells.

Rule #4: “k” instead of “c” rule

K instead of "C" : Why? Because "c" changes it's sound when followed by e, i, and y, we needed a new letter in English.

When we need a hard "c" sound + e,i,y, then we have to use "k". It doesn't matter if the vowel is short or long.

Examples: Kelly keeps kissing the kite, while Kym keeps kissing Kyle.

More Ex.): Kyle the king is kind, even though he is only a kid.

What about K + a, o, u?!!!

Words that have k + a,o,u are "loan words" from other languages.

Examples: kangaroo (Aus.Aboriginal word), Korea (Korean word), kung fu (Chinese word)

Rule #5: hard “g” / soft “g” rule

a) Hard "G" : When g+a OR g+o OR g+u exists, then "g" has the /g/ sound.

(It doesn't matter if the vowel is short or long).

Examples: The bad guy got a gun and put a gag on the gal.

More Ex.): The good guy gave the bad guy a gallon of gas in his galoshes.

b) Soft "G" : When g+e OR g+i OR g+y exists, then "g" has the /j/ sound.

(It doesn't matter if the vowel is short or long).

Examples: The gentle gypsy put gel in her hair, then gyrated her hips.

More Ex.): I like ginseng and ginger.

Exceptions: give, gill, get, geyser, girl

Why? Because "C" has a friend named, "K", but "G" has nobody, nobody, but you!

Ha, ha, ha; I crack myself up!

Rule #6: double consonant rule

Explanation: There's a SHORT VOWEL before a double consonant. (99% TRUE!!!)

NOTE: there are many exceptions to this rule.

SOME EXCEPTIONS: caller, stalling, falling, etc.

ALSO: Occasionally, there may be a single consonant after a short vowel sound. It drives me crazy.

SOME EXAMPLES: elephant,

Rule #7: CV rule

Explanation: If the word ends in a vowel, it is usually long.

Examples: he, me, we, hi, go, no, so, flu, Katmandu, and Timbuktu.

Some super weird exceptions: to, do, ma, pa, ska, bla, bla, bla

Rule #8: final “a” = schwa sound ( )

Examples:

Linda

pizza

Zebra

Korea

India

America

Rule #9: Change the 'y' to 'i' and add 'es'/'er'/'est'

Explanation: If there is a vowel before the 'y', as in 'day', just add 's' (days).

Examples: day-days, play-plays, way-ways, toy-toys, boy-boys

Explanation: If there is a consonant before the 'y', as in 'try', change the 'y' to 'i' and add 'es'.

Examples: try-tries, cry-cries, dry-dries, fly-flies, sky-skies, countrycountries

Explanation: Change the 'y' to 'i' and add 'er' or 'est'

Examples: happy-happier-happiest; funny-funnier-funniest; pretty-prettierprettiest; dirty-dirtier-dirtiest

Rule #10: Change the 'f' to 'v' and add 'es'

Explanation: If there is an 'f' at the end of a word, we make it plural by changing the 'f' to 'v' and add 'es'.

Examples: calf-calves, half-halves, wolf-wolves, wife-wives, knife-knives

Rule #11: Change the 'y' to 'i' and add 'ed' or 'ing'

Explanation: If there is a vowel before the 'y', just add 'ed' or 'ing'.

Examples: play-played-playing, destroy-destroyed-destroying

Explanation: If there isn't a vowel before the 'y', change the 'y' to 'i' & add 'ed' (but not for 'ing').

Examples: dry-dried-drying, cry-cried-crying, try-tried-trying

Exceptions: fly-flew-flying

Rule #12: Change the 'ie' to 'y' when adding 'ing'

Explanation: If the verb ends in 'ie', change the 'ie' to 'y' when adding 'ing'.

Examples: die-died-dying, lie-lied-lying (if 'lie' = to tell a falsehood)

Exceptions: lie-lay-lain (to put one's self in horizontal position on the floor or ground)

Pronunciation of Consonants

Part 2: Digraphs (Ch & Th)

The symbols that we use for English today are from the Roman language. Yet English contains words from Old English, Middle English, German, Latin, Greek, Arabic, Italian, and French. This makes English pronunciation quite complicated. Of course, all of Europe uses Roman symbols, but the Romanization of each language is quite different from one country to another. Sometimes digraphs were invented to represent consonant sounds, which don’t exist in Latin. For example, Latin doesn’t have the / / sound. In English, we represent this sound with the digraph “Sh.” In French, the same sound is represented with the digraph “Ch.” Sometimes digraphs were invented to distinguish the origin of the word. For example, the Greek letter /x/ (spelled: ‘chi’, pronounced, /kai/) is transliterated as the digraph “Ch,” but it sounds like /k/. Why did they do this? I don’t know. It really makes things confusing. So in English, the digraph “Ch” has three sounds, depending on the origin of the word. See table below.

1. “Ch” Rule(s)

Original English words, which begin with "ch" are pronounced like " "

Greek-English words, which begin with "ch" are pronounced like a "k".

French-English words, which begin with "ch" are pronounced like " "

Examples:

NOTE: there are some exceptions, like the English word "channel" is from French, but it has the pure-English pronunciation.

2. “Th” Rule(s)

There are TWO "th" sounds: / / & / /.

Notice that the latter symbol looks much like a "d". That's because it sounds much like a "d", and many non-native English speakers (or Pidgin/Creole speakers), will substitute the "d" sound for the sound. The former symbol looks unlike any other alphabetical letter in English (or Roman), and that's because it is unlike any other sound in English (or Roman). Since the symbol is a Greek symbol, many words with that sound are from Greek (but not all).

Look at the diagrams (below) of the articulations of , , and d...

In the first diagram, we see that the tongue is clenched tightly between the teeth, blocking all air from going in or out. Then, the tongue is drawn in very quickly, and by the laws of physics, air must go out, but also combined the intercostal muscles in the chest contracting, a very strong, almost plosive wind comes out of the mouth. (some say it is a fricative, but I firmly believe it to be a plosive).

In the second diagram, the tongue is pressed up against the back of the upper teeth and alveolar ridge. Like the , the initial articulation blocks the would-be hole between the open teeth, not allowing any air to go in or out. BUT, unlike the , the movement forces the tongue out of the mouth between the teeth (slowly), and then slowly the tongue goes back in and down. Because of the slow movement of the tongue, it is labeled a fricative.

In the third diagram, we see that the "d" movement is almost identical to the movement, except that the tongue doesn't actually leave the mouth.
The initial articulations are different as well, but not far apart, which would account for the similarity in sound.

In fact, many native speakers will use the "d" sound in place of the sound, when trying to be funny.

Example: "De Bears!" (Chicago Bears are a football team, and Chicagoans will often call them "de Bears!").

Also, many non-native English speaker, which speak a Creole of English, like in Jamaica, will use the "d" sound in place of the ; AND, they will use the "t" sound in place of the sound. This works well, because both "d" and are fricatives, and both "t" and are plosives.

Pronunciation of Vowel Teams

Part 3: Vowel Teams (or Vowel Strings) with more than 1 sound

'ea' (short e sound); bread, breath, dead, death, head, lead, read, wealth,

'ea' (long e sound); bead, beat, breathe, eat, feat, heat, lead, leak, meat, neat, read, treat, weak, wheat

'ea' (long a sound); break, great, steak

'ew' ( /u:/ ); dew, blew, chew, crew, flew, grew, knew, lewd, mew, stew,

'ew' ( /ju:/ ); few, new, pew

'oo' (short sound / /); book, foot, good, hood, hook, look, nook, rook, soot, took, wood,

'oo' ( /u:/ ); balloon, boot, cartoon, goose, loose, moose, loop, loot, moon, noon, poop, root, stoop, toon, toot,

'oo' (schwa sound / /); blood, flood

'oo' (long o sound); boor, floor, door, moor

'ou' ('au' "short" sound); bough, grouse, house, louse, mouse, plough

'ou' ('ou' "long" sound); though

'ou' (schwa sound / /); enough, rough, tough

'ow' ('au' "short" sound); brown, cow, how, now, wow

'ow' ('ou' "long" sound); blow, flow, grow, know, low, sow, tow,

Voiceless Consonants

Dipthongs

Long vowels

Short vowels

Pronunciation of past simple regular verbs

Simple Past Tense Regular Verbs - ed Pronunciation

              / t /                           / d /                         / id /

stop = stopped	learn = learned	decide = decided
look = looked	listen = listened	want = wanted
wash = washed	play = played	start = started
watch = watched	enjoy = enjoyed	wait = waited
like = liked	live = lived	visit = visited
walk = walked	stay = stayed	invite = invited
help = helped	open = opened
work = worked	love = loved
change = changed	learn = learned
miss = missed	call = called
relax = relaxed	arrive = arrived
	smile = smiled
	clean = cleaned

• We pronounce / t / after voiceless sounds: / p /, / k /, / s /, / f / and voiceless / th / sound
• We pronounce / d / after voiced sounds: / b / , / g /, / v /, / z/ , / m/ , /n /, / l /, / r / , voiced / th / sound and all vowels.
• We pronounce / id / after / d / and / t / sounds.

Phonics rules

Listed below are some of the phonics rules that we will learn this year to help us to decode words and apply in the reading and writing process. We will learn these skills through whole group, small group, individual practice time, and games to reinforce each rule and make it fun to learn and recall.