Write the Words That Contain the Matching Sound and Spelling Pattern
Absolutely Ridiculous English Spelling
Lesson 1. Unusual Facts About Spelling English Words
Why does the English language have so many words that are difficult to spell? The main reason is that English has 1,100 different ways to spell its 44 separate sounds, more than any other language. Some of the results of this are:
1. Words that have the same sounds but are spelled differently,
2. Words that contain letters that have nothing to do with the way the words are pronounced,
3. Words that contain silent letters; that is, letters that must be included when you write the words even though they are not pronounced,
4. Spelling rules that have lists of exceptions - words that do not follow the rules and thus must be memorized separately.
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This situation exists for a variety of reasons. For some words, the pronunciation has changed over the centuries even though the spelling has not changed. Some words have been borrowed from other languages, and although they have kept their original spellings, people over the years began pronouncing the words according to English rules. Still other words have been borrowed from other languages and have kept their original spellings AND pronunciations, which makes them seem strange by English rules. The reasons for the Ridiculous English Spelling do not matter, however, because English is what it is; it has been this way for a long time. If you want to learn to speak and write it, you must learn it as it is and not how it should be. Our task is to make that a little easier for you
Some common inconsistencies:
| Pattern | Examples | How they are pronounced |
| words containing "ough" |
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| Pattern | Examples | How they are pronounced |
| Words that sound the same but are spelled differently. |
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| Pattern | Examples | How they are pronounced |
| Words containing "ight" | alight, bight, blight, flight, fright, height, light, night, might, right, sight, tight, plight, | In all of these words, "ight" is pronounced like Long i + t. |
| Words with Silent Letters |
| All of these words are pronounced as if the red letters were not there, but when you write the words, you MUST include those letters. |
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Words that look the same but are pronounced differently.
| WIND - noun, Short I sound, moving air outdoors, part of weather | WIND - verb, Long I sound, a twisting motion, as with a clock spring |
| READ - past tense verb, Short E sound, got meaning from written words | READ - Long E sound, present tense of same verb |
| ABUSE - verb, S sounds like Z, to injure or do harm | ABUSE - noun, S sounds like S, an injury, damage or mistreatment |
| ADDICT - verb, Stress on -DICT-, to make dependent on | ADDICT - noun, Stress on AD-, a person who acts compulsively |
| COMBINE - verb, Stress on -BINE, to put together, mix together, join | COMBINE - noun, Stress on COM-, a harvesting machine |
| DEFECT - verb, Stress on -FECT; to desert, run or escape from | DEFECT - noun, Stress on DE-, a flaw |
| OBJECT - verb, Stress on -JECT, to express opposition | OBJECT - noun, Stress on OB-, a thing, an article, a goal |
| SUBJECT - verb, Stress on -JECT, to cause to submit to or undergo | SUBJECT - noun, Stress on SUB-, topic of study or interest |
| LEAD - Verb, Long E sound; to conduct, show the way, take first position | LEAD - noun, Short E sound, a soft, very heavy metal |
| BOW - verb, Rhymes with COW, bending forward from the waist as a sign of respect | BOW - noun, Has Long O sound; a long stick used to play a violin or shoot an arrow |
Words that look the same but are pronounced differently.
| SOW - verb, Long O sound: to spread seeds onto prepared ground | SOW - noun, Rhymes with HOW; a female pig |
| POLISH - adjective, Long O sound; a person or object from Poland . | POLISH - noun, Short sound as in DOLL; a liquid used to shine hard surfaces. verb, Soft O sound; the act of cleaning or shining. |
| DESERT -verb, Stress on -SERT; to abandon or run away from . | DESERT - noun, Stress on DE-; a rocky, sandy geographical area lacking water |
| PRESENT - verb, Stress on -SENT; to give to, such as an award | PRESENT - Stress on PRE-; as noun - a gift; as an adverb - in attendance, here |
| DOVE - verb, Long PO sound; to jump head first, as into water. | DOVE - noun, Rhymes with LOVE; a pigeon-like bird. |
| INVALID - adjective, Stress on -VAL- meaning illegal or not acceptable . | INVALID - noun, Stress on IN- a person who is physically disabled. |
| ROW - as a noun, a line or tier of similar objects; as a verb, to propel a small boat with paddles or oars | ROW - noun - a disagreement or argument |
| DOES - Third -person singular form of the verb DO, Rhymes with FUZZ. | DOES - noun, Rhymes with NOSE; more than one female deer |
| SEWER - noun, Long U sound; a channel for waste water. | SEWER - noun, Long O sound; a person who sews or stitches fabric . |
| TEAR - verb, Long A sound, rhymes with MARE; to rip or shred paper or cloth | TEAR - noun, Long E sound, rhymes with HERE; water that comes from the corner of one's eyes |
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Words that look the same but are pronounced differently.
| CLOSE - verb, Long O, S sounds like Z, like NOSE; to shut, unopen, seal a container | CLOSE - adverb, Long O, S sounds like S; meaning near or almost |
| BASS - noun, Long A sound, like BASE; the lowest male singing voice, low notes | BASS - Short A sound, rhymes with PASS; a species of fresh-water game fish |
| WOUND - past tense of verb TO WIND, rhymes with FOUND; tightening a spring with a twisting motion. | WOUND - Long U sound, rhymes with TUNED; noun, an injury; as a verb, to cause an injury. |
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Words with 'oo' that should sound the same but don't.
| 1. book, foot, good, hood, look, moor, wood | 1. these words have the same Short U vowel sound as in PUT |
| 2. aloof, boom, doom, gloom, soon, bloom, broom, noon, proof, roof, zoom | 2. these words all have a Long U sound as in TUNE |
| 3. floor, door | 3. a Long O sound as in MORE |
| 4. flood, blood | 4. these words have the same vowel sound as MUD. |
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Words that don't sound like they are spelled
| 1. one , the number 1 | 1. pronounced like /WUN/ , rhymes with GUN |
| 2. to - a preposition meaning 'in the direction of' | 2. pronounced like /TU/ , Long U sound, rhymes with BOO. |
| 3. who - a pronoun | 3. pronounced like /HOO/ , Long U sound, rhymes with BOO. |
| 4. do - a verb meaning 'to perform, act, accomplish' | 4. pronounced like /DU/ , Long U sound, rhymes with DEW. |
| 5. shoe - noun, item of clothing worn on and protecting your feet | 5. pronounced like /SHU/ , Long U sound, rhymes with GLUE. |
| 6. two - the number 2 | 6. pronounced like /TU/ , Long U sound, rhymes with BOO |
| 7. was - singular past tense of the verb TO BE | 7. pronounced like /WUZ) , rhymes with FUZZ. |
| 8. of - preposition having many meanings | 8. pronounced like /UV/ , Short U sound, rhymes with LOVE |
More strange spelling facts:
| Ways to spell Long 'A' | m ay , weigh, late, pain, rein, great |
| Ways to spell Long 'E' | free, bean, magazine, gene, mete, be, mien, receive, believe |
| Ways to spell Long 'I' | i ne, rhyme, fight, align, isometric, bayou |
| Ways to spell Long 'O' | g o , show, though, sew, beau, float, bone, |
| Ways to spell Long 'U' | shoe, grew, through. do, doom, flue, two, who, brute, duty |
The chart above is just a small sample of why Spelling Rules in English can be almost as much of a problem as spelling itself. Notice the "i-e" Rule:
Use i before e, except after c when it sounds like EE, or when sounding like A as in neighbor and weigh.
- This is a nice, neat little rule concerning words that have the letters i and e together, usually to form the Long E sound in English: i before e, as in piece or relief .
- Then the rule says "Except after C when it sounds like EE". The ie becomes ei , as in receive and deceit.
- Now, you know that the Long E sound in English can be made by 'ie', unless the sound comes after 'c', in which case it is made by 'ei', (except for those times when the Long E sound is made by 'ee' or 'ea' or 'e' or 'i' or 'oe').
- Then the Rule tells you about another exception - when the i and the e are together in a word and are pronounced like Long A, the e must come before the i. Examples: neighbor , sleigh , weigh, freight , etc.
- In this one short Rule, there are already two exceptions to it covering dozens of other words, but that is not the end. There are many words that do not follow the Rule or its exceptions: seize, weird, neither, either, foreign, sovereign, forfeit, counterfeit, leisure heifer, protein, geiger (as in 'counter'), height, sleight, feisty, seismograph, poltergeist, kaleidoscope.
At this point you may ask, "What can I do about it? How can I figure out how to spell the words in this crazy language?" Believe it or not, there are a few things you can do that will help, but after you remember the rules and learn the 'tricks', you are left with this basic technique: Study, Memorize, Study, Memorize, Study, Memorize.
Practice reading English. Check out the following stories at www.mikiemetric.net .
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Exercise: For each of the words in the list below, write the definition (from a dictionary) and write a sentence using the word.
| 1. scene | ||
| 2. seen | ||
| 3. scent | ||
| 4. sent | ||
| 5. cent | ||
| 6. err | ||
| 7. air | ||
| 8. heir | ||
| 9. feet | ||
| 10.feat | ||
| 11. new | ||
| 12. knew | ||
| 13. hear | ||
| 14. here |
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In spite of the fact that there are many English words that do not follow general pronunciation rules, at least 80 percent of English words DO follow normal rules. Go to Basic English, Lesson 7, to learn how to pronounce all the letters of the English alphabet.
Links to videos, lyrics of the songs and Wikipedia biographies of the artists, plus Then and Now photos.
| To begin learning Rules and Clues to spelling English, please go to the NEXT PAGE. | c. 2000-2018 Montoursville, PA 17754 | E-mail me at tmgrafius@yahoo.com . |
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Write the Words That Contain the Matching Sound and Spelling Pattern
Source: http://say-it-in-english.com/SpellHome.html
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