Spelling generalizations

Soft/ Hard C

C is pronounced /k/ (hard sound) when it precedes an a, o, or u as in cat, and cup. It is pronounced /s/ (soft sound) when it precedes e,i, or y as in cease, science, and cyst.

Examples of the hard c

Cat, Cost, cub, cake

Examples of soft c

cedar, cereal, cent, city

soft/hard g

G is pronounced /g/ (hard sound) when followed by a, o, and u as in gas, gore, gulp. It makes the /j/ sound (soft) when followed by e, i, or y as in germ or gist

examples of hard g

gum, gut, go, goal

examples of soft g

gist, gentle, giant, ginger

Exceptions of the soft/hard g

tiger, get, anything ending in -ing

FLOSS-Z

In a single syllable word with a short vowel (closed syllable) where the vowel immediately followed by f, l, s, or z the final letter is doubled

Examples of the floss-z

staff, fall, grass, jazz

exceptions to floss-z

words that dont follow either have long vowel sounds or a consonant blend at the end like: mile, base, milk, grasp

C,K, or -Ck

• initial sound the letters c or k are used (car, kite)

• /k/ is at then end and follows a short vowel the -ck is used (brick)

• /k/ sound is at the end and follows a long vowel or consonant it'll just be k (milk)

Examples of initial c

Cat, car, cube, coat

Examples of initial k

kid, ketchup, kitten, king

Examples of final k

park, dark, soak, cake

examples of -ck

deck, pick, rack, luck

exceptions to the C,K, or -Ck

the letter ch- can also make the /k/ sound in words with greek or latin origins. (chorus)

-ch or -tch

/ch/ sound can be spelled in two ways -ch or -tch the only time -tch is used is when it follows a short vowel /ch/ sound follows a long vowel or consonant

examples of -ch or -tch

-TCH: catch, pitch, etch

-CH: speech, couch, bunch, pinch

exceptions of -ch or -tch

words that don't follow because of word origin (which, such, much)

Double consonants (rabbit)

double the middle consonant of a two syllable word if the first vowel is short and there is only one consonant sound between the first and second vowel. (/rab//bit/)

Examples of double consonants

rabbit, muffin, ladder, supper

English words don't end in v

they dont end in ____ because a silent e is added. Follow the CVe pattern (Silent e rule)

examples of words not ending with v

Gave, shave, dive, stove

Exceptions to english words dont end in v

Schwa sound: Love, above, shove, glove

s= /s/ or /z/

the consonant between the vowel and silent -e is S, that the sound produced could either be /s/ or /z/. The /z/ sound is much more common

examples of s= /s/ or /z/

/z/: rose, muse, use, wise /s/: close, dose

Multiple sounds of y

When the letter y is at the end of a single syllable word, it typically produces the long e sound when the y is at the end of a multisyllable word it makes the long e sound

Examples of multiple sounds of y

Long i sound: Spy, shy, my, fly

Long e: very, happy, sunny, puffy

Exceptions of multiple sounds of y

butterfly, reply, apply, deny

R- controlled vowels

-ar makes the /ar/ sound, -or makes the /or/ sound, and -er, -ir, and -ur makes the /er/ sound. If /er/ is at the end of a word, it is spelled -er because it is a suffix

Examples of r-controlled vowels

-ar: park, car, start

-or: for, storm, performs

-er: her, weather, perfect

-ir: stir, whirl, thirty

-ur: curl, curtain, turn