Words are built up from vowels (a, e, i, o, u) and consonants (b, c, d, f, g, h, j, k, l, m, n, p, q, r, s, t, v, w, x, y, z). Vowels and consonants are combined to make syllables, building blocks of sound, which is one unit of sound.
God has one syllable, God.
Jesus has two syllables, Je and sus.
2. Long and short vowels
Vowels have different sounds depending on the word they are in.
God, map and did all have short vowel sounds at the beginning – say the words. Do you hear how the o, a and i sound?
Jesus, made and life all have long vowel sounds at the beginning. Say these words. Do you hear the longer, more breathy sound of the e, a and i?
Double consonants
Vowels followed by twin consonants have a short sound and make words that have more than one syllable.
daddy, penny, witty, mommy, sunny
Long vowel sounds can be made by adding a magic e
Change the short vowel sound into a long vowel sound by adding a silent e to the end of the word. Silent final e makes the preceding vowel say its name.
kit –> kite
to-> toe
bath -> bathe
Silent final e ensures that we never end an English word with u or v.
Exceptions: love, give, have, true, blue, glue
Vowel Sounds
'eh' - as in 'let', 'ih' - as in 'hit', 'ee' - as in 'see', and 'ae'- as in 'cat'
'long ah' - as in 'car', 'short ah' - as in 'got'
'long uh' - as in 'put', 'short uh' - as in 'up', 'oo' - as in 'through'
3. Two vowels together are called diphthongs
Some words have two vowels together. When this happens, the vowels usually make one sound rather than two.
You can practice them HERE!
Diphthong Sounds
'ay' - as in 'day', 'ai' - as in 'sky'
| 'ay' as in 'day' | 'ai' as in 'die' |
| bay | buy |
| pay | pie |
| day | die |
| table | tie |
| gay | guy |
| cake | kite |
| say | sigh |
| zany | Zaire |
| shape | shy |
| Jake | jive |
| chase | child |
| hey! | hi |
'ou' - as in 'home', 'ow' - as in 'mouse', 'oi' - as in 'boy'
| 'ou' as in 'home' | 'ow' as in 'house' | 'oi' as in 'boy' |
| bowl | bow | boy |
| Pope | pow-wow | poise |
| don't | Dow | doily |
| toe | towel | toy |
| go | gouge | goiter |
| cope | cow | coy |
| soap | sour | soy sauce |
| zone | zowie! | (none) |
| show | shower | (none) |
| Jones | jowl | join |
| chose | ciao! | choice |
| home | howl | hoist |
'ieh(r)' - as in 'near', 'ehi(r)' - as in 'hair'
| 'ieh(r)' as in 'near' | 'ehi(r)' as in 'hair' |
| beer | bear |
| peer | pear |
| dear | dare |
| tear (drop of water) | tear (rip) |
| gear | garish |
| clear | Claire |
| seer | snare |
| sheer | share |
| jeer | Jerry |
| cheer | chair |
| here | hair |
Captain, taught, bead, weight, believe, boat, does, boil, sound, guess, build
When you find i and e together
i usually comes before e unless it follows c; if we say /ā/, we can also use ei.
Words that don’t have a c before the ie, it’s i before e:
believe, piece, niece
Words that have a c before the ei, it’s e before i:
receive, deceive, conceit, ceiling
/ā/: vein, neighbour
exception: Their has an ei but no c.
neither, foreign, sovereign, seized, leisure, either, weird, protein, heifer
/ur/ - Complex diphthong:
her, nurse, first, works, earth
4. Hard and soft consonants
c does not have it's own sound. Hard c sounds like k and soft c sounds like s
The letter c followed by e, i, or y says /s/:
cent, city, cycle
followed by another vowel c is said as /k/:
cat, cot, cut, scar, scotch, scuttle
Hard g and soft g
The letter g can also make a hard or a soft sound.
The g followed by e, i, or y usually sounds like /j/ but can say /g/:
gentle, giant, gypsum;
BUT exceptions: get, girl, give.
Followed by any other letter g says /g/: gap, God, gut
5. Plurals
A plural is more than one thing. Plurals can be tricky to spell, but there are some simple rules that will help you. It all depends what the word ends with.
For most nouns, the plural form includes the letter "s" at the end of the word:dogs
trees
turtles
Nouns ending in s, z, ch, sh, and x
Nouns with these letters at the end call for an "es" in the plural form. This added syllable makes pronunciation easier.
beaches
foxes
wishes
Nouns ending in o
Some nouns ending in o are pluralized with an "s," while others call for "es." These words must be memorized, because there is no simple rule to explain the differences.
| echoes | heroes | potatoes | vetoes |
| autos | memos | pimentos | pros |
Source: Hodges' Harbrace Handbook, 13th edition
If a word ends in f, change the f to a v and add es.
half -> halves
leaf -> leaves
hoof -> hooves
Nouns ending in y
To form the plural of nouns ending in y, drop the y and add "ies."
Family becomes families
Story becomes stories
Baby becomes babies
But, if a word ends in ey, just add an s.
monkey -> monkeys
Some words are the same when they are singular (just one) and plural.
I’ve got one sheep.
I’ve got lots of sheep.
And some words change without an s:
child -> children
mouse -> mice
Irregular plural forms
There are several other irregularities in the plural forms of English nouns. Here are examples:
Man becomes men
Woman becomes women
Fungus becomes fungi
Thief becomes thieves (note that not all words ending in "f" follow this patttern: roof/roofs)
Species remains species
Medium becomes media
Person becomes people
6. Prefixes
A prefix is placed at the beginning of a word to modify or change its meaning. This is a list of the most common prefixes in English, together with their basic meaning and some examples.
| Prefix | Meaning | Examples | |
| a- | also an- | not, without | atheist, anaemic |
| a- | to, towards | aside, aback | |
| in the process of, in a particular state | a-hunting, aglow | ||
| a- | of | anew | |
| completely | abashed | ||
| ab- | also abs- | away, from | abdicate, abstract |
| ad- | also a-, ac-, af-, ag- al-, an-, ap-, at- as-, at- | movement to, change into, addition or increase | advance, adulterate, adjunct, ascend, affiliate, affirm, aggravate, alleviate, annotate, apprehend, arrive, assemble, attend |
| ante- | before, preceding | antecedent, ante-room | |
| anti- | also ant- | opposing, against, the opposite | anti-aircraft, antibiotic, anticlimax, Antarctic |
| be- | all over, all around | bespatter, beset | |
| completely | bewitch, bemuse | ||
| having, covered with | bejewelled | ||
| affect with (added to nouns) | befog | ||
| cause to be (added to adjectives) | becalm | ||
| com- | also co-, col-, con-, cor- | with, jointly, completely | combat, codriver, collude, confide, corrode |
| contra- | against, opposite | contraceptive | |
| counter- | opposition, opposite direction | counter-attack, counteract | |
| de- | down, away | descend, despair, depend, deduct | |
| completely | denude, denigrate | ||
| removal, reversal | de-ice, decamp | ||
| dia- | also di- | through, across | diagonal |
| dis- | also di- | negation, removal, expulsion | disadvantage, dismount, disbud, disbar |
| en- | also em- | put into or on | engulf, enmesh |
| bring into the condition of | enlighten, embitter | ||
| intensification | entangle, enrage | ||
| ex- | also e-, ef- | out | exit, exclude, expand |
| upward | exalt, extol | ||
| completely | excruciate, exasperate | ||
| previous | ex-wife | ||
| extra- | outside, beyond | extracurricular | |
| hemi- | half | hemisphere | |
| hyper- | beyond, more than, more than normal | hypersonic, hyperactive | |
| hypo- | under | hypodermic, hypothermia | |
| in- | also il-, im- | not, without | infertile, inappropriate, impossible |
| also il-, im-, ir- | in, into, towards, inside | influence, influx, imbibe | |
| infra- | below | infrared, infrastructure | |
| inter- | between, among | interact, interchange | |
| intra- | inside, within | intramural, intravenous | |
| non- | absence, negation | non-smoker, non-alcoholic | |
| ob- | also oc-, of-, op- | blocking, against, concealing | obstruct, occult, offend, oppose |
| out- | surpassing, exceeding | outperform | |
| external, away from | outbuilding, outboard | ||
| over- | excessively, completely | overconfident, overburdened, overjoyed | |
| upper, outer, over, above | overcoat, overcast | ||
| peri- | round, about | perimeter | |
| post- | after in time or order | postpone | |
| pre- | before in time, place, order or importance | pre-adolescent, prelude, precondition | |
| pro- | favouring, in support of | pro-African | |
| acting for | proconsul | ||
| motion forwards or away | propulsion | ||
| before in time, place or order | prologue | ||
| re- | again | repaint, reappraise, reawake | |
| semi- | half, partly | semicircle, semi-conscious | |
| sub- | also suc-, suf-, sug-, sup-, sur-, sus- | at a lower position | submarine, subsoil |
| lower in rank | sub-lieutenant | ||
| nearly, approximately | sub-tropical | ||
| syn- | also sym- | in union, acting together | synchronize, symmetry |
| trans- | across, beyond | transnational, transatlantic | |
| into a different state | translate | ||
| ultra- | beyond | ultraviolet, ultrasonic | |
| extreme | ultramicroscopic | ||
| un- | not | unacceptable, unreal, unhappy, unmanned | |
| reversal or cancellation of action or state | unplug, unmask | ||
| under- | beneath, below | underarm, undercarriage | |
| lower in rank | undersecretary | ||
| not enough | underdevelope | ||
7. Suffixes
Suffixes are letters you can add to the end of words to change their meanings. For example, the suffix -less means without.
| Suffix | used to make | meaning | example |
|---|---|---|---|
| -able, -ible, -ble | adjectives | possible to | acceptable, noticable, convertible, divisible, irresistible |
| -age | nouns | a process or state | shortage, storage |
| -al | adjectives | connected with | experimental, accidental, environmental |
| -ance, -ancy, | nouns | an action, process or state | appearance, performance, pregnancy, constancy |
| -ant, -ent | nouns | a person who does it | assistant, immigrant, student |
| -ation | nouns | a state or action | examination, imagination, organization |
| -ee | nouns | a person to whom something is done | employee, trainee |
| -en | verbs | to give something a particular quality, to make something more | to strengthen |
| -ence, -ency, | nouns | an action, process or state | coincidence, patience, potency, presidency |
| -er | nouns | a person who does something | rider, painter, baker, builder, teacher |
| -ese | adjectives | from a place | Japanese, Chinese, Viennese |
| -ess | nouns | a woman who does somthing as a job | waitress, actress |
| -ful | adjectives | having a particular quality | beautiful, helpful, useful, thankful |
| -hood | nouns | a state, often during a particular period of time | childhood, motherhood |
| -ian | nouns | a person who does something as a job or hobby | historian, comedian, politician |
| -ical | adjectives from nouns ending -y or -ics | connected with | economical, mathematical, physical |
| -ify | verbs | to produce a state or quality | beautify, simplify, purify |
| -ish | adjectives | 1.describing nationality or language | English, Swedish, Polish |
| 2.like something | babyish, foolish | ||
| 3.rather, quite | longish, youngish, brownish | ||
| -ist | nouns | 1.a person who has studied something or does something as a job | scientist, typist |
| 2.a person who believes in something or belongs to a particular group | capitalist, pacifist, feminist | ||
| -ion | nouns | a state or process | action, connection, exhibition |
| -ive | adjectives | to be able to, having a particular quality | active, effective |
| -ize, -ise | verbs | actions producing a particular state | to magnetize, to generalize, to modernise, to standardise |
| -less | adjectives | not having something | hopeless, friendless |
| -like | adjectives | similar to | childlike |
| -ly | adverbs | in a particular way | badly, beautifully, completely |
| -ment | nouns | a state, action or quality | development, arrangement, excitement, achievement |
| -ness | nouns | a state or quality | kindness, sadness, happiness, weakness |
| -ology | nouns | the study of a subject | biology, psychology, zoology |
| -or | nouns | a person who does something, often as a job | actor, conductor, sailor |
| -ous | adjectives | having a particular quality | dangerous, generous, religous |
| -ship | nouns | showing status | membership, citizenship, friendship |
| -wards | adverbs | in a particular direction | backwards, upwards |
| -wise | adverbs | in a particular way | anticlockwise |
| -y | adjectives | having the quality of the thing metioned | cloudy, rainy, fatty, thirsty, greeny |
Lessons in this series:
