English Banana.com Spelling Patterns and the Sounds they Make – Short vowel sounds are written with one vowel letter These words are often phonetic There are short vowel sounds in English Here are the most common spelling patterns: Sound: Spelling Pattern: Example: More Examples: a a bag _ e e bed _ i i big _ o o pot _ u u bus _ uu u put _ The other two short vowel sounds appear in weak syllables; the schwa sound uh is the most common vowel sound in English and appears in many weak syllables, e.g suffixes The short ii sound also appears in weak syllables, especially in suffixes ending with -y Exceptions: Short vowel sounds are sometimes represented in other ways: Sound: Spelling Pattern: Example: More Examples: a a+e have _ a ae ea ei ie ue any haemorrhage said dead leisure friendship guess _ _ _ _ _ _ _ e 67 English Banana.com Spelling Patterns and the Sounds they Make – Short vowel sounds are written with one vowel letter These words are often phonetic i o u uu e i+e ie u ui o y sacrilegious give sieve business building women gym _ _ _ _ _ _ _ a au eau o+e ou ow ua watch sausage bureaucracy gone cough knowledge quandary _ _ _ _ _ _ _ o o+e oe ou won come does touch _ _ _ _ o oo ou woman book could _ _ _ 68 English Banana.com Spelling Patterns and the Sounds they Make – Long vowel sounds are written with an r in the spelling There are long vowel sounds in English Three of them – spelled with an r: Sound: ar er or ar, er, and or – are usually Spelling Pattern: Example: More Examples: ar arre ear er uar dark charred heart sergeant guard _ _ _ _ _ ear er erre ir or our ur heard hers deferred bird word courteous church _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ar oar oor oore or ore our warm roars doors moored born bored fourth _ _ _ _ _ _ _ The other two long vowel sounds ee and oo are dealt with in Statement Exceptions: Long vowel sounds Sound: ar er or ar, er, and or are sometimes represented in other ways: Spelling Pattern: Example: More Examples: a a+e al bath vase half _ _ _ olo colonel _ a al ball talk _ _ 69 English Banana.com Spelling Patterns and the Sounds they Make – You can tell a word has a long vowel sound by the presence of two vowel letters which are the same: ee or oo The other two long vowel sounds are often spelled with the distinctive ee and oo patterns: Sound: Spelling Pattern: Example: More Examples: ee ee been _ oo oo cool _ Long vowel sounds ee and oo are sometimes represented in other ways: Statement 4: two different vowel letters together (digraphs) can represent these sounds e.g bean ee Statement 5: vowel-consonant-vowel rule can make the vowel letter e long e.g scene ee Statement 8: other consonant letters can be used to represent these sounds, e.g e.g through oo Exceptions: Here are some common exceptions to this rule: Sound: ee oo Spelling Pattern: Example: More Examples: e e + ue i i+e i + ue she segue pizza police technique _ _ _ _ _ o+e lose _ 70 English Banana.com Spelling Patterns and the Sounds they Make – Long vowel sounds are written with two different vowel letters (a vowel digraph) Sometimes long vowel sounds are written with a vowel digraph We must learn the possible combinations: Sound: ee oo or Spelling Pattern: Example: More Examples: ae ea ei ie encyclopaedia beach conceive piece _ _ _ _ eu oe oeu ou ueu ueue ui neutron shoes manoeuvre soup queuing queue fruit _ _ _ _ _ _ _ au cause _ Note: the long vowel sounds ar and er are not represented by any vowel digraphs 71 English Banana.com Spelling Patterns and the Sounds they Make – When you see vowel + consonant + e the vowel will say its alphabet name The long sound of each vowel letter is caused by the single consonant + e spelling: Sound: Spelling Pattern: Example: More Examples: ei a+e cake _ ee e+e scene _ i+e bike _ eu o+e hole _ oo u+e June _ It is important to note that in words of more than one syllable the same rule can apply with other vowel letters too, not only e The key point to remember is: when you see vowel + single consonant + vowel the first vowel says its alphabet name, e.g baking = Bei king Exceptions: Sometimes these sounds are represented in other ways: Sound: Spelling Pattern: Example: More Examples: y+e type _ o o + ue both rogue _ _ eu And sometimes the spelling pattern vowel + single consonant + e can result in a short vowel sound, e.g give (see Statement for more exceptions) Note: this rule is very consistent with one-syllable words, and is generally true in polysyllabic words as well However, there are many examples of polysyllabic words where vowel + single consonant + vowel occurs but the first vowel is short, e.g travel, money, lover, and orange 72 English Banana.com Spelling Patterns and the Sounds they Make – Diphthongs are written with an r in the spelling There are 10 diphthongs in English Like long vowel sounds, they are often written with an r in the spelling: Sound: aiy auw eir iy uuw Spelling Pattern: Example: More Examples: iar ire liars fired _ _ our oure sours soured _ _ air aire are ear eir chairs millionaire cared bears theirs _ _ _ _ _ ear eare eer eere eir ere ier ir beard neared peers cheered weird sincerely piers souvenir _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ure assure _ Exceptions: Diphthongs can also be represented in other ways: Sound: Spelling Pattern: Example: More Examples: i ui + e bicycle guide _ _ ei a e+e waste fete _ _ eir a parent _ eu o both _ iy ee feel _ 73 English Banana.com Spelling Patterns and the Sounds they Make – Diphthongs are written with two different vowel letters (a vowel digraph) Another common way to spell diphthongs is by using a vowel digraph We must learn the possible combinations: Sound: Spelling Pattern: Example: More Examples: ei ie ui kaleidoscope died guide _ _ _ ia iou dial pious _ _ ou house _ au ei faith gauge beige _ _ _ au oa oe ou mauve boat goes shoulder _ _ _ _ ia io iou dial lion pious _ _ _ ea eo oea meal theories diarrhoea _ _ _ oy oi boil _ uuw ue suet _ aiy au ei eu aiy iy Note: oi is the only vowel digraph for oy, and ou is the only vowel digraph for au 74 English Banana.com Spelling Patterns and the Sounds they Make – Other consonant letters like w, y, and gh count as part of long vowel sounds or diphthongs in spellings, rather than consonant sounds; other consonant letters can occur as silent letters, e.g b in “debt” It can be a surprise that these consonant letters are part of the vowel sound, and therefore not pronounced in their normal way, but we have to accept it and learn the combinations: Sound: Spelling Pattern: Example: More Examples: eigh ig igh ye height sign fight dyed _ _ _ _ ar al augh calm laughter _ _ au oub ough ow owe doubt boughs cows bowed _ _ _ _ auw owe ower owere towel showers powered _ _ _ ee ey keys _ ei ay eig eigh ey days feign weight they’ve _ _ _ _ eu ow owe known owed _ _ oo ew ewe iew iewe chew chewed view viewed _ _ _ _ or al augh aw ough walk caught lawn bought _ _ _ _ oy oy oya uoye boys royal buoyed _ _ _ uuw ewe ewer jewel sewers _ _ 75