Category: E e

E e

E is for Escarpment

Springtime at Rattlesnake Point
Rattlesnake Point, part of the Niagara Escarpment, near Milton, Ontario.

E is for ellipses points

Ellipses points indicate an unstated continuation of a thought or the omission of something from a quotation.

She did not want to be seen or heard . . .

“Out, out . . . spot.”

— William Shakespeare, as read to schoolgirls in 1936. 

E is for emphasis

Emphasis in written text is indicated by changing the type with, for example, capital letters or italics.

OK, so it was a Big Deal.

Why don’t you pay now, rather than later?

Using all upper case letters in an e-mail or other messaging system indicates shouting and is considered rude.

WHY DON’T YOU PAY NOW? 

E is for exclamation point

An exclamation point ( ! ) is also used for emphasis, and especially to get someone’s attention.

That’s why!

Watch out!

Exercises

  1. Why don’t you see ellipses in newspapers?
  2. Write out the sentence, “Look ahead in the road.” using different methods of emphasis.
  3. Where would you use an exclamation point?

Special reading assignment

  1. An escarpment is a long cliff created by erosion or by a fault in the rocks.
  2. The Niagara Escarpment runs from Watertown, New York, through Niagara Falls, to Georgian Bay and the Bruce Peninsula in Ontario. From there it runs into Wisconsin. It was once the shore of an inland sea.
E e

E is for Elephant

Loxodonta africana
This African elephant is about to retire from the Toronto Zoo to a sunny place in California.

Silent Es

Truly silent Es do not affect the pronunciation of the word.

are, come, done, ore

English words don’t end in the letter u or v.

blue, cheque, give, have, love

A silent E may serve to create a syllable.

handle, minute (time), pickle, people

A silent letter E affects the vowel that comes before it, making it sound like its name (a hard or long vowel).

Silent E following an A.

bad, bade; cap, cape; fat, fate; late; rat, rate

Silent E following an E.

pet, Pete

Silent E following an I.

line; rip, ripe; spit, spite

Silent E following an O.

hop, hope; not, note; rose

Silent E following a U.

cut, cute; minute (tiny)

Sometimes, the silent E affects the pronunciation of the consonant that comes before it.

Silent E following a C makes an S sound.

lance; place

Silent E following a G makes a J sound.

badge; charge; luggage

Disappearing silent Es

A silent E is sounded once the following suffixes are added to the word:

—ed    note, noted; rate, rated

—er     cute, cuter; ripe, riper

—est    cute, cutest; ripe, ripest

The silent E is also sounded with the following suffix:

—age  line, lineage

The silent E disappears with the following suffixes:

—able compare, comparable; measure, measurable; value, valuable

—age  dose, dosage; pasture, pasturage; store, storage; use, usage

—ing   charge, charging; hope, hoping; rate, rating; store, storing

—ment abridge, abridgment; argue, argument; judge, judgment (or “judgement”)

The silent E stays put with the following suffixes:

—able manage, manageable

—age  acre, acreage; mile, mileage

—ly     come, comely; late, lately; love, lovely

—ment achieve, achievement; move, movement; place, placement

E e

E is for Elderberry

Sambucus
Elderberry bushes are an old-fashioned plant, growing perhaps at the site of an old farmhouse.

How to say E

A hard or long E.

eel, Egypt

Several soft or short E sounds.

elk, everything, exert, forest, rent, web

A flat, short sound.

naked, rely, renew

The E in each of these words has a different sound.

era, the, there, prey, met, England, sew, herb, clerk 

Diphthongs

—ew  creates a sliding vowel sound, although it is a vowel—consonant combination.

blew, chew, crew, dew, flew, grew, jewel, knew, news, renew, skew, screw, threw, view

Letter combinations (digraphs)

—ea— generally has the same sound as —ee. There are all sorts of exceptions.

Easter, easy, great, meat, peace, zeal

—ea— heart

—ea— earn, earth, heard, search

—ea— head, health, measure, peasant

—ea— bear, swear, wear

—ea— steak

—ea— appeal, arboreal, clear, idea, real, urea

—ea— forearm, mileage

—ea— bureau, chateau

—ee— greet, meet, sleet, wheel

—ei— eider, Einstein, either

—ei— beige, eight, neigh, vein

—ei— conceive, receive

—eu— Europe, eureka

—eu— museum

—eu— neuron

—eu— tuneup

Exercises

  1. Using text from a newspaper or book, identify and write down a list of words containing the letter E.
  2. Which of these words has a hard or long e (one pronounced like the letter E)?
  3. Which has a soft e (as in egg)?

Special reading assignment

  1. Eventually everyone exits.
  2. Elderberries make good wine or jelly.
  3. Your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries.

— Monte Python