H is for Hens and Chickens

This succulent garden plant is very hardy. Perhaps you call it a house leek.

Letter combinations

The letter H combined with other letters creates new sounds.

—ch—  The H changes the sound of C.

chat, cheese, church, witch

Exception

choir

—dh—  The H softens the sound of D a little.

dharma, dhow

 Exception

In compound words, the d and h are pronounced.

childhood

gh— The H is silent.

gherkin, ghost

—gh —  The H changes the G to sound like an F.

cough, laugh, slough (pronounced sluff, meaning to shed one’s skin)

—gh  The GH combination maybe silent.

eight, slough (pronounced slew, meaning a wetland), through

—kh—  The H is silent.

khaki, Khyber Pass

—ph—  The H changes the P to sound like an F.

pharmacy, philosophy

Exception

In compound words, the p and h are pronounced.

shepherd

—rh—  The H is silent.

rhapsody, rhesus

—sh—  The H changes the sound of S.

share, sheep, shore

—th—  The H changes the sound of T.

thanks, the, then, thick, thin, thud

Exception

In names, anything can happen.

Anthony, Thomas

—wh—  The H changes the sound of W.

what, when, where, who, why

Exercises

1. Look for letter combinations in words in a book or newspaper. Say them out loud.
2. Create your own alliteration using one or more of the letter combinations.

Special reading assignment

1. How do happy hamsters huddle in hutches?
2. Handymen have hammers.
3. Hens and chickens are sometimes grown in a thatched roof.

 

E is for Elderberry

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

D is for Drumlin

A drumlin is a north-south ridge of gravel, the shape of a beached whale.

D is for digraph

 

You can guess at the meaning of digraph because di— means “two” and —graph means “something written.” A digraph is two letters that have one sound. In older forms of English, the two letters might be run together, such as ae (æ). In vowel digraphs, the second letter is usually silent. English dialects introduce some variation in pronunciation.

 

Note: Digraphs are letters.

 

ch         chew

ck        check

dg        judge

ng         doing

sh         shout

th         that, think

ph        pheasant

wh        what, when, where, who

 

ae         archaeology [formerly, archæology]

ai          maid, maintain

au         audit

ay         day, tray

ea         bean, eat, teach

ee         fleece, sweet

ei          eight, receive

ey         key

ie          die

oa        boat, coast

oe        potatoes

oo        book, look

ow       slow

ue         true

D is for diphthong

 

Diphthong also begins with di— for “two”, but the second part of the word is derived from a difficult Greek word, phthong, meaning “sound” but also related to “tongue”.

 

A diphthong is (1) two vowels that act together to create a sliding sound within a syllable (the letters Y and W often act as vowels in this instance). It is also (2) two sounds that slide within one vowel (not a digraph). English dialects introduce some variation in pronunciation.

 

Note: Diphthongs are sounds.

 

a          rate, table

ai          fail, rain

au         daughter, haul

aw        draw, hawk

ea         create, eagle, great

ei          height

ew        dew, jewel, new

ey         convey, obey

i           arrive, high, private, sign

ia          dial, trial

ie          science

io         pioneer, riot, violet

o          ago, no, roll

oe        poet

oi         coil, noise, stoic

oo        cool, fool, moon

ou        out, mouse, soul

ow       down, how, know, throwing

oy        boy, oyster, voyage

ua         casual

 

ue         statue

uy         buyer, Gruyère, guy

y          by, hype, sky

yi          flying, trying

Exercises

1. Try to pronounce the word diphthong. Do you prefer to say “dip-thong” or “diff-thong”?
2. Sound out words to identify digraphs and diphthongs. Which ones are the most commonly used?

D is for Daisy

Did you ever pluck the petals from a daisy, one by one, “He loves me; he loves me not?”

D is for digraphs, doubles and disappearing

Letter combinations (digraphs)

─dg─, usually placed before an e, i, or y, sounds like j.

badge, dodgy, judge, wedge, widget

─dh─ is pronounced with a silent h.

dhow, dhoti

Double Ds

English words with double consonants are inconsistent, so there is no reliable rule.

Usually, a double-d serves to signal that the preceding vowel is short rather than long.

buddy, hidden, ladder, wedding

bade, fade, hide, laden, wide

Exceptions:

Sometimes a single d acts as a double-d.

body, credit, educate, study

Three-letter words ending in d usually have a short vowel.

bad, fad, hid, lad, wed

Silent or disappearing Ds

The letter D may or may not be silent or slurred in some words, depending on the dialect of the speaker.

handkerchief, grandson

sandwich, Wednesday, handsome

Exercises

How many words can you think of with double d‘s? Say them out loud.

Now, find similar words with only one d. Does the vowel sound different?

Where do the words, dhow and dhoti, come from?

 

C is for Columbine

The Garden Columbine blooms in many colours in spring and early summer.

Sounds of C

A hard sound, like K, when c comes before a, o, u, and consonants.

coffee, cupcake, school

A soft sound, like S, when c comes before i, e, y.

circle, celery, cyanide, recipe, fascinate

 A hiss sound, like sh, when —ci— (or sometimes —ce—) comes before a vowel, inside a word. [Infrequent.]

conscience, social

Exceptions:

These words do not have the sh hiss:

science; society

Silent Cs

Some words that derive from Middle English are pronounced the same as they always were, but the spelling was changed to add a c, similar to French or Latin, which were fashionable languages at the time.

indict, indictment, indictable offence

Other words were imported into English from another language.

yacht [Dutch], Tucson [Papago Indian]

 See also, Letter combinations (digraphs), below, for words containing sc.

scientist

Double Cs

English words with double consonants are inconsistent, so there is no reliable rule.

Usually, a double C serves to signal that the preceding vowel is short rather than long.

accord, accuse, occupy

Rather than a double C or a double K, a CK is commonly used. The hard C sound is preserved or emphasized, even when, with the following vowel (I, E, or Y), you would expect a soft C sound.

chicken, hockey, sticky wicket

Exceptions:

Sometimes a QU is used to preserve the hard C sound.

liquor, chequers (also, checkers [US])

Sometimes a double C is used in a word to express both a hard C and a soft C sound.

accent

Sometimes a single C acts like a double C.

crocodile, decade, second 

Letter combinations (digraphs)

—ch—

c and h together create a distinct sound, a digraph.

cherry, cheque, chi, chutney, church

Exceptions:

chemistry, crochet, chenille, Christ, chronology

—ck—

c and k together create a digraph.

brackets, crickets, flock, quick, rocket

—ct  is an uncommon letter combination

act, fact

—sc—, —sce

s and c together are a digraph that emphasizes the s sound.

abscess, acquiesce, descent, effervesce, fluoresce, muscle, rescind, scene, scent, science, scissors

Exceptions:

In these words, the s and c are both pronounced.

school, scholar, score, scream, scoundrel, muscular

Rules of pronunciation

i before e, except after c, gives us the sound of ee (or ē).

conceive, receive, receipt, retrieve

Exceptions:

science, hierarchy, diet 

Special reading assignment

 

1. Can’t you come to the cottage in October to check on the locks?
2. Vegetables are a must on a diet. I suggest carrot cake.                   — Jim Davis