Absolutely Ridiculous English Spelling-Lesson 1: Some Basic Facts About English Spelling

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Absolutely Ridiculous English Spelling

Lesson 1. Some Basic Facts About English Spelling

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Why does the English language have so many words that are difficult to spell? The main reason is that English has 1,100 different ways to spell its 44 separate sounds, more than any other language. Some of the results of this are:

Words that have the same sounds but are spelled differently,

Words that contain letters that have nothing to do with the way the words are pronounced,

Words that contain silent letters; that is, letters that must be included when you write the words even though they are not pronounced,

Spelling rules that have lists of exceptions - words that do not follow the rules and thus must be memorized separately.

This situation exists for a variety of reasons. For some words, the pronunciation has changed over the centuries even though the spelling has not changed. Some words have been borrowed from other languages, and although they have kept their original spellings, people over the years began pronouncing the words according to English rules. Still other words have been borrowed from other languages and have kept their original spellings AND pronunciations, which makes them seem strange by English rules.

The reasons for the Ridiculous English Spelling do not matter, however, because English is what it is; it has been this way for a long time. If you want to learn to speak and write it, you must learn it as it is and not how it should be. Our task is to make that a little easier for you.

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Some common inconsistencies:

Pattern	Examples	How they are pronounced
words containing "ough"	thought, bought, fought, brought enough, rough, tough, slough through though, although, dough, thorough cough bough, doughty	end with sound of "ot" as in POT, NOT end with sound of "uff" as in STUFF ends with sound of Long U, as in the word THREW or SHOE end with the sound of Long O, as in NO or GO ends with the sound "OFF contain the same sound as "COW" or "NOW"
Words that sound the same but are spelled differently.	byte, bite, bight seen, scene hear, here sense, cents, scents their, there, they're feet, feat ate, eight err, heir, air wheel, weal, we'll you, ewe isle, aisle, I'll ale, ail gnu, new, knew	Long i + t Long e + n Long e + r all end with the sound of "-ENCE" or "-ENSE" Long a + r Long e + t Long a + t Long a + r Long e + L Long u Long I + L Long a + L N + Long u
Words containing "ight"	alight, bight, blight, flight, fright, height, light, night, might, right, sight, tight, plight,	In all of these words, "ight" is pronounced like Long i + t.
Words with Silent Letters	gnat, gnaw know, knee, knife, knit, knickers, knuckle psychology, psychiatrist, pneumonia should, could, would isle, aisle, island wrap, wrinkle, write, wrath, wrist, wrought debt, doubt listen, soften, castle, often hour, heir, herb Wednesday, handkerchief (maybe) lamb, limb, dumb, thumb, climb, tomb, comb	All of these words are pronounced as if the red letters were not there, but when you write the words, you MUST include those letters.
Words that look the same but are pronounced differently.	WIND - noun, moving air outdoors, part of weather WIND - verb, a twisting motion, as with a clock spring READ - past tense verb, got meaning from written words READ - present tense of same verb ABUSE - verb, to injure or do harm ABUSE - noun - injury, damage or mistreatment ADDICT - noun - person who acts compulsively ADDICT - verb - to make dependent on COMBINE - noun - a harvesting machine COMBINE - verb - to put together, mix together, join DEFECT - noun - a flaw DEFECT - verb - to desert, run or escape from OBJECT - noun - a thing, an article, a goal OBJECT - verb - express opposition SUBJECT - noun - topic of study or interest SUBJECT - verb - to cause to submit to or undergo LEAD - to conduct, show the way, take first position LEAD - noun - a soft, very heavy metal BOW - noun - a stick-like article strung with hair or cord, used to play a violin or shoot an arrow BOW - verb - bending forward from the waist as a sign of respect SOW - noun - a female pig SOW - verb - to spread seeds onto prepared ground POLISH - as a noun, a liquid used to clean and shine hard surfaces. as a verb, the act of cleaning or shining POLISH - adjective, a person or thing from Poland DESERT - noun, a rocky, sandy geographical area lacking water DESERT - to abandon or run away from PRESENT - as a noun - a gift; as an adverb - in attendance, here PRESENT - verb - to give to, such as an award DOVE - noun - a pigeon-like bird DOVE - verb, to jump head first, as into water INVALID - noun - a person who is physically disabled INVALID - adjective meaning illegal or not acceptable ROW - as a noun, a line or tier of similar objects; as a verb, to propel a small boat with paddles or oars ROW - noun - a disagreement or argument DOES - Third -person singular form of the verb DO DOES - more than one female deer SEWER - noun, a person who sews, stitches fabric SEWER - a channel for waste water TEAR - noun - water that comes from the corner of one's eyes TEAR - verb - to rip or shred paper or cloth CLOSE - adverb meaning near or almost CLOSE - verb - to shut, unopen, seal BASS - a species of fresh-water game fish BASS - as a noun, the lowest male singing voice, low notes WOUND - as a noun, an injury; as a verb, to cause an injury WOUND - past tense of verb TO WIND, tightening a spring with a twisting motion.	WIND - Short i sound WIND - Long i sound READ - Short e sound READ - Long e sound ABUSE - with z sound ABUSE - with s sound ADDICT - stress on ad ADDICT - stress on dict COMBINE - stress on com COMBINE - stress on bine DEFECT - stress on de DEFECT - stress on fect OBJECT - stress on ob OBJECT - stress on ject SUBJECT - stress on sub SUBJECT - stress on ject LEAD - Long E, rhymes with 'seed' LEAD - Short E, rhymes with 'bed' BOW - Long O. rhymes with 'go' --------------------------------------------------- BOW - a diphthong of Soft A +Long U (as in COW) SOW - a diphthong of Soft A + Long U (as in HOW) SOW - Long O, rhymes with 'no' POLISH - Short O sound, like the O in 'doll' --------------------------------------- POLISH - Long O sound, as in 'pole' DESERT - Stress on 'de' , pronounced with Short E DESERT - Stress on 'sert' , rhymes with 'shirt' PRESENT - stress on 'pre' with Short E sound (PRE-zent) PRESENT - stress on 'sent' (pre-ZENT) DOVE - Short O or U sound as in 'love' DOVE - Long O sound, as in 'drove' INVALID - Stress on 'in' (IN-valid) INVALID - Stress on 'val' (in-VAL-id) ROW - Long O, rhymes with 'go' --------------------------------------------------- ROW - O is a diphthong (ah-oo) as in 'cow' DOES - 'OE' pronounced like Schwa as in 'but' - /duz/ DOES - Long O sound , rhymes with 'nose' SEWER - 'ew' has a Long O sound, as in 'sower' SEWER - 'ew has a Long U sound. Rhymes with 'newer' TEAR - Long E sound, rhymes with 'beer' ----------------------------------------- TEAR - Long A sound, rhymes with 'fair' CLOSE - Long O with /S/ sound CLOSE - Long O with /Z/ sound BASS - Short A sound, rhymes with 'mass' BASS - Long A sound, rhymes with 'face' WOUND - OU sounds like Long U, rhymes with 'tuned' WOUND - OU sounding like a diphthong /AH-OO/, rhymes with 'sound'
Words with 'oo' that should sound the same but don't.	book, foot, good, hood, look, moor, poor, stood, wood aloof, boom, doom, gloom, soon, bloom, broom, noon, proof, roof, zoom floor, door flood, blood	these words have the same Short U vowel sound these words all have a Long U sound 'oo' = an O sound as in 'or', 'more' these words have the same vowel sound as 'bud' and 'cud'
Words that don't sound like they are spelled	one , the number 1 to - a preposition meaning 'in the direction of' who - a pronoun do - a verb meaning 'to perform, act, accomplish' shoe - item of clothing worn on and protecting your feet two - the number 2 was - singular past tense of the verb TO BE of - preposition having many meanings	pronounced like /WUN/ , rhymes with 'gun' pronounced like /TU/ , rhymes with 'true' pronounced like /HOO/ , rhymes with 'shoe' pronounced like /DU/ , rhymes with 'dew' pronounced like /SHU/ , rhymes with 'glue' pronounced like /TU/ , rhymes with 'boo' pronounced like /WUZ) , rhymes with 'fuzz' pronounced like /UV/ , rhymes with 'love'

Some more inconsistencies:

Ways to spell Long 'U'	shoe, grew, through. do, doom, flue, two, who, brute, duty
Ways to spell Long 'O'	go, show, though, sew, beau, float, bone,
Ways to spell Long 'A'	may, weigh, late, pain, rein, great
Ways to spell Long 'E'	free, bean, magazine, gene, mete, be, mien, receive, believe
Ways to spell Long 'I'	fine, rhyme, fight, align, isometric, bayou

The chart above is just a small sample of why Spelling Rules in English can be almost as much of a problem as spelling itself. Notice the "i-e" Rule:

Use i before e, except after c, or when sounding like a as in neighbor and weigh.

This is a nice, neat little rule concerning words that have the letters i and e together, usually to form the Long E sound in English: i before e, as in piece or relief.
Then the rule says "Except after C". The ie becomes ei , as in receive and deceit.
Now, you know that the Long E sound in English can be made by 'ie', unless the sound comes after 'c', in which case it is made by 'ei', (except for those times when the Long E sound is made by 'ee' or 'ea' or 'e' or 'i' or 'oe').
Then the Rule tells you about another exception - when the i and the e are together in a word and are pronounced like Long A, the e must come before the i. Examples: neighbor, sleigh, weigh, freight, etc.
In this one short Rule, there are already two exceptions to it covering dozens of other words, but that is not the end. There are many words that do not follow the Rule or its exceptions: seize, weird, neither, either, foreign, sovereign, forfeit, counterfeit, leisure, heifer, protein, geiger (as in 'counter'), height, sleight, feisty, seismograph, poltergeist, kaleidoscope.

At this point you may ask, "What can I do about it? How can I figure out how to spell the words in this crazy language?" Believe it or not, there are a few things you can do that will help, but after you remember the rules and learn the 'tricks', you are left with this basic technique: Study, Memorize, Study, Memorize, Study, Memorize.

Exercise: For each of the words in the list below, write the definition (from a dictionary) and write a sentence using the word.

1. scene
2. seen
3. scent
4. sent
5. cent
6. err
7. air
8. heir
9. feet
10.feat
11. new
12. knew
13. hear
14. here

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In spite of the fact that there are many English words that do not follow general pronunciation rules, at least 80 percent of English words DO follow normal rules. Go to Basic English, Lesson 7, to learn how to pronounce all the letters of the English alphabet.

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