Transcript 5 English Spelling Rules that Help us with Pronunciation

5 Rules for Predicting Sounds from Spelling in English
by Matt Purland
For more free worksheets and books for learning English, please visit
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Looking for connections between
spelling and sounds in English
Phonemic Spellings
This presentation uses Clear Alphabet (Kliy Ral f bet) for phonemic spellings.
If you are unfamiliar with this phonemic alphabet, you can download the
Clear Alphabet Dictionary here:
Clear Alphabet Dictionary (PDF – 11 MB)
The Problem:
Because English is not a phonetic language, spelling and sounds do not
usually match.
This can lead to many difficulties for students who want to pronounce a
word correctly by reading it.
The Solution:
However, the spelling of a word can often help us to predict the
pronunciation.
I have identified 5 Spelling & Sounds Rules that work.
In studying the 1000 most common words in English, 75% of them followed
these 5 rules.
That means there were 25% of words which did not match the rules. We will
look at them later. Despite being exceptions, we can still find patterns that
help us to accurately predict pronunciation.
The Stressed Vowel Sound (1)
The stressed vowel sound is the most important sound in the word. Usually
content words are stressed, while function words are not, so we will focus
on content words only in this presentation.
We identify a word by its stressed vowel sound. If this sound is pronounced
incorrectly, the listener is likely to misunderstand. The speaker may say a
completely different word to what they intended.
When looking at the spelling of a word to see which rule it follows, we need
to focus on the stressed syllable – specifically, the spelling of the vowel
sound.
So, we need to find:
• Content words
• The stressed syllable in each one
• The spelling of the vowel sound in each one
The Stressed Vowel Sound (2)
About words longer than one syllable:
We focus on the vowel sound in the stressed syllable. If the word has a
suffix, the vowel sound in the suffix will generally be one of three short
sounds:
uh (schwa)
i
ii
e.g. person, teacher, student
e.g. meeting, tennis, finish
e.g. very, happy, ladies
3 Kinds of Vowel Sound Become 2
There are 3 kinds of vowel sounds in English:
• Short
• Long
• Diphthongs (double sounds)
For the sake of simplicity, I have condensed these groups into 2:
• Short
• Long (including diphthongs, which are long)
Fry 1000 Instant Words (1)
For this study I have used the Fry 1000 Instant Words, which is a list of the
1000 most common words in written and spoken English today.
You can download the list at the links below.
“The Fry word list or “instant words” are widely accepted to contain the
most-used words in reading and writing.”
http://www.k12reader.com/subject/sight-words/fry-words/
“The Fry 1000 Instant Words are a list of the most common words used for
teaching reading, writing, and spelling. These high frequency words should
be recognized instantly by readers. Dr Edward B. Fry’s Instant Words (which
are often referred to as the “Fry Words”) are the most common words used
in English ranked in order of frequency.”
http://www.uniqueteachingresources.com/Fry-1000-Instant-Words.html
Fry 1000 Instant Words (2)
“In 1996, Dr Fry expanded on Dolch’s sight word lists and research and
published a book titled Fry 1000 Instant Words. In his research, Dr Fry found
the following results:
• 25 words make up approximately 1/3 of all items published
• 100 words comprise approximately 1/2 of all of the words found in
publications
• 300 words make up approximately 65% of all written material
“Over half of every newspaper article, textbook, children's story, and novel is
composed of these 300 words. It is difficult to write a sentence without
using several of the first 300 words in the Fry 1000 Instant Words List.
Consequently, students need to be able to read the first 300 Instant Words
without a moment's hesitation.”
http://www.uniqueteachingresources.com/Fry-1000-Instant-Words.html
My 5 Spelling & Sounds Rules
1. If there is one vowel letter in the vowel sound spelling, the vowel sound
will be short
2. If there are two vowel letters together (a digraph) in the vowel sound
spelling, the vowel sound will be long
3. If there is the letter “r” in the vowel sound spelling, the vowel sound will
be long
4. If there is vowel + consonant + vowel in the vowel sound spelling, the
first vowel letter will be pronounced like its alphabet name
5. Sometimes we find other consonant letters (w, y, g, h) in the vowel
sound spelling, which are not pronounced
Fry 1000 Instant Words and My 5 Rules
57 of the 1000 words were not included in this study because they were
function words, which are not usually stressed, for example:
the
of
and
a
to
Of the remaining 943 content words:
706 (75%)
matched one of the 5 rules
237 (25%)
were exceptions – they did not match the rules
706 Fry Words (Content Words) and My 5 Rules (1)
Of the remaining 943 content words:
706 (75%)
matched one of the 5 rules:
Rule:
No. Matching:
% Matching:
Short
Long (with digraph)
V+C+V
Long (with “r”)
Other Consonant Letters
284
123
118
104
77
40%
17%
17%
15%
11%
TOTAL:
706
100%
706 Fry Words (Content Words) and My 5 Rules (2)
Apart from rule 1, the rules are fairly evenly represented:
Short (40%)
Long (with digraph) (17%)
V + C + V (17%)
Long (with “r”) (15%)
Other Consonant Letters (11%)
Rule 1:
If there is one vowel letter in the vowel sound spelling,
the vowel sound will be short
Rule 1:
If there is one vowel letter in the vowel sound spelling,
the vowel sound will be short
284 words from the Fry 1000 Instant Words match this rule, making it the
most followed rule.
There are five possible sounds in this group.
•
•
•
•
•
If the vowel letter is “a”, the vowel sound will be
If the vowel letter is “e”, the vowel sound will be
If the vowel letter is “i”, the vowel sound will be
If the vowel letter is “o”, the vowel sound will be
If the vowel letter is “u”, the vowel sound will be
a
e
i
o
u
If the word has one-syllable, it is normally phonetic – spelling and sounds
match, e.g. big, sad, fed, etc. In words of more than one syllable, the vowel
letter will be pronounced as a short vowel sound if there are two or more
consonant letters following, e.g. “better”. If vcv, rule 4 will apply (see below).
Rule 1:
If there is one vowel letter in the vowel sound spelling,
the vowel sound will be short
Of these 284 words:
“e” =
e
28%
“i” =
i
28%
e (28%)
“a” =
a
18%
i (28%)
a (18%)
“o” =
o
17%
“u” =
u
9%
o (17%)
u (9%)
Rule 1:
If there is one vowel letter in the vowel sound spelling,
the vowel sound will be short
If the letter is “a” the sound will be a, for example:
act
actually
apple
back
bad
hand
happy
language
man
pattern
cat
catch
exactly
factories
flat
perhaps
practice
ran
sat
stand
These words are from the Fry 1000 Instant Words . Can you think of any more
examples that match this rule?
Rule 1:
If there is one vowel letter in the vowel sound spelling,
the vowel sound will be short
If the letter is “e” the sound will be e, for example:
bed
best
better
centre
direction
fresh
get
letter
method
questions
dress
effect
electric
engine
fell
remember
sell
send
temperature
together
These words are from the Fry 1000 Instant Words . Can you think of any more
examples that match this rule?
Rule 1:
If there is one vowel letter in the vowel sound spelling,
the vowel sound will be short
If the letter is “i” the sound will be i, for example:
begin
big
bring
children
dictionary
insects
interest
itself
listen
little
didn't
different
difficult
fingers
history
middle
picture
sing
think
window
These words are from the Fry 1000 Instant Words . Can you think of any more
examples that match this rule?
Rule 1:
If there is one vowel letter in the vowel sound spelling,
the vowel sound will be short
If the letter is “o” the sound will be o, for example:
along
common
copy
doctor
dog
long
office
often
opposite
possible
dollars
follow
got
hot
job
problem
shop
song
top
wrong
These words are from the Fry 1000 Instant Words . Can you think of any more
examples that match this rule?
Rule 1:
If there is one vowel letter in the vowel sound spelling,
the vowel sound will be short
If the letter is “u” the sound will be u, for example:
current
fun
gun
hundred
jumped
run
study
subject
suddenly
summer
just
much
must
number
result
sun
truck
uncle
under
up
These words are from the Fry 1000 Instant Words . Can you think of any more
examples that match this rule?
Rule 2:
If there are two vowel letters together (a digraph) in the
vowel sound spelling, the vowel sound will be long
Rule 2:
If there are two vowel letters together (a digraph) in the
vowel sound spelling, the vowel sound will be long
123 words from the Fry 1000 Instant Words match this rule. Two vowel
letters together in the spelling is called a digraph. Students should learn
which digraphs represent which vowel sounds.
Some are easy because they occur very often, for example, “ea” and “ee”
both usually represent the long vowel sound: ee.
Note common exception: “ea” can = e, for example: head, read, lead, etc.
The largest matching spelling and sound groups are as follows. Interestingly,
just 5 digraphs represent 83 out of the 123 words (67%):
“ea” = ee
“ee” = ee
“ou” = au
“oo” = oo
“ai” = ei
The conclusion would be to learn these 5 digraphs and the sounds they
represent, as well as other digraph and sound combinations.
Rule 2:
If there are two vowel letters together (a digraph) in the
vowel sound spelling, the vowel sound will be long
Common Digraph #1:
“ea” = ee, for example:
clean
each
easy
eat
leave
meat
please
reached
sea
speak
teacher
team
These words are from the Fry 1000 Instant Words . Can you think of any more
examples that match this pattern?
Rule 2:
If there are two vowel letters together (a digraph) in the
vowel sound spelling, the vowel sound will be long
Common Digraph #2:
“ee” = ee, for example:
agreed
feeling
feet
free
green
keep
need
see
sleep
speed
street
week
These words are from the Fry 1000 Instant Words . Can you think of any more
examples that match this pattern?
Rule 2:
If there are two vowel letters together (a digraph) in the
vowel sound spelling, the vowel sound will be long
Common Digraph #3:
“ou” = au, for example:
amount
found
ground
house
loud
mountains
noun
out
pounds
round
thousands
without
These words are from the Fry 1000 Instant Words . Can you think of any more
examples that match this pattern?
Rule 2:
If there are two vowel letters together (a digraph) in the
vowel sound spelling, the vowel sound will be long
Common Digraph #4:
“oo” = oo, for example:
choose
cool
food
moon
room
root
school
soon
too
tools
These words are from the Fry 1000 Instant Words . Can you think of any more
examples that match this pattern?
Rule 2:
If there are two vowel letters together (a digraph) in the
vowel sound spelling, the vowel sound will be long
Common Digraph #5:
“ai” = ei, for example:
afraid
explain
main
paint
plains
rain
raised
remain
train
wait
These words are from the Fry 1000 Instant Words . Can you think of any more
examples that match this pattern?
Rule 2:
If there are two vowel letters together (a digraph) in the
vowel sound spelling, the vowel sound will be long
Other matching digraphs and sounds:
“ie”
“ea”
“oi”
“oa”
=
=
=
=
ee
ei
oy
eu
believe, chief, piece
break, great
joined, oil, point, soil, voice
boat, coast, road
Can you think of any more words that match these patterns?
As you continue to study this topic, you will be able to notice other common
patterns with digraphs and sounds outside of the Fry 1000 Instant Words.
Rule 3:
If there is the letter “r” in the vowel sound spelling,
the vowel sound will be long
Rule 3:
If there is the letter “r” in the vowel sound spelling,
the vowel sound will be long
104 words from the Fry 1000 Instant Words match this rule.
Only certain long vowel sounds in English can be spelt with “r” spelling, for
example:
ar, er, or
(long vowel sounds)
aiy, auw, eir, iy, uuw
(diphthongs)
We should learn which spelling patterns represent each vowel sound.
Rule 3:
If there is the letter “r” in the vowel sound spelling,
the vowel sound will be long
In the Fry 1000 Instant Words, 3 long vowel sounds and 5 diphthongs are
represented by various spelling patterns with “r”:
3 long vowel sounds:
ar
er
or
are; car, farmer, garden, hard, start; heart
first, girl; work, world; earth, heard; were; surface; certain, person
more, store; horse, order; course, four; door; toward, warm; board
5 diphthongs:
aiy
entire, fire
auw
our, hours; flowers, power
eir
bear, wear; there, where; hair, pair; carefully, compare
iy
ears, years; here
uuw
you’re
Can you think of any more examples that match these patterns?
Rule 4:
If there is vowel + consonant + vowel in the vowel sound
spelling, the first vowel letter will be pronounced like its
alphabet name
Rule 4:
If there is vowel + consonant + vowel in the vowel sound spelling,
the first vowel letter will be pronounced like its alphabet name
118 words from the Fry 1000 Instant Words match this rule.
There are five possible sounds in this rule:
•
•
•
•
•
The letter “a” will be pronounced
The letter “e” will be pronounced
The letter “i” will be pronounced
The letter “o” will be pronounced
The letter “u” will be pronounced
ei like it is in the alphabet
ee like it is in the alphabet
ai like it is in the alphabet
eu like it is in the alphabet
oo, or yoo like it is in the alphabet
Rule 4:
If there is vowel + consonant + vowel in the vowel sound spelling,
the first vowel letter will be pronounced like its alphabet name
If the first vowel letter is “a”, it will be pronounced ei like it is in the
alphabet, for example:
age
became
came
face
famous
game
information
late
made
make
name
nation
page
place
plane
radio
safe
shape
take
waves
These words are from the Fry 1000 Instant Words. Can you think of any more
examples that match this pattern?
Rule 4:
If there is vowel + consonant + vowel in the vowel sound spelling,
the first vowel letter will be pronounced like its alphabet name
If the first vowel letter is “e”, it will be pronounced ee like it is in the
alphabet, for example:
complete
equals
even
evening
Japanese
region
These words are from the Fry 1000 Instant Words. Can you think of any more
examples that match this pattern?
Rule 4:
If there is vowel + consonant + vowel in the vowel sound spelling,
the first vowel letter will be pronounced like its alphabet name
If the first vowel letter is “i”, it will be pronounced ai like it is in the
alphabet, for example:
arrived
beside
decided
drive
exciting
finally
five
ice
life
like
mile
provide
quite
ride
side
silent
smiled
white
wife
write
These words are from the Fry 1000 Instant Words. Can you think of any more
examples that match this pattern?
Rule 4:
If there is vowel + consonant + vowel in the vowel sound spelling,
the first vowel letter will be pronounced like its alphabet name
If the first vowel letter is “o”, it will be pronounced eu like it is in the
alphabet, for example:
alone
bones
broken
close
hole
home
hope
moment
nose
note
ocean
open
pole
rope
rose
stone
tone
total
whole
wrote
These words are from the Fry 1000 Instant Words. Can you think of any more
examples that match this pattern?
Rule 4:
If there is vowel + consonant + vowel in the vowel sound spelling,
the first vowel letter will be pronounced like its alphabet name
If the first vowel letter is “u”, it will be pronounced oo:
include
produce
rule
solution
or yoo like it is in the alphabet, for example:
huge
human
music
numeral
students
tube
unit
use
usually
These words are from the Fry 1000 Instant Words. Can you think of any more
examples that match this pattern?
Rule 5:
Sometimes we find other consonant letters (w, y, g, h)
in the vowel sound spelling, which are not pronounced
Rule 5:
Sometimes we find other consonant letters (w, y, g, h)
in the vowel sound spelling, which are not pronounced
77 words from the Fry 1000 Instant Words match this rule, making it the
least followed rule.
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 which spelling patterns represent which vowel sound.
(Note: there can be other consonant letters in a spelling which are not
pronounced, e.g. “b” in “lamb”, “l” in “could”, or “s” in “aisle”, but they are
not included here because they are not part of the vowel sound spelling.
They are just oddities – pure silent letters.)
Rule 5:
Sometimes we find other consonant letters (w, y, g, h)
in the vowel sound spelling, which are not pronounced
The largest matching spelling and sound groups were:
“ow” =
eu
e.g. grow, blow, flow, know, show, snow
“ow” =
au
e.g. brown, allow, cows, down, town, now
“ay” =
ei
e.g. day, away, maybe, say, stay, way, today
“igh” =
ai
e.g. right, night, might, high, light, bright
final “y” =
ai
e.g. dry, sky, try, fly, why, supply
“y” =
i
e.g. system, rhythm, symbols, syllables
These words are from the Fry 1000 Instant Words. Can you think of any more
examples that match this pattern?
Rule 5:
Sometimes we find other consonant letters (w, y, g, h)
in the vowel sound spelling, which are not pronounced
Other matching spelling patterns/sounds were:
Sound:
Spelling Pattern:
Example:
eu
ough
oh
aw
ough
augh
oy
eigh
aigh
although
oh
draw
ought
caught
enjoy
eight
straight
or
oy
ei
These words are from the Fry 1000 Instant Words. Can you think of any more
examples that match this pattern?
Rule 5:
Sometimes we find other consonant letters (w, y, g, h)
in the vowel sound spelling, which are not pronounced
Other matching spelling patterns/sounds (continued):
Sound:
Spelling Pattern:
Example:
oo
ew
ough
iew
ig
uy
eye
ey
few
through
view
sign
buy
eyes
key
ai
ee
These words are from the Fry 1000 Instant Words. Can you think of any more
examples that match this pattern?
Exceptions
237 out of 943 Content Words = 25% Exceptions:
As stated earlier, there are 237 words in the Fry 1000 Instant Words which
do not fit in any of these categories. That is 25%.
But even if 25% of the most common words in English are exceptions, there
are still 75% of words that follow the rules. A 75% chance of pronouncing a
word correctly from its spelling is still well worth having! Not to mention
the fact that there are many repeating patterns within this group of
exceptions that students can learn, as we will find out later.
When students come across vocabulary words that do not follow these 5
rules, they should note them down and learn them. They could start by
learning the most common, i.e. the exceptions from the Fry 1000 Instant
Words.
The full list is here:
Learn 237 of the Most Common Spelling & Sound Exceptions (1):
able
above
addition
after
again
against
ago
ahead
all
almost
already
also
always
America
among
animal
another
answer
any
anything
area
ask
baby
ball
be
beautiful
become
behind
being
blood
book
both
branches
British
brother
build
building
built
business
called
can't
capital
care
chance
change
child
class
climbed
clothes
cold
colour
column
come
company
conditions
consider
continued
control
cook
couldn't
country
covered
dance
dead
death
decimal
desert
details
developed
discovered
division
do
does
done
don't
during
elements
energy
England
English
enough
especially
Europe
ever
every
everyone
everything
example
exercise
experience
experiment
fall
family
fast
father
figure
find
finished
foot
forest
Learn 237 of the Most Common Spelling & Sound Exceptions (2):
France
friends
front
full
general
give
glass
go
gold
gone
good
government
grass
guess
half
have
head
heavy
hold
however
instead
iron
island
kind
lady
last
level
look
love
machine
mall
material
measure
melody
metal
mind
minutes
modern
molecules
money
months
most
mother
move
movement
natural
necessary
never
no
nothing
old
once
one
only
paragraph
particular
passed
past
period
planets
plant
plural
poem
position
present
president
pretty
probably
products
property
pulled
pushed
put
quiet
rather
ready
river
rolled
said
second
separate
seven
several
should
similar
small
so
soldiers
someone
something
sometimes
son
southern
special
spread
square
stood
story
strange
sugar
Learn 237 of the Most Common Spelling & Sound Exceptions (3):
sure
table
talk
tall
tiny
told
took
touch
travel
triangle
trouble
two
value
various
visit
vowel
walk
wall
want
was
wash
Washington
wasn't
watch
water
weather
what
who
wild
wire
woman
women
wonder
won't
wood
wouldn't
young
Repeating Patterns in the Group of Exceptions #1
Words which look like they follow rule 4, but which have a short vowel
sound (24 words), for example:
come
discovered
done
give
gone
have
love
machine
money
move
river
Repeating Patterns in the Group of Exceptions #2
Other words which break rule 4. They have a short vowel sound, but the
spelling is vcv:
• with “a”:
animal, capital, family, paragraph, planets, travel
• with “e”:
everything (and all words with every-), general, present,
seven, special
• with “i”:
British, finished, minutes, position (and all words with
-ition), visit
• with “o”:
column, forest, modern, probably, products
• with “u”:
no examples of this in Fry 1000 Instant Words
Repeating Patterns in the Group of Exceptions #3
Recurring spelling patterns (the examples below are from Fry 1000 Instant
Words, but other examples exist):
•
•
•
•
•
•
-all
-old
-ind
someany-ild
all, ball, call, fall, small, tall, wall (break rule 1)
cold, gold, hold, old, told (break rule 1)
find, kind, behind, mind (break rule 1)
someone, something, sometimes, etc. (break rule 4)
any, anything, etc. (break rule 1)
child, wild (break rule 1)
Repeating Patterns in the Group of Exceptions #4
Other patterns noticed in the Fry 1000 Instant Words (most frequently
occurring first). Learn them, starting with the most frequently occurring:
It’s a long sound but it should be short, according to the spelling and our
spelling rules:
sound:
# words: spelling pattern:
example:
breaks rule:
ar
eu
ei
ee
ai
oo
21
8
4
3
2
2
last
go
table
be
island
who
1
1
1
1
1
1
a
o
a
e
i
o
Why not look
for more
examples...?
Repeating Patterns in the Group of Exceptions #5
It’s a short sound but it should be long, according to the spelling and our
spelling rules:
sound:
# words: spelling pattern:
example:
breaks rule:
e
uu
u
e
i
u
e
u
u
e
11
8
4
3
3
2
1
1
1
1
head
look
touch
against
build
trouble
friends
does
blood
guess
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
ea
oo
ou
ai
ui
ou
ie
oe
oo
ue
Why not look
for more
examples...?
Repeating Patterns in the Group of Exceptions #6
Vowel sounds which we do not expect from looking at the spelling:
sound:
# words: spelling pattern:
example:
breaks rule:
uu
i
or
iy
eir
uuw
uuw
i
aiy
5
3
3
3
2
1
1
1
1
put
English
water
period
area
plural
Europe
business
quiet
1
1
4
4
4
4
2
4
2
u
e
a
e
a
u
eu
u
ie
Why not look
for more
examples...?
Note: in some accents in the UK the exception is the norm, e.g. ar in class would be
short a in many parts of northern England and in Scotland. For these speakers it is
not incorrect, although it is a variation from Standard Pronunciation.
Conclusion:
1. Remember that spelling can help you predict the correct vowel sound in a word.
2. Learn the five rules and practise recognising words that follow them, e.g. take a
page of text and look for words that match each rule – plus exceptions.
3. Learn spelling patterns and what sounds they make – starting with the most
common, e.g. “ee” and “ea” usually represent the long vowel sound ee, while
“ar” usually makes the long vowel sound ar in car, star, bar, etc.
4. Learn the list of 237 words which are exceptions. Learn to spell them and how to
pronounce each one. Focus on the patterns within this group, e.g. “-all” is usually
pronounced orl, and “oo” is sometimes pronounced as the short vowel sound
uu, for example in very common words like “book”, “look”, and “good”.
5. Don’t give up! You are doing fine! If you think you cannot master spelling and
sounds in English, remember the 5 rules and how 75% of the most common
words in English follow them. That should be encouraging!
A Sample Lesson Outline for Teaching the 5 Rules (1)
Before you begin: make sure SS understand the 48 sounds of English with Clear
Alphabet. This is a different lesson, but it is vital for learning the 5 rules.
1. SS discuss (in pairs or small groups) the problem of trying to predict the sound of
English words from their spellings. SS find examples of difficult words, e.g. “quiet”.
Consider that some words are phonetic, e.g. “big”, but that these are not the
norm.
2. Try to elicit the 5 rules from SS using examples; if not tell SS the rules and discuss
each one with examples.
3. SS put some words from the Fry 1000 Instant Words into the 6 groups (including
exceptions). This could be done with cards on a table or on the board.
4. Give some examples of made-up words that match each of the 5 rules, e.g. “giffle”
matches rule 1 (see next slides). Ask SS to pronounce them , according to the
rules. They should be easy to pronounce from sight, even though the meaning is
unknown. SS work in pairs or groups to think up x more made-up words in each
group. SS should think about how suffixes are not usually stressed. (Continued…)
A Sample Lesson Outline for Teaching the 5 Rules (2)
T monitors, checks and corrects. This activity helps T to make sure that SS
understand each rule correctly. For fun – SS could think up definitions for each
new word, e.g. a “giffle” could be a noun, a kind of fast long-legged animal.
5. Give out a short text – or SS find one randomly. SS have to underline all the
content words, then match these words into the 6 groups, including exceptions
(see next slides). Or this could be given for homework. Assure SS that any text will
do. This is not a trick! The 5 rules can be clearly seen in any text.
6. Finish with a short test on the board or on paper.
7. Follow up with a test at the beginning of the next lesson.
8. Refer back to the 5 rules often. Whenever you present new vocabulary, ask your
SS which rule some (or all) of the words follow – or are they exceptions? If they
are exceptions, do they fit into any of the noted categories, e.g. “-all” words, and
so on? Or when SS are reading aloud and they mispronounce a word, look at the
spelling – do the spelling rules help? Is it an exception?
Content Words in a Random Text that Follow the 5 Rules (74%):
Function words are shown in grey
There was once a girl who wanted to be grown up like her parents, so she made a special
drink that would make her grow, and she did grow. She grew until she was as big as her
parents, but she didn’t stop there. She kept on growing until her foot was the size of her
house.
She quite enjoyed being suddenly so big, but her parents were annoyed. She found her
breakfast was too small to fill her up, and even after several bowls of corn flakes she was still
very hungry. Her mother had to start making some big clothes for her. Her father just looked
at her, then he went to work.
She spent all that day visiting towns and villages that she had never been able to go to
before. People were pleased to see such a big girl, and offered her great platefuls of food and
a tanker which was full of milk for her to drink. In one place she even drank a swimming pool
full of lemonade. After that she felt quite sick.
Night fell and she saw that she was completely lost. Nobody could show her the way back
home, and she couldn’t tell anybody where she had come from, because she didn’t know. A
farmer let her stay at his farm for the night, and she made a scratchy bed on a stubbly hill.
She cried herself to sleep and felt sad because nobody was as big as her...
http://www.englishbanana.com/intermediate/the-girl-who-got-bigger-and-bigger-ir16.pdf
Content Words in a Random Text that are Exceptions (26%):
Function words are shown in grey
There was once a girl who wanted to be grown up like her parents, so she made a special
drink that would make her grow, and she did grow. She grew until she was as big as her
parents, but she didn’t stop there. She kept on growing until her foot was the size of her
house.
She quite enjoyed being suddenly so big, but her parents were annoyed. She found her
breakfast was too small to fill her up, and even after several bowls of corn flakes she was still
very hungry. Her mother had to start making some big clothes for her. Her father just looked
at her, then he went to work.
She spent all that day visiting towns and villages that she had never been able to go to
before. People were pleased to see such a big girl, and offered her great platefuls of food and
a tanker which was full of milk for her to drink. In one place she even drank a swimming pool
full of lemonade. After that she felt quite sick.
Night fell and she saw that she was completely lost. Nobody could show her the way back
home, and she couldn’t tell anybody where she had come from, because she didn’t know. A
farmer let her stay at his farm for the night, and she made a scratchy bed on a stubbly hill.
She cried herself to sleep and felt sad because nobody was as big as her...
http://www.englishbanana.com/intermediate/the-girl-who-got-bigger-and-bigger-ir16.pdf
Analysis of Exceptions in the Random Text:
74% of content words follow the rules … 26% of content words are exceptions
Words that break rule 1:
Words that break rule 2:
was (repeated 7 times)
wanted
full (repeated 2 times)
once
be
so
go
small
mother
father
clothes
all
able
anybody
foot
looked
being
couldn’t
breakfast
Words that break rule 4:
parents (repeated 3 times)
special
several
visiting
never
one
come
Made-Up Words that Match Rule 1:
1 vowel letter = short vowel sound
giffle
shruv
fam
sog
dresh
lattern
brob
hildred
kedd
tunny
Made-Up Words that Match Rule 2:
vowel digraph = long vowel sound
floo
plean
aseek
sounted
waig
kained
groating
bround
greef
soiked
Made-Up Words that Match Rule 3:
“r” in the vowel spelling = long vowel sound
chowers
bertin
horgle
abire
larb
florping
bou’re
shear
sair
jeargule
Made-Up Words that Match Rule 4:
v + c + v = the first vowel says its alphabet name
dete
klape
strene
paded
tiver
proclide
sone
bobent
chule
briging
Made-Up Words that Match Rule 5:
other consonant letters – w, y, g, h – are included in the vowel sound spelling
yown
plowness
chay
flayly
jight
tly
bight
hymtion
prough
kleight
For more free worksheets and books for learning English, please visit
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