ENGLISH SPELLING IS “TRUELY DIFICULT” the Latin Alphabet Didn
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
ENGLISH SPELLING IS “TRUELY DIFICULT” WHAT MAKES ENGLISH SPELLING HARD? The Latin Alphabet Didn’t Suit the English Language English spelling is consistent in — English was spoken long before it was written. The Latin inconsistency. alphabet had fewer letters than English had sounds. —Thomas R. Lounsbury c. 1900 Sounds Can Be Spelled in More Than One Way — Consonants. English has 21 consonants, 24 consonant sounds, and some 115 different spellings for those sounds. The following words show some ways the hard g sound is spelled: get, egg, ghost, guide, rogue, mortgage. — Vowels. English has six letters which can represent vowels (a, e, i, o, u, and sometimes y). There are 15 vowel sounds I take it you already know and more than 107 ways to spell those sounds. The Of tough and bough and cough and following words show some ways the sound is spelled: dough? no, sew, rode, grow, loan, toe, oh, brooch, soul, though, Others may stumble, but not you beau, faux pas, yeoman, depot. On hiccough, thorough, slough and through. — Schwa sound (“uh”). This most common sound in the Well done! And now you wish, perhaps, English language may be spelled with almost any vowel or To learn of less familiar traps? digraph in an unaccented syllable. Some examples include: around, different, charity, contain, minimum, porpoise, Beware of heard, a dreadful word pageant, certain, biscuit, Brooklyn. That looks like beard and sounds like bird. And dead, it’s said like bed, not bead; Letters Can Represent More Than One Sound For goodness sake, don’t call it deed! — Consonants. The letters ch, for example, are used to spell Watch out for meat and great and threat, church, charade, and ache. (They rhyme with suite and straight and — Vowels. The letters ea, for example, are used in break, debt.) A moth is not a moth in mother. pear, heart, threat, bead and earth. Nor both in bother, broth in brother. — Combinations such as ough confuse spellers. Consider the pronunciations of this combination in the following And here is not a match for there, silly sentence: He went through a rough day with a cough And dear and fear for bear and pear, and a hiccough, though. And then there’s dose and rose and — Silent letters plague spellers. In many cases, these were lose, Just look them up, and goose and once pronounced, but spellings were never updated. For choose, example: thumb, indict, gnaw, honor, knife, salmon, hymn, And cork and work and card and ward, island, listen, answer. And of course, there are silent And font and front and word and sword. vowels: bread, give, height, business, people, guide. And do and go, then thwart and cart. Come, come, I’ve hardly made a start! Most “Rules” for Spelling Have Many Exceptions A dreadful language? Why, man alive! — Although some rules are helpful, memorizing a large I’d learned to talk it when I was five. number of rules with their exceptions is probably more And yet, to spell it, the more I’ve tried, difficult than simply memorizing spellings. One rule that I hadn’t learned at fifty-five. often holds is “i before e except after c or when sounded —T. S. Watt The Manchester Guardian like a as in neighbor and weigh.” Yet consider some of the June 21, 1954 exceptions: either, leisure, seize, weird. SPELLING LIST 28 92 Name List 28 Level D, List 3 Date List 27 Words in Patterns: 1. — Words with ea as in team, Word Bank 1. weak p. 144. 2. 2. speak — Words with -ase as in case, Word Bank 3. 3. each p. 143. 4. reach — Words with -are as in care, Word Bank 4. 5. teach p. 148. 6. teacher 5. 7. eat Homophones: — sea / see Teach if there is evidence of 6. 8. cheat 9. easy confusion. 7. 10. east 11. least Notes to the Teacher: 8. — -ea may spell either the short or long e 12. please sound. Rarely, it spells long a as in great. 9. 13. leave Many words using ea for the short sound 14. real are on List 39. Meant and ready are on 10. 15. really this list because of the link to mean and read. 11. List 28 — Season and reason should be linked. Caution: Some students may generalize 12. and write beacause. Although because need not be mastered until List 41, it is 13. frequently used and may be taught as 14. early as List 24. Have it on a wall chart or teach it as a personal word. 15. — Lead and read may be pronounced with either a short e or long e sound. 16. — Meant and ready are frequently misspelled ment and reddy, spellings 17. more sensible, perhaps, than the correct ones. Have children say mean - t and 18. link read and ready. Use both words frequently in dictation. 19. — A more common spelling for words rhyming with case is with -ace as in face. 20. — The sound for -are in care may be spelled as in pear, pare or pair. This 21. causes many homophones. The most 22. common spelling is -are. Memorization is necessary. 23. 24. 25. –ab –ag –am –an –at –as –ack blab bag am an at (Generally back cab brag clam ban bat spelled –ass black crab crag cram bran brat as in pass.) clack a˘ as dab drag dam can cat crack Other: drab flag ham clan chat gas hack add flab gag jam Dan fat has Jack after gab lag Pam fan flat –ash knack badge grab nag ram Fran hat lack branch jab rag Sam Jan mat bash Mack brash cabin lab sag sham man Nat pack calf nab shag scram Nan pat cash quack clash gasp scab snag slam pan Pat rack crash graph slab stag swam plan rat sack half stab tag Tam ran sat dash shack flash lamb tab wag yam scan scat slack laugh span slat gash smack hash laughter –al –amp Stan that snack plaid –ad lash Al camp tan vat stack plaque ad mash gal champ than tack rabbit bad rash Hal clamp van –ath track ranch Brad sash pal cramp bath whack scalp Chad slash Val damp –and math shall clad smash gramp path shallow dad –ap and stash –ass fad lamp band trash wagon bass glad cap ramp bland –act thrash brass had chap scamp brand act class lad clap stamp grand fact –ask glass mad flap tramp hand tact ask grass pad gap land bask lass sad lap sand –ance map –atch cask mass scad stand dance nap batch flask pass Tad strand chance rap catch mask glance sap hatch task prance –aff –aft scrap latch –ant stance chaff craft slap match ant –ast trance staff daft snap patch chant blast draft strap scratch grant cast raft tap snatch pant –ax fast –asp shaft trap plant ax last clasp Taft wrap rant lax mast gasp yap scant Max past hasp slant tax vast rasp Why Can’t My Child Spell? ny child who finds spelling easy and spells well in writ- consistent in all cases (downhil – uphill), but his dictionary ing has been blessed with a talent that few children pos- was accepted as the final authority on spelling for some 100 A sess. The best spellers have excellent visual memory. years. Noah Webster reformed some spellings in his American As one student put it, they “snap a picture of the word” with their dictionary, but public outcry and reverence for tradition minds, and refer to that mental image as they write or proofread. prevented him from making too many changes. If spelling is difficult for your child, he/ she is not alone! Even brilliant people may have trouble with spelling. Spelling ability is more “The present bad spelling is only bad, because of a talent than an indication of intelligence. contrary to the present bad rules; under new rules President Andrew Jackson once blurted out in frustration: “It’s a poor mind that can think of it would be good. The difficulty of learning to spell only one way to spell a word!” well in the old way is so great, that few attain it, Our system of spelling is extremely com- thousands and thousands writing on to old age plex and inconsistent. Sounds can be spelled in several ways, letters can represent several without ever being able to acquire it.” sounds, and most spelling “rules” have many — Benjamin Franklin exceptions! It’s no wonder children have diffi- culty learning to spell. The roots of the problem are fascinating, and lie deep in the any historical figures have advocated spelling reform. history of the English language. Here are a few highlights: Benjamin Franklin even developed a whole new al- • English speakers throughout history have freely borrowed Mphabet, with as many letters as English has sounds! words from dozens of languages. To show the origin of these But spelling was not reformed, despite the effort and financial words, English kept the original spellings. All words with support of eminent people such as Benjamin Franklin, Noah ph, for example, are from Greek. Webster, Andrew Carnegie, Theodore Roosevelt and George Ber- • English was spoken long before it was written. The Latin nard Shaw. So we’re stuck with an illogical and complicated alphabet, which was adopted for writing English, didn’t fit. system of spelling that frustrates adults as well as students. It had fewer letters than English had sounds. Learning to spell correctly is not easy for most, but it is im- • Originally, words were spelled the way they were pronounced.