5 rules for predicting sounds from spelling in english by matt purland

5 Rules for Predicting Sounds from Spelling in English

by Matt Purland

For more free worksheets and books for learning English, please visit www.englishbanana.com

http://www.englishbanana.com/

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)

http://www.englishbanana.com/14-Clear-Alphabet-Dictionary.pdf

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) e.g. person, teacher, studenti e.g. meeting, tennis, finishii 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

http://www.k12reader.com/subject/sight-words/fry-words/

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 284 40%Long (with digraph) 123 17%V + C + V 118 17%Long (with “r”) 104 15%Other Consonant Letters 77 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 a• If the vowel letter is “e”, the vowel sound will be e• If the vowel letter is “i”, the vowel sound will be i• If the vowel letter is “o”, the vowel sound will be o• If the vowel letter is “u”, the vowel sound will be 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).



Of these 284 words:

“e” = e 28%

“i” = i 28%

“a” = a 18%

“o” = o 17%

“u” = u 9%

e (28%)i (28%)a (18%)o (17%)u (9%)



If the letter is “a” the sound will be a, for example:

handhappylanguagemanpattern

perhapspracticeransatstand

actactuallyapplebackbad

catcatchexactlyfactoriesflat

These words are from the Fry 1000 Instant Words . Can you think of any more examples that match this rule?



If the letter is “e” the sound will be e, for example:

freshgetlettermethodquestions

remembersellsendtemperaturetogether

bedbestbettercentredirection

dresseffectelectricenginefell




If the letter is “i” the sound will be i, for example:

insectsinterestitselflistenlittle

middlepicturesingthinkwindow

beginbigbringchildrendictionary

didn'tdifferentdifficultfingershistory




If the letter is “o” the sound will be o, for example:

longofficeoftenoppositepossible

problemshopsongtopwrong

alongcommoncopydoctordog

dollarsfollowgothotjob




If the letter is “u” the sound will be u, for example:

runstudysubjectsuddenlysummer

suntruckuncleunderup

currentfungunhundredjumped

justmuchmustnumberresult


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.



Common Digraph #1:

“ea” = ee, for example:

These words are from the Fry 1000 Instant Words . Can you think of any more examples that match this pattern?

pleasereachedseaspeakteacherteam

cleaneacheasyeatleavemeat



Common Digraph #2:

“ee” = ee, for example:


needseesleepspeedstreetweek

agreedfeelingfeetfreegreenkeep



Common Digraph #3:

“ou” = au, for example:


nounoutpoundsroundthousandswithout

amountfoundgroundhouseloudmountains



Common Digraph #4:

“oo” = oo, for example:


rootschoolsoontootools

choosecoolfoodmoonroom



Common Digraph #5:

“ai” = ei, for example:


rainraisedremaintrainwait

afraidexplainmainpaintplains



Other matching digraphs and sounds:

“ie” = ee believe, chief, piece“ea” = ei break, great“oi” = oy joined, oil, point, soil, voice“oa” = eu 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 are; car, farmer, garden, hard, start; heart er first, girl; work, world; earth, heard; were; surface; certain, personor more, store; horse, order; course, four; door; toward, warm; board

5 diphthongs:aiy entire, fireauw our, hours; flowers, powereir bear, wear; there, where; hair, pair; carefully, compareiy ears, years; hereuuw 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 ei like it is in the alphabet• The letter “e” will be pronounced ee like it is in the alphabet• The letter “i” will be pronounced ai like it is in the alphabet• The letter “o” will be pronounced eu like it is in the alphabet• The letter “u” will be pronounced oo, or yoo like it is in the

alphabet



If the first vowel letter is “a”, it will be pronounced ei like it is in the alphabet, for example:

These words are from the Fry 1000 Instant Words. Can you think of any more examples that match this pattern?

namenationpageplaceplaneradiosafeshapetakewaves

agebecamecamefacefamousgameinformationlatemademake



If the first vowel letter is “e”, it will be pronounced ee like it is in the alphabet, for example:


eveningJapaneseregion

completeequalseven



If the first vowel letter is “i”, it will be pronounced ai like it is in the alphabet, for example:


mileprovidequiteridesidesilentsmiledwhitewifewrite

arrivedbesidedecideddriveexcitingfinallyfiveicelifelike



If the first vowel letter is “o”, it will be pronounced eu like it is in the alphabet, for example:


oceanopenpoleroperosestonetonetotalwholewrote

alonebonesbrokencloseholehomehopemomentnosenote



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:


tubeunituseusually

hugehumanmusicnumeralstudents

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.)


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



Other matching spelling patterns/sounds were:

Sound: Spelling Pattern: Example:

eu ough althoughoh oh

or aw drawough oughtaugh caught

oy oy enjoyei eigh eight

aigh straight



Other matching spelling patterns/sounds (continued):

Sound: Spelling Pattern: Example:

oo ew fewough throughiew view

ai ig signuy buyeye eyes

ee ey key


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):

ableaboveadditionafteragainagainstagoaheadallalmostalreadyalsoalwaysAmericaamonganimalanotheransweranyanything

areaaskbabyballbebeautifulbecomebehindbeingbloodbookbothbranchesBritishbrotherbuildbuildingbuiltbusinesscalled

can'tcapitalcarechancechangechildclassclimbedclothescoldcolourcolumncomecompanyconditionsconsidercontinuedcontrolcookcouldn't

countrycovereddancedeaddeathdecimaldesertdetailsdevelopeddiscovereddivisiondodoesdonedon'tduringelementsenergyEnglandEnglish

enoughespeciallyEuropeevereveryeveryoneeverythingexampleexerciseexperienceexperimentfallfamilyfastfatherfigurefindfinishedfootforest


Francefriendsfrontfullgeneralgiveglassgogoldgonegoodgovernmentgrassguesshalfhaveheadheavyholdhowever

insteadironislandkindladylastlevellooklovemachinemallmaterialmeasuremelodymetalmindminutesmodernmoleculesmoney

monthsmostmothermovemovementnaturalnecessarynevernonothingoldonceoneonlyparagraphparticularpassedpastperiodplanets

plantpluralpoempositionpresentpresidentprettyprobablyproductspropertypulledpushedputquietratherreadyriverrolledsaidsecond

separatesevenseveralshouldsimilarsmallsosoldierssomeonesomethingsometimessonsouthernspecialspreadsquarestoodstorystrangesugar


suretabletalktalltinytoldtooktouchtraveltriangletroubletwovaluevariousvisitvowelwalkwallwantwas

washWashingtonwasn'twatchwaterweatherwhatwhowildwirewomanwomenwonderwon'twoodwouldn'tyoung

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:

lovemachinemoneymoverivertiny

comediscovereddonegivegonehave


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


Recurring spelling patterns (the examples below are from Fry 1000 Instant Words, but other examples exist):

• -all all, ball, call, fall, small, tall, wall (break rule 1)• -old cold, gold, hold, old, told (break rule 1)• -ind find, kind, behind, mind (break rule 1)• some- someone, something, sometimes, etc. (break rule 4)• any- any, anything, etc. (break rule 1)• -ild child, wild (break rule 1)


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 21 a last 1eu 8 o go 1ei 4 a table 1ee 3 e be 1ai 2 i island 1oo 2 o who 1

Why not lookfor more

examples...?


It’s a short sound but it should be long, according to the spelling and our spelling rules:


e 11 ea head 2uu 8 oo look 2u 4 ou touch 2e 3 ai against 2i 3 ui build 2u 2 ou trouble 2e 1 ie friends 2u 1 oe does 2u 1 oo blood 2e 1 ue guess 2


examples...?


Vowel sounds which we do not expect from looking at the spelling:


uu 5 u put 1i 3 e English 1or 3 a water 4iy 3 e period 4eir 2 a area 4uuw 1 u plural 4uuw 1 eu Europe 2i 1 u business 4aiy 1 ie quiet 2

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.


examples...?

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…)

http://www.englishbanana.com/14-Clear-Alphabet-Dictionary.pdf

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?

There was once a girl who wanted to be grown up like her parents, so she made a specialdrink that would make her grow, and she did grow. She grew until she was as big as herparents, but she didn’t stop there. She kept on growing until her foot was the size of herhouse.

She quite enjoyed being suddenly so big, but her parents were annoyed. She found herbreakfast was too small to fill her up, and even after several bowls of corn flakes she was stillvery hungry. Her mother had to start making some big clothes for her. Her father just lookedat her, then he went to work.

She spent all that day visiting towns and villages that she had never been able to go tobefore. People were pleased to see such a big girl, and offered her great platefuls of food anda tanker which was full of milk for her to drink. In one place she even drank a swimming poolfull of lemonade. After that she felt quite sick.

Night fell and she saw that she was completely lost. Nobody could show her the way backhome, and she couldn’t tell anybody where she had come from, because she didn’t know. Afarmer 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 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 specialdrink that would make her grow, and she did grow. She grew until she was as big as herparents, but she didn’t stop there. She kept on growing until her foot was the size of herhouse.

She quite enjoyed being suddenly so big, but her parents were annoyed. She found herbreakfast was too small to fill her up, and even after several bowls of corn flakes she was stillvery hungry. Her mother had to start making some big clothes for her. Her father just lookedat her, then he went to work.

She spent all that day visiting towns and villages that she had never been able to go tobefore. People were pleased to see such a big girl, and offered her great platefuls of food anda tanker which was full of milk for her to drink. In one place she even drank a swimming poolfull of lemonade. After that she felt quite sick.

Night fell and she saw that she was completely lost. Nobody could show her the way backhome, and she couldn’t tell anybody where she had come from, because she didn’t know. Afarmer 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...


Content Words in a Random Text that are Exceptions (26%):Function words are shown in grey




Analysis of Exceptions in the Random Text:

74% of content words follow the rules … 26% of content words are exceptions

Words that break rule 2:

footlookedbeingcouldn’tbreakfast


parents (repeated 3 times)specialseveralvisitingneveronecome


was (repeated 7 times)wantedfull (repeated 2 times)oncebesogosmallmotherfatherclothesallableanybody

Made-Up Words that Match Rule 1:

1 vowel letter = short vowel sound

latternbrobhildredkeddtunny

giffleshruvfamsogdresh


vowel digraph = long vowel sound

kainedgroatingbroundgreefsoiked

floopleanaseeksountedwaig


“r” in the vowel spelling = long vowel sound

florpingbou’reshearsairjeargule

chowersbertinhorgleabirelarb


v + c + v = the first vowel says its alphabet name

proclidesonebobentchulebriging

deteklapestrenepadedtiver


other consonant letters – w, y, g, h – are included in the vowel sound spelling

tlybighthymtionproughkleight

yownplownesschayflaylyjight

For more free worksheets and books for learning English, please visit www.englishbanana.com

http://www.englishbanana.com/

5 rules for predicting sounds from spelling in english by matt purland

Documents

fry words

common words

stressed vowel sound

function words

frys instant words

kinds of vowel sound

english spelling rules

spelling sounds rules