431 Book Part 2 Single-Letter Consonants

H, as a single letter (phoneme /____/, key word _________), has a distinctive characteristic: it is never heard as the __________ (initial/final) sound in a word or syllable.

/h/, hat, final

we have noted that dg forms a special combination representing phoneme /_____/. Occasionally, a, d, or di represents the /j/. Perhaps you hear /j/ when you pronounce graduation. Rewrite these words using key symbols to represent the consonant sounds and omitting any silent consonant letters. Copy the vowels as they are Soldier ____________ Fudge _____________

/j/, Soljer, fuje

There are (for our purposes in the teaching of reading) 44 phonemes, 25 of these being consonant phonemes. There are _______ consonant letters and _______ consonant phonemes. There ________ one letter for each phoneme.

21, 25, it not

There are 44 phonemes; 25 of these are consonant phonemes. We will, therefore, identify _________ key symbols altogether, of which __________ will be consonants. There will be one key symbol for each phoneme. Each phoneme will have one key symbol. There will be a one-to-one correspondence between key symbols and ___________.

44, 25, phonemes

Sometimes these consonant letters have no phonemes. It is common practice to call them "__________ letters". Certain patterns help determine whether these letters represent a phoneme or are __________ in an unknown word.

Silent, silent

reread the words pink, autumn, swing, thank, shrink, ring, tunnel, trunk, The n is silent n ____________, only one n is pronounced in _____________, following ng is digraph in ____________ and ____________, and, as a single letter, n represents /ng/ in __________, __________, ___________, and __________.

autumn, tunnel, swing, ring, pink, thank, shrink, trunk

Let us summarize: When b follows m or precedes t in the same syllable, the __________ is usually silent.

b

The five consonants b, h, k, l, and p are very dependable except for the fact that on occasion they represent no phonemes. when you see one of these letters in an unknown word, you expect it to represent the sound you hear in its key word. Complete the table at the right with the letter (1), key symbol (2), and key word (3) for each. Select the key words for from the following: Lion cat hat pig queen boat kite

b-boat, h-hat, k-kite, l-lion, p-pig

However, the l may be silent. Study the words below to see if this generalization applies. Two like consonants appearing together in a word generally represent one phoneme. Rewrite these words, omitting the silent consonants. balloon ________ dollar ________ jelly _______ bell ___________

baloon, dolar, jely, bel

You will associate b with the sound heard at the beginning of the key word __________. Can you say that sound aloud? it is very difficult. Many consonant phonemes cannot be pronounced easily without adding a bit of a vowel sound. Some teachers, trying to pronounce the initial phoneme in boat, say "buh". Adding and "uh" when pronouncing the consonant sound will not help the child to identify the word boat: buh-oat is not boat! Keep in mind that it is very difficult to pronounce some _____________ (consonant/vowel) phonemes in isolation.

boat, consonant

study the words below. What consonants are sounded in these words? bright ________ sight ________ ought ______ the gh graph digraph is usually silent when followed by ___________

brt, st, t, t

A digraph is a two-letter combination that represents a single speech sound. The digraph ch does not represent the sound of the __________ and the ___________ with which it is spelled.

c, h

To discover another pattern, study the words below. The letter l is sometimes silent when followed in the same syllable by m, k, or d. Rewrite these words, omitting the silent consonants. calm ______ palm ______ yolk ________ chalk _______ would ________ should _________ (do you hear the /l/ when you say calm and palm? if so, this is a regional difference in pronunciation and a natural variation in the way we pronounce words.)

cam, pam, yok, chak, would, shoud.

Pronounce the words below. Rewrite these words, omitting the silent letters. (do not be concerned with the vowel sounds at this point. We will indicate the vowel sounds later.) climb __________ lamb ___________ bomb __________ number _________ The ___________ is silent when it follows an(a) _________ in the same syllable.

clim, lam, bom, number, b, m

The 26 letters of the alphabet ca be divided into two major categories: vowels and __________.

consonants

There is, however, a degree of overlap between these categories. Certain letters--notably, the w and y--sometimes function as vowels and at other times function as __________

consonants

Recognizing the fact that we are oversimplifying the situation, we shall, in this part of the program, consider all letters except a, e, i, o, and u to be _____________. There are then ____________ consonant letters

consonants, 21

H is silent when it follows the vowel in a word or syllable. Put a slash through the silent h in each of the following words: oh hurrah shah cheetah Check carefully. Do you hear the /h/ at the end of each word? __________

cross out last h of each word, no

We shall represent the initial phoneme heard in dog with the key symbol _________. Say dog aloud. Listen carefully as you say the initial phoneme in dog.

d

Each of the five consonants d, f, j, n, and z has minor irregularities. Complete the table at the right with the letter (1), key symbol (2) and key word (3) for each of theses consonants select the key words from the following: jeep nut fish gerbil dog zipper moon

d-d-dog, f-f-fish, j-j-jeep, n-n-nut, z-z-zipper

We call these two-letter combination digraphs. Note the spelling-di for two; graph referring to write. The two-letter combination ch, as in chair, is called a ___________.

digraph

Pronounce the words below. rewrite the words, omitting the silent consonants. doubt __________ debt _________ obtain __________ subtle _________ the b is silent when it is followed by a _________ in the same syllable, with a few exceptions, of course! Which word does not belong in the set? ___________ Notice that the b is silent even though the b and the ______ are in different syllables (sub tle)

dout, det, obtain, sutle, t, subtle, t

we have identified three graphemes that represent /f/. pronounce each of the words below. Underline the grapheme in each word that represents /f/, and write the key symbol on the line below. first laugh phone after cough nephew lift enough graph ____ ______ ________ the gh may represent /f/, or it may be _________ (as in high)

f in first, gh in laugh, ph in phone, f in after, gh in cough, ph in nephew, f in lift, gh in enough, ph in graph, f, f, f, silent

we have noted that f is, in general, a reliable letter: when we see f in a word, we expect, when the word is spoken, to hear the sound represented by the key symbol ________. Exception: in of, the f is pronounced /____/. However, there are other letters that are used to stand for the sound represented by the key symbol f. We will digress to study them here. What letters represent the /f/ in the word enough? ________ In the word phonics? ________

f, /v/, gh, ph

say the word fish. Now start to say the word again but hold the first sound. This is the sound we represent by the key symbol ________. The f is, in general, a reliable letter. Write the key symbol for the sound represented by f in each of the words below. Listen carefully! fiesta _____ fan ______ effect ________ off_______ of _______ if _______

f, f, f, f, f, v, f

pronounce the "words" below. This is hard! fin ger fing ger fing er Which set of key symbols (consonant sounds only) indicates the correct pronunciation of finger? __________

fing ger

rewrite the words below to indicate their pronunciations. Use the key symbols for the consonants. Copy the vowels as they appear. photo ______ fork ______ phoneme ________ alphabet _________ foot _________ graph __________ the digraph ph represents the sound we associate with the key symbol __________

foto, fork, foneme, alfabet, foot, graf, f

The word graph has ______ phonemes and therefore _________ graphemes. They are ____, _____, _____, _____, and ______. So that we have a clue to its pronunciation, the logical key symbol to assign to the final phoneme in graph is the letter ________.

four, four, g, r, a, ph, f

Study the words below. ghost khaki rhyme ghastly khan rhino The letter h is silent when it follows the consonants _________, ____________, and _____________.

g, k, r,

Aside from the fact that h is often silent, as a single letter grapheme, it is reliable. However, we cannot say that whenever we see an h in a word, we know it will either be silent or represent the initial sound heard in hat. H is a component of several digraphs (two-letter combinations that represent single speech sounds). Study the words below. How many digraphs contain the letter h but not /h/? _________ Underline them laugh wish phone change white thorn

gh in laugh sh in wish ph in phone ch in change wh in white th in thorn

pronounce these words: ghost, high, rough. The digraph ____________ is silent or represents /______/ when it appears after the vowel in a syllable. When gh appears at the ___________ of the syllable, the _______ in the two-letter combination is silent

gh, /f/, beginning, h

Now, when we use a key symbol such as g, we will know that we are referring to the sound heard in __________ (girl/gym) and not to that heard in _____________. (girl/gym) Check yourself. Is the phoneme you have selected the same as that heard they key word ____________?

girl, gym, goat

Is this a completely dependable pattern? _________ Rewrite the words below, omitting the silent consonants. gold ________ talk ________ film ________ milk __________ calf __________ walk __________ (pronouncing the /l/ in gold, film, and milk is not a consequence of regional differences. These are true exceptions to the pattern)

gold, tak, film, milk, caf, wak

Rewrite the words ghost khaki rhyme ghastly khan rhino omitting the silent consonants:

gost, kaki, ryme, gastly, kan, rino

There are more phonemes than letters. We gain seven additional phonemes through the use of the two-letter ____________

grapheme

The h may even be silent when it appears as the initial consonant of a word. There are no clues to tell us whether the initial h represents a phoneme. In fact, some people consider the h to be silent in homage, humble, and herb. Circle the words below in which the initial h is silent. here heir hour happy honest

heir, hour, honest

study each word below. Note that each word ends in the suffix -ed. hoped _________ jumped __________ slipped __________ Missed, for example, has four phonemes. Rewrite each word showing the pronunciation of the consonants by using key symbols. In spite of their appearance, these are all _________ (one/two) syllable words.

hopt, jumpt, slipt, one

We have noted previously that in the American-English language, there __________ a consistent one-to-one correspondence between letter and phoneme. Let us now see how this applies to consonants.

is not

Pronounce the words bomb and bombard. The b when it follows the m in bomb ____________ (is/is not) silent. The b when it follows the m in bombard ________ (is/is not) silent. The second b and the m in bombard (bom bard) are in different _______________

is, is not, syllables

The phonemes of our language are very familiar to us, but to prepare ourselves to teach others to read, it is necessary to identify each of the 44 phonemes. Since there _______ a one-to-one correspondence between sound and letter, it will be helpful to designate a key symbol for each phoneme. In this way, we will know the sound to which we are referring no matter how it is represented in the word (that is, no matter how it is spelled)

it not

say jeep out loud. Now pronounce the first phoneme in that word. We will represent the initial sound heard in jeep with the key symbol __________. j is a very reliable letter. When we see a j in a word, we will use the same sound as that in its key word __________

j, jeep

Which key symbol and key word should be used to identify the initial sound heard in each of the following words? Jelly _______ ____________ gerbil ______ _____________ cat _______ _______________ ghost ______ ____________ fat ________ ________________ candy _______ ______________ book ________ ________________ gone _______ __________________

j-jeep, j-jeep, k-kite, g-goat, f-fish, k-kite, b-boat, g-goat

it might be well at this time to look at a combination of letters that represents /j/, dg. rewrite these words to indicate their pronunciations. omit each silent e and copy the other vowels as they are. judge ________ knowledge ________ edge _________ Perhaps you hear the /d/, but try pronouncing the words as though /dg/ = /j/. It comes out the same, does it not?

juj, nowlej, ej

Study the words below. The que combination at the end of a word, as in antique, represents the phoneme we associate with the key symbol ______. Or we might say that the q represents the sound we associate with ______, while the ________ and ______ are silent. Rewrite these words using the proper key symbol to stand for each of the consonants. Omit the silent ue combination and the silent consonants. Copy they vowels as they are, pronouncing them as they would sound in the real world. opaque __________ unique ___________ plague ___________ antique __________

k, k, u, e, opak, unik, plak, antik

We did note use q for a key symbol because the sound it represents had already been assigned to the letter ____. We have selected one symbol to represent each of the 25 consonant sounds of our language. The key word we have selected to help identify /k/ is __________

k, kite

Let us summarize: The letters m, q, v, and r are very dependable. The m, v, and r represent distinctive sounds of their own. The q always represents the same sound as ______. The letter q has a distinctive characteristic: It is almost always followed by the letter ________. This u may be silent or represent the sound of the __________ (consonant/vowel) ________.

k, u consonant, w

More commonly, the u following the letter q becomes a consonant and represents the sound we associate with the key symbol w. Say these words: quilt, equal, quiet, quill. In these words, the q represents the sound we associate with _________, and the u represents the sound we associate with _______.

k, w

Since q is an unnecessary letter, how can we call it dependable? When we see q, we know it represents the sound we associate with the key symbol k. In other words, /q/ = /k/. We can depend on it! Now write the key symbol and key word for q above q _____ ___________

k-kite

as we study each consonant letter, we need to ask certain questions: A. How reliable is it? Does it always represents the sound we associate with its ________ symbol? Are there patterns of reliability? Patterns of inconsistencies? B. Does it have distinctive characteristics? The consonant letters have been grouped to facilitate our study in answering the above questions.

key

we can divide the 25 consonant phonemes into two major groups: (1) 18 consonant phonemes identified by key symbols composed of single letters and (2) 7 consonants phonemes identified by ________ composed of two-letter combinations called _________.

key symbols, digraphs

Review by filling in these blanks. Use the words below to assist you. hurrah khaki hour ghost rhino The letter h is silent when it follows the consonants k (as in ______), g (as in _________), or r (as in ___________). H is silent when it follows a vowel (as in ___________). Sometimes h is silent at the beginning of a word (as in __________).

khaki, ghost, rhino, hurrah, hour

Pronounce the words below aloud. Rewrite each word below using the proper key symbols to show the pronunciation of the qu combination. Quote ____________ quit _____________ quiz _____________ queen _____________ In these words, the letter q represents the sound we associate with the key symbol ________, and the letter u represents the sound of the _______________ (consonant/vowel) letter ____________.

kwote, kwit, kwiz, kween, k, consonant, w

the d is fairly dependable. It, however, may be silent, as in ladder and sudden. Rewrite these words, omitting silent consonants. ladder _____________ sudden ____________

lader, suden

The consonant l is another very reliable letter. To help distinguish its phoneme, we have chosen the key word __________. We can represent its phoneme thus: /____/

lion, /l/

Which key symbol and key word should be used to identify the initial phoneme (or sound) heard in each of these words? Mats _____ __________ yellow____ __________ city ____ _____________ got ____ ____________ have _____ ___________ ride ______ ___________

m-moon y-yo-yo s-sun g-goat h-hat r-ring

Four of the 21 consonant letters are extremely dependable: m, q, r, and v. When we see m, r, or v in a word, we can be sure it represents the phoneme we associate with its key _________ and is the initial sound heard in its key word. Fill in the columns at the right with the key symbols (2) and the key words (3) Select the words from the following: van queen fish ring kite moon m ____ __________ r ____ ___________ v ____ ____________

m-moon, r-ring, v-van,

in finger, the n represents the sound we associate with the key symbol _____________. The g represents the sound we associate with the key symbol __________. To show pronunciation, we need both the ng and the g.

ng, g

Rewrite the following words, omitting the silent consonants. knife ______ bubble ________ hero ________ climb ________ honor ___________ knee __________

nife, buble, hero, clim, onor, nee

Will be serve as the key symbol for the final sound we hear in the word comb? ________

no

Do we expect to hear the sound we associate with the key symbol p in phone? ___________. The two-letter grapheme ph, a digraph, represents the sound we associate with the key symbol _________.

no, f

Study the one-syllable words below. Does the dg digraph occur at the beginning of English words? _________ The digraph dg is very reliable. What key symbol do we use to represent the phoneme? _________

no, j

Is p sounded in the following words? __________ pseudo psychology psalm pterodactyl pneumonic pneumonia we can generalize when p is followed by s, t, or n at the beginning of a word, the ________ is usually silent.

no, p

Study the words below to discover the "silent k" pattern. Rewrite these words, omitting the silent k in each. knob ________ known ________ knit _________ knee ________ The k is silent at the beginning of a word or syllable when followed by _________. Pronounce aloud the words you have written.

nob, nown, nit, nee, n

Pronounce the word chair as though each consonant were sounded. You said either "s-hair" or "k-hair". Now pronounce chair as it should be pronounced. Note that you hear neither the sound represented by the c nor the sound represented by the h. The combination ch represents a phoneme ________ represented by a single consonant letter. If functions like another letter of the alphabet.

not

The /n/, identified by the first phoneme in the key word ___________, can be silent, as in running, and when preceded by m, as in hymn, Rewrite these words, omitting the silent letter. Column ___________ Manner ____________

nut, cloum, maner

We have seen that the letter n often represents the phoneme we associate with the /n/ in it key word __________. The n may also be silent, as in _____________ (solemn/rang) and ______________ (handle/tunnel). The single letter n may also represent the /ng/, as in _____________ (banker/engine)

nut, solemn, tunnel, banker

One pattern is very common to almost all consonants: Two like consonants appearing together in a word generally represent one phoneme. Say these words aloud. How many phonemes do the two like consonants represent? _________ Make a slash through the second like consonant to depict the silent letter. Then rewrite the words omitting the silent consonant. Muffin ____________ letter _____________ purr ________________ ribbon ______________ happen ________________ less _________________

one, mufin, leter, pur, ribon, hapen, les

N is very reliable with one common but confusing exception. First, let us note that n is a part of the digraph ng as heard in sing. (Recall that a digraph consists of two letters that represent one phoneme.) The n and the g represent _______________ phoneme(s) in sing. Is ng a digraph in bring? ____________

one, yes

next we examine its dependability. P, as a single consonant, is very reliable. When we see p, we can expect to hear the sound we are associating with the key symbol _______.

p

we establish a key symbol and a key word to help distinguish this phoneme from any other. Pig is the key word we have selected to identify the sound represented by ___________.

p

Next we turn our attention to the consonant p. In this study, we are establishing a key symbol for each phoneme in our language. The logical key symbol to use to identify the first phoneme heard in pig is _________. It is the past phoneme heard in ___________ (help/graph)

p, help

study these words: phone, graph, phrase. The digraph _________can be found at the beginning or end of a syllable (that is, both before and after the vowel)

ph

Pronounce photo. The initial grapheme is _________. The key symbol to represent this sound is ________.

ph, f

Except when silent, the k is a very dependable letter. Let us be sure we understand: There are other graphemes that represent the sound we associate with the key symbol k (queen, choir, coat), but when we see the letter k in a word, we can be quite sure that when we hear the word, we will hear the word, we will hear the same ___________ as that heard at the beginning of its key word, _____________.

phoneme, kite

As you repeat the letters of the alphabet, write the 18 consonant letters (key symbols) that represent 18 distinctive ___________. You will omit the _____________ consonant letters that do not represent distinctive phonemes. How can we know exactly which phoneme has been assigned to each of the key symbols? We use a key word that has that phoneme as it initial sound. The selected key words follow, but they are out of order. Write each key word next to its key symbol. KEY WORDS: kite, pig, van, boat, goat, dog, ring, moon, wagon, zipper, jeep, yo-yo, sun, lion, table, fish, nut, hat

phonemes, three, b-boat, d-dog, f-fish, g-goat, h-hat, j-jeep, k-kite, l-lion, m-moon, n-nut, p-pig, r-ring, s-sun, t-table, v-van, w-wagon, y-yo-yo, z-zipper

say the words below. Then rewrite the words to show pronunciation. Write the vowels as they appear. Work carefully. This takes careful listening! pink _______________ autumn _______________ swing ________________ thank __________________ shrink ___________________ ring ______________________ tunnel ____________________ trunk _______________________

pingk, autm, swing, thangk, shringk, ring, tunel, trungk

One f in the word effect is not sounded. It is clear then that f can be a ________ letter. Another example of an unsounded f in the list in frame 2 is in the word off

silent

the consonants b, h, k, l, and p as single letters are very reliable. However, they are not always sounded; each has "___________ letter" patterns.

silent

Sometimes, however, the p has no phoneme; it is _________. Rewrite the following words, omitting the consonant letters that represent no phonemes. apple __________ happy _________ puppet ____________ puppy _____________

silent, aple, hapy, pupet, pupy

We have seen that d can be silent, as in _____________. D can represent /t/, as in ____________ (jumped/pulled), and /j/, as in ___________ (gem/soldier), and /j/ as a part of the combination dg, as in ______________ (fudge/handgrip).

sudden, jumped, soldier, fudge

The b is not silent in number (num ber) because it is not in the same __________ as the __________.

syllable, m

Most of the consonants are reliable with respect to sound. Therefore, in most cases, the key ________ that designates a certain phoneme heard in a word will be the same as the consonant _________ seen in that word. For example, b will serves as the key symbol for the initial sound we hear in the word ________ (boat,comb)

symbol, letter, boat

but let us examine more closely the sounds the d represents. The key symbol represents the sounds heard in doll, did, day, and led. Now read these words out loud to discover another sound that the d represents: jumped, clipped, hoped, missed. Here d represents the sound we associate with the key symbol

t

We have noted that the d sometimes is pronounced as though it were ________ (as in kissed). Now examine the words below. played smiled called They are also ________-syllable words. The finial consonant represents the sound we associate with the key symbol _________.

t, one, d

there are many words in which you hear /ng/ but see only n. These words follow a pattern: Generally the letter following the n is either k or g. Pronounce thank. Which of these "keys to pronunciation" is correct? ______________ Than + k Thang + k

thang + k

the gh digraph can be silent. rewrite the words below using key symbols for all consonants and omitting silent letters. Copy the vowels as they are, pronouncing them as they would sound in the original word. tough _____ knight _____ dough _____ enough _____ ghost _____ lamb ______ through _____ taught _____ high ______

touf, nit, dou, enouf, gost, lam, throu, taut, hi

The letter q is almost always followed by the letter ____________. In unique, the u that follows the q is silent. There are a few words that begin with q in which u the u is also silent, as in quay, or the u is pronounced as u, as in queue. We may miss this point because we may be mispronouncing these words. Quay is pronounced as though it were spelled key; queue is pronounced as though it were spelled cue. The first phoneme in both key and cue (therefore in quay and queue) is represented by the key symbol __________. Pronounce quay and queue correctly several times (quay as key; queue as cue). Practice reading this: The people boarding the ship formed a queue on the quay. Three of them wore queues.

u, k

the f represents the sound we associate with the key symbol _______ in the word of. (try to pronounce of using /f/)

v

Try pronouncing /m/, /v/, /l/, and /r/. Listen to the sounds you give them in hum, dove, call, and car. Say them aloud again. These are fairly easy to pronounce in isolation. Now say /b/, /k/ and /p/ aloud. Listen to them in the words tub, back and help. Do not hang on to the sound (as you can in hummmmmmmmm); just softly expel your breath. Try to sound them with as little of the ___________ phoneme (the /uh/) as possible.

vowel

There is one exception! Pronounce Hallelujah. You see a j, but you do not say /j/. Can you determine what key symbol you would use to represent the j? __________

y

When possible, the key symbol will be the same as the letter we ordinarily associate with the sound. For example, b will serve as the key symbol for the sound we hear at the beginning of the word boat. Would you expect d to serve as the key symbol for the sound heard at the beginning of the word dog? _________

yes

Say thing. Is the ng a digraph? ____________ Add the phoneme represented by /k/ to thing (thing +k). We do not spell this word thingk: We spell it __________. The letter n represents /ng/ in think!

yes, think