never-ending letters - teaching and learning the spelling of english word endings

Never-ending lettersEnglish word endings

Johanna Stirling

The Spelling Blogthespellingblog.blogspot.com

There are some letters that are not usually found at the end of native

English words. 1

Any ideas which ones?

Test itTry to think of at least one word ending in each of the

letters of the alphabet. There are 5 letters that are not usually found at the end of words. Which ones?

A seaBCDEFG

HIJKLMN

OPQRSTU

VWXYZ

Check it

A seaB robC basicD walkedE makeF ofG leg

H fishIJ K duckL ballM jamN win

O goP sleepQR teacherS kissT restU*

VW fewX boxY sayZ buzz

*Except you

So...

Native English words almost never end with these letters:

i j q u v

(Exception words, like chilli, raj, Iraq, gnu and spiv have all come into the English language relatively recently from other languages, and their spelling wasn’t

changed, or they are shortened forms like taxi – from taxicab)

At the end of a word,instead of i, we sometimes use y

But we only use y at the end of these words, not in

silliness, happiest, replied2

silly happy reply

What letters can we use at the end of a word instead of these:

j ?q ?u ?v ?

(Think of words that end in these sounds)

Because we don’t use j at the end of words, which three letters do we often write? Complete the words.

b _ _ _ _ _ j _ _ _ _ b _ _ _ _

f _ _ _ _ _ h _ _ _ _ k _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

At the end of a word, we can’t use j, so we

often use - dge

bridge judge badge

fridge hedge knowledge

Because we don’t use q at the end of words, which two orthree letters do we often write? Complete the words.

1/1m _ _ _ _ _ u _ _ _ _ _ a _ _ _ _ _ _

d _ _ _ k _ _ _ S _ _ _ _

At the end of a word, we can’t use q, so we sometimes use –que ...

1/1mosque unique

... or -ck after a single vowel

duck kick snack

antique

Not final q, but...

m _ _ _ _ m _ _ _ _ a _ _ _ _ _ _ _

s _ _ _ _b _ _ _t _ _ _ _

Instead of q at the end of a word, we also

sometimes use – c (usually after i)

music magic academic

steakbook

or – k after a consonant or two vowels

think

At the end of a word, we don’t usually use u3, so which letter do we

often add? Complete the words.

T / F

b _ _ _ a _ _ _ _

a _ _ _ _ _ t _ _ _

T / F

To stop a word ending in u, we usually add an

– e

blue argue

avenue true

At the end of a word, we don’t use v, so which letter do we often add?

12l _ _ _ t _ _ _ _ _

g _ _ _ s _ _ _ _ _

To stop a word ending in v, we usually add an

– e12

love twelve

give sleeve4

How many of the words on the next slide can you remember?

Write sentences. Include at least 2 of the words in each one.

orWrite a story. Use as many of the words as possible in your story.

Teachers - for lots more ideas see my book:

Teaching Spelling to English Language Learners

Details, preview and purchasing at

The Spelling Blog thespellingblog.blogspot.com

I hope that helps!Johanna Stirling

Footnotes

1. Around the 17th century, English spelling became more standardised. Several spelling rules were made. Many words that entered English after that kept their spelling from their original language, such as bureau from French. These are not native English words.

Back to Slide 2

Footnotes

2. Teachers usually talk about final y changing to i before adding letters to the end of the word. But it helps to see it the other way round: i changes to y if it’s at the end of a word.

Back to Slide 6

Footnotes

4. There is an e at the end of these words only to stop the last letter being v. It doesn’t make the vowel before the v change its sound. Here it is not a so-called ‘magic e’. Some words, like five, do already have a magic e, so another e is not needed.

Back to Slide 17

Footnotes

3. The only common exception I can find is the word you.

Back to Slide 14