• The letter q is always followed by the letter u, and we say “kw.” [quiet]
• /c/ before e, i or y says ‘s.’ [chance, icing, icy]
• /g/ before e, i or y may say ‘j.’ [germ, giant, gym]
• We often double l, f and s following a single vowel at the end of a one-syllable word. [ball, off, miss]
• Two-letter ‘k’ (ck) is used only after a single vowel which says short ‘ă‘ – ‘ĕ‘ – ‘ĭ‘ – ‘ŏ‘ – ‘ŭ‘ [pack, peck, pick, pock, puck]
• Three-letter ‘j’ (dge) is used only after a single vowel which says short ‘ă‘ – ‘ĕ‘ – ‘ĭ‘ – ‘ŏ‘ – ‘ŭ‘ [badge, ledge, ridge, lodge, fudge]
• The letter z, never s, is used to say ‘z’ at the beginning of a base word. [zoo, zero, zipper]
• The letter s never follows x.
• Double consonants within words of more than one syllable should both be sounded for spelling. [hap py, lit tle, but ton]
• s-h is used to say ‘sh’ at the beginning of a word, at the end of a syllable, but not at the beginning of most syllables after the first one except for the ending ship. [she, wish, friendship]
• t-i, s-i, and c-i are used to say ‘sh’ at the beginning of any syllable after the first one. [nation, mansion, facial]
• s-i is used to say ‘sh’ when the syllable before it [session] or the base word ends in an -s [tense/tension]; s-i can say its voiced ‘zh’ sound when s is between two vowels. [vision]
• Only s-i can say, “zh” except for t-i in “equation.” [vision]
• When a one-syllable word ends with one short vowel and one consonant, double the final consonant before adding a vowel suffix. [hop, hopping/hopped]
• When a two-syllable word ends with a vowel and a consonant, double the final consonant when adding a vowel suffix, if the accent is on the last syllable. [admit, admitted, admitting]
• Silent final e words are written without the e when adding an ending beginning with a vowel. [have, having]
• Base words do not end with the letter a saying, “ā” except for the article a; a-y is used most often. [may, pay, say]
• Vowels i and o may say, “ī” and “ō” when followed by two consonants. [find, bold – gift, bond]
• All is written with one l when added to another syllable [almost, also]
• When adding an ending to a word that ends with y, that has a sound alone, change the y to i unless the ending is i-n-g. [fry, fried – cry, crying]
• The letters e-d say, “d” and “t” as the past tense ending of any base word which does not end in the sound, “d” or “t.” When e-d says “ed” after words ending with “d” or “t,” they form another syllable. [loved, wrapped] [word, word ed-part, parted]

© Riggs Institute