Glossary of Phonics Rules

1. Vowels surrounded by consonants or followed by one 11. The letter o, when doubled, can make the short-oo
or more consonants are usually short: map, bet, hit, sound as in book and cook or the long-oo sound as in
toss, bun. [Upper grades: Vowels in closed syllables cool and boon.
(i.e., syllables that end with a consonant) are normally
12. The letter combinations er, ir, and ur normally make
short.]
the sound of the shwa-r as in her, fir, and turn.
2. Double consonants sound the same as single con-
13. When a syllable or short word ends in e, i, or o, the
sonants; however, they are not digraphs when at a
vowel is usually long (i.e., it says its name): be, besides,
syllable break in the middle of a root word1: abbot,
hi, hijack, so, soda.
accord, puddle, skiff, jiggle, skill, etc.
14. Words that end with –al plus a final -k, -l, or -m sound
3. The letters c and k, together, form a digraph (a single
as if they end with a short-o and the sound of the final
speech sound) that sounds just like k by itself: back,
consonant: walk, ball, calm.
buck.
15. If an e at the end of a word is preceded by a vowel, or
4. The qu combination makes the /kw/ sound: quick,
a vowel and a single consonant, then the vowel that
queen, sequester.
comes before the e is long (“says its name”) and the
5. The letters t and h, together, form a digraph (a single final e is silent: made, precede, hike, smoke, blue.
speech sound). Sometimes the th digraph is vocalized,
16. The letters c and g normally become soft (c makes the
as in than, them, and with; sometimes it is unvocalized,
/s/ sound; g makes the /j/ sound) when they are fol-
as in thrash, thud, and pith.2
lowed by e, i, or y: proceed, cinder, cycle; gentle, giant,
6. When a one-syllable word ends in y, the y makes the apology.
long-i sound: my, by.
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17. The letters c and h, together, usually form a digraph (a

7. The letters w and h, together, form a digraph (a single single speech sound) /ch/, whether at the beginning
speech sound) /wh/: what, who, why, wheel. or end of a word: chicken, China, much. Some words
with Greek roots may include a ch digraph that makes
8. Two vowels together, especially ai, ay, ea, ee, and
the /k/ sound: Christian, psychology. Some words with
oa, normally form a single sound, the long sound of
French origins may include a ch digraph that makes
the first vowel. (Put another way: “When two vowels
the /sh/ sound: quiche, cartouche.
go walking, the first one does the talking”; or “When
two vowels meet, the first one says its name.”) Vowel 18. The letters p and h, together, form a digraph (a single
combinations that make a single sound are called di- speech sound) /f/: physical, graph.
graphs. Examples of the ai, ay, ea, ee, and oa digraphs:
19. The letters g and h, together, usually form a digraph
bait, say, eat, week, boat.
(a single speech sound). The digraph is often the /f/
9. When words end in s or x and need to be written in sound: cough, laugh; but is sometimes the /g/ sound:
the plural form, an -es is added to the root word to ghastly, ghost, ghetto; and is sometimes silent (bough,
give the ear a chance to hear the final s, which makes bought). When at a break between syllables, the g
the /z/ sound: passes, fusses, frizzes, prizes. and h will not form a digraph, but will be pronounced
separately: fog/horn.
10. The or digraph normally makes the sound of a long-o
and r as in morning, fort, and porch, but it can also 20. The /ch/ sound at the end of a word is often spelled
make the schwa-r sound as in word and worth. –tch: patch, scotch.
21. The letter b is often silent when it comes immediately
after the letter m and has no other consonants follow-
1. Digraphs cannot be split, whereas doubled consonants at syllable ing: crumb, numb. (Notice that the b is not silent when
breaks in the middle of words usually can (and must) be split: ab/bot, ac/ it is followed by another letter: crumble and rumble.)
cord, pud/dle, jig/gle.
2. To demonstrate vocalized vs unvocalized sounds, place your fingers
22. The vowels o and u together often form a digraph (a
on your throat, on either side of your “Adam’s apple” or larynx. Say the single speech sound) /ow/ as in sound, bout, or couch.
/z/ and /s/ sounds. You should notice that, while your tongue and mouth But the ou digraph can make many other sounds as
stay in exactly the same configuration for both sounds, your throat well: a short u sound as in touch or rough; a long-oo
vibrates with the /z/ sound and it is still for the /s/ sound. The vibration
is from your vocal chords vibrating. That is what vocalization is all about.
sound as in through, rouge, and tour; a short-o sound
Now say the word that very slowly. You will feel your vocal chords vibrate as in cough, ought, and bought. There are also a few
on the /th/ sound. Say thud and you will find your vocal chords do not words in which ou can make a long-o sound (thor-
vibrate when you say the /th/ sound. Now try similar experiments with ough, your, borough), or—when followed by r—a
other letters and letter-pairs. (How about comparing t and d? Are they
the same in any way? Different? How about the /k/ and /g/ sounds? …)
schwa-r sound (courage).

4th Grade Condensed Language Arts  |  Section Three  |  Instructor's Guide Resources  |  13
23. The vowels o and w, together, make either an /ow/ 34. When a word ends in -le, the final syllable normally
sound as in howl and now; or a long-o sound as in consists of the -le and the consonant (or consonant
blow, snow and bowl. that immediately precedes it): able, kettle, title, fumble.
However: if the final –le is preceded by a consonantal
24. The /ow/ sound is usually formed by the digraphs ow
digraph, the digraph is not split, and the –le forms a
or ou. If you hear the /ow/ sound in the middle of a
syllable on its own: crackle, buckle.
word, it is usually formed by ou; if you hear it at the
end of a word, it is almost always going to be formed 35. When ai or ay is used in a word, the letters make the
by ow. sound of a long-a: pail, pay.
25. The letters k and n, together, almost always form a 36. When a two-syllable word ends with y, the y makes
digraph (a single speech sound) that sounds like the the long /e/ sound (/ee/). The second syllable consists
letter n by itself: knife and know. of the y and the consonant before it: baby, starry,
sandy.
26. The letter combinations oi and oy make the same
sound. The oi digraph comes in the middle of closed 37. When two consonants stand between two vowels,
syllables (i.e., syllables that end with a consonant): boil, the word is usually divided between the consonants
point, boisterous. The oy digraph usually comes at the (vowel-consonant/consonant-vowel): bal/loon, bas/
end of open syllables (syllables that end with vowels) ket, big/ger, can/teen, phan/tom.
or at the end of a word as in toy, joy, soybeans.
38. The ie digraph sometimes says the name for the letter
27. The letters n and g, together, normally form a digraph i (pie, allies) and sometimes the name for the letter e
(a single speech sound) /ng/, which is different from (chief, reprieve, countries).
the sound of the two letters simply blended together:
39. The letter o, when doubled in combination with an r,
sing, prong. When the ng digraph is followed by –le, it
can make the /or/ sound: door, floor.
sounds like the ng digraph plus the /g/ sound: single,
tangle. 40. The ea digraph can make a wide range of sounds:

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short-e (breath, dread); schwa (when followed by r
28. When e, i, o, or u precede the ng digraph, they are
plus other consonants: earth, learn); long-e (eat, team,
short: penguin, sing, song, sung. When a precedes the
streak), long-a (break, steak) and more.
ng digraph, it is long: hang, sang, slang.
41. The combination -igh normally makes the sound of
29. The letters n and k, together, form a digraph (a single
a long-i while the gh digraph is silent: right, bright,
speech sound): the /ng/ sound but ending with the
flight, sigh.
/k/ sound: sink, chunk.
42. The combination –ght makes the /t/ sound: sight, right,
30. When a syllable ends with a consonant, it is a closed
ought, caught.
syllable and the vowel is short: camel, parcel, stencil.
43. The i is long in words ending with –ild: wild, mild; it is
31. When one consonant stands between two vowels,
almost always long in words that end in –ind: bind,
the word is usually divided after the first vowel and
kind, and the verb wind (though the noun wind has a
before the consonant (vowel/consonant-vowel). That
short-i sound).
means that the first syllable is open (an “open” syllable
ends with a vowel), and the vowel is normally long 44. The sh digraph makes the /sh/ sound: fish, she,
(i.e., it “says its name”): pa/per, be/fore, be/gan, pi/per, fashion.
stu/pid. However, if the first syllable has a short vowel,
45. The digraphs eu, ew, ue, and ui usually make the long-
then the word is either treated like a compound (two
oo or long-u sounds. Long-oo: blew, blue, fruit. Long-u
words put together): aloft, amount, afar, or the first
sound: feud, imbue, argue.
syllable is closed, and the vowel is part of the first
syllable: aneu/rysm, criti/cism, liga/ture, physi/cal, sepa/ 46. When you’re trying to remember how to spell a word
rate. that you know includes the letters e and i in it, re-
member, with only a very few exceptions, to follow the
32. When ar is used in a word, it says /ar/ as in star,
rule “i before e except after c”: fierce, piece, friend.
farm, ark.
47. The ending -ed usually means that something has
33. A word plus a suffix (-ed, -en, -ly, -ful, - ing, -est, or
already happened. Sometimes -ed is unvocalized (/t/):
-ness) makes a new word. If you pronounce the vowel
fixed, cramped, placed; at other times it is vocalized
in the suffix, the suffix forms a syllable. The new syl-
(/d/): played, accrued, parachuted.
lable is the suffix. If you do not pronounce the vowel
at the end of the new word, then the suffix does not 48. Proper names are always capitalized: Dick, Jane,
form a new syllable. Sally, Spot.

14  |  Instructor's Guide Resources  |  Section Three  |  4th Grade Condensed Language Arts
 49. If a root word ends in one consonant and the vowel 60. In a very few words, h at the beginning of the word
that precedes it is short, double the final consonant will be silent: hours, herbs.
before adding suffixes that begin with vowels (-ing,
61. When a word ends with an m followed by n, the n is
-ed, -able, etc.): plan/planned; sip/sipping; fat/fatty.
usually silent: hymn, solemn.
However, if the final syllable is unstressed, simply add
the suffix: fasten/fastened, glisten/glistening, canter/ 62. Sometimes the letters s and t, together, make the
cantered. sound of s alone: listen, fasten, glisten.
50. Sometimes s sounds like /sh/ (sure, passion, expres- 63. The letter combinations er, err, ar and arr often make
sion) and sometimes like /zh/ (measure, pleasure). the long-a /r/ sound: very, merry, Mary, marry.
51. Sometimes z sounds like /zh/ (azure, seizure). 64. When s and c are together, the c is usually silent: scent,
scene, scepter.
52. When the letter c is doubled and surrounded by
vowels, the first c is often hard (producing the /k/ 65. Before adding the suffixes -es or -ed to words ending
sound) and the second c often has the soft /s/ sound: with y (where the y sounds like a long-i, change the y
accent, accident, succinct. to an i: cry/cries/cried; dry/dries/dried; try/tries/tried; fry/
fries/fried.
53. The digraphs ci and ti usually make the /sh/ sound:
special, nation, caution. When preceded by an s, the ti 66. When a word ends with y and you want to add a suffix
combination takes on the /ch/ sound: exhaustion. that begins with a letter other than i, change the y to
i, and add the suffix: happy/happily/happiness; satisfy/
54. The letter t when followed by u is often pronounced /
satisfies/satisfied (but satisfying); fancy/fanciful.
ch/: nature; adventure, culture, spiritual.
67. When a word ends in a silent e, drop the e before
55. The ei digraph often makes a long /a/ sound when
adding a suffix that begins with a vowel: love/loving;
followed by the gh digraph: sleigh, eight, freight.
come/coming; time/timing; phone/phoning.
56. The letter a is pronounced as a short-o in a few words:
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68. When a word ends in –le, drop the e before adding

papa, mama, father.
the -ly or –ing: terrible/terribly; tremble/trembling.
57. The digraphs au and aw usually make the /aw/ sound:
69. The letter o, when followed by n, often makes the
Paul, faucet, pause; hawk, gnaw, paw.
short-u sound: wonderful, son, ton.
58. The letters g and n, together, when not at a syllable
70. The letter o is long in words ending with -old and -olt:
break within a word, form a digraph that makes the
fold, bold, mold, colt, molt.
/n/ sound: gnu, gnaw, sign; but compare signal, indig-
nant, signify (all words where the g and n occur at a 71. The letter w is always silent when followed by r at the
syllable break within the word). beginning of a word: wrap, wrist, write, wrong, wreck.
59. When gu is used at the beginning of a word, the g has 72. The f at the end of some words will change to a v
the hard /g/ sound and the u is usually silent; the fol- when the word is made a plural: wife/wives; knife/
lowing vowel makes the vowel sound for the syllable: knives. n
guest, guard, guide, guilty, guitar.

4th Grade Condensed Language Arts  |  Section Three  |  Instructor's Guide Resources  |  15