The ABC's of Rules for the English Language

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At the end of a word, the letter “a” usually sounds like a short “u”:

   Alicia, banana, camera, gorilla, Susana, soda, larva, drama, extra…

Usually silent when at the end of the word with “mb”:

   bomb, climb, comb, dumb, lamb, limb, thumb, tomb, womb… 

In front of “e,” “i,” or “y,” usually makes the /s/ sound(“soft”):

   cell, pencil, cinema, center, voice, peace, cider, dance, police…

In front of “a,” “o,” “u,” or most consonants, usually makes a /k/ sound(“hard”):

   car, count, cucumber, clown, cat, coffee, crown, cold, cup, come…

Some examples with both “soft” and “hard” in a single word:
  circle, circus, bicycle, cancel, concert, concern, cyclone… 

In short words “i” and “o” often says its name when followed by “ld” or “nd”:
  ild: child, mild, wild (exception: build)
  old: bold, cold, fold, hold, mold, old, sold, told...

   ind: bind, blind, find, hind, kind, mind, rind, wind...

Can jump over a consonant (or a blend) to make the preceding vowel long (“say its name”). The “e” at the end of these words is silent:

   came, gate, sale, dime, hire, file, bone, home, note, cube, cable…

Says its name at the end of a word if there are no other vowels in the word:

   be, he, me, she, we…

The sound /f/ can be made with “gh”:

laugh, rough, enough, cough… (But “gh” can also be silent as in “though.”)

In front of “e,” “i,” or “y,” usually makes a /j/ sound (“soft”):

   George, giant, giraffe, gyro, gem, age, gel, huge, energy…

In front of “a,” “o,” “u,” or most consonants, makes a /g/ sound (“hard”):

   gasp, go, gut, grandpa, glide, gum, goat, bag, gas, frog, 

Some examples with both “soft” and “hard” sounds:

   geography, gigantic, gorgeous, gauge…

Combines with other letters to create new sounds (digraphs):

PH sound ( /f/): phone, dolphin, gopher, physics, graph, photo…
CH sound: change, charge, checkers, cherry, cheese, pinch, bench…
SH sound: shake, fish, wash, shark, shake, brush, sheet, show…
TH sounds: 1. thank, thought, thing, three, thumb, thunder, fifth, bath…

                    2. this, these, those, the, then, father, mother, bathe…

At the end of a word, usually makes a long “e” sound: 

   ski, taxi, tiki, mini, chili, fungi, salami, bikini, safari, tsunami…

(Exceptions: sometimes makes a long “i” sound: hi, anti, octopi, alkali)

Words in English do not end with the letter “j.” Words ending with the /j/ sound are usually written with “-dge” such as: edge, hedge, ridge, bridge…  

Silent in front of the letter “n”:
 knee, kneel, knew, knife, knight, knock, knot, know…

Short words ending with “l” usually double the “l”:
 ball, bell, bill, bull, dell, dill, doll, dull, fall, fell, fill, full, gill, gull, hall, hell, hill, Jill, kill,    mall, mill, pill, pull, sell, sill, tall, tell, till, toll, wall, will, well… 

When an “m” is followed by an “n,” the “n” is usually silent:

   autumn, column, solemn, condemn, hymn…

The letters “g” and “k” are usually silent in front of an “n”:
 gnarl, gnat, gnaw, gnome…
 knee, kneel, knew, knife, knight, knock, knot, know… 

Diphthongs (two vowels forming one sound):
 ou: about, out, shout, sound, round, couch, mouse, ouch…
 ow: clown, down, town, plow, flower, cow, brow, tower…
 (BUT: soup, show, snow, know…)

  oi: boil, soil, foil, noise, coin, point, choice, voice, join…
 oy: boy, joy, toy, employ, destroy, enjoy, oyster, deploy…

   oo: moon, tool, loop, soon, cartoon, food, room, moose….

   oo: look, book, hook, good, shook, foot, wood, cook…

At the end of a word, the “o” usually says its name:

   go, no, so, bistro, casino, taco, banjo, zero… 

The letter “p” can combine with an “h” to make the /f/ sound:

   phone, dolphin, gopher, physics, graph, photo… 

Always has to be followed by the letter “u”:

   quarter, queen, quit, quiet, quack, quail, quake, quote, quill…

Bossy “R” controls the vowel.
 AR as in “car.”
 OR as in “for.”
 ER, IR, UR as in “Bert,” “bird,” “burn.” 

Usually makes a /z/ sound when at the end of a word

   as, is, his, has, was, does, news, goes, ours, lives, cries…

To make it make an /s/ sound, add another “s” or a silent “e”:

   glass, grass, hiss, kiss, fuss, moss… house, mouse, case, purse…

The letter “t” in the middle of a word is often pronounced like a /d/:

   water, later, butter, Italy, better, bottle, turtle, bottom, battery…

The short “u” sounds like someone punching you in the gut. 

Words cannot end with the letter “v.” Add a silent “e.”
 carve, give, glove, have, live, love, curve…

Silent in front of an “r.”
 wrap, wreck, wrench, wrestle, wrist, write, wrong…

When followed by an “a” the “a” often sounds like /o/:

   walk, wall, watch, water, want, wad, wash, wand, waffle… 

"X" sounds like /ks/
 fix, fox, tax, exit, six, box, extra, flex, taxi, text, ax, ox…

Y

If the “y” at the end of a word is the only vowel, it says the long “i” sound:

   by, cry, dry, fly, fry, my, shy, sky, sly, try, why…

If the word ending in “y” has at least one other vowel, the “y” says the long “e” sound:

   only, slowly, candy, sandy, puppy, kitty, chewy, sticky…

Z

  The /z/ sound, especially at the end of words, is usually written with an “s.”