Phonetic Alphabet Book by Cheryl Paton, Letter C

Below is an example of what you'll find in The Phonics Guide: A guide to reading and spelling patterns.

Cc
C is the third letter of the alphabet. C is a consonant. C represents two main sounds; hard and soft, and can also be silent.

Hard C represents the same sound as the letter K does in the word kite. C represents its hard sound when it immediately precedes the vowels a, o, and u in the same syllable:

CA, CO, and CU as hard C
cat can cop cot cut cup

C also represents its hard sound before the consonants L, R, K, T, and sometimes H.

CL, CR, CK, CT, and sometimes CH as hard C
clang creek back act Christmas

(Note: The sound of hard C before the vowels e, i and y, is spelled with the letter K, as in keep, kite, and Kyoto.)

If the word is multi-syllable, and the hard C sound is heard at the end of a second or later syllable and it follows a vowel sound, that sound is usually spelled with IC:

IC
magic hectic optic fantastic music

Exceptions would be when a prefix is added, such as repack.

When the sound of hard C is heard right after a consonant, it is usually spelled with the letter K, as in bank. An exception is the work zinc. See more in Chapter Kk.

Soft C represents its soft sound, sounds like S as in sell, when it immediately precedes the vowels e, i, and y in the same syllable:

CE, CI, and CY as soft C
cent cedar cinema city cycle cylinder

When C is immediately followed by a silent e at the end of a single syllable, long vowel word, the C represents its soft sound.

Long Vowel + C + silent E, as soft C
face fleece slice twice juice

An exception is the word grocery where the C by itself sounds more like the /SH/ you hear in shall.

Note: For short vowel, single syllable words ending in a soft C sound, that sound is spelled with a double s, as in dress and grass. See more in Chapter Ss.

C is silent in the word czar.

C is paired with L and R for two common beginning consonant blends and the C is hard:

CL
class clean clip clock clue

CR
crab cream crisp crop crust

C is paired with the letters K and T for two common ending consonant blends:

CK
back deck brick dock duck

CT
fact perfect octopus duct

Note: C is usually paired with K at the end of a short vowel, single syllable word.

The CK pattern is also used at the end of the first syllable of a multi-syllable word when the vowel in the first syllable is short:

Short vowel + CK and in first syllable as hard C
package ticket locket trucker

Exceptions are the words tic and picnic. Note that there is also a word tick and that it has a different meaning than tic.

C is part of the CLE suffix which sounds like you’re saying cull at the end of the word.

CLE
cycle bicycle tricycle recycle

C is also part of the CAL suffix which sounds like you’re saying cull at the end of the word.

CAL
numerical geographical

C is commonly paired with H and the CH combination can represent one of four sounds.

CH can represent a single speech sound (a digraph) as in the word chew.

CH as a digraph
champ check chicken chop church

CH can also represent the /K/ sound as it does in Chris.

CH as /K/
Christmas choral chorus chrome

(Hint, when CH represents the /K/ sound, there is usually an R near by, but the R does not always mean the CH will sound like the /K/ sound, just that there is a good possibility.)

There are also some CH words where the CH represents the /K/ sound without any R nearby:

CH as Hard C without an R nearby
ache echo stomach

CH can represent a /KW/ sound as in choir. It sounds like the QU does in the word quarter.

CH as /KW/
choir

CH can also represent the /SH/ sound:

CH as /SH/
chef Chicago Cheryl Cher

C can be paired with I for two different sounds.

In the SCI pattern, the SC represents the soft C sound.

SCI as soft C
science

CI can also represent the /SH/ sound:

CI as /SH/
ancient efficient special proficient

A common spelling rule for C is I before E, except after C. This rule is true when the next vowel sound immediately after the C is long e, as in:

receive conceive ceiling

For other vowel sounds, the spelling is CI, as in:
ancient science efficient proficient special

Your feedback is welcome as this Phonetic Alphabet Book gets published in blog form. I will try to clarify anything you have questions about, and make it clearer. Thank you.

copyright Cheryl Paton

This book is being published a section at a time (by letter) on my blog, Phonetic Alphabet Book, and will eventually be published all together as a book.

Cheryl Paton

Cheryl Paton receives income from purchases made through links on this page.

Phonetic Alphabet Book by Cheryl Paton, Letter A

Below is an example of what you'll find in The Phonics Guide: A guide to reading and spelling patterns.

Aa

A is the first letter of the alphabet. A is a vowel.

A represents its short sound as in at and tap. A represents its long sound as in ate and cape.

Short vowel patterns for A include:

A followed by a consonant
Sam mat bag tap

AI as short A
plaid

AU as short A
laugh

Long vowel patterns for A are:

A, consonant, silent e as long A
same make plate grape wade

AI as long A
aim aid rain train grain

Note: The AI pattern represents three different sounds. The AI represents the short A sound in plaid, and the long A sound in aim, and also the short E sound as in the word said.

AY as long A
say pray lay stay may

Note: The AI pattern is found at the beginning or the middle of the word. The AY pattern is predominantly found at the end of the word. An exception is the word crayon.

Other vowel patterns that represent the sound of long A are:

EA as long A
steak break great

Note: The EA pattern can represent the sound for long A, short E, and long E. See the Alphabet section Ee.

EI as long A
vein

EIGH as long A
weigh weight freight neighbor

Note: The EI in the above words stands for the long A sound and the letters GH are silent.

EY as long A
they prey

Note: the EY pattern can also represent the long E sound as in key. See the Alphabet section Ee.

When A is paired with and immediately precedes the letter R, the A appears to be silent, as it sounds like you are just saying the letter name R:

AR
are car far star

When the letter E immediately follows the letters AR, then the ARE pattern can also sound like you are saying the word air:

ARE as the AIR sound
care share stare dare

A is also paired with IR, (AIR)
AIR
hair fair lair

A is also used in another pattern, representing a new sound; a dipthong, a blend of two vowel sounds in one syllable. Such a pattern is AU.

AU
cause pause August

Note that the AU represents the same sound that the AW represents in paws.

Your feedback is welcome as this Phonetic Alphabet Book gets published in blog form. I will try to clarify anything you have questions about, and make it clearer. Thank you.

copyright Cheryl Paton

Cheryl Paton

Cheryl Paton earns income from purchases made through links on this page.

Phonetic Alphabet Book by Cheryl Paton, Introduction

When I was a literacy tutor for adults, I wanted to know what the rules were so that I could better answer my students' questions, such as, "Does a certain pattern always apply? If not, when doesn’t it." I found that as my students were learning more and more, that these were the kinds of questions that they wanted to know the answer to.

I found bits and pieces of information here and there, but nothing all in one place. So I decided to write The Phonetic Alphabet Book. I later decided on The Phonics Guide: A guide to reading and spelling patterns, as the title. The link will take you to Amazon where it can be purchased.

This book is set up alphabetically, giving many rules and common letter combinations for all the letters of the English alphabet.

For continuity and ease of location, when I am talking about a particular letter or combination of letters, I will use their capitals. When a letter is enclosed by the back slash marks, /B/, then that represents the sound of the letter and not its letter name.

Cheryl Paton

Cheryl Paton receives income from qualifying purchases made through links on this page.