Extra English Practice (mouse squeak)
Today we're going to look at three different spelling patterns, all of which
end in the letter E, and how that spelling pattern affects the
pronunciation of the word.
So the first spelling pattern we're going to talk about is sometimes called
magic E. This is when a word ends with a vowel, a consonant, and then an E. In this
case, what happens is it turns the vowel before the consonant into its long form.
So most vowels have a short form and a long form, but if they're followed by a
consonant and an E, usually they're pronounced in their long way. So for
example the word home which ends with O-M-E, the O is pronounced long Ohhh. So it
says HOME. You could also say that if there's this pattern: a vowel, a consonant, E,
it makes the vowel sound say its name. Sometimes people talk about that. So the
O sounds like Ohhh. Another example is the word bite. B-I-T-E. That E makes the I
sound long like BITE. Without the E, the word will be bit - the short sound -i, bit.
So it really changes it. And if you'd like to look more at this, we have
another video that contrasts the long and short vowels. Let's look at
some examples. First we have late, late. Next, snore, snore.
Inside, inside, June, June. Rode, rode. Lime, lime. Home, home. Replace, replace.
The second pattern we want to look at is when a word ends in a consonant plus L-E.
So in this case, the L-E sounds like 'el' and it adds a syllable to the word.
It's almost as if the spelling should be E-L. It sounds like E-L. So for example in
a word like bottle B-O-T-T-L-E, you can imagine this pronunciation is like this:
B-O-T-T-E-L, bottle. That's what it sounds like for sure. But you have to spell it L-E.
We don't know why. That's just the way it is. Another example of this pattern is
the word table T-A-B-L-E. So again we have a consonant and then an L and an E, but
the sound is almost as if you flip those. So it sounds almost like T-A-B-E-L, table.
So for example, gentle, gentle.
Comfortable, comfortable.
Couple, couple.
Google, google. This has only been a word for what -10 years?
Yeah, maybe. A newer word.
Freckle, freckle. Middle, middle. And little, little.
The third pattern is when we have a C or a G at the end of a word followed by an E.
So in this case it makes the C or G use their soft sound. So C has two sounds
in English: either it's pronounced kind of like a K or a little bit like an S.
So the sound that sounds like an S is called its soft sound. Same with the G. It
can be pronounced 'guh' or 'juh'. 'Juh' is the soft sound, so if you see a word that
ends with C-E, likely it will sound like sss. Or G-E will sound like 'juh'.
For example, in the word college C-O-L-L-E-G-E, that last sound is a 'juh'.
College, not colleg.
For an example with the C, we can look at the word dance. Dance is D-A-N-C-E, so the C is
pronounced in the soft way: ssss, dance .
First we have ice, ice. Kind of related, fridge, fridge.
Ice would melt in the fridge. Well, they're both cold, Larissa.
Face, face. Average, average. College, college.
Dance, dance. Cage, cage. Violence, violence.
Age, age. Orange, orange. Rice, rice.
This is a good one: applesauce, applesauce. Do you see this
one has both the soft C, but it also has the consonant L-E.
We're going to do a little activity now that uses these words.We're going to
tell a little story. We'll make it up right on the spot.
Each of us will choose a card and we have to use that word to further the story.
So I'll keep talking until I can fit my word in, and then Misha
will have a turn to keep the story going using the word on her card.
We'll see how silly it gets. Yeah, or how hard it is. Yeah. Here we go.
My word is applesauce. So one day little Timmy ate a bowl of applesauce. As he was
eating, he realized he was late for school.
Oh no. Run little Timmy.
So he threw a couple oranges in his bag for a snack
and he ran down the road to school.
When he got inside the school, he realized he
had forgotten his running shoes. Oh no! He was barefoot. He ran there
without his running shoes. Silly Timmy.
Without his running shoes, he felt very uncomfortable.
So he told his teacher and she googled the problem. "What to do with no running shoes."
Google told them that they should give Timmy a gentle massage on his feet.
Fortunately, … in the middle of the day, Timmy got to go home
for a reason...which I will tell you about.
He got to go home because Timmy had a
special permission to have a dance break over lunch. He got to go home
every day at lunch and dance it up - dance party.
And that is one of the benefits of being Timmy's age.
Yeah, we don't get dance breaks. No dance breaks for us.
We could give ourselves a dance break, I guess.
Story number two starts with bottle.
There was a woman - a lonely woman - who put a note in a bottle
and threw it into the ocean. Oh, intrigue. It's a true story...maybe.
Oh, this doesn't seem like it's gonna fit.
Then she went to the fridge to get a drink.
That's a logical thing do to. She just saw the ocean. It made her thirsty. I get it.
She put some ice in her drink.
Then she sat down at the table and started thinking about who might find
her bottle and what might come of it. Well done. Thank you. Back on track.
Back on track. It was getting a little boring.
On the other side of the ocean was a little town named Supperton.
The weather in June in Supperton is perfect: sunny, warm, just lovely.
Which is why an average Joe, named Joe, was out for a walk.
Average Joe is a thing we say to mean someone
who is not very spectacular. They're just normal. Just a normal guy. Average Joe, normal guy.
This Joe - what did he do? He went for a walk because the weather
in Supperton in June, you've heard about it. Yeah, it's great.
On his way home he walked past the shoreline
and you will never believe what he found.
A bottle had washed up on the shore. Get out! What a twist.
Let's find out what he did with it.
Inside the bottle, he read a note from a woman who was named Mary.
You like naming things. I like things to have a name. Plus it's relevant to the plot. Sorry.
Her name was Mary Greene and by coincidence, our friend Joe had gone to school with a
woman named Mary Greene back when he lived on the other side of the ocean.
Are you gonna use the word college? They went to college together. It was a specific school. College.
It was called... (laughter)
As quick as he could he ran home and grabbed his motorcycle
which he rode to the city we didn't name where she was from because
he remembered her. Across the ocean? Around the ocean?
There are roads! We're not geography teachers, alright?
Great. Ok. (clears throat)
When he got to the other side of the ocean -by motorcycle - he found a woman
sitting outside of her house by by the shore and he thought, "Is that Mary Green?"
and he looked closer and saw the beautiful freckles she had on her skin
and he recognized her from when they were young.
Let's see if I can find a conclusion. Yeah, can you wrap it up? Perfect.
And that is the story of how average Joe and Mary green became a couple. So happy.
So that is three ways a final E
might appear and be pronounced at the end of a word. So you can try practicing.
If you want, you could write your own story with our vocabulary words.
Put it in the comments. We'd love to hear it and good luck. Bonus points for silly,
nonsensical, plot twists and happy endings. We like a happy ending.
Ah, yeah we do. And don't forget to subscribe
for lots more Extra English Practice And if you liked this, please share it with
your friends so they can enjoy it too! Yeah.
Story number two starts with bottle
We need a dance break.