/ā/as in ape | ![]() |
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How to spell the long /ā/ sound: |
1) In some words of more than one syllable you just need the letter a,
for example:
acorn | apron | alien | agent | basic | basin | data | fatal |
(more on this in the next Unit - Syllables: Vowel and Consonant Patterns)
2) Sometimes you need to add another letter, for example:
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a-e as in snake | ai as in train | ay as in pray | ei as in reindeer |
Add e on the end. Many words
use a-e to spell the long /ā/
sound. Some examples: |
The next most common way is to use
ai. Some examples: |
Use ay on the end of a word. Some examples: |
Only a few words use ei.
(See Unit 21 for more on these words) Some examples: |
ale ate* grade made* trade bake brake* shake* stake* male* sale* vale* game flame frame mane* plane* tape grape scrape chase gate* grate* plate skate paste taste waste* brave shave blaze graze amaze escape inflate translate migrate vibrate behave calculate emigrate estimate hesitate ...and many more |
aid aim paid fail mail* sail* tail* snail claim main* pain* chain plain* stain strain vain* wait* gait* paint faint waist* again afraid entail explain complain contain detail obtain maintain remain ...and many more |
day Sunday Monday etc. hay lay may pay ray say way* clay play pray* fray tray slay* stay sway spray stray away always betray dismay display decay delay essay portray relay ![]() grey (US gray) prey* they obey convey survey |
reins* vein* veil* sheik* (also sheikh) reign* neigh weigh* sleigh* eight* freight weight* |
Notes: 1) Words marked * are homophones. Please see page 6. 2) Words ending in -ace are in Unit 20. |
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Go to next page: test yourself in spelling the long /ā/ sound |
"I ran the trial with a small group of students over three weeks before the summer holidays," she says. "I quickly saw the benefits, and signed up."
King's Leadership Academy, Warrington