Sometimes you need to add another letter to spell the long /ē/
sound.
For example:
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ee as in green | ea as in beach | e-e as in athlete | y as in happy |
Use ee in the middle and
sometimes on the end. Some examples: |
The next most common spelling is
ea. Some examples: |
A few words have e-e. Most
of these have more than one syllable. Some examples: |
Use y on the end. Note: this is not a strong /ē/ sound. It can sometimes sound like a short /ĭ/. |
beech* speech screech need* reed* seed weed bleed cheek leek* week* feel heel* peel* reel* steel* seem* been* screen queen deep weep cheep* creep sheep beer deer* peer* steer meet* sweet* street breeze freeze squeeze between thirteen fourteen etc. bee* free three agree coffee degree committee ...and many more |
each peach reach teach lead read* leaf leave beak leak* peak* weak* squeak deal heal real* squeal cream dream stream team* bean* clean jeans* cheap* ear hear* fear spear year feat* cheat wheat east feast least please tease crease grease breathe leave pea sea* flea reason season ...and many more |
here* these theme gene* breve cede accede concede precede concrete compete complete delete obsolete adhere severe sincere interfere persevere Chinese Japanese Portuguese etc. |
angry army baby berry body carry cherry copy curry duty empty every family glory hungry lady marry memory party penalty sorry twenty thirty etc. very Note: -y on the end can also be a suffix e.g. dust + y, sleep + y. More on this in the next Unit. |
Notes: 1) Words marked * are homophones. Please see page 12. 2) Some words use ie to spell the long /ē/ sound, eg. chief, believe. These ie words are in Unit 21. |
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Go to next page: test yourself in spelling the long /ē/ sound |
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