Unit 11: Spelling choices for /er/ sound: er, ir, ear or er
Page 4 of 8
Some of the longer words with these spelling patterns are listed under the clue words. If you are unsure use 'Learn the Words' below.
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| burger | shirt | earth | person |
| burden incur occur recur urban turban hurdle gurgle turtle disturb perturb surplus survive |
affirm confirm infirm circular circulation circuit circumference circumstance |
yearn dearth hearse earnest research rehearse |
alert expert external conserve conversation dessert divert deter deserve fertile permanent reserve refer universe university terminal terminate |
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| All the words in the 4th column above have a very clear /er/ sound. | |||
| dinner | hammer | driver | sweeter |
Sometimes, our vowel sounds are lost if they are in an unstressed syllable. A weak vowel sound is called the schwa (from the Hebrew 'emptiness') because it can sound like there is no vowel there at all. But equally, it can sound like it is written or it can sound like it is replaced with a different vowel sound, depending on your accent.
Different vowels spell the schwa sound. There are no rules. We have to remember them. Unit 24 tells you more about them.
You have not completed Learn the Words activities for each word list on this page.
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