Unit 34: Adding suffixes to longer words – double or not?
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In Unit 9, we examined the rules for adding suffixes to words of one syllable. |
If you add a vowel suffix to a root word with one short vowel followed by only one consonant, you must double that consonant. This stops the short vowel from being changed to a long sound.
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As with one syllable words, with longer words, sometimes we have to double a letter when adding a vowel suffix. With longer words, you only have to double the consonant if the syllable just before the suffix is a stressed syllable. |
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It can be useful, therefore, to remind ourselves about stressed and unstressed syllables: |
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If we stressed every word, we would sound like robots. |
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Hear examples of 'robot' speech. |
In natural speech, words of more than one syllable contain one sound that is stronger than the rest. This is the stressed syllable. Read these aloud and listen for the stress:
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| elephant | gorilla | kangaroo |
You can hear the stressed syllable sound clearly. Try this activity – just type the stressed syllable in the box:
Which is the stressed syllable? |
Type the whole word: |
Skip this exercise and go to the next part of this unit: Adding suffixes to longer words. *
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