Unit 35: A brief history of English spellings
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It can actually be very helpful to explore why our language is, at times, so hard to spell. This unit, therefore, looks at:
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It is worth remembering that the things that make English complex also make it rich, varied and beautiful. That said, you may wonder why English spelling appears to have so many inconsistencies and exceptions and why, unlike some other languages, we have so many options for spelling the same sound. |
It's fun to look at the fictional word:
| ghoti |
How would you pronounce it? Our instinct might be something close to ‘goatee’ but what if I said this word actually spells ‘fish’?
| gh as in rough /f/ |
| o as in women /i/ |
| ti as in station /sh/ |
(Attributed to the brilliant playwright George Bernard Shaw)
So, for more fun, have a go at working out what these could spell. They are all animals:
| Clues | |
| 1. ularghainth | bury leg calendar tough plait not Thames |
| 2. edeigoi | jumped height gum tortoise |
| 3. tiro | fiction red prove |
| 4. chamghanseo | chat manage men hiccough act nut his people |
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No wonder we find it hard! We should never blame ourselves for finding difficult. So, who can we blame? Well, you could blame the fact that English is made up of lots of different languages, some introduced through invasions that happened many, many years ago. |
The Spellzone interactive course is intended to be used online and may not be printed.
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