In the world of phonics, understanding the relationship between letters and their sounds is a crucial step towards becoming a confident reader and speller. As you spend more time practising your spelling, you will start to notice the same letter combinations come up again and again to spell particular sounds.
The combination of the letters a and y in words creates the distinctive long /a/ sound, which is like the /a/ sound you hear the words play, stay, and day.
There six different ways to spell the long /a/ sound, but luckily the ay spelling is most-often used at the end of the word. This means that if you hear a word which ends in a long /a/ sound, the ay spelling will be a safe bet in most cases.
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You can have a day off next week.
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Wait for a dry spell to cut the hay.
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Male birds do not lay eggs.
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Please may I have a piece of cake?
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I insist it's my turn to pay for the drinks.
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A ray of sunshine lit up the wall.
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They say it's a wonderful place to visit.
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He looked at me in a very odd way.
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They dug up a huge amount of clay.
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My hair is beginning to go gray.
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Muslims pray in a mosque.
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Put the glasses on the tray.
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Did St George slay a dragon?
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Stay there, do not move.
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We watched them sway in time to the music.
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Spray the room to freshen the air.
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Stray cats are often very thin.
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