Why is there an e at the end of this word? There are a few reasons for these seemingly random e’s at the end of words.
- The vce or magic e syllable. Of course we all know that an e at the end of a word with only one consonant between the e and the vowel before it will make the vowel say it’s name. Examples: bike, cake, poke, Pete, cute.
- -cle syllable. The e is what makes -cle a syllable. Examples: circle, turtle and table. There are a few other words that need the e at the end to make it a syllable: acre, massacre, mediocre and the British spelling of words like theatre and centre.
- e can distinguish singular from plural words. The word “books” means more than one “book.” However the word “purse” does not mean more than one “pur.” The final e marks the word as singular. Examples: horse, nurse, blouse, house.
- To make c say /s/ and g say /j/. The letters c and g say their soft sounds (/s/ and /j/) when they are followed by an e, i, or y. If a c or g says it’s soft sound at the end of a word an e is added after the c or g to indicate the correct pronunciation. Examples: judge, bounce, source, plunge, sponge. It can also do double duty like in mice, (magic e and c says /s/) and explains why occasionally, like in the word “notice,” the i is not saying it’s name. In this case the e is only directing the pronunciation of the letter c. (Note: -ang is long vowel cheater chunk, so strange and change are the cheater chunk -ang as in bang with the song /g/ sound and not a magic e word.)
- e makes a th at the end of a word use it’s voiced sound, and the vowel say it’s name even though th are two letters. Examples: breathe vs. breath, clothe, vs. cloth, bathe vs. bath.
- English doesn’t end words in i, u, or v. Examples: nerve, serve, blue, lie.
- Cheater Chunk -aste. This is an uncommon cheater chunk that comes at the end of words. The only common words are: taste, haste, paste, waste and chaste. (The only word that does not conform is caste.)
- We don’t know: giraffe, were, are, awe, owe, axe, bye, dye.
Max vs. chicks. Click here to learn when we use a letter x to spell the sound /cks/ and when we use the letters cks.