EVOLVE Educational Vocational Objective Learning of Vernacular English

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We know that each letter has a name and a role and by using the role of the letter we can read and write many words. Now we are going to look at another very important way to spell words - Magic E.

Magic E - When we have a word that finishes with a vowel and a consonant like ‘rat’ we can change the way we say the word by adding ‘e’ to the end of the word - ‘rate’. This letter ‘e’ is silent so we don’t say ruh + ah + tuh + eh - we say the ‘a’ as its name ay so rate is:

ruh + ay + tuh

Lets take the examples from the last exercise:

hat = h + a + t or huh + ah + tuh

BUT

hate = huh + ay + tuh

 

bat = b + a + t or buh + ah + tuh

BUT

bate = buh + ay + tuh

 

pin = p + i + n or puh + i + nuh

BUT

pine = puh + ai + nuh

 

pan = p + a + n or puh + ah + nuh

BUT

pane = puh + ay+ nuh

 

rip = r + i + p or ruh + i + puh

BUT

ripe = ruh + ai + puh

Magic E will change the vowel before the last consonant in most words. Sometimes we don’t want this to happen because it can change the meaning of a word, to stop this; we write the last consonant of the word twice (two times) and the magic E cannot change the vowel. Let’s see this in action:

If you teach you are a teacher

If you work you are a worker

If you play you are a player

If you make hats you are NOT a hater

 - This is because a hater is someone who hates - a different meaning. Here the magic E is changing one word into another; we stop this by writing the last consonant twice, so:

If you make hats you are a hatter

This rule is the same for many words when we add -er, -est, -ed and -ing to the end, -ing is not spelled with an ‘e’ but the same rule works.

If you run you are a runner - you like running

We often write words that end with these letters with the last consonant twice:

b rubbing       d padded       g biggest       l taller           m programming        

          n spinner       p tipper         r warring        t hottest

 

If we want the magic E rule (including -er, -est, -ed and -ing) to change the pronunciation, we do not double the last consonant, we just replace the magic E with the endings above.

 

Finally, sometimes ‘y’ can act as magic E too - sun = sunny