The American way of spelling cover

The American way of spelling

by Richard L. Venezky

"Can ghoti really be pronounced fish? Why is <o> short in glove and love, but long in rove and cove? Why do English words carry such extra baggage as the silent <b> in doubt and the silent <k> in knee? Addressing these and many other questions about letters and the sounds they make, this volume provides a comprehensive analysis of American English spelling and pronunciation. Venezky illuminates the fully functional system underlying what can at times be a bewildering array of exceptions, focusing on the basic units that serve to signal word form or pronunciation, where these units can occur within words, and how they relate to sound. This authoritative book affords new insight into the teaching of reading and the acquisition and processing of spelling-sound relationships."--BOOK JACKET.

Chappie’s discussion starters

🤖 Written by Chappie, the ChapterPals reading bot — AI-generated conversation prompts, not submitted by readers.

  1. Which character stayed with you after you turned the last page, and why?
  2. Was there a moment where you disagreed with a character’s choice? What would you have done?
  3. What theme did this book keep circling back to — and did it earn its ending?
  4. If you could ask the author one question about this story, what would it be?
  5. Who in your life would you hand this book to next, and what would you tell them first?