Nearly all other words of this type take the _a_ form.
The instructor should drill the pupils in spelling not only these "catch" words, but a wide range of English words. These lessons may be taken to advantage from some of the books mentioned in the list for supplementary reading, from any other good spelling book, or even from the pages of any well printed book or magazine. The words should be given out orally and written down by the pupil. A good exercise is the reading of a paragraph from any good book, or some stanza of poetry, the passage read to be taken down by the pupil with care to spell, punctuate, and capitalize properly.
A number of topics sometimes treated under the head of spelling will be found discussed in the "Printer's Manual of Style" (No. 41).
The English language is a difficult one to pronounce as well as to spell. This arises from two causes. The English language has some sounds not generally found in other languages, such as _w_ and _th_. As has already been pointed out, the alphabet fits the language very badly. Careful lexicographers indicate no less than seven sounds of _a_, five of _e_, three of _i_, four of _o_ and six of _u_, as shown in the following table:
[=a] as in [=a]le [Ia] as in sen[Ia]te [)a] as in [)a]m á as in ásk [a:] as in [a:]ll ä as in fäther (a) as in fin(a)l
[=e] as in [=e]ve [)e] as in [)e]nd [Ie] as in ev[Ie]nt [~e] as in f[~e]rn (e) as in prud(e)nce
[=i] as in [=i]ce [Ii] as in [Ii]dea [)i] as in p[)i]n
[=o] as in [=o]ld [Io] as in [Io]pen [)o] as in [)o]dd ô as in ôrb
[=u] as in [=u]se [Iu] as in [Iu]nite [)u] as in [)u]p [u:] as in r[u:]de [u=] as in f[u=]ll û as in ûrn
In addition to these there are diphthongs, combinations of vowel sounds pronounced as one syllable, such as
There are also a number of digraphs or combinations of vowels or consonants which have but one sound, such as
_ai_ as in _rain_ _eo_ as in _people_ _ou_ as in _soup_ _ou_ as in _soul_ _ph_ as in _phalanx_ _ch_ as in _chorus_ or _chair_
_C_ has two sounds, hard before _a_, _o_, and _u_, as in _cat_, _cot_, and _cut_, and soft before _e_, _i_, and _y_, as in _cell_, _city_, and _cycle_.
_G_ has two sounds, hard before _a_, _o_, and _u_, as in _gate_, _gone_, and _gun_, soft before _e_, _i_, and _y_, as in _gem_, _gin_, and _gyve_, although it is sometimes hard before _i_ as in _girl_.