ABC's and All Their Tricks

[squirtymomma]

I got this, hoping to use it as a reference.  Today, my 3rd grader misspelled "should".  For the life of me, I could not find a place where it mentions the sound "ou" makes like in "should", "could", "would".  I did finally find those words mentioned in the section on slient "L".  Am I looking in the wrong place?  Are those just exception words that won't be found in the book?  Any tips for using the book a little more efficiently?

[Lori D.]

The only place I am seeing "could", "should", "would" mentioned:

 

1. page 179, on the "L as in Walk" page, listed in the margin as exceptions, following the rule of L is silent before F or D

 

2. page 199, on the "-OU as in Shout" page, listed in the margin as exceptions that specifically have the short OO sound

 

The first reference links you to the exceptions where the L is not pronounced when it occurs right before an F or a D. The second reference links you to where the vowel spelling "OU" is not pronounced as usual (like "ow"), but is pronounced like the "oo" in "book".

 

Normally, you get info in the paragraph at the bottom of the page, or any additional information is provided in the section on each specific letter -- in this case, pages  170-172 on "The Letter L", and p. 182-185 on "The Letter O". But, there is no additional information in this case on the origin of the spelling and pronunciation of this particular set of words.

 

Sounds like you used the book in the same why I would have. Just occasionally, it does not have the info or rule that you are hoping to find, probably because there is none.

 

 

I did a google search on the origin of the 3 words, and from reading the dictionary definitions and origins on each, all I came up with is that all 3 come from very different original root words: could (from the verb can), should (from the verb shall), would (from the verb will). Each verb has several uses. One use that all three share is that of helping verb  ("I would have gone." "I should have gone." "I could have gone."), and based on that similar use, back in the 17th/18th centuries when English spelling was being standardized, the helping verb form of each of those 3 different verbs (can, shall, will) got standardized into -ould.

 

Hope that helps. Overall, I found The ABCs and All Their Tricks to be a very helpful spelling resource -- for about 6 years, we made our own spelling based on it and Natural Speller. BEST of luck in your spelling adventures! Warmest regards, Lori D.

 

[squirtymomma]

Wow Lori!  Thank you for such a thorough response!  Very helpful.  Glad to hear that it's been a useful resource for you.  We will press on!

[MerryAtHope]

Yes, most of the time if I can't find a pattern in ABC's, it's because it's an exception--it's just not common enough to be listed as a pattern. Usually if you look for places that it might be (such as other OU pages in this case), you can find the words in the "exceptions" list. Very handy resource overall.

 

Merry :-)