Syllabication Rules

Syllabication Rules

Rules	The Problem with the Rule
1. Every syllable has one vowel sound.	A diphthong has two vowels. The "OW" sound as in the word out has two vowel sounds "ah" and "oo" that come together.
2. The number of vowel sounds equals the number of syllables.	See above.
3. When you hyphenate a word hyphenate between syllables.	See Rule 5.
4. Never hyphenate a one syllable word such as "go, jump, in, the, and lake."
5. Consonant digraphs and blends are never separated. blend-ing not blen-ding. clash-ing not clas-hing, march-ing not marc-hing fast-ing not fas-ting	See Rule 3. In speech the word blending is properly pronounced as two syllables: blen ding.
Hyphenate compound words between the words as in: book-store book-case	but notice the word notice is not not-ice nor is Sheraton, she-rat-on.:
Hyphenate words between the prefix and the root word or the root word and the suffix as in: mis-understanding or misunderstand-ing or misunder-standing
When two or more consonant come together, hyphenate between the first two consonants as in blis-ter,	The Rules about compound words, consonant blends, prefixes, and suffixes supercede: Home-schoolers not Homes-choolers (Compound) streng-then not stren-gthen, (ng is consonant blend) trans-atlantic not tran-satlantic friend-ship.not frien-dship
Divide a word so that the syllable either at the end of a line or at the beginning of the next has at least three letters. The following words should not be divided: divided, about, above, below, around, nickel, taxi, major, minor, cabin,	In other words, words of five or fewer letters should never be hyphenated because you must have at least three letters at the end of the line and at least three at the beginning, and three and three is six, and five is less than six.

Don’t suffer over your spelling ?

A curious article in the Journal of Reading, November 1982, page 168.

Don’t suffer over your spelling

“From what I understand, spelling ability correlates with nothing – not with intelligence, not with verbal ability, not with age (after childhood), not with eye color, left-handedness, cyclothymia, blood type, structure boundedness, authoritarian impulses, sex, race, religion, national origin, or any other measure the testers can develop. Some people spell well, some people don’t, and that’s all there is to it. If by the time you’re twelve or thirteen you don’t spell well, you probably never will, and you should plan your life accordingly.”

From A Handbook for Scholars by Mary-Claire van Leunen, p. 27. 1978 Reprinted by permission of Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.

The editors of the INTERNATIONAL READING ASSOCIATION’s publication, Journal of Reading, published this excerpt with no comment! We at AVKO are speechless.

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Those Grand Old Burma Shave Road Signs

Those Grand Old Burma Shave Road Signs TRAINS DON'T WANDER ALL OVER THE MAP 'CAUSE NOBODY SITS IN THE ENGINEER'S LAP Burma Shave SHE KISSED THE HAIRBRUSH BY MISTAKE SHE THOUGHT IT WAS HER HUSBAND JAKE Burma Shave Remember these? For those who never saw any of the Burma Shave signs, here is a quick Lesson in our history of the 1930s and '40s. Before there were interstates, when everyone drove the old 2 lane roads, Burma Shave signs would be posted all over the countryside in farmers' fields. They were small red signs with white letters. Five signs, about 100 feet apart, each containing 1 line of a 4 line couplet...... and the obligatory 5th sign advertising Burma Shave, a popular shaving cream. Here are more of the actual signs: DON'T LOSE YOUR HEAD TO GAIN A MINUTE YOU NEED YOUR HEAD YOUR BRAINS ARE IN IT Burma Shave DROVE TOO LONG DRIVER SNOOZING WHAT HAPPENED NEXT IS NOTAMUSING Burma Shave BROTHER SPEEDER LET'S REHEARSE ALLTOGETHER GOOD MORNING, NURSE Burma Shave CAUTIOUS RIDER TO HER RECKLESS DEAR LET'S HAVE LESS BULL AND MORE STEER Burma Shave SPEED WAS HIGH WEATHER WAS NOT TIRES WERE THIN X MARKS THE SPOT Burma Shave THE MIDNIGHT RIDE OF PAUL FOR BEER LED TO A WARMER HEMISPHERE Burma Shave AROUND THE CURVE LICKETY-SPLIT BEAUTIFUL CAR WASN'T IT? Burma Shave NO MATTER THE PRICE NO MATTER HOW NEW THE BEST SAFETY DEVICE IN THE CAR IS YOU Burma Shave A GUY WHO DRIVES A CAR WIDE OPEN IS NOTTHINKIN' HE'S JUST HOPIN' Burma Shave AT INTERSECTIONS LOOK EACH WAY A HARP SOUNDS NICE BUT IT'S HARD TO PLAY Burma Shave BOTH HANDS ON THE WHEEL EYES ON THE ROAD THAT'S THE SKILLFUL DRIVER'S CODE Burma Shave THE ONE WHO DRIVES WHEN HE'S BEEN DRINKING DEPENDS ON YOU TO DO HIS THINKING Burma Shave CAR IN DITCH DRIVER IN TREE THE MOON WAS FULL AND SO WAS HE. Burma Shave And my all time favorite: PASSING SCHOOL ZONE TAKE IT SLOW LET OUR LITTLE SHAVERS GROW Burma Shave Do these bring back any old memories? If not, you're merely a child. If they do - then you're old as dirt... LIKE ME! and I remember: Don't stick your elbow Out so far It may go home In another car. BURMA SHAVE

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The Reading Teacher’s List of over 5,500 Basic Spelling Words

The Reading Teacher’s List of over 5,500 Basic Spelling Words

Check What They Know and What They Don’t- Use with 4th Grade and above

Parent/Teachers can create their own Sequential Spelling Tests based upon their own students' needs and difficulty levels. This book helps parent and teacher find students true reading level and can therefore be a wonderful tool for checking decoding and comprehension skills. It also contains the most recent National Spelling Survey results.

www.spelling.org

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