I pointed out in a previous blog that the letter C has the K sound unless it is followed by E, I, or Y. That is when the C appears by itself. But when the C joins up with another letter to form a digraph, it can behave like a drunken sailor on payday.
Take the CH for example. Normally, we would expect this digraph to give us the sound in chip, rich, or chachacha. But you can find about forty commonly used words where the CH produces a K sound. School, chorus, and anchor are examples. It’s obvious that these words really don’t need the H after the C.
And it doesn’t end there. About two dozen words exist in which the CH gives us the SH sound: machine, chef, and mustache. Most of the words in this group are words borrowed from the French. That’s fine…but do we have to also retain the French spelling?
The CK digraph is equally strange. Sometimes it appears after a short vowel: sick, sack, sock, suck. In these examples, we can obviously see that the C is shoving itself into a place where it is not really needed. The words sink, sank, and sunk have the K sound without the help of the C.
Then there is the SC. I know of about a dozen commonly used words that use this digraph in which the C remains silent. Whether it is scene, scent, or scissors, the C is wasting its time in those words.
Yes, indeed, the usually well-behaved letter C can sometimes act quite foolishly.
Take the CH for example. Normally, we would expect this digraph to give us the sound in chip, rich, or chachacha. But you can find about forty commonly used words where the CH produces a K sound. School, chorus, and anchor are examples. It’s obvious that these words really don’t need the H after the C.
And it doesn’t end there. About two dozen words exist in which the CH gives us the SH sound: machine, chef, and mustache. Most of the words in this group are words borrowed from the French. That’s fine…but do we have to also retain the French spelling?
The CK digraph is equally strange. Sometimes it appears after a short vowel: sick, sack, sock, suck. In these examples, we can obviously see that the C is shoving itself into a place where it is not really needed. The words sink, sank, and sunk have the K sound without the help of the C.
Then there is the SC. I know of about a dozen commonly used words that use this digraph in which the C remains silent. Whether it is scene, scent, or scissors, the C is wasting its time in those words.
Yes, indeed, the usually well-behaved letter C can sometimes act quite foolishly.
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