S is for Swan

Cygnus olor
The Mute Swan is a species introduced to North America. This male is patrolling a pond in Woodbine Park, Toronto.

The sound of S

The sound of S is generally a sibilant or hiss, similar to a soft C.






Sometimes the letter s takes on the sound of sh.




Sometimes the letter s takes on the sound of z. Words ending in —ise, —ize, and —yse or —yze have the same zee sound. The following words are always spelled with an —ise ending.







Some words are invariably spelled with —se, some with —ze. There are others where the —se ending is preferred in the UK, and the —ze ending in the USA. Canadian English is variable. Use only one dictionary to maintain consistency in the way you spell these words.

agonise [UK]; agonize [US and Oxford English Dictionary]

analyse [UK]; analyze [US]

catalyse [UK]; catalyze [US]

dialyse [UK]; dialyze [US]

paralyse [UK]; paralyze [US]

standardise [UK]; standardize [US and OED]

Special reading assignment

  1. Horse seven from race six was scratched.
  2. Cirrus clouds scudded across the sky.


If you like swans, you may like this book, available on Amazon Kindle:

Fifty Shapes of Swan: A Natural History in Photos.


R is for Raccoon


Toronto, Canada, has a large population of raccoons. Sometimes they get into mischief.


re— stands for “again” or “go back”. Sometimes, especially when the root word begins with R or RE, there is a hyphen. Also, if you make up a word starting with RE, you ought to use a hyphen.









Note that a hyphen may indicate a different meaning.

redress vs re-dress

reform vs re-form

rhodo— means “red” or “rosy”.



radio— indicates a relationship with radio or radiation.





er creates an adjective or adverb indicating more, by comparison.





er designates someone (or something) who does or is something.



New Brunswicker




re is sometimes preferred over the more common —er, most often in words that originate from French or Latin. This is one place where spelling variations occur, especially in the USA.

chevre [from French] (cheese)

goitre, goiter [US]

litre, liter [US]

louvre, louver

metre, meter [US]

sabre, saber [US]

theatre, theater [US]

ry, —ery designate a place for something, a class of something, a state or condition of something, or a quality or characteristic of something or someone.

bakery, tannery

finery, mastery

cheery, misery, slavery

snobbery, watery


  1. Find a paragraph in a newspaper or online and look for all the words containing the letter R. How many of them contain a prefix or suffix beginning with R? What is the root of these words? Does the root make sense on its own?
  2. Write down as many verbs as you can think of. Place the prefix re— in front. Do the verbs still make sense? Try to use them in a sentence.


Special reading assignment

  1. Raccoons are native to North America but have spread around the world.
  2. Raccoons do not make good pets. Do you know anyone who has tried to make a pet of one? What happened?


Note: This blog post is an excerpt from a book, “English Manual: Letter by Letter,” to be published in the summer of 2015.

E is for Elephant

Loxodonta africana
This African elephant is about to retire from the Toronto Zoo to a sunny place in California.

Silent Es

Truly silent Es do not affect the pronunciation of the word.

are, come, done, ore

English words don’t end in the letter u or v.

blue, cheque, give, have, love

A silent E may serve to create a syllable.

handle, minute (time), pickle, people

A silent letter E affects the vowel that comes before it, making it sound like its name (a hard or long vowel).

Silent E following an A.

bad, bade; cap, cape; fat, fate; late; rat, rate

Silent E following an E.

pet, Pete

Silent E following an I.

line; rip, ripe; spit, spite

Silent E following an O.

hop, hope; not, note; rose

Silent E following a U.

cut, cute; minute (tiny)

Sometimes, the silent E affects the pronunciation of the consonant that comes before it.

Silent E following a C makes an S sound.

lance; place

Silent E following a G makes a J sound.

badge; charge; luggage

Disappearing silent Es

A silent E is sounded once the following suffixes are added to the word:

ed    note, noted; rate, rated

er     cute, cuter; ripe, riper

est    cute, cutest; ripe, ripest

The silent E is also sounded with the following suffix:

age  line, lineage

The silent E disappears with the following suffixes:

able compare, comparable; measure, measurable; value, valuable

age  dose, dosage; pasture, pasturage; store, storage; use, usage

ing   charge, charging; hope, hoping; rate, rating; store, storing

ment abridge, abridgment; argue, argument; judge, judgment (or “judgement”)

The silent E stays put with the following suffixes:

able manage, manageable

age  acre, acreage; mile, mileage

ly     come, comely; late, lately; love, lovely

ment achieve, achievement; move, movement; place, placement