Different Spellings of English Phonemes

The English language has an irregular spelling system. The result is that many English phonemes can be spelt in various ways. Here are examples:

[f] forest off phone
[i] defeat feet grieve happy receive 
[k] car neck school skate
[m] hymn lamb morning
[n] knee now sign
[s] cycle pass seat
[o] so row though toe 
[u] boot do glue manoeuvre rude shoe you 
[v] of vine
[z] his possession zoo

Vowel sounds in particular often have many different spellings. This is especially true of the schwa, the reduced vowel present in words such as actor, singer and sugar. The list illustrates that many English phonemes have a variety of spellings.

Mate in 18

In a game of speed chess I mated my opponent in 18 moves. My opponent was Borosimic of Germany, who played black. Here are the moves of the game along with my commentary:

1. e4 g6
2. d4 Bg7
3. Nf3 e6
4. Be3 h6

I overprotect my d-pawn. Black has only one developed piece.

5. Nc3 Nc6
6. Bd3 a6

Black's move prevents me from moving a piece to b5, but it's better for black to develop a piece.

7. Qe2 b5

I can castle on either side.

8. a3 Bb7
9. 0-0 Nf6
10. Rad1 g5

Black decides not to castle.

11. d5 Ne7
12. dxe fxe

I want to deliver a check with my queen on h5, but to do so I must move the black knight from f6 and clear the diagonal for my queen.

13. e5 g4

I expect the black knight to move, but black counterattacks.

14. Nd4 Nfd5
15. Qxg4 Nxe3

Here I have the option of capturing the black knight, but I decide to check first to prevent castling.

16. Qh5+ Kf8
17. fxe3+ Kg8

I capture with check. Mate is now inevitable.

18. Qf7#

My bishop prevents the white king from escaping to h7. All of black's pieces are on his first and second ranks. Black plays aggressively, but his failure to protect his king leads to his defeat.

Ten Common English Affixes

English has many affixes. They can be either prefixes or suffixes, but the majority are suffixes. Here is a list of ten common affixes with examples:

-able changeable, laughable, presentable
-al emotional, regional, verbal
-er painter, singer, teacher
-ful careful, doubtful, wonderful
-ish childish, greenish, selfish
-less careless, effortless, endless 
-ment establishment, government, punishment
-ness awareness, kindness, weakness
un- unhappy, unkind, unsure
-y rainy, salty smelly

Here is the structure of the affixes:

-able V + able
-al N + al
-er V + er
-ful N + ful
-ish N +ish, V + ish
-less N + less
-ment V + ment
-ness A + ness
un- un + A
-y N + y

Most of the affixes from the list combine with nouns or verbs. The agentive suffix -er as in teacher can also be a resident suffix as in Londoner. In certain cases the spelling of the base changes as a result of affixation as in beauty/beautiful.

Pumpkin Soup

Pumpkin soup is healthy and delicious. This French recipe is simple and sure to please. Here is the recipe:

4 tablespoons butter
1 pumpkin peeled and chopped without the seeds
1/2 cup warm water
salt
nutmeg
5 cups milk
1/4 cup rice

Melt the butter in a large pan and add the pumpkin.
Stir well and cook for 10 minutes over low heat.
Add the warm water, salt and nutmeg.
Cover and cook until soft.
Put in a blender and reduce to a puree with a little milk.
Return to the pan with the remaining milk.
Add the rice.
Bring to a boil.
Cook uncovered over low heat for 30 minutes.
If you wish, serve with garlic croutons.

Pronunciation of Irish Names

Irish names are often pronounced very differently from the way they look. Like English the Irish language isn't so phonetic. Here is a list of Irish names with the correct pronunciation:

Girls' Names

Aoife (eefa)
Caoimhe (keeva, kweeva)
Maeve (mayv)
Niamh (neeav, neev)
Saoirse (seersha, sairsha)

Boys' Names

Cillian (kileean)
Daithi (dahee)
Eoin (oin)
Oisin (uhsheen, osheen)
Seamus (shaymus)

The pronunciation of many Irish names is quite different from the spelling. The c in Irish is always pronounced [k] and all the names have first-syllable stress. The list gives the pronunciation of popular Irish names.

Silent Letters in English

English has many silent letters. They often reflect an older pronunciation of the language. Here is a list of words with silent letters:

autumn
calm
castle
doubt
guard
honest
hope
island
sword
thumb

Silent letters are very common in English. As the list illustrates, many letters can be silent in different words. Many words such as hope have a silent e at the end of a word. In this case the e is a diacritic letter. It is silent, but it also changes the sound of the preceding vowel. In the word hop the vowel quality is different.

Fire and Ice

The American poet Robert Frost wrote the short poem Fire And Ice. Here it is:

Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.
From what I've tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire.
But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To say that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice.

The poem has nine verses. The rhyme scheme is abaabcbcb. Verses 2, 8 and 9 are short verses with four syllables, and the other verses all have eight. The poem is very philosophical and discusses the power of fire and ice to destroy the world. Fire can represent nuclear war, and ice can represent not only an event such as the ice age but also apathy and indifference.