The Complete Guide to English Spelling Rules (44 page)

Spelling rule #3: A single
f
is used when it is preceded by a consonant:

Spelling rule #4: The double
f
is used after a short vowel sound. These words are usually single syllable words. In multi-syllable words, the double
f
is always preceded by a short vowel sound.

Note that no commonly used English word starts with a double
f
.

A single
f
may occasionally follow a short vowel sound when the
f
is followed by a consonant. These words will usually be compounds or the
f
will be followed by the letter
t
.

Anomalies include
of, if, chef, clef,
and
pilaf.

There are two other ways to produce the
f
sound. We can use
gh
or
ph.
The
gh
digraph is the least common of the
f
sounds, but, unfortunately, it is attached to some very popular words:

Most of these very old words did not originally have this
gh
ending. All but one were spelled with a simple
h
and were pronounced rather like the Scottish
loch
or the Irish
lough
.

While the British still cling to draught and draughty, in North America we have long ago switched to draft and drafty. Similarly, while they spell it slough and pronounce it to rhyme with cow, we are in the process of switching to slue and sluff, depending on how the word is used.

As for the other words, their days are numbered. At the present time no dictionary contains the words
tuff, coff
, or
laff
. but they have already made their debut in comic strips, colloquial writing, advertising, and other light or humorous pieces. It is inevitable that these more logical and phonetically correct spellings will eventually replace the archaic, anachronistic forms.

Making the
f
sound with
ph
is quite another matter. Almost all of the sixty or more commonly used words, from
photo
and
phone
to
phobia
and
graph,
plus countless scientific terms, are of Greek origin and are now deeply imbedded in our language.

We must wonder why the ancient translators chose to use
ph
when the Greeks used a single letter
phi (
Φ
)
or why they did not simply use the
f
. Many languages, most notably Spanish, logically use the
f
:

Perhaps the change is already happening. Today, the name
Stephen
is more commonly spelled
Steven
, and we also have the unaccepted but very popular
foto
for
photograph.

C
HAPTER 47

Using
wh
and
h

H
undreds of English words use the
wh
digraph. It usually appears at the beginning of a word and never at the end. If it occurs in the middle of a word, it will most probably be part of a compound.

.... the board game of draughts is called checkers in North America and the word draught is now spelled draft.

Spelling rule #1: When the
wh
is followed by
a, e, i,
or
y,
the
w
is pronounced and the
h
is almost silent:

Spelling rule #2: When the
wh
is followed by
o
, some of the words have the emphasis on the
w
, but most will emphasize the
h
.