1. GROUNDWORK FOR COLLEGE READING WITH PHONICS
Fourth Edition
John Langan
© Townsend Press

2. Part I, Chapter One: Phonics I: Consonants
THIS CHAPTER IN A NUTSHELL
• Twenty-one of the twenty-six letters of the English alphabet are consonants.
— Fifteen consonants have only one sound when they appear by themselves: b, f, h, j, k, l, m, n, p, r, t, v, w, y, and z.
— Six consonants have more than one sound: c, d, g, q, s, and x.
• There are three types of consonant combinations:
— Consonant blends are combinations that blend the sounds of single consonants, such as score, splash, broke, and lift.
— Consonant digraphs are pairs that combine to make a new sound: phone, their, chip.
— Silent consonants are not pronounced in certain combinations: comb, write, know.
See page 9 in textbook.

3. • how to break a word into parts called syllables
PHONICS
Phonics tells you
• how to break a word into parts called syllables
• how to pronounce each syllable
See page 9 in textbook.

4. CONSONANTS
Twenty-one of the twenty-six letters in the English alphabet are consonants:
b c d f g h j
k l m n p q r
s t v w x y z
See page 10 in textbook.

5. SINGLE CONSONANTS WITH ONLY ONE SOUND
The fifteen consonants below generally have only one sound.
b (bed) l (lump) t (tub)
f (fan) m (mud) v (vine)
h (hog) n (neck) w (web)
j (jab) p (pat) y (yell)
k (kiss) r (rub) z (zoom)
See pages 10 and 11 in textbook.

6. SINGLE CONSONANTS WITH MORE THAN ONE SOUND
The six consonants below have more than one sound.
c g d q s x
See page 11 in textbook.

7. SINGLE CONSONANTS WITH MORE THAN ONE SOUND: Sounds of c
The letter c can have the soft sound of c, as in:
cell city circus
C can also have the hard sound, like a k, as in:
can actor circus
See pages 11 and 12 in textbook.
Soft c: cereal, peace, recess
Hard c: cracker, control, cause
Other examples of words using the soft and hard c sound can be found on pages 11 and 12 of the textbook.
What other words can you think of that are examples of the soft sound of c? of the hard sound of c?

8. SINGLE CONSONANTS WITH MORE THAN ONE SOUND: Sounds of g
The letter g can have the soft sound, like a j, as in:
gym angel magic
G can have the hard sound, as in:
game guess pig
See pages 12 and 13 in textbook.
Soft g: gin, refuge, generous
Hard g: go, get, ground
Other examples of words using the soft and hard g sound can be found on pages 12 and 13 of the textbook.
What other words can you think of that are examples of the soft sound of g? of the hard sound of g?

9. SINGLE CONSONANTS WITH MORE THAN ONE SOUND: Sounds of d
The letter d usually sounds like the d in dot, as in:
date side bleed
Sometimes d can sound like j, as in:
educate schedule soldier
See page 13 in textbook.

10. SINGLE CONSONANTS WITH MORE THAN ONE SOUND: Sounds of q (qu)
The letter q is always followed by u in English. Qu usually sounds like kw, as in:
queen quilt require
Sometimes qu sounds like k, as in:
antique plaque mosquito
See page 14 in textbook.

11. SINGLE CONSONANTS WITH MORE THAN ONE SOUND: Sounds of s
The consonant s usually sounds like the s in salt:
soup unsafe bus
Sometimes s sounds like z, as in the word those.
nose reason hers
See page 14 in textbook.

12. SINGLE CONSONANTS WITH MORE THAN ONE SOUND: Sounds of x
The consonant x usually sounds like ks:
fox next Mexico
When ex is followed by a vowel, it usually sounds like gz.
exact exam exist
See page 14 in textbook.
When x begins a word, it sounds like z, as in the word Xerox.

13. THREE TYPES OF CONSONANT COMBINATIONS
A consonant combination is two or more consonants that work together. There are three kinds of consonant combinations:
• Consonant blends: Combinations that blend the sounds of single consonants. Example: screen
• Consonant digraphs: Consonant pairs that combine to make a new sound. Example: rough
• Silent consonants: Consonants that are silent in certain combinations. Example: lamb
See page 15 in textbook.

14. TYPES OF CONSONANT COMBINATIONS Consonant Blends
Consonant blends are two or more neighboring consonants that keep their own sounds but are spoken together.
Example: monster
There are four major types of consonant blends:
1 Blends that begin with s
2 Blends that end in l
3 Blends that end in r
4 Other blends in the middle or at the end of a word
See page 15 in textbook.

15. TYPES OF CONSONANT COMBINATIONS Consonant Blends: Blends that begin with s
The consonant blends below begin with s. They are found at the beginning and in the middle of words.
sc- scr- sk- sl-
sn- sp- spl- spr-
st- str- sw-
sm-
squ-
See page 16 in textbook.
Three of these blends—sk, sp, st—are also found at the end of words.
Examples:
scrap smog wasp sprout best

16. TYPES OF CONSONANT COMBINATIONS Consonant Blends: Blends that end in l
The consonant blends below end in l. They may be at the beginning or in the middle of a word.
bl- cl- fl- gl- pl-
See page 17 in textbook.
Examples:
bless clam reflect eagle apply

17. TYPES OF CONSONANT COMBINATIONS Consonant Blends: Blends that end in r
The consonant blends below end in r. They may be at the beginning or in the middle of a word.
br- cr- dr- fr- gr-
pr- tr-
See page 18 in textbook.
Examples:
broke increase dream afraid greed
pray contract

18. TYPES OF CONSONANT COMBINATIONS Consonant Blends: Other blends
Below is a list of other consonant blends that may appear in the middle or at the end of a word.
-ft -ld -lt -mp -nd
-nk -nt
See page 19 in textbook.
Examples:
softly child meltdown lamp hand
bankbook painting

19. TYPES OF CONSONANT COMBINATIONS Consonant Digraphs
• A consonant digraph is a pair of consonants that combine together to make a new sound that is very different from the sound of either of the two letters.
• There are three types of digraphs:
1 Digraphs that sound like f: gh and ph
2 Digraphs with new sounds of their own: sh and th
3 A digraph with three sounds: ch
See page 20 in textbook.

20. TYPES OF CONSONANT COMBINATIONS Consonant Digraphs: Digraphs that sound like f
The diagraphs gh and ph each have the sound of the single consonant f.
Examples of words in which gh sounds like f:
laughing enough tough
Examples of words in which ph sounds like f:
phone dolphin graph
See pages 20 and 21 in textbook.

21. TYPES OF CONSONANT COMBINATIONS Consonant Digraphs: Digraphs with new sounds
The diagraph sh does not sound like any single letter. It has a sound of its own.
Examples of words with the digraph sh:
show washer fish
The diagraph th can have the “voiced th sound” or the “unvoiced th sound.”
See page 21 in textbook.
Examples of words with the voiced th sound:
they there bathe
Examples of words with the unvoiced th sound:
third thank bath

22. TYPES OF CONSONANT COMBINATIONS Consonant Digraphs: A digraph with three sounds
The diagraph ch has three different sounds. Most common is the hard and short ch sound as in the word check.
Examples of words with the hard and short ch sound:
chip chief ranch
Sometimes, ch sounds like sh.
Examples of words in which ch sounds like sh:
chef chute Michelle
See pages 21 and 22 in textbook.
Finally, ch sometimes sounds like k.
Examples of words in which ch sounds like k:
chorus character chronic

23. TYPES OF CONSONANT COMBINATIONS Silent Consonants
In certain letter combinations, one of the consonants is silent.
• b is silent after m: bomb climb
• c is silent before k: deck packer
• g is silent before n: gnaw sign
• h is often silent after w when wh begins a word:
whisper white
• w is often silent when a word begins with who:
who whole
See page 23 in textbook.
• k is silent before n: know knife
• w is silent before r: wreck unwrap
• When two of the same consonant are next to each other, one of them is silent: add narrow

24. CHAPTER REVIEW In this chapter, you learned the following:
• Fifteen consonants have only one sound when they stand alone:
b, f, h, j, k, l, m, n, p, r, t, v, w, y, and z.
• Six consonants have more than one sound: c, g, d, q, s, and x.
c certain, curtain q queen, antique
g wage, wag s soup, nose
d date, educate x fox, exact, Xerox
• There are three types of consonant combinations:
— Consonant blends
— Consonant digraphs
— Silent consonants
See page 26 in textbook.
(Chapter Review continues on next slide)

25. CHAPTER REVIEW, continued
• Types of consonant combinations:
— Consonant blends are combinations that blend the sounds of single consonants, such as the following:
Blends beginning with s:
score, scrap, skate, slam, small, snore, spank, splash, sprout, squeak, steel, street, swear
Blends ending with l:
bless, clam, flag, glad, play
Blends ending with r:
broke, crime, dream, free, greed, pray, train
Blends at the end of a syllable or word:
lift, child, belt, dumpster, windbag, bankbook, wanting
See page 26 in textbook.
(Chapter Review continues on next slide)

26. CHAPTER REVIEW, continued
— Consonant digraphs are pairs of consonants that combine to make a new sound, such as the following:
Digraphs that sound like f:
gh laughing ph phone
Digraphs with sounds of their own:
sh fish th(voiced) their th(unvoiced) third
A digraph with three sounds—ch:
chip chef chorus
— Silent consonants are consonants that are not pronounced in certain combinations, including the following:
mb comb gn gnaw who whose
wr write ck deck wh white
kn know
Two consonants together: bell, narrow, fuss
See page 26 in textbook.