Consonant Sounds

f l m n r s v z sh th ng
ff ll mm nn rr ss ve zz nk
ph le mb kn wr se se
gn c s
ce
sc
ci

b c d g h j p qu t w x y ch
bb k dd gg g pp tt wh tch
ck ge
dge

Vowel Sounds

a e i o u ay ee igh ow
ea a-e y i-e o-e
a ea ie oa
ai e i o
ey e-e y oe
ie ey eye ough
aigh ie
eigh

oo oo ar or air ir ou oy ire ear ure ire

u-e oor are ur ow oi
ue ore ear er ough
ew aw eir or
ou au ere ear
augh
ough

Prefixes

un- re- in- im- il- ir- dis- en- em- non- over-

mis- sub- pre- inter- fore- de- trans- super semi- anti- mid- under-
-

Suffixes

-s -ed -ing -ly -er -or -tion -ible -able -al -y

-es -sion -ial

-ness -ty -ment -ic -ous -en -ive -ful -less -est
 Vowel Sounds - Examples

ay - play ee - see igh - light ow - snow oo - food

a-e - cake y - happy i-e - hide o-e - rose u-e - rude
ai - rain ea - heal ie - pie oa - boat ue - clue
ey - they e-e - these oe - toe ew - few
ie - vein ey - key ough - dough ou - group
aigh - straight ie - relief
eigh - eight

oo - book ar - car or - horn air - fair ir - bird ou - loud

oor - door are - share ur - nurse ow - cow
ore - bore ear - bear er - better ough - plough
aw - draw eir - their or - word
au - August ere - there ear - learn
augh - naught
ough - fought

oy - toy ire - fire ear - hear ure - sure

oi - join

Prefixes

prefix meaning example

e.g. unfair
un- ‘not’
not fair
e.g. redo
re- ‘again’
do again

in- ‘in, on, or not’ e.g. invalid not valid

‘not or no’ e.g. imperfect

im- (used with adjectives and nouns
that begin with b, m, or p)
not perfect
‘not’ e.g. illegal
il- (used with adjectives and nouns
that begin with l)
not legal
e.g. irresponsible
ir- ‘not or the opposite of’
not responsible
e.g. disappear
dis- ‘not or the opposite of’
to not appear
e.g. endanger
en- ‘to cause’
to put someone in danger
‘to cause’ e.g. empower
em- (used with adjectives and nouns
that begin with b, m, or p)
to give power to someone
e.g. nonfiction
non- ‘not’
not fiction
over- ‘too much or more than e.g. overachieve
 enough’ to achieve too much

prefix meaning example

e.g. mistrust
‘incorrect, wrong or
mis- to not have trust in
negating’
someone
e.g. subway
sub- ‘under or beneath’ ‘a path or tunnel
underground’
e.g. preschool
pre- ‘ before or prior to’
before school
e.g. international
inter- ‘between or together’ together with different
nations
e.g. forecast
fore- ‘before or in front of’ a prediction before the
event
e.g. defrost
de- ‘of or from’ to remove frost from
somewhere
e.g. transatlantic
trans- ‘across’ to travel across the
Atlantic
e.g. ‘supercharge’
super- ‘more, above or beyond’ to charge more than
others
e.g. semicircle
semi- ‘half or partly’
a half circle
e.g. antibacterial
anti- ‘against or opposite’ something that fights
against bacteria
‘being at or near the e.g. midday
mid-
middle’ the middle of the day
e.g. underachieve
‘less, lower, not enough,
under- to achieve less than you
beneath, or below’
should
 Suffixes

suffix meaning example

Changes nouns from

-s singular to plural and verbs e.g. cat to cats
-es into third person singular. I talk to he talks
(If the word ends x, zz, ss, ch or
sh, add the suffix –es.)
e.g. A few days ago she
-ed ‘in the past’
walked her dog.
e.g. She is walking her dog
-ing ‘still going on’
today.
e.g. The staff are very
Added to nouns to form
friendly.
-ly adjectives that describe
This was a cowardly thing
someone or something.
to do.
e.g. greener
‘more’ More green than
-er something else.
‘names of occupations e.g. teacher
(jobs) Someone who teaches.
-tion ‘state of or result of’ e.g. pollution
(If the original word ends in ss
-sion use –sion.)
A result of polluting.
‘able to’
(Most -ible words cannot stand on e.g. possible
-ible
their own. They need the suffix to It can be done.
be a word.)
‘can be done or is able to’ e.g. adorable
-able (Added to full words, often dropping
an “e” in the process.)
It is cute.
e.g. The family enjoyed
-al
‘having characteristics of’ the tropical weather on
-ial
their last trip.
e.g. The insect bites were
-y ‘characterized by’
red and itchy.
suffix meaning example

-ness

-ty

-ment

-ic

-ous

-en

-ive

-ful

-less

-est