step051.htm/20DEC2001

Step 51: Doubling

Read through this section. You may decide to leave it until later, for very young children age 3 or 4, but for older children and adults, this section is very useful at this point as a way of making them consider letters/sounds and to stop them guessing for meaning, etc., or predicting. This emphasises that reading is all about letters, a particular sequence of letters.

e' can ”Jump back over one letter" and make a previous vowel say its name, but cannot jump over two letters, Consider:

rip/ripper/ripe bet/better/Peter but/butter/Bute whip/whippet/wipe

When you want the short a to remain short, when you want to keep the sound of pat in patter, you cannot just put 'er' after pat, because you would then have a‑e, pater. Because the 'e' cannot lump back over two letters, you double the consonant in between, which then makes a wall, and the later e cannot jump back over it. Play around with these words:

ripe trip tripe strip stripe stripped striped

ripping tripping stripping striping

Consider comparatives ending in ‑er, and superlatives ending in ‑est:

wide wider widest

safe safer safest

fine finer finest

but... fat fatter fattest

thin thinner thinnest

Try: hot h_____ h_____

big b_____ h_____

When you want a double k, you put ‑ck:-

baker packing packet cracker jacket

pecking Becket

biker licking wicket cricket ticket

joker locking pocket locket socket rocket

duke sucking bucket

It is not just the vowel e that can affect a previous vowel. Any vowel can make a

vowel 2 letters earlier say its name, and y is a vowel. Consider:- rabid/rabbit

pupil/puppet duty/putty duly/dully holy/holly

uniform/bunny acorn/accord

This is useful, but it is not a 100% rule; there are exceptions. Sometimes we can have VCV

(vowel ‑consonant ‑vowel) and the first vowel is short: atom, lemon, robin, but looking at it

the other way, when we DO have a double consonant, the vowel in front is always short:

button patter borrow yellow marry (cf. Mary)

Because i works like e, when you add ‑ing, you drop the e. You do not need both.

Root word ‑ing ‑ed ‑er

Hop hopping hopped hopper (‑pp)

Hope hoping hoped hoper

Try:- strip str_____ str_____ str____

Stripe str_____ str_____ str_____

Mat m_____ m______ m_____

Rub r______ r_______ r______

Trim t______ t_______ t______

Now try, these. Do you double the last consonant, do you drop the e, or do you make no change at all before you add the ending (suffix)?

Wipe w________ w_______ w_______

Lick l_______ l_______ l_______

Stop s_______ s_______ s_______

Rust r_______ r_______

Bake b_______ b_______ b_______

Fetch f_______ f_______ f_______

Wish w_______ w_______ w_______

Notice: like liked liking but lick licked lick

rake raked raking but rack racked racking

Jokes

1) How can you communicate with a fish? Drop him a line.

2) Two boys were born on the same day, on the same date, to the same set of parents.

They look alike, think alike, and behave alike, yet they are not twins. What are they?

They are 2 of a set of triplets.

3) What kind of snake is good at sums? An adder.

Vowel .... e

To make words, add in the spaces:

a. e: r_k_ g_t_s sp_d_ wh_l_ sn_k_

i. e: k_t_ sp_r_ d_v_ sl_d_ w_n_ p_p_

o. e: n_s_ r_s_ gl_b_ c_n_ b_n_ tadp_l_

u. e: c ‑ b t ‑ b ‑ f l ‑ t ‑

then write the correct word beside each picture below.

Get the pupil to sound the sounds of the new words.

Choose Activities from the Contents page.