Usually before e, i or y
| Rarely not before e, i , y | ||||
| age
cage gel gem gents gist huge page rage sage stage wage |
advantage
average baggage bandage beverage blockage bondage breakage cabbage carnage carriage cartilage coinage cottage courage coverage damage digest disadvantage discourage disparage dosage drainage encourage envisage foliage footage forage frontage garbage gerbil heritage homage image language leakage leverage linkage luggage manage marriage message mileage orphanage package parentage passage patronage peerage percentage pilgrimage pillage plumage postage rampage ravage rummage salvage sausage savage sewage shortage shrinkage silage slippage spillage stoppage storage suffrage tonnage tutelage usage vantage vicarage village vintage voltage voyage wastage wreckage |
agent
agile allergic allergy angel biology clergy danger digit edgy Egypt elegy energy engine engineer fragile fugitive genesis gentle germ German gerund gesture giant ginger ginseng gym gymnastics gyrate gyroscope ingest legend lethargy liturgy logic magic margin merger origin prodigy refugee sludgy stingy strategic surgical synergy tautology tragic trilogy urgent Vegemite vigilant |
analogy
anthology apology astrological biologist cardiologist climatology cosmologist ecologist ecology eligible emergency entomologist etiological etymologist gelati generate genius geological geologist geology gymnasium gyroscope ideology illegible imagination legislature metallurgy musicologist mythological mythology neurological original ornithologist oxygen paraplegic pathological quadriplegic radiology tautology technological |
gaol
margarine veg |
Hi Alison sorry to bug you! I have a question about words like religion, region, legion – how would you suggest teaching these?
After I have taught the main spellings for all the vowel sounds, I usually go through the consonants and unless they only have one or two main spellings, teach variations for each one. In this instance the sound is /j/ as in jump, and I’d ask the student(s) to tell me lots of words containing this sound, and write them out and get them to sort the into groups. I’d make sure that a few words like region and religion are in the mix, and these would form a “gi” group, I have a list of the words I know like this here: https://www.spelfabet.com.au/spelling-lists/sorted-by-sound/j/gi-as-in-region. If you want to prepare this sorting activity ahead of time you can select words from each of the lists here: http://www.spelfabet.com.au/spelling-lists/sorted-by-sound/j/, write the words on cards or slips of paper and hand them out, and then as students find new spellings they can add new headings.
We generally pronounce the letter G as “j” when it is followed by E, I or Y, so in these words the letter “I” helps clarify this pronunciation. If “region” had no letter “I” we would be inclined to pronounce it rhymed with “vegan”. Similarly, we use the spelling GU in quite a few words to clarify that the pronunciation is /g/ not /j/ e.g. guitar, guess, disguise. Hope that all makes sense. All the best, Alison