GROUNDWORK FOR

COLLEGE READING
WITH PHONICS
Fourth Edition

John Langan

2008 Townsend Press

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

PHONICS

Phonics tells you

how to break a word into parts called
syllables
how to pronounce each syllable

CONSONANTS

Twenty-one of the twenty-six letters in the English

alphabet are consonants:

b
k
s

c
l
t

d
m
v

f
n
w

g
p
x

h
q
y

j
r
z

SINGLE CONSONANTS WITH ONLY ONE

SOUND
The fifteen consonants below generally have only one sound.

b
f
h
j
k

(bed)
(fan)
(hog)
(jab)
(kiss)

l (lump)
m (mud)
n (neck)
p (pat)
r (rub)

t (tub)
v (vine)
w (web)
y (yell)
z (zoom)

SINGLE CONSONANTS WITH MORE THAN

ONE SOUND
The six consonants below have more than one sound.

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

What other words can you think of that are examples

of the soft sound of c? of the hard sound of c?

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

What other words can you think of that are examples

of the soft sound of g? of the hard sound of g?

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

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

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

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

When x begins a word, it sounds like z, as in the word

Xerox.

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

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

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.

scsnst-

scrspstr-

sksplsw-

slspr-

smsqu-

Three of these blendssk, sp, stare also found at the

end of words.
Examples:
scrap

smog

wasp

sprout

best

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-

Examples:
bless

cl-

fl-

gl-

pl-

clam

reflect

eagle

apply

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.

brpr-

Examples:
broke
greed
pray

crtr-

dr-

fr-

increase

dream

afraid

contract

gr-

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
-nk

Examples:
softly
bankbook

-ld
-nt

-lt

child
painting

meltdown

-mp

lamp

-nd

hand

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

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

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.
Examples of words with the voiced th sound:
they
there
bathe
Examples of words with the unvoiced th sound:
third
thank
bath

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

Finally, ch sometimes sounds like k.

Examples of words in which ch sounds like k:
chorus
character
chronic

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

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

CHAPTER REVIEW
Inthischapter,youlearnedthefollowing:
Fifteenconsonantshaveonlyonesoundwhentheystandalone:
b,f,h,j,k,l,m,n,p,r,t,v,w,y,andz.
Sixconsonantshavemorethanonesound:c,g,d,q,s,andx.
c certain,curtain
q queen,antique
g wage,wag
s soup,nose
d date,educate
x fox,exact,Xerox
Therearethreetypesofconsonantcombinations:
Consonantblends
Consonantdigraphs
Silentconsonants
(Chapter Review continues on next slide)

CHAPTER REVIEW, continued

Typesofconsonantcombinations:
Consonantblendsarecombinationsthatblendthesounds
ofsingleconsonants,suchasthefollowing:
Blendsbeginningwiths:
score,scrap,skate,slam,small,snore,spank,splash,
sprout,squeak,steel,street,swear
Blendsendingwithl:
bless,clam,flag,glad,play
Blendsendingwithr:
broke,crime,dream,free,greed,pray,train
Blendsattheendofasyllableorword:
lift,child,belt,dumpster,windbag,bankbook,wanting
(Chapter Review continues on next slide)

CHAPTER REVIEW, continued

Consonantdigraphsarepairsofconsonantsthatcombine
tomakeanewsound,suchasthefollowing:
Digraphsthatsoundlikef:
gh laughing
ph phone
Digraphswithsoundsoftheirown:
sh fish
th(voiced)their
Adigraphwiththreesoundsch:
chip chef
chorus

th(unvoiced)third

Silentconsonantsareconsonantsthatarenotpronounced
incertaincombinations,includingthefollowing:
mb comb
wr write
kn know

gn gnaw
ckdeck

whowhose
wh white

Twoconsonantstogether:bell,narrow,fuss