2.12: The Consonant Sounds [f] and [v]

Overview of the Consonant Sounds [f] and [v]

Usually [f] is spelled <f>, but sometimes it is spelled <ff>, sometimes <ph>, sometimes <gh>. 

The sound [v] is spelled <v> — except in one word, where it is spelled <f>.

Examples

You can hear the sound [f] at the end of leaf.

You can hear the sound [v] at the end of leave.

Review

1. Underline the letters that spell [f] and [v]:
   
\begin{align*} &\text{even} && \text{after} && \text{enough} && \text{every}\\ &\text{safely} && \text{phone} && \text{five} && \text{laugh}\\ &\text{visitor} &&\text{coffee} && \text{further} && \text{follow}\\ &\text{gave} &&\text{elephant} && \text{handcuffs} && \text{life}\\ &\text{fifth} &&\text{of} && \text{stiff} && \text{father}\end{align*}
2. Now sort the words into these groups. One word goes into two groups:

   Words With [f] Spelled <f>		Words with [f] spelled <ff>	Words with [f] spelled <gh>	Words with [f] spelled <ph>

   Words with [v] spelled <v>		Word with [v] spelled <f>

3. Four ways of spelling [f] are ______, ______, ______, and ______.
4. How do you spell [v]? Except in the word ______, [v] is spelled ______.

Show Answer

\begin{align*}& e\underline{v}en && a\underline{f}ter && enou\underline{gh} && e\underline{v}ery\\& sa\underline{f}ely && \underline{ph}one && fi\underline{v}e && lau\underline{gh}\\& \underline{v}isitor && co\underline{ff}ee && \underline{f}urther && li\underline{f}e\\&  ga\underline{v}e && ele\underline{ph}ant && handcu\underline{ff}s && li\underline{f}e\\& \underline{f}i\underline{f}th && o\underline{f} && sti\underline{ff} && \underline{f}ather\end{align*}

2. Words With [f] Spelled <f>		Words with [f] spelled <ff>	Words with [f] spelled <gh>	Words with [f] spelled <ph>
   safely	further	coffee	enough	phone
   fifth	follow	stiff	laugh	elephant
   after	life	handcuffs
   five	father

   Words with [v] spelled <v>		Word with [v] spelled <f>
   even	five	of
   visitor	every
   gave

3. Four ways of spelling [f] are <f>, <ff>, <gh> and <ph>
4. How do you spell [v]? Except in the word of, [v] is Spelled <v>

Explore More

Find the twelve words that contain the sound [n]:

elephant	know	dinner	never
century	brown	cannot	children
phone	planning	running	sound

Write the twelve words in alphabetical order:

1. ________
2. ________
3. ________
4. ________
5. ________
6. ________
7. ________
8. ________
9. ________
10. ________
11. ________
12. ________

Show Answer

Write the twelve words in alphabetical order:

1. brown
2. cannot
3. century
4. children
5. dinner
6. elephant
7. know
8. never
9. phone
10. planning
11. running
12. sound

Spelling [f]

Most of the time [f] is spelled <f> or <ff>.

It is usually easy to know when to use <f> versus <ff>. The <ff> is always there for good reasons. Most often it is due to assimilation or the VCC pattern, or it is between a short vowel and <le>. Less often it is due to twinning or simple addition.

Examples

You can hear the sound [f] at the beginning and end of the word fluff.

With <ff> the VCC pattern rather than the VC# is usual at the end of words, as in stiff and staff rather than *stif or *staf. The only words that end with a single <f> following a short vowel and making the [f] sound are the French chef and clef and the English word if. So the only cases of [f] spelled <ff> due to twinning are in iffy, iffier, and iffiest.

Review

1. Underline the letters that spell [f] in the following words.
2. \begin{align*} &\text{florescent} && \text{fastener} && \text{heifer} && \text{foreign}\\ &\text{efficient} && \text{indifferent} && \text{certify} && \text{friendly}\\ &\text{fascinate} &&\text{notify} && \text{golf} && \text{shelf}\\ &\text{buffalo} &&\text{counterfeit} && \text{coffee} && \text{definite}\\ &\text{feisty} &&\text{profanity} && \text{waffles} && \text{iffy}\\ &\text{scientific} &&\text{defrauded} && \text{fezzes} && \text{financier}\end{align*}
3. Sort the words into the following two groups.

   Words with [f] spelled <f>:

   Words with [f] spelled <ff>:

4. About 90% of the time [f] is spelled one of these two ways.
   In the following words, if the <ff> spelling is due to assimilation, twinning, or simple addition, analyze the word into prefix, base, and suffix to show where the <ff> spelling comes from. If the <ff> is due to the VCC pattern or is between a short vowel and <le>, just write ‘VCC’ or ‘<ffle>’ in the Analysis column. Remember that VCC rather than VC# is normal for [f] at the end of the word.

   Word	Analysis
   3. affection
   4. iffy
   5. offering
   6. sheriff
   7. effective
   8. shelfful
   9. gruff
   10. buffalo
   11. indifferent
   12. efficient
   13. waffles
   14. daffodil
   15. suffered
   16. iffiest
   17. coffee

Show Answer

1. \begin{align*}& \underline{f}luorescent && \underline{f}astener && hei\underline{f}er && \underline{f}oreign \\& e\underline{ff}icient && noti\underline{f}y && gol\underline{f} && shel\underline{f}\\& bu\underline{ff}alo && counter\underline{f}eit && co\underline{ff}ee && de\underline{f}inite\\& \underline{f}eisty && pro\underline{f}anity && wa\underline{ff}les && i\underline{ff}y\\& scienti\underline{f}ic && de\underline{f}rauded && \underline{f}ezzes && \underline{f}inancier\end{align*}

2. Words with [f] spelled <f>:

   fluorescent	notify	certify	shelf
   fascinate	counterfeit	golf	definite
   feisty	profanity	fezzes	financier
   scientific	defrauded	foreign
   fastener	heifer	friendly

   Words with [f] spelled <ff>:

   efficient	indifferent	waffles
   buffalo	coffee	iffy

   Word	Analysis
   3. affection	a d+ f + fect + ion
   4. iffy	if + f + y
   5. offering	o b + f + fer + ing
   6. sheriff	VCC
   7. effective	e x + f + fect + ive
   8. shelfful	shelf + ful
   9. gruff	VCC
   10. buffalo	VCC
   11. indifferent	in + di s + f + fer + ent
   12. efficient	e x+ f + fic + i + ent
   13. waffles	<ffle>
   14. daffodil	VCC
   15. suffered	su b+ f + fer + ed
   16. iffiest	if + f + y+ i + est
   17. coffee	VCC

[f] Spelled <ph>, <pph>, <gh>, <lf>, and <ft>

Usually the sound [f] is spelled <f> or <ff>. Sometimes [f] is spelled <ff> because of twinning, assimilation, simple addition, VCC, or VCCle#. Words with <ff> due to twinning are iffy, iffier, and iffiest. Five other spellings of [f] are <ph>, <pph>, <gh>, <lf>, and <ft>.

Examples

In the words calf, behalf, and half, [f] is spelled <lf>. The <l> used to be pronounced [l] — as it still is in words like golf and shelf— but in time people changed the pronunciation of calf, behalf, and half without changing their spellings.

In the words often and soften, [f] is spelled <ft>. The <t> used to be pronounced. You still hear some people who pronounce the <t> in often. In fact, some dictionaries show two pronunciations for often, one with and one without the [t]. But usually the <ft> just spells [f].

The <ph> spelling of [f] usually comes from the Greek letter phi, which was translated into Latin and English as <ph>. In sapphire [f] is spelled <pph>. Sapphire comes from the Greek word σα´πϕεlρoς, sappheiros, in which the first <p> was the Greek letter pi, π, and the <ph> was phi, ϕ.

Review

1. Underline the letters that spell [f] in the following words.
   \begin{align*} &\text{physics} && \text{prophet} && \text{phenomenon} && \text{xerography}\\ &\text{elephant} && \text{asphalt} && \text{xenophobia} && \text{paragraph}\\ &\text{sphere} &&\text{philosophy} && \text{telephone} && \text{photograph}\\ &\text{phase} &&\text{phantom} && \text{phrase} && \text{nephew}\\ &\text{xylophone} &&\text{emphasis} && \text{symphony} && \text{triumph}\end{align*}

   physics	prophet	phenomenon	xerography
   elephant	asphalt	xenophobia	paragraph
   sphere	philosophy	telephone	photograph
   phase	phantom	phrase	nephew
   xylophone	emphasis	symphony	triumph

2. Sort the words into these three groups.

   at the front	in the middle		at the end

   In a very few words [f] is spelled <gh>:
   \begin{align*} &\text{rough} && \text{laugh} && \text{trough} && \text{enough} && \text{cough} && \text{tough}\end{align*}
3. Where is the <gh> in all of these words — at the front, in the middle, at the end? _______.
4. Is the vowel in front of the <gh> long or is it short? _______.
5. The vowel in front of the <gh> is spelled with two letters. What is the second of these letters in each word? _______.
   Hundreds of years ago this <gh> spelled a sound like the one that you hear at the end of the Scottish pronunciation of loch or the German pronunciation of Bach. In time that sound dropped out of English, but the <gh> usually stayed in the written words. After long vowels the <gh> came to be no longer pronounced, as in sigh and right. And after short vowels spelled with a digraph ending in <u> it came to be pronounced [f], as in the six words above.

Show Answer

1. \begin{align*}  &  \underline{ph}ysics  &&  pro \underline{ph}et  &&   \underline{ph}enomenon  &&  xerogra \underline{ph}y \\ & ele \underline{ph}ant  &&  as \underline{ph}alt  &&  xeno \underline{ph}obia  &&  paragra \underline{ph} \\ & s \underline{ph}ere  &&  \underline{ph}iloso \underline{ph}y  &&  tele \underline{ph}one  &&   \underline{ph}otogra \underline{ph} \\ &  \underline{ph}ase  &&  \underline{ph}antom  &&   \underline{ph}rase  &&  ne \underline{ph}ew \\ & xylo \underline{ph}one  && em \underline{ph}asis  &&  sym \underline{ph}ony  &&  trium \underline{ph} \end{align*}

2. Words in which [f] is spelled <ph>...

   at the front	in the middle		at the end
   physics	elephant	xenophobia	paragraph
   phase	sphere	telephone	photograph
   philosophy	xylophone	symphony	triumph
   phantom	prophet	xerography
   phenomenon	asphalt	nephew
   phrase	emphasis
   photograph

3. Where is the <gh> in all of these words — at the front, in the middle, at the end? at the end.
4. Is the vowel sound in front of the <gh> long or is it short? short.
5. The vowel in front of the <gh> is spelled with two letters. What is the second of these letters in each word? <u>.