CALT Orthography and Spelling Rules 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: The floss rule in English orthography states that:
- Double consonants always indicate a long vowel
- After a single short vowel at the end of a one-syllable word, double the letters f, l, s, and sometimes z (Correct answer)
- The letter f is always doubled in verbs
- All words ending in s have the short vowel sound
Correct answer: After a single short vowel at the end of a one-syllable word, double the letters f, l, s, and sometimes z
The floss rule specifies that these consonants are doubled after a single short vowel at the end of a one-syllable base word, as in staff, bell, miss, and fuzz.
The floss rule is a reliable English spelling convention: the consonants f, l, s and often z are doubled when they immediately follow a single short vowel at the end of a one-syllable word. Examples include staff, cliff, bell, hill, miss, glass, fuzz, and buzz. This rule is a standard component of structured literacy orthography instruction.
Question 2: In English orthography, a closed syllable is defined as:
- A syllable ending in a vowel
- A syllable containing a vowel team
- A syllable ending in a consonant, which makes the vowel short (Correct answer)
- A syllable with a silent letter at the end
Correct answer: A syllable ending in a consonant, which makes the vowel short
A closed syllable ends in one or more consonants, which closes in the vowel and keeps it short.
A closed syllable ends in at least one consonant, which closes in or traps the vowel producing the short vowel sound. Examples include cat, bit, stop, club, and the first syllable in basket. Teaching the six syllable types is central to structured literacy instruction for decoding and spelling multisyllabic words.
Question 3: The silent e rule states that when a word ends in silent e:
- The final e is always pronounced
- The preceding vowel is typically long and the final e is silent (Correct answer)
- Both vowels in the word are short
- The consonant before e is doubled
Correct answer: The preceding vowel is typically long and the final e is silent
In a vowel-consonant-e syllable, the silent final e signals that the preceding vowel makes its long sound, as in cake, bite, and hope.
The vowel-consonant-e syllable pattern is one of the most productive in English orthography. When a word or syllable ends in the pattern vowel plus consonant plus e, the final e is silent and the preceding vowel says its long sound. Examples include cake, bite, hope, and cute. This pattern is explicitly taught in structured literacy as the second of the six syllable types.
Question 4: Which spelling rule explains why hop becomes hopping but hope becomes hoping?
- The floss rule
- The doubling rule also called the 1-1-1 rule (Correct answer)
- The drop-e rule
- The y-changing rule
Correct answer: The doubling rule also called the 1-1-1 rule
The 1-1-1 doubling rule states that a final consonant is doubled before a vowel suffix when the word has one syllable, one final consonant, and one preceding vowel. Hope does not qualify because it has a VCe pattern.
The 1-1-1 doubling rule specifies that when adding a vowel suffix to a word with one syllable, one final consonant, and one vowel before that consonant, the final consonant is doubled to preserve the short vowel sound. Examples include hop to hopping and run to running. Hope has a VCe pattern so instead the drop-e rule applies producing hoping.
Question 5: When adding the suffix -ing to the word bake, which spelling rule applies?
- Doubling rule: double the k
- Y-to-i rule: change the e to i
- Drop-e rule: drop the final silent e before a vowel suffix (Correct answer)
- No rule: just add -ing
Correct answer: Drop-e rule: drop the final silent e before a vowel suffix
When a word ends in silent e like bake, the drop-e rule requires dropping the e before adding a vowel suffix, producing baking.
The drop-e rule states that when a base word ends in silent e, the e is dropped before adding a vowel suffix. Examples include bake to baking and baked and baker, and hope to hoping and hoped. Teaching students to identify whether a suffix begins with a vowel or consonant is essential for applying this rule correctly.
Question 6: The six syllable types taught in structured literacy are:
- Short, long, blend, digraph, diphthong, glide
- Closed, open, vowel-consonant-e, vowel team, r-controlled, consonant-le (Correct answer)
- Simple, complex, multi, syllabic, stressed, unstressed
- Noun, verb, adjective, adverb, prefix, suffix
Correct answer: Closed, open, vowel-consonant-e, vowel team, r-controlled, consonant-le
The six syllable types form the foundation of systematic syllable division instruction in structured literacy.
The six syllable types are: closed which ends in a consonant with a short vowel; open which ends in a vowel with a long vowel; vowel-consonant-e where silent e makes the preceding vowel long; vowel team where two vowels work together; r-controlled where the vowel is modified by a following r; and consonant-le which is an unaccented final syllable. Mastery of these types allows students to decode and spell any word.
CALT Orthography and Spelling Rules 2
The floss rule in English orthography states that: