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Consonants are easier than vowels in terms of spelling. In English words, a consonant sound is often represented by the same consonant letter in writing, for example: bed [bed], pin [pin], kind [kaind], take [teik], mark [ma:rk], last [last], false [fo:ls], skeleton, government, distribute, tremble, inventive, wonderful.
But there are several consonant sounds that are represented by different consonant letters or consonant combinations in writing, for example, the sounds [k], [s], [g], [j], [f], [sh]. There are also consonants and consonant combinations that have several variants of pronunciation, for example: c, ch, g, gh, x, xh. This often presents a difficulty for language learners. Spelling notes on difficult consonants and the sounds they represent are given below.
The letter S represents two common English sounds [s] and [z].
The letter S, when it is pronounced [s], can stand at the beginning, in the middle or at the end of the word before or after a vowel or a consonant, for example: same, seem, sit, sore, sky, slim, sneak, stray; sausage, master, absent, answer, listen; case, loose, sense, glimpse, serious, basis.
Double S is also pronounced [s] and stands in the middle or at the end: lesson, pessimist, oppressive; class, cross, address, hopeless. Exceptions: dessert [di'zәrt], possess [pә'zes], scissors ['sizәrz].
The letter C represents the sound [s] when it is before E, I, Y: center, ceremony, circus, civil, cylinder, cyber. Students often have a problem choosing between C and S in this case, because C and S occur in the same positions before the vowels E, I, Y and with the same pronunciation. Compare: cent - sent, cell - sell, sense - absence, assess - excess, cinema - sing, privacy - fantasy. Write such words in two columns for comparison, with pronunciation and meaning, and it will help you to memorize their spelling easier. Also, remember that many words of Latin origin with the letter C exist in Russian and have the Russian sound [ts] in them: center, circus, cycle.
The combination SC has the sound [s] before E, I, Y: scent, science, fascinate, scythe.
In several words, the sound [s] is represented in writing by the combination PS, where P is a silent letter: psalm, pseudonym, psychology.
The sound [z] is usually represented by the consonant S: rose, cause, always, his, wise, was, present, poison, reason, clumsy, organism, realism, advertise, advise, comprise, raise. But the letter S never has the sound [z] at the beginning of the word, so expect the letter Z there: zone, zero, zip. (The consonant Z is described at the end of this article.)
The ending -s/es of nouns and verbs has three different variants of pronunciation depending on the sound or letter after which it stands (the mute letter E at the end of the word is not taken into consideration in this rule):
[s] after a voiceless consonant - parks, takes, streets, writes, cuffs, cloths, jumps, laughs;
[z] after a voiced consonant or a vowel - kids, rides, legs, girls, rooms, chairs, robs, leaves, learns, clothes, boys, cows, goes, ties, studies;
[iz] after the letters s, z, x, ch, tch, ge, dge, sh - classes, roses, prizes, quizzes, matches, oranges, bridges, dishes, fixes. In this case in writing the ending -es is added if the word doesn't have the mute letter E at the end, and the ending -s is added if mute E is there. Compare: rise - rises; kiss - kisses; cage - cages; flash - flashes.
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