y = |ī|

I NEW PATTERN. Here we learn the y spelling pattern that says |ī|, as in sky and fly. When y makes the long-vowel i sound, |ī|, it usually is an accented syllable.

ie ind

II NEW PATTERN. Learn the ie spelling pattern with the long-vowel sound |ī|, as in pie and tie. We change a y to an i whenever we add the suffixes es or ed to a word. This is illustrated with fly (→flies) and try (→tried).

NEW PATTERN. Learn the ind spelling pattern that has the long-vowel i sound, as in kind. When the word wind is a verb, it has a long-vowel i; when it is a noun, it has a short-vowel i. Ponder the following sentence: “The wind would wind around Brian’s chimney at night.” The intended meaning and also therefore the correct pronunciation can be determined from the context. Here, the second wind is pronounced with the |ī| sound.

silent e

III REVIEW the role that silent e plays in making i say its long-vowel sound
as, for example, in time.

ire yre ye

IV NEW PATTERN. Learn the ire and yre spelling patterns for the long-vowel i sound |īr|, as in fire and lyre. Again, the letter r causes a slight sound variation which some students may notice. Be sure to discuss the meaning of unfamiliar words like lyre. Consult the dictionary. This section also covers the pattern for bye and lye.

ild y with silent e

V NEW PATTERN. Learn the ild and silent e spelling patterns that say |ī|, as in mild and style. When spelling the word rhyme, be sure to include the silent h.

There are other long-vowel i spelling patterns. These will be taught later in connection with the silent letters g and gh, as in sign and light (Lesson 81). Inside the challenge word box in Lesson 84, we’ll look at irregular words like aisle (it has three silent letters!—a, s, and e). Aisle, isle, and I’ll are homophones.