FOURTH CATEGORY

PAST TENSE ending

Regular Verbs: -ED Pronunciation
Group A: Words talked explored accepted
ending in: Voiceless typed filled afforded
sound: – P – K – S – walked followed attended
CH – SH – F – X – H washed happened arrested
– pronounce ED as watched interviewed collected
“T” worked imagined contacted
jailed counted
Example: Ask, asked killed decided
= /askt/ listened defended
Group B: Words lived demanded
ending in: Voiced loved divided
Ed sounds “T” sound: – L – V – N – measured ended
M–R–B–V–G– moved expanded
asked W – Y – Z – and opened expected
baked vowel sounds planned exported
brushed (diphthongs) played flooded
cooked pronounce ED as “D” performed graduated
cracked pulled hated
crashed Example: Allow, realized hunted
danced (da:ns) + t allowed = /alaud/ remembered included
dressed rained invited
dropped repaired invented
escaped Ed sounds “D” saved landed
finished shared needed
fixed advised (ad’vaiz) + d shaved painted
guessed agreed showed planted
helped allowed signed printed
hoped answered slammed presented
hiked appeared stayed pretended
joked arrived snowed protected
jumped believed studied provided
knocked belonged tried rented
kissed burned traveled repeated
laughed (læf) + t called turned reported
locked carried used respected
looked changed welcomed rested
missed cleaned whispered scolded
mixed closed worried skated
packed covered yawned started
passed cried shouted
picked damaged Group C: Words treated
pressed described ending in: T or D visited
pushed died pronounce ED as waited
pronounced dried “ID” wanted
relaxed earned wasted
slipped encouraged Example: Need,
smoked enjoyed needed = /needed/
stopped entered
shopped explained
 II. PREFIXES AND
SUFFIXES

MIS-
Misbehave mishandle misprint
Misbelieve mishit mispronounce
miscalculate misinform misread
mischief misjudge misshapen
miscue miskick misspell
misfire mislay mistake
misfit mislead mistrust
misfortune mismatch misunderstand
misgiving misplace

-LY formally orderly

frequently overly
absolutely friendly partly
actually fully perfectly
assembly generally poorly
awfully ghastly possibly
badly ghostly presently
barely greatly prickly
beastly happily probably
blindly hardly properly
brotherly heavenly purely
bubbly highly quickly
certainly hilly rarely
chilly honestly really
cleanly hourly rightly
clearly ideally scaly
costly jointly shortly
cowardly kindly sickly
crumbly largely simply
curly lately sisterly
currently lightly smelly
daily likely solely
deadly lively sorely
earthly lonely surely
elderly lovely timely
entirely madly totally
equally mainly truly
eventually monthly weakly
exactly mostly weekly
fairly motherly widely
fatherly nearly wobbly
finally newly worldly
firstly nightly yearly
freshly normally
fondly oily
-LESS breathless fearless
ageless careless featureless
aimless cheerless flightless
blameless dauntless fruitless
bodiless doubtless graceless
boneless effortless guiltless
bottomless endless hairless
boundless faithless harmless
brainless faultless heartless
helpless reasonless stainless
homeless reckless tasteless
hopeless regardless thankless
lifeless relentless thoughtless
luckless restless timeless
meaningless scoreless tireless
mindless selfless topless
nameless shapeless tuneless
painless sightless weightless
pointless sleepless wireless
powerless soundless wordless
priceless speechless worthless
purposeless spotless

-FUL harmful skilful

joyful sorrowful
armful meaningful spiteful
beautiful mouthful spoonful
boastful painful stressful
careful peaceful successful
cheerful playful tasteful
colourful plentiful thankful
delightful powerful thoughtful
disgraceful purposeful trustful
doubtful regretful truthful
dreadful resentful useful
faithful resourceful wasteful
fearful respectful wishful
flavourful revengeful wonderful
forgetful rightful wrongful
frightful roomful youthful
graceful sackful
grateful scoopful
handful shameful

EX- excuse expert

exact exercise expire
examine exhale explain
example exhaust explode
exceed exhibit explore
excel exile export
except exist express
excess exit extend
exchange expand extent
excite expect extract
exclaim expel
exclude expend

-DIS disallow dismount

disarm disappear disorder
disown disappoint displace
disuse disapprove displease
disable discontent disprove
disjoin discontinue disregard
dislike discover disrepair
disobey disgrace distaste
display disinfect
disrobe dislodge
disagree disloyal
DE- defer deter
debug defog decide
decay delay decode
deduct deport debrief
deface derail decease
defeat deride deceive
defend derive declare
defile design decline
deform desist default
defuse detach deflate
delude detail deflect
demand detain defraud
demote detect defrost
denote detest degrade
depart detour demerit
depend devise depress
depict devote
deploy devour
descend deactivate dethrone
deserve decrease distrust
despise deforest disunite
despite demonstrate
despond describe

ANTI- antidote
antibody antifreeze
anticlimax antiseptic
anticlockwise antisocial
VOICELESS
birthday VOICED [ ]
That
think
There
Maths
Their
throw
Those
something
Mother
Initial position

 Almost all words beginning with a dental fricative have /θ/.

 A small number of common function words (the Middle English anomalies mentioned below) begin with /ð/. Thewords in thisgroup are:
 5 demonstratives: the, this, that, these, those
 2 personal pronouns each with four forms: thou, thee, thy, thine; they, them, their, theirs
 7 adverbs and conjunctions: there, then, than, thus, though, thence, thither (though some speakers pronounce thence and
thither with initial /θ/)
 Various compound adverbs based on the above words: therefore, thereupon, thereby, thereafter, thenceforth, etc.

 But note also the few words with initial ‹th› for /t/ (e.g. Thomas): see below.

Medial position

 Most native words with medial ‹th› have /ð/.

 Between vowels: heathen, earthen, fathom; and the frequent combination -ther-: bother, brother, dither, either, father,
Heather, lather, mother, other, rather, slither, southern, together, weather, whether, wither,
smithereens; Caruthers, Gaithersburg, Netherlands, Witherspoon, and similar compound names where the first
component ends in '-ther' or '-thers'. But Rutherford has either /ð/ or /θ/.
 Preceded by /r/: Worthington, farthing, farther, further, northern.
 Followedby /r/: brethren.
 A few native words have medial /θ/:
 The adjective suffix -y normally leaves terminal /θ/ unchanged: earthy, healthy, pithy, stealthy, wealthy; but worthyand
swarthy have /ð/.
 Compound words in which the first element ends or the second element begins with ‹th› frequently have /θ/, as these elements would in isolation:
bathroom, Southampton; anything, everything, nothing, something.
 The only other native words with medial /θ/ would seem to be brothel and Ethel.
 Most loan words with medial ‹th› have /θ/.
 From Greek: Agatha, anthem, atheist, Athens, athlete, cathedral, Catherine, Cathy, enthusiasm, ether,
ethics, ethnic, lethal, lithium, mathematics, method, methyl, mythical, panther, pathetic, sympathy
 From Latin: author, authority (though in Latin these had /t/; see below). Also names borrowed from or via Latin: Bertha, Gothic,
Hathaway, Othello, Parthian
 From Celtic languages: Arthur (Welsh has /θ/ medially: /ærθɨr/); Abernathy, Abernethy
 From Hebrew: Ethan, Jonathan, Bethlehem, Bethany, leviathan, Bethel
 From German: Luther, as an anglicized spelling-pronunciation (see below).
 Loanwordswith medial /ð/:
 Greek words with the combination -thm-: algorithm, logarithm, rhythm. Also asthma, though here the ‹th› is nowadays usually
silent.
 Note also the few words with medial ‹th› for /t/ or /th/ (e.g. lighthouse): see below.

Final position

Nouns and adjectives

 Nouns and adjectives ending in a dental fricative usually have /θ/: bath, breath, cloth, froth, health, hearth, loath, sheath,
sooth, tooth/teeth, width, wreath.
 Exceptions are usually marked in the spelling with ‹-the›: tithe, lathe, lithe with /ð/.
  blythe, booth, scythe, smooth have either /ð/ or /θ/.

Verbs

 Verbs ending in a dental fricative usually have /ð/, and are frequently spelled ‹-the›:bathe, breathe, clothe, loathe, scathe, scythe,
seethe, sheathe, soothe, teethe, tithe, wreathe, writhe. Spelledwithout ‹e›: mouth (verb) nevertheless has /ð/.
 froth has either /θ/ or /ð/ as a verb, but /θ/ only as a noun.
 The verb endings -s, -ing, -ed do not change the pronunciation of a ‹th› in the final position in the stem: bathe has /ð/, therefore so do
bathed, bathing, bathes; frothing with either /θ/ or /ð/. Likewise clothingused as a noun, scathing as an adjective etc.

Others

 with has either /θ/ or /ð/ (see below), as do its compounds: within, without, outwith, withdraw, withhold, withstand,
wherewithal, etc.

Plurals

 Plural ‹s› after ‹th› may be realised as either /ðz/ or /θs/:

 Some plural nouns ending in 'ths', with a preceding vowel, have /ðz/, although the singulars always have /θ/; however a variant in /θs/ will be found for many
of these:baths, mouths, oaths, paths, sheaths, truths, wreaths, youth sexist in both varieties; clothes
always has /ðz/.
 Others have only /θs/: azimuths, breaths, cloths, deaths, faiths, Goths, growths, mammoths, moths, myths,
smiths, sloths, zeniths, etc. This includes all words in 'th' preceded by a consonant (earths, hearths, lengths, months,
widths, etc.) and all numeric words, whether preceded by vowel or consonant (fourths, fifths, sixths, sevenths, eighths/eɪtθs/,
twelfths, fifteenths, twentieths, hundredths/hʌndrədθs/, thousandths).
 Boothhas /ð/ in the singular and hence /ðz/ in the plural for most speakers in England. In American English it has /θ/ in the singular and /θs/ or /ðz/ in
the plural. Thispronunciationalsoprevails in Scotland.