Wheeler's Elementary Speller • Lesson 117 & 117 Continued
Sound of u in rude, marked u, = ōō (/uː/) • Suffixation Law: ruling vs. rudely • Page 64
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★ LESSON 117 • SOUND OF U IN RUDE (u = ōō /uː/) • SILENT E SUFFIX LAW
Yod-Dropping Post-/r/ • 26px Standard Lines
1Write from Dictation • Put the Proper Macron-Under Mark (u) Under Each u
8 Target Words • Sound of u = ōō (/uː/)
Wheeler's Law:"Sound of u as in rude, marked u, = ōō. Write the following from dictation, and put the proper mark under each u that has the sound of u as in rude." (Notice that after liquid /r/, long u loses its /j/ glide!)
crude/kruːd/
Mark u = sound of ōō
true/truː/
Mark u = sound of ōō
ruby/ˈruː.bi/
Mark u = sound of ōō
ruin/ˈruː.ɪn/
Mark u = sound of ōō
rudely/ˈruːd.li/
Keep silent e + -ly
truth/truːθ/
Mark u = sound of ōō
ruling/ˈruː.lɪŋ/
Drop silent e + -ing
brute/bruːt/
Mark u = sound of ōō
2Wheeler's Socratic Law: Suffixation of Silent-E Bases
Morphological Inquiry: ruling vs. rudely
Wheeler's Inquiry: “Why is silent e dropped in ruling and not in rudely?”Orthographic Discovery
1. Drop e Before Vowel Suffixes (-ing)
• Base rule + suffix -ing → ruling
The vowel suffix replaces silent e to avoid awkward vowel clash (*ruleing*).
2. Retain e Before Consonant Suffixes (-ly)
• Base rude + suffix -ly → rudely
The consonant suffix keeps silent e intact to preserve the long stem sound.
3Lesson 117 Continued • Moral Couplet & Dialogue Punctuation
Contraction I've • Dialogue • 26px Standard Lines
“Listen, my boy, I've a word for you;
And this is the word, — ‘Be true! be true!’”
Transcribe the couplet with exact punctuation (semicolon, dash, quotes, exclamation points):Standard 26px Baseline • 13px Dashed Midline
4Morphological Word Building • Complete & Copy Below
Word Building & Sentence Synthesis • 26px Standard Lines
Apply Wheeler's law: join base words with -ing (drop e) or -ly (keep e), then complete each sentence:Precision Orthography
• rude + -ly = _____________________
• rule + -ing = _____________________
1. A noble person speaks the simple ____________________ and is never ____________________ to others.
2. The red ____________________ shone brightly upon the golden crown of the ____________________ king.