Tips And Rules For Writing H
The h is the great forgotten of writing. The h is not associated with any sound. In fact, it is sometimes even confused with g , for example. Therefore, we are going to see some tricks and rules that will help children to write h .
Rules for writing h
As there are many different rules, we have selected the most general ones with some examples. We have differentiated them into three large blocks: roots of Greek origin, diphthongs and the intercalated h .
Rules for writing h in roots of Greek origin
If we want to know the reason why some words are always written with h , we must take a walk through ancient Greece. Much of our vocabulary has Greek roots, so it is not just about letters, since these roots have their own meaning. The list of Greek roots is huge, so we have only compiled the most important ones:
- hexa- (“six”): hexagon, hexahedron, hexagesimal.
- hepta- (“seven”): heptasyllable, heptagon, heptahedron .
- hecto- (“hundred”): hectometer, hectare, hectoliter .
- hydro- (“water”): hydrosphere, hydrating, hydroplane, hydraulic .
- hyper- (“superiority or excess”): hypermarket, hypertensive, hyperactivity .
- hypo- (“inferiority or scarcity”): hypotensive, hypoglycemia .
It is very useful for children to know the meaning of roots, because they are part of words that they will use frequently throughout their lives. In this way, they will be able to find out what an unknown word refers to or what it is related to.
In fact, according to the examples we have used, these roots are used in fields such as mathematics, science and even the language itself. So children are not only learning writing standards, they are also taking their first steps in a wide variety of areas.
Diphthongs
Within the diphthongs that carry h , the RAE differentiates between two types: those that begin with u and those that begin with i . This does not mean that the h and the diphthong always have to appear at the beginning of the word, since we can also find it in other positions.
- When h is in front of the diphthongs / ua /, / ue /, / ui /: for example, bone or smell .
- When h precedes the diphthong / ie /: for example, grass , ivy or wounds .
The interspersed h
The interleaved h refers to the one that appears between the vowels of a word. Although it is not the most frequent case, it is important to mention it, since the mistakes that are made are much more frequent.
In general, most syllables in Spanish contain both consonants and vowels. However, the interleaved h is used to separate three vowels in a row and is placed just after the first in words like peanut or shun .
In this case, it is not just about remembering to put the h , but where to put it and remembering that it is not pronounced. It seems easy, but surely you and your children have escaped a hint of g when reading the previous words.
Common mistakes
It is very common for children especially to confuse h with g or y due to errors in pronunciation. It is often confused with these letters because h precedes vowels such as u and i in cases such as peanut , egg, and grass . For this reason it must be remembered that this letter is like a ninja: it should never be heard.
Tips for writing h
At the beginning of the word, interspersed … Regardless of its position, it always goes unnoticed. Most of the time children learn to write it by memorizing the spelling rules and repeating certain exercises.
However, we always propose some alternative exercises or tricks to learn, and this time it was not going to be less. To help children find h more easily, we are going to suggest some spelling games.
Games
The most useful games to learn which words have h are word searches, crosswords, and hangman. Crosswords and hangman are especially important because they will learn which words contain h and in what position. In fact, they are surprised themselves because, since it is not pronounced, they are not expected to be, so play with the surprise factor.
