A1 · Grammar
The alphabet and spelling
After this page you can say the English letter names, spell your name and your email address aloud (with double, at and dot) and use capital letters correctly.
Rules
1.
The names of the letters
- Ben: B (bee), E (ee), N (en).
- Kate: K (kay), A (ay), T (tee), E (ee).
- My flat is 4B: four bee.
English has 26 letters. Every letter has a name. Many letter names have the same vowel sound: B, C, D and E all sound like see.
Letters with the same sound
- like day: A H J K
- like see: B C D E G P T V
- like ten: F L M N S X Z
- like my: I Y
- like go: O
- like you: Q U W
- like car: R
The letter names in writing
- A ay · B bee · C see · D dee · E ee · F ef · G gee
- H aitch · I eye · J jay · K kay · L el · M em · N en
- O oh · P pee · Q cue · R ar · S ess · T tee · U you
- V vee · W double you · X ex · Y why · Z zed
A, H, J, K sound like day. B, C, D, E, G, P, T, V sound like see.
The vowels are A, E, I, O, U. The other letters are consonants.
2.
Letters people often mix up
- E (ee) and I (eye): Mike is M, I, K, E.
- A (ay) and R (ar): Sara is S, A, R, A.
- G (gee) and J (jay): Jack starts with J. Greg starts with G.
- W is double you: Wales starts with W.
Some letter names are new for many learners. E sounds like see, but I sounds like my. A sounds like day, but R sounds like car.
Careful!
- E = ee · I = eye
- A = ay · R = ar
- G = gee · J = jay
- Y = why · U = you
- W = double you · H = aitch
E = ee, I = eye: Mike is M, I, K, E.
In British English, Z is zed.
3.
How do you spell it? Double letters
- What's your surname? – Hill: H, I, double L.
- Anna: A, double N, A.
- Is that Philip with one L or two? – One L.
- Green Street: G, R, double E, N.
When you spell a word, you say the letter names one by one. For two same letters together, say double + the letter.
Questions and answers
- How do you spell that?
- Can you spell your name, please?
- Is that with one S or two? – Two: double S.
- Sorry, can you say that again, please?
For a capital letter you can say capital: That's capital B, then double E.
Two same letters together: double. Lee is L, double E.
Ask: How do you spell that?
4.
Email and web addresses aloud
- anna.cole@mail.co.uk: anna dot cole at mail dot co dot uk
- priya-shah@post.com: priya dash shah at post dot com
- www.cardiffbikes.co.uk: w, w, w dot cardiffbikes dot co dot uk
In an email address, @ is at and . is dot. Say easy words as words. Spell names and difficult words.
Symbols
- @ = at
- . = dot
- - = dash or hyphen
- _ = underscore
- / = slash
Useful words: all one word, all small letters (or all lower case).
@ = at · . = dot
Spell the difficult part: marek dot nowak, that's N, O, W, A, K, at post dot com.
5.
Capital letters
- My friend Tom lives in Bristol.
- I work on Monday and Friday.
- Olga is Polish. She speaks English at work.
- Dr Khan has a new flat.
Use a capital letter at the start of a sentence and for names. I is always a capital letter. Normal nouns have a small letter: a flat, my job.
Capital letters for …
- the first word of a sentence
- I: Tom and I are colleagues.
- people and titles: Anna, Mr Brown, Dr Khan
- cities and countries: Leeds, Wales, Italy
- nationalities and languages: British, Spanish, French
- days and months: Tuesday, August
I is always a capital letter: Can I help?
Days, months, languages: capital letter. Seasons: small letter.
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