The trigraph 'dge' is used in English spelling immediately after a short vowel sound at the end of a word.
Here's a breakdown:
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What is a Trigraph? A trigraph is a combination of three letters that make one sound (phoneme). In 'dge', the sound it represents is /dʒ/ (as in "judge").
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The Rule: The general rule is to use 'dge' only after a short vowel sound when the /dʒ/ sound comes at the end of a word.
- Short Vowel Sounds: These are vowel sounds like the 'a' in "cat", the 'e' in "bed", the 'i' in "pig", the 'o' in "dog", and the 'u' in "bug".
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Examples:
- badge: The 'a' has a short vowel sound, so we use 'dge'.
- edge: The 'e' has a short vowel sound, so we use 'dge'.
- ridge: The 'i' has a short vowel sound, so we use 'dge'.
- lodge: The 'o' has a short vowel sound, so we use 'dge'.
- budge: The 'u' has a short vowel sound, so we use 'dge'.
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Contrasting with 'ge':
- If the vowel sound is long (e.g., cage, page, huge), or is a diphthong (e.g., gauge), or is preceded by another consonant (e.g., bulge, merge), we use 'ge'.
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'G' Elsewhere: Inside a word, the letter 'g' is used before 'e', 'i', or 'y' (e.g., magic, gem, gym). However, this 'g' may make a hard 'g' sound, as in "get" and "gift."
In summary, remember that 'dge' appears at the end of words only after short vowel sounds to spell the /dʒ/ sound.
