Here are the “oddball” letters c, q, and y.
Shakespeare called z an “unnecessary” letter, but letter c is the one that deserves the name.
Cc can stand for the sound /k/ as in cat and for the sound /s/ as in cent, but it has no sound of its own.
Qq is another letter that has no sound of its own. In words of foreign origin, q usually occurs at the end of the word and represents the sound /k/, as in Iraq.
To be pronounced in an English word, q is part of the combination qu. The sound represented by qu is /kw/ as in queen and quick.
YyThe letter Y represents a consonant sound when it occurs at the beginning of a word:/y/ as in yellow.
Sometimes y represents the vowel sounds /ĭ/ and /ī/:/ĭ/ as in myth and /ī/as in by.
That takes care of the single letters of the English alphabet. Next we’ll look at the “extra” letters–letter combinations that stand for sounds not represented by any of the single letters.
