Reasons English Words Do Not End in V: Rule, Exceptions, and Examples
One of the spelling generalizations I learned when I was first trained in Orton-Gillingham was:
“No English words end in V. They will always have an E.”
It’s one of those sayings that is easy for kids to remember, and I still like teaching it that way.
Is it literally true that you will never find an English word ending in v? No. Someone will inevitably find an exception, and over the years, people have definitely pointed them out to me! You’ll see shortened words, slang, names, borrowed words, and other exceptions.
But as a spelling generalization for students learning to read and spell English words, this one is useful.
Think about words like: have, give, love, live, serve, solve
If a student is spelling strictly by sound, have could very reasonably become hav. There isn’t another sound at the end telling the student, “Don’t forget the E.”
That’s why I teach the rule.
Why Is There an E After the V?
English spelling generally avoids ending words with the letter v, so when we hear the /v/ sound at the end of a word, we usually see ve.
And this gives us a great opportunity to teach something else about that final e.
Students often first learn that a silent e makes the vowel before it long. We see that in words like: save, gave, five, drive
But then we have: have, give, love, live
The vowel isn’t long at all.
This is a good time to remind students that final e has more than one job. In have and give, we need that e because English words don’t normally end in v. That little distinction can clear up a lot of confusion.
Words Ending in -ve
Once I’ve taught the generalization, I like to show students plenty of examples so they can actually see the pattern:
have, give, live, love, glove, shove, save, cave, gave, five, drive, stove, serve, solve, nerve, curve
You can do a lot with a simple list like this. Have students read the words, underline the ve, sort them by vowel sound, or dictate a few and see whether they remember that final e.
I especially like comparing words such as save/have or five/give. The words look similar, but the vowels don’t behave the same way. It gives you a natural opportunity to talk about what the final e is doing.
But What About the Exceptions?
This is probably the question I’ve gotten most often about this rule.
Yes, there are words you’ll find ending in v, but many examples people give me are abbreviations, shortened forms, slang, names, or words that have come into English from somewhere else.
That’s why I still teach the saying exactly the way I learned it:
“No English words end in V. They will always have an E.”
Could I tell a seven-year-old that English words generally do not end in the grapheme v, although there are exceptions? Sure.
Will they remember that? Probably not. (haha)
I’d rather give a beginning speller a strong, memorable generalization and deal with the exceptions when we encounter them.
Put the Rule Into Practice
This is also why I like teaching spelling through patterns instead of asking students to memorize one word at a time. Once they understand that English has patterns they can rely on, spelling starts to make a little more sense.
If you’re working on short-vowel spelling rules, my Short Vowel Rules Bundle includes instruction and practice with FLOSS, -ck, -tch, -dge, and other patterns students can use when reading and spelling.
And if you want to see where spelling rules like these fit into a larger progression, you can also look at my Scope & Sequence Workbooks.
The more patterns students know, the less English feels like a giant collection of words they just have to memorize. And that’s really the point.
Recommended products
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Read & Spell Foundations System Consonants & Short Vowels | Structured Literacy for Early Readers
$14.99 -
Scope and Sequence Bundle | Reading & Spelling System
$49.50 -
Short Vowel Rules Bundle | FLOSS, -ck,-tch, -dge Rules | Packets
$15.50 -
VCCV Bundle Packets + Fluency Stories | RABBIT, REPTILE, CANDY and HORNET Words
$20.66
Thanks for this. Could you explain what you mean by: “This change in spelling rules meant that words that previously ended in “v” now needed an extra letter to make sense.” I’m not sure why adding an “e’ makes the word “make sense.”
Sounds like complete BS.
Because I REV my V8.
I’ve never reve it by myself my missus did.
Rev is short for revolution in the context of an engine. It refers to suddenly increasing the engine’s RPM by pressing the accelerator when the car is in park or neutral. People often rev engines to show off loud exhaust systems or to accelerate quickly before a race.
Chav
Perv.
Perv is a shortened/slang term for the word pervert.
Rev as in rev your engine?
Rev is short for revolution in the context of an engine. It refers to suddenly increasing the engine’s RPM by pressing the accelerator when the car is in park or neutral. People often rev engines to show off loud exhaust systems or to accelerate quickly before a race.
Rev is short for revolution in the context of an engine. It refers to suddenly increasing the engine’s RPM by pressing the accelerator when the car is in park or neutral. People often rev engines to show off loud exhaust systems or to accelerate quickly before a race.
so I guess when I went to see that comedy show it was improve instead of Improv… quick someone stab me with what the oxford dictionary calls a chiv…
Hi! Rev is short for revolution in the context of an engine. It refers to suddenly increasing the engine’s RPM by pressing the accelerator when the car is in park or neutral. People often rev engines to show off loud exhaust systems or to accelerate quickly before a race.
Improv (also known as impro) is short for improvisation.
“No English words end in V, it will always be followed by an E!”
Bit of an oversimplification. There is a handful of exceptions, mostly in the forms of proper nouns, informal clippings of words, and words loaned or derived from other languages (especially Yiddish and Slavic languages).
Examples:
* Proper nouns: Slav (that’s one you *really* don’t want to mis-correct by adding an -e after!)
* Clippings/shortenings/abbreviations: Lav (of lavatory), dev (of developer), improv, nav, etc.
* Loanwords/derived: shiv, chelev, lulav
It can be argued that shortenings don’t count as a “word” proper, that loanwords don’t count as English, and that proper nouns should be treated as normal words bc they don’t follow a lot of other rules of the English language either, but it can equally well be argued that one or all of those groups *are*, in fact, English words, even if they are special *types* of English words.
Shortened words are shortened words and were not created to be shortened, we just do that for fluency or because it’s such a common word, like revolution in an engine, has been shortened to REV, but that is short for revolution. If you want to stretch it, that’s okay. It’s really meant to be a way to help students to spell easier. In long-forms of English words, if you hear that word ending in a V, that V will be followed by an E.
This is a pretty weak excuse. If you want a rule to not have exceptions, add the exception into the rule: “no English word *except for shortened words* end in -v.” If there is an exception and you leave out the exception in your rule, then your rule is wrong simply because it can be proven absent your exception.
The example words given (rev, Slav, improv, lav, etc.) are all English words. We don’t say that “lengthened words” aren’t words.
The purpose for or method through which they were created is also immaterial. They are English words, defined as words used in the formation of sentences in the English language.
I think shortened words are extension of longer words, not new words. You can use the information in any way that works for you and if you would like to present it differently on your blog or to your students, I’m okay with it. I still believe English words do not end in V, and words that are shortened are just shortened words of longer words, maybe an evolution of a word, but not a new word, therefore, I stand by it.
Spiv.
Also why say it would look odd to not have an e after the v in giv? It would certainly look odd to us now but would it have done back when spelling was in flux?
In terms of etymology, for reasons like adding suffixes to words it would be odd or make the word incorrect for pronunciation, so the e was added to help. Or, wherever the word was translated or coming from, the e helped it look more “normal” during that in flux time.
Satnav.
Hi Dexter, you are correct. On one hand, satnav is an English word recognized by the dictionary. However, it’s really two words put together — satellite and navigation = satnav. I would say this could have just as easily been navsat and followed the rule. Because of the nature of its being two words that do not end in v alone, I do not consider this word to be the true rule-breaker of “no English word ends in v, it will be followed by an e.” I had not heard or seen this word before you brought it to my attention, so thank you for the introduction. I’m still comfortable giving my students the v/e rule to follow and allowing them to come across this word one day and proving me wrong. I think it might take a while for that to happen, but if it does, hopefully, it will give them a sense of pleasure and reward. 🙂
Satnav
Hi Dexter, you are correct. On one hand, satnav is an English word recognized by the dictionary. However, it’s really two words put together — satellite and navigation = satnav. I would say this could have just as easily been navsat and followed the rule. Because of the nature of its being two words that do not end in v alone, I do not consider this word to be the true rule-breaker of “no English word ends in v, it will be followed by an e.” I had not heard or seen this word before you brought it to my attention, so thank you for the introduction. I’m still comfortable giving my students the v/e rule to follow and allowing them to come across this word one day and proving me wrong. I think it might take a while for that to happen, but if it does, hopefully, it will give them a sense of pleasure and reward. 🙂
Chav, chiv, shiv, Slav. These are all words in English, and none of them is a shortened form of another word. If for some (inexplicable) reason you feel it’s fine to omit chav, chiv, or shiv, Slav, a common word, has to be presented as an exception to your so-called rule.
Hi John, I’m teaching kids who need rules so they don’t hear the word have and spell it hav, or receive and spell it receiv. They know to put an e after the V because English words do not end in V, they have an E after the V. I think it’s okay to teach this rule. A few words are not rule-killers in my book. Students, even adults, generally learn very common words first. Slav may be common to you, but I have not come across it in any passages with student to make the exception a deal breaker on teaching the rule. If they come across an exception later in life (or even earlier in life), I think they will see that the rule applies 98% of the time. Words come from all over and sometimes they do not follow English spelling or words evolve into a simpler form and break the initial rule. All okay. I’m not debating that some English words have evolved and some foreign words break the rule. I’m just teaching kids to read and spell common words and so far, this rule has helped them. I’m grateful you took the time to read the article and comment.
If we were in prison, I might attack you with a shiv.
Ha! First, are you the real George P Burdell from GA Tech?
The word shiv is a variant of the word chive/chiv and is not really an English word. I’m teaching kids who need rules so they don’t hear the word have and spell it hav, or receive and spell it receiv. They know to put an e after the V because English words do not end in V, they have an E after the V. I think it’s okay to teach this rule. A few words are not rule-killers in my book. Students, even adults, generally learn very common words first. If they come back at me with the word shiv, I hope it’s much later!
Thank you for the chuckle this morning. 🙂