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V Needs E

English Words Never End in V: Don't Let V Be Lonely!

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PHONICS RULE

In English, no word ever ends with the letter V on its own. V is a social letter: it always needs its best buddy Silent E beside it. This rap follows Letter V who is lonely at the end of a word, and every time we rescue it by adding a silent E. Words in the video include cave, hive, glove, brave, save, and give.

Words in This Song

SPELLING WORDS

From the video

cave hive glove grave brave save give

More -ve words

love live dive drive wave stove shove dove

Spelling Word List

All 15 -VE words from the song and beyond: V always needs its silent E friend!

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The Rule

HOW IT WORKS
English Words Never End in Bare V: Add Silent E
word + V → word VE

The letter V never appears at the very end of an English word without a silent E beside it. Whenever a word ends in the /v/ sound, you must add a silent E to keep V company. The silent E does not change the vowel sound in words like give, love, glove: it is just there to follow the VE rule.

Exceptions to the Rule

WATCH OUT
Nearly no exceptions: V always needs its E!
give / live / love

These follow the VE rule but the silent E does NOT make the vowel long. give has a short /i/ sound, love and shove have a short /u/ sound: the E is there only for V's sake, not to change the vowel.

of

The word of ends in F but the F is pronounced like /v/. It sounds like "ov" but is spelled with F: a rare historical quirk. It does not end in V or VE.

rev (informal)

Very informal short forms like rev (for revolution) can end in bare V, but these are abbreviations, not standard English words. In all regular written English, V always has a silent E.

Lyrics

V Needs E: Don't Let V Be Lonely!

INTRO

V doesn't like to be at the end of a word because he gets lonely.
He needs his best buddy, his good friend: Silent E.
So we don't let V be lonely. A silent E.

VERSE 1

Cave is misspelled. V is lonely.
Don't let V be lonely. Add silent E.
Cave: C A V E.

Hive is misspelled. V is lonely.
Don't let V be lonely. Add silent E.
Hive: H I V E.

Glove is misspelled. V is lonely.
Don't let V be lonely. Add silent E.
Glove: G L O V E.

Grave is misspelled. V is lonely.
Don't let V be lonely. Add silent E.
Brave: B R A V E.

CHORUS

V doesn't like to be at the end of a word because he gets lonely.
He needs his best buddy, his good friend: Silent E.
So we don't let V be lonely. Add silent E.

VERSE 2

Save is misspelled. V is lonely.
Don't let V be lonely. Add silent E.
Save: S A V E.

Give is misspelled. V is lonely.
Don't let V be lonely. Add silent E.
Give: G I V E.

OUTRO

V doesn't like to be at the end of the word because he gets lonely.
He needs his best buddy, his good friend: Silent E.
So we don't let V be lonely. Add silent E.

Mr. Spelling. Bye-bye.