Bossy ‘R@: The sounds made by -ar -er, -ir and -ur.

When students are doing their ‘New Wave English’

we notice that they can find Question One tricky.

Question One is about pronunciation and spelling rules.

Here is a video to help.

It is about the sound made by -er, -ir and -ur.

When the vowels e, i and u are followed by the letter ‘r’ it changes their sound.

In younger classes, this is often called the ‘Bossy R’ rule.


Another way you can get better at doing Questions One is reading.

You will see words spelt correctly in your reading books.

So you will get better at knowing if a word is spelt right.

You will see -er, -ir and -ur words when you read too.

Practice makes perfect.