Spelling and Pronunciation SUMMARY

We looked at English spelling and its relationship with phono logical patterns. Due to several historical factors, the present-day spelling of English possesses many discrepancies when measured by the ideal (one phoneme to one grapheme) alphabetic writing system. This, undoubtedly, makes the task of spellers difficult. However, it does not mean that we should judge the system totally defective, because its abstract lexical and morphological status serves as a useful tool for readers to create the connections.