CHAPTER 14

Soft and Hard c

There are times when the c is soft, as in city, and other times when it is hard. as in cat. Understanding the

rules that govern when the c is hard or soft will not only help alleviate some spelling difficulties, but it
will also help in pronouncing words correctly. Understanding the rule is absolutely essential when
changing the root word in any way, as when we are adding suffixes.

Spelling rule #1: The c is soft when it immediately precedes the letters e, i, and y:

(^) When adding a suffix that starts with a, o, u, or a consonant to a word that ends in ce, we must retain the
silent e so that the c does not become hard.
(^) When adding a suffix that begins with e, i, or y to a word that ends in ce, we drop the silent e because it
is not needed to keep the c soft:
(^) Note that there are about half a dozen scientific words that begin with the Greek syllable coe that do not
follow the rule. In these words, the coe is pronounced see:
Spelling rule #2: The c is hard when it immediately precedes the letters a, o, and u:
(^) The c is hard if it is the final letter of a word or is followed by a consonant.
Spelling rule #3: When adding a suffix that begins with e, i, or y to a word that ends in hard c, we
must add k to keep the c hard:
(^) Beware of anomalies:
(^) When two c’s are together, the rule still applies. The first c will be hard and the second will be hard or
soft, depending on the letter that follows it.
(^) Considering the extremely large number of words that use the letter c followed by one or more of the
six vowels, it is astonishing that there are so few exceptions to the hard and soft rule. Note that one
interesting problem is the word Celt. The ancient Celts did not have the letter k, so the name of their tribe
should be pronounced kelt. It is sometimes spelled that way when it is used as a noun. The adjective
celtic should be pronounced keltic following the pattern of the noun. The exception is Boston’s basketball