Silent “e” — Exceptions Set (Interactive ESL Worksheet)

Read the Story

Aya and Ben made labels for a science board. Aya wrote “rag” under a rough cloth. Ben added a tiny e: “rage.” “Whoa,” Aya said. “Silent e changed the vowel.” They tried more: pal → pale, fin → fine, mop → mope, slop → slope.

“Now suffix time,” Ben said. “Before -ing, we usually drop e: age → aging, trace → tracing, argue → arguing.”

“But we often keep e to protect the sound,” Aya added: “change → changeable, notice → noticeable, courage → courageous, and sometimes before -ment like move → movement.”

They practiced doubling: “short vowel + consonant → double the last letter,” like drip → dripping, sip → sipped, spin → spinning, hug → hugged, blot → blotted.

“Watch exceptions,” said Ms. Reed. “judge → judgment and argue → argument drop the e before -ment. And true → truly, due → duly drop e before -ly.”

Completion Dialogue — Fill the Blanks

Aya: Adding a can make the vowel say its name: “fin → fine.”

Ben: Right — the vowel says its .

Aya: Before we add , we usually the final e: “trace → tracing.”

Ben: But we the e before endings like “-able” or “-ous”: “change → changeable.”

Ms. Reed: Some exceptions: “judge → ,” “argue → ,” and “true → .”

Multiple Choice — Practice with Exceptions

True / False — Decide the Rule

Sorter — Drag Words into the Correct Rule

Silent e → long vowel

Drop e before -ing

Keep e (-able/-ous/-ment)

Double final consonant

Exceptions / special cases

Matching A — Base → Silent-e Form

Left (drop the correct word)

Matching B — Base + Rule → Correct Spelling

Left (drop the correct word)

Sequencing — Steps to Add -ing (drag to reorder)

Cloze — Use the Word Bank

When we add , the vowel says its : pal → pale.

Before -ing, we usually the final e: age → , trace → .

We often the e to protect soft sounds: change → , notice → , courage → .

Exceptions: judge → , argue → , true → , due → .

Short vowel + consonant? Often : drip → , sip → .

Answer Key (click to expand)

Dialogue

silent e; letter name; -ing; drop; keep; judgment; argument; truly

MCQ

1 rag; 2 fine; 3 drop e; 4 aging; 5 keep e; 6 doubled consonant; 7 spin/spinning; 8 vowel sound; 9 one vowel + consonant; 10 true → truly

True/False

1 T; 2 F; 3 T; 4 T; 5 F

Sorter (category → items)

Silent: pal→pale, fin→fine, rag→rage, mop→mope, slop→slope

Drop: age→aging, trace→tracing, save→saving, move→moving, argue→arguing

Keep: change→changeable, notice→noticeable, courage→courageous, love→lovely, move→movement

Double: drip→dripping, sip→sipped, spin→spinning, hug→hugged, blot→blotted

Exceptions: judge→judgment, argue→argument, true→truly, due→duly

Matching A

rag→rage; pal→pale; mop→mope; fin→fine; slop→slope

Matching B

age→aging; change→changeable; argue→argument; judge→judgment; true→truly; sip→sipped; spin→spinning; hug→hugged

Sequencing (correct order)

Read the base word → Check the rule and spelling → If it ends with silent e, drop the e → Add -ing → Read the new word

Cloze Word Bank

silent e, letter name, drop, aging, tracing, keep, changeable, noticeable, courageous, judgment, argument, truly, duly, double, dripping, sipped

Teacher Notes (click to expand)

Core rules: Silent e can make the previous vowel long; usually drop e before -ing; usually keep e before consonant-starting suffixes such as -ment, -less, -ful and to preserve soft c/g before -able/-ous (changeable, noticeable, courageous). Double the final consonant for many short vowel + consonant words before -ed/-ing.

Exceptions / conventions (US): judge → judgment, argue → argument (drop e before -ment); true → truly, due → duly (drop e before -ly). Also common US spellings: aging (vs. UK ageing), judgment (vs. UK judgement).

Tip: If removing the e would change a soft sound (c/g) to a hard one, consider keeping the e (e.g., notice → noticeable to keep /s/; courage → courageous to keep /j/).

Assessment idea: Have learners explain why a word is in the Exceptions bin (e.g., “It drops e before -ment unlike most words.”)