R-controlled syllables is one of the six syllable types that we can find in the English language.
In this blog we have already covered open and closed syllables and silent e syllables, also called “magic e” or “bossy e” syllables.
If interested, you can check our articles and videos about these other syllable types here and here.
What are R-controlled syllables?
When the letter R follows a vowel, we are in the presence of a r-controlled syllable.
These syllables are normally referred to as “bossy r” syllables for younger students, as the R takes control of the vowel sound.
Let’s see how this happens exactly:
There are basically 3 types of r-controlled syllables:
Type #1: /ar/
Some sample words are:
car
far
farm
charm
Type #2: /or/
Some sample words are:
for
pork
fork
Type #3: /er/
Some sample words are:
her
fever
first
fur
nurse
As you may have noticed…
- /ar/ controlled syllables are normally represented by the ‘ar’ spelling.
- /or/ controlled syllables are normally represented by the ‘or’ spelling.
- /er/ controlled syllables are normally represented by the ‘er’, ‘ir’ or ‘ur’ spelling.
However, there are a few exceptions. For instance: work, word, doctor, actor, word, dollar, sailor.
How to teach r-controlled syllables?
When teaching r-controlled syllables to children, we shouldn’t teach these 3 types at the same time. We should go one at a time.
For instance, we start with the /ar/ syllable type first.
car, far, jar
Then we move on to the /er/ syllable type
her, sir, surf
Finally, we introduce the /or/ syllable type
for, sort, snort
We also introduce words of increasing difficulty to our children. We start with simple one-syllable words, as the ones we’ve seen before.
Then we move on to words two-syllable words that contain one r-controlled syllable (sister, after) or even two r- controlled syllables, such us burger or farmer.
More complex r-controlled syllables
Apart from the basic r-controlled syllable types we’ve seen so far, we also have COMPLEX R-CONTROLLED SYLLABLES.
These are syllables containing the /air/ sound or the /ear/ sound
The /air/ sound can hide behind different spellings, such us:
AIR: air, fair, pair
ARE: care, bare, fare
EAR: bear, pear, wear
The /ear/ sound can hide behind the following spellings:
EAR: ear, dear, fear, year
EER: deer, beer, cheer, steer
ERE: here, mere, severe
IER: pier, pierce, fierce
Homophones in R-controlled syllables
You might have noticed as well that these more complex r-controlled syllables contain lots of homophones. That is when you 2 words are pronounced the same, but have different spelling. For instance: fare/fair, bear/bare, dear/ dear, etc.
Conclusion
These more complex r-controlled syllables can be really confusing, so they shouldn’t be taught to our beginner readers yet. We should wait still until they learn to recognize and fully master the simple r-controlled syllables first to avoid cognitive overload and confusion.
In fact, we don’t recommend to even them right after the simple r-controlled syllables.
We would wait and introduce some other simpler phonics concepts first, as more complex r-controlled syllables can be really tricky.
Recommended resources
- Open and closed syllables post
- Magic E video-lesson
- Get a free r-controlled (Bossy R) syllable word list
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