Cheatsheet: Foundations
Foundations
The Alphabet
| Point | Rule | Example |
|---|---|---|
| 26 letters | vowels a, e, i, o, u; 21 consonants; y works as both | yes / my |
| A H J K | names have the sound /eɪ/ | H /eɪtʃ/ · J /dʒeɪ/ · K /keɪ/ |
| B C D E G P T V | names end in /iː/ | B /biː/ · C /siː/ · T /tiː/ |
| F L M N S X | names start with /e/ | F /ef/ · M /em/ · X /eks/ |
| I Y | names end in /aɪ/ | I /aɪ/ · Y /waɪ/ |
| O R Z | each name is its own | O /əʊ/ · R /ɑː/ · Z /zed/ |
| Q U W | names end in /juː/; W is double U | Q /kjuː/ · U /juː/ · W /ˈdʌbəljuː/ |
| Name and sound | a letter's name can differ from its sound in a word | A /eɪ/ ≠ apple /æ/ |
| US | Z is /ziː/ and R is /ɑːr/ | Z /ziː/ · R /ɑːr/ |
| Trap | the name's vowel tells G from J and E from I | G /dʒiː/ · J /dʒeɪ/ · E /iː/ · I /aɪ/ |
Sounds and IPA
| Point | Rule | Example |
|---|---|---|
| IPA | one symbol for each sound, written between slashes | book /bʊk/ |
| Spelling and sound | spelling and sound often differ: photo has no /p/ and no /h/ | photo /ˈfəʊtəʊ/ |
| ː / ˈ | ː makes a vowel long; ˈ comes before the stressed syllable | food /fuːd/ · teacher /ˈtiːtʃə/ |
| Consonant symbols | some symbols differ from the spelling: ch → /tʃ/, j → /dʒ/, y → /j/ | chair / job / yes |
| A1Stress in two syllables | most nouns and adjectives: first syllable; many verbs: second | ˈteacher / beˈgin |
| A1-tion / -sion / -ic | stress the syllable before the ending | inforˈmation / fanˈtastic |
| A1Weak vowel | unstressed vowels are often the weak /ə/ | about /əˈbaʊt/ |
| A1US | /ɒ/ becomes /ɑː/, /əʊ/ becomes /oʊ/, and /r/ is pronounced after vowels | hot /hɑːt/ · car /kɑːr/ |
| A1Trap | short /ɪ/ and long /iː/ make different words | ship /ʃɪp/ · sheep /ʃiːp/ |
| A1Trap | th is /θ/ or /ð/ | think /θɪŋk/ · this /ðɪs/ |
Numbers
| Point | Rule | Example |
|---|---|---|
| 0–12 | each has its own word; -teen starts at 13 | zero / eleven / twelve |
| -teen | 13–19 add stressed -teen; 13, 15 and 18 change their first part | thirteen /θɜːˈtiːn/ · fifteen · eighteen |
| -ty | tens end in -ty and the stress is on the first part | thirty /ˈθɜːti/ · forty |
| 21–99 | ten + hyphen + unit | twenty-one / forty-five |
| hundred, thousand, million | they stay singular after a number; and comes after hundred | two hundred and fifty / five million |
| Ordinals | the order of things: first, second, third; from 4 add -th | My flat is on the second floor. / the fourth of July |
| Short ordinals | number + the last two letters of the word | 1st / 2nd / 3rd / 4th |
| Compound ordinals | only the last word changes | twenty-first / a hundred and second |
| Phone numbers | say each digit; 0 is oh; two equal digits are double | 077 → oh double seven |
| Comma and point | a comma separates thousands; a point separates decimals | 1,500 / 2.5 → two point five |
| Trap | five, nine, twelve and twenty change their spelling in ordinals | fifth / ninth / twelfth / twentieth |
| Trap | forty drops the u that fourteen keeps | fourteen ≠ forty |
Days, Months and Dates
| Point | Rule | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Days | Monday to Friday are weekdays; Saturday and Sunday are the weekend | Monday / Friday / the weekend |
| Months | twelve months, from January to December | January / June / December |
| Day of the month | say the day as an ordinal, then of and the month | 5 May → the fifth of May |
| Date order | day, month, year (US: month, day, year) | 04/07/2026 = 4 July |
| Years | two pairs of digits; 00 is hundred, 01–09 take oh | nineteen ninety-nine / nineteen hundred / nineteen oh five |
| After 2000 | 2000–2009: two thousand (and) + unit; from 2010 both forms are common | two thousand and eight / twenty twenty-six |
| Asking the date | ask What's the date today? and answer with an ordinal | It's the tenth of October. |
| Capitals | days and months start with a capital letter | Monday / June |
| Trap | the first d in Wednesday is silent | Wednesday /ˈwenzdeɪ/ |
Telling the Time
| Point | Rule | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Asking | answer with It's + the time | What time is it? — It's seven thirty. |
| Numbers | say the hour, then the minutes; 1–9 minutes take oh | 7:05 → seven oh five |
| o'clock | a full hour takes o'clock | seven o'clock |
| A1past | minutes 1–30: past the hour | five past three / (a) quarter past three / half past three |
| A1to | minutes 31–59: to the next hour; say the minutes first | twenty to four / (a) quarter to four |
| A1minutes | minutes that are not 5, 10, 15… add minutes | three minutes past six |
| A1a.m. / p.m. | a.m. is midnight to midday; p.m. is midday to midnight | seven a.m. / three p.m. |
| A1Parts of the day | add the part of the day after the time | seven in the morning / three in the afternoon / eight in the evening / eleven at night |
| A124 hours | speech uses 12 hours; timetables use the 24-hour clock | 19:30 → nineteen thirty |
| A1US | use after for past and of for to | a quarter after three / ten of four |
| Trap | minutes replace o'clock | seven fifteen |