W changes the vowel after it

After w, a is usually /ɒ/, ar is /ɔːr/ and or is /ɜːr/. One cause, three families, and a large number of words that otherwise look irregular.

R-controlled vowels

wa / war / wor W_CHANGES_A_01

Useful pattern · Medium reliability · Common · Intermediate · Reading

• /ɒ/ wa as in want: want, wash, watch
• /ɔːr/ war as in warm: war, warm, ward
• /ɜːr/ wor as in work: work, word, world

Where Wiggler teaches it: Skill 8: R-Controlled Vowels · Skill 11: Advanced Patterns & Silent Letters

Child explanation

W is a bossy letter too. After a w, want does not rhyme with ant, warm does not rhyme with farm, and work does not rhyme with fork.

The rule

The lip rounding of w pulls the vowel after it backwards. A becomes /ɒ/, ar becomes /ɔːr/, and or becomes /ɜːr/. Qu behaves the same way, because it contains a w sound.

What is really going on

Labial-velar rounding conditions the following vowel. This one phonetic fact explains want, wash, watch, swan, squash, quality, war, warm, ward, dwarf, quarter, work, word, world, worm and worth — sixteen common words that are otherwise each an unexplained exception in three different rules.

Why English does this

It is the same articulation that makes qu behave like w: squash rhymes with wash, and quarter with warm, because the rounding comes from the /w/ in both.

Position in the word

• After a consonant — The vowel immediately after w or qu. For example: want, warm, work, squash.

When this rule works

• The vowel directly follows w or qu.

When this rule does not work

• The vowel is followed by a consonant that blocks it — wax, wag, wag and wag keep /æ/.
• The word is we, went, win, wet — the effect is on a and o, not on e or i.

Examples

Easy examples

want, wash, warm, work, word

More examples

watch, swan, swamp, wander, squash, quality, war, ward, dwarf, quarter, world, worm, worth, worse

Pseudo-words

Made-up words that follow the rule. A child who reads these has the pattern rather than the vocabulary.

wask, warp, worn

Exceptions

• w + a that stays /æ/: wax, wag, wagon, swam, quack. A following velar consonant blocks the rounding.

Contrast pairs

• want versus ant — The w changes the vowel.
• warm versus farm
• work versus fork
• wash versus cash

Teacher note

This is one of the highest-value rules in the bank per minute of teaching, because it converts a scattered set of exceptions into a single family with a reason. Teach it once ar and or are secure, and let children collect the words themselves — they enjoy finding that squash belongs with wash.

Learn these first

• AR — ar — The /ɑːr/ of car and farm. Reliable in a stressed syllable — and reliably something else after w, and in an unstressed one.
• OR — or — The /ɔːr/ of fork and storm — except after w, where it becomes /ɜːr/, and in an unstressed syllable, where it becomes schwa.

Related rules

• AR — ar — The /ɑːr/ of car and farm. Reliable in a stressed syllable — and reliably something else after w, and in an unstressed one.
• OR — or — The /ɔːr/ of fork and storm — except after w, where it becomes /ɜːr/, and in an unstressed syllable, where it becomes schwa.
• The letter A — a — Five pronunciations, decided by what follows: a consonant, a silent e, an r, an l, or nothing much at all.
• QU — qu — Q never travels alone in English. Qu is one unit representing /kw/ — two sounds from two letters that must be read together.

• Previous in R-controlled vowels: EAR and its three sounds — ear — /ɪər/ in hear, /eər/ in bear, /ɜːr/ in earth. Three sounds, three common words, no clue in the spelling.
• All reading rules

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