In this KS3 quiz on spelling words beginning at pa, see if you can beat your parents and get top score!
"We believed in our idea - a family park where parents and children could have fun - together." - Walt Disney.
Have you ever noticed the strange behaviour of the letters v and f in English? Many words, such as "deceptive", end in an -ive, but sound as if the ending ought to be spelled -if. Other words, such as "belief" have an f in one form and a v in another, i.e. "believe". "Chief" and "achieve" are related, perhaps surprising, and also demonstrate the swapping of f and v.
Did you know that the letters f and v are formed the same way in the mouth, with the tongue and lips in the same position, but that one of the letters is "voiced" and the other is "unvoiced"?
Try making these two sounds. Can you guess which is which? F is unvoiced and you can hear and feel the difference because it takes a little puff of breath to make the sound, compared to a v. This tiny variation in sound means that the two letters have been somewhat interchangeable at times and in certain positions in words. Can you think of other examples where the main difference between two words hinges on an alternating v/f?