When ‘a’ makes an ‘o’ sound - spelling hack

Sometimes in English the letter ‘a’ makes the short ‘o’ sound.

Examples of this are:

Swamp

Swap

Wash

There are two clues you can look out for within words to help you identify when to use the letter ‘a’ to make the short ‘o’ sound.

Clue #1 - when ‘a’ follows ‘w’

When the letter ‘a’ follows the letter ‘w’, it is often pronounced as the short ‘o’ vowel sound.

Here are some example words:

Watch

Wash

Wallet

Wander

Want

What

Clue #2 - when ‘a’ follows ‘qu’

When the letter ‘a’ follows the letters ‘qu’, it is often pronounced as the short ‘o’ vowel sound.

Here are some example words:

Quarry

Quarter

Quarrel

Quality