Community Chat

[occasionalrain]

Why do we have both a C and a K? They're interchangeable and the only way of knowing which to use is from past experience, trial and error.

[fthunt]

Time for some fresh air...............

[Shanus]

---

@occasionalrain wrote:

Why do we have both a C and a K? They're interchangeable and the only way of knowing which to use is from past experience, trial and error.

---

@occasionalrain   A "K" usually only has a hard sound as in kangaroo. The "C" however, can have the hard sound as in card or the soft sound as in brace. 

[KingstonsMom]

Sorry, I'm lost on this one....

[Shanus]

@fthunt   Harsh.

[Foxxee]

A C isn't always interchangeable with a K.  We have soft C's that sound like an S.  We also have silent K's.

I have a lot of questions about the English language, too; however, we learned how to spell words, so we should know when to use a C or K. 

There are rules for when to use them, however, there are exceptions to the rules.  Oh boy!

A C is sometimes pronounced like an S as in "celebrate".  Look at "circle."  A soft and hard C.  We could spell it sirkle.  Do we need that silent E on the end.  How about sirkl?  But, guess what?  There are rules for silent E's at the end of words, too.  

English is a Germanic language, but over 60% of the words are based on Latin.  "Circle" in Latin is "circulus."

A K is silent as in "know," but if we dropped the K, it would be "now" and that is a word with a different meaning.  Same with spelling it the same as it is pronounced..."no."  Once again that is another word with a different meaning.  

Yes, we could spell caterpillar and cat with a K.  

The Germanic word for (domestic) "cat" is generally thought to be from Latin cattus.  So, we can see where some of our spelling originated and why a K is not used for cat.  Blame it on the Romans.  

There are many other exceptions and posters will give examples, but that just demonstrates how unpredictable the English language is at times.  

[QVCkitty1]

---

@fthunt wrote:

Time for some fresh air...............

---

Sometimes an intelligent discussion is better than a snarky reply.  And anyway you can still be curious in the fresh air .

[Mz iMac]

"only way of knowing which to use is from past experience, trial and error."

cnowing-------->  **Error alarm** 

[Desertdi]

Q  also has that sound (mostly in foreign words:  like Qatar)

[KingstonsMom]

---

@QVCkitty1 wrote:

---

@fthunt wrote:

Time for some fresh air...............

---

Sometimes an intelligent discussion is better than a snarky reply.  And anyway you can still be curious in the fresh air .

---

Most times an intelligent discussion occurs when readers understand what your post/discussion is about.