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Uncovering the Logic of English: A Common-Sense Solution to America's Literacy Crisis
Multiple award-winning book on reading and spelling education that will transform how you think about English!
Discover this revolutionary method that Dr. Temple Grandin called "really helpful for teaching reading to children who are mathematical pattern thinkers..."
Predominant reading methods require students to break the complex code of English without help. This has resulted in low literacy rates and explains why many highly educated professionals cannot spell. By revealing the logical patterns underlying 98% of English words, Uncovering the Logic of English eliminates the need to guess and provides a logical solution to English spelling.
Simple answers are given for questions such
As the rules unfold it becomes apparent how this knowledge is vital to reversing the educational crisis that is plaguing America. This slim volume is easy to read and accessible to parents and classroom teachers. A thorough appendix summarizes the most important concepts for quick reference.
ForeWord Book of the Year Finalist 2012
Midwest Book Awards Finalist 2012
Independent Publishers Awards 2011
Indie Excellence Award 2011
Discover this revolutionary method that Dr. Temple Grandin called "really helpful for teaching reading to children who are mathematical pattern thinkers..."
Predominant reading methods require students to break the complex code of English without help. This has resulted in low literacy rates and explains why many highly educated professionals cannot spell. By revealing the logical patterns underlying 98% of English words, Uncovering the Logic of English eliminates the need to guess and provides a logical solution to English spelling.
Simple answers are given for questions such
As the rules unfold it becomes apparent how this knowledge is vital to reversing the educational crisis that is plaguing America. This slim volume is easy to read and accessible to parents and classroom teachers. A thorough appendix summarizes the most important concepts for quick reference.
ForeWord Book of the Year Finalist 2012
Midwest Book Awards Finalist 2012
Independent Publishers Awards 2011
Indie Excellence Award 2011
199 pages, Paperback
First published February 1, 2011
582 people are currently reading
2105 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 178 reviews
June 23, 2016
Normally, if you say a book has big print and lots of whitespace and tables, that's kind of a bad thing. But, when the book purports to explain the rules of spelling in English, it becomes a very good thing indeed.
I'm sure it's not unusual among readers to be good spellers—though obviously there are many exception—and you may have had this sort of experience with someone who was not a good speller.
"How do you spell 'stopping'?"
"S-T-O-P-P-I-N-G"
"Why isn't it 'S-T-O-P-I-N-G'?"
"Because that would be 'stow-ping'."
That, by the way, is covered in Rule 14 in this book. There are 31 rules in toto, though #12, covering the use of the silent "e", has nine parts.
Here's another one you might have encountered:
"How do you spell 'give'?"
"G-I-V-E."
"Why isn't it 'G-I-V'?"
"Because...that's weird looking."
Well, it's weird looking because (rule 3) English words don't end in V, I, U or J. (And those words you're thinking of, like Krav Maga, macaroni, parvenu and Taj Mahal aren't English, though more on that in a bit.)
So, somehow, and I have no idea how, I have internalized most of these rules (which explains my objection to the American spelling of "judgment") but since I was never taught (or have forgotten being taught) them, I did not have them codified in a way that makes sense. Nor did it occur to me that these rules were comprehensive enough to cover 98% of the language. So, after a while, I just assumed (as is often said these days) that I memorized all these spellings.
I don't know if Ms. Eide's assertion that memorization on this scale isn't possible for humans (though she has a citation and I just have an opinion), but I do know that it's much less effort and more likely to be successful than all the other spelling things I've seen. (I mean, I have a book here I got for a troubled speller that's just a big list of frequently misspelled words. Can anyone ever have used that successfully?)
I also notice that what she describes in terms of figuring out how to spell things—the tactics she endorses—are very much like what I do if I have trouble with a word. Things like emphasize the syllables in pronunciation (our language has a not insubstantial aural component) or trying different spellings and hearing how they would sound with that configuration of letters.
This is good stuff. I presume teaching children 31 rules to memorize will be considered inhumane and regressive, so this book will mostly find its use amongst homeschoolers and rebellious teachers tired of failing. The author has a website with drills, too, and games to make it easy, so that's cool.
I had some objections but they were mostly in the gray areas. The one that wasn't was that, as far as I recall, she didn't really explain the diacriticals over the vowels. You could quickly sound out what they were, like a̅ in "able" but if you didn't know short sound, long sound, broad sound, you might panic. It's also a little hard to read which diacritic it is sometimes, but I'll blame that on my eyes.
A minor objection was the classification of "English word". It's a fine line between "that's English" and "that's [source language]". A fine and, I think, arbitrary line. "parvenu" is a good example of that, I think. It's from French but it's English, and it does end with a "u". Meanwhile, she calls out both "karate" and "kamikaze" as exceptions at various points...I guess what I'm getting at is, I don't know what it takes to gain entry into the official club of "English words".
Nonetheless—and I'm sure there are nits to pick all over the place, linguistics is a messy thing—as a tool, this book carries both the message of "No, English spelling DOES make sense" and "Here's how!" which is invaluable.
I'm sure it's not unusual among readers to be good spellers—though obviously there are many exception—and you may have had this sort of experience with someone who was not a good speller.
"How do you spell 'stopping'?"
"S-T-O-P-P-I-N-G"
"Why isn't it 'S-T-O-P-I-N-G'?"
"Because that would be 'stow-ping'."
That, by the way, is covered in Rule 14 in this book. There are 31 rules in toto, though #12, covering the use of the silent "e", has nine parts.
Here's another one you might have encountered:
"How do you spell 'give'?"
"G-I-V-E."
"Why isn't it 'G-I-V'?"
"Because...that's weird looking."
Well, it's weird looking because (rule 3) English words don't end in V, I, U or J. (And those words you're thinking of, like Krav Maga, macaroni, parvenu and Taj Mahal aren't English, though more on that in a bit.)
So, somehow, and I have no idea how, I have internalized most of these rules (which explains my objection to the American spelling of "judgment") but since I was never taught (or have forgotten being taught) them, I did not have them codified in a way that makes sense. Nor did it occur to me that these rules were comprehensive enough to cover 98% of the language. So, after a while, I just assumed (as is often said these days) that I memorized all these spellings.
I don't know if Ms. Eide's assertion that memorization on this scale isn't possible for humans (though she has a citation and I just have an opinion), but I do know that it's much less effort and more likely to be successful than all the other spelling things I've seen. (I mean, I have a book here I got for a troubled speller that's just a big list of frequently misspelled words. Can anyone ever have used that successfully?)
I also notice that what she describes in terms of figuring out how to spell things—the tactics she endorses—are very much like what I do if I have trouble with a word. Things like emphasize the syllables in pronunciation (our language has a not insubstantial aural component) or trying different spellings and hearing how they would sound with that configuration of letters.
This is good stuff. I presume teaching children 31 rules to memorize will be considered inhumane and regressive, so this book will mostly find its use amongst homeschoolers and rebellious teachers tired of failing. The author has a website with drills, too, and games to make it easy, so that's cool.
I had some objections but they were mostly in the gray areas. The one that wasn't was that, as far as I recall, she didn't really explain the diacriticals over the vowels. You could quickly sound out what they were, like a̅ in "able" but if you didn't know short sound, long sound, broad sound, you might panic. It's also a little hard to read which diacritic it is sometimes, but I'll blame that on my eyes.
A minor objection was the classification of "English word". It's a fine line between "that's English" and "that's [source language]". A fine and, I think, arbitrary line. "parvenu" is a good example of that, I think. It's from French but it's English, and it does end with a "u". Meanwhile, she calls out both "karate" and "kamikaze" as exceptions at various points...I guess what I'm getting at is, I don't know what it takes to gain entry into the official club of "English words".
Nonetheless—and I'm sure there are nits to pick all over the place, linguistics is a messy thing—as a tool, this book carries both the message of "No, English spelling DOES make sense" and "Here's how!" which is invaluable.
December 12, 2015
A must read for educators and parents of young children. I really wanted to give this five stars based solely on how much it explains the complexity and seemingly illogical spelling/pronunciation challenges of the English language. The only reason I marked it down to four stars was because the book presents itself as a silver bullet to the nation’s “literacy crisis.” The author uses a sampling of various statistics to explain what she means by the literacy crisis in America (26% of 8th graders are functionally illiterate and 69% read below their grade level; 48% of adults are not proficient readers; only 10% of college grads read at a high level of proficiency, etc). I’d argue that this problem goes much deeper than which curriculum or system is used to teach children how to spell. Parental involvement, student socioeconomic status, one-size-fits-all national education standards (aka No Child Left Behind, Common Core), the influence of teachers’ unions, the breakdown of discipline, and a host of other factors can contribute to the problem of poor reading proficiency in America. If “The Logic of English” were adopted across the nation tomorrow it would help many students, but it would hardly solve the problem.
The core content of the book on the other hand was enlightening, if somewhat overwhelming in the number of rules used to explain English spelling. The author argues that the reason so many people have trouble spelling is that we were never taught the rules of English. We all learned some rules, like “I before E except after C” only to grow frustrated with an endless number of exceptions (eight, protein, efficient, glacier, species, science, sufficient, seize, weird, vein, their, foreign, feisty, heist, either, heinous, leisure, neither, seize, etc, etc). Compared to other languages which often follow the rules more closely, this seeming inconsistency can be infuriating. Through a series of 30 rules and 74 phonograms (individual or groups of letters that are pictures of specific sounds), the author explains the logic behind 98% of all English words (and many of the exceptions that constitute that 2% are actually foreign words brought into the language).
I don’t intend to list all 30 rules here but a quick sampling to give you an idea of what you can expect from this book:
The phonogram “C” makes two sounds /s/ as in center and /k/ as in cat. So how do we know when the C says which sound? Likewise, how do we know when the letter G says the /j/ sound like in agile or the /g/ sound like in gum?
Rule 1: C always softens to /s/ when followed by E, I, or Y. Otherwise C says /k/. For example: Center (c followed by e) or icy (c followed by y) results in the /s/ sound. In words where c is not followed by E, I, or Y, the C makes the /k/ sound: Cat, Cot, balCony, etc. Notice words with two Cs might make both sounds based on this rule: accent (first C makes /k/ sound while the second C makes the /s/ sound being followed by an E) or CirCus (first C followed by I says /s/ and the second C says /k/).
Rule 2: G softens to /j/ only when followed by E, I, or Y. Otherwise G says /g/. For example: In the word Germ, G followed by E so we say /j/ sound when pronouncing the G but in the word Gap (G not followed by E, I, or Y) the G makes the /g/ sound.
Rule 3: English words do not end in I, U, V, or J. This explains why a lot of words have the extra silent E added onto the end of the word even when it is not needed for correct pronunciation (for example: additive, adjective, value, true). Likewise this helps explain why we spell “knowledge” and similar words with the “three-letter J” phonogram “dge” instead of writing knowledj. In teaching this to our kids, my eldest daughter (currently 6 years old) easily remembers this rule and is quick to point out exceptions: “daddy, spaghetti ends in I so it is not an English word” (other exceptions are almost always because of foreign words adopted into English: Chai (Arabic), Macaroni, broccoli (Italian), alibi, fungi (Latin), calamari (Greek), sushi, origami (Japanese), kiwi (Maori).
Besides the 30 rules, the author elaborates on various phonograms. We normally teach the alphabet and the sounds that each letter makes (i.e. each vowel makes a long and a short sound, etc). But this does not account for all the sounds in the English language. Many phonograms make more than 1 or 2 sounds. For example the phonogram “U” makes 4 different sounds /Ŭ – Ū – oo – Ü/ (up, pupil, flute, and put, respectively).
The phonogram approach has been very useful in homeschooling our daughters. Instead of teaching them to sound out individual letters we have been teaching them the phonograms. When kids try to spell out a word like L-I-G-H-T, going letter by letter, they would end up butchering the word. But because we taught them the “three letter I” phonogram “igh”, they now quickly recognize the three letter I phonogram in the middle and can correctly read words like light, might, fright, etc.
This book is a great resource for homeschooling families or anyone else interested in helping to make sense out of English spelling for their school-aged children (or for your friends that just don’t spell good). ;)
The core content of the book on the other hand was enlightening, if somewhat overwhelming in the number of rules used to explain English spelling. The author argues that the reason so many people have trouble spelling is that we were never taught the rules of English. We all learned some rules, like “I before E except after C” only to grow frustrated with an endless number of exceptions (eight, protein, efficient, glacier, species, science, sufficient, seize, weird, vein, their, foreign, feisty, heist, either, heinous, leisure, neither, seize, etc, etc). Compared to other languages which often follow the rules more closely, this seeming inconsistency can be infuriating. Through a series of 30 rules and 74 phonograms (individual or groups of letters that are pictures of specific sounds), the author explains the logic behind 98% of all English words (and many of the exceptions that constitute that 2% are actually foreign words brought into the language).
I don’t intend to list all 30 rules here but a quick sampling to give you an idea of what you can expect from this book:
The phonogram “C” makes two sounds /s/ as in center and /k/ as in cat. So how do we know when the C says which sound? Likewise, how do we know when the letter G says the /j/ sound like in agile or the /g/ sound like in gum?
Rule 1: C always softens to /s/ when followed by E, I, or Y. Otherwise C says /k/. For example: Center (c followed by e) or icy (c followed by y) results in the /s/ sound. In words where c is not followed by E, I, or Y, the C makes the /k/ sound: Cat, Cot, balCony, etc. Notice words with two Cs might make both sounds based on this rule: accent (first C makes /k/ sound while the second C makes the /s/ sound being followed by an E) or CirCus (first C followed by I says /s/ and the second C says /k/).
Rule 2: G softens to /j/ only when followed by E, I, or Y. Otherwise G says /g/. For example: In the word Germ, G followed by E so we say /j/ sound when pronouncing the G but in the word Gap (G not followed by E, I, or Y) the G makes the /g/ sound.
Rule 3: English words do not end in I, U, V, or J. This explains why a lot of words have the extra silent E added onto the end of the word even when it is not needed for correct pronunciation (for example: additive, adjective, value, true). Likewise this helps explain why we spell “knowledge” and similar words with the “three-letter J” phonogram “dge” instead of writing knowledj. In teaching this to our kids, my eldest daughter (currently 6 years old) easily remembers this rule and is quick to point out exceptions: “daddy, spaghetti ends in I so it is not an English word” (other exceptions are almost always because of foreign words adopted into English: Chai (Arabic), Macaroni, broccoli (Italian), alibi, fungi (Latin), calamari (Greek), sushi, origami (Japanese), kiwi (Maori).
Besides the 30 rules, the author elaborates on various phonograms. We normally teach the alphabet and the sounds that each letter makes (i.e. each vowel makes a long and a short sound, etc). But this does not account for all the sounds in the English language. Many phonograms make more than 1 or 2 sounds. For example the phonogram “U” makes 4 different sounds /Ŭ – Ū – oo – Ü/ (up, pupil, flute, and put, respectively).
The phonogram approach has been very useful in homeschooling our daughters. Instead of teaching them to sound out individual letters we have been teaching them the phonograms. When kids try to spell out a word like L-I-G-H-T, going letter by letter, they would end up butchering the word. But because we taught them the “three letter I” phonogram “igh”, they now quickly recognize the three letter I phonogram in the middle and can correctly read words like light, might, fright, etc.
This book is a great resource for homeschooling families or anyone else interested in helping to make sense out of English spelling for their school-aged children (or for your friends that just don’t spell good). ;)
January 23, 2022
Imperative information and rules. The only aspect I’m put off by is her discussion of different types of learners (like auditory, kinesthetic, etc.). Many people still believe and tap into the “different type of learners” idea (which has been proven to be false and a myth). Instead, we need to tap into various modalities for our students to be able see the whole picture.
Despite this, the rules, examples, and charts were extremely helpful! I will definitely keep this as a reference.
Despite this, the rules, examples, and charts were extremely helpful! I will definitely keep this as a reference.
July 19, 2022
I like the logic of English approach to literacy. This book was pretty easy to read and I felt like I was having tons of ah-ha moments during it. However, i think I already forgot a lot of it. Which is on me. Good book.
July 8, 2023
This book explained so much about the English language. Our language has rules that are logical. I love words.
November 3, 2021
"Most English-speaking students learn to read through a combination of memorizing sight words and a smattering of incomplete phonics."
This would be how I would describe my path to reading. I don't remember learning any explicit strategies as a child, but I guess I figured it out.
Even in college for elementary education, I was taught that reading instruction should include phonics and it needed to be explicit and systematic. We read Marilyn Adams and learned about the science of learning to read BUT we were never taught really what that means in terms of the explicit rules written in this book. I never had a class that taught me that "A E I O U usually say their long sounds at the end of a syllable" or that the letter a actually had three sounds. I didn't learn HOW to teach English & spelling, just that phonics instruction and phonemic awareness were important. It could have easily been it's own class and I really wish it would have been part of my training.
Even then in the early 2000s, this philosophy of explicit phonics instruction was not considered the mainstream, even though it was nothing new. The popular viewpoint was that children should be guided through "three-cueing" and taught to "use strategies that good readers use". In essence, if students are surrounded by quality literature, word walls and word play, they will become good readers through osmosis.
Many textbooks, schools and teachers still hold to this philosophy and while it may work for some kids, it's leaving a whole lot of kids to guess what exactly "using strategies" means and even worse leaving a large number of other kids (and adults) behind.
According to the National Center for Educational Statistics (NCES), 21 percent of adults in the United States (about 43 million) fall into the illiterate/functionally illiterate category.
This book challenges the notion that English doesn't make sense by laying out 31 rules. The author challenges us to consider that maybe the problem is not the language itself but the rules we were taught? (or maybe not taught)
This would be how I would describe my path to reading. I don't remember learning any explicit strategies as a child, but I guess I figured it out.
Even in college for elementary education, I was taught that reading instruction should include phonics and it needed to be explicit and systematic. We read Marilyn Adams and learned about the science of learning to read BUT we were never taught really what that means in terms of the explicit rules written in this book. I never had a class that taught me that "A E I O U usually say their long sounds at the end of a syllable" or that the letter a actually had three sounds. I didn't learn HOW to teach English & spelling, just that phonics instruction and phonemic awareness were important. It could have easily been it's own class and I really wish it would have been part of my training.
Even then in the early 2000s, this philosophy of explicit phonics instruction was not considered the mainstream, even though it was nothing new. The popular viewpoint was that children should be guided through "three-cueing" and taught to "use strategies that good readers use". In essence, if students are surrounded by quality literature, word walls and word play, they will become good readers through osmosis.
Many textbooks, schools and teachers still hold to this philosophy and while it may work for some kids, it's leaving a whole lot of kids to guess what exactly "using strategies" means and even worse leaving a large number of other kids (and adults) behind.
According to the National Center for Educational Statistics (NCES), 21 percent of adults in the United States (about 43 million) fall into the illiterate/functionally illiterate category.
This book challenges the notion that English doesn't make sense by laying out 31 rules. The author challenges us to consider that maybe the problem is not the language itself but the rules we were taught? (or maybe not taught)
May 7, 2016
Oh. My. Goodness! This book was awesome. I loved how the author clearly and methodically explained the genuine simplicity and logic of English. (Does that sound impossible? I thought so, too, until I read it!)
I am an intuitive reader. I figure things out quickly based on "what sounds right/what looks right" and since I read a LOT as a child, and I have a fairly good memory, reading and spelling have always been easy for me. That's great for me as a reader, but not so great now that I'm teaching English and reading in a foreign country. Sure, it's easy to say "This is written this way, and you pronounce it this way." But when you're teaching, you get a lot of people who ask you "Why?" Why is it like that? Why is it this way here, but that way there? Why? Why? WHY? And as an educator, it's frustrating to have to say, "I don't know; it's just English, I guess." One of my favorite (and most-used phrases!) before reading this book was "Don't blame me! I didn't invent the language, I just teach it!"
Now I won't have to say that anymore. Now I can *explain* why, because now I *know* why. And that is an incredible feeling. :-D
I am an intuitive reader. I figure things out quickly based on "what sounds right/what looks right" and since I read a LOT as a child, and I have a fairly good memory, reading and spelling have always been easy for me. That's great for me as a reader, but not so great now that I'm teaching English and reading in a foreign country. Sure, it's easy to say "This is written this way, and you pronounce it this way." But when you're teaching, you get a lot of people who ask you "Why?" Why is it like that? Why is it this way here, but that way there? Why? Why? WHY? And as an educator, it's frustrating to have to say, "I don't know; it's just English, I guess." One of my favorite (and most-used phrases!) before reading this book was "Don't blame me! I didn't invent the language, I just teach it!"
Now I won't have to say that anymore. Now I can *explain* why, because now I *know* why. And that is an incredible feeling. :-D
March 19, 2017
This fascinating book showed me how much I don't even begin to understand re: English.
In my homeschool teaching now, and in my English classroom a decade ago, my favorite refrain was, "English is crazy." I fully believed that. While reading this book was great for showing me, briefly, how logical English actually is, one read-through will not give me the kind of knowledge that Denise Eide has.
That's why, before even finishing Uncovering the Logic of English, I bought Denise Eide's entire Logic of English curriculum. I realized that I wanted to know what she knows; from experience, I know that teaching would be the best way for me to own the ideas in this book. Thus, this excellent $12 book turned into a multi-year, multi-student, hugely expensive curriculum purchase. Beware.
In my homeschool teaching now, and in my English classroom a decade ago, my favorite refrain was, "English is crazy." I fully believed that. While reading this book was great for showing me, briefly, how logical English actually is, one read-through will not give me the kind of knowledge that Denise Eide has.
That's why, before even finishing Uncovering the Logic of English, I bought Denise Eide's entire Logic of English curriculum. I realized that I wanted to know what she knows; from experience, I know that teaching would be the best way for me to own the ideas in this book. Thus, this excellent $12 book turned into a multi-year, multi-student, hugely expensive curriculum purchase. Beware.
February 22, 2021
The rules and theories in this book are candy for the pattern-minded, and all of them need thorough evaluation. My partner and I can think of counterexamples for many of them. Also some of the categories she puts words and phonograms into are in my opinion debatable. Some of the patterns are showing me new ways to look at spelling rules and im absolutely going to teach them to my high school age English learners. It’s important to remember that no language is cut and dried or follows consistent rules faithfully forever. We merely categorize and describe patterns in the language as we know it at this moment. Best we can do!
January 5, 2021
This was recommended reading in the Guest Hollow Language Arts curriculum as parent's homework. Oh man, what a great book! I recommend it to anyone who has to teach reading to any age person. It's helped me teach my beginning reader and will guide me as I teach my boy in the next year or so. It's all very obvious...but I never would have put any of it together without help. I am amazed any one person can put together such a list of rules of the English language by herself. I was teaching a ton of exceptions to my daughter with the explanation that "English is stupid." No more.
May 1, 2023
While it is not as easy to learn to read and spell English as it is most other phonetic languages, English is not nearly as irregular as many people believe. A finite number of tools will unlock 98% of the words in the English language. The problem arises when students and speakers of the language are taught incomplete phonics. They think that there are countless exceptions to every spelling and phonics rule. This is not the case, however. These readers just haven't learned all the rules. This book succinctly and clearly presents these rules (with many examples) for the reader, learner, and teacher.
"Once English speakers give up on the fallacy that English is illogical and begin to notice the patterns in English, they will begin to develop strategies that aid in understanding the language instead of simply memorizing individual words." It is a misconception that reading is recognizing memorized "sight words." The human memory has been shown to be limited to approximately 2,000 individual symbols while the average adult speaker knows between 40,000 and 60,000 words, with a well-educated adult mastering 200,000. Recent research using functional MRI has shown that good readers are actually processing sounds of a word one at a time even though they perceive it as a whole word. While it appears that they are reading whole words, they are actually converting letters on the page to sounds, one grapheme and phoneme at a time. The best decoders decode every word almost instantly.
Having a complete phonics education empowers English language speakers to become great readers and great spellers. Furthermore, it is essential when teaching English to lay out the system of language explicitly so that all students can succeed.
This book filled in many gaps for me, and I will be returning to it frequently to reinforce my learning. It is easy to navigate with many appendices and tables in the back for quick reference.
"Once English speakers give up on the fallacy that English is illogical and begin to notice the patterns in English, they will begin to develop strategies that aid in understanding the language instead of simply memorizing individual words." It is a misconception that reading is recognizing memorized "sight words." The human memory has been shown to be limited to approximately 2,000 individual symbols while the average adult speaker knows between 40,000 and 60,000 words, with a well-educated adult mastering 200,000. Recent research using functional MRI has shown that good readers are actually processing sounds of a word one at a time even though they perceive it as a whole word. While it appears that they are reading whole words, they are actually converting letters on the page to sounds, one grapheme and phoneme at a time. The best decoders decode every word almost instantly.
Having a complete phonics education empowers English language speakers to become great readers and great spellers. Furthermore, it is essential when teaching English to lay out the system of language explicitly so that all students can succeed.
This book filled in many gaps for me, and I will be returning to it frequently to reinforce my learning. It is easy to navigate with many appendices and tables in the back for quick reference.
October 23, 2021
This is an excellent book explaining well, the logic behind the English language. However, it is primarily describing the rules and mostly listing them. I would’ve loved it if there was more about how those rules came to be and the stories behind the language formation and whatnot.. but it is a great resource and will make you want to buy the author’s English language curriculum for kids. It made me want to, anyway 😉... but I didn’t. Haha Anyways, it’s good but I wish it had been more like 50-50 with stories/history/logic to the literal rules. It is more like 10-25% story/history and 75% listing of rules.
March 12, 2022
4.5/5 This in depth analysis of the English language should be required reading for all educators! I've learned lots of spelling rules which will be of immense help for my pupils as they navigate this complicated (but not illogical!) language. I enjoyed the clear, accessible style of writing and have marked many, many pages that I will refer to time and again when planning lessons for my class.
December 28, 2021
Really interesting—many rules that I didn’t know or had forgotten. My only problem is that more and more I struggle with paper books and finding the right light, no glare, should I take my glasses off etc.
January 8, 2022
This was pretty fascinating, honestly. I’ve never thought about teaching English the way we teach foreign languages or that there is an actual logic to English because it can seem so illogical sometimes. Lots to learn here and think about.
January 4, 2023
I flew through this book because it was so fascinating. I knew a lot of these rules already, but I love how clearly and logically laid out it was. I'll be using this as a reference for years to come in my classroom!
July 12, 2023
Great tool for anyone with a Science of Reading background or just now learning how to teach reading. This book is very practical is I will use it as a resource again and again. If you love phonics and teaching reading-you’ll appreciate the simplicity and clarity of this book.
April 9, 2025
This book is fantastic! Every English speaker should read it. Every K-12 (especially K-3) teachers should be gifted this book and all the courses and materials.
I want to buy this for everyone I know. It also made me feel a rage I didn’t know I was capable of.
I want to buy this for everyone I know. It also made me feel a rage I didn’t know I was capable of.
January 7, 2022
What an exceptional book for teaching/learning English.
July 22, 2022
Wow. There’s logic in English??? If only I’d learned this way 🤪 Excited to teach the babies how to read now 🙌
November 3, 2023
Overall seems like this would be a helpful book if you’re learning English as a second language or if your child doesn’t pick up on spelling and word meanings more inherently.
July 28, 2025
lots of information that I never knew but wow it was so so so much.
Read
September 12, 2022Idk my mommy loaned this to me bc she thought i would find it interesting (due to linguistics major) and it was definitely for educators teaching children to read which i am not (due to currently being a linguistics major) but i liked the facts i learned. Skimmed tbh
April 20, 2022
As a reading teacher I feel this should be required reading for all teachers. When my students used to ask me why something had a certain spelling my best guess was, “Well English is just weird!” 🤷🏻♀️ Eide breaks down a surprisingly small set of rules that will give spellers maximum impact. Very useful information.
June 17, 2023
Concise. Valuable to read and reference.
August 23, 2019
If you care anything at all about literacy, this book is a must-read. Educators, parents (home educating or not), adults who struggle with reading or spelling ... just get this from your library or bookstore and dig in.
The first part fleshes out what went wrong in our country to create the current literacy crisis. The crisis is even worse than I thought, and what's unacceptable is there is a practical solution that isn't widely being implemented: there is an actual logic to English, and we can learn rules to help us decode and encode words with accuracy.
The book then takes us through 31 English rules that work for 98% percent of words. The exceptions are rare, and can be dealt with. Oh, and how many vowel sounds are in English? Definitely not 5, nor 10. We have 15 vowel sounds, made by 28 written phonograms to represent those sounds.
This is a useful book to read to get a handle on what reading and spelling instruction can be. For a quick reference book, "ABC's and All Their Tricks" might do the ticket (though it has a dry format. Uncovering the Logic of English is readable and interesting).
This is also not a curriculum as-is. For that, go for Logic of English Foundations or Essentials, also by Denise Eide. Or really, any Orton-Gillingham approach is fine if you prefer another take on it.
Uncovering helps get a quick handle on what in the world we're trying to do here: give people the tools they need to read and spell.
"The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more you learn, the more places you'll go." (Seuss, obvs.)
The first part fleshes out what went wrong in our country to create the current literacy crisis. The crisis is even worse than I thought, and what's unacceptable is there is a practical solution that isn't widely being implemented: there is an actual logic to English, and we can learn rules to help us decode and encode words with accuracy.
The book then takes us through 31 English rules that work for 98% percent of words. The exceptions are rare, and can be dealt with. Oh, and how many vowel sounds are in English? Definitely not 5, nor 10. We have 15 vowel sounds, made by 28 written phonograms to represent those sounds.
This is a useful book to read to get a handle on what reading and spelling instruction can be. For a quick reference book, "ABC's and All Their Tricks" might do the ticket (though it has a dry format. Uncovering the Logic of English is readable and interesting).
This is also not a curriculum as-is. For that, go for Logic of English Foundations or Essentials, also by Denise Eide. Or really, any Orton-Gillingham approach is fine if you prefer another take on it.
Uncovering helps get a quick handle on what in the world we're trying to do here: give people the tools they need to read and spell.
"The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more you learn, the more places you'll go." (Seuss, obvs.)
October 11, 2020
This book is a must read for any primary/elementary teacher, any homeschool parent, middle school English teacher, high school English teacher or English as a Second Language teacher.
It will open your eyes to all the things you were never taught in school or university about the English language! You will have so many "aha" moments, you will wonder why language arts/reading classes havn't been teaching this information from the start.
This book is directed at people in the language teaching field so it is quite straight forward and direct, but the language is so simple that any homeschool parent looking to understand how English works can also easily make sense of and immediately implement the rules and guidelines being taught. I myself am in my 3rd year as a homeschool parent and have found this book to be so illuminating that I went ahead and purchased the Logic of English curriculum. Don't worry. This book is not trying to sell you any thing. I do not recall even a single mention of their curriculum in the book. I simply wanted more information and went searching.
I seldom give 5 star reviews, but this book just wowed me in both its depth and its simplicity. I spent 10+ years as a HS world language teacher before choosing to homeschool. My professional training is in how people learn language and understanding how language works in general. Finding out there is/was an easier way to build understanding and depth of knowledge about how English works, that I actually could get behind as an educator and a parent rare find deserving of the high praise.
It will open your eyes to all the things you were never taught in school or university about the English language! You will have so many "aha" moments, you will wonder why language arts/reading classes havn't been teaching this information from the start.
This book is directed at people in the language teaching field so it is quite straight forward and direct, but the language is so simple that any homeschool parent looking to understand how English works can also easily make sense of and immediately implement the rules and guidelines being taught. I myself am in my 3rd year as a homeschool parent and have found this book to be so illuminating that I went ahead and purchased the Logic of English curriculum. Don't worry. This book is not trying to sell you any thing. I do not recall even a single mention of their curriculum in the book. I simply wanted more information and went searching.
I seldom give 5 star reviews, but this book just wowed me in both its depth and its simplicity. I spent 10+ years as a HS world language teacher before choosing to homeschool. My professional training is in how people learn language and understanding how language works in general. Finding out there is/was an easier way to build understanding and depth of knowledge about how English works, that I actually could get behind as an educator and a parent rare find deserving of the high praise.
January 10, 2017
This book is a must have, especially if you have struggling spellers or readers. It would also be great for ESL teachers.
In her book, Eide goes over the 33 rules rules that govern the English language, such as when you use a silent 'e' or how to know if the letter 'c' makes a hard or soft sound. She also give a detailed list of the different phonemes in the English language along with the rule they accompany.
I found this book very enlightening and it demystified a lot of what I'd wondered about different spellings and pronunciations in the English language.
If you ever scoffed over how English "doesn't make sense," then you definitely need to read this book.
In her book, Eide goes over the 33 rules rules that govern the English language, such as when you use a silent 'e' or how to know if the letter 'c' makes a hard or soft sound. She also give a detailed list of the different phonemes in the English language along with the rule they accompany.
I found this book very enlightening and it demystified a lot of what I'd wondered about different spellings and pronunciations in the English language.
If you ever scoffed over how English "doesn't make sense," then you definitely need to read this book.
August 3, 2015
This book provides some great information about the hows and whys of English words. It has a reference manual feel to it, though; so don't expect a page-turner. I especially hope to use the spelling rules in our homeschool. The list is also available on the author's website for quick reference, which is a bonus for me, as they copy I read came from the library and not my own shelf. However, the book is on my possible purchase list, as it would probably be handy to have around.
April 5, 2024
This is an excellent book for teachers and anyone interested in knowing more about the English language- especially rules for spelling. It discusses spelling rules that cover 98% of English words and the reasons behind some of our English spellings. It is very systematically written and easy to read, use, and apply. I loved reading this and it is a great resource in my teaching!
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