The letter I is an old letter that came from way, way back used in the Phoenician alphabet. Sometimes the letter J and the letter I were used interchangeably. The dot over the lowercase 'i' is sometimes called a tittle. That is such a funny word. The letter “i” is the fifth most common letter in the English language.
The letter “I” was written as a capital starting from as far back as 1250 in the manuscripts in the North of England. It was only in the 1700s that people in the South of England started to write with a capital “I”. This is quite a long time later; when you think that all these people lived on one island, you would think that everyone would start reading, writing and speaking the same way about the same time.
When you say the letter “I” as a capital or as a lowercase letter “i” – depending on the word – you will pronounce the letter differently!
Try these words:
I – meaning myself
Iguana – the green lizard seen all over the island
Italics – when you write at a slant
Sometimes, it depends on whether you use American-English or English-English, when you say a word such as Iraq. It is meant to be pronounce Iraq (as in into) not Iraq (as in I).
People who are learning to speak English often say it is a difficult language to speak – it certainly is confusing.
Let’s look at words that have the letter “I” in the middle of the word.
Can you say:
Kite – the “i” is a long sound
Bill – the “i” is a short, quick sound
When “I” is written on its own, no other letter is in front or back of it; the letter is always written as a capital letter. Writing “I” on its own also means me, myself. When you say a sentence correctly, you use “I” – never use me.
Look at this sentence. Can you tell which is the correct English sentence?
Johnny and me went to the movies.
Johnny and “I” went to the movies.
To check which is the correct way to use “I” or me; remember you drop the other person from the sentence; so drop Johnny, and you will then say: “I” went to the movies or “Me” went to the movies.
Another mistake people use when speaking English is starting a sentence with me when they mean “I” like this:
Me and Shaniqua love pizza. It is correct to say “I” and Shaniqua ... BUT ...
The really correct way of saying it is: Shaniqua and “I” like pizza. You put the other person’s name first. It would not be correct to say “I” and Shaniqua like pizza.
Yes! Speaking English is very confusing; but don’t worry, practice makes perfect.
“I” is the first letter of the word igloo. You say this word like you would say “I”guana. Inuit people live in igloos. An igloo is a house made out of ice blocks. Inuit are also known as Eskimo. These people live in the coldest area called the Artic which is in a part of Canada and Greenland.
The igloo is a dome shaped construction – the roof is round and goes right down to the ground. The doorway into the igloo is a very low opening that the people have to crawl through to get inside to get out of the cold weather. Inside an igloo, the temperature can get quite toasty warm, but the people who live in these snow houses called igloos also have fluffy animal skins to keep them warm.
