We have already given a list of simple words in which c is used for s, but the following may be singled out because they are troublesome:
acquiesce paucity reticence vacillate coincidence publicity license tenacity crescent prejudice scenery condescend effervesce proboscis scintillate oscillate rescind transcend
Words with obscure Vowels.
The following words are troublesome because some vowel, usually in the next to the last syllable unaccented, is so obscured that the pronunciation does not give us a key to it:
a almanac apathy avarice cataract citadel dilatory malady ornament palatable propagate salary separate extravagant e celebrate desecrate supplement liquefy petroleum rarefy skeleton telescope tragedy gayety lineal renegade secretary deprecate execrate implement maleable promenade recreate stupefy tenement vegetate academy remedy revenue serenade i expiate privilege rarity stupidity verify epitaph retinue nutriment vestige medicine impediment prodigy serenity terrify edifice orifice sacrilege specimen
Words ending in cy and sy.
Cy is the common termination, but some words are troublesome because they terminate in sy. Prophecy is the noun, prophesy the verb, distinguished in pronunciation by the fact that the final y in the verb is long, in the noun it is short. The following are a few words in sy which deserve notice:
controversy embassy hypocrisy fantasy ecstasy heresy courtesy
________
The above lists are for reference and for review. No one, in school or out, should attempt to memorize these words offhand. The only rational way to learn them is by reference to the dictionary when one has occasion to write them, and to observe them in reading. These two habits, the use of the dictionary and observing the formation of words in reading, will prove more effective in the mastery of words of this character than three times the work applied in any other way. The usual result of the effort to memorize in lists is confusion so instilled that it can never be eradicated.