We aren’t going to do any breathing exercises here, only speaking exercises. Say these words aloud with me. Breath. Breathe.
No this isn’t a meta meditation. Just listen to the sound of the words. Only one of them says the letter “e” in the middle of the word.
Do you hear how “breathe,” the verb form, has the long “e” inside of it? Conveniently, this is also the form that has the “e” at the end. That’s just a phonetic cheat sheet right there.
I know this gets a bit tricky when the verb form changes (e.g., he is breathing; she breathed), but just because the verb form drops the final “e” on these occasions doesn’t mean you can drop it whenever you’d like. That’s not quite how spelling works.
Whether you’re gasping for breath, out of breath, giving rescue breaths, or breathing in the fresh air, make sure you’re spelling it right. Got it, everyone?
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