tious cious xious



The mother mouse felt very anxious about her babies when
 she looked up to see a shaggy head and big teeth.

Tious, cious, xious all say shus, as in ferocious. Think of these letter blocks as Lego blocks which do not come apart for sounding out.

In the category called complex vowels, these three blocks are in hundreds of words. 

Look at: ferocious. 

Ferocious looks long, but after you see the cious, you need only sound out fero, say fe ro shus.

Look at: delicious. After you see cious, you need only sound out deli, say de li shus, short i.

Try: precious. After you see cious, you need only sound out pre, say pra shus; short a.

Look at: nutritious. You need only sound out nutri, say nu tri shus. short i sound.

Do you think a small mouse would be a nutritious meal for a big, hungry cougar cat? 
yes   no    absolutely    I doubt it

Now, think about xious. Xious also says shus but because x says ks - say box, fox - hear that kshus?   I hope you did.   Anxious, means to be filled with nervousness, also called anxiety, say an ks i a te - did you hear yourself say ks for the x?  yes    no

Look at: anxious. You need only sound out an ( x says ks), say an kshus.  Would you feel anxious if you looked up into the friendly golden eyes of this cougar?   yes  no  absolutely   I doubt it

Quiz: you tell me whether or not each word is going to have the shus sound. Ans. at bottom.

1. suspicious    yes  or  no

2. malicious      yes or no

3. viscous         yes or no

4. noxious        yes or no

5. toxic     yes or no

It is important that all the letters of the block be included: tious, cious, xious - nothing else is going to give you that shus sound.

Viscous refers to the ability of something to flow or to resist flow; compare the viscousness of water against the viscousness of pancake syrup. Another word for viscousness is viscosity; compare the viscosity of water with that of chocolate sauce.

The words toxic and noxious have to do with things that are not good for a person's well-being. Toxic: say, tak sik, from the Greek and Latin languages, originally referred to poison in which an arrow had been dipped. Toxikos means for a bow; later, toxic came to mean poisonous to living creatures.

Noxious: say, nak shus, from Latin necro, meaning harmful to one's health. 
Answers: 1. yes, 2. yes, 3. no, 4. yes, 5. no

I use eBay as my website, people trust it. Search Instant Reading Help plus your child's grade level   or Instant Reading Help tion, tious, tient, ciate  This book cover all complex vowel blocks: ous, ious, eous / uous / tion, sion, sian, cion, etc / tious, cious, xious / tial, cial / ciate, tiate/ tient, cient / tiency, ciency.   No grade level printed on any of my books.

Have fun with words! Mary Maisner