Order alphabetically based on the first three letters

Topic: Order Alphabetically Based on First three letter by Delta publications

key notes :

Step 1: Look at the First Letter

Just like regular alphabetical order, we always start with the first letter of each word.

For example:

  • Apple
  • Banana
  • Cat

These words are in alphabetical order because ‘A’ comes before ‘B’, and ‘B’ comes before ‘C’.

Step 2: What if the First Letters are the Same?

This is where it gets a little more interesting! If the first letters are the same, we move on to the second letter.

For example:

  • Bat
  • Bed
  • Big

All these words start with ‘B’, so we look at the second letter: ‘a’, ‘e’, and ‘i’. Since ‘a’ comes first, then ‘e’, and then ‘i’, the words are in alphabetical order.

Step 3: Using the Third Letter

Now, here’s the newest part! If the first two letters are the same, we need to look at the third letter to decide the order!

For example:

  • Strand
  • Street
  • Strong

All of these start with “Str”. So, we look at the third letter: ‘a’, ‘e’, and ‘o’.

Strand comes first, then Street, then Strong.

Step 4: What if there is no third letter?

Sometimes, a word might be shorter than three letters. In that case, we know that the word is going to be before all the other similar words that have a third letter. Check this out:

  • Zoo
  • Zoom
  • Zooms

Even though “Zoom” comes before “Zoo” alphabetically, when sorting by three letters, we know that “Zoo” comes first, because the third letter for the other words exists, and for “Zoo” it doesn’t.

Example Time!

Let’s put these words in alphabetical order using the first three letters:

  • Bag
  • Badge
  • Ball
  • All the words start with ‘Ba’.
  • Let’s look at the third letter.

Bag is ‘g’, Badge is ‘d’, and Ball is ‘l’.

  1. So, the correct order is:
    1. Badge
    2. Bag
    3. Ball
Summary

Great job today class! In these notes we learnt how to order words alphabetically by considering the first three letters of each of the words that are to be ordered.

First we check the first letters of each word, then we check the second letters of each word, and finally we check the third letter of each word. By following this process, we will always be able to correctly order words alphabetically!

Let’s practice!