That's because it's like a defender D. "Page" and "cage" becomesa long A because there's only one intervening consonant. When the Gis followed an E, I or Y, then it'll become a soft G which soundslike a J. However, English words can't end with J, which is whythey use G. However, if these letters doesn't follow the G, it'llremain a hard G, which is why they put an E. However, the E canelongate the previous vowel, especially if there's only oneintervening consonant. Doubling the G is another solution as itprevents the E from elongating the previous vowel but it won't workout because although if the following letters would soften the Gbut if the G is doubled, then it'll remain a hard G like "trigger"which would sound weird. They use a D instead, but the D is silentand it's like a defender D which prevents the E from elongating theprevious vowel, so the previous vowel will remain short. These areexamples of word with DGE ending:1.) edge2.) hedge3.) ridge4.) bridge5.) fudge6.) pledge7.) grudge8.) badge9.) gadget10.) badger11.) dredge12.) smudge13.) fridge