Silent Letters in English Words. Why are some letters silent? Why C gives K sound? Why G gives J sound?
Crash course in English language (FREE)
Part (5)
Topic : Silent Letters in English words : where and why?
Q. No. 1 what is orthography?
Ans: Orthography is the science of correct spellings.
Q. No. 2 what is a silent letter?
Ans : A letter that is written but not read in an English word is called a silent letter. In English language, about 50% words contain silent letters. Sometimes, more than one letter stay silent in English words. e. G. (K)NOW, THOU(GH)
Q. No. 3 Why are there SILENT LETTERS in English words?
Ans: The main reasons of SILENT LETTERS in English Words are give here :
Reason No. (I)
The SILENT LETTERS help us to identify homophones or same sounding English words. e. g.
In/inn
Be/bee
Too/two
Know /no
Whole /hole
Knot/not
{They remain silent but make a huge difference to the meaning of words}
Reason No. (II)
The SILENT LETTERS help us to know the exact pronunciation of words e . g.
Sin/sign
Rat/rate
Cloth/clothe
Rid/ride
At/ate
Cop/cope
Hat/hate
Tap/tape
Mat/mate
Reason No. (lll)
The SILENT LETTERS help us to know the origin and history of words e . g.
*Debt 🔙 from french word "Dete" 🔙 from Latin word "Debitum".
* Plumber 🔙 from Latin word "Plum bum"
* words DEBT, DOUBT, ISLAND are Latin.
* 'Gh' in words like DAUGHTER, NIGHT, COUGH, DOUGH, BRIGHT was pronounced as "h" by Anglo-saxons but as "F" by French in certain cases.
* "H" remains silent in the words borrowed from French e . g. HOUR, HONEST, HONOUR, HEIR,
Q. No. 4 Give A--Z list of Silent letters in English words with examples ?
Ans: Here goes the list:
A - artistically, logically, musically, romantically,
B - comb, climb, debt, plumber, tomb, subtle, dumb,
C - acquire, acquit, blackguard, czar, muscle,
CH - yacht
/jɑt/
D - handkerchief, Wednesday, Handsome, sandwich
E - plaque. vegetable, bridge,
F - NONE
G - align, champagne, gnash: /næʃ/ gnaw, , ,Reign.
GH - right, drought, eight, weigh.
H - choir, exhaust , hour, honour, honest, rhyme,
I - business, parliament
J - NONE
K - Knot, know, knife, knock, knee, knight
L - calm, folk, talk, walk, could, should, would, half, calf.
M - mnemonic.
N - Autumn, column, damn, government, solemn.
O- colonel
P - coup, cupboard, pneumonia, psalm, raspberry, receipt,
Q - (NONE)
R - butter, finger, surprise
S - aisle, island, debris, isle, viscount.
T - beret, Chevrolet, depot, listen, whistle, wrestle, mortgage, apostle
TH - asthma, isthmus,
U - Beautifully, wonderfully, guitar, guilty, tongue
V - NONE
W - who, whole, write, wrong, two, sword, wrist, answer
X - faux : /fəʊ/
Y - (NONE)
Z - rendezvous
Q. No. 5 Give a list of extra tricks to identify silent letters in English words?
Ans : The list is here:
1) CC➖ K
Double C is pronounced as K :
Acclaim, occasion, accord, accompany, occupy
2) CC➖KS
Double C is pronounced as KS
Accident, accede, accent, access, success
3) All other double consonant letters are pronounced as single consonant sound eg.
Rubber/ruber
Fall/fal
Differ/difer
Sunny/suny
Better/beter
4) 'B' remains silent before 'T' and after 'M' eg. Debt/det, doubt/dout, comb/com, womb/wom.
5) 'B' is NOT silent before 'T' in prefix 'Sub' eg. Subtenant, subtend, subtitle, subterranean.
6) 'B' is NOT silent after 'M' in some words; eg. Number, Jumble, Fumble, Crumble, Humble
7) 'D' before 'J' is silent eg. Adjective, Adjust, Adjudge .
8) 'G' before 'M' and 'N' is silent eg. Gnat, sign, phlegm
9) 'G' before 'M' and 'N' is NOT silent when two letters are in two different syllables eg. AgNostic, MaligNant, paradigMatic.
10) 'H' after 'G' and at the end of English words is silent eg. Ghost/gost, aghast/agast, oh/O, Ah/A
11) 'K' before 'N' is silent eg. Knack /nack, kneel/neel, knob/nob, knife/nife
12) 'L' before 'K' and 'M' is Silent eg. Walk/wak, talk/tak, balm/bam, psalm/psam
13) 'N' after 'M' is silent eg. Autumn, damn, hymn, condemn,
But we read Autumnal, condemnation, damnable, hymnal
14) 'P' in the word-initial sequence PN, PS, PT, is silent eg. Pneumonia, psalm, psychology
15) 'S' before 'L' is silent eg. Aisle, island, isle
16) 'T' between 's' and 'L' / 's' and 'EN' is silent eg. Castle, Listen, fasten, whistle
17) 'W' before 'R' and 'H' is silent eg. Wrong/rong, wrist/rist, who/ho, whom/hom, whoop/hoop.
18) The Letter "C" is a bit confusing. However, I can simplify it.
The Letter C gives S sound when it comes before the vowels "E" "i" "Y" eg
Cease = Sease
Cipher = Sipher
Cyst = sist
(Y is the semi-vowel)
In other cases, it gives K sounds eg
Cut
Class
Cross
However, there are exceptions 😊
"Soccer" must be SOSER but it is read as SOKER
19) "Ed" at the end of weak verbs :
A) "Ed" gives "d" sound after the following vowels :
i , Tried= trid
Y, keyed = keyd
U, sued = sud
B) "Ed" gives "d" sound after the following voiced consonants :
B, robbed = robbd
V, loved = lovd
Z, used = usd
M, Tamed = tamd
N, Fined = find
L, called = calld
R, cared = card
G, bagged = baggd
TH, clothed = clothd
C) ) "Ed" gives "t" sound after the following voiceless consonants :
P, stopped = stoppt
K, picked = pickt
F, laughed = laught
S, passed = passt
Sh, fished = fisht
CH, watched = watcht
D) "Ed" gives "id" sound after the verbs that end in "d" and "t" eg
D, ended = endid
T, Started= startid
20) Pilots mispronounce the following words to avoid confusion and ambiguity within their staff.
I) "tree" for "three",
II) "fower" for "four",
III) "fife" for "five",
IV) "niner" For "nine"
* The sound of 'Five' matches with the sound of 'Fire' which is a military command, means "Shoot".
* The sound of 'Nine' matches with the German word 'nein' which means "No".
21) The letter ”g” has two sounds, hard “g” and soft “g”. The hard “g” occurs more in words than soft "g". The sound of hard "g" is heard in Go, gain, good, get, etc. The sound of soft "g" is like the sound of "J" and is heard in Gym, George, giraffe etc.
* Soft "G" is followed by "E", "i" "Y" as in GENTLE, GIANT, GYM, clergy, apologise, age, magic, stingy
* Hard "G" is followed by "a", "O", "u" as in GAIN, GO, GUT, GAY, {gigantic} , grow, Angle,
22) Sounds of "GH"
A) "GH" gives "F" sound when it is preceded by "U" as in LAUGH, ROUGH, TOUGH, COUGH, ENOUGH
B) "GH" may be silent as in DROUGHT, THOUGH
C) H of "GH" remains silent as in GHOST, Ghoul
D) "GH" changes pronunciation of words like NIGHT, RIGHT, SIGHT
23) Sound of "TH"
/ð/
The, this, that, these, their, them, father, brother, rather, wealthy, clothing, breathe, with...
/θ/
bathroom, method, sympathy,
* It has THREE main rules :
I) "TH" in the beginning of words :
In almost any case, the th is a voiceless /θ/ as in threat, thought, think, throw, ….
Function words usually begin with the voiced /ð/ as the pronouns THEY , THEM , THEIR , THE , THIS , THAT , THESE , THOSE and the adverbs and conjunctions THEN , THERE , THAN , THUS , THOUGH , THEREFORE , THEREBY , THEREAFTER , ….
II) 2. "Th" in the middle of a word:
Most English words have /ð/ in the middle, when there is a th, as in either, father, mother, brother, rather, further, together, weather, whether, ….
Most borrowed words have /θ/ in the middle, when there is a th, as in cathedral, enthusiasm, ethics, mathematics, lethal, method, mythical,
III) "TH" at the end of words :
_ NOUNS and ADJECTIVES have generally /θ/ as in bathroom, sympathetic, cloth, bath, tooth
_verbs end in /ð/ as in breathe, seethe, soothe, loathe
24) "S" gives three sounds : "iz", "s" and "Z".
I) EXAMPLES for "iz" sound :
CE _Races
S_ Buses
X_Boxes
Z_ Prizes
SS_ kisses
Ch_ watches
Sh_ Dishes
Ge_changes
II) Examples for /s/ sound :
P_ Sleeps
K_ books
T_ hats
F_ cliffs
Gh_ laughs
Ph _ graphs
TH_ Myths
III) Examples for /z/ sound :
B_ crabs
D_ words
G_bags
L_falls
M_ dreams
N_fans
NG_sings
R_ wears
V_ gloves
Y_ plays
*Words that end in vowels use /z/ sound: sees, tries, follows, continues
25) The Letter X gives the three sounds : /Gz/, /ks/ and /z/.
*GZ _ Example, exit, exile (when preceded by /e/
* KS_ Taxi, Fix, Luxury
* Z_ Xenophobic, xerox
(Learning correct spelling and correct pronunciation is a life long process. So, don't worry. Keep learning. Stay humble. Stay smiling.)
Part (5)
Topic : Silent Letters in English words : where and why?
Q. No. 1 what is orthography?
Ans: Orthography is the science of correct spellings.
Q. No. 2 what is a silent letter?
Ans : A letter that is written but not read in an English word is called a silent letter. In English language, about 50% words contain silent letters. Sometimes, more than one letter stay silent in English words. e. G. (K)NOW, THOU(GH)
Q. No. 3 Why are there SILENT LETTERS in English words?
Ans: The main reasons of SILENT LETTERS in English Words are give here :
Reason No. (I)
The SILENT LETTERS help us to identify homophones or same sounding English words. e. g.
In/inn
Be/bee
Too/two
Know /no
Whole /hole
Knot/not
{They remain silent but make a huge difference to the meaning of words}
Reason No. (II)
The SILENT LETTERS help us to know the exact pronunciation of words e . g.
Sin/sign
Rat/rate
Cloth/clothe
Rid/ride
At/ate
Cop/cope
Hat/hate
Tap/tape
Mat/mate
Reason No. (lll)
The SILENT LETTERS help us to know the origin and history of words e . g.
*Debt 🔙 from french word "Dete" 🔙 from Latin word "Debitum".
* Plumber 🔙 from Latin word "Plum bum"
* words DEBT, DOUBT, ISLAND are Latin.
* 'Gh' in words like DAUGHTER, NIGHT, COUGH, DOUGH, BRIGHT was pronounced as "h" by Anglo-saxons but as "F" by French in certain cases.
* "H" remains silent in the words borrowed from French e . g. HOUR, HONEST, HONOUR, HEIR,
Q. No. 4 Give A--Z list of Silent letters in English words with examples ?
Ans: Here goes the list:
A - artistically, logically, musically, romantically,
B - comb, climb, debt, plumber, tomb, subtle, dumb,
C - acquire, acquit, blackguard, czar, muscle,
CH - yacht
/jɑt/
D - handkerchief, Wednesday, Handsome, sandwich
E - plaque. vegetable, bridge,
F - NONE
G - align, champagne, gnash: /næʃ/ gnaw, , ,Reign.
GH - right, drought, eight, weigh.
H - choir, exhaust , hour, honour, honest, rhyme,
I - business, parliament
J - NONE
K - Knot, know, knife, knock, knee, knight
L - calm, folk, talk, walk, could, should, would, half, calf.
M - mnemonic.
N - Autumn, column, damn, government, solemn.
O- colonel
P - coup, cupboard, pneumonia, psalm, raspberry, receipt,
Q - (NONE)
R - butter, finger, surprise
S - aisle, island, debris, isle, viscount.
T - beret, Chevrolet, depot, listen, whistle, wrestle, mortgage, apostle
TH - asthma, isthmus,
U - Beautifully, wonderfully, guitar, guilty, tongue
V - NONE
W - who, whole, write, wrong, two, sword, wrist, answer
X - faux : /fəʊ/
Y - (NONE)
Z - rendezvous
Q. No. 5 Give a list of extra tricks to identify silent letters in English words?
Ans : The list is here:
1) CC➖ K
Double C is pronounced as K :
Acclaim, occasion, accord, accompany, occupy
2) CC➖KS
Double C is pronounced as KS
Accident, accede, accent, access, success
3) All other double consonant letters are pronounced as single consonant sound eg.
Rubber/ruber
Fall/fal
Differ/difer
Sunny/suny
Better/beter
4) 'B' remains silent before 'T' and after 'M' eg. Debt/det, doubt/dout, comb/com, womb/wom.
5) 'B' is NOT silent before 'T' in prefix 'Sub' eg. Subtenant, subtend, subtitle, subterranean.
6) 'B' is NOT silent after 'M' in some words; eg. Number, Jumble, Fumble, Crumble, Humble
7) 'D' before 'J' is silent eg. Adjective, Adjust, Adjudge .
8) 'G' before 'M' and 'N' is silent eg. Gnat, sign, phlegm
9) 'G' before 'M' and 'N' is NOT silent when two letters are in two different syllables eg. AgNostic, MaligNant, paradigMatic.
10) 'H' after 'G' and at the end of English words is silent eg. Ghost/gost, aghast/agast, oh/O, Ah/A
11) 'K' before 'N' is silent eg. Knack /nack, kneel/neel, knob/nob, knife/nife
12) 'L' before 'K' and 'M' is Silent eg. Walk/wak, talk/tak, balm/bam, psalm/psam
13) 'N' after 'M' is silent eg. Autumn, damn, hymn, condemn,
But we read Autumnal, condemnation, damnable, hymnal
14) 'P' in the word-initial sequence PN, PS, PT, is silent eg. Pneumonia, psalm, psychology
15) 'S' before 'L' is silent eg. Aisle, island, isle
16) 'T' between 's' and 'L' / 's' and 'EN' is silent eg. Castle, Listen, fasten, whistle
17) 'W' before 'R' and 'H' is silent eg. Wrong/rong, wrist/rist, who/ho, whom/hom, whoop/hoop.
18) The Letter "C" is a bit confusing. However, I can simplify it.
The Letter C gives S sound when it comes before the vowels "E" "i" "Y" eg
Cease = Sease
Cipher = Sipher
Cyst = sist
(Y is the semi-vowel)
In other cases, it gives K sounds eg
Cut
Class
Cross
However, there are exceptions 😊
"Soccer" must be SOSER but it is read as SOKER
19) "Ed" at the end of weak verbs :
A) "Ed" gives "d" sound after the following vowels :
i , Tried= trid
Y, keyed = keyd
U, sued = sud
B) "Ed" gives "d" sound after the following voiced consonants :
B, robbed = robbd
V, loved = lovd
Z, used = usd
M, Tamed = tamd
N, Fined = find
L, called = calld
R, cared = card
G, bagged = baggd
TH, clothed = clothd
C) ) "Ed" gives "t" sound after the following voiceless consonants :
P, stopped = stoppt
K, picked = pickt
F, laughed = laught
S, passed = passt
Sh, fished = fisht
CH, watched = watcht
D) "Ed" gives "id" sound after the verbs that end in "d" and "t" eg
D, ended = endid
T, Started= startid
20) Pilots mispronounce the following words to avoid confusion and ambiguity within their staff.
I) "tree" for "three",
II) "fower" for "four",
III) "fife" for "five",
IV) "niner" For "nine"
* The sound of 'Five' matches with the sound of 'Fire' which is a military command, means "Shoot".
* The sound of 'Nine' matches with the German word 'nein' which means "No".
21) The letter ”g” has two sounds, hard “g” and soft “g”. The hard “g” occurs more in words than soft "g". The sound of hard "g" is heard in Go, gain, good, get, etc. The sound of soft "g" is like the sound of "J" and is heard in Gym, George, giraffe etc.
* Soft "G" is followed by "E", "i" "Y" as in GENTLE, GIANT, GYM, clergy, apologise, age, magic, stingy
* Hard "G" is followed by "a", "O", "u" as in GAIN, GO, GUT, GAY, {gigantic} , grow, Angle,
22) Sounds of "GH"
A) "GH" gives "F" sound when it is preceded by "U" as in LAUGH, ROUGH, TOUGH, COUGH, ENOUGH
B) "GH" may be silent as in DROUGHT, THOUGH
C) H of "GH" remains silent as in GHOST, Ghoul
D) "GH" changes pronunciation of words like NIGHT, RIGHT, SIGHT
23) Sound of "TH"
/ð/
The, this, that, these, their, them, father, brother, rather, wealthy, clothing, breathe, with...
/θ/
bathroom, method, sympathy,
* It has THREE main rules :
I) "TH" in the beginning of words :
In almost any case, the th is a voiceless /θ/ as in threat, thought, think, throw, ….
Function words usually begin with the voiced /ð/ as the pronouns THEY , THEM , THEIR , THE , THIS , THAT , THESE , THOSE and the adverbs and conjunctions THEN , THERE , THAN , THUS , THOUGH , THEREFORE , THEREBY , THEREAFTER , ….
II) 2. "Th" in the middle of a word:
Most English words have /ð/ in the middle, when there is a th, as in either, father, mother, brother, rather, further, together, weather, whether, ….
Most borrowed words have /θ/ in the middle, when there is a th, as in cathedral, enthusiasm, ethics, mathematics, lethal, method, mythical,
III) "TH" at the end of words :
_ NOUNS and ADJECTIVES have generally /θ/ as in bathroom, sympathetic, cloth, bath, tooth
_verbs end in /ð/ as in breathe, seethe, soothe, loathe
24) "S" gives three sounds : "iz", "s" and "Z".
I) EXAMPLES for "iz" sound :
CE _Races
S_ Buses
X_Boxes
Z_ Prizes
SS_ kisses
Ch_ watches
Sh_ Dishes
Ge_changes
II) Examples for /s/ sound :
P_ Sleeps
K_ books
T_ hats
F_ cliffs
Gh_ laughs
Ph _ graphs
TH_ Myths
III) Examples for /z/ sound :
B_ crabs
D_ words
G_bags
L_falls
M_ dreams
N_fans
NG_sings
R_ wears
V_ gloves
Y_ plays
*Words that end in vowels use /z/ sound: sees, tries, follows, continues
25) The Letter X gives the three sounds : /Gz/, /ks/ and /z/.
*GZ _ Example, exit, exile (when preceded by /e/
* KS_ Taxi, Fix, Luxury
* Z_ Xenophobic, xerox
(Learning correct spelling and correct pronunciation is a life long process. So, don't worry. Keep learning. Stay humble. Stay smiling.)
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