For example, silent letters help to distinguish between homophones (words with the same sound but different spellings and meanings) in writing. While people trying to learn English may find silent letters frustrating, they can be useful. In English, however, their spellings are retained while their pronunciations change, resulting in silent letters. In Scandinavian countries, these letters are pronounced. Knife, and many other words with a silent "k" or "g" at the beginning (such as gnaw and knee), are Viking words. Yet, it has a "k" at the start and an "e" at the end. Today, experts estimate that approximately 60% of English words have silent letters.įor example, the word " knife" could be spelled "nif" if you only used the letters that made sounds. Since their spellings were fixed, some letters became silent when pronounced in English. Often these new words didn't follow English rules of grammar. However, during the 15 th century, many words from other languages, such as Latin and French, were added to the English language. Historians believe that early on English had very few silent letters. With so many sounds and not enough letters, it's even more curious that more than half of the letters in the alphabet are silent at least part of the time. Many of those letters have more than one sound, and combinations of letters are often used to create other sounds. Unfortunately, the English language has about 45 sounds and only 26 letters. Some people think it would be ideal if a language had one letter for every sound. Why do so many words contain letters that aren't pronounced? No one can ever spell it.Ĭan you sympathize with the pterodactyl? Silent letters make the English language a bit frustrating. Rex: Say what? Why would you put a "P" at the front and not pronounce it? Tex: Actually, pterodactyl starts with a "P"…but the "P" is silent. Rex: Cool! We're both species of reptiles that start with a "T"! We were wandering through an old part of the Wonderopolis forest the other day when we overheard an interesting conversation between two ancient reptiles: Then I will send you an audio file that explains these rules and has a recording of each word. Would you like an audio recording of how to correctly pronounce these words? If so, please send me a message using my contact form. Examples: fixed, smuggled, begged, bored. Letter E is also silent before the letter D in the second and third form of verbs. Examples: bike, table, fore, come, example. Silent E: When the letter E comes at the end of words it is usually not pronounced. The letter D is also not pronounced in the following common words: handsome, handkerchief, sandwich. Examples: Wednesday, pledge, grudge, cadge. Silent D: The letter D is silent when it comes just before the letters N and G. Examples: block, puck, lock, acknowledge, aqua, acquit, acquiesce. The letter C is also silent before the letters K and Q. Examples: scissors, ascent, fascinate, muscle. Silent C: The letter C is silent when it is in the letter combination of SC. Examples: subtle, debt, doubt, and doubtful. The letter B is also silent when it occurs before the letter T. Examples: bomb, climb, crumb, dumb, lamb, limb, numb, thumb, plumber, tomb, womb, catacomb, comb Silent B: The letter B is silent when it follows the letter M. There are some general rules about these silent letters but as always in English there are always exceptions to the rule! This is the first article in a series of 4 on the topic of silent letters in English. Silent letters are those that are important to the correct spelling of words but are not pronounced when speaking.
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