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Pronunciation:
Silent Letters |
Hi. In the classroom today you will learn about silent letters.
What is a silent letter?
A silent letter is a letter in a word that is not pronounced or
spoken.
When learning to pronounce English correctly, it is important to be
able to recognize silent letters.
Which letter is silent in the word WRONG?
The answer is the letter W, which in the word WRONG, is silent or
not pronounced.
Knowing which letters are silent in words will quickly improve your
English pronunciation and your ability to speak English properly.
Until next time. |
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Pronunciation:
List of English Words with Silent Letters |
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Note: the
silent letters are colored in
red |
- Silent A:
A is skipped over and not pronounced
- artistically, logically,
musically, romantically, stoically
- Silent B:
B is not pronounced when following M at the end of a
word and sometimes before t
- climb, comb, crumb, debt, doubt,
dumb, numb, subtle, thumb, tomb
- Silent C:
C is not pronounced in the following words
- acquire, muscle, scissors
- Silent D:
D is not pronounced in the following common words
- bridge, edge, handkerchief,
handsome, sandwich, Wednesday
- Silent E:
E is not pronounced at the end of words and usually
makes the vowel long
- breathe, drive, gave, hate,
hope, like, name, site, write
- Silent
F: none
- Silent G:
G is often not pronounced when followed by an N
- champagne, feign, foreign,
gnaw,
reign, sign
- Silent GH:
GH is not pronounced before T and at the end of many
words
-
bought,
daughter, fight, fright, high, light, might, right,
though, thought, through,
weigh
- Silent H:
H is not pronounced when following W and in a few
other cases
- ghost,
heir,
honest,
hour, what,
when, where, whether, why
- Silent I:
business
- Silent J:
none
- Changing J to H:
Many words from Spanish are used extensively in
Spanish speaking areas of the United States such as
Southern California. Place names and food names are
pronounced with the J sound becoming an H sound
- La Jolla becomes La Hoya (a
community in San Diego, California)
- Jalapeno becomes halapeno (a hot
pepper)
- Silent K:
K is not pronounced when followed by N at the
beginning of a word
- knead,
knee,
knife,
knight,
knock,
knot,
know,
knowledge
- Silent L:
L is often not pronounced before D, F, M, K
- balk, calf, calm, half, salmon,
should, talk, would, yolk
- Changing
LL to Y: Many words from Spanish are used
extensively in Spanish speaking areas of the United
States such as Southern California. Place names are
pronounced with the double L sound becoming a Y
sound
- La Jolla becomes La Hoya (a
community in San Diego, California)
- Silent M:
mnemonic
- Silent N:
N is not pronounced following M at the end of a word
- autumn, column, condemn, damn,
hymn, solemn
- Silent O:
colonel
- Silent P:
P is not pronounced at the beginning of many words
using the prefix "psych" and "pneu"
and in other cases
- corps, coup,
pneumonia,
psychiatrist,
psychology,
psychotherapy,
psychotic,
receipt
- Silent Q:
none
- Silent R:
none
- Note:
in Boston Massachusetts and surrounding communities
the R is dropped in many words.
- For example: "Park the car in the Harvard
yard" becomes "Pak the ca in the Havard yad"
- Silent S:
S is not pronounced before L and a few other cases
- aisle, apropos, bourgeois,
debris, island, isle
- Silent T:
T is not pronounced in the following words
- asthma, ballet, castle,
Christmas, fasten, gourmet, listen, often, rapport,
ricochet, soften, thistle, whistle
- Silent U:
U is not pronounced after G and before a vowel
- colleague,
guard,
guess,
guest,
guidance,
guide,
guilt,
guitar, tongue
- Silent V:
none
- Silent W:
W is not pronounced at the beginning of a word
followed by an R, in three pronouns, and a few other
cases
- answer, sword, two,
who,
whole,
whom,
whose,wrap,
wrist,
write,
wrong
- Silent X:
faux pas (French origin but used in English)
- Silent Y:
none
- Silent Z:
rendezvous (French origin but used in English)
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