Silent letters are the letters that you don't pronounce when you say the word.
These letters are only used when written. For example when you spell the word 'write' you do not say the letter 'W'.
Got it?! No?
Okay let's talk more about the history and rules of silent letters.
Letters in the alphabet
There are 26 letters in the English Alphabet and 21 of these letters can be silent!
So before we get to a long list of helpful rules for those 21 letters, let's talk about the etymology and a brief history of why English is weird.
Expand, Borrow and Differ
There are 3 main factors to silent letters in the English language. First of all, as the language's influence grew it needed to adapt to the variety of cultures and accents from place to place. This resulted in a change of pronunciation of certain words.
The second factor was the English Empire and its
expansion across the globe. This led to the term 'borrowed words' where the English Language takes words from other languages. These words usually kept the original language's spelling, but when that was difficult they were adapted. These new words often sounded very different to the way they were spelled, which in turn meant some of the letters ended up being silent.
The last factor is the easiest to understand. There are many examples where a silent letter has been introduced to make the spelling different between two words that have the same pronunciation. For example Nose/Knows or Night/Knight.
Golden Rules and Exceptions
So now we know a little bit more about why silent letters exist. Lets look at some rules to follow when using them.
Silent B -
Rule 1: The letter 'B' is not pronounced after the letter 'M'.
e.g. bomB, comB, climB, lamB, thumB
Rule 2: The letter 'B' is not pronounced before the letter 'T'.
e.g. deBt, douBt, suBtle
Silent C -
Rule 1: The letter 'C' is not always pronounced when in combination with 'S' - 'SC'
e.g. disCipline, sCene, sCience, sCissors
Rule 2: The letter 'C' is usually not pronounced before the letters 'K' and 'Q'.
e.g. craCk, duCk, piCkle, loCker / aCquire, laCquer, raCkuet
Silent D -
Rule 1: The letter 'D' is not pronounced when it appears before the letters 'N' and 'G'.
e.g. briDge, pleDge, weDnesday
Rule 2: The letter 'D' is not pronounced in the following common words.
e.g. hanDkerchief, hanDsome, sanDwich, weDnesday
Silent E -
Rule 1: The letter 'E' is not usually pronounced at the end of words.
e.g. abovE, besidE, tacklE, therE
Rule 2: When the letter 'E' comes before 'D' in the middle or end of the word it is sometimes silent.
e.g. archEd, borEd, dicEd, dishEd, smugglEd
Silent G -
Rule: The letter 'G' is not pronounced when it comes before the letter 'N'.
e.g. aliGn, beniGn, desiGn, foreiGn, siGn
There are some exceptions to this rule. e.g. cognitive, magnet, signature
Silent GH -
Rule 1: The letters 'GH' are not pronounced if they follow a vowel.
e.g. eiGHt, neiGHbor, weiGH, cauGHt, dauGHter, douGH, throuGH
Rule 2: The letters 'GH' are pronounced separately in compound words.
e.g. doGHouse, foGHorn, juGHead, lonGHorn
Rule 3: The letters 'GH' can sometimes sound like the letter 'F'.
e.g. couGH, lauGH, lauGHter, rouGH, touGH
Silent H -
Rule 1: The letter 'H' is usually silent when it follows the letter 'W'.
e.g. wHat, wHere, wHy, wHere, weatHer
Rule 2: The letter 'H' is not always silent after 'W'.
e.g. wHo, wHose, wHoever, wHole
Rule 3: Most words beginning with 'H' are not silent.
These words often use the article 'a'.
e.g. Hair, Happy, Help, History
Rule 4: The letter 'H' is silent at the beginning of the following words.
These words often use the article 'an'.
e.g. Heir, Honest, Honour, Hour
Silent K -
Rule: The letter 'K' is never pronounced when it is in front of the letter 'N'.
e.g. Know, Knight, Knife, Knife, Knowledge
Silent L -
Rule: The letter 'L' is not usually pronounced after vowels A, O , U.
e.g. caLf, haLf, paLm, couLd, wouLd, shouLd, foLk, yoLk
Silent N -
Rule: The letter 'N' is not pronounced if it follows the letter 'M' at the end of a word.
e.g. autumN, columN, damN, solemN
Silent P -
Rule: The letter 'P' is not pronounced at the beginning of certain words containing PS, PT or PN.
e.g. Pneumonia, Pterodactyl, Psychology,
Silent PH -
Rule: The letters 'PH' when pronounced together often sounds like the letter 'F'.
e.g. PHoto, telePHone, elePHant, graPH, PHysio
Silent S -
Rule: The letter 'S' is not pronounced after the letter 'L' in the following words.
e.g. aiSle, iSland, iSle, iSlet
Silent T -
Rule: The letter 'T' is not pronounced in the following words.
e.g casTle, chrisTmas, fasTen, bereT, whisTle, thisTle, busTle, hasTen, sofTen, rapporT, gourmeT, balleT
Silent U -
Rule: The letter 'U' is not pronounced if it follows the letter 'G' before a vowel.
e.g gUide, gUest, gUard, gUess
Silent W -
Rule 1: The letter 'W' is not pronounced at the beginning of the word if followed by the letter 'R'.
e.g wRite, wRong, wRist
Rule 2: The letter 'W' is silent in all of the following: Who, Whose, Whole, Whom, Whoever, ansWer, sWord, tWo
Now we have read the rules, hopefully you have a better understanding of the pronunciation. If you need any further examples of the individual letters we have some helpful posts on our pinterest.
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