Saturday, January 31, 2009

About silent letters in English words

English is an interesting language to study. One of the peculiarities is its pronunciation. For example, English words are not pronounced as they are spelt. A good example is ‘oven’ which is pronounced as ‘are vern’ and not ‘old vern’. In this post I would like to share with readers the silent letters in certain English words. The letters is mute when we pronounce the words. Look at the following examples:

1 debt, plumber, subtle, doubt, climber [ b is mute or not pronounced]

2 descend, , science, scythe, scent, sceptre [ c is mute]

3 knight, knead , knob, knack, , knuckle [ k is mute]

4 sign, gnash, gnarl, design, gnaw [ g is mute]

5 honest, honour, exhaust, heir, exhibit [ h is mute]

6 almond, salmon, walk, alms, palm [ l is mute]

7 answer ,wriggle, wrath, wreck, writhe [ w is mute]

8 psychology, raspberry, pseudonym, pneumonia, psychiatry [ p is mute]

9 debris, island, isle, viscount, aisle [ s is mute]

10 often, fasten, glisten, listen, jostle [ t is mute]

11 biscuit, guard, circuit, guilt, guitar [ u is mute]

Who says English is a dull language to study?

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