All Questions
Tagged with pronunciation-vs-spelling silent-letters
29 questions
23
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Is the ‘t’ in ‘witch’ considered a silent t?
I was under the impression that because ‘witch’ ends with a /tʃ/ sound, the ‘t’ is not silent but directly represents an essential element of the pronunciation.
However, a word game (the New York ...
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21
votes
5
answers
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Is the D in words like Fridge and Bridge silent?
The other day, I was discussing the pronunciation of fridge with friends on a social media group. They insisted that the d in fridge is completely silent. Is that so? I have always said it with a ...
- 269
3
votes
1
answer
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Why is the P silent in "coup" and "corps"?
Corps = /kɔː(r)/: the PS is silent
Coup = /kuː/: the P is silent
Corps
Etymology Dictionary says "from French corps d'armée (16c.), which apparently was picked up in English during Marlborough's ...
user387044
1
vote
1
answer
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Why is there a ‘w’ in the word ‘Answer’? [closed]
This might sound silly. I understand ‘w’ is silent. But what purpose does ‘w’ serve? Why is it important to have ‘w’ in there? Why not just ‘Anser’ like it’s pronounced?
- 127
0
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1
answer
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Silent consonants in words like lawn, dawn [closed]
Is it w or wn?I have no idea,kindly help me out?
What about in words like rogue,does ue or u count as silent consonants although they are clearly vowels?
0
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3
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Why is the word "folks" pronounced [foʊks]?
Why is the word folks sound like it’s pronounced [foʊks] rather than [fɔɫks]? It’s as though people are thinking it’s spelled fokes.
- 3,107
5
votes
1
answer
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Confusing 'r' sounds
In their kids song "Crazy ABCs", the Barenaked Ladies sing about words that start with confusing sounds:
A is for aisle
B is for bdellium
C is for czar
However, when the song gets to "r":...
- 429
2
votes
2
answers
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History and Explanation of Scientific English Pronunciation Convention: PS, PN, PT
A research question on pronunciation
I have been looking for the explanation and history of the English pronunciation convention of not pronouncing the P at the start of double consonant scientific ...
- 41
2
votes
2
answers
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What is the significance of having a silent letter like "k" in a word? [duplicate]
Why is the k silent in: known /nəʊn/; knife /nʌɪf/, and knight /nʌɪt/?
What does this specify?And what is k doing there if there is no need to pronounce it?
- 269
0
votes
0
answers
70
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Is there any rule of silent initial letters in English? [duplicate]
Mostly we some times uses silent words like knife, knock, knee etc i want to know is there any law in english please also inform me why these are silent? I am a new english language learner.
- 101
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4
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Silent letters in English [closed]
With the help of dictionaries, I’ve assembled a list of letters that can be silent in English:
For most letters, I found more than one example, what are the other examples of a silent z (rendezvous)...
- 1,467
45
votes
4
answers
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Why is "cupboard" pronounced with a silent "p"?
According to Google at least, the word "cupboard" originated in late Middle English as denoting a board that held cups. Since then, the word has evolved to mean a kind of cabinet.
My question is, ...
- 721
8
votes
4
answers
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Last names that are English words with an extra 'e'
I noticed that there are a lot of last names that have an 'e' at the end. The pronunciation usually isn't changed from that of the base word.
Poole
Steele
Browne
Clarke
Why do English words not ...
- 215
1
vote
2
answers
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Adding "-ing" to a verb ending with a pronounced "e"
When a verb ends with a "e" that is pronounced, do you get rid of the "e" when you add "-ing"?
For example, would you say "His karaoking last night was really unique", or "His karaokeing last night ...
- 18.3k
3
votes
1
answer
956
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Algorithm to determine if an "e" in a word is silent
I'm working on a software that requires me to know if an "e" in a word is silent or not. I thought of using Artificial Intelligence and pattern recognition to determine if the "e" is silent. The AI ...
- 133
0
votes
3
answers
1k
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Why are "some" letters silent in English? [closed]
There are many such words that we all know about, but please explain why the makers of the English language made up words with silent letters?
- 125
9
votes
2
answers
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Why doesn't the silent "e" work on "infinite"? [duplicate]
Why doesn't the silent "e" work on the word "infinite"?
What I mean is, why does mate have a long "a", but infinite has a short "i"?
- 207
23
votes
2
answers
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Why is the “L” silent when pronouncing “salmon”?
Why is the letter l silent when pronouncing salmon properly?
- 405
27
votes
5
answers
10k
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Silent "w" in words starting with "wr-"
My eldest is a beginning reader. Yesterday we read one of my favorite books, The Wreck of the Zephyr. He pointed at wreck and asked me why that one looked like it said "wuh-reck." I explained that ...
- 27.9k
2
votes
2
answers
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Why does a silent "-e" at the end of a word lengthen vowels?
There's a common pattern in English spelling where "short" vowels are pronounced as "long" vowels with the addition of a silent "e" at the end of the word.
E.g.
bit → bite
mat → mate
pet → pete
Is ...
- 147
18
votes
2
answers
971
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Pronunciation of 'host' in Shakespeare's time
Listening to the recent film production of Macbeth with Patrick Stewart, I noticed that Duncan says:
Give me your hand. Conduct me to mine host.
Obviously, it's in the text (Act 1, Scene 6). I'm ...
- 281
13
votes
4
answers
74k
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Why doesn't "ninth" have an "e", like "ninety"?
Is it just because "ninth" has only one syllable? That wouldn't make sense, though, because saying "NINE-ith" wouldn't be worse than saying "NINE-e-tee". If we were used to "nineth", we would have ...
- 57.8k
3
votes
3
answers
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Why do "able" and "haste" have long a's?
(There are others, such as table, paste, and baste.) The rule I've heard is that a vowel is made long when succeeded by a consonant and then another vowel. Some words treat double consonants as a ...
- 57.8k
20
votes
3
answers
11k
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Where did the "ue" in "tongue" come from?
How I remember being told over and over how to spell tongue! I didn't understand it then; I don't understand it now. What evolution might put a silent "ue" at the end of a word?
- 57.8k
30
votes
5
answers
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Why is the 'w' silent in "sword"?
In RP English, the 'w' in "sword" is silent. Wiktionary suggests /sɔːd/ and /soʊrd/.
Why? Are there other words like this? The 'w' is pronounced in words like "swollen", "swoop", "sworn" and "swore".
user4727
17
votes
6
answers
3k
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How should "often" be pronounced? [closed]
I heard people saying "Of-fen" as well as "Of-ton".
Till now I have been using the first one but few days ago I had an interviewer who pronounced often "Of-Ton" while interviewing.
- 301
24
votes
5
answers
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Why is the "a" in "cocoa" silent?
Not being a native speaker of English, one of those words that tripped me up is “cocoa”. Besides having its vowels inverted from “cacao”; it also is pronounced exactly the same as “coco”, whereas “...
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22
votes
9
answers
74k
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Why does English spelling use silent letters?
Why have a letter in a word when it’s silent in pronunciation, like the b in debt?
Can anyone please clarify my uncertainty here?
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Aspirated letters vs. Silent letters
How are aspirated letters different from silent letters when pronouncing a word?
user1784