If you want to improve your English skills, you need to know how to pronounce words properly. In this post, we will discuss silent letters in English words.
The English language has many silent letters. This can make learning English difficult, because words with silent letters are spelled and pronounced differently.
There are many reasons for silent letters. Some of them are remnants old pronunciations. For example, “bite” used to be pronounced with two syllables, before English speakers moved on to modern pronunciation.
Some silent letters came from borrowed words. For example, the word “psychology” was borrowed from Greek. English doesn’t use the consonant sound “ps” to start words, so the letter P became silent.
What’s the point of silent letters then? Well, silent letters are still useful!
Here are some examples of words with silent letters.
Silent A: artistically, critically, musically
Silent B: climb, debt, doubt
Silent C: scissors, muscle, scent
Silent D: badge, handkerchief, sandwich
Silent E: age, clothes, love
Silent G: champagne, foreign, sign
Silent H: choir, ghost, honest
Silent I: business, plaid, parliament
Silent K: knee, knife, know
Silent L: calm, could, walk
Silent N: autumn, column, hymn
Silent P: cupboard, pneumonia, receipt
Silent S: aisle, island, debris
Silent T: castle, often, witch
Silent U: biscuit, building, guess
Silent W: answer, wrap, write
Study this list carefully to know understand English pronunciation better.
If you want to know more, schedule a lesson with us! We have online English teachers ready to help you improve your pronunciation skills.
