Why Do We Use Silent Letters in English?
You might believe that silent letters aren’t essential because they aren’t pronounced, yet they make a huge difference in the meaning of words, and they even have the ability to change their pronunciation!
When Did Silent Letters Become Popular?
If you look back at the history of the language, you’ll notice that around 90% of it was phonemic (this means that the words sounded the same as they looked). Silent letters were rare at the time, although this began to change about the 15th century.
To make English appear more Latin or French, several words from other languages were imported.
This created issues because the new words did not follow the same grammatical standards as English! That’s why, despite the fact that the spelling for those woes has already been corrected, some letters became silent.
What Is the Purpose of Silent Letters?
Because the Latin alphabet was adopted into the English language, only 26 letters are used to express around 41 different significant sounds. As a result, an attempt was made to use letter combinations to represent sounds, ensuring that all of the major sounds in English were covered.
Silent letters are fascinating because they allow you to observe the history of each word as it is spelled and track its origins!
What are the English Rules for Silent Letters?
Don’t worry, there’s a (kind of)’solution’….there are certain rules that describe which letters are intended to remain silent before and after particular letters (the only’minor’ issue is that, like all English regulations, there are typically some exceptions!).
It will become easier to recall which letters are silent in some terms and which words they are supposed to be pronounced once you start practising these rules and using any new vocabulary you acquire.
Even if you think so, silent letters aren’t there to perplex you! Identifying and comprehending them will probably strengthen your spelling, speaking, and writing abilities, as well as your self-assurance!
Silent Letters and Their Uses
When readers must discriminate between homophones, they can be useful (these are words that have the same sound, but different definitions and different spelling). Homophones include words that are similar but not identical.
know/no, knot/not, their/there/they’re, band, prohibited, and to/too/two are some of the words that come to mind.
Even though they are quiet, silent letters can alter the pronunciation of words! As an example,
rat/rate, sin/sign, grim/grime, cop/cope
Knowing where they are and when they are used is therefore highly useful, as it will aid you in deciphering the meaning of the term!
When pronounced alone, the letter ‘H’ should sound like ‘aitch,’ however when used at the beginning of most words beginning with H, it retains its pronounced sound (e.g. hotel, house, ham).
However, it is generally absent in words with a French origin, such as
Honesty, heir, and honour are all words that come to mind when I think of the word hour.
If you’re interested in etymology (word origins), you’ll find learning silent letters intriguing because they contain so much information about the history of words!
Of course, the magical ‘e’ is another one! When you add a ‘e’ to the end of a word with a short vowel sound, it lengthens the vowel sound. Here are some examples:
tap/tape, mat/mate, rid/ride, con/cone, and fin/fine, tap/tape.
The Silent W
In English, there are just a few words with an unpronounced ‘w’ (see attached image). The task at hand is to assist students in remembering those words.
To begin, it’s helpful to grasp the origin of words that contain the unpronounced ‘w.’
The letter ‘r’ is usually followed by an unpronounced ‘w.’ (wrap, wrist, wrestle, write, wring). Twisting and distorting are the most common uses of these terms. To ‘wrap’ is to twist paper, to ‘wrist’ is to twist your wrist, to ‘write’ is to twist the shape of letters, and to ‘wreck’ is to distort or twist something out of shape. Discussing how the ‘wr’ words relate to twisting or distorting is one exercise you may perform with children.
When the next letter is ‘h,’ the ‘w’ is also unpronounced in a tiny number of words (who, whom, whose, whole). When rounded vowels (e.g., /o/ and /u/) were added in Middle English, the sound /h/ had a propensity to sound like /hw/. As a result, certain nouns that were historically spoken with a /h/ became spelled with a ‘wh’ (e.g., whole). Around the same time, certain ‘wh’ words with a round vowel were converted to /h/, despite the fact that they were still spelt ‘wh’ (e.g., who, whom).
Previously, the ‘w’ in ‘wr’ was pronounced. Although the ‘wr’ spelling has survived in English, we stopped pronouncing the ‘w’ between the 1450s and the 1700s, except in a few dialects.
Students can learn to explore words that contain the letter ‘wr,’ and then combine the most commonly occuring words into a tale picture. Consider the following scenario: The wrestler’s wrist was twisted around the wriggling… ….
The List of Words
Silent “W”
wrest
Who
Wrench
Wreath
Wreak
Wrath
Wrangle
Wraith
Wretched
Wrack
Wreck
Wriggle
Wrinkle
Wren
Wrong
Whole
Write
Wrap
Wrestle
Wring
wrist
Silent W words With Sentence examples
wreck -The wreck of the speedboat is submerged in the lake.
wren - The wren is one of the smallest birds in Britain.
wrestle - We saw the policeman wrestle the burglar to the ground.
wretch - My cold made me feel like a wretch.
wriggle - The cave explorers had to wriggle through the tunnel.
wrinkle - Grandma says she has a new wrinkle every day.
wrist - She wore a gold bangle on her wrist.
writhe - We watched the poor animal writhe in agony.
wrong - He would not accept that he was wrong.
wrought The old gate is made of wrought iron.
write - Will you write to me when you go away?
