The Origin of Silent Letters

So, where did the silent letters originate? They are Classical period relics, according to author Ned Halley. “As the Classical world’s influence grew stronger in the 15th century, English scholars wanted to remind their readers that the majority of the language’s vocabulary came from Latin and Greek. They added the b to show off their understanding of doubt, which was then written ‘dout’ because it came into medieval English via French doute and was derived initially from Latin dubitare. It was a nationalistic act in a sense, reasserting English’s Classical beginnings over the Dutch, French, German, and Norse influences of the millennium since Roman dominance diminished in Britain in the fifth century and Anglo-Saxon languages began to invade.”

Ursula Dubosarsky also has some thoughts on how silent letters have evolved: “Another thing to keep in mind is that many of today’s silent letters were not always silent. The word knight, for example, was once pronounced with the k and the gh sounded out (ke-nee-g-hht), as were many silent e’s and l’s in English.

Silent Letters Come in a Variety of Forms

A Survey of English Spelling author Edward Carney divides silent letters into two categories: auxiliary and dummy. He divides the two groupings into the following categories.

Auxiliary Letters

Auxiliary letters are part of a set of letters that spell a sound that isn’t represented by a single letter. As an example,

There’s /th/ thing /th/ there /sh/ share /zh/ treasure /ng/ song.” “

Dummy Letters

“There are two types of dummy letters: inactive letters and empty letters.

Inert letters are letters that are sometimes heard and sometimes not heard in a word segment. As an example,

resignation (g is not heard)

withdrawal (g is heard)

heinous (g is not heard)

(There is a g heard).”

“Like auxiliary letters and inactive letters, empty letters have no purpose. The letter u in the word gauge, for example, is blank. Silent consonants can be found in the following words:

d: bridge, ledge, edge c: indict ch: yacht

g: sign, design, assign, foreign

h: spaghetti, rhinoceros

knuckle, knee, knit, knob, knob, knob, knob, knob, knob, knob, knob, knob, knob, knob, knob, knob, knob, knob

m: mnemonic n: autumn, column l: calf, talk, could, should, would m: mnemonic

p: raspberry, receipt

t: castle, whistle

w: “answer,” “wrap,” “wring,” “wring,” “wring,” “wring,” “wring,” “wring,” “wring,” “wring,” “w (Carney 1994).

Silent letters are more difficult to predict than empty letters in new words. “There are no standards that we can apply to words with empty letters[;] you just have to use them and remember their spelling,” Strausser and Paniza, authors of Painless English for Speakers of Other Languages, say. (Strausser and Paniza 2007, for example).

Long Vowels

Long vowels are letters in which the sounds of the letters A, E, I, O, and U correspond to the letter’s spoken name. Typically, they are taught from preschool to first grade. A word with a short vowel is frequently turned into a word with a long vowel by adding a silent letter “e” to the end of the word.

Consider the following scenario:

“Mat” becomes “mate” by adding the letter “e.”

“Win” becomes “wine” by adding a “e.”

“Hope” becomes “hope” by adding the letter “e.”

“Tub” becomes “tube” by adding a “e.”

The letter “e” is an exception, as the rule of adding a silent “e” does not apply.

There are other similar exclusions that can be confusing to children when they first begin. It necessitates the teacher staging the lesson in order to present each rule and exception separately. You, as a parent, can begin assisting at home by working closely with the teacher.

E Words with a Long E

The words in bold contain the long E sound.

To be or not to be, that is the question. That is the issue.

Pete intends to see her again as soon as possible.

On the high beam, the gymnast shines.

The ethics board deemed the actions to be unacceptable.

At the deli, there was quite a scene.

English Words that End with a Silent E

Let’s go over the letter’s purpose now that you’ve gone over a few words in the English language that end in a silent “e.” Although the silent “e” does not create a sound, it has a purpose. The following are the effects of a silent “e” at the end of a word on its pronunciation.

A silent “e” can transform a short vowel into a long vowel. The “e” in code and wine, for example, stops them from being cod and win. They can produce the long sound and utter their names because of the “e.” (It’s for this reason that the silent “e” is sometimes known as the bossy “e.”)

A silent “e” can transform a short vowel into a long vowel. The “e” in code and wine, for example, stops them from being cod and win. They can produce the long sound and utter their names because of the “e.” (It’s for this reason that the silent “e” is sometimes known as the bossy “e.”)

Certain harsher-sounding vowels can likewise be made softer by using a silent “e.” The harsh sounds of “c” and “g” do not appear in the terms grace and age, as they do in the words cat and good.

However, there are a few cases where a silent “e” has no effect on how you pronounce a word.

Because English words do not usually finish in “v,” terms like perceive and above have an “e” that has no effect on how they are pronounced. This criterion also applies to words ending in “u,” such as cue and true.

Singular words do not appear to be multiple because of the silent “e.” Consider the term “moose.” If the “e” was removed, the result would be moos, which appears to be the plural version of moo.

The silent “e” has no influence on pronunciation in several cases. The three-letter words ore and are are examples of this.