Silent Letters Words are often misspelled when they contain a letter that is not pronounced - the silent p in psychology and related words is an obvious example.. It's easy to leave out
Trang 1Silent Letters
Words are often misspelled when they contain a letter that is not pronounced
- the silent p in psychology and related words is an obvious example It's
easy to leave out these silent letters Some letters are particularly likely to give trouble:
C Many words are spelled with a silent c following s: for example abscess, descend (with descent); omniscient; words ending in esce, -escent, or -escence, such as acquiesce, efferv-escent, convalescent A
silent c may also occur before k or q: examples include acknowledge;
acquainted; acquire
D Silent d is easy to omit before j, as in adjourn; adjunct; adjudicate; adjust
Trang 2 G G should precede n in words like align; foreign; reign G is also
sometimes followed by a silent u, as in guarantee; guard;
beleaguered
H Silent h is particularly common after r - as in diarrhoea (made
harder by the double r and the diphthong oe); haemorrhage (a double
r adds to the difficulty again); rhythm.C is another letter likely to be
followed by h- in saccharine, for example - and remember the h in
silhouette
While thinking about silent letters, remember the t in mortgage and the b in
debt and subtle Watch out as well for the i in parliament
Some words may have whole syllables that are not pronounced and may be
left out in writing Contemporary is is often pronounced and spelled
contempory; itinerary is similar
Sometimes the omission of a letter or syllable comes from a mistaken
pronunciation Many people fail to pronounce the c in Arctic and Antarctic, and so leave it out when writing the words The first r in February is often left out in both speech and writing, as is the first r in secretary Quantitative may be shortened in speech to the more manageable quantitive, and spelled
accordingly