A silent letter is a letter that appears in a particular word, but does not correspond to any sound in the word’s pronunciation. The bad news is that English has a lot of silent letters, and they create problems for both native and non-native speakers of English, because they make it more difficult to guess the spelling of many spoken words or the pronunciation of many written words.

How do silent letters arise?

• Pronunciation changes occurring without a spelling change. The <gh> spelling was in Old English pronounced /x/ in such words as light.
• Sound distinctions from foreign languages may be lost, as with the distinction between smooth rho (?) and roughly aspirated rho (?) in Ancient Greek, represented by <r> and <rh> in Latin, but merged to the same [r] in English. Similarly with <f> / <ph>, the latter from Greek phi.
• Clusters of consonants may be simplified, producing silent letters e.g. silent <th> in asthma, silent <t> in Christmas. Similarly with alien clusters such as Greek initial <ps> in psychology and <mn> in mnemonic.
• Occasionally, spurious letters are inserted in a spelling. The <b> in debt and doubt was inserted to reflect Latin cognates like debit and dubitable.

Not all silent letters are completely redundant

• Silent letters can distinguish between homophones, e.g. in/inn; be/bee; lent/leant. This is an aid to readers already familiar with both words.
• Silent letters may give an insight into the meaning or origin of a word, e.g. vineyard suggests vines more than the phonetic ‘vinyard’ would.
• The final <fe> in giraffe gives a clue to the second-syllable stress, where ‘giraf’ might suggest initial-stress.
• Silent letters help to show long vowels e.g. rid/ride
• Silent letters help to show ‘hard’ consonants e.g. guest/gest
• They can help to connect different forms of the same word e.g. resign/resignation.

Since accent and pronunciation differ, letters may be silent for some speakers but not others. In non-rhotic accents, <r> is silent in such words as hard, feathered; in h-dropping accents, <h> is silent. A speaker may pronounce <t> in “often” or “tsunami” or neither or both.

Here are some examples of silent letters in use:-

A – artistically, logically, musically, romantically, stoically
B – climb, comb, crumb, debt, doubt, numb, plumb, subtle, thumb, tomb,
C – acquire, acquit, blackguard, czar, muscle, scissors, victual
D – handkerchief, Wednesday
E – When added to the end of a word, it changes the pronunciation of the word, but is in itself, silent.
F – halfpenny
G – align, alight, champagne, diaphragm, gnash, gnaw, high, light,reign, though,
H – choir, exhaust, ghost, heir, hour, khaki, thyme
I – business
J (none)
K – blackguard, knead, knell, knickers, knife, knight, knock, knot, know
L – calf, calm, chalk, folk, half, psalm, salmon, talk, yolk
M – mnemonic
N – autumn, chimney, column, condemn, damn, hymn, solemn
O – colonel – opossum
P – corps, coup, pneumonia, pseudo, psychology, ptomaine, receipt
Q (none)
R – butter, finger, garden, here, myrrh
S – aisle, apropos, bourgeois, debris, fracas, island, isle, viscount
T – asthma, ballet, castle, gourmet, listen, rapport, ricochet, soften, thistle
U – catalogue, colleague, dialogue, guess, guest, guide, guilt, guitar, tongue
V (none)
W – answer, sword, two, whole, whore, wrist, writ, write
X – faux pas
Y (none)
Z – laissez-faire, rendezvous

Edward Carney distinguishes different kinds of “silent” letter, which present differing degrees of difficulty to readers and writers.

• Auxiliary letters which, with another letter, constitute digraphs, i.e. two letters combined which represent a single phoneme. These may further be categorized as:
  - “exocentric” digraphs, where the sound of the digraph is different from that of either of its constituent letters. These are rarely considered “silent”. There are examples:
  + where the phoneme has no standard single-letter representation, as with consonants <ng> for /?/ as in sing, <th> for /?/ as in thin or /ð/ as in then, and <sh> for /?/ as in show, and diphthongs <ou> in out or <oi> in point. These are the default spellings for the relevant sounds and present no special difficulty for readers or writers.
  + where standard single-letter representation uses another letter, as with <gh> in enough or <ph> in physical instead of <f>. These are irregular for writers but may be less difficult for readers.
  - “endocentric” digraphs, where the sound of the digraph is the same as that of one of its constituent letters. These include:
  + most doubled consonants, as <bb> in clubbed; though not geminate consonants, as <ss> in misspell. Doubling due to suffixation or inflection is regular; otherwise it may present difficulty to writers (e.g. accommodate is often misspelt) but not to readers.
  + the discontiguous digraphs whose second element is “magic e”, e.g. <a_e> in rate (cf. rat), <i_e> in fine (cf. fin). This is the regular way to represent “long” vowels in the last syllable of a morpheme.
  + others such as <ck> (which is in effect the “doubled” form of <k>), <gu> as in guard, vogue; <ea> as in bread, heavy, etc. These are difficult for writers and sometimes for readers.
• Dummy letters which bear no relation to neighbouring letters and have no correspondence in pronunciation
  - Some are inert letters, where the letter is sounded in a cognate word: e.g. <n> in damn (cf. damnation); <g> in phlegm (cf. phlegmatic); <a> in practically (cf. practical). If the cognate is obvious, it may aid writers in spelling, but mislead readers in pronunciation.
  - The rest are empty letters which never have a sound, e.g. <w> in answer, <h> in honest, <s> in island, <b> in subtle. These present the greatest difficulty to writers and often to readers.

The distinction between “endocentric” digraphs and empty letters is somewhat arbitrary. For example, in such words as little and bottle one might view <le> as an “endocentric” digraph for /?l/, or view <e> as an empty letter; similarly with <bu> or <u> in buy and build.

source form: learnenglish

In our earlier article “Elocution, Accent Softening & Voice Coaching – Stage 1″ we looked at some simple breathing exercises and how reading out a paragraph aloud can help us get more emphasis and meaning when we speak.

In this second article on Elocution we’re going to carry on with some more of the typical exercises you can expect to cover in an elocution or voice coaching session and review what we covered last time as well.

So why not print out this article and find yourself a quiet room where you wont be disturbed and have a go with us.

Elocution Lesson Three – Tongue Twisters
Now try and read out aloud the following “tongue twister”

“Three grey geese in a green field grazing”

And again … read it out aloud and faster. Don’t worry if you get mixed up with some of the words just try it again a few times till you can say it out loud ten times in 30 seconds. And remember to open your mouth as much as possible.

Now lets try another phrase. And of course you know the routine now … so try this one:-

“a proper copper coffee pot”

Read it out aloud 10 times yet?

Are you starting to feel as if your jaw, mouth and tongue are getting some exercise?

If not then you need to try the two tongue twisters again!

Elocution Lesson Four – Recap
Now lets go back to the start.

1. Try our breathing control exercise again.

Ready? OK …Breathe in ….. deeply … remember to use your stomach … and now wait a few seconds …. then breathe out slowly …. and count out aloud as you do it …

… 1 … 2 … 3 … 4 … 5 … 6… 7 … 8 … 9 … 10 …

… 11 … 12 … 13 … 14 … 15 … 16 … 17 … 18 … 19 … 20.

Try and count all the way to 20 as you breathe out.

2. Now read out the text aloud and put in as much expression as you can, ensuring that every word is clearly heard. If you have a tape recorder – then record yourself.

It was a beautiful day in more ways than one when Gerry finally decided to ask Sally to marry him. The Summer weather had now settled down and although there were still a few clouds in the sky, it was a very bright, blue sky that greeted them as they left the motel. Gerry took Sally by the arm and embraced her. And in that moment, he knew they were meant for each other.

Listen to yourself when you are reading it out aloud. Does it sound any clearer and more articulate to you than it did the first time you tried to read it out?

What you have been doing (in a simplistic way) by the above exercise is a warm up. Many presenters, actors and public speakers spend lots of time in vocal exercises like that before going on stage or reading the news or giving a presentation so that when they start speaking to the audience they have already warmed up their voice and are able to “hit the road running”.

A lot of what you do in elocution lessons is similar to this. (The main difference of course is that you will be constantly getting constructive feedback on your progress from a highly experienced voice coach.) You’ll also work on specific vowel sounds (a, e, i, o, u) and consonants (b, c, d, f, g, h, … etc). These exercises will help you change the way some of your words sounds to the ear (vowel sounds) and also help you pronounce words more clearly (consonant sounds). You can use these exercises to soften or even (over time) lose an accent.

Next Steps … Elocution Coach?

Remember developing a great voice takes time and dedication. But there’s nothing to stop you starting to improve your own voice right now. In fact … you have done just that if you actually took part in these exercises above.

… and if you didn’t actually try out the exercises …

… but just skimmed through them silently … Why not try them?

… what have you got to lose?

We rarely read aloud these days. Why not start doing this. Pick up a paper or magazine and read some of the text out aloud. Not in front of people – otherwise they might think you a bit strange! But in the comfort of your own home.

Spend about 5 – 10 minutes a day reading out aloud … and by the end of your first week will not only have got used to doing this you will start to enjoy hearing the sound of your voice. You will also be on the road to achieving more from your voice.

And when you are reading the text in the papers or magazines … try and experiment reading them out with different emotions. Be angry … be mysterious … be humourous … and note how the tone of your voice changes when you change your emotions. And if you have the chance try recording yourself again.

If you’d like to take things further you might well want to have face to face elocution training with an experienced voice coach.

But remember … above all … have fun … and enjoy the experience.

source form: learnenglish

Elocution has been around for centuries as a means of helping people to speak with more clarity and finesse. But can some simple elocution lessons or voice coaching lessons actually help improve your impact when you speak today? And does it really have some place in business training?

Try some of the very simple exercises in this and a followup article and find out for yourself if elocution or voice coaching might offer you a means of creating more impact the next time you are speaking.

Elocution Lesson One – Breathing & Relaxation

Firstly we are going to try and relax and take a few deep breaths. OK? And when you breathe in deeply try not to move your shoulders too much but breathe in from your belly (or stomach).

Ready? OK …Breathe in ….. deeply … remember to use your stomach … and now wait a few seconds …. then breathe out slowly …. and count out aloud as you do it …

… 1 … 2 … 3 … 4 … 5 … 6… 7 … 8 … 9 … 10 …

… 11 … 12 … 13 … 14 … 15 … 16 … 17 … 18 … 19 … 20.

Try and count all the way to 20 as you breathe out.

OK normal breath in again … and out.

Now lets try the deep breathing exercise again and count slowly all the way to 20.

So … Breathe in ….. deeply … and … wait a few seconds …. then breathe out slowly …. and count out aloud as you do it

… 1 … 2 … 3 … 4 … 5 … 6… 7 … 8 … 9 … 10 …

… 11 … 12 … 13 … 14 … 15 … 16 … 17 … 18 … 19 … 20.

…. try and count all the way to 20 as you breathe out.

Elocution Lesson Two – Text Reading

How about reading out some text aloud? OK?

Print out this page. Then Find yourself a room where you wont be disturbed – or overheard!.

Now read the following paragraph:-

It was a beautiful day in more ways than one when Gerry finally decided to ask Sally to marry him. The Summer weather had now settled down and although there were still a few clouds in the sky, it was a very bright, blue sky that greeted them as they left the motel. Gerry took Sally by the arm and embraced her. And in that moment, he knew they were meant for each other.

Now read it again but this time think about how much your mouth is opening. Try and open your mouth as wide as possible when you speak each word. In fact try and speak each word individually and not as part of a sentence. Try and make each word sound clear as possible. Try and “spit” out each of the words.

OK that probably sounds somewhat strange! What we are trying to do there is to make each word have a beginning and an end. Oftentimes when we speak we “slurrrrrr” our speech and do not take enough effort to pronounce each word clearly enough.

So lets repeat the paragraph one more time. This time reading it as a whole piece of text (not individual words without meaning) and making it sound as exciting (and emotional) a moment for Jerry as you possibly can.

And how did that sound to you?

In our next article – “Elocution, Accent Softening & Voice Coaching – Stage 2″, we’ll look at how tongue twisters can help exercise the jaw, lips and tongue to help ensure more clarity when you speak.

source form: learnenglish

Capital letters are used for two main purposes in English:

• to show the beginning of a sentence
• to show that a noun is a proper noun.

1. The first letter of every new sentence is capitalised.
   For example:-
   The postman delivered the parcel. It was very heavy.
2. The pronoun I is always capitalised.
   For example:-
   My name is Lynne, I am a teacher.
3. Proper nouns ( also called proper names) are the words which name specific people, organisations or places. They always start with a capital letter.

For example:-

Each part of a person’s name is a proper noun:-

Lynne Hand – Elizabeth Helen Ruth Jones …

The names of companies, organisations, newspapers or trade marks:-

Microsoft – Rolls Royce – the Round Table – the Times – WWW

Given or pet names of animals:-

Lassie – Champion – Trigger – Skippy – Sam

The names of cities and countries and words derived from those proper nouns such as languages:-

Paris – London – New York – England – English – French

Geographical and Celestial Names:-

the Red Sea – Alpha Centauri – Mars – the River Thames

Particular places such as streets, monuments, buildings, meeting rooms:-

Manvers Road (the road), the Taj Mahal – the Eiffel Tower (the tower) – Room 222 (the room)

Historical events, documents, acts, and specific periods of time:-

the Civil War – the Declaration of Independence – the Freedom of Information Act – World War I -

Months, days of the week, holidays and special days:-

December – Monday – Christmas – Valentine’s Day (note seasons are not capitalised spring – summer – autumn – winter)

Religions, deities, scriptures:-

Christ – God – Jehovah – Mohammed – Christianity – Islam – Judaism – the Bible – the Koran – the Torah

Awards, vehicles, vehicle models and names, brand names:-

the Nobel Peace Prize – the Scout Movement – Ford Focus – the Bismarck – Kleenex – Hoover

!Note - You don’t need to capitalise the name of any currency in English.

source from: learnenglish

Regular Plurals

The plural form of most nouns is created simply by adding the letter ‘s’ to the end of the word .

For example:-

• minute – minutes | horse – horses | bag – bags

Nouns that end in -ch, -x, -s, -sh, z or s-like sounds, the plural is formed by adding ‘es‘ to the end of the word.

For example:-

• church – churches | box – boxes | gas – gases | bush – bushes | ass – asses

Nouns that end in a single -z, the plural is formed by adding ‘zes‘ to the end of the word.

For example:-

• quiz – quizzes

Most nouns ending in -o preceded by a consonant also form their plurals by adding ‘es‘ .

For example:-

• potato – potatoes | tomato – tomatoes | volcano – volcanoes

However many newly created words and words with a Spanish or Italian origin that end in -o just add an ‘s‘.

For example:-

• photo – photos | piano – pianos | portico – porticos

Nouns ending in a consonant + y, drop the y and add ‘ies‘.

For example:-

• party – parties | lady – ladies

Most nouns ending in -f or -fe, drop the f and add ‘ves‘.

For example:-

• calf – calves | half – halves | wolf – wolves

Most words ending in -is, drop the -is and add -es.

For example:-

• crisis – crises | hypothesis – hypotheses | oasis – oases

Irregular Plurals

There are many common nouns that have irregular plurals.

Many common nouns connected with human beings seem to be irregular.

For example:-

• child – children | person – people | man – men | woman – women

Other irregular common nouns are:-

foot – feet | mouse – mice | tooth – teeth

Some nouns have identical plural and singular forms, although they are still considered to have a plural form.

For example:-

• aircraft – aircraft | fish – fish | headquarters – headquarters | sheep – sheep | species – species

Uncountable nouns on the other hand have no plural form and take a singular verb (is / was …).

For example:-

• advice | information | luggage | news

Some nouns (especially those associated with two things) exist only in the plural form and take a plural verb (are / were…).

For example:-

• cattle | scissors | trousers | tweezers | congratulations | pyjamas

Nouns that stem from older forms of English or are of foreign origin often have odd plurals.

For example:-

• ox – oxen | index – indices or indexes

In compound nouns the plural ending is usually added to the main noun.

For example:-

• son-in-law – sons-in-law | passer-by – passers-by

Words ending in -us

Linguists can argue for hours about the plural ending of nouns ending in -us. Many of these words are loanwords from Latin and preserve their Latin plural form, replacing the -us suffix with -i, but of course not all words ending in -us have a Latin origin , and some Latin words ending in -us were not pluralized with -i. hence the argument.

For example:-

The English plural of virus is viruses, not viri.

Other Latin loanwords that take the regular English plural -es ending include campus – campuses | bonus - bonuses

Latin loanwords that take a -i plural ending include radius - radii |  alumnus - alumni

If you want to bait a linguist ask them if the plural of crocus is crocuses or croci, or whether the plural of octopus is octopuses, octopi or octopodes.

!Note - Some nouns just create controversy. Did you know that the proper plural spelling for roof is rooves and not the more common roofs?

source from: learnenglish

A prefix (affix) is a word, or letter(s) placed at the beginning of another word (a base word) to adjust or qualify its usage or meaning. The opposite of prefix is suffix.

source from: learnenglish

Common Punctuation Marks
	. full stop (period USA) ! exclamation mark ? question mark	, comma  : colon ; semi colon	‘ apostrophe ” ” quotation marks - hyphen
Apostrophes [']
Apostrophes next to the letter (‘s) indicate possession or belonging. No space is needed before or after the apostrophe.
For example:- This is Lynne‘s web site.
They are also used to show missing letters in shortened words, especially in informal writing. No space is needed before or after the apostrophe.
For example:- It‘s a nice day today, isn‘t it? I‘ve got an idea. Let‘s go out.

Exclamation marks [!]
Exclamation marks act as a full stop. An exclamation mark is most often used to show shock, surprise, horror or pleasure. As with full stops you do not put a space before an exclamation mark, but you do need at least one space after one (two spaces for purists). There’s an increasing tendency to overuse them on the internet. Stick to the rule of one exclamation mark per sentence.
For example:- Oh! Wow! Brilliant! etc… It was schocking!
Commas [,]
Commas point out brief pauses in a complex sentence or separate items in long lists. They are useful for breaking up long sentences, but only to show a natural break. You do not put a space before a comma, but you do need a space after one.
For example:- There were a lot of people in the room, teachers, students and parents. The teachers were sitting, the students were listening and the parents were just worrying. !Note - We don’t usually put a comma before the word ‘and’.
Colons [:]
Colons precede a list, an explanation or an example. You do not put a space before a colon, but you do need a space after one.
For example:- “There are two main shopping areas in Nottingham: Broadmarsh Centre and Victoria Centre.”
Full stops [.]
Full stops (periods in the USA) go at the end of sentences that are statements. You do not put a space before a full stop, but you do need at least one space after one (two spaces for purists, but in these days of computers and e-mails one space is fine).
For example:- My name is Lynne. I am a teacher.
Hyphens [-]
Hyphens are used to connect words or syllables, or to divide words into parts. You don’t use a space on either side of a hyphen.
For example:- There were ninety-nine red balloons.
Question marks [?]
Question marks go at the end of sentences that are questions. As with full stops you do not put a space before a question mark, but you do need at least one space after one (two spaces for purists).
For example:- Is my name Lynne? Of course it is.
You need a question mark at the end of tag questions too. For example:- It’s a nice day, isn’t it?

Semicolons [;]

Semicolons are used to separate two sentences that would otherwise be joined with a word such as ‘and’, ‘because’, ‘since’, ‘unless’ or ‘while’. You do not put a space before a semicolon, but you do need a space after one.

For example:- “I’m looking forward to our next lesson; I’m sure it will be a lot of fun.”

Quotation marks (Speech marks) | Double quotes [" "] Single quotes [ ' ' ]

Quotation marks (single or double) are used to show words that are directly spoken (direct speech). Only the words actually being quoted are enclosed by speech marks. You need a space before the opening speech mark, but no space after it, and a space after the closing one, but no space before it.

For example:- “Could everyone sit down please,” said the teacher. Another general rule is to use a comma after the introduction to quoted speech or writing. For example:-  Jamie said, “I love you.” Sometimes when writing a spoken sentence it is split in two. The speech marks must then be placed at the beginning and end of each part of the sentence. Commas are used to separate the spoken part from the rest of the sentence. For example:- “I wonder,” she said quietly, “whether people will ever truly understand each other.” However if you need a question mark or exclamation mark the markers that punctuate the quoted words are enclosed by the speech marks. Spot the difference:- “I don’t understand,” replied Nathan. Nathan replied, “I don’t understand.” “Do you understand?” asked Nathan. Nathan asked, “Do you understand?” “I don’t understand!” shouted Nathan. Nathan shouted, “I don’t understand!”

A brief note from history When Alexander Dumas completed his sequel to ‘The Three Musketeers’, he sent the manuscript to his publishers. After a few weeks he had heard nothing and wrote a short note:- Dear Henri ? Alexandre He received the reply:- Dear Alexandre !! Henri

source from: learnenglish

In the active voice the agent (the person or thing that does something) is the subject of the sentence.

For example:

“She cleaned the office.” (Who cleaned the office? She did=the subject)

“He crashed into my car.” (Who crashed into my car? He did=the subject)

The active voice uses fewer words than the passive voice.

source from: learnenglish

We say something is going to happen when it has already been planned.

For example:-

Q) Are you going to fly to Germansy?
A) No, we’re going to drive.

We also use it to show something has already been decided.

For example:-

“We’re going to buy a new car next year.”

We also use going to when we can see something is about to happen.

For example:-

 ”Look at that cloud. I think it’s going to rain.”

 ”Watch out! He’s going to crash into that tree!”

You can also use going to to predict the future based upon the evidence now.

For example:-

“It looks as though Manchester United are going to win the European cup.

“I think my friend Louise is going to have a baby.”

!Note

Thanks to Ken Anderson for pointing out the following:-

“I’m going to Germany.” isn’t really the future tense. You would have to say “I’m going to go to Germany.”

Discussing the future using shall/will

When we give information about the future or predict future events that are not certain we usually use shall/will.

For example:-

Q) Who do you think will win the election?” A) “I’m not sure but I think the current party will win.”

We can also use shall/will to make promises for the future.

When leaving work I would say - “Goodnight, I’ll (I will) see you tomorrow.”

Shall/Will is often used when we just decide to do something.

For example:-

The phone is ringing - If I decide to answer the phone I would say - “I’ll (I will) get it.”

It can also be used in formal situations to express planned events and is preferred in formal written English.

For example:-

The party will start at 10.00pm.

source from: learnenglish

They are used to form the passive voice.

They are used to form the continuous tense.

They are used to form the perfect tense.

Be, Do and Have are auxiliary verbs, they are irregular verbs and can be used as main verbs. The verbs ‘to be’ and ‘to have’ are the most commonly used auxiliary verbs and work alongside the main verbs in any statement.

Modal verbs are also auxiliary verbs, but will be treated separately, these are can, could, may, might, must, shall, should, will, and would, they differ from the others in that they can never function as a main verb.

Be is the most common verb in the English language. It can be used as an auxiliary and a main verb. It is used a lot in its other forms.

Base form = be

Present form = am/is/are

Past form = was/were

Present Participle / Gerund = being

Past Participle = been

To do

The verb do is one of the most common verbs in English. It can be used as an auxiliary and a main verb. It is often used in questions.

Base form = do

Present form = do/does

Past form = did

Present Participle / Gerund = doing

Past Participle = done

!Note - The auxiliary verb ‘do’ is always followed by the base form (infinitive).

To have

Have is one of the most common verbs in the English language.

Base form = have

Present form = have / has

Past form = had

Present Participle / Gerund = having

Past Participle = had

source from: learnenglish