What is a syllable?

The dictionary definition for a syllable is: “a unit of pronunciation having

one vowel sound, with or without surrounding consonants, forming the
whole or a part of a word.”

You can also think of syllables as single, unbroken sounds of a spoken

word. Sometimes syllables are referred to as the “beats” of language.

A word can have 1, 2, 3, 4, or even more syllables.

 1 syllable words: hi, fun, kites

 2 syllable words: hello, runner, party
 3 syllable words: elephant, fantastic
 4 syllable words: alligator, photography

Every syllable must contain at least one vowel, as it is the opening and
closing of the mouth to say the vowel sound that makes a syllable.

However, it is the number of vowel sounds that determines the number of

syllables in a word, not the number of vowels.

For example, words like ‘bike’ and ‘cake’ have two vowels but only one
vowel sound. And words like ‘sound’ and ‘boil’ are spelled with vowel
teams that make a single vowel sound. As such, these words all have just
one syllable.

Also note that ‘y’ can make a vowel sound as in the words ‘try’ and ‘fly.’

While every syllable must contain a vowel, a syllable may or may not
include consonants.

 A syllable may have no consonants, such as in the word ‘I’ or the

syllable ‘a’ at the beginning of the two-syllable word ‘apex.’
 A syllable may have consonants at the beginning, such as ‘he’ or
‘pro.’
  A syllable may have consonants at the end, such as ‘is’ or ‘un.’
 A syllable may have consonants at both the beginning and end, such
as ‘has’ or ‘run.’

The number of syllables in a word is unrelated to the number of letters in

the word. ‘Sounds’ with six letters and ‘red’ with three letters both have
just one syllable
 Task
 Come up with 3 words that have 1
syllable, 3 with 2 syllables, 3 with
3 syllables and 2 with 4 syllables.

Was week art star

tree go snow brush
book big stick Street
ask work speak Add
God bless paint age

Drive seven dinner

career missing frenzy
pencil hundred hungry
second yellow Morning
 Perfect money impact talking
window repair precious homework

animal yesterday finally appointment

average continue frustration tomorrow
beginning wonderful forgotten Interview
unhappy description infancy sympathy

vegetarian information disagreement

presentable destination preposition
regularly mandatory security
permanently circumstances comfortable
impossible mistakenly expectation
English pronunciation basics.

Th- Thank, there, those, fourth,

Thursday, something, birthday.

Ch- Chair, chores, change, chain,

exchange/school, choir, Christmas.

Sh- Ship, Shine, Shoe, Shush, Slushy,

She, Shrimp, mush.

Oo- boot, room, shoot, shampoo,

book, roof / door, floor.
Ee- Free, meet, Fee, Feet, Sheep, bee,
teeth, green, tree, Eel, knee.