SILENT LETTER

1. b is silent in 2 groups od words

- before t: debt, doubt, subtle
- after m at the end of a word or stem: climb, lamb, thumb, bomber
- c is silent in some exceptional words: muscle, indict /in`dait/, Connecticut /k ǝ`netik ǝt/
2. ch is silent in some exceptional words: yacht /jɒt/ /jɑ:t/
3. e is frequently silent. At the end of a word, for example, it is silent if it follows a consonant letter (make, life,
like, these, notice, orange, face, huge, collapse, twelve). In this position, it may have the function of indicating
that the vowel before the consonant is long (make, life, these); or that c or g is soft (orange, notice); or both of
these (face, huge); or neither (collapse, twelve)
 In a few cases at the end of a word after a consonant, the pronunciation is /i/: apostrophe, catastrophe,
4. f is silent in the old pronunciation of halfpenny
5. g is silent before m, n but only at the beginning or end of a word or stem, as in gnat, sign, phlegm, foreigner
6. h is silent in a number of cases:
- at the beginning of the exceptional words: heir, honest, hounor/ honor, hour, and their derivative: also, in
AmE only, in herb;
- at the end of a word after a vowel letter: oh, hurrah
- in most cases when it is at the beginning of a weak-vowelled syllable, as in the weak form of he, she, him,
his, has, have; in word such as annihilate, vehicle; and sometimes also in words such as hotel, historic.
7. k is silent at the beginning of a word when followed by n: knee, know
8. l is silent in a fair number of words (could, should, would), especially when it stands between:
- a and f: half
- a and k: talk
- a and m: salmon
9. n is silent when it follows m at the end of a word, and in the corresponding inflected forms, as in column,
condemn.
10. p is normally silent at the beginning of a word before n, s, t: pneumonia, psychologist, psychiatrist (doctor of
mental illness), ptomaine (a substance found in decaying vegetable and animal matter that used to
be thought to cause food poisoning)
11. r When the spelling is r followed by a consonant letter or a silent e, or r at the end of a word, the pronunciation
differs in different varieties of English: in RP, the r is silent. The same applies to most varieties of English
English, to Australian English, and the other “non-rhotic” accents. In connected speech, however, r may be
pronounced at the end of a word if the next word begins with a vowel sound (far away)
In GenAm , the pronunciation is r. the same applies to Scottish English, to Irish English, and to the other
“rhotic” accents. In GenAm, the r coalesces with a preceding /3:/ vowel to give 3: r (farm /fɑ:rm/, more /mͻ:r/
- iron
12. rh is silent in catarrh (a condition in which a lot of mucus is produced in
the nose and throat, especially when a person has an infection, or the mucus produced)
13. s is silent in various words: island, aisle, corps, debris, prėcis, viscount, Grosvenor, Illinois
14. t is usually silent in two groups of words:
- -sten (listen), -stle (thistle), Christmas, soften, often
- At the end of words recently borrowed from French: chalet
 Postman (elided t)
15. th is silent in: asthma (a medical condition that makes
breathing difficult by causing the air passages to become narrow or blocked), isthmus
(a narrow piece of land with water on each side that joins two larger areas of land)
16. w is always silent in wr at the beginning of a word or stem: wreck, wrong, rewrite
Also in two, answer
17. X is silent in certain names and other words borrowed from French (prix)