Silent Letters in English A to Z with ALL RULES | British Accents and Pronunciation

868

(uplifting music)

- Hello everyone,

and welcome back to English with Lucy.

So you might have noticed

that recently I've been doing a series

on things you should never do in English,

or things you should never say.

And you guys seem to be reacting really well to it

and really enjoying it.

So I'm back today with another video.

This time about letters

that you should never ever pronounce in British English.

Yes, so today we're going to be talking

about silent letters in British English words.

I'm going to run through the letters alphabetically.

It's going to be really easy for you to understand.

Really easy for you to remember

and revise at a later date.

Before we start the lesson,

I would just like to remind you

of a fantastic opportunity

from the sponsor of today's video,

which will help you boost your English level even further.

It's the Lingoda Language Marathon.

The Marathon is an opportunity to take one group class

every day for three months

and get all of your money back.

It you've not heard of Lingoda before,

it's an online language academy

which offers really hight quality group and private classes

with qualified, native teachers.

If the full marathon seems like too much for you,

you can also take the half marathon.

Where you take 15 classes per month

for three months and get 50% of your money back.

In order to succeed and get your money back

you have to participate in an agreed number

of classes each month.

That's 30 for the full marathon

and 15 for the half marathon.

The languages available are English,

Spanish,

French,

German

and Business English.

And for that last one you will need a level B1

or above in English as it's focused on special skills

like giving presentations and job interviews.

The marathon runs from the 21st of January 2019

to the 20th of April.

You have until the 14th of January to register

but hurry, because places are limited.

So you need to pay for three months

but don't forget,

if you complete the marathon successfully,

you'll get your money back.

If you'd like to know more about the marathon,

head to my announcement video

where I've covered all of the details

or you can just head straight

to the registration link in the description.

Lingoda charges a €5 entry fee

but you can get a €4,5 discount

and only pay €0,5

if you use my code, "STUDY1"

Not only will your language skills skyrocket,

(rocket launches)

but you'll also get up to €800 back into your account.

I think that is a really great motivation

to commit to those three months

and achieve your language goals.

For more information,

click on the link in the description box.

And if you do decide to sign up,

use my code, "STUDY1" for that discount.

Right, let's get on with the lesson.

So as you know, English is not a phonetic language,

which means (whoosh)

although you might see a letter in a word,

it doesn't necessarily mean you have to pronounce it.

I'm here to help you with that.

So let's talk about the letters

that you should never pronounce in English.

The silent letters in English words.

I'm going to go through them from A to Z.

Giving you as many examples

as I can possibly fit into this video.

I really do advise that you make a note of these

and try to use as many as possible

throughout your daily life.

That way it really gets stuck into your head.

Okay, so when should you not pronounce the letter A?

Well, when it comes just before "lly" at the end of a word.

Look at the word on screen.

How many syllables should this word have?

How many syllables?

If you thought three, you're correct.

It should be "lo-gic-ally"

We don't say "log-i-cal-ly,"

it's just logically.

Some other examples are artistically,

romantically,

musically.

It might be a good time now

to mention the homework for today's lesson,

which is to add any extra words

you can think of in your A to Z list,

and please share them in the comments.

Let's see who can contribute the most words.

I'll be looking out for them.

(whoosh) Right, let's move onto B.

So the B in words is usually silent

when it comes before a T,

or after an M.

Let's look at before a T.

We have subtle.

Subtle.

No B there.

We also have debt.

Debt.

And what about after an M?

We have comb.

Comb.

Womb.

Womb.

Tomb.

Tomb.

Bomb.

Bomb.

Plumber.

Plumber.

Thumb.

Thumb.

Now there are exceptions to these rules.

For example the word obtain.

It comes before a T, yet you pronounce the T.

Or remember.

Remember.

So next we have C.

The letter C is usually silent when it comes after an S

and before I, E, or Y.

For example, scissors

or

science.

Another miscellaneous one is muscle.

Muscle.

And

yacht.

Yacht.

So there is one rule for the letter D.

It's normally silent if it comes before an N or a G.

For example, Wednesday,

pledge,

grudge.

Other common words include sandwich,

handsome.

Now silent E's form a big part of the English language.

In lower school or primary school,

we used to call them "Magic E's".

Because by putting an E at the end of a word,

the vowel before it normally becomes a longer vowel sound.

For example, mat changes to mate.

Or strip changes to stripe.

Other examples include face,

hate,

cute,

tube.

What about the letter G?

The letter G is normally not pronounced

if it comes before an N.

For example, align,

align.

Foreign,

foreign.

There are exceptions to this rule,

like magnet

or

signature.

G is also not pronounced if it comes after a vowel

and before an H.

For example, high,

light,

through.

Please do note, though,

that GH is pronounced separately in compound words.

Like doghouse.

That's two words put together.

Or foghorn.

Another fog, horn.

Two words put together.

Sometimes GH is pronounced like an F.

For example, laugh,

draught,

tough.

Right, let's talk about H on it's own.

It's normally silent when it appears after a W.

For example, why,

what,

when.

However sometimes it's not silent.

Especially if an O follows it.

Who,

whoever,

wholesome.

H is also silent at the beginning of many other words,

like

hour,

honest,

honour.

Remember with an unvoiced H,

you have to use the article an.

An hour.

An honest man.

In general, most words beginning with H are voiced

and you should use the a article.

A happy dog.

A hair.

Let's move onto K.

The letter K is almost always silent

when it comes before an N at the beginning of a word.

For example, knight,

knight.

Knife,

knife.

Knowledge,

knowledge.

What about the letter L?

The letter L is not usually pronounced

if it comes after A, O or U.

For example, calf,

calf.

Should,

should.

Yolk,

yolk.

What about the letter N?

The letter N is usually silent

if it comes after an M at the end of a word.

For example, autumn,

autumn.

Column,

column.

Damn,

damn.

Ah the letter P.

This one has got a bit more meat to it.

The P is usually silent

in the letter combinations PS, PT,

and PN,

used at the beginning of words.

For example psychology,

psychology.

Pterodactyl,

pterodactyl.

I've always wanted to get a dinosaur into one of my videos

and I have done it.

Ah, I did not know my New Year's resolution

would be so easy to achieve.

Pneumonia,

pneumonia.

Now, P and H together is sometimes pronounced like F.

Elephant,

elephant.

Telephone,

telephone.

The letter S.

The letter S is not pronounced

before L in the following words,

island,

island.

That's a really common mistake I hear.

I hear "is-land", "ize-land"

Same for isle,

isle.

Now T as a silent letter.

It's quite hard to come up with a definitive rule.

But commonly, anything ending in S-T-E-N,

it's likely to have a silent T.

For example, listen,

listen.

Moisten,

moisten.

And also S-T-L-E.

Whistle,

whistle.

Castle,

castle.

Other notable words are words derived

from French like ballet,

ballet.

Beret,

beret.

And then other random ones like often,

often.

Although you will hear

that pronounced as "of-ten",

"of-ten."

In fact I was brought up to say "of-ten."

Alright we're getting close to the end now.

What about the letter U?

The letter U is usually silent

if it comes after a G at the beginning of a word.

For example, guess,

guess.

Or

guide,

guide.

And moving onto the letter W.

The letter W is usually not pronounced

if it comes before R at the beginning of a word.

For example, wrong,

wrong.

Wrap,

wrap.

Write,

write.

It is silent, however, if it's followed by an H and an O

at the beginning of a word.

Like

who,

who.

Whoever,

whoever.

Whole,

whole.

And then there are other random words like two,

two

and sword,

sword.

The letter X.

The only word I can think of

is at the end of a word derived from French,

faux,

faux.

It's a commonly used word in English.

And the letter Z.

Another French word, rendezvous, rendezvous.

We don't pronounce the Z there.

Right that's the end of today's lesson.

Please do complete the homework.

I would like to see as many more examples of silent letters

in English words as possible in the comments section.

I'll be keeping my eyes peeled for you.

Don't forget to checkout the Lingoda Language Marathan.

I've got the link to my full announcement video

and also the sign up link

and discount code in the description box.

Don't forget the connect with me on all of my social media.

I've got my Facebook,

I've got my Instagram

and I've got my Twitter.

And I shall see you soon for another lesson.

Muah. (two beeps)

It is Lingoda with the Lingoda language...

(two beeps)

If you've not heard of Lingoda before,

it's an online language academy.

The academy... (laughs)

Language academy...

(two beeps)

In order to succeed and gain your refund,

you need to take part in a (murmurs)...

(Murmurs)

(two beeps) In order to (murmurs)

(two beeps) Not only we go (murmurs)

(two beeps) Not only will

your language skills skyrocket

but you'll also get (murmurs)

(uplifting music)