Can You Find The Silent Letter Words - English Pronunciation Quiz

Hey, are you getting your K-nickers  in a twist over English pronunciation?

Well untwist your K-nickers, calm down, and  let me introduce you to some silent letters.

Like the 'K' in 'K-nickers'.

That should be silent, it  should NOT be pronounced…

So, the correct pronunciation  is actually 'knickers'.

And did you spot the other  pronunciation mistake that I made?

The 'L' in 'calm', it should  be pronounced 'calm' not calm.

Repeat after me ‘calm’, ‘knickers’.

Hello everyone!

Anna here from englishlikeanative.co.uk.

I'm here to help you to enjoy learning English.

As always, get your notebook at the ready,  

or click on the link in the description  to get your free copy of the lesson notes.

Now, today we’re looking at some silent letters.

These are letters that we write but we don’t say.

And in English, there are lots of  common words with silent letters.

So other than the ones I have already mentioned,  

‘calm’, ‘knickers’, can you think of any  other words containing silent letters?

If so, please pause the video now and write  them in the comments or in your notebook.

Now a little listening exercise for you.

Let’s listen to Maria, talking to her flatmate.

Maria will pronounce the letters that should  

be silent and I want you to  try and spot these errors?

Here we go…

“Hi! I can’t really talk right now.

I’m at the library looking for books  on climbing and famous climbers.

Oh yeah, I meant to tell you about that.

It was me, I broke your cupboard!

I know.

I know.

I will pay for the repairs.

I’m just in so much debt right now.

Listen, I’ll buy you some chocolate  today and when I can afford it,  

I’ll pay for the cupboard to be fixed.

Listen, I can’t really talk in this environment.

I’m not allowed to even answer my phone.

I have to go before the  librarian knocks on the desk.

That’s how you know that she’s serious!

So, ok, talk to you later, bye!

Sorry again!

Sorry!

Bye, bye.

Ok.

There were quite a few words containing  silent letters that Maria mispronounced.

Did you notice them all?

Remember, that you can rewind  and play back that part of the  

video before I move on and reveal  the answers in the next section.

Ok, so, let’s take a look at the  words containing silent letters.

First, we had the word ‘talk’.

“Hi! I can’t really talk right now.”

‘Talk’ has a silent ‘L’.

Say it with me.

‘Talk’.

‘Talk’.

Next, we had ‘climb’.

“I’m at the library looking for books  on climbing and famous climbers.”

‘Climb’ has a silent ‘B’.

Say it with me, ‘climb’, ‘climb’.

Then we had ‘cupboard’.

“I meant to tell you about that. It was me, I broke your cupboard!”

The ‘P’ in ‘cupboard’ is silent.

This is the spelling and this is  the pronunciation – ‘cupboard’.

Say it with me.

‘Cupboard’.

‘Cupboard’.

Next was ‘know’.

“I know. I know.”

‘Know’ has a silent ‘K’ at the beginning.

Now, if a word begins with ‘K’ and then  ‘N’ it’s common for that ‘K’ to be silent.

So, if you see ‘KN’ just ignore the ‘K’.

Say it with me.

‘Know’.

‘Know’.

Then we had ‘debt’.

“I will pay for the repairs. I’m just in so much debt right now.”

‘Debt’ has a silent ‘B’.

Don’t worry if you didn’t know - as a teacher, I  hear my students say this word incorrectly a lot.

It’s a common mispronunciation so don’t stress.

And to be ‘in debt’ means to owe a lot of money.

Say it with me.

‘Debt’.

‘Debt’.

Next, we had the word chocolate.

“I’ll buy you some chocolate...”

‘Chocolate’ has a silent  ‘O’, so just two syllables.

/ˈtʃɒ-klɪt/

/ˈtʃɒ-klɪt/

‘Chocolate’.

Then there was ‘answer’.

“I’m not allowed to even answer my phone.”

‘Answer’ has a silent ‘W’.

Say it with me.

‘Answer’.

‘Listen’ was another one.

“Listen...”

‘Listen’ has a silent ‘T’.

‘Listen’.

Not ‘lisTen’, but ‘listen’.

Say it with me.

‘Listen’.

‘Listen’.

Another word mispronounced was ‘environment’.

“I can’t really talk in this environment.”

It has a silent ‘N’ just after the ‘O’.

‘Environment’.

In the dictionary it will sometimes tell you  that ‘N’ is pronounced, but in reality, it isn’t.

So don’t say ‘EnvirONment’.

Just ‘Environment’ (/ɪnˈvaɪrəmənt/).

Say it with me.

‘Environment’.

And last but not least,  there was ‘knock’, ‘knock’.

“I have to go before the  librarian knocks on the desk.”

Just like ‘know’, ‘knock’ starts with  ‘K’ and ‘N’ so the ‘K’ here is silent.

Say it with me.

‘Knock’.

‘Knock’.

Ok, now let’s listen to Maria again with the  correct pronunciation of those silent letters. 

I will leave a space for you  to repeat each line after me.

“Hi!

I can’t really talk right now.

I’m at the library looking for books  on climbing and famous climbers.

Oh yeah, I meant to tell you about that.

It was me, I broke your cupboard!

I know.

I know!

I will pay for the repairs.

I’m just in so much debt right now.

Listen, I will buy you some chocolate today  

and when I can afford it, I’ll  pay for the cupboard to be fixed.

Listen, I can’t really talk in this environment.

I’m not allowed to answer my phone.

I have to go before the  librarian knocks on the desk.

That’s how you know she’s serious!

Ok, talk to you later, bye!”

Now, both ‘knock’ and ‘know’ have the  same spelling/pronunciation pattern.

Can you think of any other words  that start with a silent ‘k’?

If you have a few minutes, why not learn some  other words containing silent letters over in  

my other silent lessons... letters... lesson.

I'll see you there, take  care everyone and goodbye.