English Pronunciation & Spelling: Silent ‘U’ After ‘G’

Hi. My name is Ronnie, and I want to share a story; a funny story with you

guys about me. It was me. I promise it was me. I was playing a video game. Do

you remember those old-school, arcade video games where you: "Dan-dan-dan"?

And it was Street Fighter — yes! Oh, I quite like Street Fighter — vs. X-Men.

So, I was there, minding my own business, playing Street Fighter and

X-Men together, and then a group of young fellas; some teenagers came in.

And the guy just put money in the machine; in the... I know, I know —

money. Remember that? Coins. It wasn't a bank card; he just put money in the

machine, and he started playing against me. And I was like: "Um..." I mean, I

didn't want to play against someone; I was just minding my own business. You

know? Hanging out. So, anyways, long story short: We... we stopped the game

and we decided to play again. He made me. He's like: "You're gonna play

again!" I'm like: "Okay. All right." And I chose my character. Now, my character

that I always choose is Rogue, because she's a girl, and Street Fighter/X-Men —

and she's the coolest. Right? For sure. So, the guy's like: "Oh, why did you

pick Rogu? It's a girl." But he didn't say: "girl"; he said the "b" word. He's

like: "She's a bitch." I'm like: "How rude!" But, honestly, dude, the girl's

name is not: "Rogoo or Ragu". No. He said: "Rogu". "It's Rogue." And he's

like: "No, it's not!" I was like: "Yeah, it is." He got, like, physically mad or

angry. And I finished the game. I won, of course; I kicked his ass at the game.

Wa-cha! But I left as soon as I could, because I was kind of afraid that he

would try and kick my ass or something, like, physically. So, that's my story. I

was doing laundry at the laundromat, and that's my "Rogue" story.

But the point of the story is: We have silent "u's" in English; not like the

lamb or the: "Mew". No. Enough. Focus, Ronnie. Focus. So, the silent "u" in

English — this is the rule — okay? —and there's a rule; it's crazy. After a "g"

— okay? — so, the "u" have... has to come after the "g", but before a vowel.

Example: We have a "g", then we have a "u", and then we have a vowel. So, the

"u" comes before the vowel, but after the "g". And I know; this confuses me,

too. So, it's "g", a "u", and then a vowel. If this pattern occurs, we don't

say the "u". Unh. Even if it happens in the end of a word, like this word:

"prologue" — we don't say: "prologooey", "prologooey". It's a "g", a "u", and a

vowel, so it's going to be a silent "u". Now, I hear a lot of people saying — not

the guy I was playing video games against... a lot of people saying: "Oh,

I went on a tour, and I saw the tour gu-ide." Oh, is his name Guido? "Gwide".

We don't say: "tour gwide"; we say: "tour guide". Okay? This guy has the

same rule. We have a "g", a "u", and then a vowel — because we have this

pattern, the "u" is silent, so it's gonna sound like: "guide". This word —

we don't say: "gu-est". "Will you be my gu-est today?" We say: "guest". Next,

when you have to think about an answer that you're not sure of — we "guess" the

answer. I can say: "Guess how old I was when I was playing the video game." I

don't say: "gu-ess"; I say: "guess".

"Guard". At a mall or someplace, there's maybe a security guard. And it's really

funny. I think I've told you before: I am terrible at spelling. And words like

these — they make me crazy because I never write the "u". If I was to write

the word: "guard", I would write: "g-a-r-d", and apparently that's wrong.

So, you have to write: "g-u-a-r-d". So, keep this tip in mind when you're doing,

like, IELTS tests; don't make the spelling mistake, like I do, because

you've got to make sure that you get that silent "u" when you write it. If

you don't write it: "Wanh!" — you're gonna fail. You're gonna fail!

"Prologue". So, a "prologue" is something that comes at the beginning of

a story or a book. There's the "epilogue", which is not on the board,

but it follows the same rule; and there's a "prologue". Anytime in English

you have the word... the thing "pro", it usually means before. "Rogue". Now, as I

told you, my best friend playing video games with me, pronounced it: "rugue",

which... meh. But it's "rogue". So, he said the "u", which is cool; but he

didn't say the "e". Yeah, you guys know that lady named "Madonna" and that song,

"Vogue"? See? Listening to music will help you improve your pronunciation. So,

we don't say... Madonna didn't say: "vogooey". "Vogooey", "vogooey",

"vogooey", "vogooey". She said: "Vogue", like the magazine. Oh, and what's a

"rogue"? A "rogue" is a crazy animal. No, it's not. It's a crazy person.

"Rogue" is someone that doesn't hang out with a group. Ronnie's a bit of a rogue.

"Vogue" — it's a magazine — it's... strike a pose.

"Guilty". We don't say: "gu-ilty". "You are gu-ilty of bad spelling, Ronnie."

You say: "guilty". So, it's like we just take the "u" out — uh-huh — bye-bye "u".

"Guilty". "Guilty" is the opposite of the word "innocent". If you are

"guilty", it means that you have done something wrong, and someone saw you.

Hmm. Shit! So, if you're "guilty" of something, it means that you actually

did something. If you're "innocent" — the opposite of "guilty" — it means that

somebody said you did something, but you didn't do it. Well, nobody's caught you

yet. "Catalogue". Do you remember the "catalogue" to...? No, never? No? Okay,

nevermind. How old are you? "Catalogue" is like a magazine, where before we had

the internet, you would do catalogue shopping. So, you would look at the

magazine, and go: "Ooh, I want to buy this, and this." When I was a kid, we

had the Consumers Distributing Catalogue; and around Christmas time,

they had the pages of toys. Ah! So, what I would do is I would imagine that I

could choose one toy from each page; I think it was two toys from each page

because I wasn't that greedy. And I would circle, like: "Oh, if I can have

two toys on this page, I would choose this one and this one." But then I was

like: "I don't want all those toys; there's no place to put them. I'll just

play with my belly button, like I usually do." So, a "catalogue" is like a

magazine for shopping. Sears Catalogue. This word: "guitar". Do you play the

guitar? "Wow, wow, wow." We don't say... I've heard people say: "Guitar. Hey, you

want to play the guitar?" And in some dialects, that's acceptable; but

usually, because the "u" is silent — because of the rule — we say: "guitar";

not "guitar". "Guitar". This word's always weird, too. I always spell this

word wrong. And honestly, just now, just now I know why I spell it wrong; I never

put the "u". Oh, wow. I spell it: "t-o-n-g-e". And then when I'm typing

something, it's like: "Spelling mistake! Spelling mistake!" I go: "Not again".

"Tongue". Even the pronunciation's weird. "Tongue". I think, like, "tongs"

— okay, that's cool. There's no "u"; it's easy, but it's: "tongue". So, it's

"t-o-n-g-u" — don't forget the "u" — and the "e". "Tong"; "tongue". "Tongue,

tongue, tongue". Talked about a tour guide.

Oh, I don't like this word: "ought". To me, it's very old-school. It's like

"should"; you're giving people advice, like: -"You ought to do this, Ronnie."

-"Hmm. Yeah, okay." We would more casually say: "should"; "you should do

this"; not: "you ought to", but it's still a word; it still circulates in

some circles. When you look at this, I say: "Oh-gutta". "You oh-gutta to do

that." Maybe that's why I don't like the word, because it's one of those words

that I can never say properly. But it's: "ought". "Ought". I would spell it:

"o-u-t". "League". I spell this wrong... word wrong all the time, too; I put:

"l-e-g-e". "League". But it's got our lovely silent "u", there, so it's:

"league". This is a French word; we stole it from French. Shh. "Fatigue". I

remember learning French when I was a child, and they had a word for tired:

"fatigue" — I was like: "That's so funny." But now it's not funny anymore.

It's still funny. But we say: "fatigue". When I look at it, I say: "fat-ti-goo".

"Wow, I am really fatigoo today", but it's "fatigue". This word always,

always, always such a terrible word for people to pronounce, because look — I

don't blame you — look at: "colleagooey". This is my worker; my

co-worker or my "colleagooey". Here's the way we say it; we say:

"call-league". So, you're gonna call the person: "call-league". "Colleague" means

co-worker. So, maybe you're fatigued at your work because your colleague keeps

on talking all the time. You're like: "Please just be quiet, colleague." So,

learning about the silent "u" will help you with your pronunciation; so don't

say: "gu-ard", "security gu-ard" or "the tour gu-ide". Also, as I realized doing

this — it will help you a lot with your spelling. Ronnie needs a lot of help

with her spelling. It'll help you at IELTS tests; it will help you on

whatever tests you have to write. And if you need more tips, or pointers, or help

— you can go to my website: www.EnglishWithRonnie.com, and there's

lots of fun stuff there. It's just actually me, but I'll see you soon.

Don't forget the silent "u" when you're spelling, okay? "u".