Silent Letters in English: The 10 Most Common Errors

Hi. I'm Rebecca from engVid. In this lesson, we'll be looking at 10 common pronunciation

errors that all happen because of silent letters. Okay? So, what are those silent letters? Let's

see. So, here I've written the 10. Okay? Now, what you'll find is in this first section,

these letters appear at the beginning of words. In this section, the letters appear in the

middle of the word, and in these, the letters appear towards the end of the word. Okay?

So, let's have a look at what they are. So, here's something that you see often. "P.S."

such as "psychology", "psychiatrist". Now, when I said that, what did you hear? "Psy-co-lo-gy".

So, even though it's written with a "ps", which letter is silent? The "p", because all

we're really saying is the "s". "Psy-co-lo-gy", "psychiatrist". Okay? So, that's one of them,

and it's a common one, so be careful. Next, "kn" such as in the words "knee", "know", "knife".

What did you hear? Which sound did you hear? Did you hear the "k" or did you hear the "n"?

"Knee", "knife". You heard the "n", so the "k" is silent. Okay? "Knee". Say it after

me. "Know", "knife". Good. "Wr" as in the words "write", "wrist", "wrap". Okay? So,

what did you hear? "Write", "wrist". You heard the "r", you did not hear the "w". Okay? So,

the "w" is silent there, so we're just pronouncing it like "r". Say it after me. "Write", "wrist",

"wrap". Okay? What do you do when you have a birthday present? You get some nice paper

and you wrap it, you wrap the present. Okay? That's a verb also.

Okay, let's look at this one. Now, here, it's interesting because there's only one letter,

so did I forget to write the other one? No. Let's look at what happens. When we say this

word, it's pronounced how? "Our", "our". Or this one, "honest". So, what happened to the

"h"? It became silent. We don't actually say it. Not all the time. Okay? There are words,

there are many words that start with "h" where we do pronounce the "h". Okay? Such as "hotel".

Okay? "Hat". There, we do hear the "h", but in some cases, we don't, like here. "Our".

Say it. "Honest". Good. Okay? So, here, we had several silent letters.

Now, let's look at some more. "D", "g". This time, it's in the middle of a word, as in

the word "judge", "judge". And "pledge", "pledge". So, we hear the "g", we don't really hear

the "d". Say it after me. "Judge", "pledge". Good.

Next, again, we have a "t". Again, just one letter, but that's okay. Let's listen to this

word. Say it after me. "Fasten", "listen", "ballet". Okay? Now, yes, here it wasn't in

the middle, it was at the end. Okay? "Fasten". What happened? We can't hear the "t". You

should not be pronouncing the "t" in this word. Some people mispronounce it and they

say "fasten". No. "Fasten". Fasten your seatbelts. Listen to me. Let's go to the ballet. Okay?

So, here, it was at the end, but it's silent.

Next, "mb", such as in the words "comb", "climb", and "lamb". Okay? So, what was silent there?

"Comb". We did not hear the "b". Say it after me. "Comb", "climb", "lamb". Good.

Next, "mn", as in the words "column", "autumn", "hymn". A "hymn" is like a religious song

or poem. All right? But we see that "mn" is in each of these words at the end of the word,

but which letter is silent? "Column", "autumn". So, the "n" is silent. We just hear "m". Say

it after me. "Column", "autumn", or sometimes in North America we say "autumn", but even

then we don't pronounce the "n", or "hymn". Okay? No "n" sound at all. So, why is it spelled

like that? Well, there are many historical reasons why English spelling is the way it

is, but what you need to know is how to spell it, yes, but also how to pronounce it, and

also to know that what you see does not represent what you need to say. Okay? That's, I think,

a big takeaway from this lesson.

All right, let's look at another one. This time we have three letters, "t", "l", "e",

as in the words "castle", "castle", "whistle". Say it after me. "Whistle". So, what do you

hear? "Castle", you hear the "l", but you don't hear the "t", and really the "e" is

also silent, so you're just hearing the "l". "Castle", "whistle". Okay? Good. And the last

one here, "lk", a lot of words end like that, as in "walk", "talk", "chalk". Okay? What

they used to use on boards before they had markers and whiteboards, they used to use

chalk on the blackboard. So, what is silent here? "Walk", can you tell? "Talk", you hear

the "k", but you don't hear the "l". Right? So, it should be "walk", "talk", "chalk".

You got it. All right. Now, let's see if you've really got it by practicing with some new

words that have these letters. So, let's do number one. What's the first word? You say

it, and then I'll say it. Okay? "Wrong". I hope you're right when you pronounced "wrong".

Okay? Number two, "thumb". This is my thumb. Three, "solemn". Now, whether you know the

meaning of the word or not, you can still pronounce it correctly with some guidance,

like you just had. So, this word actually means "solemn", right? It means, like, serious.

All right? A solemn occasion, a little bit of a serious, quiet occasion.

Next, "knock". Oops. Did you get that one? "Knock". So, what is it to knock? That means

knocking. All right? And, again, "kn", right? So, we add a silent "k".

The next one, what is it? Right. "Wrestle". Okay? "Wrestle". Number six, you say it. "Folk",

like folk music. Sometimes "folk" is also used to refer to people. Okay? Seven, you

say it. "Psychic". Okay? Again, the "p" is silent, right? "Psychic". A psychic is someone

who can read your mind or tell you what's going to happen. Okay? Number eight, "dodge".

"Dodge". Okay? So, somebody's throwing something and you don't want it to hit you, so you go

like that, and you dodge. You dodge the bullet, you dodge a ball or something like that. Okay?

You dodge. Number nine, how do you pronounce that? "Honour". The "h" was silent, right?

"Honour".

And the last one, there are actually a couple of pronunciations here, but let's see what

you say. So, here, the "t" is silent, so we can say "buffet" or some people pronounce

it "buffet", but one way or the other, this "t" is silent. Okay? A buffet or a buffet

is a place where you go... It's kind of like a restaurant where they have lots of different

kinds of food, and you can go around and choose whatever you feel like. Okay? So, I hope that

these silent letters helped you to understand some of the mistakes you might be making,

and also to pay more attention when you're looking at English pronunciation and English

spelling. Okay? Because as much as you have to ignore these letters when you say them,

you have to remember these letters when you write them. Okay? So make sure you spell and

speak correctly.

All right. So, now, if you want to just confirm that you know these, please go to our website

www.engvid.com, you can do a little quiz on this there, and subscribe to my channel so

you can keep getting lots of other videos like this to help you learn English more quickly

and enjoyably, I hope. All right? Take care. Bye for now.