Silent Letter
Silent Letter :
THE first part of Grammar is called ORTHOGRAPHY.
Orthography treats of LETTERS.
LETTERS TAKEN SEPARATELY
Letters are written characters or signs used to represent certain sounds of the human voice. A letter that is not sounded in speaking is called a silent letter.
The letters of any Language are called its Alphabet.
The English Alphabet contains twenty-six letters.
Letters are divided into VOWELS and CONSONANTS.
A Vowel may be fully sounded by itself.
A Consonant cannot be fully sounded unless in connection with a vowel.
The VOWELS are a, e, i, o, u and sometimes w and y.
All the other letters are CONSONANTS.
W and Y are consonants when they precede a vowel sound in the same syllable. But W and Y are vowels in all other places.
A Diphthong is the union of two vowels in one sound as OI in voice.
A Triphthong is the union of three vowels in one sound as IEU in adieu.
The triphthongs are three in number - eau, ieu, iew as in beauty, lieutenant, review.
U after Q is never counted as part of a diphthong or of a triphthong.
Exercises :
Which of the letters in the word Philadelphia are vowels ? Which are consonants? Name the vowels, consonants, diphthongs and triphthongs in the following words.
Sounding
Lieutenant
Separation
Abundant
Loitering
Boisterous
Name (or write) three words in which w is used as a consonant, three in which y is used as a consonant, three in which w is used as a vowel, three in which y is used as a vowel.
Name (or write) five words each containing a diphthong, five containing a triphthong.
Note : The teacher will add other examples until the scholar becomes familiar with the classification.
WORDS and SYLLABLES
A Word is a collection of letters used together to represent some idea.
A few words consist of only one letter each.
The One-letter words are A and I.
A Syllable is so much of a word as can be pronounced by one impulse of the voice as CON in contain.
Spelling is putting letters together correctly so as to form syllables and words.
A Sentence is a number of words put together so as to make complete sense…. as, John wrote a letter.
A word of one syllable is called a Monosyllable.
A word of two syllables is called a Dissyllable.
A word of three syllables is called a Trisyllable.
A word of more than three syllables is called a Polysyllable.
Example :
Truth is a monosyllable.
truth-full….a dissyllable
truth-ful-ness….a trisyllable
un-truth-ful-ness….a polysyllable
Exercise :
Name the class to which each of the following words belongs.
Nation
Uprightness
Incomprehensible
authority
frequent
plague
opportunity
horse
clement
elementary
robber
vowel
consonant
Name (or write) five monosyllables, five dissyllables, five trisyllables, five polysyllables.
Note : The teacher may add other examples at will.
Silent Letter :
Elementary English Grammar Index
