Hi, and welcome to stay right pronunciation course. That's right. lesson for this lesson will focus on silent letters as promised silent letters, there are a lot of silent letters in the English language. And that is because in English, we do not have a one to one sound correlation. So what does that mean? That means that every letter in the English language can have more than one sound.

It's not just one and only one sound. So here enters in silent letters. So I'm going to talk to you a little bit about why silent letters happened, and then give you a little sneak preview into some of the most common silent letters. Now, doesn't mean that these letters are always silent, but in certain words, they can be cited Okay, let's get started because there's some great information I have here for you today. All right, so, a silent letter. What exactly is a silent letter?

Well, a silent letter are letters in which we can't hear. Essentially, there is no sound when it's spoken, when you write the letter in a word, it is represented. However, when it is spoken, there is no representation, meaning there is no sound. Now, you're probably like, Why does that happen? And the answer is actually pretty simplistic. Language is something which evolves and changes over time, it is a living thing.

And every language has gone through some type of evolution. So in the English language, a lot of our words went through an evolution. We just never changed the way that we wrote it. So maybe back in the olden day, it was pronounced but as language has evolved and changed and had many more influences, it lost itself. And we just never caught up with it right? It lost it sound, but the writing still remain the same.

So that's the only reason why. Okay, all right. But the reason why is not important. What's important is that you know what some of these silent letters are, and when they are silent and when they are not. So, I'm going to give you a sneak preview on some of the most common silent letters in words. And then we'll look at some examples of silent letters in common words that you use every day.

And then of course, you You need to practice because practice is key. Okay. All right. Now, one of the first common silent letters is the letter B. Yes, the letter B throws a lot of people off, and I'm going to show you an example in just a second. The next common silent letter is G. Next, H, and many people are familiar with the letter H, because sometimes the letter H is a consonant sound.

Right? That's the sound of the letter H. And there are other times when it just makes absolutely no sense. It's silent. Now, for many of you, this is probably very familiar because in your language, the letter H is also silent. But unfortunately, in the English language, that's not always the case. But it makes the list today because there are instances where the letter H is.

The letter K is another example of a silent letter, the letter L also another example. And another example, you another example. And finally, W is our final common the silent letter. Okay, so now let's look at some examples of words where these letters are silent because remember, it is not always silent. Okay? This you cannot take this and apply it to every word.

That's not how it works. But we can familiarize ourselves with common words that have silent letters. Okay, so, the letter B, one of the most commonly words that has the silent B is this slurred. A lot of people pronounce this word as dubbed It's not dubbed it debt. Okay, that B is completely silent. all you hear is the D, the E and the T. debt.

Our next example the letter D. Wednesday, Wednesday, a lot of people have a hard time pronouncing this word because you're trying to pronounce the letter D when the next day is no way to do that. It's just not possible. The D silent Wednesday. letter D. For example, foreigner it's not for dinner. Nope, it's not for hanger. Nope, it's foreigner.

The G is silent. Here we go. A great example of a silent Ah, Ghost spooky, spooky. That age is silent. Not ghost. No.

Ghost silent age. Okay? Knife. No cut knife. Okay. I don't care who told you it was cut knife.

It is not tonight. And if you ever hear any person who says could knife, give them a tap on the shoulder and say okay, the cake is definitely silent. The letter L. This is another commonly difficult one because we have this inclination to always pronounce the letter L But no, it is salmon. The fish is salmon. Not sound mon. No salmon.

The L is silent. Have you said Salomon. Have you heard someone say Solomon? Before it's wrong, don't say that sad men letter in autumn Autumn is another word for the season fall and that n is silent the final end. The only thing you hear is M. Autumn. Not often Munna Ah, Tom.

T. This is a really great one because T is also a very commonly used consonant that can also be silent at times. And a great example is listen, it's not listed in no less in the T is silent. Now, my last example that I have for you today, and this is not an extensive list, don't worry. I'm going to give you some more examples. Later, you, you oftentimes is a vowel. Now this is a little different than our other letters because bd GHKL, n and T are all consonant sounds you are is about.

And it can also be silent as well kind of like that silent e right at the end of words. And a great example of the silent you is in this word based skit. Oftentimes, learners pronounce this word as bisque quit. No, no bisque quit it, bis the EU is silent. Okay, now let me go through and say each of these words again for you and I want you to repeat after me or say it with me, whatever works for you. Okay, and practice, practice, practice.

Get this ingrained in your head so that when you say these words, it is clear it's concise and you're saying it accurately. Okay, here we go. debt. Debt. Ghost. Ghost.

Autumn autumn, Wednesday, Wednesday. knife, knife. Listen, listen, foreigner, foreigner, salmon, salmon biscuits. This kit is base kit. Okay. I hope that this information helps you and I hope that it really just opened up a door And turned on a light bulb in your head.

Okay, now, there is a list of words where the letters are silent. You will find you can find that PDF file underneath resources, print it out, study it, look at it, practice the pronunciation. Okay? But for now, it's time to practice because practice is key. All right, so this is what we're going to do for today's practice activity. I'm going to say a word, and that word has a silent letter.

You need to decide really quickly, which one of the letters in the word is silent. And then of course, I will give you the answer. Okay, are you ready for the challenge? Listen, I know you can do it. Okay. All right, here we go.

Number one, new new new Which letter is silent? The letter K is silent in this word it is not canoe. It's simply new. You do not hear the letter K. All right, great job. Let's do another one. Hole.

Hole hole. Which letter is silent? W is the correct answer. W is silent here. The first sound you hear is which is the letter H. So therefore, it's w which is not represented. Okay, let's try one more practice activity.

Soften, soften, soften which one is silent. I hope you said tea. It's not soft in. No, no, no. It's soft. And the tea is completely silent.

Oh my goodness. Yes, I know. I know. It's a lot of information. But you know what? with anything in life with any new thing you want to learn in life, especially language, there's always a lot of information to learn.

So I thank you so much for joining me for lesson four. I really hope that this helped you to better understand the sounds of the English language. Don't forget this week's practice activities. There are some great practice activities to really help you better understand. And remember, practice out loud. Every single day.

Try to memorize some new vocabulary words and memorize the pronunciation the proper pronunciation for those words, go to dictionary calm to hear the sound, Google Translate or the sound or simply ask a speaker of English to pronounce that word for you record them and try to mimic that sound. Because the more you practice, and the more your brain becomes accustomed to the sounds of English, the better off you will be. All right. I'll see you next week for our next lesson. Bye bye