KDTime: Word Up!

 Episode 49

The American English language is one of the most sought after languages across the world. Almost everyone wants to learn English so they can work and be successful in America, the land of the free! But is it easy to learn, not really, when we have words that use letters that aren't pronounced in the word. Like in when, the "wh" makes a 'wha' sound but why can't the word be spelled wen? Much like most of the words in this episode they could've been spelled or even said completely different if we were to match their sounds from the alphabet.

 Some words that have weird spellings would include ones with silent letters. There are over 200 words, that english speakers have to comprehend in order to have a conversation in english. They may seem useless when you read the word but they can help out in different ways. 

Some words that have unusual silent letters that make you scratch your head and question why is it spelled like this in the first place are phlegm, pterodactyl, muscle, asthma, receipt, subtle, knead, honest, faux, and rendezvous. When it comes down to the person who is learning how to write in English it is unclear why these words have letters that are essentially hidden when saying them aloud.

What's the best solution for people who are trying to learn and write English, simply memorization. They need to use their memorizing skills to keep them from stumbling over words with hidden letters. What also helps is having someone who is familiar with the language to read to them and go over the words together. That's why it is so important for English teachers and Adult teachers to help them out.

Now for some common (used almost everyday) words that have silent letters:

Silent B:

Bomb

Climb

Crumb

Dumb

Thumb

Silent C:

Scissors

Fascinate

Silent D:

Bridge
Edge

Handsome

Sandwich
Wednesday

Silent E:

Name

Love

Desire

Make

Silent G:

Assign

Champagne

Design

Foreign

High

Light

Sign

Resign

Silent H:

Anchor - what I use to create my podcast episodes

Borough

Chaos

Chemical

Character

Chorus

Christmas/Christian

Herbs

Hour

Ghost

Honest/Honor

Psycho

School

Tech

Thailand

Thigh

Thorough

Vehicle

Whack

What/When/Where/Why/Which

White

Weigh

While

Silent K: -always in the beginning of word it's in

Knack

Knee

Kneel (Before Zod)

Knicks 

Knife

Knight

Knob

Knock

Knot

Know/Knew/Known

Knowledge (Is Power)

Knuckle (Sandwich lol)

Silent L:

Almond

Behalf

Calf

Chalk

Could/Should/Would

Folk

Half

Palm

Salmon

Talk/Stalk/Walk

Yolk

Silent N:

Autumn

Column

Damn

Hymn

Silent P:

Cupboard

Psychology

Psychiatrist

Receipt

Silent T:

Castle

Fasten

Glisten

Hustle

Listen

Often

Silent U:

(The) Baguettes (HURRY UP!)

Biscuit

Build/Building/Built

Disguise

Guess

Guest

Guide

Guilt/Guilty

Guitar

Rogue

Silhouette

Silent W: usually with a R (WR)

Playwright

Sword

Wrack

Wrap

Wrapper

Wrath
Wreak

Wrestle

Wrinkle

Wrist

Write/Wrote/Written

Wrong