Silent Letters

I NEW CONCEPT. Introduce the silent letter g, as in gnu and sign.

II LEARN the silent gh, as in light and eight. A sound constituted by four letters is called a quadrigraph or tetragraph and is found in such words as eight, straight, taught, and though. Examples: eigh says ǀāǀ and |ī|; aigh says ǀāǀ; augh says ǀôǀ; and, ough says ǀōǀ and |ow|, as in eight, height, straight, taught, though, and bough, respectively.

III LEARN the silent b, as in lamb and climb.

IV LEARN the silent k, as in knot and knees. In the word knight, both the k and gh are silent.

V. LEARN the silent letters h and p, as in hour, hemorrhage, and Psalms. In the proper name Esther, the h is silent inside the th pattern.

LEARN the eu pattern that says |ū| and |ü|, as in Europe and pneumonia.

Review: Silent Letters

VI. REVIEW the (sometimes) silent letters g, gh, b, k, h, and p.

REVIEW the eu spelling pronounced |ü|, as in pneumonia. In feud, Europe, and euro, the letters eu are pronounced with the long-vowel u sound, |ū| or |ūr|.
Note that Europe is spelled with an ending silent e. [See Lesson 89]

Reading for Meaning and Mastering Spelling

Challenge words are provided with nearly every lesson to help your student build vocabulary. The meaning of words will usually be obvious in the context of a sentence, paragraph, page, or story.

We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again—it is essential that your student spell words correctly! The best tool for readers is a good dictionary. Even after this course is over, your student will need to have access to a quality dictionary. Ensure that your student knows the alphabet letters in order, as this knowledge will increase his quickness and efficiency in looking up words. Knowing that letters like h and k are sometimes silent will help your student find words like hour and knight.