2.5.- Silent letters.

You already know that some words in English have silent letters. Specialists say that about 60% of English words have silent letters.

We are going to study some of these silent letters.

• E is silent at the end of words, but there are a few exceptions: catastrophe, karate, recipe.
  Script

• B or N are silent in final mb, mn: climb, bomb, hymn, autumn.
  Script

• B is sometimes silent after t: debt, doubt, subtle.
  Script

• C is silent in initial sc: science, scene, scissors.
  Script

• GH is silent in the group ght: eight, bought, thought, night.
  Script

• GH is also silent in: although, through, sigh, neighbour.
  Script

• H is silent:
  • after ex: exhibition, exhausted.
    Script
  • after r: rhyme, rhino, rhetoric.
    Script
  • after c: arch, stomach, echo.
    Script
  • initially in: hour, heir, honest.
    Script

• K or G are silent in initial kn, gn: know, knee, knife, gnat, gnome.
  Script

• P is silent in ps, pn, pt: psychology, pneumonia, receipt.
  Script

• U is silent before e, i: build, guitar, guide, guess.
  Script

• T is sometimes silent after s: listen, castle, fasten.
  Script

• W is silent in initial wr: write, wrist, wrinkled.
  Script

• W is also sometimes silent in initial wh: who, whose.

But not in:what, where, when

Other cases of silent W are: law, saw, answer, knowledge.