Why Do We Use ‘Silent Letters’ in English?

Imagine you're learning to read, and suddenly a letter shows up that just doesn’t say anything, it's like playing hide-and-seek with the sounds. This happens in English words because they are shaped by their history. Some letters used to make sounds long ago but now don't. For example, in the word 'knight', the 'k' and 'h' are silent, so you just say 'nite'. It's like a letter decided to take a nap in the middle of your spelling.

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Examples

  1. In the word 'knight', the 'k' and 'h' are silent, so you just say 'nite'.
  2. The word 'pint' has a silent 't', but it's still pronounced like 'pine'.
  3. Bread has a silent 'e', it’s just 'brad' in sound.

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