Archive for November 23rd, 2024

Silent letter ‘t’ in English can be tricky for ESL students!

Saturday, November 23rd, 2024

Letter ‘t’ is silent in many English words such as: ‘listen, whistle. hustle, castle etc. Most students already know that.

Letter ‘t’ is also silent in many words of French origin pronounced with the diphthong /eɪ/at the end  as in “day”.

( /e/+/i/)

Words like that include: ‘buffet, gourmet, ballet, valet etc..

Did you also know that letter ‘t’ is silent in ‘fasten’?

And that there is the /eɪ/ sound at the end of ‘resume’ as in; ‘Here is my resume.’

You have probably heard the phrase: ‘Ladies and Gentlemen please fasten your seat belts” many times but did not notice that letter ‘t’ was silent.

Maybe because you were more focused on fastening your seat belt! :)

Good luck practicing guys! :)

Want to learn more about English pronunciation, please join our English/ESL school in Ottawa!

We are always happy to help! :)