308. Complexities of “Whole”

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“Whole” can be confusing because of its similarity to “all” and its variable noun/adjective status

TOPIC OVERVIEW

Whole is a familiar word with surprising complexities, some of which cause error among inexperienced users of English. As it is also common in professional writing, I wish here to examine it in detail. Key points include its pronunciation, grammatical class variation, meaning subtleties, usage after a(n) and the, usage before of, and its occurrence within fixed phrases. The post finishes with a practice exercise.

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PRONUNCIATION AND BASIC MEANING

I expect most readers will know that the “w” at the start of whole is not pronounced (see 155. Silent Consonants, #8). Perhaps less well known is the closeness of the pronunciation of whole to that of all. Apart from the /h/ at the start of whole, both have a similar-sounding vowel before a final /l/. In Southern British English, the vowel in whole is variably pronounced /ɒ/ or /əυ/, while that in all is /ɔ/ – a difference mainly of length.

This pronunciation similarity can be a particular problem for speakers of languages, such as French, that do not usually allow the /h/ sound at the start of words. In listening especially, the /h/ of whole is not likely to be very noticeable, leaving similarities of pronunciation that, combined with the meaning similarity, may easily cause whole and all to be confused. One common resultant error is a belief that *the all is possible (instead of all the), this having been the way the whole was interpreted in listening (see 144. Words that are Often Heard Wrongly).

Meaning-wise, whole carries, of course, the idea of completeness or totality. On top of that, and distinguishing it from all (see 169. “All”, “Each” and “Every”), it usually conveys one of three possible messages. One is a very strong indication that all rather than some of something is being talked about:

(a) The whole enterprise took three days.

This very clearly associates three days with all of the enterprise rather than any part of it. Quite often, there will be preceding information about some or all of the parts (for example, a description of the first day’s activity above), so that whole is making a contrast with it, and hence even more clearly indicating a change of focus.

Whole could be called “emphatic” in this use because the same meaning would actually be still understandable without it. However, in speech, whole would not normally be pronounced in an emphatic way.

The second main use of whole is to suggest in an emphatic way the idea of “more than expected”:

(b) The awful noise went on for a whole day.

This says that a day was a very long time to suffer from the awful noise. Normally in such sentences, the pronunciation of both whole and its partner noun (day above) would be emphatic (see 125. Stress and Emphasis).

Thirdly, whole can mean “over-arching” or “covering all other possibilities”. Used like this, it typically goes between the… and, most often, either idea (= proposal), plan, point, purpose or reason. There is often a suggestion that the addressee has failed to recognise the idea (etc.) as the key one (But that’s the whole idea!).

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GRAMMATICAL FEATURES

1. Word Class Variation

Whole is mostly used as a noun or adjective. It is a noun when not directly followed by a noun or noun phrase e.g.:

(c) A whole is often greater than its parts.

By far the most common noun use is before of, e.g. the whole of the world.

As an adjective, whole usually describes a directly-following noun or noun phrase (e.g. the whole world, a whole new science), or the pronoun one (a whole one), or a noun located before and separated by a link verb like BE (e.g. the fossil was whole).

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2. Combination with a Following Noun

Most noun types can follow the whole of:

*SINGULAR COUNTABLE WITH a(n): the whole of an afternoon
*SINGULAR COUNTABLE WITH the: the whole of the afternoon
*PLURAL COUNTABLE: the whole of afternoons
*PLURAL COUNTABLE WITH the: the whole of the afternoons
PROPER: the whole of France
*PROPER WITH the: the whole of the United States
UNCOUNTABLE TYPE A: the whole of childhood
UNCOUNTABLE TYPE B: all luggage
*UNCOUNTABLE WITH the: the whole of the childhood/luggage

For information about which proper nouns usually follow the, see 47. Article Errors with Proper Nouns.

Uncountable nouns that I call “type A” seem usually to represent something with a fairly clear boundary. Childhood, for example, is bounded by a quite definite number of years. “Type B” nouns lack this feature. This difference is important above only where uncountable nouns lack the (through having “generic” meaning), since it leads to type B nouns typically following all rather than the whole of.

Other examples of type A uncountable nouns – easily usable like childhood after the whole of – are humanity and business. Other examples of type B uncountable nouns are love and air. Practice in recognising the two types of uncountable noun, and hence where the whole of is possible, is offered in an exercise below.

The combinations marked * above can alternatively drop the whole of and place just whole directly before the final noun:

the whole of an afternoon → a whole afternoon
the whole of the afternoon → the whole afternoon
the whole of afternoons → whole afternoons
the whole of the afternoons → the whole afternoons
the whole of the United States → the whole United States
the whole of the luggage → the whole luggage

Note the absence from this list of proper nouns that normally lack the, such as France.  They must keep the whole of. Usage with just the whole (e.g. *the whole France) is a common error. One other noun with this requirement is humanity – *the whole humanity should be avoided.

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FIXED EXPRESSIONS AND DERIVATIVES

Two important preposition phrases are on the whole and as a whole. Each is unusual in not allowing a choice between adverbial and adjectival use (see 84. Seven Things to Know about Prepositions, #2). On the whole is always adverbial. It might be expected to mean “wholly” (see 85. Preposition Phrases and Corresponding Adverbs), but it in fact means “generally”. As a whole is purely adjectival, needing a noun just before it to link with:

(d) Fuel price changes affect economies as a whole.

Elsewhere, whole has special meanings associated with one or more particular expressions. In whole milk and wholemeal, it suggests that nothing has been removed from a commodity that very often does have something removed from it: fat in the former case, wheat germ in the latter. In the whole story, where the meaning of story is “explanation” rather than “narrative”, whole suggests inclusion of everything regardless of inconvenience, so that not the whole story implies omission of information, often in order to deceive.

A whole before various singular “collective” nouns (suggesting multiplicity), such as collection, crowd, group, myriad, range, variety and informal lot, makes the multiplicity sound greater. These nouns are often followed by of – e.g. a whole range of objections – while a whole lot is also possible before comparative adjectives or adverbs, e.g. a whole lot better, a whole lot more quickly (see 194 Adverbs that Say How Much, #4).

Another common combination is the whole (of the) time used to show that an extended event or situation is happening throughout the occurrence of another one (see 225. Simultaneous Occurrence, #3). It may or may not be combined with a following subject + verb linked by a visible or understood when:

(e) Solar panels produce electricity the whole time (when) the sun is shining.

Also notable is a whole new before a noun to emphasise that the noun idea is not just a replacement of an old one but also completely different from it. Common partner nouns include approach, ball game (= situation), meaning, method, set, understanding and way.

Finally, whole occurs within a small number of compound words like wholemeal above. Food described as wholesome is health-promoting. Whole-hearted describing a person or behaviour suggests total, unreserved belief or commitment. Wholesale is a noun, verb, adjective or adverb referring to goods sold in large quantities to other sellers, usually very cheaply.

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PRACTICE USING “the whole of”

Some of the uncountable nouns in the list below can follow the whole of and some cannot (usually needing all instead). Can you separate the two groups? Answers are given after.

destruction, freedom, health, history, humanity, information, justice, life, logic, love, manufacturing, nature, paper, politics, research, science, silence, society, storage, suffering, time, truth, vegetation, water, work, yesterday.

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Answers

Nouns allowing the whole of are underlined:

destruction, freedom, health, history, humanity, information, justice, life, logic, love, manufacturing, nature, paper, politics, research, science, silence, society, storage, suffering, time, truth, vegetation, water, work, yesterday.

Note that logic after the whole of refers to the subject known as logic, not logic itself; while nature means “the natural world”, not “type”.

243. Pronunciation Secrets

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Coursebooks rarely mention all of the hidden pronunciation practices in English

THE COMPLEXITY OF ENGLISH PRONUNCIATION

To pronounce English like proficient speakers, there are surprisingly many things to know. Some are more obvious than others. Most learners of English, if asked to say what is required, would probably be very quick to highlight the way they should pronounce particular sounds that they struggle with. They are also likely to appreciate that mispronunciations can result not just from unfamiliarity of individual sounds but also from the unreliability of English spellings, as illustrated in this blog in posts like 29. Illogical Vowel Spellings and 155. Silent Consonants.

Some of the less obvious pronunciation needs are considered elsewhere within this blog. The need to do more than just convert letters into sounds is highlighted in 125. Stress and Emphasis. The important relation between word stress and vowel sounds is highlighted in 202. Some Strategies for Learning English, #3. Comprehension problems caused by weakly pronounced words like and are the focus of 144. Words that are Often Heard Wrongly. Various other features are listed in 91. Pronunciation in Reading Aloud.

This post offers further examples of less obvious pronunciation needs. I call them “secrets” because, apart from their tendency not to be obvious, they are not always highlighted in English coursebooks. Some depend on surrounding context, some are linked to the grammar and/or meaning of the word(s) they apply to.

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CONTEXTUAL INFLUENCES

1. Consonants next to Change-Inducing Sounds

There are various ways in which the normal pronunciation of a consonant can change under the influence of a sound before or after it. Three such changes detailed in 91. Pronunciation in Reading Aloud (#6) are (a) end consonants transferred to the start of the next word when the latter begins with a vowel (e.g. goe-s up); (b) an end consonant and the same consonant at the start of the next word combined into one long sound (e.g. ca-n n-ever); and (c) weakening of p,b,t,d,k and g before other consonants or at the end of a sentence.

Another type of change is complete transformation into a different consonant in order to become more like, or even the same as, a neighbouring one. One subtype of this tendency, often mentioned at elementary level, relates to the -s and -ed endings, which vary in their pronunciation according to the kind of sound just before them. The -s ending is only pronounced /s/ after “voiceless” consonant sounds (/p, t, k, f/), matching its own voiceless status. This happens, for example, in stops, hates, checks and laughs.

After vowel and all other consonant sounds except /s, ∫, t∫, z, dʒ/, -s is pronounced /z/. Illustrative words are knows, sides, leagues, fills, thins, comes, thrives and robs. After the exceptions, -s is pronounced like the verb is, as in tenses, sentences, sixes, wishes, fetches, amazes and impinges.

In a similar way, -ed is pronounced as voiceless /t/ after the voiceless consonant sounds /s, ∫, t∫, p, k, f/ (missed, traced, rushed, tipped, linked, stuffed). It becomes voiced /d/ after vowel sounds and all other consonant sounds except /t, d/ (judged, seemed, viewed, revised, begged). After the exceptions, –ed is pronounced as the separate syllable /id/ (treated, eroded). For further “secrets” of -ed, see 291. Subtleties of “-ed”.

The other subgroup of consonants that undergo a complete change in certain situations is not linked to a particular position within words. The consonants are found both inside words and, more commonly, at the end. The main ones are /n, t, d, k/. There are fewer other sounds that can change them, and the changes are not compulsory. However, the usual reason for making the change is the same: ease of pronunciation.

As an example, the “t” in football is often pronounced /p/. This is easier to say before the /b/ of -ball because both sounds are made with the lips, unlike /t/. In a similar but more subtle way, the “x” in example is pronounced /gz/ rather than the /ks/ common elsewhere because the next sound /ɑ:/ is “voiced” like /gz/ and unlike /ks/.

Other examples of this sort of change (technically called “assimilation”) are:

INSIDE WORDS

coNform pronounced as coMform
enviroNMent pronounced as  enviroMment (single long /m/)
whiTeboard pronounced as whiPeboard
weDnesday pronounced as WeNnsday (with a dropped “e”)
paiNkiller pronounced with /ŋ/

AT THE END OF WORDS

thaT question pronounced as thaK question
teN people pronounced as teM people
harD work pronounced as harB work
cuT price pronounced as cuP price (single long /p/)
a hundreD grams pronounced as a hundreG grams (single long /g/)
itS shape pronounced as itSH shape (single long /∫/)

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2. Adjectives in a List

I was told at school that two adjectives in a list before a noun need to be separated by a comma. However, this is not always the case: it depends on the kind of information that the second adjective is giving about the noun. Consider the combination yellow taxi. If there is no rule about the colour of taxis in an area, so that the colours vary quite randomly, then describing one as yellow would probably just be saying what it looked like, i.e. naming a characteristic. However, if there is a law saying that all taxis of a particular type have be black and all others have to be yellow, then yellow would probably be naming the type of taxi, i.e. classifying (see 283. Lesser-Known Features of Adjectives, #4).

This difference affects the use of commas in an adjective list in that a comma should be added before a characteristic-naming adjective, but not before a classifying one. Thus, a familiar, yellow taxi means a taxi that is familiar and yellow, whereas a familiar yellow taxi means a taxi of the yellow kind that is familiar. Similarly, a visible, red giant means a giant that is red and visible, while a visible red giant means a red giant (a type of star) that is visible.

The relevance of all this to pronunciation is more than just the link between commas and pausing. Classifying adjectives are usually pronounced with slightly more emphasis than characteristic-naming ones and, at the end of an adjective list, with no slight pause after them.

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NON-CONTEXTUAL INFLUENCES

Sometimes it is not a word’s context that gives it a surprising pronunciation but rather its own form or meaning.

3. Compound Words

Compounds are mostly made by joining smaller words together, as in afternoon, homework, lookalike and whiteboard. There is often a problem differentiating such combinations from common word partnerships that are not compounds, such as high rise, town hall and straight ahead (see 26. One Word or Two?). In writing, the difference is shown by the spacing between the two words. In speech, the differentiator is pronunciation.

The relevant pronunciation feature here is word stress, the variable strength with which syllables are pronounced. Syllables pronounced with maximum stress are said to be “stressed”. They are less common than other syllables, but one – no more, no less – is needed in most words (see 125. Stress and Emphasis).

This means that when two syllables are written as different words, both must be stressed, but when they are written as a single word, one (usually the second) must lose its stress. Thus, the two nouns work time comprise two stressed syllables, whereas the compound noun DAYtime contains just one (capitalised).

Sometimes, two words have both a compound and a non-compound use, the meaning as well as the pronunciation changing in each case. Many phrasal verbs are like this, becoming their related noun as compounds. For example, CUT BACK, a verb with dual stress, becomes cutback, a noun with stress on cut (for more examples, see 249. Action Noun Endings). Other combination types include may + be, some + times and every + day (see 26. One Word or “Two?).

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4. “-ing” Words before a Noun

In the phrase rising sun, rising is an adjective-like participle, but in meeting room, meeting is a noun-like gerund (see 71. Gerund and Participle Uses of “-ing”). Gerunds used like meeting tend to be slightly emphasized. This can clarify the intended meaning of ambiguous combinations like growing plants (see 124. Structures with a Double Meaning 1, #1).

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5. Multi-Use Spellings

English is full of spellings that represent more than one word. Some, known as “homonyms”, cannot be differentiated by pronunciation, but others, known as “homographs”, can (see 11. Homonyms and Homographs). Some homographs are differentiated just by their stress: for example, in-crease and up-set with their first styllable stressed are nouns (a typical correspondence), and verbs otherwise.

Elsewhere, stress combines with vowel pronunciation to show a difference. Present is shown as a noun rather than verb by saying pre- with both stress and /e/ rather than /i/; object is shown as a noun rather than verb by saying ob- with both stress and /ɒ/ rather than /ә/. In other cases again, vowel pronunciation is the only clue: estimate is a verb when ending /eit/ and a noun with /әt/. Animate and consummate go from verbs to adjectives (for more examples, see 172. Multi-Use Suffixes, #4).

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6. Phrasal versus Prepositional Verbs

Phrasal verbs, like turn on, and prepositional ones, like depend on, differ grammatically (see 139. Phrasal Verbs), but the difference is not always visible:

(a) To survive, these people turn/depend on electricity.

However, the pronunciation of the second word (here on) can be a clue: always weak in prepositional verbs, often strong (slower with stress) in phrasal verbs.

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7. Preposition-like Prefixes

Various preposition spellings are occasionally attached to the start of a longer word so as to add either their basic preposition meaning – e.g. in-form, offside, overcoat – or a more exotic one – e.g. overpopulated, outlast, update (see the end of 146. Some Important Prefix Types). Sometimes, the addition contains the main stressed syllable within the word (outfit, overheads, underpass), sometimes it does not (in-demand, outweigh, overdo). The first kind of stress is especially associated with nouns.

Sometimes, however, stress indicates other word class differences. For example, uphill is an adjective (an uphill struggle), uphill an adverb (went uphill).

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8. “-teen” versus “-ty”

Showing and recognising the difference between -teen and -ty, as in 16 versus 60, is a common problem. The main difference seems to be the presence or absence of “n”. In reality, however, this /n/ is often hard to hear (see section 2 above), and the main differentiator is the vowel before it: strong /i:/ in -teen, weak /i/ in -ty (see 67. Numbers in Spoken English, #8).

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9. Two Surprising Vowel Pronunciations

The letter “o” is very often pronounced rather illogically like “u” in cut. Indeed, this happens so frequently that it could almost be considered an alternative logical pronunciation. Common examples are other, month and comfortable. For more, see 29. Illogical Vowel Spellings.

Also surprising but common is –age pronounced like -idge, as in advantage, image and village. For numerous other examples, see 135. French Influences on English Vocabulary, #3.

155. Silent Consonants

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75% of English consonant letters sometimes appear in the spelling of a word without being pronounceable

THE PROBLEM OF SILENT CONSONANTS

One of the many peculiarities of English spelling is its occasional use of consonant letters that are not pronounced when the word is spoken. This phenomenon is likely to be encountered by learners of English even at very elementary levels, in such words as knee, night and talk. A common reason for it is that the unexpected spellings once did represent the way their word was pronounced, but they stopped doing so because the pronunciation of the word changed as a result of the natural evolution that all languages undergo. The spellings of the words have not changed because the invention of printing made spellings in general more standardized and fixed.

Many words with a silent consonant actually do not seem to be much of a learning problem. However, a fair number can cause erroneous pronunciation of the consonants in speech, and some can cause spelling errors (see 188. Causes of Common Spelling Mistakes). In this post I wish to survey and classify the wide variety of words that contain one or more silent consonants, in the hope that raised awareness might assist some readers to improve their pronunciation or spelling of English.

Other Guinlist posts touching on consonant pronunciation include 90. The Greek Impact on English Vocabulary,  135. French Influences on English Vocabulary and 243. Pronunciation Secrets. For information about unexpected pronunciations of vowels, see 29. Illogical Vowel Spellings and 86. The Pronunciation of “e” and “i”.

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DEFINITION OF SILENT CONSONANTS

It is important to distinguish silent consonants from a variety of other consonant letters that are not pronounced in their typical way. Of these latter, an important group is consonant letters that combine with a neighbouring letter either to make a sound that neither would make by itself or to remove ambiguity about how the other letter should be pronounced. If this other letter is a vowel, the indicated sound will also be a vowel; otherwise it will be a consonant.

Typical consonant letters that combine with a vowel for these purposes, so that they cannot be considered silent, are “h”, “w” and “y”, as in oh, cow and toy. The letter “r” is also one in Australian and Southern British English, for example in cart and term (it only ever has the /r/ sound at the start of a syllable), but is clearly pronounced in the USA, Ireland and Scotland. Two consonant letters that commonly combine with particular other consonant letters in one way or another are “h” in words like choice, phrase, show and think, and “k” after “c” (back, check, ticket etc.).

Another type of consonant letter that is not silent despite being pronounced in an unexpected way is, in certain positions, the letters for the so-called “plosive” consonants (/p, t, k, b, d, g/). These letters are often only partially pronounced before other plosive sounds (as in stop doing and log cabin) and at the end of sentences (see 91. Pronunciation in Reading Aloud). It is easy to think they are completely silent in such situations when in fact they are not.

Thirdly, I am not considering any letters within a doubled consonant to be silent. Although it is true that most doubled consonants in English are pronounced no differently from single ones, so that logically one of the pair could be called “silent”, doubled consonants are so common in English (see 248. When to Double a Consonant), and the rule for pronouncing them is so simple, that nothing seems likely to be gained from listing all the possibilities.

Repetition of the same consonant at the end of one word and the start of the next, as in can never, while looking and turned down, is even less of interest, since here the double occurrence does make a pronunciation difference. Although the two identical letters are pronounced as a single sound, they need more time to be pronounced than if they were just a single letter (see “lengthening” in 91. Pronunciation in Reading Aloud). Similar to these are neighbouring consonants in the same word that are spelled differently but represent a single sound, such as -nm- in environment and and -db- in handbag (see 243. Pronunciation Secrets, #1). Here, the first letter is not pronounced, but it still increases the time needed to say the second.

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COMMON SILENT CONSONANTS IN ENGLISH

The following categories of silent consonant are identifiable:

1. The Letter “k”

This seems to be silent only and always at the start of words (even words within longer words) where there is a following “n” (knack, knead, knee, breadknife, knight, knock, know, knuckle etc.).

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2. The Letter “h”

At the start of a word, this letter is silent in honour and its derivatives (honourable, honorific, honorarium etc.) and also honest. In addition, there are hour and heir.

In most varieties of English, “h” after a starting “w” is silent, as in wheat, when, where, whether, whet, whey, while, whistle and why.

Inside words, a common silent occurrence is in -ham at the end of British (not American) place names like Birmingham, Cheltenham, Tottenham and Nottingham (the pronounciation is /-әm/ in all of these). The word vehicle has no /h/ sound, being pronounced /’vi: jә kl/, and there is none in shepherd and silhouette. The “h” in Thames can also be called silent because it does not alter the /t/ to /θ/. Similar is “h” after “r” in words of Greek origin like rhyme, rhino and diarrhoea.

Finally, “h” is silent after “c” in words of Greek origin, such as choir; it does not change the sound of “c” in any way (see 90. The Greek Impact on English Vocabulary). Other examples are anarchy, anchor, character, cholesterol, chorus, Christmas, chrome, epoch, orchestra, psychology and scheme.

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3. The Letter “p”

Words of Greek origin beginning “ps-”, “pt-” or “pn-“ tend to be pronounced without the /p/ (see 90. The Greek Impact on English Vocabulary). Examples are combinations with psych- (psychology, psychic) and pseudo- (pseudonym, pseudopod), as well as psalm, pterodactyl and pneumatic.

Elsewhere, three notable words are receipt (/rɪ ‘si:t/), coup (/ku:/) and corps (/kɔ:/), the latter two being borrowings from French.

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4. The Letter “b”

A major context for the silence of this letter is after “m” at the end of a word, as in bomb, climb, comb, crumb, dumb, lamb, limb, tomb and womb. The “b” remains silent even after the addition of -ing, -ed or -er (bombing, combing, dumbing, lambed, dumber), but not in the verbs crumble (which is like humble and tumble) or limber (like timber).

In addition, there are some words where a silent “b” is followed by “t”, e.g. debt, doubt and subtle.

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5. The Letter “l”

The main locations where this is silent are inside the three modal verbs could, would, should; between “a”/“o” and “k” in words like stalk, talk, walk, folk and yolk; and between “a” and “m”, e.g. alms, calm, palm, psalm and salmon.

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6. The Letter “s”

A few words of French origin have a silent “s” at the end (corps, debris, fracas, rendezvous). Words with it in the middle include isle, aisle, island and viscount. The “i” is pronounced /ɑɪ/ in all of these (see 86. The Pronunciation of “e” and “i”).

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7. The Letter “t”

This letter is usually silent when sandwiched between “s” and “le”, as in bustle, castle, epistle, pestle, rustle and thistle, and often silent between “f” (or “s”) and “en” in words like often, soften, listen, glisten, fasten and hasten.

Words that end in “-et” tend to be borrowings from French. Some must be pronounced in the French way, ending in the vowel /eɪ/ without “t”, some not (see 135. French Influences on English Vocabulary). The former include ballet, beret, bidet, bouquet, buffet (= self-service food), cachet, chalet, croquet, duvet, ricochet, sobriquet, tourniquet and valet. Two other French-derived words with a silent final “t” are depot and rapport.

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8. The Letter “w”

There are two striking contexts for this silent letter. One is words beginning “wr-”, such as wrangle, wreck, wrestle, wring, write, wrong, wrought and wry. The other is a few words (usually place names) ending in “-wich” or “-wick”, for example Greenwich and Harwich (but not Midwich) and Chiswick and Warwick (but not Gatwick or Northwick).

Another notable place name is Southwark (pronounced /’sʌ ԺƏk/), and “w” is also silent in two, who, whole, sword and awry.

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9. The Letter “c”

One silent use of this letter is after “s” in words like ascent, crescent, irascible, miscellaneous, nascent, reminisce, scene, sceptre (but not sceptic), science and visceral. This group does not include rescind because the “c” there is changing the pronunciation of the neighbouring “s” into /∫/. Another use is before unstressed “es” in such British place names as Leicester, Worcester, Bicester and Gloucester. One other notable silent “c” is in indict.

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10. The Letter “g”

This letter is commonly silent between “i” and “n” in words like align, benign, deign, feign, foreign, malign, reign, sign and sovereign. However, it is not silent in poignant (since it changes the following /n/ to /nj/) nor in benignant and malignant. Other notable words are champagne, gnaw, gnome, gnu and phlegm. Recognise seems to allow a choice about pronouncing the “g”.

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11. The Letters “gh”

These are well-known silent letters before “t” in words like bright, fight, might, tight, ought, brought, sought, thought, caught, taught, eight, height and weight. They also occur without the “t” in though, through, bough, plough, high, weigh, neighbour etc. (however, they are less “silent” in cough and tough because the consonant sound /f/, though unexpected, exists where they occur).

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12. Other Letters

There is a silent “n” at the end of autumn, column, condemn, hymn  and solemn, while at the start of mnemonic it is the “m” that is silent. In iron, the “r” is silent, in yacht the “ch” and in Wednesday the first “d” (along with the following “e”). Some borrowed French words, such as laissez-faire and rendezvous, contain a silent “z”.

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It is probable that some interesting examples of silent consonants are missing from these lists. Readers who are aware of any are invited to mention them via the comment facility below.

135. French Influences on English Vocabulary

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Some English words borrowed from French are easily recognisable as such

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THE IMPORTANCE OF THE FRENCH INFLUENCE

As France is the closest non-English speaking country to Britain, the influence of the French language on English vocabulary is unsurprisingly great. The two languages do not belong to the same “family” – English is “Germanic” like other Northern European languages, while French is “Latinate” like Spanish and Italian – but their proximity to each other has ensured that inter-borrowing has been extensive. English had a particularly heavy borrowing period during approximately 300 years of rule by French-speaking kings from the year 1066 (see 45. Latin Clues to English Spelling).

In this post I am not aiming to survey the full French influence on English vocabulary, since that would be too long and much of it would probably not facilitate correct English usage. Rather, I wish to concentrate on words that can give anyone unfamiliar with French a spelling or pronunciation problem because some French feature has been kept instead of being adjusted to accepted English practice – words like reservoir, which cannot be pronounced correctly according to normal English rules. Many of these words also feature in 29. Illogical Vowel Spellings.

This kind of problem is not the only one that French can cause in English. Speakers of French will know that some English borrowings from their language have a slightly changed spelling, making spelling mistakes more likely for them (see 188. Causes of Common Spelling Mistakes). There is also a formality mismatch between some French words and words spelt like them in English (see 108. Formal and Informal Words).

Guinlist posts that deal with borrowings from other languages than French are 90. The Greek Impact on English Vocabulary and 130. Formal Abbreviations.

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ENGLISH WORDS WITH NOTICEABLY FRENCH SPELLINGS

Many French spellings in English can be grouped together on the basis of a common feature that they possess. The following groups are notable:

1. Longer words ending in “-ee”

In French, the -ee ending is equivalent to English -ed on verbs after BE and HAVE – in other words it is the ending of “past” participles. This means that, when used alone or after BE, it has passive meaning. Thus employee in French means “employed” or “used”. The French pronunciation of -ee sounds a little like “ay” in English. Also specific to French is the need to use -ee only with feminine nouns. The masculine equivalent has a single -e (usually with an accent: -é).

In English, the French -ee tends to be found in words of two or more syllables (it is not present, for example, in bee). It is usually pronounced /i:/ and it can represent either men or women. The words tend to be nouns rather than verbs, but they still usually keep their passive meaning: an employee is “a person who has been employed”.

Other examples are absentee, addressee, advisee, amputee (a person who has suffered amputation), committee, detainee, devotee, divorcee, escapee, evacuee, examinee, internee, interviewee, nominee, payee, referee (“a person who is referred to”), refugee, returnee, trainee and trustee. The -ee part is stressed – pronounced more strongly than any other part (see 125. Stress and Emphasis) – in all of these words except committee (where -mit- is stressed instead). This means, unsurprisingly, that committee is often mispronounced.

A few English words actually keep the “ay”-like French pronunciation, e.g. fiancee, melee, negligee and puree. The first of these also has a purely feminine meaning, its masculine equivalent being fiancé (same pronunciation). The word résumé is another with only one final “e”,

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2. Longer words ending in “-et”

In French, consonant letters at the end of a word are often not pronounced (see 155. Silent Consonants). This tendency has been carried over into English in a noticeable way with some longer words ending in “-et”. All of the following words end with the pronunciation /eɪ/ rather than /Ət/ or /ɪt/: ballet, beret, bidet, (pronounced like bee day), bouquet (boo kay), buffet (= self-service food), cachet, chalet, croquet, duvet, ricochet, sobriquet, tourniquet and valet.

In a few other cases, the French pronunciation has been dropped in favour of the more expected English one. It is /Ət/ or /it/ in blanket, buffet (= blow sideways), casket, fillet, musket, sonnet and ticket, and /et/ (with stress) in cadet and minuet (see 86. The Pronunciation of “e” and “i”).

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3. Longer words ending in “-age”

This ending is widespread in English. Its French pronunciation rhymes with English barge, but the English one mostly rhymes with bridge (not wage – apart from in engage). The few English words that have kept the French pronunciation include barrage, dressage, entourage, espionage, fuselage, garage (American English only), massage, mirage, montage and sabotage.

A notable subgroup among words with the English pronunciation is nouns made by adding –age to a verb (see 249. Action Noun Endings). They include blockage, breakage, carriage, passage, shrinkage, spoilage, stoppage, storage, usage and wastage. These words are unlikely to have been borrowed from French.

Other words with the English pronunciation include adage, advantage, average, bandage, bondage, cabbage, carnage, damage, dotage, envisage, footage, forage, garbage, homage, hostage, image, leverage, marriage, message, mileage, orphanage, percentage, pillage, presage, salvage, savage and village. For advice on using percentage, see 218. Tricky Word Contrasts 8, #1.

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4. Words ending in “-ette”

This ending means “small” in French, a meaning that is still present in English borrowings, despite not always being obvious. Relevant words include briquette, cigarette, courgette, etiquette, maisonette, palette, pipette, pirouette, rosette, roulette, serviette and silhouette.

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5. Words Ending in “-re”

English has both -er and -re words, but pronounces both endings the same. The former are more common, though, and seem more logical to many (American English has indeed changed many -re spellings to -er). The main reason for the existence of -re endings is that they originate in French, where -er is pronounced differently.

Common -re words are centre, fibre, genre, litre, lustre, manoeuvre, metre, sceptre and spectre. Note that metre names the distance whereas meter means a measuring instrument.

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6. Words containing “ois” or “oir”

The English pronunciation of “oi” usually rhymes with boy, as in join. In French, however, it is /w/ followed by either a short /ʌ/ vowel or a long /a:/ one. The former is used with “ois”, the latter with “oir”. English tends to follow suit (except with “oist” words like moist). Thus, bourgeois is pronounced “borzch-wuh” /bɔ: ‘žwʌ/ and reservoir is “re-zu-vwah” /’re zƏ vwa:/. Other English words like this are patois, abattoir, boudoir, memoire and repertoire.

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7. Words with “que” pronounced /k/

The already-mentioned words briquette, etiquette, croquet and tourniquet are in this category. Many others end in either -ique (/i:k/) or -esque (/esk/). Examples of the former are antique, boutique, critique (see 114. Tricky Word Contrasts 3, #10), mystique, oblique, physique, pique, technique and unique (see 284. Words with a Surprising Meaning, #13). Examples of the latter are burlesque, picturesque and Romanesque. Also notable are baroque, liqueur, plaque and risqué (/ris’kei/).

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8. Words beginning with “sur-”

In French, sur is a preposition meaning “on” or “over”. Most English words beginning with sur- seem to come from French and hence to have a hint of these meanings. Examples are surcharge, surface, surfeit, surmount, surname, surplus, surprise, surround, surtax, survey and survive.

The underlining shows which syllable is stressed (see 125. Stress & Emphasis). In most cases, nouns stress sur- and verbs do not. Survey changes its stress according to whether it is a noun or a verb (see 11. Homonyms and Homographs).

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9. Words with a Silent Last Consonant

This category has already been illustrated above by words ending in -et (#2) and -oir or -ois (#5). Also notable is the French spelling -eur (pronounced like /з/ sound of her), which indicates someone who does something, rather like-er (see 172. Multi-Use Suffixes). It is found in chauffeur, entrepreneur, liqueur and voyeur. The combination -ez is found in rendezvous and laissez-faire. It represents the vowel sound /eɪ/, with no pronunciation of the “z”. The -s at the end of the former is also silent.

Other English words that keep a silent French consonant at the end include coup, debris, depot, fracas and rapport. In corps, the “p” and “s” are both silent. For a fuller list of silent consonants in English, see 155. Silent Consonants.

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10. Other spellings

The combination eau is found in plateau, tableau and beauty. In the first two its pronunciation (like “o” in home) is still French-like, but in the last it has changed to /ju:/.

The underlined parts of lieutenant and manoeuvre are also pronounced differently in French and English – but are still not as expected in English. The first is /lef-/ in Britain and /lu:/ in America; the second is /u:/ in both.

The French ending -ine rhymes with mean, not mine. English words with it include aubergine, chlorine, cuisine, limousine, magazine, margarine, marine, pristine and routine.

In English, “ch” is usually pronounced /t∫/ as in church or /k/ as in chorus (see 90. The Greek Impact on English Vocabulary). In French borrowings, however, it is pronounced like sh. Examples are cache, chalet, champagne, charade, chauffeur, chic and ricochet.

Finally, -ale is pronounced in the French way /ɑ:l/ in rationale, and -gn- is the French /nj/ in poignant (where the oi is nevertheless as in boy).

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FRENCH PHRASES IN ENGLISH

Phrases are much easier than individual words to identify as borrowings from French. English speakers quite easily associate the whole phrase with a single meaning without knowing the meanings of the individual words. The difficulty that French phrases give to learners of English is more likely to be in reading and listening than in writing and speaking.

The following are common phrases that I have been able to think of. Their pronunciations and meanings can be discovered with an English dictionary.

aide mémoire, amour propre, avant garde, bric-à-brac, carte blanche, cause célèbre, c’est la vie, chargé d’affaires, coup d’état, coup de grace, cul-de-sac, déjà vu, de rigueur, double entendre, en passant, en route, en suite, fait accompli, force majeure, hors d’œuvre, joie de vivre, laisser-/lassez-faire, le mot juste, nom de plume, nouveau riche, par excellence, pas de deux, pièce de résistance, pied à terre, pot-pourri, raison d’être, tête-à-tête, tour de force.

Many more examples of obviously French words and phrases can surely be found in English, but I hope that those above give a flavour of the huge impact that French has had, and will perhaps enable strange spellings like champagne to be approached with a little more understanding and confidence.

125. Stress and Emphasis

Stress in language is a property of most words but emphasis is an add-on with a specific message

CONFUSIONS REGARDING THE WORDS “STRESS” AND “EMPHASIS”

In everyday English, the words stress and emphasis often mean the same: extra force that a speaker or writer might give to a message. In technical language descriptions, however, the words refer to different types of extra force. Quite often, these more technical meanings are used in coursebooks for learners of English. This means there is a possibility of confusion, either of the technical with the everyday meanings or of the two different technical meanings.

A further problem is that the ways stress and emphasis are achieved in English are very different from their equivalents in many other languages, so that speakers of those languages are likely when learning English to make incorrect choices, with consequent communication breakdowns. The aim of the present post is to clarify the difference between these two sometimes-confused technical concepts, and to highlight some of the important ways of achieving emphasis in English.

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THE LINGUISTIC MEANING OF “STRESS”

To understand stress, it is first necessary to understand what syllables are. In simple terms, they are separately-pronounced parts of a word. For example, ask and bite have one syllable, compose has two (com- and -pose), and ascertain has three. A useful guideline is that every new spoken vowel indicates a new syllable: ask has just “a”, while com- and -pose have two “o”s (ignore the final “e” because it is not spoken). Compo- and -se are not syllables because compo- has two spoken vowels and -se none. For more guidelines, see 223. Uses of Hyphens, #1.

The typical centrality of spoken vowels in syllables resembles the centrality of verbs in sentences (see 30. When to Write a Full Stop). It should be noted, however, that the spoken-vowel guideline does not cover every syllable in English: a few syllables actually have no spoken vowel at all. The main ones are -le in words like little and baffle, and -on in words like button. In practice, though, the vowel letter in the writing of these syllables means most people recognise their syllable status.

Stress in descriptions of English is associated with syllables. It is a kind of extra force given to the pronunciation of a single syllable in every word (though a few common single-syllable words, such as and, must, than and was, lack it and are consequently called “weak forms”). In multi-syllable words, the location of the stressed syllable is rarely predictable, so that learning which syllable to stress is a necessary part of learning the word. In this blog, a list of words that are commonly stressed incorrectly by learners of English is in the post 91. Pronunciation in Reading Aloud. Also notable are word pairs with the same spellings but different stress (see 11. Homonyms and Homographs).

The stressed syllable in a particular word is always the same, with the result that it is usually shown in dictionaries. Most dictionaries do this by placing the symbol ‘ just in front. For example, com‘pose shows that -pose has stress.

In speech, the extra force of a stressed syllable is achieved primarily through changing its pitch (sound vibration frequency) as it is spoken. Its loudness may also be increased. A common consequence of a syllable being stressed is that its vowel is likely to be pronounced according to its spelling (though there are many exceptions – see 29. Illogical Vowel Spellings). Unstressed vowels, by contrast, such as the first “o” in compose, are often pronounced /Ə/ (some words even need /ɪ/) regardless of their spelling (see 91. Pronunciation in Reading Aloud), so that /Ə/ is the commonest vowel in English (see 202. Some Strategies for Learning English, #3).

Stress is not quite the same as “accent”. The two words often have the same meaning, but not always. “Stress” seems more preferred in linguistic analysis, “accent” in literary contexts, particularly the appreciation of verse. Both words are uncountable, but “accent” can also be used countably as an abstract “substance location” (see 43. Substance Locations): an accent is either a symbol above a letter showing how it should be pronounced, or a particular way of pronouncing all the sounds of a language, as when we speak of a BBC accent or a Chinese accent.

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THE LINGUISTIC MEANING OF “EMPHASIS”

Emphasis is also an extra force that may be found in a word. However, it is different from stress in the following ways:

(i)  It is optional: it may be absent from a sentence altogether, or be added to any number of the words in one.

(ii) It has some meaning.

(iii) It can be shown by means of grammar and vocabulary as well as by pitch and loudness. Grammar and vocabulary are the main possibility in writing, whereas pitch and loudness are often preferred in speech.

(iv) Although it mostly applies pitch and loudness to the same syllables that stress does, it does so more strongly.

(v) It can apply pitch and loudness to weak forms (unstressed single-syllable words).

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To illustrate these various points, consider the following sentence:

(a) To STAY THIN it IS adVISable to EAT MOderately, AND to EXercise.

Each of the underlined words may or may not be emphasized, independently of others. The single-syllable ones (stay, thin, is, eat, and) need a strong pitch change across all of them; the others need it on their stressed syllable (shown in capitals). The weak form and, normally pronounced /әnd/ or even /n/ (see 144. Words that are Often Heard Wrongly), changes its vowel and becomes /ænd/.

In many cases the emphasis will suggest a contrast with an opposing idea. For example, emphasis on stay in (a) suggests a contrast with become (thin) and on is a contrast with is not. In other cases, the emphasis means simple importance, suggesting that the listener takes particular note of the emphasised word. This is the case with advisable and and.

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HOW GRAMMAR AND VOCABULARY CAN SHOW EMPHASIS

English has some ways of showing emphasis in writing, although it does not use them always – it sometimes leaves the reader to recognise emphasis without them. A widely-used writing technique is putting the emphasised word(s) in italic letters. One special grammar choice is the use of one instead of a to mean “not more than one” (see 67. Numbers in Spoken English, #3). The following are other noteworthy situations where special grammar and/or vocabulary might be used.

1. Emphasising the Subject of a Sentence

Many speakers whose mother tongue is not English incorrectly try to emphasise a noun or pronoun at the start of a sentence by placing for in front of it and repeating it with a pronoun. The following example was attributed by the Guardian newspaper (11 Jan 2016) to Arsène Wenger, the French manager of Arsenal Football Club:

(b) *I believe that for the Germans they are maybe more surprised (by English football custom) as they have a good winter break.

Many English speakers would, I am sure, simply say the Germans are instead of the underlined words, leaving the listener to recognise the contrast from the following comparative adjective more surprised. However, if additional wording is considered necessary, one could follow the Germans with for their part or in particular or on the other hand or, after their incidental mention just before, themselves (see the end of 143. Subtleties of “-self” Words).

A similar solution can be used with the following further example

(c) *For scientists, they think that the climate is changing.

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2. Emphasising a Verb

Verbs can be emphasised in two different ways. One way shows importance or a contrast with other verbs. In sentence (c), for example, emphasising think in this way could make a contrast with a verb like say or know. The main written equivalent of a spoken pitch change seems to be italicisation. To use grammar or vocabulary instead, one would have to be very wordy, saying something like think rather than say.

The other way of emphasising a verb contrasts the positive verb meaning with its negative, or vice versa. Giving this kind of emphasis to think in (c) would make a contrast with do not think. In speech, positive emphasis is normally shown by strongly pronouncing a preceding “auxiliary” verb (is, have, will etc.) – adding do, does or did if no auxiliary is already present. Negative emphasis is shown by strong pronunciation of the negative word (not, never etc.).

In writing, these alternatives are quite easily shown with grammar or vocabulary alone. The simplest way is just to add an adverb like certainly, definitely, emphatically, indeed or undoubtedly:

(d) Constructing new roads definitely solves (or does not solve) traffic problems.

An alternative with positive one-word verbs like solves is again to add DO (…does solve…). It is even possible to combine DO with one of the adverbs (definitely does solve). Negative verbs allow further special expressions besides the listed adverbs, including a preceding under no circumstances (with no following not) and a following under any circumstances or at all or at any time (see 310. Aspects of Negation, #9). 

One use of emphasised positive or negative verbs shows agreement, both willing (see 152. Agreeing and Disagreeing in Formal Contexts) and reluctant (see 51. Making Concessions with “May”). Another use gives greater than usual prominence to a speaker’s belief in the truth of their own words (see 224. Asserting the Truth of what you Say).

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3. Highlighting the New Information in a Sentence

The information that a speaker is seeking to convey rarely occupies the whole of its sentence: in many cases the sentence also contains information that the listener is expected to know already. The two types of information are usually called “new” and “given.

Speakers normally assist recognition of the new information without emphasising it, for example by placing it at the end of the sentence” (see 156. Mentioning What the Reader Knows Already, #10). Sometimes, though, they may feel that this is not enough, and they use something more emphatic to show its importance. One common choice is a special kind of it or what sentence:

(e) It is economic development that causes population growth to fall.

(f) What causes population growth to fall is economic development.

These uses of it and what are respectively considered in detail within this blog in 145. Highlighting with “What” Sentences and 190. Special Uses of “it”, #3.

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4. Emphasizing a Conjunction

If the message of a conjunction is considered especially important, it can be emphasised by placing a connector with similar meaning immediately after it. Common combinations are and also, and yet, and then, and consequently, but nevertheless and or in other words. For the difference between conjunctions and connectors, see 40. Conjunctions versus Connectors.

91. Pronunciation in Reading Aloud

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Reading aloud in English makes numerous linguistic demands on top of the ordinary non-linguistic ones

THE NATURE OF READING ALOUD

Reading aloud is a quite common activity in academic and professional life. It is not recommended for speeches or oral presentations (see 186. Language in Oral Presentations), but it can be useful for reporting written content to others (e.g. stories, religious readings or news items). The ability to read well, however, rarely comes easily: even reading aloud in one’s mother tongue calls for a range of special non-linguistic skills, many of the kind also needed for acting. Reading aloud in a new language is obviously much harder again.

The English language presents plenty of difficulties in this respect, possessing a number of areas that typically trip up readers lacking a deep familiarity with it. In this post I wish first to look briefly at non-linguistic skills for reading aloud, and then to consider in detail how the English language itself is likely to give problems to speakers of other languages when they attempt to read it aloud.

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NON-LINGUISTIC (DELIVERY) SKILLS FOR READING ALOUD

The kind of skills that make the difference between good and bad mother-tongue readers are similar to those needed for successful acting. The following seem to be among the most important.

(i) Rehearsing the reading beforehand, so that even the difficult parts become smooth.

(ii) Maximising eye-contact with the audience. Keeping a finger under the words as you read them allows you to look up regularly without losing your place in the text.

(iii) Concentrating on the message of what you are reading, and not the language.

(iv) Reading at the right pace: too slow is better than too fast, especially if your pronunciation is poor.

(v) Pausing in the right places. Pauses are needed more often than at punctuation marks (see 50. Right & Wrong Comma Places), but not after every word. Sentences consist of “sense groups” – groups of words that naturally go together, for example to make the subject of the sentence or an adverbial – and pauses normally come before and after sense groups. They also often precede emphasised words.

(vi) Speaking with the right volume. It is particularly important not to speak too quietly.

(vii) Highlighting important and contrasting ideas by emphasising the words that carry them.

A few ideas for developing these skills can be read in the article within this blog entitled Should language learners ever be asked to read aloud in class?

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LINGUISTIC SKILLS FOR READING ALOUD

Some of the most important English Language skills are as follows.

1. Pronouncing Unfamiliar Words

This is perhaps the most obvious linguistic problem that English gives to speakers of other languages. The main causes are the unreliability of English spelling (illustrated within this blog in posts like 29. Illogical Vowel Spellings,  86. The Pronunciation of “e” and “i” and 155. Silent Consonants) and the unpredictability of word stress. Happily, the solution is quite easy: checking the pronunciation in a dictionary whilst rehearsing.

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2. Converting Non-Linguistic Symbols to their Spoken Form

Non-linguistic symbols do not contain letters and hence give no clues to their correct pronunciation. The commonest are numbers. Pitfalls in pronouncing numbers and associated symbols are extensively analysed in this blog in 67. Numbers in Spoken English. As an example, 3-digit numbers like 374 need when read aloud to include the word and after hundred. 

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3. Pronouncing Difficult Sounds

Since no two languages have exactly the same sounds – and even the ones that are similar may be used in different ways – reading aloud in a new language involves pronouncing unfamiliar sounds. This is not always a difficulty, but errors are normal as well. Readers may or may not be aware of their mispronunciations. The less obvious ones can be discovered by asking another person to listen to rehearsals. Exercises to practise problem sounds can then be used.

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4. Stressing the Right Syllables

Words are made up of syllables. In English, syllables are pronounced strongly or weakly, being usually called “stressed” in the first case, “unstressed” otherwise (see 125. Stress and Emphasis). Most words have just one stressed syllable, with or without a variable number of unstressed ones. Exceptions are some one-syllable words of a grammatical nature, such as of, the and would, which have no stressed syllable at all.

It is very important to stress the right syllable in a multi-syllable word. Here are some words where learners of English often stress the wrong syllable. Readers are invited to name the syllables they think are stressed and then check the answers at the bottom of this page.

QUIZ: Name the stressed syllable in each word (answers below)

agreement, argument, appreciated, challenge, committee, complaint, descent, detailed, determine, development, forfeit, management, opponent, organised, prevalent, purchase, recognise, resit, response, seventy, success, surprise, welcome.

Stress errors are much more likely than mispronounced sounds to escape your notice when you read aloud. Studying lists like the above can help to reduce errors, as can asking another person to listen to reading rehearsals.

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5. Pronouncing Unstressed Vowels

A major aspect of spoken English is the tendency of vowel letters to be pronounced differently according to whether or not their syllable is stressed. Stress causes vowels to be pronounced as we would normally expect, but without it the pronunciation frequently becomes either /Ə/ or /ı/. For example, stressed “u” in inDUStrial sounds the same as in cut, but unstressed in INdustry it has the /Ə/ sound instead. More on this is in the posts 41. Unexpected Vowels in Derived Words and 125. Stress and Emphasis, while 86. The Pronunciation of “e” and “i” offers some guidelines on when to say /ı/ instead of /Ə/).

Many speakers whose mother tongue is not English pronounce all English vowels in their primary way, without changing them to /Ə/ or /ı/ as necessary. Being able to make these changes can considerably improve pronunciation. Observing their occurrence in the speech of expert users is one improvement strategy; checking word pronunciations in a dictionary is another (see 202. Some Strategies for Learning English, #3).

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6. Adapting Pronunciations to Neighbouring Sounds

When certain sounds combine with certain other sounds in their own or an adjacent word, their pronunciation subtly changes, even though their spelling usually remains the same. A word that undergoes a fairly well-known change of this kind is the: pronounced with /Ə/ before consonants and /ı/ before vowels. Other important changes are:

(i) Consonant Transfer. When the first of two closely-linked words ends with a consonant and the second begins with a vowel (as in loG On, darK Eyes or caN Open), the consonant is often said as if it started the second word (lo gon, dar keyes, ca nopen). This is true even when the final consonant of the first word has a silent vowel after it, as in come out.

(ii) Consonant Lengthening. This occurs when the same consonant sound ends one word and begins the next, as in can never, with the and enough food. Instead of saying the sound twice, it sounds more natural to say it once but with more time than usual.

(iii) Consonant Reduction. This usually involves the so-called “plosive” consonants: /p, t, k, b, d, g/. Their pronunciation is likely to be reduced when either they precede another consonant (e.g. seT Down, suBMit) or end a sense group (e.g. come to a stoP, hold ouT). A full explanation of this area is downloadable from the Learning Materials page of this blog (sheet #12). For some grammar misunderstandings that it can cause, see 144. Words that are Often Heard Wrongly.

For some more changes like these see 243. Pronunciation Secrets, #2.

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7. Using Intonation

Whole books have been written on the nature and uses of English intonation. Here I just want to mention two uses that are especially important for reading aloud. The first is showing whether or not a sentence is finished – corresponding on the one hand to full stops and semi-colons, and on the other to commas, colons and dashes. Full stops are normally indicated with a falling tone on the word before, the others by a fall-rise. The most common error is to use the full stop tone in the wrong place. This happens particularly before colons and in the middle of lists. It is very disconcerting for a listener to hear a list continued when intonation has signalled its end.

The other important use of intonation is for emphasis. Listening to a text is much more interesting if important and contrasting words are emphasised. The kind of intonation that creates emphasis can be thought of as an extra strong form of stress (see 125. Stress & Emphasis).

Further information about intonation in reading aloud can be downloaded from the Learning Materials page of this blog (sheet #13).

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ANSWERS TO QUIZ ON STRESS: The stressed syllable is underlined in each word below. For more about committee, see 135. French Influences on English Vocabulary, #1.

agreement, argument, appreciated, challenge, committee, complaint, descent, detailed, determine, development, forfeit, management, opponent, organised, prevalent, purchase, recognise, resit, response, seventy, success, surprise, welcome.

90. The Greek Impact on English Vocabulary

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English has borrowed many words from the ancient Greek language. Their spelling gives clues to their recognition and pronunciation

HISTORICAL INFLUENCES ON ENGLISH

English is essentially a North-Western European language related to German, Dutch and languages in Scandinavia. However, historical events have caused it to be greatly expanded by borrowings from other languages, especially those of Southern Europe.

French has been a particular influence as a result of Britain being ruled by French-speaking monarchs for about 300 years after 1066 (see 135. French Influences on English Vocabulary). Latin, the language of the ancient Romans, is the ancestor of French, and hence had a great impact on English through it. Later, however, as scholarship advanced, English borrowed more and more words directly from Latin in order to name developing new concepts. More about the influence of Latin on English is in the posts 45. Latin Clues to English Spelling and 130. Formal Abbreviations. Many scholarly words were also borrowed from the language of Ancient Greece. Finally, the growth of Britain as an imperial power caused it to adopt many other new words from right across the world.

The language of Ancient Greece has had almost as important an impact on English as Latin. This is because the Ancient Greeks were the foremost European thinkers before Latin was spread across the continent by the Romans. Words from their language entered English not only directly as names for modern ideas and inventions, but also via Latin, since the Romans themselves used many Ancient Greek words in their learned writings (e.g. philosophia, the Greek word for philosophy).

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HOW TO RECOGNISE ENGLISH WORDS OF GREEK ORIGIN

Being able to recognise that a word is of Greek origin can help you to spell and pronounce it correctly. This is because these aspects follow fairly reliable rules. Indeed, words of Greek origin very rarely have illogical features of the kind discussed in 29. Illogical Vowel Spellings; and 188. Causes of Common Spelling Mistakes; they only seem a problem because their spelling is often quite unusual.

The main clues that a word is of Greek origin are the following:

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1. Special Letter Combinations

Many of these involve the letter “p”. It combines with “h” in words like philosophy, phrase, sphere, emphasis, graph, nymph, symphony and aphrodisiac. In addition, there are “ps” combinations – most disconcertingly at the start of words (psychology, psalm, pseudonym), but also in the middle (rhapsody) – and also “pn” and “pt”, mostly at the beginning of words (pneumatic, pneumonia, pterodactyl, helicopter, symptom).

The letter “y” used as a vowel is also a good clue to a Greek origin, though it is not entirely reliable. It is not Greek at the end of adjectives (happy, easy, ready) and many nouns (discovery, itinerary) and in the -ly and -fy endings, nor in short words like my, why, shy and sky. Words where it is of Greek origin are abyss, analyse, psychology, hypocrite, hypnotise, pyramid, hyperactive, mystery, rhythm, syndrome, syringe, cycle and cyst.

The “ch” spelling is also variably indicative of a Greek origin. It is Greek in anarchy, anchor, character, chiropody, choir, cholesterol, chorus, Christmas, chrome, epoch, orchestra, psychology and scheme; but it is not Greek in chicken, church, chain, change, chief, chimney, lychee, fetch and inch.

Many words with “th” come from Greek, e.g. mathematics, theme, thesis, theatre, thermal, ethics, myth, sympathise and labyrinth. Finally, the combination “rh” is highly indicative of a Greek origin. It exists in words like rheumatism, diarrhoea, rhythm, rhapsody and rhetoric.

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2. Greek Word Endings

The Guinlist post 12. Singular and Plural Verb Choices states that most nouns become plural by adding -s to their singular form, but not all do. Two of the exceptional categories are nouns of Greek origin whose singular forms end in either -on or -is – words like automaton, criterion, phenomenon, oasis, diagnosis, emphasis, thesis, hypothesis, parenthesis, synthesis, analysis, metamorphosis, axis and crisis. The -on ending becomes -a in the plural, the -is one -es (pronounced /i:z/). The underlined -is words are usable as “action” nouns – uncommon for words not of Latin origin (see 249. Action Noun Endings).

A common noun ending in Greek is -ma. These letters at the end of an English noun tend to indicate a Greek origin. Examples are cinema, coma, drama, enigma, magma, panorama, stigma and trauma. There are also some English words that have dropped the -a and just end with -m, e.g. axiom, phlegm, poem, problem, spasm, sperm, symptom and theme. The underlined words in both lists can be made into English adjectives ending -atic – another indicator of a Greek origin. Additional words with it include automatic, emphatic and rheumatic (but not the Latin-derived erratic).

Many other adjectives with -ic show a Greek origin. Common ones are analytic, archaic, comic, cosmic, economic, fantastic, gastric, graphic, historic, histrionic, ironic, manic, panoramic, pathetic, periodic, photographic, poetic, politic, scenic, strategic, synthetic and tragic. Going against this trend, though, are quite a few -ic adjectives of Latin rather than Greek origin, for example civic, frantic, linguistic, prolific, specific, terrific and Teutonic.

In addition to adjectives, -ic is found on many nouns of Greek origin. Examples include antic, comic, critic, graphic, ethic, heretic, logic, mimic, music, mystic, rhetoric, statistic, synthetic, tactic and topic. For more on how a single ending can show different word classes, see 172. Multi-Word Suffixes.

Another adjective ending that commonly shows a Greek origin is -ical. It makes adjectives out of nouns ending in -ology, e.g. biological, psychological and sociological, and out of some other nouns too, such as geographical, pharmaceutical, symmetrical, theatrical and typical. However, there are also some -ical words that are not of Greek origin, including farcical, medical and radical.

The -al ending, common on both nouns and adjectives in English, is not specific to words of Greek origin, but quite commonly makes adjectives out of Greek -ic words. Examples are comical, critical, economical, ethical, graphical, heretical, historical, logical, mathematical, musical, mystical, political, rhetorical, statistical, tactical, topical.

The links in the above lists are to explanations of confusing pairs like economic/economical.

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3. Greek Word Beginnings

The Guinlist post 45. Latin Clues to English Spelling points out that Latin prepositions are found at the beginning of many English words taken from Latin. The same is true of Greek prepositions. Common ones are ana-, anti-, apo-, dia-, en-/em-, epi-, hypo, hyper-, meta-, para-, peri-, pro- and syn-/sym-. Recognising any of these at the beginning of a word can greatly help its identification as Greek.

Examples of words starting with a Greek preposition are analysis, anatomy, antithesis, antonym, apology, apostle, diabetes, dialogue, emblem, empathy, epoch, epistle, epitome, hypodermic, hypothesis, hyperbole, metabolism, metaphor, paradox, paralyse, parallel, paraphrase, perimeter, period, problem, prophylaxis, symbol, synonym and synchronise. The word hyphen (representing a punctuation type considered in depth in this blog in 223. Uses of Hyphens) begins with a modified form of hypo. Parenthesis combines para- (= beside) and -en- (= inside) with -thesis (= placement) (see 294. Parentheses).

Sometimes the rest of a word after a Greek preposition is itself a possible English word, so that the preposition is acting like a true prefix (see 146. Some Important Prefix Types). Examples are para-medic and hyper-inflation. Some other English prefixes are also of Greek origin, for example auto- (= “self-“), pseudo- (= “pretending”) and a- (= “not”). Words with the latter include amorphous, apathetic, apolitical, asexual, atheist and atypical (but not Latin-derived abnormal).

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4. Medical Terms

Medicine is an area where Greek words are especially abundant. Examples are anatomy, antigen, artery, bacteria, cholesterol, dermatology, diarrhoea, gene, larynx, microscope, neurosis, oesophagus, parasite, pathology, physiology, rhesus, sclerosis, syndrome, syringe, thermometer and thrombosis.

The -osis ending (sometimes spelt -asis) means “present and troublesome” and is used to describe a wide range of illnesses (thrombosis for example is the presence of a troublesome blood clot). -osis can even be combined with a non-Greek root, as in tubercul-osis.

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PRONUNCIATION OF GREEK WORDS IN ENGLISH

It is generally well-known that the combination ph- is usually pronounced /f/. The letter “p” in other combinations (pn-, ps- and pt-) is silent at the start of a word (see 155. Silent Consonants) but in other positions is pronounced normally. Pseudonym, for example, begins with /s/, pneumonia with /n/.

The pronunciation of “ch” is usually /k/. Here is where it is important to know whether or not the word is originally Greek, since “ch” in non-Greek words is /t∫/. All of the “ch” words listed above follow this tendency. An exception, though, is arch – pronounced with /t∫/ despite a Greek origin.

Another useful guideline, also mentioned in the post 86. The Pronunciation of “e” and “i”, is that the letter “i” in the Greek prefixes dia-, bio- and micro- is pronounced /aı/ not /ı/. Examples are diabetes, diagonal, diameter, diarrhoea, biology, biopic, biopsy, microbe, microeconomics, micrometer and microscope.

One problem that is unfortunately not so easy to solve is deciding whether to pronounce “y” as /ı/ or /aı/. The former seems more common, occurring for example in analytic, anarchy, cyclic, cyst, embryo, gymnasium, hymn, hypnotise, mystery, physics, pyramid, rhythm, syllable, syringe, system and words beginning with syn-; the latter is exemplified in analyse, cycle, encyclopaedia, gynaecology, paralyse, phylum, psychology, style, tyrant and the prefixes hypo- and hyper-.

Finally, in words of Greek origin the letter “e” at the end does not always make the vowel before it long (as in words like fade, hope, site, use and paralyse), but can instead make a separate syllable (pronounced /ı/). This happens in words like anemo-ne, epito-me, hyperbo-le, synco-pe and the girls’ names Hermio-ne and Daph-ne. The word simi-le, which also has this feature, is of Latin rather than Greek origin.

86. The Pronunciation of “e” and “i”

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There are some rules that can show when the letters “e” and “i” should each be pronounced like short “i” 

VARIABILITY OF VOWEL LETTER PRONUNCIATIONS

Correctly pronouncing vowel letters is a well-known problem in English. One reason is the existence in English of an unusually large number of vowel sounds (around 20), with only 5 official vowel letters in the alphabet to represent them (a, e , i, o, u), so that each letter has more than one way of being pronounced. Quite often, the right pronunciation can be discovered from clues like whether or not “e” is written at the end of a word (compare the “a” in hat and hate), but there are still numerous “illogical” spellings, such as bury pronounced like berry and bass pronounced like base (see 29. Illogical Vowel Spellings).

The letters “e” and “i” contribute their fair share of illogical pronunciations, but even their more normal uses seem able to cause problems for speakers whose mother tongue is not English. In this post I wish to consider some less-appreciated normal pronunciations of these two letters, and also to touch on some that are not so normal.

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NORMAL PRONUNCIATIONS OF “e”

Some normal pronunciations of “e” are not very problematic. Of these, the best-known is probably the short one in words like end and lesson. Others are created by combining “e” with certain other letters, such as another “e”, as in meet, or “-a”, as in beam, or a consonant like “-r” or “-w”, as in her and few (see 155. Silent Consonants).

Slightly more problematic, but still not the focus here, is the /ə/ sound of the (see 202 Some Strategies for Learning English, #3).The troublesome normal “e” pronunciations that I wish to concentrate on are /ı/ and /i:/ in words like response and ether.

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1. Pronouncing “e” as /ı/

Some common places where, in many varieties of English, “e” is usually pronounced the same as the “i” in ship are (a) word-final -es and -ed that are syllables by themselves, e.g. reaches, judges, houses, sorted and eroded (see 243. Pronunciation Secrets, #2); (b) -est in superlative adjectives, e.g. quickest, hardest; and (c) the first syllable of words like response and security. I wish to say more about this last.

Two conditions must be met for pronouncing “e” as /ı/ in the first syllable of a multi-syllable word. Firstly, the syllable must be unstressed, i.e. not the most strongly pronounced syllable in the word (see 125. Stress and Emphasis). If the syllable is stressed, “e” is generally pronounced /e/ or /i:/. Secondly, the “e” must not accompany a pronunciation-changing letter like “a” or “r” (as in per-form, where the pronunciation is /ə/).

Here are some examples of words with an unstressed first “e” needing to be pronounced /ı/. Most are of Latin origin with first syllables derived from Latin prepositions (see 45. Latin Clues to English Spelling).

be-neath, be-side, de-ceive, de-fer, de-spise, de-spite, de-tect, de-velop, e-ject, e-lated, me-ander, pre-clude, pre-tend, re-ceive, re-main, re-spond, re-view, se-cure, se-duce, se-lect

Unfortunately, there are a few exceptions too, usually in longer words such as derivation, pre-pos-i-tion and de-mo-li-tion, all of which have an unstressed first “e” pronounced /e/.

When the unstressed letter “e” forms a syllable by itself at the start of a word, the /ı/ pronunciation is practically universal. Examples are e-galitarian, e-ject, e-laborate, e-lated, e-numerate, e-radicate, e-special, e-ternal, e-valuate, e-voke and e-volve. Examples of words where unstressed “e” starts a longer first syllable are en-act, en-hance, en-thusiastic, ex-amine and ex-ample. In words like this, the “e” can usually be pronounced either /e/ or /ı/.

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2. Pronouncing “e” as /i:/

The longer /i:/ sound is usually spelt “ee”, “ea” or “ie/ei” (e.g. teeth, treat, piece). Spellings with “e” alone tend to be in fairly well-defined places, especially the end of a stressed first syllable. Examples are de-cent, de-mon, de-tail (British Eng), de-tour (British Eng), de-viate, e-dict, e-mail, e-qual, e-ra, e-ther, e-vil, fe-male, fre-quent, ge-nius, pre-paid, pre-view, re-alise, re-bate, re-name, re-sit, sce-nic, ste-reo, the-sis.

In a few cases, a stressed first syllable needing to be pronounced /i:/ can also be unstressed and pronounced /ı/ to make a different word. Spellings which allow this are examples of “homographs” (see 6. Homonyms and Homographs). Examples are de-fect, re-call, re-ject, re-mit and re-search.

Unfortunately, there are also many words where “e” at the end of a stressed first syllable is pronounced /e/ instead of /i:/, such as be-vy, de-legate, de-licate, de-luge, de-monstrate, de-nier, de-pot, de-vil, e-very, he-resy, le-vy, ne-cessary, rhe-toric and sphe-rical. Some words like this can again be given a different meaning by moving the stress and changing the first vowel sound to /ı/ as a result. Examples are de-sert (= “place with few plants” changing to “abandon”), pre-sent, re-cord and re-fuse.

A notable kind of unstressed first syllable with /i:/ is de- meaning “remove” (see 146. Some Important Prefix Types). Examples are debrief, decommission, decompose, defuse (see 236. Tricky Word Contrasts 9, #4), depopulate deregulate and devalue. Note also theoretical. Perhaps the reason why the- has /i:/ despite being unstressed is that it is derived from a noun (theory) where it is stressed; perhaps its origin as a Greek word with a long “e” is a factor.

One situation where “e” in a later stressed syllable is likely to be pronounced /i:/ is before the letter “r”. Examples are arterial, criterion. experience, inferior, interference, managerial, mysterious and superior. Note also strategic.

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NORMAL PRONUNCIATIONS OF “i”

The letter “i” is usually pronounced either /ı/ as in pill or /aı/ as in pile. Only in a few words, often borrowed from other languages, is it pronounced /i:/ (e.g. bidet, chic, ski). There are a number of ways of deciding whether “i” should be pronounced /ı/ or /aı/, but they are not all completely reliable. Readers may find the following useful.

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3. When to pronounce “i” as /ı/

A. When “i” is the last pronounced vowel of a word, and has only consonant letters after it. Examples are mix, drip, milk, thick, shrink, begin, vermin, insulin.

B. When “i” is followed by a double consonant (except “-rr”) or “-ck”, e.g. filling (not the same as filing!), pinned (cp pined), picks (not the same as peeks!), dinner, mission, beginning, hilly. One exception to this rule is frisson, a recent borrowing from French and hence still pronounced in the French way with /i:/ (see 135. French Influences on English Vocabulary); another is dis-sect, pronounced /daı-/.

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4. When to say /aı/

A. When “i” precedes “e” at the end of a one-syllable word, with or without a final “-s”: pie, lie, die, tie, flies, fries, plies, shies, skies, spies, tries.

B. When “i” precedes a single consonant and “e” at the end of a word, e.g. fine, mile, spice, expire, incline, invite, facile, finite (but not definite or infinite), expedite, erudite, supervise, dynamite. Important exceptions are opposite, requisite, urine, doctrine, imagine, intestine, clandestine and determine, which all have /ı/ (though derivatives ending in -nal, such as doctrinal, have /aı/).

C. When “i” is followed by “gh”: nigh, high, sigh, thigh, alight, blight, bright, fight, flight, fright, light, might, night, plight, right, sight, slight, tight.

D. When “i” is followed by a consonant and “y” at the end of a two-syllable word, e.g. briny, stripy, tiny, spiny, spiky, slimy, icy, ivy, wily (but not lily).

E. When “i” is in one of the following prefixes of Latin or Greek origin: tri-, bi-, micro-, bio- and dia- (for more about Latin and Greek, see 45. Latin Clues to English Spelling and 90. The Greek Impact on English Vocabulary. See also 146. Some Important Prefix Types). Example words are triangle, triumph, tripartite, tricycle, triennial, trial, tribunal (but not tribune or tribute); biped, bicycle, biennial, bisexual, binomial; microscope, microbe, microeconomic; biopic, biography, biology; diarrhoea, diagonal, dialogue, dial, diaspora, diaphragm, diabetes, diagnostic, diagram, diary and diet. Note that multi- ends with /aı/ in American English and /ı/ in British English.

F. When “i” is the entire first syllable of a multi-syllable word: i-bex, i-con, i-cy, i-dea, i-dentify, i-dentity, i-dle, i-dol, i-on, i-rate, i-ron, i-sle, i-vory, i-vy (but not i-magine and i-rascible).

G. When “i” ends a stressed first syllable and has a consonant before it: bi-son, bi-ble, bri-dal, bri-dle, cli-mate, di-et, fi-nance, fi-bre, fi-ery, fi-nite, gi-ant, hi-fi, li-able, mi-graine, mi-nor, mi-nus, pri-mary, qui-et, si-lo, sti-fle, sti-pend, stri-ker, ti-ny, ti-tle, vi-a, vi-able, vi-tal (but not li-quid, li-quor, li-quorice, li-gature, li-tigate, vi-gour, bi-shop, bi-det).

H. When “i” precedes -nd or -ld at the end of a short word: kind, bind, (be)hind, find, (re)mind, blind, rind, mild, child, wild, wind (= make many turns) (but not wind = “blowing air” and rescind).

I. When “di” is the first of two syllables: di-et, di-gest, di-gress, di-late, di-rect, di-verge, di-verse, di-vert, di-vulge (but not di-git, di-vide, di-vine).

J. When “i” is in a word of similar spelling and meaning to one that follows another /aı/ rule, e.g. financial, climatic, bridal, tidal, arrival, revival, survivor (but not criminal, definition, inclination, unity, wilderness, wisdom – see 41. Unexpected Vowels in Derived Words).

Finally, it is worth noting the following /ai/ words, which seem to follow no rule, or to break a rule: pint (not the same as mint, hint, lint, etc.), pi (not like ski), criterion, environment, migrate, minute (=“very small”), dissect, and climb (cp. limb). Readers who know of any others are welcome to mention them via the comment facility below.

41. Unexpected Vowels in Derived Words

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Words of similar spelling but different grammatical class mostly have the same vowel sound(s) and letter(s), but there are numerous exceptions

THE OCCURRENCE OF UNEXPECTED VOWELS IN DERIVED ENGLISH WORDS

Some years ago, I was privileged to teach English in South Sudan. It was common to hear the students from the area refer to themselves as “Southerners” (North and South Sudan at the time being a single huge country). However, the way they pronounced this word differed from what I as an Englishman expected it to be.

In my way of speaking, words derived from south (southern, southerner, southerly – see 151. Ways of Using Compass Words) are pronounced with a different first vowel sound: not like that of mouth, but rather /ʌ/, as at the start of suffer (this illogical pronunciation is one of those listed in my earlier pronunciation post, 29. Illogical Vowel Spellings). The people of South Sudan, however, generally kept the vowel unchanged.

Like many departures from Standard English, the South Sudanese pronunciation seems more logical, since it follows the more normal English practice of not changing vowels in derived words. Any number of examples of unchanged vowel use can be found, such as the following (the syllables in question being underlined):

remove/removal

lead/leader

hate/hateful

rough/roughen

suicide/suicidal

north/northern

reverse/reversal

Ever since that time in the Sudan, I have wondered how often it happens that a vowel in an English word is pronounced and/or spelt differently from the corresponding vowel in another word in the same word family. Here I present the differences of spelling and/or pronunciation that I have so far managed to observe. Where the difference is a noun-verb one, there is sometimes more about it in this blog in 249. Action Noun Endings.

Note that I am talking about changes of both pronunciation and spelling. Sometimes a vowel is spelt the same in two related words but pronounced differently, as in south and southerner. On other occasions, the two spellings are different too, for example in destroy and destruction. In yet more cases, there are different spellings but no pronunciation change, as in proceed and procedure. Spelling mistakes can result from such inconsistencies just as pronunciation ones can (see 188. Causes of Common Spelling Mistakes).

Before the word lists are presented, it is necessary to exclude a type of vowel pronunciation change that most observers would consider to be regular in English.

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PREDICTABLE VOWEL CHANGES IN ENGLISH WORD DERIVATION

It is quite common for a vowel in a root word to be pronounced either /ə/ or /ɪ/ in a word derived from that root. Take the first and last vowels of photograph: /əʊ/ and /ɑ:/. These both change their pronunciation to /ə/ in photography. The reason is the influence of word stress, which is the special strength that one syllable in nearly every English word is pronounced with (see 91. Pronunciation in Reading Aloud and 125. Stress and Emphasis). It is normally the case that a stressed syllable is pronounced with the expected vowel pronunciation, while an unstressed syllable must be said with the vowel changed to /ə/ or /ɪ/. The pho- of PHOtograph is stressed and so the vowel pronunciation matches the letter, but that of phoTOgraphy is unstressed, and so its vowel becomes /ə/. 

It can also happen that /ə/ in a root word will change into the more expected pronunciation of its letter in a word derived from that root. Take the middle vowel in INdustry, which should be pronounced /ə/ because the stress is on in-. In the derived adjective inDUStrial, the stress moves onto -dus-, and the vowel becomes /ʌ/. To take one more example, consider the verb and noun uses of reject. The verb stresses -ject, so that unstressed re- is pronounced /rɪ-/, while the noun stresses re-, changing its pronunciation into /ri:-/ (see 86. The Pronunciation of “e” and “i”).

Most of these normal stress-related vowel changes are not the focus of this post. The exception is where the spelling is changed in the derived word as well as the pronunciation. In the examples just presented, the vowels in question did not change their spelling. An example of changed spelling when a vowel becomes /ə/ is repetition derived from repeat. 

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UNPREDICTABLE VOWEL CHANGES IN ENGLISH WORD DERIVATION

The aim of this section is just to present a list of unpredictable vowel changes in order to assist those learners of English who might benefit from having such lists. The changes are classified according to the vowels involved.

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1. Spelling Changes with a Pronunciation Change to /ə/ or /ɪ/

repeat – repetition

maintain – maintenance

abstain – abstinence  (also sustain)

explain – explanation

proclaim – proclamation (also exclaim, reclaim, acclaim, declaim)

reveal – revelation

expound – exposition

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2. Spelling Changes with no Pronunciation Change

proceed – procedure

float – flotation

fire – fiery

deny – denial

rely – reliant (also defy)

happy – happiness (also ready, heavy, hearty, dizzy, sturdy)

vigour – vigorous (also rigour, rancour, humour, vapour)

honour – honorable (also favour)

speak – speech

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3. Pronunciation Change from /aɪ/ to /ɪ/

This change is not always exceptional (a change to /ɪ/ is quite common when a vowel becomes unstressed), but “regular” changes are worth including because so many are problematic for learners of English:

WITH NO SPELLING CHANGE

crisis –critical

wise – wisdom

crime – criminal

wild – wilderness

title – titular

bible – biblical

emphasise – emphasis (also hypothesise)

incline – inclination (also combine)

revise – revision (also excise, precise)

decide – decision (also deride, elide)

recognise – recognition

ignite – ignition

unite – unit/unity/unify

futile − futility

cycle – cyclic

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WITH A SPELLING CHANGE

describe – description

prophesise – prophecy

summarise – summary (also harmonise)

imply – implication (also multiply)

unify – unification (also magnify, clarify, purify and most other –fy verbs)

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4. Pronunciation Change to /ʌ/

WITH NO SPELLING CHANGE

south – southern(er)/southerly

occur – occurrence (also recur, concur)

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WITH A SPELLING CHANGE

abound – abundance

compel – compulsion (also expel, propel, repel)

impel – impulse

pronounce – pronunciation (also announce, denounce, enounce)

destroy – destruction

introduce – introduction (also deduce, reduce, induce, seduce, produce)

assume – assumption (also presume, resume, consume)

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5. Pronunciation Change to /e/

WITH NO SPELLING CHANGE

heal – health (also steal)

breathe – breath

clean – cleanliness

diabetes – diabetic

mean – meant

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WITH A SPELLING CHANGE

retain – retention (also detain, abstain)

example – exemplify

sale – sell

long – length (also strong)

broad – breadth

cease – cessation

feast – festive

intercede – intercession (also recede, concede, accede)

proceed – procession

exceed – excess(ive) (also succeed)

receive – reception (also deceive, conceive, perceive)

redeem – redemption

seem – semblance

feel – felt

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6. Other Changes

doctrine – doctrinal (/ɪ/ to /aɪ/– also urine, intestine)

adjective – adjectival (/ɪ/ to /aɪ/)

satisfy – satisfaction (/aɪ/ to /æ/ – also putrefy)

clear – clarify (/ɪə/ to /æ/)

compare – comparison (/eə/ to /æ/)

mania − manic (/eɪ/ to /æ/)

nation − national (/eɪ/ to /æ/)

feed – food (/i:/ to /u:/ (also teethe)

diminish – diminution (/ɪ/ to /ju:/)

suspect – suspicion (/e/ to /ɪ/)

appropriate (adj) – appropriate (verb) (/ə/ to /eɪ/, both unstressed – also approximate)

estimate (noun) – estimate (verb) (/ə/ to /eɪ/, both unstressed)

picture (noun) – pictorial (adj) (/ə/ to /ɔ/)

sell – sale (/e/ to /eɪ/)

choose – choice (/u:/ to /ɔɪ/)

lose – loss (/u:/ to /ɒ/)

heat – hot (/i:/ to /ɒ/)

diagnose – diagnostic (/əʊ/ to /ɒ/)

microscope – microscopic (/əʊ/ to /ɒ/)

episode – episodic (/əʊ/ to /ɒ/)

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I am certain that these lists are incomplete, and I will add to them as and when I can. Meanwhile, readers are also invited to offer suggestions via the comment facility below.

29. Illogical Vowel Spellings

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One can list and categorise the numerous words that have a vowel spelt in an unexpected way

THE UNRELIABILITY OF ENGLISH SPELLING

English spelling is famous for not accurately representing pronunciation. There are some interesting historical reasons for this in a book by the well-known linguist David Crystal − click here for a review by the Guardian newspaper.

Spellings can mislead in various ways. There may be a consonant that is not pronounced (see 155. Silent Consonants), or even an entire syllable (e.g. in comfortable, temperature and parliament). Some consonants, such as -s on verbs and nouns, change their pronunciation according the sound before them (see 243 Pronunciation Secrets, #2). Some vowels, such as the “e”s in present, change their pronunciation but not their spelling according to the way their word is used (see 11. Homonyms and Homographs and 125. Stress and Emphasis). And some spellings have no “main” pronunciation but multiple alternatives with no obvious rule for choosing among them (e.g. “ough” in though, thought and through; or “ch” in chair and choir − see 90. The Greek Impact on English Vocabulary).

Illogical vowel spellings are another major kind of spelling unreliability. They may be defined as vowel letters whose pronunciation in a particular word is different from what it is in most other words. The pronunciation of the letter “a”, for example, is normally expected to be as in cap or cape or carp (or as /Ə/ when unstressed), but in the word village is illogical because it must be pronounced like the letter “i” (/vɪlɪʤ/). Such unexpected pronunciations are likely to cause errors in the same way as unexpected grammar does (see 10. Words with Unexpected Grammar 1).

There are very few easy clues to the pronunciation of illogical vowels. It can occasionally help if you know a language where one originated (see 90. The Greek Impact on English Vocabulary and 135. French Influences on English Vocabulary). Usually the pronunciations just have to be discovered and memorised (see 91. Pronunciation in Reading Aloud). The aim of the present post is to provide a reference list of as many illogical vowel spellings as possible.

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VOWEL LETTERS VERSUS VOWEL SOUNDS

Before looking at the list, however, I want to highlight the important distinction between vowel letters and vowel sounds. Most people, when asked what a vowel is, will list the five main English vowel letters: a, e, i, o and u. If asked what sounds these represent, they will fairly easily recognise that each letter represents at least two different sounds: “short”, as in cap, and “long”, as in cape (the presence or absence of a final “e” making the difference), so that ten English vowel sounds can be quickly named. However, the actual total of English vowel sounds is around 21, more than in many languages.

When there are only five vowel letters to express so many sounds, it is no wonder that English spelling is so tricky. Adding an “e” to the end of words is one of various clever ways that English has of getting around this spelling problem. Other devices are combining two vowel letters together (ea, ei, ie, oi, ou, etc.), and putting a particular consonant after a vowel: “r” as in words like harp and firm, “w” as in raw, and “y” as in pay and boy (see 155. Silent Consonants).

In each of the lists that follow, all of the words have the same vowel sound, but none of them spells this sound in the expected way. The vowel in question is shown at the start of the list by means of both a phonetic symbol and a word with normal spelling. This will hopefully highlight the irregularity of the spellings in the list so that they can be memorised more easily. As already mentioned, the lists are not complete. This means that I would be grateful for any additions that readers can suggest. 

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LIST OF ILLOGICALLY-SPELLED VOWELS

(a) Illogical Spellings of /e/ said as in “bed” 

said (an especial problem!), says, ate, any, head, lead (noun), read (past tense verb), thread, (in)stead, dread, bread, breadth, meadow, measure, jealous, cleanse, weapon, breath, leaven, heaven, heather, leather, feather, weather, realm, meant, bury, lieutenant (= lef-), leopard, jeopardy, Geoffrey, leisure, heifer, friend. 

 

(b) Illogical Spellings of /ı/ said as in “sit” 

I am not counting as illogical the very common use of “e” to spell /ı/ at the start of many words, like prefer, as well as in the -est ending and in some instances of –es and -ed, e.g. rushes and reported (see 86. The Pronunciation of “e” and “i”). The more illogical spellings are:

village (and most words ending –age, e.g. advantage, average, damage, message, passage, village – see 135. French Influences on English Vocabulary), knowledge, women (both vowels), minute (noun), busy, business, captain, forfeit, biscuit, circuit, guilt, guitar, sovereign, challenge, furnace, solace, surface, purchase, determine, urine, doctrine, intestine, discipline, hypocrite, promise, abyss, analytic, pyramid, sieve, anemone, breeches.

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(c) Illogical Spellings of /ʌ/ said as in “cup” 

The letter “o” so frequently has this sound that it is almost an ambiguous vowel rather than an illogical one. Examples are ton, won, son, front, stomach, other, oven, cover, monk, monkey (but not donkey!), money, monetary, month, mother, among, (ac)company (but not companion!), accomplish, accomplice, covenant, come, some, comfort(able), compass, London, onion, worry, wonder(ful), constable, sponge, love, dove, done, does, sloven(ly). Other notable words are southern, flourish, touch, double, trouble, cucumber (not strictly illogical, but confusing because the first “cu-“ is pronounced differently), rough, tough, slough, enough, hiccough, blood, flood.
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(d) Illogical Spellings of /ɒ/ said as in “boss”

because, laural, gone, scone, trough, cough, shoulder, mould, knowledge, yacht, blancmange, exalt, halt, halter, salt(y), what, wad, was, wallet, wand, wander, want, wanton, warrior, wash, watch, warrant, swan, swap, swat, quaff, quality, quantity, qualify, quantify, quandary, quash, quarrel, squander, squash, squat, squalid, fiancé, rendezvous, entrepreneur.

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(e) Illogical Spellings of /eə/ said as in “care” or “hair” 

pear, bear, tear, wear, vary, variable, parents, area, malaria, scarce, their, there, where, heir (silent “h”), mayor, prayer.
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(f) Illogical Spellings of /ɔ:/ said as in “born” or “lawn” or “roar” or “taut”

August, automatic (“au” is not so illogical, but in these words it is often mispronounced to sound like “ow” in now), all (and most other -all words like ball, call, small – but not shall), alter, altar, alternative, almighty, almost, almanac, although, walk, stalk, talk, war, ward, warm, warn, wart, towards, warble, swarm, water, wharf, quart, quarter, four, pour, your, court, mourn, tournament, door, poor, floor, boor, caught, taught, naught(y), haughty, daughter, distraught, ought, thought, fought.

 

(g) Illogical Spellings of /ɑ:/ said as in “harm” 

are, ask, cask, mask, task, clasp, grasp, clerk, heart, can’t, chant, slant, grant, father, lather, rather, example, half, alms, balm(y), calm, palm, qualm, psalm, aunt, laugh(ter), castle, glass, massage, sabotage, garage (American English), mirage, moustache, repertoire, reservoir, memoire, 

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(h) Illogical Spellings of /u:/ said as in “tooth” or “blue” or “blew”

do, to, who(m), shoe, manoeuvre, tomb, womb, move, prove, lose, wound (= injure), lieu , fruit, suit(able), juice, sluice, bruise, cruise.

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(i) Illogical Spellings of /eɪ/ said as in “hate” or “rain” or “may”

alien, ache, they, whey, vein, great, break, steak, eight, weigh, neigh, deign, feign, reign, fete, bidet, cachet, ricochet, ballet, bouquet, chalet, tourniquet, fiance(e), negligee, gauge, bass, plague, vague.

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(j) Illogical Spellings of /i:/ said as in “sees” or “eat” or “these” or “piece”

thesis, bidet, criteria, bacteria, experience, stereo, people, quay, key, simile, police; marine, aubergine, cuisine, magazine, margarine, routine.

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(k) Illogical Spellings of /əʊ/ said as in “boat” or “low” or “hoe” or “go”

loth, sloth, solar, sew, plateau, tableau, mauve, brooch, soul; folk, yolk.

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(l) Illogical Spellings of /ɜ/ said as in “fir” or “fur” or “her”

word, world, worm, worse, worth(y), heard, pearl, earn, learn, rehearse, gourd, journey, scourge, courteous, courtesy.

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(m) Other Illogical Spellings 

(/ju:/ as in due – few – too) beauty, feud, queue;  (/æ/ as in hat) plait;  (/ʊ/ as in book – put) woman, should, could, would, bosom;  (/aɪ/ as in bite – light – my – dye – die) buy, aye, diet, lichen, either, guide, guile, height, island, viscount, indict; (/ɪə/ as in here – pier – fear – beer) idea, weir, weird, query;  (/au/ as in now – foul) bough, plough.