Six reasons for a silent e

Six reasons for a silent “e”: tum-ble …

I realised that I had been so excited to share the video of my 12-year-old grandson tumbling last week, that I forgot to include it in context so that it would be useful to help children with reading and spelling. The whole point of the video was to give it as an “ex­­-am-ple” of one of the reasons for a silent “e” – in words that end with a consonant-le. In the Gilead Success with Phonics program, there are two links from this page to give parents and teachers more information.

Parents and teachers:

• If the first syllable ends with a single vowel, it usually says its name, e.g. ta-ble, bu-gle. (For longer words, if the syllable before the consonant-le is stressed and ends with a single vowel, it usually says its name, e.g. in en-a-ble; but in syl-la-ble the “a” has the indistinct “uh”, sound known as “schwa”, because “syl” is stressed.)
• If there is one vowel and the syllable ends with a consonant, the vowel usually says its short sound, e.g. rat-tle, jug-gle, tum-ble.

Silent “e”:

• The most common reason for a silent “e” is to make a vowel say its name. (Level 5)

Other reasons for a silent “e” are:

• To make or keep a soft “c” or “g”: notice/noticeable, encouragement … (Level 8)
• English words cannot end in “v”: love, have, give … or “u”: glue, argue … (Level 9)
• Every syllable must have a vowel: ap-ple, ta-ble … (Level 9)
• To stick an “s” on (if you cannot take the “s” off and leave a whole word): cheese, nurse, horse, house … e.g. “chee” is not a whole word. (Level 9)         (Occasionally, it is a real word without the “e”. Adding the “e” prevents confusion, e.g. tea + s => teas, but “tease” is quite different.)
• No reason ?#?!? : are, medicine … (Level 9)

I’m sure we could all think of more reasons for a silent “e”, or express some of these in a more technical way, but I hope your children find these helpful – “keep it simple and memorable”. These rules are collected here for your reference to help you answer your children’s questions.

Click on the bottom right hand corner to see the video full screen. If you have trouble seeing the video, try  reasons for a silent e

Video adapted from The PARKOUR TWELVIE by Jiemba Sands https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dpsX9AYxO8c. Used with permission.