Practice English Speaking&Listening with: Rules to pronounce Silent letter words with ‘B’, ‘C’ & ‘D’ – Free English lesson

So I was getting ready for work and I decided to Comb my hair or should I say I decided

to Com my hair. Confusing comb, com? Well let me tell you English is pretty confusing

and there are lot of letters, which are actually the silent letters.

That’s what we are gonna talk about today Stay with me.

Hello and welcome to today’s lesson. My name is Rima

and today’s lesson is extremely interesting, because I have for you certain rules, when

certain letters are silent. I know it can get very confusing in English as to which

alphabet is silent when and it can be a complete nightmare. I am gonna take care of your nightmare

today. I’m gonna talk about rules for when letters, B, C, D are silent in certain words.

So I have listed out the words and the rules over here. Let’s begin with the alphabet,

B. Now when is the alphabet B silent, now there’s a rule and let me explain the rule

to you. “B” is silent at the end, when “M” comes before it. Confused? Don’t

be, so when it’s a combination of M, B in certain words, where M comes before followed

by a B and B is the last alphabet of that word, then that B is silent. I hope the rule

is clear? I’m gonna repeat it for you, when it’s a combination of M, B, where M comes

before B and B is at the end of a word, then B is silent. Now if we have to apply this

rule to these words, how will we say these words? Listen carefully; Limb is not limb,

its limb, because B is silent. Similarly Crumb is not crumb, its crumb, because B is silent.

Then similarly this is not Dumb, it’s dumb, B is silent. Then of course there is Bomb,

which is not bomb. It is bomb. Similarly Thumb is not thumb, it is thumb. So that’s how

the pronunciation goes; now limb means a limb of your body. It could be your hand or leg.

Crumb means a small tiny piece of biscuit or bread, the tiniest little particle, it’s

called a crumb. Dumb is referred to people, is used when you have to refer to people,

who are not very intelligent and I’ll definitely not use that word to describe you. Moving

on bomb is actually an explosive, it’s a weapon used for violence. Something that you

know all of us probably do not support. And the last one is Thumb, stands for this finger.

Yes, that’s right. I hope you’ve got this one rule, got the pronunciations and the meanings

of the word. Let’s move on to another rule, for when B the alphabet B is silent in certain

English words. I have for you three words over here and the rule happens to be that

when it’s a combination of BT in such a way that B comes before T at the end of a

word, then B is silent. Similarly in this word, when B and T come together, where B

is before T and T is at the end of the word, then B is silent. Let’s look at these two

words first, because they actually stand for this rule, so Debt is not debt. Its debt,

Why? Because B happens to be silent. Moving on Doubt is not doubt, its doubt, because

B is silent. Now the meaning of Debt is, when you owe somebody something, especially money.

Doubt is when you don’t trust someone then you doubt that person. But what about this

word, because this word is a slight exception to this rule. Now the combination of BT is

there, but T is not the last alphabet in this word, because the word is spelt as Subtle.

But this rule still applies to this word and this word is not pronounced as Subtle. It

is Subtle because BT are together and B is silent. And the pronunciation of this word

is Subtle, that’s right. Now the meaning of subtle means not overly strong, something

that’s gentle and low-key. That is subtle. So well I really hope that you’ve understood

this rule, when BT is a combination, B comes before a T and T is at the end of the word.

Then B is silent, I’ll go over the pronunciations, one last time. So it’s not Debt, its debt,

Doubt is doubt and Subtle is not subtle, it’s subtle. Now let’s move on to the rules for

when the alphabet C in English word is silent. Now this rule is really simple, when it’s

a combination of SC together, where S comes before C, that’s when C is silent. So if

we have to apply this rule, where SC are together, S is before C and C is silent. Then how will

we pronounce these words? The first word is Muscle, because C is silent., then its Scissors.

Again C is silent. Then is Scenario, where using the pronunciation of the letter S instead

of C. Then there is Miscellaneous, where again C is silent and Fascinate, where again C is

silent. I’m quickly gonna tell you the meanings of these words, so that you’re familiar

with them. Now muscles stands for the muscles that we have in our body and scissors are

the object that you use to cut something, be it paper or cloth. Then Scenario stands

for a certain situation, you know either in your life or workplace or whatever. Then miscellaneous

is a collection of objects that have been collected from various sources. I can give

you the example of my handbag. I can say that a handbag has a collection of miscellaneous

objects. Which means my handbag is full of objects, which have come from different places

and different sources. Basically just lots of random objects. Moving on the next word

Fascinate means, something that catches your eye or catches your interest. I really hope

you’ve understood this rule? The pronunciations for you one more time. Its muscle, scissors,

scenario, miscellaneous, fascinate. Now let’s look at the next rule, for when the alphabet

C happens to be silent in certain words. It’s a very simple rule, let me explain to you.

If it’s a combination of CK or CQ in such a way that C comes before K or C comes before

Q. Then C ends up being silent. It’s as easy as that and I’ve listed out two words

for you. The first one has a combination of CQ. The second one has a combination of CK.

Now in both these cases C is silent. Now if C is silent. How are you gonna say these words?

Very simple, you say Acquaintance, where C is silent and you are using the sound of Q.

And the next word is Acknowledge. Where again C is silent and you’re using the sound of

the letter K. Now the first word Acquaintance means somebody that you know socially, but

not somebody whose your friend. So I could say that so and so is my acquaintance, meaning

I know him or her, but that person is not my friend. So we’re not close. Moving on

the next one Acknowledge means to notice someone’s presence. So if I walk into a room and my

boss acknowledges my presence with a nod that means he’s noticed and approved of my presence.

That’s how easy it is. Pronunciations one last time, pay attention. Its Acquaintance,

where C is silent and its Acknowledge, where again C is silent. So well that was all about

the letters B and C and now I come to the alphabet D. Now the alphabet D is silent in

these words, which makes their pronunciation slightly tricky, but don’t worry I’m gonna

guide you through it. The first one is not Hand-Kerchief, because D is silent. Its handkerchief.

So listen to me one more time, its handkerchief. Moving on the next one, which is one of the

most common mistakes that I’ve heard. The day of the week, it’s not Wed-nesday, because

the D is silent. It’s Wednesday. That’s right that’s how it is. Its Wednesday and

not Wed-nesday. The next one, my favourite, I’m sure you’ll like it too; it’s not

a Sand-wich that you eat. It’s a Sandwich, where the D is silent. And the other day I

was walking on the street and I spotted not a handsome man, but a handsome man. So well

I hope you know the meanings of these words? Handkerchief the small beautiful piece of

cloth that you carry, you know with you probably to wipe your face, your nose. Wednesday the

day of the week, the sandwich the one that you eat made out of bread or whatever else

that you like and handsome, which means someone whose attractive and good looking, mostly

used for men. So the pronunciations one more time, handkerchief, Wednesday, sandwich, handsome.

Moving on to the next rule. Now this is a very simple rule. If it’s a combination

of DG in such a way that G comes after D. Then D is silent. So look at these words,

there’s a DG here, here and here. And because D comes before G. D is silent in all these

cases. So the way you’ll say these words is, it’ll not be Pled-ge, it will be pledge,

because D is silent. It will not be Dod-ge, it will be dodge, because D is silent. It

will not be Grud-ge, it will be grudge, because D is silent. I’m quickly gonna tell you

the meaning of these words. A pledge is a promise or a determination that you make to

something or someone. Dodge is when you kind of dodge a bullet or a situation, as in you

come out of it. You save yourself. And grudge is when you hold some sort of negative feeling

in your heart towards someone. So the pronunciations one more time. Its pledge, dodge, grudge.

Really, really simple and that’s the rule of the combination of DG, when D is silent.

I really hope that you’ve understood and enjoyed learning these rules when letters

B, C, D are silent in certain words. Make sure you keep practicing these words and their

pronunciations and Of course, if you like this lesson, do subscribe to our channel.

It’s time for me Rima to take your leave. I say bye, bye and take care.