Unit 4. Silent letters ‘p’, ‘d’, ‘f’, ‘c’, ‘ch’, ‘t’. Linguistic commentary on the unit.

1. Silent ‘p’.

Letter ‘p’ is silent in the following combinations:

1. ‘pn-’ at the beginning of words (these are usually words of Greek origin): pneumonia, pneumatic, etc.;

2. ‘ps-’ in words containing pseudo-, psych(o)-, psalm, Psalter, corps;

3. ‘pt’ in some words: Ptolemy, receipt, ptisan;

4. ‘(s)pb’: raspberry, cupboard;

5. in some words which are to be memorized: coup (coup d’etat), sapphire;

6. in all the inflected and derived forms of the words above.

2. Silent ‘d’.

Letter ‘d’ can be (it is fluctuating) silent in a few words between ‘n’ and a consonant: handsome, handkerchief, sandwich, Wednesday, grandchild, grandma, grandpa, grandmother, grandfather, handcuff, handful, handwriting, handshake, landscape, landslide, landlord, landlady, landmark, handbook, sandstone – and in their inflected and derived forms. This kind of pronunciation can be explained from the point of convenience (of pronunciation).

3. Silent ‘f’.

Letter ‘f’ is silent in a few words: halfpenny, halfpence, half-price – and in the inflected and derived forms of these words. In colloquial speech it is often dropped in the preposition ‘of’ in an unstressed position before a consonant: a pint of milk, etc.

4. Silent ‘c’.

Letter ‘c’ is silent in the following combinations:

1. ‘sc’ before the letters ‘e’, ‘i’, ‘y’: scene, science, scissors, scythe, scent, scepter, discern, descend, adolescent, discipline, fascinate, miscellaneous, acquiesce, reminisce, etc.;

2. ‘scl’ (in a few words): muscle, corpuscle;

3. ‘ct’ (in some words): indict, victual, Connecticut;

4. in some names of English counties: Gloucester, Leicester;

5. ‘acqu’ (from Latin prefix ‘ad-’ + ‘qu-’): acquaint, acquire, acquit, acquiesce, etc.;

6. ‘exce’/‘exci’ (from Latin prefix ‘ex-’ + ‘qu-’): excel, excess, except, excerpt, excite, etc.;

7. ‘cz’ in four borrowings from Russian: czar, czarevna, czarina, czarevitch;

8. in inflected and derived forms of them: reminiscent, scenario, scientific, indictment, acquaintance, etc. However, ‘c’ is always pronounced in muscular, sceptic.

5. Silent ‘ch’.

This letter combination is silent in a few words: yacht, fuchsia – and in their inflected and derived words: yachting, etc. However, the derived form of the word fuchsia is usually pronounced with [k] fuchsin(e).

6. Silent ‘t’.

Letter ‘t’ is silent in the following letter combinations:

1. ‘stl’: bristle, castle, nestle, rustle, thistle, whistle, wrestle;

2. ‘st(h)m’: Christmas, asthma;

3. ‘ften’/‘sten’: soften, often, listen, fasten, christen, hasten, moisten;

4. in some words of French origin: ballet, buffet (in the meaning of a refreshment bar), argot, debut, bouquet;

5. in inflected and derived forms of the words above: whistling, wrestler, Newcastle, etc.

NB! However, ‘t’ is pronounced in haste, pistol, Christ, soft, hostel, crystal, etc.

Exercises.

Exercise 1. Write the words with psych(o)- or pseudo- in the same order as their definitions that follow.

1. Human soul or spirit.

2. Name taken by an author instead of his real name.

3. The study and treatment of mental illnesses.

4. Science, study of the mind and its processes.

5. Method of treating mental diseases by tracing them through interviews with the patient’s consciousness.

Exercise 2. Find the words with silent letters ‘p’, ‘d’, ‘f’.

Symptom, psychology, stump, pneumonia, lopsided, Psalter, cupboard, recipe, receipt, complement, glimpse, coupe, coup, couplet, prompt, raspberry, corpse, corps, corpus, concept, complaint, landscape, landslide, landlord, landmark, landlady, handle, handwriting, handshake, handsome, handbook, handkerchief, handful, sandwich, sandstone, Wednesday, grandma, haft, half, half-witted, halfpenny, half price, half pence, calf, draft, leaflet.

Exercise 3. Answer the questions.

1. Do you need a receipt or a recipe to make a cake?

2. Do you need a hansom or handsome for two passengers?

3. Shall I spell coup d’etat or cope d’etat?

4. Is he in the Diplomatic Corps or Corpse?

Exercise 4. Pick out the words with silent ‘c’ and ‘ch’.

Cecil, corpuscle, scholastic, miscellaneous, excuse, cliché, sceptic, indict, Scylla, acquiesce, muscle, muscular, scheme, yacht, excessive, adolescent, victual, scanty, discipline, acquit.

Exercise 5. Supply the words with ‘sc-’ or ‘s-’.

…issors, …ecular, …ecure, …educe, mu…le, obsole…ent, de…ent, …emolina, …ythe, …ent, …ene, …ense, …ientific, di…ern, …ymbol, …enior, corpu…le, …ermon, fa…inate, …equent, …inister, acquie…e, …eptre.

Exercise 6. Fill in the missing words where they exist.

VERB	NOUN	ADJECTIVE	ADVERB
			exceptionally
exceed
	excitement
		excessive
acquire
	acquittal
acquaint

Exercise 7. Choose the correct variant.

1. I invented a headache and retired from the seen/scene.

2. He who stands high is seen/scene from afar.

3. Its cool shadowy interior was fragrant with the sent/scent of the coast.

4. The sent/scent of the apple wood burning reminded him of another time.

5. Only an involuntary twitch of mussel/muscle in his cheek betrayed William’s feelings.

6. There are a lot of mussel/muscle shells on the beach.

Exercise 8. Make up phrases by joining together words from the left column with words from the right column.

to sail	a muscle
to rehearse	an acquaintance
to promote	science
to descend	a yacht
to wrench	them for murder
to indict	the stairs
to strike up	a scene

Exercise 9. Make up phrases by joining together words from the left column with the words from the right column.

Christmas	Apostles
to nestle	in the air
glistening	the growth of plants
to fasten	tree
Christian	dewdrops
to listen	name
castles	the door
the Twelve	the baby
to hasten	to the story
bristly	moustache

Exercise 10. Guess the words with silent ‘t’.

1. Jargon, slang.

2. To make or become slightly wet.

3. One of the short stiff hairs in a brush.

4. Chronic chest disease marked by difficulty of breathing.

5. To settle comfortably and warmly.

6. A counter where food and drink may be bought.

7. To make a gentle light sound.

Exercise 11. Write out the words with silent ‘t’.

Christmas, Christine, Christopher, pastry, pastel, listless, postal, listen, glisten, fasten, haste, hasten, christen, soften, moist, moisten, thistle, bristle, Bristol, pistol, Priestley, whistle, nestle, nestling, wrestle, rustle, rustling, bustle, jostle, apostle, monstrous, ballot, ballet, buffet, restaurant, debut.