Question
How many silent letters do I have in the word KNOWLEDGE?
- 0
- 1
- 2
Hint:
Silent letters are those letters which must be included in the appropriate spelling of that word, but have no distinct sound in the pronunciation of that word. In short, silent letters are only written but not uttered.
The correct answer is: 2
The correct answer is "2".
When we pronounce the word "knowledge", the speech sounds we get are the opening consonant sound "n" followed by "o", "w", "l", "e", and the concluding consonant sound "g". It is quite obvious that the sounds "k" and "d" have no distinct sound in the pronunciation of the whole word, though they are written in the spelling. Thus, "k" and "d" are the only silent letters and the correct answer is "2".
Silent letters appear in words but are not spoken and cannot be associated with any particular sound a word makes. The two main categories of silent letters are auxiliary and dummy.
Silent auxiliary letters combine with other letters to create a particular sound. Exocentric and endocentric pairings are among them. Exocentric combinations produce a noise unrelated to either of the silent letter pair's two letters. This can be heard when the sound 'ph' creates the letter 'f.' It's crucial to be aware of these members of the silent letter family, even though they aren't always thought of as true silent letters.
Contrarily, endocentric combinations result in a sound that resembles one of the letters in a pair.