When and why the final E is pronounced
The pronunciation of words that end in E is confusing for many people that are learning English. It would seem that there is no logic and it is a matter of memorization. But happily, that is not true. There are several rules that can help you understand the correct pronunciation of these words.
The E changes the sound of the vowels that come before it.
For example:
Cake compare the sound of the a to the one in carrot
Game, compare with Sam
Care, compare with car
Pin, compare with pin
Other examples of this are the following:
Bake, cage, note, plane, grape, huge
Words in the English language do not end in either V or U
For example:
love, glove, give, improve, arrive, cave, curve, dove, drive
avenue, blue, continue, hue, rescue, value
It changes the sound of a C to S and the sound of a G to a J
Examples:
Ice, mice, nice, dance, juice, peace, place, since, twice Compare with sit, dish, pin
Age, cage, huge, page, image, large, usage, change, voyage. Compare with abstract, cab, hug, chance
In the English language, every syllable must have at least one vowel.
Examples:
double, fable, humble, noble, stable, tremble.
article, bicycle, circle, miracle, particle, vehicle
cradle, fiddle, handle, middle, needle, noodle, riddle
angle, eagle, google, giggle, single, struggle, triangle
ankle, buckle, knuckle, tickle, twinkle, wrinkle
ample, apple, couple, example, people, purple
battle, bottle, castle, settle, whistle
dazzle, drizzle, puzzle
Keeps singular words that end in S from becoming a plural
For example
house, mouse, spouse, horse, promise, cause
To change the vowel sound before a TH
Examples:
Bathe, clothe, breathe, teeth
To distinguish homophones:
For example
browse, tease, lapse, ore
To make words look bigger:
Examples:
Are, awe, dye, bye
For reasons unknown even to the illuminated:
For example:
come, some, done, were
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