We sometimes use silent letters in the English language to show long vowels or hard consonants. Silent letters show the long vowels in rid/ride; the silent letters show the hard consonants in gest/guest. Silent letters are sometimes used when connecting root words with prefixes and suffixes.
Taking the time to study English silent letters will help any student in the long run. They can cause confusion amongst learners of the language, but with persistence and constant practice, silent letters should be a breeze. Here are some examples of silent letters in use: A - artistically, logically, musically, romantically, stoically B - climb, comb, crumb, debt, doubt, numb, plumb, subtle, thumb, tomb, C - acquire, acquit, blackguard, czar, muscle, scissors, victual, lock, except, indict, muscle D - handkerchief, wednesday, handsome, badge, edge, hedge E - When added to the end of a word, it changes the pronunciation of the word, but is in itself, silent.:morgue, tie, giraffe, toe, queue F – halfpenny G - align, alight, champagne, diaphragm, gnash, gnaw, high, light,reign, though, foreign, sign, thought, gnome, through H - choir, exhaust, ghost, heir, hour, khaki, thyme, where, technology, whine, thought, honest, honor, cheetah, rhyme, exhibition, through, rhetoric I – business,bruise K - blackguard, knead, knell, knickers, knife, knight, knock, knot, know, knitting , knee, knight, knuckle L - calf, calm, chalk, folk, half, psalm, salmon, talk, yolk, salmon, would, palm, almond,salmon, walk, half M – mnemonic N - autumn, chimney, column, condemn, damn, hymn, solemn O - colonel – opossum P - corps, coup, pneumonia, pseudo, psychology, ptomaine, receipt R - butter, finger, garden, here, myrrh S - aisle, apropos, bourgeois, debris, fracas, island, isle, viscount T - asthma, ballet, castle, listen, rapport, ricochet, soften, thistle , hustle, whistle, often, U - catalogue, colleague, dialogue, guess, guest, guide, guilt, guitar, tongue,morgue, source, shoulder, build, queue, W - answer, sword, two, whole, whore, wrist, writ, write, wrap, , wrong, who, sword,why ,when, which ,what ,whether ,ghost ,white ,while , From this list we can say that : 1. Silent B B is not pronounced when following M at the end of a word. , for example: Climb, crumb, dumb, comb, 2. Silent C C is not pronounced in the ending "scle", for example: muscle 3. Silent E E is not pronounced at the end of words and usually makes the vowel long. Hope, drive, gave, write, site 4. Silent G G is not often not pronounced when followed by an N: Champagne, foreign, sign, feign 5. Silent GH 115