Contents
Syllable
A syllable is one or more letters representing a unit of spoken language consisting of a single uninterrupted sound.
or
A syllable is a part of a word that contains a single vowel sound and that is pronounced as a unit.
or
A syllable is a complete word or a part of word with one vowel sound.
Example : Book, moon, pap/er, dra/ma, ba/na/na, cro/co/dile, po/tat/o, prin/cess, mon/key, chair, cut/ter, lap/top, medi/cine, to/ma/to, gar/den, spec /ta/cles
(a) The vowel heard in a syllable could be from one or more vowel letters.
(b) The number of vowels heard in a word equals the number of syllables in the word .
Example :
night = 1 vowel = 1 syllable word
string = 1 vowel = 1 syllable word
rac/ket = 2 vowel = 2 syllable word
ten/nis = 2 vowel = 2 syllable word
wa/ter = 2 vowel = 2 syllable word
Com/pu/ter = 3 vowel = 3 syllable word
(c) Syllables are referred to as the ‘beats’ of spoken language. English words can have one, two, three or more syllables.
(d) It is not necessarily that every syllable contains a vowel, but it will include a vowel sound when pronounced. The pronunciation of a word determines the number of syllables.
For example: “rhythm,” which has two syllables, does not contain any vowels, but it is said with two vowel sounds.
scratched : It is a one syllable word
Examples of one syllable words
| Tie | lake | dish | ball |
| cake | star | six | queen |
| have | cart | drum | light |
| desk | flame | great | test |
| heart | dumb | huge | kind |
| shock | bridge | whale | whole |
| rack | odd | pain | hope |
| when | train | clown | meat |
| jewel | bird | night | truck |
| spring | nest | gift | glue |
| ice | very | silly | world |
| peach | feet | hand | gold |
| march | grade | spark | clock |
| grow | quick | nose | jump |
| crow | melon | brown | sand |
| seat | prime | stood | faint |
| bank | maize | feel | snail |
| dumb | rough | catch | health |
| long | grand | teak | word |
| leaf | card | mark | shock |
| fish | bone | head | fox |
| slag | break | green | march |
Examples of two syllable words
| paper | perfect | apple | empty |
| country | woman | French | future |
| neighbour | language | England | destroy |
| pumpkin | rabbit | scissor | party |
| global | simple | special | purple |
| tropic | belong | prevent | solid |
| social | dinner | between | lesson |
| window | candy | rocket | monkey |
| glitter | input | process | remind |
| always | prefix | dislike | public |
| better | accept | modern | travel |
| cartoon | fifteen | sudden | muffin |
| distance | hungry | present | village |
| zebra | maintain | careful | magnet |
| machine | toilet | napkin | download |
| humour | thirsty | misuse | subway |
| design | doctor | office | appear |
| happy | English |
Examples of three syllables words
| alphabet | deliver | calculate |
| umbrella | opposite | tropical |
| furniture | lemonade | potato |
| telephone | history | wonderful |
| centipede | rectangle | decorate |
| mystery | acknowledge | behaviour |
| avocado | boundary | mandatory |
| estimate | designate | pollinate |
| vaccinate | irritate | antedate |
| graduate | cultivate | magazine |
| bicycle | energy | photograph |
| obviously | dislocate | negative |
| apartment | piano | dinosaur |
| octopus | boundary | family |
| medicate | gorilla | spaghetti |
| recreate | oranges | hesitate |
| infected | xylophone | emigrate |
| broccoli | banana | hibernate |
| December | character | trampoline |
| radio | butterfly |
Examples of four syllable words
| Insoluble | Cauliflower | accelerate |
| Cinderella | Escalator | Helicopter |
| politician | caterpillar | calculator |
| television | prehistoric | motorcycle |
| directory | overwhelming | alternative |
| intelligence | preposition | aquarium |
| necessary | cemetery | obesity |
| relationship | phenomenon | manufacture |
| curriculum | allocation | capacity |
| remarkable | dedicated | victorious |
| desalinate | undoubtedly | education |
| infinity | temperature | developer |
| communicate | binoculars | apostrophe |
| eternity | pomegranate | ecosystem |
| material | regulation | secretary |
| illuminate | deodorant | geography |
| watermelon | relaxation | amphibian |
| irregular | integration | generation |
| efficiency | termination | originate |
| execution | experiment | significance |
Types of Syllables
There are 7 types of syllables
(1) Closed syllable
A closed syllable has a single vowel and ends with a consonant. The vowel has a short sound. It’s called a closed syllable because the vowel is “closed in” by a consonant. More than one consonant can be used to close in a syllable.
| cat | pet | hat | lap |
| beg | fax | with | chat |
| wed | bun | six | hot |
| pod | tug | pig | mom |
| gum | cut | map | lip |
| rab/bit | bas/ket | at/tic | den/tist |
| ra/dar | dri/ver | fe/ver | shed |
| in/sect | bas/ket | wit/ch | pat/ch |
| buzz | twin | scrat/ch | agent |
| press | crop | lady | ra/dio |
| mash | rush | cup | sip |
| re/cycle | fuel | grass | flip |
| jac/ket | nap/kin |
(2) Open syllable
An open syllable ends with a vowel sound that is spelled with a single vowel letter meaning there is no consonant after it.
| o/pen | hu/man | e/na/ble | fi/ber |
| ca/ter | fe/ver/rish | ra/di/o | ar/gu/ment |
| e/go | bo/nus | po/lio | be/gan |
| ba/by | pa/per | mu/sic | me |
| fro/zen | to/ken | ply | why |
| ra/zor | pro/tect | to/ma/to | io/di/ne |
| bing/o | ro/bo/t | lo/ca/te | u/nit |
| sh/e | h/i | ze/ro | co/de |
| pro/vide | re/quire | a/live | e/ven |
| yo/ga | ba/con | stu/dent | he/ro |
| me/nu | du/ty | a/pron | re/lax |
| ze/bra | ti/ger | g/o | re/mind |
| ha/ppen | w/e |
(3) Magic “E” syllable or Vowel-Consonant-e (VCe) syllables
It is a long vowels spelled with a single letter, followed by a single consonant, and a silent e.When the letter ‘e’ is at the end of a word, it’s usually silent and ‘tells’ the other vowel or vowels in the word to pronounce themselves.
| made | kite | bone | cake |
| wake | whale | while | rude |
| globe | slide | cube | bite |
| snake | rope | amaze | space |
| debate | decline | complete | home |
| flute | mule | vote | stove |
| same | theme | prize | bride |
| save | time | state | lake |
| explode | pancake | joke | hose |
| olive | wildlife | shelves | dime |
| advice | hare | fine | edge |
| mute | choke | pole | reptile |
| dictate | wave |
(4) Vowel teams syllable
A vowel team syllable has two vowels next to each other that together say a new sound.
Ai, Ay, Ee, Oa, Oe, Oi, Oy, Oo, Ou, Ow makes one sound.
| boat | rain | play | each |
| meat | steak | pie | loud |
| touch | moon | book | throat |
| spoil | awful | bread | steak |
| reindeer | cartoon | foolish | enormous |
| poison | destroy | piece | mountain |
| Bouquet | flower | moisture | sparrow |
| charcoal | seesaw | explain | window |
| rescue | redeem | season | pillow |
| account | recoil | laundry | floating |
| tree | soap | coin | cookies |
| famous | powder | elbow | around |
| shadow | suitcase |
(5) R-controlled syllable
An r-controlled syllable has a syllable followed by a single letter “r.” The sound is controlled by the “r.”In an R-Controlled Syllable, the vowel is neither long nor short.
The er, ir, and ur all make the same sound but ar and or are a little different, as they have more than one sound.
| car | bird | cart | farmer |
| star | born | sister | fork |
| storm | surf | word | calendar |
| spider | paper | person | herd |
| furniture | confirm | morning | alert |
| turtle | burn | shore | dirty |
| curse | father | ladder | perfume |
| feather | thorn | figure | nerve |
| varnish | orbit | disturb | virtual |
| caterpillar | verb | purpose | carnival |
| market | expert | cord | shark |
| before | swirl | fearful | serve |
| hard | garment |
(6) Diphthong syllable
A syllable containing two vowels in which a new vowel sound is formed by combination of both vowel sounds.The sound begins as one vowel sound and moves towards another.
The most common diphthongs in the English language are the letter combination such as aw, au, ew, oi, oy, oo, ou, ow .
| blue | noise | brown | found |
| boil | flower | spoil | joy |
| cloud | coin | soil | enjoy |
| awful | applause | eight | look |
| food | review | school | argue |
| pout | nephew | lawn | sewage |
| owl | clown | about | town |
| annoy | royal | interview | employ |
| straw | blouse | frown | trouser |
| author | renew | draw | crawl |
| loud | crawl | few | house |
| noodle | yawn | pouch | narrow |
| cashew | should |
(7) Consonant LE syllable
A consonant- le syllable is a final syllable with one consonant followed by l and silent e. It always occurs at the end of the word.
The silent e at the end of the syllable is the only vowel. Only the consonant and the l are pronounced.
| tur/tle | twin/kle | hum/ble | can/dle |
| cas/tle | cir/cle | un/cle | ma/ple |
| tenta/cle | pic/kle | sam/ple | mar/ble |
| mira/cle | ri/fle | whis/tle | nee/dle |
| exam/ple | ena/ble | jun/gle | ta/ble |
| ap/ple | ti/tle | puz/zle | crocod/ile |
| scrab/ble | bog/gle | tem/ple | obsta/cle |
| bat/tle | sim/ple | ea/gle | brit/tle |
| pur/ple | sta/ple | grum/ble | tin/kle |
| ca/ble | an/gel | crip/ple | mid/dle |
| an/gle | bub/ble | sin/gle | Bi/ble |
| driz/zle | man/tle | arti/cle | peo/ple |
| buc/kle | cy/cle |