Advanced Consonants/ Silent Letters

Use "dge" to spell the /j/ sound immediately after a short vowel sound in a word. Examples: badge, ledge, bridge, dodge, and judge.

Some consonants are silent when paired with another consonant, such as kn (k is silent), wr (w is silent), and mb (b is silent).

The letter g is hard or soft depending on the vowel that comes after it. We usually hear a hard g (the /g/ sound in garden) when g is followed by a, o, or u. We usually hear a soft g (the /j/ sound in giraffe) when g is followed by i, e, or y.

The rules are the same for hard/soft g and hard/soft c.

We usually hear a hard c (the /k/ sound in cup) when c is followed by a, o, or u. We usually hear a soft c (the /s/ sound in city) when c is followed by i, e, or y.

The letter q is (almost) always followed by u. These two letters together make the /kw/ sound, as in quack, question, and quarter.