Syllables

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What is a syllable?

A syllable is the sound of a vowel (a, e, i, o, u) that's created when pronouncing a word.

The number of times that you hear the sound of a vowel (a, e, i, o, u) in a word is equal to the number of syllables the word has.

For Example:

•cake - has 1 syllable
•eat - has 1 syllable
•cheese - has 1 syllable
•eating - has 2 syllables (eat - ing)
•chicken - has 2 syllables (chick - en)
•worrying - has 3 syllables (wor - ry - ing)

Syllables Rules:

•A syllable is the sound of a vowel (a, e, i, o, u) that's created when pronouncing a word.

•The number of times that you hear the sound of a vowel (a, e, i, o, u) in a word is equal to the number of syllables the word has.

How To Find Syllables:

•Count the number of vowels (a, e, i, o, u, and sometimes y) in the word.

•Subtract any silent vowels (like the silent 'e' at the end of a word).

•Subtract 1 vowel from every diphthong.

A diphthong is when two volwels make only 1 sound (oi, oy, ou, ow, au, aw, oo, ...).

•The number you are left with should be the number of vowels in the word.

How To Divide A Word Into Syllables:

•Divide off any compound words, prefixes, suffixes, and root words that have vowels.

sports/car, house/boat, un/happy, pre/paid, re/write, farm/er, hope/less

•Divide between two middle consonants

hap/pens, bas/ket, let/ter, sup/per, din/ner
Never split up consonant digraphs as they really represent only one sound ("th", "sh", "ph", "th", "ch", and "wh").

•Usually divide before a single consonant.

o/pen, i/tem, e/vil, re/port.
The only exceptions are those times when the first syllable has an obvious short sound, as in "cab/in".

•Divide before an "-le" syllable.

a/ble, fum/ble, rub/ble, mum/ble
The only exceptions are "ckle" words like "tick/le".

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