Some words end with an 'e'
and this can affect their
pronunciation.
We're going to look at
two common examples
of this today.
Firstly, an 'e' at the end
of a word can change
the pronunciation
of the vowel before it.
'Bit' is a short /i/ sound
and 'bite' is a long /ai/ sound.
'Mat' is a short /ae/ sound
and 'mate' is a long /ei/ sound.
However, there are many
exceptions to this rule.
'Love', 'come', 'some' and 'have'
all have e's at the end,
but the vowel sound is short.
Here's another rule -
when a word ends with
consonant plus 'l' + 'e',
we add an 'ul' sound to
the word: 'little', 'circle', 'able'.
These are two easy rules for
pronouncing words ending
with a silent 'e'. They should
make things simple for you
when reading new words.