How to figure out syllables

What is a syllable? | TheSchoolRun

Syllables explained for parents, including details of how primary-school children are taught to identify syllables to help them with spelling and reading and understanding poetry.

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What is a syllable?

A syllable is a single, unbroken sound of a spoken (or written) word. Syllables usually contain a vowel and accompanying consonants. Sometimes syllables are referred to as the ‘beats’ of spoken language.

Syllables differ from phonemes in that a phoneme is the smallest unit of sound; the number of syllables in a word is unrelated to the number of phonemes it contains. For example: /b/, /k/, /t/, /ch/, /sh/, /ee/, /ai/, /igh/, /ear/ are all phonemes. The word ‘chat’ is made up of three phonemes (/ch/ /a/ /t/). The word ‘light’ is made up of three phonemes (/l/ /igh/ /t/).  However, both the words ‘chat’ and ‘light’ have only one syllable each.

The number of times you hear a vowel (a, e, i , o, u) in a word is equal to the number of syllables a word has. A good way to identify syllables is to think about whether you need to change your mouth shape to say the next bit of the word / the new syllable.

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Learning about syllables in primary school

Learning about syllables is part of learning how to decode and spell words. It helps children understand the conventions of English spelling, including when to double letters and how to pronounce the vowels in words they might not have seen before.

Teachers will often get children to clap out the syllables of a word, to help them to understand the concept. (A good game to introduce syllables is to ask each child to stand up and say their name, while clapping out the syllables. )

For example:
 

• Cat   has one syllable (words of one syllable are monosyllabic)
• Water   has two syllables (wa / ter)
• Computer   has three syllables (com / pu / ter)
• Category   has four syllables (cat / e / gor / y)

Syllables in KS1 English

Children in Key Stage 1 will be expected to read words of two syllables. They may be shown how to split the words up into syllables, in order to help them sound them out. For example: if they are shown the word ‘thunder’ and get stuck, a teach may cover the second half of the word (‘der’) and ask them to just sound out the first syllable. Once they have managed this, they uncover the rest of the word and ask them to sound this out.

Children in Key Stage 1 will also learn to spell words with two syllables, at which point they will be encouraged to separate the two syllables themselves, in order to learn the spelling of the whole word.

Syllables in KS2 English

During Key Stage 2, children will progress to learning the spellings of words containing four syllables (or possibly more). They also learn about the use of syllables in poetry.

Children may learn about syllables through writing haikus. A haiku is a Japanese poem with three lines, the first containing 5 syllables, the second containing 7 syllables and the third containing 5 syllables.

This is a haiku about a frog:

Wet amphibian,
Gulps, blinks and flicks out his tongue
To snatch a black fly.

Writing haikus encourages children to think about syllables, but also to think very carefully about their word choices – it may be that one word has too many syllables and does not fit, so they have to think of a new, similar word that fits the given criteria.

Another poetic form based on syllable number is the limerick (the first, second and fifth lines rhyme and have the same number of syllables, usually eight or nine).

More like this

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• Breaking words into syllables

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• Blending sounds: teachers' tips

• 5 ways to boost your early reader's confidence

• Practise two-syllable words

• Count the syllables in animal names

• Spelling words with three syllables

• Three-syllable words

How to Count Syllables

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How to Count Syllables

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In the English language, spelling and pronunciation have a funny relationship. How we write a word and how we say it often do not agree. There always seem to be exceptions to the rule.

Today our question is related to pronunciation. It comes from our reader Mastaneh:

Question:

How can we recognize the syllables in a word? Would you mind explaining the rules? Thank you. – Mastaneh

Answer:

Hi, Mastaneh!

Firstly, other readers may be wondering why they should learn about syllables. Understanding syllables helps a lot with pronunciation. As we speak, if we miss or add a syllable to a word, people may not be able to understand us.

When we say a word, the sounds we create naturally divide the word into parts. We call these parts “syllables.” For example, the word “machine” has two parts: ma-chine. The word “important” has three parts: im-por-tant.

The number of syllables in a word is decided by its number of vowel sounds. For example, in the word “machine,” there are two vowel sounds: (Ə) and (i).

The English language has up to 20 vowel sounds, so we will not talk about all of them today. But an easy way to identify vowels is that we make them with the letters a, e, i, o, u and sometimes y.

It is important to know that one syllable can have more than one vowel letter. For example, the word “room” has two vowel letters: o and o. But together, they make only one vowel sound: (u:). This explains why “room” has only one syllable. We decide syllables by sound, not spelling.

How to count

Ok, here are two easy methods for counting syllables.

One that I like is the chin method. Here is how to do it: Rest your hand under your chin and say a word slowly. How many times does your chin drop onto your hand? That is the number of syllables.

Another is the clap method. To use it, say the word and clap your hands together each time you hear a vowel sound. For example, take the word "autumn": au-tumn. That’s two vowel sounds, so it’s two syllables even though autumn has three vowel letters: a, u and u.

Now, let’s do something fun. Close your eyes and listen for the number of syllables in the following words. You can use the chin method, the clap method or just listen carefully:

flower

thought

teacher

broadcast

dreamed

vehicle

How many syllables did you get for each word? You can tell us in the comments area.

And that’s Ask a Teacher.

I’m Alice Bryant.

Do you have a question for Ask a Teacher? Write to us in the comments area and be sure to tell us what country you are from.

_______________________________________________________________

spelling – n. the act of forming words from letters

vowel – n. a letter (such as a, e, i, o, u, and sometimes y in English) that makes a specific sound

syllable – n. any one of the parts into which a word is naturally divided when it is pronounced

chin – n. the part of the face below the mouth and above the neck

clap – n. to hit the palms of your hands together usually more than once

Dividing words into syllables - rules, examples, schemes

Dividing words into syllables is performed in accordance with the number of vowels, and also taking into account the peculiarities of the sound composition of words.

This article will focus on the phonetic syllable, how to correctly divide words into syllables. We take into account that the phonetic division into syllables does not always coincide with the spelling of words.

What is a syllable?

In speech, all words of the Russian language consist of minimal sounding units - syllables. Let's define what a phonetic syllable is.

Definition

The phonetic syllable is the smallest unit of speech that consists of a vowel or a vowel with one or more consonants. The syllable is pronounced with one push of exhaled air.

A vowel forms a syllable. A syllable always has only one vowel. It can independently create a phonetic syllable, as well as in combination with one or more consonants. The consonants cluster around a single vowel. In this regard, according to the sound composition, three types of syllables are distinguished:0003

1. The syllable is one vowel sound:

• A-DRES
• and-dollars
O-Strova
• U-Kor
• E-tune

• ONO-TO
• CO-LO-MO
• SO-RO-RO-RO-RO-RO-RO-RO-RO-RO-RO-RO-RO-RO-RO-RO-RO-RO-RO-RO-RO-RO-RO-RO-RO-RO-RO-RO-RO-RO-RO-RO-RO-RO-RO-RO-RO-RO-RO-RO-RO-RO-RO-RO-RO-RO-RO-RO-RO-RO-RO-RO-RO-RO-RO-RO-RO-RO-RO-RO-RO-RO-RO-RO-RAS 3. SLOG Forms several consonants:
  • red
  • stars
  • bargain

  Open and closed syllables

  Syllables are open and closed. In the words of the Russian language, most syllables are open. Open syllables Organize all vowels alone or combined with consonant sound:

  • O-kun
  A-IR
  • BO-LLO
  • ANOTHER-BLAY

  Closed syllables form all consonants at the end of the words:

  • Nail
  • COPS
  • CHO-LUBLE
  • Stoszh

    Unpaired voiced consonants [d'], [l], [l'], [m], [m'], [n], [n'], [p], [p'] can form a closed syllable in any phonetic position: at the beginning, in the middle and at the end of words:

    • zer-ka-lo
    • bol-tic
    • sa-rai-chik
    • sa-ra-fan

    Words are divided into phonetic syllables according to the number of vowels. A word contains as many syllables as it has vowels. One vowel sound surrounded by consonants creates a monosyllabic word that is not divided into syllables:0022 Waltz

  • BROD

  To be divided into syllables, it should have at least two vowels that form two-syllable words:

  • Yu-Zhik
  • pre-MIK
  • sa-lat
  • rabbit

  0023

• Ku-LOL
• Co-ribbon
• Class (-t sounds like [ CD ])

• Rei
• subtract

Let's indicate the order of dividing words into syllables using the following algorithm.

Algorithm for dividing words into syllables

1. read the word;
2. emphasize vowel sounds;
3. count the number of vowels;
4. let's see if the word has double consonants, unpaired voiced consonants, "b" or "b" ;
5. we divide the word after each vowel into syllables, taking into account the indicated features.

Examples

1. nightingale

This word has 4 vowels that form the same number of syllables. A soft dividing sign is written in the middle. We divide the word into four phonetic syllables. We leave a soft sign after the consonant, indicated by the letter "v" :

so-lov-i-ny

In this word, two syllables are open, and the third and fourth syllables close respectively the voiced consonant "v" and the unpaired voiced consonant, indicated by the letter "th" » .

In accordance with this division into syllables, we transfer this word from one line to another in three ways:0003

In this word, we indicate 4 vowel sounds that organize four phonetic syllables:

u-part-e

All syllables are open. The first and last syllable form vowels on their own. The third syllable is a vowel with noisy consonants.

In accordance with this phonetic syllable division, a word cannot be transferred, since one letter, even constituting a syllable, does not remain on the line and is not transferred to the next. Let's attach them to the next and previous syllable and get the correct variant of word transfer by syllables:

participation

How many syllables are in the word dangerous and spruce

How to determine how many syllables are in a word is taught in the first grade. However, if the baby knows how to divide a word into syllables already at preschool age, this is a great advantage. Subsequently, it will be easier for him to quickly learn to read and write correctly. How do you know how many syllables are in a word?

Contents

1. Syllable rules
2. How many syllables are there in the words "dangerous" and "spruce"?
3. More examples
4. How to teach a child to divide words into syllables?

Rules for dividing a word into syllables

The most basic rule for dividing a word into syllables is as follows:

how many vowels in a word, so many syllables.

Here is an example:

• Table - 1 vowel, 1 syllable
• Cat - 2 vowels, 2 syllables, etc.

However, in order to correctly divide a word into syllables, you need to know a few more rules.

Syllables are open and closed. Open ones end in a vowel, and closed ones end in a consonant. When dividing a word into syllables for reading, we form open syllables.

For example:

Ko-shka, ta-bu-ret, pi-ra-mi-da, for-e-grip.

As you may have noticed, the rules for dividing into syllables for reading differ significantly from the rules for hyphenation. In the latter case, it is recommended not to transfer one vowel to another line and not to tear off letters from a prefix, root or suffix. In children's books designed specifically for teaching reading, words are divided into open syllables. One vowel can make up one syllable. Thanks to this rule, it is easier for children to pronounce words in syllables, focusing on vowels. Subsequently, they themselves begin to easily determine how many syllables are in a word, and how to divide.

How many syllables are in the words "dangerous" and "spruce"?

Let's take as an example the division into syllables of the words "dangerous" and "spruce".

In general, the words "dangerous" and "spruce" are quite easy, and it is also not difficult to determine how many syllables they contain.

Dangerous (4 vowels, that means 4 syllables): o-pa-sno-e (letter “s” is assigned to the third syllable, so that according to the rules for dividing words into syllables for reading, we get open syllables).

However, from the point of view of phonetics, the last syllable will not be considered open, since the letter "e" stands for two sounds: "y" and "e". But since we cannot divide the letter “e” into sounds in writing, this syllable is considered open.

The situation is similar with the word “spruce”. According to the phonetic transcription, it has three sounds and three letters: [yel (soft)]. But since there is only one vowel sound, it turns out, that the word "spruce" has one syllable .

More examples

Let's give some more examples to determine how many syllables are in a word. Take more complex words, where it will be more difficult to determine how many syllables.

• Drive up: drive up
• Get in: drive up

In such seemingly complex words, we still focus on the general rule and divide the word into open syllables.

There is only one exception to this rule:

If there is a soft consonant in the middle of the word, then it joins the previous syllable, for example: e.

In other cases, the rule for dividing words into syllables in Russian remains unchanged.