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Silent E makes the vowel say its name
hop → hope, kit → kite, cub → cube.
Grades 1-4
The rule
A silent e on the end of a word reaches back over one consonant and makes the vowel before it say its own name (its long sound).
How it works
| hop → hope | short o becomes long o |
| kit → kite | short i becomes long i |
| cub → cube | short u becomes long u |
| tap → tape | short a becomes long a |
| them → theme | short e becomes long e |
Watch out for
- Silent e has other jobs too: it keeps English words from ending in v or u (have, give, true), and it softens c and g (chance, large).
- Some words keep a silent e for none of these reasons — come, done, love, some. These are best learned as whole words.