S YLLABLES AND S YLLABIC B REAK -U P ‘Cause breaking up is hard to do…

What What is a syllable? How How does one count syllables in a word? Why Why on earth do we need to know this?

W HAT IS A SYLLABLE ?

some call syllables the number of “beats” in a word car-rot has 2 “beats” and thus 2 syllables made up of vowel and consonant sounds (phonemes) must contain a non-silent vowel What do all of these words have in common? style fifths plate plain freight eye oil pale pail light trail traipse

H OW DOES ONE COUNT THE SYLLABLES IN A WORD ? 1.Count the number of vowels in the word. 2.Subtract 1 for any silent vowels. 3.Subtract 1 for any diphthongs (oi, ai, ea, ou, etc.) mouse mouse 1 2 mouse 1

H OW DOES ONE COUNT THE SYLLABLES IN A WORD ? airtight airtight 1 2 style 1 2 style 1 humble 1 2 idea create create 1 2

H OW DOES ONE BREAK - UP S YLLABLES ? air-tight 1 2 style 1 hum-ble 1 2 i-de-a cre-ate 1 2

H OW DOES ONE BREAK - UP S YLLABLES ? Long vowels (a, e, i, o, u) break after the vowel ro-bothu-manre-write I-podba-sic Short vowels require a consonant at the end of the syllable cab-inmin-ute vow-el (mi-nute) Break between 2 middle consonants rab-bitcac-tushum-ble (style) Watch out for r’s! Sometimes they effect the vowel dec-o-ratein-ter-est-ingspar-kle ru-raltur-nipcar-tridge

W HY DO WE NEED TO KNOW THIS ?