Syllables

Sound it out

Dividing words into syl-la-bles

Below are the rules for dividing a word into syllables to help you read or spell the word. When you are ready, practice with some drills.

Rule 1. Generally, each separate syllable should begin, if possible, with a consonant as in  in-di-vi-si-ble. (So the word indivisible is a five syllable word.)

• If two consonants come together between two vowels, they are usually separated as in com-mit-tee (committee).
• If two vowels, both pronounced, come together, they must be divided as in de-i-ty (deity).
• If two consonants come together to form one sound, they are not separated as in mi-grate (migrate, not mig-rate; keep single effort sounds together).

Rule 2. Two or more consonants forming one elementary sound, are never separated; such as, ch, tch, th, sh, ng, ph, wh, gh silent, or sounding as f, ck: as in

• church-es (churches),
• watch-es (watches),
• wor-thy (worthy),
• fish-es (fishes),
• sing-ing (singing),
• sigh-ing (sighing),
• cough-ing (coughing),
• walk-ing (walking).

Rule 3. The terminations, cean, cian, ceous, cious, cial, tion, tious, tial, geon, gian, geous, sion, are rarely divided, as in

• o-cean (ocean),
• gra-cious (gracious),
• na-tion (nation),
• cour-a-geous (courageous).

Rule 4. Compound words are divided into their simple ones; as in

• rail-road (railroad),
• bee-hive (beehive),
• hope-less (hopeless),
• thank-ful (thankful).

Rule 5. The terminations of words, when they form a syllable, are separated from their roots, as in

• writ-er (writer),
• teach-es (teaches),
• think-ing (thinking),
• cold-er (colder),
• old-est (oldest).

ACCENT
Accent is a forcible stress or effort of voice on a syllable, distinguishing it from others syllables in the same word. The accented syllable is designated by the mark (‘) or in some dictionary, the stressed syllable (syl-la-ble) is printed in bold type.

When a word consists of three or more syllables, sometimes a secondary accent is used, which is less forcible, but clearly distinguishable from the pronunciation of unaccented syllables; literary (lit-er-a-ry).

Dividing words into syllables is best learned by practicing.

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Syllable Drills are derived from

• the Elementary Spelling Book (ESB), Noah Webster L.L.D, Original Copyright, By GEORGE AND CHARLES MERRIAM,1880. Review a copy at the Internet Archive: Digital Library of Free & Borrowable Books.
• Some lesson ideas are derived from "Teaching Adults, A Literary Resource Book", Copyright 2013, New Readers Press.
• Also review An Analytical and Practical Grammar of the English Language, by Bullions, 1853 found at The Internet Archives.