Article: A syllable is a unit of pronunciation that includes a single vowel sound and that may or may not include the sounds of surrounding consonants. For example, the word Bahamas has three syllables, each with its own vowel sound: "ba," "ha," and "mas." On the other hand, the word flat only has one vowel sound and therefore only one syllable. Remember to ignore silent vowels in this rule, such as the final -e in late. Even though the word late has two vowels, it only has one vowel sound and therefore one syllable. Keep in mind that two vowels next to one another can sometimes be two separate vowel sounds, as in chaos (with its two syllables "cha-" and "-os"). But sometimes two vowels next to one another can make a single vowel sound, as in leaf, which only has one syllable. Time and experience will allow you to determine whether a double vowel makes two vowel sounds or a single vowel sound. There are no syllables that do not involve a vowel sound in English. When you see two consonants in a row that are surrounded by vowels, divide the doubled consonants in half to create proper syllabication. For example, sil-ly, let-ter, mar-ble, plas-ma, and Eas-ter are all the proper way to divide these words into their component parts. The only exceptions to this rule are consonant digraphs, which are single sounds represented by two consonants. Common consonant digraphs include the ph, sh, th, wh, wr, ck, ng, and ch sounds. These should be treated like a single consonant and should not be divided. For example, rather should be divided into rath-er, not rat-her. This does not work for all words, but it will work more than half of the time. You should therefore use this method first. For example, if you come across words such as ti-ger, sa-bre, or fi-ber, the syllable division comes before the middle consonant. That initial sound will be a longer vowel sound instead of a shorter vowel sound. Sound out the word to see if this syllable division makes sense. This method works for about 45% of words, so you will use it less often than dividing words before the middle consonant. Use this method only when dividing the word before the consonant does not make a recognizable word. For example, when you come across the word "habit," you should first try dividing before the consonant: ha-bit. However, there is no word that sounds like "hay-bit" in English. You should therefore move on to the second method, which will give you hab-it, a common English word. These words will often begin with a shorter vowel sound instead of a longer vowel sound. Other words in this category include cabin (cab-in), panic (pan-ic), and second (sec-ond). Sometimes, there are differences between American and British English in where you divide the word. For example, Americans would usually divide the word "privacy" as "pri-va-cy" (with a long i sound). However, most British speakers would usually divide the word as "priv-a-cy" (with a short i sound). A bound morpheme is a part of a word that is unable to stand alone as a word but that has a self-contained meaning. For example, the English prefix non- implies a negation. The English syllable -er implies a comparison. These morphemes usually stand alone as their own syllables during syllabication. If you memorize common English bound morphemes, you will be better equipped to divide words properly. Common bound morphemes include: un-, non-, pre-, post-, -ing, -ed, -er, -est, and -less. Words that end in a consonant plus the letters -le have special rules governing syllabication. Divide these words just before the consonant-l-e pattern. For example, bubble can be divided bub-ble; maple can be divided ma-ple; and purple can be divided pur-ple. The exception to this rule is when the -le is preceded by the ck digraph. These words are divided before the -le. For example, pickle should be divided into pick-le; buckle should be divided into buck-le; etc. Compound words are words that are built of two separate, individual words that each carry meaning. For example, driveway, wallpaper, and lampshade are all compound words. Be sure that you divide compound words in between their base components: drive-way; wall-paper; and lamp-shade. If a base word in a compound word is composed of multiple syllables, follow the typical rules of syllabication: wall-pa-per. Dictionaries usually hyphenate words according to how they should be hyphenated across lines of text. This is distinct from how words should be divided into spoken syllables. Do not rely solely on dictionaries for syllabication support.
What is a summary of what this article is about?
Recognize that a syllable involves a single vowel sound. Divide doubled consonants in the middle to make syllables. Divide words with single consonants sandwiched between vowels before the consonant. Divide the word after the middle consonant only if dividing before the consonant doesn't sound right. Memorize important English bound morphemes (or units of meaning). Memorize the special rule about -le words. Divide compound words in-between the two base words. Be wary of dictionaries.