Magic e

**Magic *e*** is a short version of the sentence "silent final *e* makes the previous vowel say its name". This means that in *face* the *a* sounds A; in *delete* the middle *e* sounds E; in *price* the *i* sounds I; in *home* the *o* sounds O; in *cute* the *u* sounds U.

### Summary

**IPA consonants**

English vowel letters AEIOU can be classified as having "a long sound" and "a short sound". See So-called “short” and “long” vowels. They also have more sounds, but the convention is as follows.

In the first line each vowel has its "normal" sound, a short monophthong. In the second line each vowel has the same sound as the name of the letter in the English alphabet. The sounds of the second line are longer than the ones of the first line.

"Magic e" (silent e at the end of the word) makes the vowel "say its name", or "makes the vowel long", which should be understood as moving in the table from the first row to the second, and not as lengthening the vowel. What is meant by “long E” is not that /iː/ is a long version of /e/, but actually "the long sound of the letter E".

Similarly, what is meant by “short I” is not that /ɪ/ is a short version of /aɪ/, but actually "the short sound of the letter I".

Therefore, "the long vowels" actually means "the long sounds of vowel letters", and "the short vowels" are "the short sounds of vowel letters".

Note that in phonetics "long vowel" means literally a vowel that is long, i.e., /ɑː, iː, ɔː, uː/ or /ɜː/.

Examples:

rat *vs* rate - cap *vs* cape - can *vs* cane
bed - hotel - stem - then - get *vs* theme - scene - complete
bit *vs* bite - quit *vs* quite
dog - alcohol - shop - lot *vs* code - smoke - home - phone - suppose
cub *vs* cube - cut *vs* cute
The pattern *vowel + consonant* + “e” = *long sound of the vowel* is reliable enough to be taught. Examples of exceptions are: have - college - machine - gone - lettuce.

The converse pattern *vowel + consonants* = *short sound of the vowel* is less reliable, but should also be taught.

Magic e exceptionally works in other situations:

* more than one consonant: able - change - paste; title; noble;
* no consonant: Mae - sundae
* no consonant (redundant): bee - fee; lie - tie; doe - toe; clue - issue

The existence of magic e explains the necessity of double consonants.

### A

*See also Decoding the letter A*
Minimal pairs: can - cane; cap - cape; hat - hate; mad - made; rat - rate;

#### A + consonant ending is /æ/ or /ə/

*See also So-called “short *a*”*
* /æ/: bad - bat - can - cap - fat - gas - hat - hang - jam - lack - man - pack - plan - program - rat - tax - trap
* /æ/,*AmE* /ɑː/*BrE*: ask - bath - branch - demand - graph - laugh - plant
* /ə/: Christmas

/əl/: general - local - political - several
/ən/: American - german - human - woman
* Exceptions

/eɪ/: bass *(music)*
/ɔː/: chalk - salt - talk - walk
with "all": all - ball - call - fall - hall - mall - small
#### A + magic *e* is /eɪ/

*See also So-called “long *a*”*
* ache /eɪk/ - age - bathe - brake - embrace - face - fake - made - make - late - pane - place - race - replace - take - trade

* Exceptions

E is pronounced: Apache - Gethsemane - karate - sesame - tamale
Other exceptions: cache - have - purchase - surface
with "age": advantage - average - damage - encourage - garage - garbage - image - language - manage - marriage - message - mortgage - package - percentage - village
with "ate": adequate - advocate *(noun)* - chocolate - climate - delicate - estimate *(noun)* - fortunate - graduate *(noun)* - moderate *(adj.)* - passage - private
#### E + consonant ending is /e/ or /ə/

* bed - best - cent - dress - get - hell - hotel - men - neck - parallel - personnel - red - scent - stem - ten - then - when
* /ə/: happiness - kindness - trumpet - violet

/əl/: cancel - channel - counsel - hostel - label - level - model - novel - panel - vessel - travel
/ər/: after - cancer - letter - number - other
/əm/: item - problem - system
/ən/: even - garden - happen - often
#### E + magic *e* is /iː/

* athlete - compete - complete - concrete - delete - extreme - gene - scene - scheme - supreme - theme

* Exceptions

E is pronounced: machete - Selene
Other exceptions: allege - college - eye - privilege
### I

*See also Decoding the letter I* and *Decoding and spelling exercises: \ɪ\ vs \aɪ\*
Minimal pairs: bit - bite; kit - kite; quit - quite

#### I + consonant ending is /ɪ/ or /ə/

* bit - fit - hit - kick - kit - mill - mist - pill - sick - six - swim - thin - will - wit - wind *(noun)*
* /əl/: council - civil - pupil
* /ən/: cousin - Wisconsin

Exceptions

* /aɪ/

climb - mild - pint - rewind - wild
with "ind": behind - bind - blind - child - find - kind - mankind - mind - remind - wind *(verb)*
with "ight": delight - fight - light - night - tight
with "ign": align - assign - sign
#### I + magic *e* is /aɪ/

* bike - bite - five - kite - mine - nine - pile - pipe - price - quite - write

Exceptions
* E is pronounced: aborigine - recipe
* Silent e.

I as /ɪ/: definite - favourite - infinite - opposite - premise - promise
with "ice": justice - notice - office - practice - service
with "ine": determine - discipline - engine - examine - imagine
with "ive": active - adjective - alternative - give - live *(verb)*
I as /ə/: medicine
I as /iː/: cuisine - machine - magazine - police - submarine
### O

*See also Decoding the letter O*

Minimal pairs: rot - rote

#### O + consonant ending is /ɒ/ or /ə/

* alcohol - boss - box - cloth - cost - dog - doll - floss - job - long - loss - lost - lot - odd - shop - song - stop
* /ə/: develop - method - pilot - symbol

* Exceptions

/əʊ/: both - control - fold - ghost - gold - gross - host - Job - most - poll - post - roll - stroll - scroll
/ʌ/: front - son
/uː/ whom
#### O + magic *e* is /əʊ/

* code - dove *(verb)* - home - joke - phone - rose - smoke - suppose - stove

* Exceptions

E is pronounced: adobe, apostrophe, catastrophe, epitome, hyperbole
Other exceptions
/ʌ/: come - done - dove *(bird)* - love - one - some
/ɒ/: catalogue - gone
### U

*See also Decoding the letter U*
Minimal pairs: cub - cube; cut - cute;

#### U + consonant ending is /ʌ/ or /ə/

* /ʌ/: bun - bus - but - cut - fun - jump - gun - luck - lunch - null - run - skunk - strut - sun - thunder - truck - up - us
* /ə/: album - Connecticut - focus - maximum

Exceptions

/ʊ/: bull - bush - full - pull - push - put
#### U + magic *e* is /(j)uː/

* /juː/: commute - cube - cute - dispute - excuse - huge - mule - refuse - tune
* /uː/: flute - June - rude - rule
* Exceptions

lettuce - minute

### R and magic *e*

So-called "long" vowels change their sound before *r* in the following way

A (**/eə/**) - E (**/ɪə/**) - I (**/aɪə/**) - O (**/ɔː/**) - U (**/jʊə/**).
Examples: care - here - fire - store - pure;

Many polysyllabic words ending in "ure" have a special pronunciation

* "ture" is pronounced /tʃər/ (/tj/ became /tʃ/): adventure - culture - future - manufacture - nature - picture - structure
* "dure" is pronounced /dʒər/ (/dj/ became /dʒ/): procedure
* "sure" is pronounced /ʒər/ (/zj/ became /ʒ/): exposure - measure - pleasure
* "ssure" is pronounced /ʃər/ (/sj/ became /ʃ/): pressure
* in other cases "ure" is pronounced /jər/: failure - figure*AmE*

Exceptions
* with "a": are *(verb to be)*
* with "e": there - were - where
* with "u": figure*BrE*

* words ending in "ure" and pronounced /ɔː/ (such as "sure") are not considered exceptions. See IPA phoneme \ʊə\.

### References

1. ↑ DailyWritingTips, Five Spelling Rules for “Silent Final E”