SYLLABLES AND SYLLABIC BREAK-UP‘Cause breaking up is hard to do…

SYLLABLES

What is a syllable?

How does one count syllables in a word?

Why on earth do we need to know this?

WHAT IS A SYLLABLE?

SYLLABLES

WHAT IS A SYLLABLE?

SYLLABLES

• some call syllables the number of “beats” in a wordcar-rothas 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

fifthsplate

plainfreight

eye

oil

palepail

light

trailtraipse

HOW 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.) SYLLABLES

mouse 1 2 3

mouse 1 2

mouse 1

HOW DOES ONE COUNT THE SYLLABLES IN A WORD?

SYLLABLES

airtight 1 2 3

airtight 1 2

style 1 2

style 1

humble 1 2

idea1 2 3

create 1 2 3

create 1 2

HOW DOES ONE BREAK-UP SYLLABLES?

SYLLABLES

air-tight 1 2

style 1

hum-ble 1 2

i-de-a1 2 3

cre-ate 1 2

HOW DOES ONE BREAK-UP SYLLABLES?

SYLLABLES

• Long vowels (a, e, i, o, u) break after the vowel ro-bot hu-man re-writeI-pod ba-sic

• Short vowels require a consonant at the end of the syllable

cab-in min-ute vow-el

(mi-nute)

• Break between 2 middle consonantsrab-bit cac-tus hum-ble

(style)

• Watch out for r’s! Sometimes they effect the vowel

dec-o-rate in-ter-est-ing spar-kleru-ral tur-nip car-tridge

WHY DO WE NEED TO KNOW THIS?

SYLLABLES