Lots of words in English language ends with the letter "e". At the same time, the letter “e” itself in this case does not give any sound, that is, it is not readable. Hence the name: "dumb "e"". For example: lake - lake. There are actually only six exceptions when "e" is the only vowel in a very short word. In this case, it is read as in the English alphabet: . These six English words the following: be - to be, he - he, me - me, me, me, we - we, she [∫i:] - she, the [ði:] before a vowel, [ðə] before a consonant - a definite article.

So why do we need the letter “e” at the end of words in English if it has no sound? Having dealt with this, you can make it easier for yourself to read English words. It turns out that she does a lot of different useful things.

Such useful deeds in which the silent English "e" is involved are the following:

1) to open the previous syllable (in English, syllables ending in a vowel are called open; the rule for reading a vowel in a syllable depends on this). It can attach to itself one or two consonants from the previous syllable. For example: one consonant: make, ma | ke - to do; two consonants: taste, ta | ste - taste. But if there are 3 consonants in the previous syllable, then the syllable remains closed. For example: cattle, cat | tle - livestock;

2) to distinguish an ary open syllable from an ary closed syllable (ary in English are syllables in which the letter “r” comes after the vowel, according to the sound of this letter - the name of the syllables). Compare how the sound of the letter “a”, “e” changes depending on the openness of the ary syllable: closed syllable: car - car and open syllable care - care, attention, closed syllable: her - her and open syllable: here - here;

3) so that the English letters “c” and “g” are read as in the alphabet: “c” [s], since - since, since; "g", bridge - bridge; in this case, the first syllable is not opened (since the dumb “e” in this case has already been used for another rule); only in the combination “-ange” the syllable is open, for example: change - change, dangerous [‘deındʒərəs] - dangerous;

4) to avoid the letter "s" at the end of a word when it is not an ending English nouns plural or ending English verb in 3rd person singular present tense: sense - meaning; in this case, the first syllable is not opened (since the dumb “e” in this case has already been used for another rule);

5) to English letter"v" was not at the end of the word. In this case, the previous syllable can be either closed or open, it is not known in advance: lives - lives, lives - lives; have - have, behave, be | ha | ve - behave. Even in the abbreviated form of the verb have: "'ve" (I've done it.), the letter "v" is accompanied by a mute "e". Only Russian surnames beginning with "-ov" are transliterated without the silent "e": Krasnov, Zaitsev, sometimes "v" is replaced by two "f": Raspopoff;

6) to distinguish between single-root words, more often a noun and a verb (and at the same time open the first syllable): bath - bath, bathe - bathe, breath - breath, breathe - breathe, strip - stripe, stripe - draw stripes;

7) to observe some traditions of writing words, for example: die - die, dye - dye, check - check, machine - machine. Along the way, the silent English “e” denotes the end of the word root when suffixes and endings are added to the root: care - care, attention, careful [‘keəful] — attentive, careless [‘keəlıs] — inattentive, careless; courage ['kʌrıdʒ] - courage, courageous ['kʌrıdʒəs] - courageous; like - like, similar, likely [‘laıklı] - probable, probably; line - line, lines - lines; move - move (sya), moves - moves, moved - moved, movement [‘mu: vmənt] - movement.

As you know, in order to learn something you need to make an effort. When it comes to foreign language practice is essential every day. For English language learning like playing a musical instrument. Reading in English, as well as playing scales, is a must every day! So read and read again! This is the second lesson in the series: . Today we read English words with the letter E. Word tables are compiled by syllable types and before you start reading, we suggest you remember again rules for reading the English letter E in 4 types of syllable. Who forgot what syllables are in question and what they are called, remember. And we're going straight to practice.

Word tables are taken from a wonderful manual Rules of Reading. Author Krylova N.V.

1. Reading the letter E in an open syllable

Rule 1. In the open and conditionally open syllable (below), the English letter E is read as in the alphabet − . By the way, letter combinations ei &ie are also read.

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