Why is that in the English language?
2007-05-22 08:21:42 · 7 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Languages
In this case the last letter, being a vowel, is silent but it has a distinct effect on the vowel that preceeds it.
It indicates that the preceeding vowel will have a short sound:
Sponge (Spong) and Machine (macheen) . Without that rule you would have to pronounce the words Spoong and Macheyen.
2007-05-22 08:26:59 · answer #1 · answered by nycguy10002 7 · 1⤊ 2⤋
The English language has some flaws that should be repaired, but would be too much trouble to reteach everyone the corrections. We have the "silent e" to begin with. We also have useless letters like "X." Then there's "c" and "s" that have the same sound in some words...."s" should be the only one for the "ssss" sound and just "k" should be used for words like "cat" or "correct." Also get rid of the "ph" that's used for the "f" sound. We should then create new symbols for the sounds "th", "ch", and "sh". Once this is accomplished, then we should spell phoenetically, or the way a word sounds. I'm sure there are more ideas out there too fine tune the English language.
2007-05-22 15:31:27 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 3⤋
Because without it, it would read differently. Spong, and muh-shin, or something like that.
Actually in machine, it does give the preceding vowel a long sound.
2007-05-22 16:27:24 · answer #3 · answered by Maus 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
These are two of those nasty "exceptions to the rules" that you find so often in English.
It is not the "silent E" rule because it doesn't give the preceding vowel a long sound (as in can/cane, pin/pine etc.)
.
2007-05-22 15:45:12 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
if there was no "e" at the end of "sponge" (like spong), then it wouldn't be said like "sponj" it would sound like "spong".
the "e" isn't there to be heard per se, it's there to modify how the rest of the word sounds. Likewise with the word "machine". If you were to drop the "e" it would be said like "ma-chin" like "matching".
2007-05-22 15:27:56 · answer #5 · answered by yukidomari 5 · 1⤊ 2⤋
and indeed it is not pronounced in over 95% of the words that end in e
English spelling is crazy did you not know?
try to read this poem for instance:
http://international.ouc.bc.ca/pronunciation/poem01.html
2007-05-22 20:44:58 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Blame it on the French.
2007-05-22 15:34:21 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋