The Complete Guide to English Spelling Rules

(^) The silent n is almost always found at the end of a word and usually follows the letter m:
(^) If we exclude all the words that use tch, we can see that the silent t is usually preceded by the letter s:
(^) The silent c usually follows the letter s, but there are some exceptions:
(^) Whether or not the d is silent depends on how we pronounce a word. Most of us like to believe that we
pronounce the silent d, but most of us do not. It usually appears before a j or a g.
(^) There is a tiny group of words that contain a silent s:
(^) The silent m is quite rare—see mnemonic.
The silent r is a special case. When it follows a vowel, it is sometimes pronounced and sometimes
either not pronounced or voiced so softly that it is almost silent. It depends upon one’s regional accent.
(^) The ch can produce a number of sounds. It can have its own ch sound, the sh sound, or the k sound.
There is one word in which the ch is silent—yacht. Note that words that contain the silent gh are covered
in earlier chapters.