English Language · Lesson 14

Consonant sounds & consonant clusters

JAMBWAECNECO

What the syllabus asks

JAMB: Oral forms: consonants, consonant clusters, words with the same sound

WAEC: Oral English (Paper 3 and objective test): consonant sounds, consonant clusters, silent letters, contrast of consonants

NECO: Oral English (Paper 3 and objective test): consonant sounds, consonant clusters, silent letters, contrast of consonants

What you will learn

List the 24 consonant phonemes of English with their symbols.
Describe a consonant by voicing, place and manner.
Identify the consonant sound represented by different spellings.
Recognise silent letters in common words.
Identify and pronounce consonant clusters correctly.
Answer JAMB and WAEC oral English consonant questions confidently.

Key points

RP English has 24 consonant phonemes; spelling is not a reliable guide to sound.
Describe a consonant by voicing, place and manner (e.g. /v/ = voiced labiodental fricative).
-ed is /t/ after voiceless sounds, /d/ after voiced, /ɪd/ after t or d; -s is /s/, /z/ or /ɪz/ in the same way.
/θ/ (thin) is voiceless and /ð/ (this) is voiced; do not replace them with /t/ and /d/.
"ch" can be /tʃ/ (church), /k/ (chemistry) or /ʃ/ (machine); "ph" and "gh" can be /f/.
Silent letters: k in knife, b in lamb, n in autumn, p in psalm, w in write, h in hour, l in calm.
A cluster is two or more consonant SOUNDS together; th, sh, ch, ph are single sounds.
Noun–verb pairs: advice /s/–advise /z/, use /s/–use /z/, breath /θ/–breathe /ð/.

Start here: Letters are not sounds

Before anything else, you must separate two ideas in your mind. Letters belong to writing; sounds belong to speech. English spelling is famous for not matching its sounds. The single sound /f/ is spelt f in fan, ph in phone, gh in laugh and ff in coffee. In the other direction, the letter c stands for /k/ in cat but /s/ in city.

To describe sounds exactly, linguists use the symbols of the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA), written between slashes. The WAEC and JAMB oral English papers use the model called RP (Received Pronunciation, standard British English), so that is the model in this lesson.

A phoneme is the smallest sound unit that can change the meaning of a word. Change /p/ to /b/ and "pat" becomes "bat": so /p/ and /b/ are different phonemes.

Pairs of words that differ in only one sound, like pat/bat or ship/chip, are called minimal pairs. They are the backbone of the WAEC Paper 3 test, where you hear one word of a pair and must pick which.

Worked example 14.1

How many consonant sounds are in "photograph"?

Say it slowly: /f/ /əʊ/ /t/ /ə/ /g/ /r/ /ɑː/ /f/.
"ph" is one sound, /f/; "gh" is not present here; final "ph" is /f/ again.
Consonant sounds: /f/, /t/, /g/, /r/, /f/ = 5.

5 consonant sounds (though 7 consonant letters)

In RP, the letter r is only pronounced when a vowel follows it. So in "car" and "farm" the r is silent, but in "red" and "carry" it is sounded. This is called a non-rhotic accent, and JAMB questions are set on that basis.

⚠️ Common mistake: counting letters instead of sounds. "Knight" has six letters but only three sounds: /n/ /aɪ/ /t/.

Try it yourself. How many sounds are in "thick"?

Show solution

Three: /θ/ /ɪ/ /k/. "th" and "ck" each make one sound.

Continue this lesson in the free app →

Practice questions

1. Choose the word that contains the sound /θ/.

thin
this
tin
then

Show answer

A: thin
/θ/ is voiceless "th" as in thin; "this/then" have voiced /ð/.

2. Which word ends with the sound /ʒ/?

badge
base
bays
beige

Show answer

D: beige
Beige ends in /ʒ/ like the middle of "measure".

3. In which word is the "ch" pronounced /k/?

machine
cheap
chemist
church

Show answer

C: chemist
Chemist /k/; machine /ʃ/; church and cheap /tʃ/.

4. In which word is the letter "b" silent?

about
debt
rubber
bubble

Show answer

B: debt
"Debt" — the b is not pronounced.

5. Which word has a silent "k"?

knee
kite
kick
kettle

Show answer

A: knee
"Knee": the k is silent before n.

Key words

Phoneme: The smallest unit of sound that can change meaning, e.g. /p/ in pin versus /b/ in bin.
Consonant: A speech sound made by blocking or narrowing the air passage.
Voiced: Produced with vibration of the vocal cords, e.g. /b/, /z/.
Voiceless: Produced without vibration of the vocal cords, e.g. /p/, /s/.
Plosive: A sound made by complete closure then sudden release: /p b t d k g/.
Fricative: A sound made by narrowing the passage so air rubs through: /f v θ ð s z ʃ ʒ h/.
Affricate: A stop released into friction: /tʃ dʒ/.
Nasal: Air passes through the nose: /m n ŋ/.
Lateral: Air flows round the sides of the tongue: /l/.
Approximant: Articulators come close without friction: /r j w/.
Bilabial: Made with both lips: /p b m w/.
Labiodental: Lower lip against upper teeth: /f v/.

Learn Consonant sounds & consonant clusters step by step, free.
The Cara's Tips app teaches every topic from the very basics, with quick checks, worked examples and exam practice. It works offline.
Open this lesson in the free app Download for Android