The Silent A

English has a lot of silent letters. You’re probably familiar with silent P and silent B. But did you know that A can also be silent?

A is not pronounced in many adverbs that end in -ally.

Here’s a list of common -ally adverbs and their pronunciations.

Sounds Like

(Stress on the purple syllables)

Accidentally

ak·suh·den·tlee

Actually

ak·choo·lee

Artistically

aar·ti·sti·klee

Basically

bay·si·klee

Continually

kuhn·tin·you·lee

Critically

kri·tuh·klee

Digitally

di·juh·tlee

Genetically

juh·neh·tuh·klee

Logically

laa·ji·klee

Musically

myou·zuh·klee

Physically

fi·zuh·klee

Romantically

row·man·tuh·klee

Statistically

stuh·ti·stuh·klee

Stoically

stow·i·klee

Bonus Learning!

Don’t know the meaning of a word listed above?

1. Write it down.

2. Look up its meaning and write that down, too.

3. Draw a picture that will help you remember the word’s meaning.

4. Give your picture a caption and use the new word in your caption.