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⟨gh⟩
From Teflpedia
(Redirected from Decoding exercises: "gh")
⟨gh⟩ is an English digraph consisting of the letters G and H. Generally in onset position it is sounded as a hard g sound, but in coda position it is silent or an f sound.
As silent letters[edit | edit source]
The combinations ⟨igh⟩, ⟨eigh⟩, and ⟨aigh⟩ always have silent ⟨gh⟩:
- ⟨eigh⟩ /eɪ/: eight, freight, neighborAmE, neighbourBrE, weigh, weight;
- Variation: ⟨aigh⟩ in straight.
- ⟨igh⟩ as /aɪ/: bright, delight, fight, flight, fright, height, high, light, might, night, right, sigh, sight, slight, tight;
- ⟨ugh⟩, after a consonant letter, sounds /ju:/, e.g. Hugh, Hughes,
The combination ⟨augh⟩ is mostly silent and ⟨ough⟩ may be silent:
Finishing in /f/[edit | edit source]
As /g/[edit | edit source]
- Ghana, ghastly, ghetto, ghost, ghoul, Pittsburgh, Singh, spaghetti, yoghurt
Simplifications[edit | edit source]
- Informal spellings in American English
- /ðəʊ/: though (formal), tho' (informal), tho (informal)
- /θruː/: through (formal), thru (informal)
Compound words[edit | edit source]
gh sometimes occurs across syllable boundaries, where one syllable ends in g and the next begins with h. This is not a digraph. These include:
- /gh/: doghouse, foghorn, jughead
- /ŋh/: longhorn
Exception[edit | edit source]
The English place name Keighley is pronounced as /ˈki:θli/, so gh represents an unvoiced dental fricative /θ/.[1]