True or False? Silent E Makes the Vowel Before It Long

According to dozens of phonics programs, the presence of Silent E gives a long sound to the vowel that precedes it in the word. And this widespread myth is getting even more mileage in the Internet age, especially with popular reference sites like Wikipedia making sweeping statements like "When silent e occurs in an English word, it converts a vowel to its ‘long’ equivalent.”

If this rule is true, then how do we explain words like horse, love, give, practice, puddle, and mouse? In these examples, Silent E is present and accounted for—and yet the vowel sounds are definitely not long. Does this mean that the rule is untrue?

The truth is, Silent E has many jobs, and converting the preceding vowel to a long sound is only one of its important duties. The versatile and multi-tasking Silent E actually has five different jobs.

Job #1: Silent E makes the vowel before it long, as in plate or wrote.
Job #2: Silent E can make c and g soft, as in dice and sage.
Job #3: Silent E keeps u and v from being the last letter in a word, as in true and have.
Job #4: Silent E adds a vowel to words with the consonant+l-e syllable pattern, as in bundle or puzzle.
Job #5: Handyman E takes care of the jobs the other e's don't cover:

• It keeps a singular word from ending in s, such as house.
• It helps us distinguish between two words, such as for and fore.
• It appears in words in which the e used to be pronounced, as in come.

So while the presence of Silent E does indeed convert short vowel sounds to long in some cases, this “rule” is not an exhaustive or entirely accurate representation of Silent E’s many purposes. By acquainting your students with all of Silent E’s jobs, you provide them with a thorough understanding of the ways in which Silent E can have an effect on the words in which it appears.

Level 2 of the All About Spelling program provides an in-depth explanation of Silent E’s many roles. And in Level 3, students work with the “Silent E Book,” which further demystifies the functions of this misunderstood letter!