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Question

Difficulty: MediumConsonant Sounds

Match each word containing an underlined consonant spelling with the specific consonant sound feature it produces in standard English pronunciation.

  • subtleSilent consonant sound (elided/unpronounced letter)
  • pharaohVoiceless labiodental fricative sound /f/
  • gemVoiced postalveolar affricate sound /dʒ/
  • ghostVoiced velar plosive sound /ɡ/

Answer

'subtle' matches with the Silent consonant sound; 'pharaoh' matches with the Voiceless labiodental fricative sound /f/; 'gem' matches with the Voiced postalveolar affricate sound /dʒ/; and 'ghost' matches with the Voiced velar plosive sound /ɡ/.
Each word is accurately paired with its underlying phonetic consonant articulation: 'subtle' contains a silent 'b'; 'pharaoh' uses 'ph' for the /f/ sound; 'gem' uses a soft 'g' for the /dʒ/ sound; and 'ghost' uses initial 'gh' for the hard /ɡ/ sound.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the silent letter sound in 'subtle'
The letter 'b' following 'u' and preceding 't' in 'subtle' is silent, yielding no sound.
English orthography contains etymological silent letters where specific spellings carry no phonetic realization.
2
Identify the digraph sound in 'pharaoh'
The initial digraph 'ph' is articulated as /f/.
Words of Greek derivation with 'ph' consistently map to the voiceless labiodental fricative /f/.
3
Determine the soft consonant sound of 'g' in 'gem'
The letter 'g' before 'e' produces the affricate sound /dʒ/.
When 'g' precedes front vowels like 'e', 'i', or 'y', it frequently represents a soft consonant affricate sound /dʒ/ rather than a hard plosive /ɡ/.
4
Analyze the initial 'gh' sound in 'ghost'
The initial digraph 'gh' produces the hard velar plosive /ɡ/.
Word-initial 'gh' spellings in English consistently realize as the voiced velar plosive /ɡ/.

Key Concept

Consonant Sounds and Orthographic Realizations
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Topics

Consonant Sounds

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