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Question

Difficulty: HardSilent Letters

Which of the following words contains a silent consonant letter 't' in its standard English pronunciation?

  1. A
    bestial
  2. chastenAnswer
  3. C
    pistol
  4. D
    postal

Answer

The word 'chasten' contains a silent consonant letter 't'.
In standard Received Pronunciation and English phonology, the verb 'chasten' is pronounced as /ˈtʃeɪs.ən/. The consonant letter 't' is silent, just as it is in related verbal endings such as 'fasten' and 'listen'.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the phonetic transcription of the target word 'chasten'.
The standard pronunciation is /ˈtʃeɪs.ən/, where the letter 't' is omitted in speech.
English words ending in the suffix pattern '-sten' (e.g., listen, fasten, christen, chasten) regularly feature an unpronounced 't'.
2
Examine the distractor options for consonant articulation.
'Bestial' (/ˈbes.ti.əl/), 'pistol' (/ˈpɪs.təl/), and 'postal' (/ˈpəʊ.stəl/) all retain the audible articulation of the letter 't'.
These words maintain the /t/ sound despite sharing spelling similarities (-st-) with words containing silent consonants.

Key Concept

Identification of unpronounced consonant letters in standard English speech patterns
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Topics

Silent Letters

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