How do you pronounce scent? Do you pronounce the letter C in scent as the soft C [sen] or as the hard C [sken] ?
English learners can have a hard time choosing which sound to use in words containing the letter C, but the rule is actually very simple – with the usual few exceptions.
HARD C – The letter C is pronounced [k] :
— when followed by a, o, u or a consonant at the end of a word
Examples:
ca-: car, cast, recall;
co-: coat, copper, accomplish;
cu-: cut, acute, accurate;
c + consonant: article, acros
SOFT C – The letter c is pronounced [s] :
— when followed by e, i or y
Examples:
ce-: celebrate, recede, peace;
ci-: cigar, Cinderella, principal;
cy-: cymbal, fancy, Lucy;
Exceptions:
There are very few exceptions to this rule, not counting foreign words which have been borrowed into English.
One notable exception is Celt [kelt], describing e.g. the Irish and Scots. More exceptions are soccer [sokker]; we don’t pronounce it as soser and muscle [musle]; we don’t pronounce it as muskle.
Mixed sounds
Some words have both of the features explained above. Apply the rule for each C separately.
Examples:
conceal [konseel] – ‘co’ is hard, ‘ce’ is soft
reconcile [rekonsīl]
recycle [reesīkl]
This also applies to words with two c’s together.
Examples:
access [aksess] – c + consonant (the second c) is hard, c + e is soft
accent [aksent]
vaccine [vaksīn]
Other exceptions
A Note on “c+h”
You know all about the [tsch] sound of “ch” in words such as church, match, choice, cheer, arch, achieve, chief, and children.
However, the combination c+h is not always pronounced this way. Sometimes the H is there between A C and A “soft vowel” to indicate that the hard [k] sound is needed, e.g. architecture, ache, scheme, anarchist,archive, catechism, schism, chiropodist, monarchy,psychiatric, chasm, chemical.
Sometimes “ch” in words of foreign origin is pronounced [sh], e.g. in mustache, cache, niche, chic, machine.
Prefixes and Suffixes
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There are many prefixes and suffixes in English. What I posted here is just a few of them. You might need to consult your dictionary to know other kinds of prefixes and suffixes.
If you put a certain prefix to a root word, it will change the meaning of the word. For example, if you put the prefix in- before the root word ‘active’, it means not active.
To change the function of the root word, just add a suffix at the end of the word. For example, if you place the suffix -er at the end of the verb ‘compute’, so now it becomes ‘computer’ and functions as a noun.
The following prefixes mean ‘not’ – the opposite of the root word:
un- : unnatural
dis- : disagree
im- : immoral
in- : inactive
il- : illegal
ir- : irregular
non- : non-living
The prefix re- means ‘again’
redo
replay
rewind
rewrite
The prefix bi- means ‘having two’
bicycle (having two wheels)
bilingual (having two languages)
The prefix di- means ‘twice’ or ‘double’
dilemma
dioxide
The prefix co- means ‘jointly’ or ‘equally’
co-operate
co-worker
The prefix ex- means ‘out’, ‘out of’ or ‘out from’ also‘former’
extract
expatriate
ex-husband
The following suffixes are used to form nouns:
-ness : togetherness
-ance or -ence : disturbance difference
-ment : development
-ion : generation
-er or -or : banker, editor
The suffix -ly is used to form adverbs of manner
nicely
friendly
The suffix -ous is used to form adjectives
dangerous
hazardous
Check out this video from cambridgeenglishtv.