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Pronunciations 04 - The Letter G
The letter G can be pronounced either hard or soft and is also often silent!

Pronunciations 04 - The Letter G

The letter G is the seventh letter of the English alphabet and is a consonant. The letter lends interesting possibilities in pronunciation and spellings. G is normally associated with two sounds, as represented by the words GIRL and the word GIANT. The G in GIRL is a sound referred to as the ‘hard’ sound and the G in GIANT is referred to as a ‘soft’ sound, similar to the letter J.

It is commonly understood that the letters G and C behave similarly in pronunciation, but there are too many exceptions! The letter G is fairly complicated and does not lend to rules easily. Just look at some words which use the letter G:

While THOUGHT and THOUGH have just one letter that separates them, their pronunciations are quite different. THOUGH is pronounced as THOW and THROUGH is pronounced as THREW, a single letter changes the pronunciation.

Similarly in the case of COUGH and DOUGH, just by replacing C with D the pronunciation changes drastically. COUGH is pronounced as COFF whilst DOUGH is pronounced as DOW

However, by and large when the letter G is followed by an A the sound is generally a hard G , as in GATE or GAPE.

When the letter G is followed by an E the sound is a soft G (or J) as in GERM or MERGE).

When the letter G is followed by O the sound is generally a hard G - GOT and EGO.

When the letter G is followed by U the sound is also generally a hard G, as in GUT or ARGUE.

When the letter G is followed by a Y the sound is generally a soft G (J) - GYM or BIOLOGY.

There are many words with a letter G followed by an I that use the hard and soft G sounds. For example, GIRL, BEGIN, GIANT and LOGIC use a hard G but GINGER and GIN use a soft G.

Words ending with GE generally use a soft G sound - BINGE, SINGE and GERM.

Words ending with NG are generally with the hard G sound, as in SING or RANG.

When G is used with M, N or H it is usually silent, for example DIAPHRAGM, GNOME and THROUGH.

Now that you've read such a long list of rules you'll be better able to play the quiz that follows. In it you will learn all about the fascinating letter G and its various pronunciations.
1.
Choose the group of words which uses the hard G sound, as in GIRL.
god, dragon, ego
govern, paragon, vertigo
gobar, vigorous, embargo
All the above.
When the letter G is followed by O the sound is generally a hard G
2.
Choose the group of words which does not use the soft G sound as in GERM.
gamut, gallow, elegance
allege, bridge, edge
mirage, genocide, gene
germs, geometry, ledger
These have the hard G sound. Generally, when the G letter is followed by E the sound is soft. Exceptions are many such as GEAR, GEESE, GET
3.
Choose the group of words which use the soft G sound, as in GERM.
ring, ping, crying
purge, surge, merge
sang, pang, gong
clang, lung, wing
Words ending with GE generally have a soft G sound. Words ending with NG generally have the hard G sound
4.
Choose the group of words which uses the hard G sound, as in GIRL.
garden, game, gas
saga, organic, legal
mega, sugar, omega
All the above.
When the G letter is followed by A the sound is generally a hard G
5.
Choose the group of words which does not use the soft G sound as in GERM.
embargo, inorganic, fragrant
allergy, apology, gypsum
topology, gypsy, gym
gypped, theology, sociology
These words have the hard G sound. When the letter G is followed by Y the sound is generally a soft G
6.
Choose the correct statement relating to pronunciation of the letter G.
Words that have G followed by I are always pronounced with the hard G.
Words that have G followed by I are pronounced with the hard G as well as the soft G.
Words that have G followed by I are always silent.
Words that have G followed by I are always pronounced with the soft G.
There are many words with G followed by I that use the hard and soft G sound. For example, 'girl', 'begin' and 'gift' use a hard G whilst 'giant', 'logic' and 'digit' use a soft G
7.
Choose the list of words which has one word with a hard G and one with a soft G.
germanium, Germany
porridge, sledging
grieve, glance
Margaret, margarine
One of those cases where G followed by A has the soft sound as in 'margarine', but 'Margaret' has a hard G and does not follow the rule. The words in the other options have either two soft G sounds or two hard G sounds
8.
Choose the group in which all the words contain two hard G sounds.
geography, angiogram, gauge
language, garage, gigantic
gargantuan, demagogue, Gregorian
geology, ginger, geneology
Both of the Gs in these words have hard G sound. The words in answers 1 and 2 have both the hard and the soft G sounds, whilst those in answer 4 have two soft G sounds
9.
Choose the group of words which uses the hard G sound, as in GIRL.
argue, guerilla, gum
figure, vague, gutter
hangup, languish, guilty
All the above.
When the letter G is followed by U the sound is generally a hard G
10.
Choose the group of words which do not have silent letter Gs.
champagne, diaphragm, alight
right, drought, eight
align, reign, gnash
suggest, baggage, beggar
Note that when GG is used it is possible to have both the hard and soft G sound - in 'suggest' the GG is soft, but in 'baggage' and 'beggar' it is hard. The words in other options have a silent G. Generally, when G is used with M, N or H it is silent.
Author:  V T Narendra

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