Upper Primary English Quizzes on Pronunciation of the Letter G

Upper Primary School English Quiz - Pronunciations 04 - The Letter G (Questions)

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.

[readmore]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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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

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

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

Upper Primary School English Quiz - Pronunciations 04 - The Letter G (Answers)

Choose the group of words which uses the hard G sound, as in GIRL.

[ ]	garden, game, gas
[ ]	saga, organic, legal
[ ]	mega, sugar, omega
[x]	All the above.

When the G letter is followed by A the sound is generally a hard G

Choose the group of words which does not use the soft G sound as in GERM.

[x]	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

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.
[x]	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

Choose the group of words which uses the hard G sound, as in GIRL.

[ ]	god, dragon, ego
[ ]	govern, paragon, vertigo
[ ]	gobar, vigorous, embargo
[x]	All the above.

When the letter G is followed by O the sound is generally a hard G

Choose the group of words which uses the hard G sound, as in GIRL.

[ ]	argue, guerilla, gum
[ ]	figure, vague, gutter
[ ]	hangup, languish, guilty
[x]	All the above.

When the letter G is followed by U the sound is generally a hard G

Choose the group of words which does not use the soft G sound as in GERM.

[x]	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

Choose the group in which all the words contain two hard G sounds.

[ ]	geography, angiogram, gauge
[ ]	language, garage, gigantic
[x]	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

Choose the group of words which use the soft G sound, as in GERM.

[ ]	ring, ping, crying
[x]	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

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
[x]	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

10.

Choose the group of words which do not have silent letter Gs.

[ ]	champagne, diaphragm, alight
[ ]	right, drought, eight
[ ]	align, reign, gnash
[x]	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.