VCE (Silent E or Magic e)

The Vowel-Consonant-E (VCE) pattern, also known as the “silent E” pattern, is a common spelling pattern in English.

Structure#

This pattern typically follows the structure of a vowel followed by a consonant and ending with the letter ’e'.

1. Vowel: This is any of the vowel letters (a, e, i, o, u) with long sound.
2. Consonant: This is any consonant letter that comes after the vowel.
3. Silent E: The ’e’ at the end of the word is silent but affects the pronunciation of the vowel.

Characteristic#

The key characteristic of the VCE pattern is that the final ’e’ is silent, and it changes the pronunciation of the vowel that precedes the consonant. Specifically, the silent ’e’ makes the preceding vowel say its name (i.e., the long vowel sound).

Examples#

• Cap → Cape:
  • Without the silent ’e’, the ‘a’ in “cap” is short, pronounced /æ/.
  • With the silent ’e’, the ‘a’ in “cape” becomes long, pronounced /eɪ/.
• Hop → Hope:
  • Without the silent ’e’, the ‘o’ in “hop” is short, pronounced /ɑː/.
  • With the silent ’e’, the ‘o’ in “hope” becomes long, pronounced /oʊ/.
• Fin → Fine:
  • Without the silent ’e’, the ‘i’ in “fin” is short, pronounced /ɪ/.
  • With the silent ’e’, the ‘i’ in “fine” becomes long, pronounced /aɪ/.
• Cub → Cube:
  • Without the silent ’e’, the ‘u’ in “cub” is short, pronounced /ʌ/.
  • With the silent ’e’, the ‘u’ in “cube” becomes long, pronounced /juː/.
• Met → Mete:
  • Without the silent ’e’, the ’e’ in “met” is short, pronounced /ɛ/.
  • With the silent ’e’, the ’e’ in “mete” becomes long, pronounced /iː/.