pronunciation - How to know how to pronounce an "-e" ending based on spelling?


I’ve always wondered how the -e word ending should be pronounced:




  1. For example (correct me if I’m wrong), the words apache, Adobe, Skype, etc. have the -e ending pronounced like in the word be.




  2. However (again, correct me if needed), the words bite, Cheyenne, Bourne have a silent -e at the end.




Is there a way to guess the pronunciation, or do you just need to know it?



Answer



The ‘e’ of Skype is not pronounced. In apache and Adobe it’s pronounced /i:/, that is, like the vowel sound in ‘sea’. The pronunciation of proper nouns cannot be predicted, but in common nouns, a terminal ‘e’ often indicates the way in which a preceding vowel is to be pronounced. The ‘e’ of bite, for example, shows that it is pronounced differently from bit.


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