GEAR UP FOR LIFE

WRITING MENTOR: Syllables

What is a syllable?

A syllable is a small, easily said part of a word.  For example, with the word education, the spaces indicate the syllable breaks:  ed  u  ca  tion.  Notice that each syllable can be said separately easily.

Syllables are important in writing because the syllable breaks show the places where a word can be broken up at the end of a line.  That means that if you run out of space, you can write  ed- at the end of one line and - ucation at the beginning of the next line.  This division would be correct.

Syllables are also important in learning the sounds of letters when they are said together!

 Simple rules to help you figure out where the syllable breaks:

1.  Listen to the vowel sounds in a word and that tells you the number of syllables the word has.  That means that in the word education, tion is one syllable even though it has 2 vowels because you only hear one vowel sound "uh."

2.  Don't leave one letter at the end or the beginning of a line even if it is a syllable.  You wouldn't start a line with a "y" even though lucky has two syllables, luck  y.

3.  Divide a word made up of two words between the two individual parts.  For example, the word breakfast would be break  fast.

4.  There are word parts that are very common and that add a different meaning to the rest of the word.  For example,  adding  un  to words makes them mean the opposite thing.  Unhappy is the opposite of happy; unusual is the opposite of usual.  Re means again or repeat.  Examples are relive and rewrite.  These word parts are called prefixes.  Divide a word between its prefix and the rest of the word:  un   happy.

5.  Suffixes are common word parts added at the end of a word. Er is a common suffix which means one who does the action of the rest of the word.  For example, a driver is one who drives.  Divide words between the suffix and the rest of the word.

6.  With words that contain double letters, divide the word between the repeated letters.  For example, letter would be let  ter.

When all else fails, check the word in a dictionary.