silent gh knight, night, thought, caught



Cnihts in training keeping watch for trouble.

The English we speak today comes to us from the far corners of the earth. Many words come from ancient India and the ancient message writers who worked for kings. These men were called scribes.

Silent gh comes to us from the scribes. Scribes were trained to write and read at a time in history when almost no one could print or even read his own name.

Kings and wealthy people liked to have around them at least one person who could write words on paper. In those days, betrayal and treachery were constant. A spoken message could be changed. A written message stamped with the wax imprint of the King's seal was not so easy to change. 

Alfred the Great, born in the year 849, was the 1st king of England. Alfred insisted on having scribes write down his commands. Alfred thought being able to read and write were so valuable that he had someone teach him those skills. Alfred also demanded that leaders of his important cities be able to read and write. Knights who wanted to be chosen as leaders, or captains in Alfred's army took lessons, too.

William the Conqueror, born 1028 died 1087, was king of a northern region in France, called Normandy. William decided to take his knights across the narrow strip of ocean to invade England. By the year 1066, William had conquered the lower regions of England. William also demanded scribes.

The English people, now ruled by William the Conqueror of Normandy, spoke a language William did not understand. The English had a way of saying many words with a gruff, cough-like sound. To hear this sound still spoken today in English words, listen to a Scotsman say the word, Edinburgh.

That gruff, cough-like sound in words like cniht (knight) were a puzzle for the scribes of William the Conqueror. The scribes had to find a way to write down that cough-like sound.The Norman language had a letter which looked like a backward-facing 3.  To help themselves remember to make this cough - sound when reading messages to their king, the scribes wrote: cni 3 ht.  

Over many hundreds of years, that backward 3 slid, or morphed in shape, into our present-day letter g. Still today, we write the ancient scribe's backward 3 when we write: night, knight, might, fight, thought, caught, and many other words. Instead of trying to make that gruff coughing sound when we say those words, we leave gh as silent letters.


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Also Instant Reading Help tion, tious, tient, ciate.  And, Instant Reading Help add ed, ing   or Instant Reading Help change y to i.  

All books are new and teach an easy comprehension method plus tons of other lessons. Being a skillful reader is more important than ever.  Have fun reading with your child. Thank you, Mary Maisner