A. silent ‘e’ rule. A silent <e> following a single consonant shows that the preceding vowel letter corresponds to a long vowel; lack of an <e> shows a short vowel.

           long free        short checked
            vowels            vowels

‘a’        /ei/ Dane        /Q/ Dan
‘e’        /i:/  Pete         /e/  pet
‘i’         /ai/ fine          /I/  fin
‘o’        /‚U/ tote         /�/ tot
‘u’        /(j)u:/ dune     /Ã/ dun

B. the consonant doubling rule. A double consonant shows that the preceding vowel corresponds to a short vowel rather than a long one.

                       Single              Double
            consonant       consonant

‘a’        /ei/ planing     /Q/ planning
‘e’        /i:/ beta           /e/ better
‘i’         /ai/ biter         /I/ bitter
‘o’        /‚U/ hoping    /�/ hopping
‘u’        /(j)u:/ super    /Ã/ supper