Syllables Rules:
- A syllable is the sound of a vowel (a, e, i, o, u) that's created when pronouncing a word.
- The number of times that you hear the sound of a vowel (a, e, i, o, u) in a word is equal to the number of syllables the word has.
How To Find Syllables:
- Count the number of vowels (a, e, i, o, u, and sometimes y) in the word.
- Subtract any silent vowels (like the silent 'e' at the end of a word).
- Subtract 1 vowel from every diphthong.
- A diphthong is when two volwels make only 1 sound (oi, oy, ou, ow, au, aw, oo, ...).
- The number you are left with should be the number of vowels in the word.
How To Divide A Word Into Syllables:
- Divide off any compound words, prefixes, suffixes, and root words that have vowels.
- sports/car, house/boat, un/happy, pre/paid, re/write, farm/er, hope/less
- Divide between two middle consonants
- hap/pens, bas/ket, let/ter, sup/per, din/ner
- Never split up consonant digraphs as they really represent only one sound ("th", "sh", "ph", "th", "ch", and "wh").
- Usually divide before a single consonant.
- o/pen, i/tem, e/vil, re/port.
- The only exceptions are those times when the first syllable has an obvious short sound, as in "cab/in".
- Divide before an "-le" syllable.
- a/ble, fum/ble, rub/ble, mum/ble
- The only exceptions are "ckle" words like "tick/le".
Source: Phonics, Syllable and Accent Rules