How many syllables in useful

English language. Can useful be pronounced differently? Did we divide the syllables correctly? Do regional variations in the pronunciation of useful effect the syllable count? Has language changed? Provide your comments or thoughts on the syllable count for useful below. A comprehensive resource for finding syllables in useful, how many syllables are in useful, words that rhyme with useful, how to divide useful into syllables, how to pronounce useful in US and British English, how to break useful into syllables.

However, this method for counting syllables creates a few anomalies, whereby some one- and two-syllable words are pronounced very much alike in other words, hearing the two words would lead someone to think they have the same number of syllables, but the dictionary would indicate otherwise :. The oddest of all might be hire and higher , which I would pronounce as true heterographs, but the dictionary would break into one and two syllables, respectively.

I found it interesting that the word syllabification was defined as the division of words into syllables, either in speech or in writing.

That "either in speech or in writing" part made me wonder if one could accurately say that the word hour has one syllable in writing, and two in speech — that is, if hour was pronounced as rhyming with tower or power , and not as a heterograph with are , as some drawlers might be inclined to do. People who are born to power Lack the time to spare an hour Smelling rose or other flower, Be it sweet or be it sour. Since those lines of trochaic tetrameter all rhyme with each other on the last foot, hour needs must contain two syllables.

Sign up to join this community. The best answers are voted up and rise to the top. Stack Overflow for Teams — Collaborate and share knowledge with a private group. Create a free Team What is Teams? Learn more. How many syllables are in the word 'hour'? Ask Question. Asked 9 years, 2 months ago. Active 8 years, 8 months ago. Viewed 41k times. Does the word 'hour' have 1 or 2 syllables? Improve this question. Matthew Vines Matthew Vines 1 1 gold badge 5 5 silver badges 8 8 bronze badges.

It has to have two: see my doggerel below for why. See also: How many syllables in the word fire? For me: two syllables in hour by itself, two syllables total in hourly. About one and a half; diphthongs are hard. Much as I hate to say something completely useless, the only correct answer is "it depends how you pronounce it".

Show 1 more comment. Active Oldest Votes. But, according to this linguist , Hour and fire are generally considered to be monosyllabic words containing a triphthong.

Wikipedia further confirms this in a couple of its articles. Improve this answer. Community Bot 1. Just because you have three vowels in a row does not mean you have a triphthong. Add a comment. That is the number of syllables. Another is the clap method. To use it, say the word and clap your hands together each time you hear a vowel sound. For example, take the word "autumn": au-tumn. Close your eyes and listen for the number of syllables in the following words. You can use the chin method, the clap method or just listen carefully:.

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