Guidelines for Dividing Words Into Syllables
| Pattern |
Example |
Divided Words |
Syllables |
| VC•CV |
murder
whisper |
mur•der
whis•per |
2
2 |
| prefix•root |
undo
preview |
un•do
pre•view |
2
2 |
| or |
|
|
|
| root•suffix |
worker |
work•er |
2 |
V•CV
(Sometimes before a consonant, consonant blend, or diagraph if the
first vowel is long) |
reply
hotel |
re•ply
ho•tel |
2
2 |
| or |
|
|
|
VC•V
(Sometimes after a consonant, consonant blend, or consonant digraph
if the first vowel is short) |
modest
polish |
mod•est
pol•ish |
2
2 |
| VR• |
forest
sterile |
for•est
ster•ile |
2
2 |
| C•Cle |
twinkle
marble |
twin•kle
mar•ble |
2
2 |
|