Editing English orthography (section)

=== Phonemic representation ===
{{Further|Phonemic orthography}}

[[Letter (alphabet)|Letters]] in English orthography positioned at one location
within a specific word usually represent a particular [[phoneme]]. For example, ''at'' {{IPAc-en|ˈ|æ|t}} consists of 2 letters {{vr|a}} and {{vr|t}}, which represent {{IPAslink|æ}} and {{IPAslink|t}}, respectively.

[[Multigraph (orthography)|Sequences of letters]] may perform this role as well as single letters. Thus, in ''thrash'' {{IPAc-en|θ|r|æ|ʃ}}, the [[Digraph (orthography)|digraph]] {{vr|th}} (two letters) represents {{IPA|/θ/}}. In ''hatch'' {{IPAc-en|h|æ|tʃ}}, the [[trigraph (orthography)|trigraph]] {{vr|tch}} represents {{IPA|/tʃ/}}.

Less commonly, a single letter can represent multiple successive sounds. The most common example is {{vr|x}}, which normally represents the consonant cluster {{IPA|/ks/}} (for example, in ''tax'' {{IPAc-en|t|æ|k|s}}).

The same letter (or sequence of letters) may be pronounced differently when occurring in different positions within a word. For instance, {{vr|gh}} represents {{IPA|/f/}} at the end of some words (''tough'' {{IPAc-en|t|ʌ|f}}) but not in others (''plough'' {{IPAc-en|p|l|aʊ}}). At the [[syllable onset|beginning of syllables]], {{vr|gh}} is pronounced {{IPA|/ɡ/}}, as in ''ghost'' {{IPAc-en|ɡ|oʊ|s|t}}. Conversely, {{angbr|gh}} is never pronounced {{IPA|/f/}} in syllable onsets other than in [[inflection|inflected]] forms, and is almost never pronounced {{IPA|/ɡ/}} in [[syllable coda]]s (the proper name ''[[Pittsburgh]]'' is an exception).

Some words contain [[silent letter]]s, which do not represent any sound in modern English pronunciation. Examples include the {{vr|l}} in ''talk'', ''half'', ''calf'', etc., the {{vr|w}} in ''two'' and ''sword'', {{vr|gh}} as mentioned above in numerous words such as ''though'', ''daughter'', ''night'', ''brought'', and the commonly encountered [[silent e|silent {{vr|e}}]] (discussed further below).