A silent 'e' is a letter 'e' at the end of a word that is not pronounced but affects the pronunciation of the preceding vowel.

Example: 'cake'.

The silent 'e' makes the 'a' in 'rate' pronounced as a long vowel sound, /eɪ/.

The silent 'e' changes the short vowel sound 'o' in 'hop' to a long vowel sound 'o' in 'hope'.

1. time 2. drive 3. home.

If a word ends with a silent 'e', you typically just add 's' (e.g., 'cake' becomes 'cakes'). If it ends with a consonant before the 'e', you add 'es' (e.g., 'box' becomes 'boxes').

The silent 'e' indicates that the 'i' is pronounced as a long vowel sound, /aɪ/.