Is the H silent in huge?
When people do it, they aren’t just randomly or lazily leaving off a sound. This “h“-dropping occurs in a specific environment—only in words that start with a “hyu.” If they drop it in huge, they also drop it in humor, humid, humiliation, humongous, and Hugh.
How do you say down?
Is the L silent in calm?
The answer is the year 1066 and 2000 years of invasions, occupations, and political complexities that go far beyond “correctness.” “Calm” does, in fact, have a silent L because of 1066; however, in some regions it has a lightly pronounced L. Why? Because that’s how language works naturally over time.
Is the T silent in exactly?
When the T and D sounds come between two other consonant sounds, many Americans will drop them. But when we add the -ly ending, it now comes between two consonants. You’ll hear a lot of native speakers say ‘exactly‘, with no T sound. Exactly, exactly.