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IN a recent study by the writer<sup>1</sup>, subjects were required to search through a passage of prose crossing out all the letters â eâ . The â e'sâ which remained uncancelled were analysed and the following conclusions were drawn. (1) Silent â e'sâ were more likely to remain uncancelled than pronounced â e'sâ . (2) The actual pronunciation of the â eâ , for example, /з/ as in were, /ε/ as in set or /i/ as in seat, did not appear to influence the probability that the â eâ would be missed. (3) The later the â eâ appeared in a word the more likely it was to remain undetected; and (4) the â eâ in â theâ was very likely to be missed (32 per cent, compared with 4 per cent for pronounced â e'sâ and 15 per cent for silent â e'sâ ). |
