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I am very interested to find out a rule which can help me to pronounce correctly the words which contain the letter "i".

For example: nine vs. injury vs. provide... These are some examples which put me in difficulty when I try speaking in English.

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You're looking at the wrong letter.

Nine and provide are both examples of the silent E rule.

In a nutshell, in many words where there is another vowel preceding the E in the same syllable, the E is not pronounced. Instead, the other vowel is pronounced with its long sound. This is idiomatically described as "the other vowel says its own name."

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  • The problem is, one, there are several exceptions to the long E rule. Chlorine, have, were, are, done, minute (as unit of time, not as in meaning "small"), ... and two, the term "long vowels" is very misleading.
    – Nihilist_Frost
    Jan 25, 2016 at 20:28
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    @Nihilist_Frost That's why I said "in many words". English is a language of exceptions, but the rules still generally hold.
    – GalacticCowboy
    Jan 25, 2016 at 20:43

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