Why do many words have silent letters when even without them the word would sound the same, like ‘island’ and many others.

Question

I tried asking my English teacher back in school but even she did not have an answer.

In: 157

Answer 1

English is not a language of unique origin. Certainly not American English. Rather, a collection of words most commonly used from other more unique languages, if not languages with distinct origins.

What letters are silent in one language are not in others, some words that should have had silent letters were spoken with the letter by mistake, opinions about what words should sound like changed, and the spelling of words changed over time.

Before the printing press, spelling was loose at best or personal preference at its worse.