MTTC 103 Elementary Practice

In the context of the word "clap," the "cl" represents the onset of the syllable. An onset is the initial consonant sound or sounds of a syllable that precede the vowel. In "clap," the vowel sound is "a," and "cl" comes before it, making it the onset for this syllable. Understanding the structure of syllables is essential in phonics and literacy development, as it helps children grasp how words are formed and how to decode them.

The other terms do have specific meanings in linguistic studies. A syllable would refer to the whole unit "clap," not just the initial sounds. A phoneme refers to the smallest distinct units of sound in a word—in this case, "c," "l," "a," and "p" are individual phonemes. The rime consists of the vowel and any following consonants within a syllable; for "clap," the rime would be "ap." This clarification on the structure of syllables highlights why "cl" accurately fits as the onset in the word "clap."