river — Choose from the options lettered A - E the one that has the same consonant sound as the one…

Analyze the question: The word is "river", and the underlined letter is not shown. In a word like "river", the likely underlined consonant is r (/r/). The question asks which option has the same consonant sound as the underlined letter.

Concept: In English, /r/ is pronounced when it comes before a vowel sound. In standard British English (the model for Nigerian exams), "r" is silent when it comes after a vowel and is not followed by a vowel.

Check each option:

• A. barn: the "r" is followed by "n", a consonant, so it is silent in British English.
• B. bird: the "r" is followed by "d", so it is silent.
• C. cart: the "r" is followed by "t", so it is silent.
• D. girl: the "r" is followed by "l", so it is silent.
• E. piracy /ˈpaɪrəsi/: the "r" comes before the vowel /ə/, so it is pronounced as /r/.

The /r/ in "river" (/ˈrɪvə/) is pronounced, so the match is the option where "r" is also pronounced.

Answer: E (piracy)

Note: The underlined letter was not shown in your question. If it was the "v" in "river", none of the options contain a /v/ sound, so the "r" is the only sensible reading.

Tip: In British English, "r" is only pronounced when a vowel sound follows it. Words like barn, bird, cart and girl have a silent "r", while words like river, piracy, red and very have a pronounced "r".