Does poured have two syllables or one?

Answer 1

One syllable. It is important to remember that syllables are identified based on how they sound, not on how they are spelled. As a general rule, you may consider a syllable to be a part of a word in which the sound is uninterrupted and is distinct from the other parts.

The word "poured" is a single-syllable word because when it is spoken, the sound of the word is unobstructed - i.e., the sound flows from beginning to end without interruption from harsh sounding consonants. A few examples of single-syllable words that end in -ed include loved, liked, worked, forced, looked, ripped, trimmed, wrapped, cured, grieved, and walked.

In contrast, the word "tested" is a two-syllable word because the e in -ed is emphasized when spoken, resulting in an interruption to the flow of the word's pronunciation similar to the interruption that occurs when pronouncing compound words. A few examples of two-syllable words include hated, acted, tasted, added, doted, fainted, parted, cited, sorted, and mended.