What is the standard distinction between a consonant blend and a consonant digraph?

• A. Consonant Blend is when 2+ consonants are blended together, but each sound may be heard in the blend; a consonant digraph is when 2 consonants stand together to represent a single sound.
• B. Consonant Blend represents a single sound; consonant digraph preserves separate sounds.
• C. Consonant Blend involves vowels only; a digraph involves consonants only.
• D. Consonant Blend and Digraph are the same concept.

Answer: (A)

The main idea is that two or more consonants that appear together can either keep their separate sounds or combine to make one sound. A consonant blend is when you can hear each consonant’s sound in the blend, even though they come together—for example, the /b/ and /l/ in "blue" or the /s/ and /t/ in "stop." A consonant digraph, on the other hand, is two consonants that work together to produce a single sound, so you don’t hear two separate consonants—like "sh" in "ship" (/ʃ/), "ch" in "chair" (/tʃ/), or "ph" in "phone" (/f/).

So the distinction is about whether the sounds stay separate (blend) or come together as one sound (digraph). The other descriptions either mix up the ideas or misstate what happens with the sounds.