Make sounds but not a word

There are quite a few unusual terms bandied around in phonics, and these often muddy the waters and make it harder for parents and often teachers to understand how to teach it. The word ‘blending’ is definitely something you will hear a lot, but what exactly is it?

Blending in phonics is combining broken up sounds to make a word. For example, you hear ‘p-i-g’ and you merge these sounds together to make the single word ‘pig’. It is a key skill of early reading.

I have taught children between the ages of 3 to 5 over the last ten years, and I can categorically say that blending has been the biggest barrier to early reading I have seen (particularly for the 5 year olds). Many children learn lots of sounds, but then get completely stuck as they can’t do anything with them. The thing these children have not yet mastered is blending.

This article looks at what blending is, and the best possible ways to teach it. These things can be done at home just as much as at nursery or school. With just a few simple pointers most children can find success with blending, and become confident readers.

Blending is a merging of the phonemes (sounds) that you hear in a split-up form. For example, you hear ‘c-a-t’ and merge it together to make the word ‘cat’.

What is a phoneme? The simple answer is that it is the sound that a letter makes. To read a full guide on what phonemes are then check this out.

There are two main types of blending – oral blending, and blending for reading.

Oral blending is merging the sounds you hear together in your head. You hear the sounds and say the word.

Blending for reading, involves first sounding out the word. You see a written word, e.g. ‘dog’. You say the sounds ‘d-o-g’ and then you are able to ‘blend’ them into the word ‘dog’.

As you can see the skill is basically the same thing – it is just done in a different context.

The idea is to start children off with oral blending. This is done with lots of fun games and activities, some of which I will describe in a few moments.

When children are getting reasonably skilful at these games, the next step is to attempt blending for reading. To do this stage, children will have to first know at least a few letters, probably ideally at least the first six which are normally – s, a, t, p ,i ,n.

When To Start Teaching Oral Blending

A key thing in teaching phonics is doing things at the right time. If you start children with blending when they are ready to do so, then many will learn in just a few days.

However, if you start too early it becomes a long drawn-out and grim process, and you can encounter lots of problems such as children beginning to guess or becoming fatigued with the whole process.

The best time to start oral blending is when children can:

1. Join in with simple listening games
2. Have some simple awareness of alliteration and rhyme
3. Know some simple songs and chants
4. Differentiate the sounds instruments make
5. Can hear rhythm in spoken words

It is to be honest not an exact science in knowing when a child will be able to blend or not. But if they are confident in lots of areas of early phonics, then they are probably ready to give it a go.

A few games that are an indicator of if a child is ready are some of these:

• A child can copy an instrument when the same instrument is played out of sight
• A child can fill in a missing word of a rhyming string that they know. For example, miss out a word of a rhyming song and see if they fill in the missing word
• They can hit the sllables in words on drums or rhythm sticks

If you’d like to find some more examples of games you can try for early phonics, then why not check out some of these articles:

• Rhythm Sticks Games – The Essential Guide

• Ten Terrific Alliteration Ideas

How To Teach Oral Blending

There are lots of exciting games you can play to get children going with blending.

The important thing is to make it fun, and bring it to life in different ways. Here are some excellent ways to get going:

Blending Stories

This is definitely my number one way to start. The idea of this strategy is that you need some kind of puppet. It could be anything – a teddy, or a toy, or a finger puppet, or some kind of larger puppet.

I love to use this monkey:

The idea is that the puppet tells a simple story. In every sentence of the story, the puppet will split up one word in sound talk, and the children try to guess what it is saying.

An example might be ‘Today Max the Monkey went on the b-u-s. Where did he go?’ Hopefully some children can hear that it is bus. (Even if they can’t just keep going – some will start to get it in the end after you have done this kind of story a few times)

‘On the bus he saw a p-i-g. What did he see?’ (a ‘pig’)

‘The pig was eating some bread and j-a-m. What was he eating?’

The idea of this game is that it gives children some context. The more clues you can give to children at this stage the better. Success breeds success!

I would do this puppet game every day for at least a week when you start off, and probably longer. The more repetition you can do with blending the better. A little and often approach is definitely the way to go.

Puppets are a fantastic resource for teaching many skills (check out my favorite 22 puppet games here).

Dress The Baby

They really love this one! The beauty of this game is that it has a baby in it, and babies are one of the most exciting things ever!

Have a baby and some pieces of clothing to put on the baby. It’s good if you select some clothing that is easy to sound out, things like a ‘sock,’ ‘hat’, and ‘coat.’

Pick a child to go first, and say ‘Can you put on the baby’s s-o-ck?’

See if they can put the sock on. Then say things like ‘c-oa-t’ etc. This game is great because there are only a few options. Also repeat it a few times and many will start to know how to blend the clothing choices.

Grumpy Cat Game

All you need for this game is some kind of evil looking animal. I used to use an old bull-dog toy. These days I use this Grumpy Cat:

Get the children to stand up. The grumpy cat then gives orders. He does so in really bossy sound-talk with an angry voice!

For example, he says things like ‘Put your hands on your h-ea-d! Put your finger on your ch-ee-k!’

The children try to do what he says!

How To Teach Blending For Reading

When children have got at least started with oral blending, the next step is to begin using this skill to read words. There are many tried and tested strategies that will really help, and once again these are easily tried out in either school or at home.

Here are some the most popular strategies:

Sound Buttons

These are quite simply round dots that you put below each phoneme to be sounded out. For example, the word ‘sit’ would look like this with sounds buttons:

The idea is that you teach the children to point to one button at a time, and when you press it you say the ‘sound’ – ‘s-i-t’. Then you put your finger back to the ‘s’ button and sweep under as you say the word – ‘sit’. This takes lots of practice, repetition, and modelling.

Phoneme Frames

These are another brilliant way to start children off with blending for reading.

A phoneme frame is quite simply a rectangular grid. It usually has 2 or three boxes. In each box you put one phoneme that will make a word.

Here is an example of a phoneme frame:

Phoneme frames provide a visual structure to build and then read words.

They are great to use with different random objects with sounds written on, for example stones, shells, bottle tops or wooden slices.

The frame itself could be painted or drawn on wood, on a whiteboard, on material, paper or card.

Different games you can do to start you off with blending include:

1. Build a word. The children try to copy a word that an adult shows them, and then sound it out.
2. The adult sounds out a word, and the children try to build it and then read it

If you want to find out more about phoneme frames then check out this definitive guide on what they are and how to use them.

Fun Reading Games

There are many ways of brining life to the process of blending for reading by tapping into children’s interests.

For example, if they love aliens, you could make these fantastic CVC aliens out of playdough and lolly (popsicle) sticks:

If they are a fan of trains, then why not put sounds on a track, and try to blend the word as the train runs over it?

If you want to find out some other ways of motivating young children, then check out this definitive guide.

Feed The Shark

This is a great posting game, perfect for children that like sticking things into holes!

Have some CVC words written on small pieces of paper. Have a box that has been decorated to look like a shark, with a mouth cut out. The idea is to ‘feed the shark!’

Read a word and post it into its mouth. (It doesn’t have to be just a shark, but could be a T-Rex, or a tiger, or anything else that likes eating lots)

Top Tips For Blending

Here are some crucial pointers to follow to make the process of learning to blend a reasonably swift and pain-free one. Of course it won’t be like this for all children, but if you can follow these guidelines you will be preparing for success for most:

1.Start At The Right Time

This is critical. Start when you think children have a fighting chance of doing it.

2. Commit

This is really important too. As educators we have to be resilient when teaching blending.

The first few times you try to introduce blending you will doubtless get some blank looks. This is completely normal. Blending is quite an abstract skill, and takes a bit of getting used to.

Commit! When you start, keep going. After a few days hopefully some children will start to get it. Then hopefully it will snowball and others will get involved too.

If you are a parent, the same applies. Your child almost certainly won’t get it straight away, but keep going and they should be able to pick it up. That light-bulb moment is an amazing thing to see, and the most important point in early reading.

3. Do It Every Day

A ‘little and often’ approach is definitely the way to go.

It is best to do blending for at least a few minutes every day, but do it daily. This will work much better than doing it for twenty minutes a day, once a week.

Children need time to get their heads round this, and daily practice is key.

4. Repeat Everything!

Repeat, repeat, repeat!

This means do the same games a few times. Don’t just do a story one day, grumpy cat the next, and then move onto something else. 

Do a game for a few days at least. The more you do it the better the children become. Of course, the thing to watch out for is if they are getting bored. Try to avoid that! But as long as they are still enjoying the game, then do it a few times.

Also repeat words when you blend them. Don’t just say them once. Repeat them a few times so children get to grips with what is going on.

5. Bring It To Life

Use puppets, dances, and toys! Any drama you can think of to jazz the whole process up is definitely the way to go.

6.Give As Many Clues As You Can

When you do games, try to get the children to have as much success as they can. Some good ways to do this include:

1. To start with try to say the words quite quick when you split them up. This way they almost sound like the word. You can slow it down a bit as they get better
2. Use games with a few objects. This limits the number of words that you are blending and so they have a higher chance of guessing the right word

Issues To Look Out For

There are a few common stumbling blocks that it is worth looking out for. Some of these include:

1.Guessing

This is the biggest problem to avoid. You never want children to guess.

For example, in a group activity, if you say ‘The fox ran up the ‘h-i-ll’ – some children might call out ‘street’.

This can be dangerous, particularly if the child is quite loud or influential in the group. Others will start to copy, and could become guessers too, even if they were starting to blend before this.

Try and stop this if you can. Model how to blend the answer, and all practise saying the correct word several times.

If you have an extremely loud guesser, it may be a good idea to remove them for the group for these blending activities and do some 1-to-1 work with another adult on this skill (if this is a possibility).

2.Not Articulating Sounds Clearly

This is a speech and language issue, that can have quite an effect on a child’s ability to blend.

Sometimes children can ‘hear’ the right word, but sometimes they can’t say it. This is less of a problem, and won’t have much impact on reading.

The bigger problem is where they ‘hear’ the sounds wrongly, and this impacts on them not being able to blend or say words.

The only way round this is through speech and language games and therapy. Early phonics games are also excellent for developing the correct speech articulation of sounds.

3. Getting The End Sound Wrong

This is an issue for lots of children. They hear ‘p-i-g’ but say ‘pit’ or something similar.

The thing here is that they are not far away. They are on the path to mastering blending, so just keep going with the practice.

Some Questions About Blending Answered

Should You Teach Blending Or Segmenting First?

I would say the answer to this is definitely blending.

I wouldn’t start with blending and segmenting at the same time. This can be quite confusing.

The best way is to pick one, teach that, and then start the other skill about a month later.

I would start with blending because I think the emphasis in phonics to start with is definitely reading. The process is normally speaking then reading then writing. So build up oral blending skills first, then move on to blending for reading. Segmenting should come slightly later (though most children will be ready for both at the same time).

For a full guide on this question, then check this article out.

What Age Should Children Begin To Blend?

This is really dependent on different children.

I have seen some three year olds start to blend, but this is quite unusual.

For most children, they are ready to do it somewhere between the age of 4 to 5. Some children may be 6 or even older.

Children with special needs may be significantly older than this, or never really learn the skill.

What’s The Difference Between Blending And Segmenting?

Blending is the key skill for reading, and segmenting is the crucial part of writing.

Blending is merging the sounds to make words. For example, you hear ‘d-o-g’ and combine it to make ‘dog’.

Segmenting is separating words up into their sounds. For example, for the word ‘pig’, you split it up into its sounds – ‘p-i-g. Pig!’

Conclusion

I hope this article has really helped you understand what blending is and also how to teach it.

Behind the confusing terminology of phonics, most of the ideas and processes are quite straight forward. All that is required is just a bit of imagination and a few fun games to spark the children’s interest.

Good luck with blending! It really is the key skill of early reading for many children, but if they master this then often there is no stopping them in becoming independent and successful readers.

READ MORE

What is segmenting in phonics? The complete guide

How to teach ‘tricky’ words – 12 games that work!

Vowel reading rules in English

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Today let’s talk about rules for reading vowels in Englishyou need to know in order to successfully master both the oral and written aspects.

First, let’s review the English alphabet and do it using a nursery rhyme. I think rap style fans will especially like it! It is great if you add some of the typical movements that are typical of this style of music during your performance.

Alphabet song

AA, B, C, D, E

stand up and look at me.

F, G, H, I, J

I play football every day.

K, L, M, N, O

I Cake of All.

P, Q, R, S, T

Hey people, listen to me.

U, V, W, X, Y, Z

The alphabet is in my head!

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As you may have noticed, in the English alphabet 26 letters: 6 vowels и 20 consonants.

They form 44 sound: 20 vowels and 24 consonants.

Vowel sounds are divided into:

• short [i], [e], [ɔ], [u], [ʌ], [æ], [ǝ]
• long [i:], [ɜ:], [ɔ:], [u:], [a:]
• diphthongs [ei], [ai], [ɔi], [iǝ], [ǝu], [au], [ɛǝ], [aiǝ], [auǝ]

The difficulty is that vowels are read differently, depending on which syllable the vowel occurs in.

It is generally accepted that in English there is 4 types of syllables.

Let’s analyze each of them, noting the characteristic features.

French Alphabet

I type of syllable (vowel + consonant + vowel):

open, vowel reads like this, how is shecalled in the alphabet… We consider only the striking position.

In words like bake, smile, Rope, tube— final «e» not pronounced, it is called dumb (mute buttonletter).

 Monosyllabic words like we, go, hi, my are also of the first type.

Samples

a[ei] — name, face, cake, make, bake, take, mistake, lake, snake, lazy, crazy, nature, cage, potato

e [i:] — Egypt, Greece, tree, free, three, street, green, sleep, meter, fever, emu, lemur, he, she, we

i [ai] — five, nine,, ride a bike, drive, smile, time, nice, kite, diving, pine, spider, tiger, white

o [ǝu] — nose, rose, home, hope, rope, stone, sofa, notebook, October, composer, phone, model

u [ju:] — Pupil, Student, Tulip, Computer, Cucumber, Excuse, Music, Cuba, Future, Huge, Tube, Blue

y [ai] — why, sky, cry, spy, dry, fly, butterfly, my, shy, type, style, to rely on, July, xylophone by

IIsyllable type (vowel + consonant + consonant):

closed, vowel readable briefly. We consider only the striking position. The lexical meaning of the word depends on the length and brevity of the pronunciation of the sound in English. For example, take words like sheep (I type of syllable [ʃi: p]) and ship (II type of syllable [ʃip]).

Correct

There is a sheep On the meadow.

There is a ship in the sea

Incorrect

There is a ship On the meadow.

There is a sheep in the sea

(The poor lamb got it!)

Samples

a [æ] —  black, happy, cabbage, carrot, rabbit, daddy, granny, gallery, Africa, hand, cap, cat, map

e [e] — red, December, letter, kettle, pen, pencil, desk, address, left, cherry, chess, egg, hen, ten

i [i] — Pink, Six, Fifty, Little, Big, Pig, Spring, Winter, King, Finger, Kitchen, Milk, Fish, Children

o [ɔ] — golden, fox, dolphin, dog, hospital, doctor, bottle, box, clock, hobby, coffee, concert

u[ʌ] — summer, butter, hundred, number, brush, duck, club, jump, lunch, plum, mushroom, cup

y [i] — gym, gymnastics, lynx, myth, mystery, symbol, symphony, symptom, syllable, system

IIIsyllable type (vowel + r + consonant):

vowel is read long… Long sounds are indicated by two dots «:» to the right of the sound sign. We consider only the striking position.

Letter «r« in this type of syllable is not pronounced.

Monosyllabic words like jar, bar, here , sir, fur are also of the third type.

Samples

ar [a:] — farmer, garden, party, car, scar, bar, barber, marmalade, shark, garlic, parsley, starling

er [ɜ:] — Advertisement, Person, Perfect, University, To Prefer, Dessert, Germany, Term, Interpreter

ir [ɜ:] — bird, girl, the first, the third, thirteen, thirty, birthday, shirt, T-shirt, circus, skirt, sir, fir

or [ɔ:] — pork, orchard, orchestra, order, orchid, (un) fortunately, divorce, enormous, immortal

ur [ɜ:] — curl (y), curds, curtain, to disturb, purple, Thursday, turnip, windsurfing, surface, hurt

yr [ɜ:] — martyr (martyr), myrrh (myrrh), Kyrgyz, Kyrgyzstan

IVsyllable type (vowel + r + vowel):

reading like diphthongs. Diphthongs are combinations of two vowel sounds, the first of which is pronounced more energetically than the second. We consider only the striking position. In some words, the letter «r» is not pronounced, while in others it makes the sound [r].

Samples

are [ɛǝ] — parents, care, rarely, various, to compare, scarecrow, canary, malaria, square, share

ere [iǝ] — Here, Imperial, Serious, Mysterious, Nigeria, Serial, Sincere, Zero, Hero, Cereal, Interfere

ire [aiǝ] — tired, retired, to admire, desire, Ireland, iron, environment, requirement, biro, virus

or [ɔ:] — Ore, Store, Snore, Score, Bore, BORING, Shore, To IGNORE, To Explore, Story, Storey, Glory

ure [juǝ] — pure, cure, curable, incurable, during, Europe, euro, curious, mural (fresco), security

yre [aiǝ] — lyre (lyre), tire (US — tire tire), tyrant (tyrant), papyrus (papyrus)

Important! Research shows that total 30% words English can be read using the rules above; rest 70% words — historically developed vocabulary. Therefore, I strongly recommend actively using dictionaries in the process of learning English.

 I think the article is about rules for reading vowels in English will be useful for those who plan to take the exam in English. In the oral part of the exam there is a task in which you need to read the proposed passage of text (1.5 minutes), observing all the rules for reading vowels and consonants.

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Source: http://smashtrash.ru/pravila-chteniya/pravila-chteniya-glasnykh-v-angliyskom-ya.html

Rules for reading vowels in English in tables with examples

It is believed that reading in English is a rather difficult skill for the simple reason that there is no rigid system of reading rules in English and letters, in particular vowels, can be read differently depending on their position in a word or in a syllable. In this post, I will cover the rules for reading vowels in English with examples.

English vowels and reading features

There are 6 vowels in the English alphabet. But the sounds they transmit are many times more — there are 20 of them in total (including long vowels).

Vowels:

• A — hey
• E — and
• I — ay
• O — oh
• U — u
• Y — wye

The English language is characterized by the presence of diphthongs.

Diphthongs — these are sounds, when pronounced, one vowel sound passes into another, that is, in fact, they are pronounced as two sounds.

For example, the word in the word home, the vowel o is read as «oh», that is, in fact, it forms two sounds [əʊ]. The same with the word house, where the combination of letters «ou» reads «ay» and gives a double sound [aʊ].

Do not confuse diphthongs with two letter combinations. For example, in the word head there are two vowels in a row, but the combination of letters «ea» is read as «e», that is, we get a single sound [e].

Thus, vowels in English can be read as in the alphabet, and convey a number of other sounds.

Rules for reading English vowels and vowel combinations

For convenience, I will give tables for each letter with examples, descriptions and reading in Russian. In Russian, of course, it is impossible to convey the exact reading of this or that sound, but I will write approximately.

For correct reading, it is important to know such concepts as closed and open syllables.

Closed syllable in English, this is the syllable that ends in a consonant a letter… For example maponn, fatherg, bead and so on.

Open syllable — a syllable that ends in a vowel a letter… For example, take, py, bike and so on.

Please note that the syllable must end with a vowel or consonant, not a sound. That is, if in English at the end of a word there is e mute, then the syllable is considered open.

Letter A

Sound in transcription and its reading in Russian	Examples
In a closed syllable — [æ] — э	Map, cap, pack, black, flag
In an open syllable — [ei] — heyreading as in the alphabet	Name, game, flame, table, lake, pay
In a closed syllable followed by r — sound [a:] like russian а, long	Car, bar, jar, start, farmer
In an open syllable followed by r — diphthong [eǝ] — ea	Care, rare, prepare

Letter E

Sound in transcription and its reading in Russian	Examples
In a closed syllable — [e] — e	Red, vet, set, tell
In an open syllable — [i:] — and long	Meter, complete
At the end of words e is not readable in English, but affects the reading of the word	Table, plate, take For example, the words cap and cape — in the first case we read «cap», since the syllable is closed, in the second case, «cap», since the syllable is open
In short, monosyllabic words, these are mainly service parts of speech, e at the end of a word is read if it is the only vowel in the word and gives [i:] i.e и long	He, she, we, me, be
In an open syllable followed by r — diphthong [iǝ] — ia	Here, sphere, severe

Letter I

Sound in transcription and its reading in Russian	Examples
In a closed syllable — [i] — and	Sick, tip, limp, kit, trick
In an open syllable — [ai] — aylike in the alphabet	Life, mine, line, pipe, time, kite
In a closed syllable followed by the letter r — [ə:] — similar to Russian ё, long sound	Girl, bird, third, dirty, sir, first
In an open syllable followed by a letter r — [aiǝ] — aye	Fire, tires

Letter O

Sound in transcription and its reading in Russian	Examples
In a closed syllable — [ɔ] — oh	Fog, nod, lock, log, got
In an open syllable — [əu] — oh	Rope, nose, toe, vote
In a closed and open syllable followed by a letter r — [ɔ:]—о long	Nor, born, corn, torn, more, core
In an unstressed syllable — [ə] — uh, the sound is drop-out, therefore it sounds indistinct and short, fluently, for example, lemon is not a lemon or a lamen, but a lamn with a slightly audible «e» between «m» and «n»	lemon, melon

In some cases, the letter «O» can be read like «A» [ʌ], for example, «love». And also like «U» [u], for example, in the word «move». These reading options do not lend themselves to specific rules and logic, so such words need to be memorized.

Letter U

Sound in transcription and its reading in Russian	Examples
In a closed syllable — [ʌ] — a	Cut — «kat», rubber, but, mug, but put reads like «put»
In a closed syllable followed by a letter r — [ə:] — similar to Russian ё, long sound	turn, burnt
In an open syllable after two consonants — [u:] — у long, as well as in an open syllable after j and r	Blue, trueJuly, rule
In an open syllable followed by a letter r —[juə] — yue	Cure, secure, mature
In an open syllable after one consonant (except for j and r) — [ju:] — yu	Tube, mute, cute

Letter Y

Sound in transcription and its reading in Russian	Examples
In a closed syllable — [i] — and	System, sympathy, mystery
In an open stressed syllable — [ai] — ay	Shy, cry, try, my, bye
In an open syllable followed by a letter r —[aiə] — aye	Tire, byre
In an unstressed syllable — [i] — and	Rainy, snowy, crispy
At the beginning of a word before a vowel — [j] — th	Year, yellow, yet, yes

These are the basic rules for reading vowels in English. But do not forget that there are many exceptions to each of these rules.

In subsequent publications, I will cover the rules for reading consonants and letter combinations of vowels and consonants.

Source: https://my-opinion.ru/inostrannye-yazyki/anglijskij/pravila-chteniya-glasnyh-v-tablitsah/

Lesson 8. Pronunciation of consonants [f] and [v]. Closed syllable in English

Hello! In this lesson, we again return to consonant sounds and now we learn to pronounce sounds [f] и [v] and accordingly read the English letters Ff [ef] and Vv [vi]. And let’s also remember what a closed syllable is in English, since this is one of the basic concepts in teaching reading.

So, from lesson number 8 you will learn:

• how to pronounce english consonants [f] и [v] correctly;
• what is a closed syllable in English;
• and repeat how the vowel is read y at the end of the word.

If you have just joined us, then here is a link to the section «Author’s English lessons for teaching reading and pronunciation at the same time»

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Rules for reading letters f and v in English

So, let’s begin! English consonants f и v transmit sounds [f] и [v]. The sounds [f] and [v] are labiodental, that is, to pronounce them, you need bite the lower lip with the upper teeth.

At first glance, the English sounds [f] and [v] are similar to the Russian “f” and “v”. But there is also a significant difference: the English sounds [f] and [v] are long.

To pronounce the English sound [v] correctly, it is necessary to pronounce it for a long time, as, for example, the doubled «v» in the words «up», «introduction».

To pronounce the English sound [f] correctly, bite the lower lip and exhale vigorously. The English sound [f] is very long and strong. In the transcription [f] should be designated [fff].

Listen to how the sounds [f] and [v] are pronounced — HERE

As for the concept of «voiced» — «deaf», the British do not understand at all what it is. They have the concept of «weak» (we call this sound «voiced» in Russian) and the concept of «strong» (we call this sound «dull»).

Now we need to practice a little. Let’s get down to the exercises. After that we will repeat again, how words are divided into syllables, which syllable is in the word MAIN and what is a closed syllable in English.

Now we start working out English sounds [fff] and [vvv]

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Phonetic exercises with audio recording (closed content no.19)

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Description: Access to a course of lessons on teaching reading in English and pronunciation at the same time. 50% discount until 01.01.2020/XNUMX/XNUMX. Author T.V. Nabeeva

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What is a closed syllable in English?

If you learn English from scratch on our website, then from lesson number 6 you learned what the third type of syllable is in English. Now we’ll talk about how words are divided into syllables. (1)which syllable in the word is the most important (2) и what is a closed syllable in English(3) (it was already mentioned in lesson 1)

(1) So, words are divided into syllables by the number of vowels… That is, how many vowels there are in a word, there are so many syllables in it. Take a word for example, happy Doubled consonant p divides a word into two syllables.

`hap — py

1. hap — this syllable ends with a consonant sound, and is called closed;
2. py — this syllable, ends in a vowel sound, and is called open.

(2) The main thing is the STRICT syllable. It is in it that the vowel sound is read according to the rules that you have already learned. By the way, I remind you that the unstressed letter y at the end of a word reads like [i], for example, party [`pa: ti]

(3) A closed syllable is a syllable that ends in a consonant.

Now let’s remember the passed rules for reading vowels in a closed syllable in English:

a is readAs [æ]. Examples. hat, happy

e readAs [e]. Examples. men, mental

i, y are readAs [i]. Examples. kit, kitty

u readAs [ʌ]. Examples. bud, buddy

0 is often read as [ʌ]. Examples. love, glove, lovely.

NOTE. How to read the vowel Oo in a closed syllable, you will learn further — Lesson number 9. Reading the English letter Oo in a closed syllable.

NOTE. Sonorous consonants m, n, l — also form a syllable, because they can be pulled. Try saying [mmmm], [nnnn], [llll]. Therefore, in the word apple there are two syllables: ap-ple (the second syllable is a sonor consonant — l).

Also, remember, in English vowel e at the end of a word NEVER readable.

Once there is closed syllable, then, accordingly, there is open syllable, but you will learn about it in the following lessons. For now, let’s figure out how unstressed vowels are read in English.

 * * *

The rule of reading an unstressed vowel in English

So, as a rule, there is usually one stressed syllable in a word, in which the vowel is read according to the rules, then a logical question arises: how is an unstressed vowel read?

In English there is a universal sound similar to the Russian «e» — [ə]… This is the most common sound, as it is read in all unstressed syllables. This sound is called «Seam». Sometimes it is replaced by the sound [i], as, for example, in the words above.

Exercise 5. Read two-syllable words with learned sounds:

apple, badly, balcony, happy, garden, party, hardly, carpet, dummy, funny, muddy, puppy, lovely, kitty, ditty, mitten, kitten, affect, Betty, heaven [`hevən]

Exercise 6. Finally, memorize a few English phrases:

1. Have fun! — Have fun!
2. Have tea. — Have some tea.
3. Keep fit. — Keep in shape.
4. Be happy! — Be happy!

Let’s sum up the results of the eighth lesson from the cycle «Teaching reading in English and pronunciation at the same time», from which you learned and hopefully remembered that:

1. words are divided into syllables by the number of vowels;
2. closed is a syllable that ends in a consonant;
3. in a closed stressed syllable, the vowel is read according to the rules that must be memorized;
4. in unstressed syllables, the vowel reads like [ə] or [i]. So, for example, the unstressed letter y at the end of a word it reads like [i].

* * *

And of course you now know how to pronounce sounds [f] и [v] in english is correct.

Lesson 9. Pronunciation of the English vowel [ɒ]. Reading the English letter O in a closed syllable. You will learn how to pronounce the very English sound [ɒ] and how to read the vowel Oo in a closed syllable. 

Source: http://englishstory.ru/urok-8-proiznoshenie-soglasnyih-zvukov-f-i-v-ponyatie-o-zakryitom-sloge.html

What are the syllables in English

The English alphabet has six vowels, but individually and in combination with each other, they form more than two dozen sounds, including diphthongs. The reading of a vowel depends on the letters adjacent to it and on the type of syllable in which it is located.

Open syllable

A syllable is considered open if it ends in a vowel (to-tal, ri-val, bi-ble, mo-tor). The vowel in this case gives a long sound — that is, it is read as in the alphabet. Words with a dumb «e» also belong to this type. For example:

• take [teɪk]
• Pete[pi:t]
• kite [kaɪt]
• nose [nəʊz]
• cute [kju: t]

Some monosyllabic words also represent open syllables. For example, me, she, he and no, so, go.

Closed syllable

The closed syllable is the most common spelling unit of the English language; it makes up about 50% of the syllables in the text. A closed syllable ends in one or more consonants, and the vowel is read briefly in this case.

In English, there are many closed-type monosyllabic words (cat, pin, hen). If a suffix starting with a vowel is added to them, the consonant in front of it is doubled. This is done in order to avoid changing the sound. For example:

• hat [hæt] — hatter
• pin [pɪn] — pinned
• hot [hɒt] — hottest
• red [red] — reddish
• cut [kʌt] — cutting

The syllable «vowel + r»

The third type of syllable is one in which the vowel is followed by the letter «r». The vowel makes a long sound, and the «r» itself is unreadable (in British English).

• car [kɑː]
• herb [hɜːb]
• girl [ɡɜːl]
• form [fɔːm]
• turn [tɜːn]

The doubled «r» does not affect the sound of the vowel. In this case, the syllable is read as closed. Compare:

• smirk [sməːk] — mirror [ˈmɪrə]
• curl [kəːl] — current [ˈkʌr (ə) nt]
• port [pɔːt] — torrent [ˈtɒr (ə) nt]

The syllable «vowel + re»

In a syllable of this type, the letter «r» is also not read, and the vowel forms a diphthong.

• dare [deə]
• mere [mɪə]
• hire [ˈhaɪə]
• core [kɔː]
• pure [pjʊə]

The syllable «consonant + le»

Sometimes this syllable stands out separately — it occurs only at the end of a word. If -le is preceded by one consonant, the syllable is read as open. If there are two consonants in front of -le, it is read as closed. Compare:

• table [ˈteɪbl] — dabble [dæbl], title [ˈtaɪtl] — little [ˈlɪtl]
• bugle [bju: gl] — struggle [ˈstrʌɡl], rifle [ˈraɪfl] — sniffle [ˈsnɪfl]

Not every consonant is found in combination with -Le… Here are the ones that are typical for the English language:

• -ble (bubble) -fle (rifle) -stle (whistle) -cle (cycle)
• -gle (bugle) -tle (brittle) -ckle (pickle) -kle (tinkle)
• -zle (dazzle) -dle (bridle) -ple (staple)

Vowel combinations (digraphs)

A digraph is a combination of two letters that are pronounced as one sound. In the case of vowels, it can be a long, short sound or a diphthong. Most often, digraphs are found in old Anglo-Saxon words, the pronunciation of which has undergone changes over hundreds of years: thief, boil, hay, boat, straw. They are read according to special rules, but there are many exceptions to them, so these words need to be learned gradually and systematically.

Basic vowel digraphs

Spelling	Pronunciation	Examples
ai / ay	[eɪ]	bait, hay
au / aw	[ɔː]	taunt, draw
ea	[i:]	meat, deal
[e]	bread, steady
ee	[i:]	feed, reel
ei	[eɪ]	feint, vein
[i:] (after c)	ceiling, receive
eu / ew	[ju:]	Feud, Strewn
ie	[i:]	thief, priest
oa	[əʊ]	coat, goal
oi / oy	[ɔɪ]	coin, toy
oo	[u:]	root, food
[ʊ] (before k)	book, look
ou	[aʊ]	loud, noun
[u:]	soup, ghoul
ow	[aʊ]	cow, howl
[oʊ]	know, low

Source: https://skyeng.ru/articles/kakie-byvayut-slogi-v-anglijskom-yazyke

Vowels in English: Reading and Sounds — English in 5 Steps

Before teaching you to read vowels in English, I should note that due to its history, English has a sufficient number of exception words from almost every reading rule.

It just doesn’t make sense to list them all, but I offer you, dear readers, the following interactive: remembered the word exception for a particular item — wrote it down in the comments with translation (the most advanced can write with transcription).

Let’s help each other know the language better!

And, of course, I cannot help but warn you: in this rule there will be many transcription icons. Realizing that you are just learning, I duplicate it in Russian letters, but I do not recommend doing this all the time, and in one of the following articles I will explain why. If transcription is still too much for you, here you can make sure it’s not that hard to remember.

Vowels in English: reading open and closed syllables

Syllables are open and closed. An open syllable ends in a vowel. Closed — to a consonant. In this case, consonants work as locks (close a syllable), and vowels as keys (open a syllable). Thus, if there is a vowel after the last consonant in a syllable, the syllable is still considered open.

cat — closed syllable — at the end the consonant letter Tt;

name is an open syllable, because after the consonant «Mm» (lock) there is a vowel «Ee» (key), which, as it were, opens the syllable to us.

Reading vowels

In an open syllable, the stressed vowel is read as in the alphabet, and in a closed syllable it is read short. Each vowel has its own sound for the stressed closed syllable.

If there are two vowels in a stressed syllable, read the first as in an open syllable.

hear — [hiə] — [hia] to hear: the letter Ee is read as in an open syllable, the sound ə gives the buva Rr.

Lean — [li: n] — [liin] — lean against:: the letter Ee is read as in an open syllable

boat — [bout] — [boat] boat: the letter Oo is read as in the alphabet.

The Rr letter and vowels in English

The letter K affects the reading of vowels. So, in a closed syllable before Rr:

EUI vowels are read as [ɜ:] — a sound similar to [ё], only without the [th] overtones at the beginning.

girl — [gɜ: l] — [gol] — girl; burn [bɜ: n] — [ben] -burn; nerd [nɜ: d] — [nёd] -sound.

The vowels O and A stretch: read as [Ͻ:] and [a:]

car — [kа:] — [kаa] car; lord — [lϽ:d] — [lood] lord

All you need is love!

The vowel Aa before the letter Ll at the beginning of a word is often read as [Ͻ:]

always [Ͻ: lweiz] — [olways] -always, also [Ͻ: lsə] — [olso] — also, ball [bϽ: l] — [bol] — ball

Author of the material Kondratenko Anna

Source: https://eng5steps.ru/chtenie-na-angliyskom-glasniye/

Vowels and Sounds — Lesson 2 — English from scratch

Continuing the theme of the previous lesson about the alphabet about letters and sounds, it is worth deepening your knowledge of reading the vowels of the English alphabet. After all, they make up almost half of the total number of all sounds.

General concept of vowel sounds

As mentioned earlier, there are 20 vowel sounds, while there are only 6 vowel letters themselves. This is not easy to put into the understanding of a Russian-speaking person, because there is no such thing in Russian. Wider variety of vowels in the English alphabet — this is his distinguishing feature.

Namely, diphthongs, which are completely alien to Slavic languages, constitute difficulties in learning. But transcription comes to the aid of students — this is a recording of the reading of a word using phonetic symbols denoting a certain sound. That is, every English word in the dictionary is written with a transcription that will tell you exactly how it is read.

It remains only to learn to distinguish and read all sounds.

Reading vowels in open and closed syllables

The reading of vowels depends on their place in the word:

• in the first type of syllable (vowel at the end), the letter is read according to its name in the alphabet,
• in the second (consonant at the end) — as a short sound.

Consider reading all vowels of English letters with transcription:

LetterOpen syllableClosed syllable

Aa [ei]	[ei]  game[geim] — game plane [plein] — plane	[ᴂ] fat[fᴂt] — bold plan[plᴂn] — plan
ee[i:]	[i:]  be [bi:] — to be he [hi:] — he	[e]

Source: https://www.lovelylanguage.ru/start/english-from-scratch/2-glasnyye

Reading vowels in English. Reduction. Reduction types

The stress in English falls on the root syllable. English stressed vowels are read depending on what type of syllable they are used in.

In English, there are four types of vowel reading in stressed syllables.

1 type of vowel reading

In this type of reading, the vowels are in open position, that is, the stressed syllable ends with this vowel. Vowels in this case are read in the same way as in the alphabet:

a [ei], o [əu], u [ju:] or [u:] if u is preceded by r or consonant combination + r.

e [i:], i [ai], y [ai]

Cases are possible:

1) The syllable ends with a stressed vowel. it completely open syllable… Examples: go [gəu], me [min ː].

2) After the stressed vowel, there is a consonant (not r), and then comes the «mute» e. It conditionally open syllable… Examples: home[həum], type [taɪp].

3) A stressed vowel is followed by a vowel including «mute» e… Examples: lie[lai], due [djuː].

2 type of vowel reading

In type 2 reading, the vowels are in closed position, that is, the syllable ends in a consonant. In this case, the vowels are read briefly, abruptly:

a [æ], o [ɔ], u [ʌ], e [e], i [i], y [i]

Cases are possible:

1) The vowel is between two consonants. it completely closed syllable… Example: man[mæn],hot[hɔt].

2) Cases completely closed syllablewhen there are two or more consonants after a vowel. Examples: lamp[læmp], rhy

Source: http://enjoy-eng.ru/chtenie-glasnykh-bukv-v-angliiskom-iazyke-reduktciia-tipy-reduktcii

Rules for reading English for beginners, table. Intonation and stress in English

At the initial stage of learning English, you inevitably have to deal with the differences between your native language and a foreign one. Reading in English for beginners, children and adults is usually one of the first steps in learning.

And the first such differences between Russian and English are revealed as soon as you start learning to read in English. You are faced with the transcription and reading rules of the English language.

These two concepts are related, since with the help of transcription we can record and read the sounds that vowels and consonants convey in various combinations. But the reading rules explain exactly how the letters are pronounced in different environments.

There are a lot of reading rules in English, and they relate to both vowels and consonants. In addition, a huge number of words are not read according to the rules, that is, they are exceptions. Therefore, it begins to seem that it is extremely difficult to learn all this.

In fact, the rules of reading need to be learned, but there is no need to memorize them. After doing a few exercises on reading rules, you will already know how exactly the same type of words are read.

In the learning process, when you read and listen to a variety of study materials, the spelling, pronunciation and meaning of new words will be memorized as a whole.

Features of English pronunciation

At first, reading in English for beginners presents some difficulties due to the peculiarities of pronunciation — words are very often pronounced differently than they are spelled. Linguists even have a saying — «We write — Manchester, we pronounce — Liverpool.»

This situation is due to the fact that historically in the English language there existed, and there are still many dialects in which the same letters and letter combinations were read in different ways, which eventually became entrenched in official English. An example is the combination of letters ough.

The words though, through, thought differ by only one letter, and the combination of letters ough is read differently in all words.

The role of transcription in teaching English reading

So, as we have already said, in addition to the numerous rules for reading in English, difficulties arise when mastering the transcription of the English language. Transcription is the recording of speech sounds using special characters.

You should not avoid it, as it is the best assistant in learning a language, which, firstly, will save you time when memorizing new words, and secondly, it will help to avoid mistakes in pronunciation. After all, when you write out or memorize new words, you definitely need to know how they are read correctly.

There are two options for how to do this. The first is to listen to it in some online resource, and the second is to watch the transcription. 

Now in some tutorials, as well as on training sites, you can find «English transcription in Russian». It is believed that writing an English word in Russian letters is much easier than learning some incomprehensible phonetic symbols. In fact, this is a delusion.

English phonetics differs from Russian so much that Russian letters can only approximately convey the pronunciation of English words, and mostly the simplest ones, the reading of which even without this kind of «transcription» is not difficult.

Some English sounds in Russian simply do not exist, and the correct pronunciation of English and Russian sounds similar at first glance may have certain differences.

Therefore, we recommend that you take the time to study transcription icons and read sounds. This is one of the basic knowledge in mastering the rules of reading English for beginners. Knowledge of transcription will serve you faithfully at all stages of your learning.

We analyze the rules for reading English

There are different classifications of the rules for reading consonants and vowels in English. For vowels, as a rule, there are 4 types of syllables. These are the 4 types of environment a vowel can find itself in and which affects its pronunciation.

Some textbooks consider only the first two types of syllables — open and closed, but take into account whether the letter r is involved in these types of syllables — since it affects the reading of vowels. Consonants in different combinations can also be read differently.

I must say that the number of exceptions and variants of reading the same letter combinations in different words give reason to consider the reading rules rather general recommendations that should be studied before starting to read.

To familiarize yourself with the rules of reading in English, we suggest that you take as a basis the tables with options for reading letters, which are given in his textbook for children “English. 1-4 grades in diagrams and tables «N.Vakulenko.

These English reading rules for children cover almost every possible reading of vowels and consonants in English.

But before we go directly to the tables, we will deal with two more concepts that you will surely come across when you get acquainted with the reading rules. it open и closed syllable.

The syllable is called openWhen

• ends in a vowel and is the last in a word
• the vowel is followed by a consonant and then a vowel again
• the vowel is followed by another vowel

Examples of words with an open type of syllable (you can listen with sound):

age, blue, bye, fly, go 

The syllable is called closedWhen

• ends in a consonant and is the last in a word
• the vowel is followed by several consonants

Examples of words with a closed type of syllable:

bed, big, box, hungry, stand 

So, let’s formulate the rules for reading English for beginners: tables for reading vowels and consonants.

Vowel reading tables

A
A [ei] — in an open syllable	lake, make
A [æ] — in a closed syllable	rat, map
A [a:] — in a closed syllable on r	car, bar
A [εə] — at the end of a word vowel + re	care, fare
A [ɔ:] — combinations all, au	all, tall

O
O [əu] — in an open syllable	no, home
O [ɒ] — in a closed stressed syllable	lot, boss
O [ɜ:] — in some words with «wor»	word, work
O [ɔ:] — in a closed syllable with r	horse, door
O [u:] — in combination «oo»	too, food
O [u] — in combination «oo»	good look
O [aʊ] — in combination «ow» in the stressed syllable	Now, CLOWN
O [ɔɪ] — in combination «oy»	boy, joy

U
U [yu:], [yu] — in an open syllable	blue, duty
U [ʌ] — in a closed syllable	butter, cup
U [u] — in a closed syllable	put, bull
U [ɜ:] — in combination «ur»	Purse, hurt

E
E [i:] — in an open syllable, a combination of «ee», «ea»	he, meet, leaf
E [e] — in a closed syllable, combination «ead»	head, bread
E [ɜ:] — in combinations «er», «ear»	her, pearl
E [ɪə] — in ear combinations	near, dear

I
i [aɪ] — in an open syllable	nice, fine
i [aɪ] — in combination «igh»	high, night
i [ɪ] — in a closed syllable	big, in
i [ɜ:] — in combination «ir»	bird girl
i [aɪə] — in combination «ire»	hire, tired

Y
Y [aɪ] — at the end of a word under stress	my cry
Y [ɪ] — at the end of a word without stress	happy family
Y [j] — at the beginning of a word	yes, yellow

Consonant reading tables

С
C [s] — before i, e, y	Place, Cinema
C [tʃ] — in combinations ch, tch	children, catch
C [k] — in other cases	cat, picnic

Source: https://lim-english.com/posts/pravila-chteniya-angliiskogo-yazika-dlya-nachinaushih/

Open and closed syllables in English — vowel reading tables

Consider an open and closed syllable in English. As you already understood, the reading of vowels in English is closely related to this concept.

The main trick here is that vowels can be pronounced differently depending on which syllable they are in. In English, there are two syllables in total: open and closed.

Open syllable in English

What is open syllable? This is the syllable that ends in a vowel (more often this е, but it itself is not pronounced). In such a syllable, vowels are read only as they are named in the alphabet (see table 1).

Table # 1. Open syllable in English Vowel (listen) Transcription

A a	[eɪ]	Hey
E e	[iː]	long and
I and	[aɪ]	ouch
The o	[əʊ]	OU
U u	[ju:]	long y
Y y y	[wai]	wye

examples:

me [MAnd:] «to me»;
nice [HAIC] «pleasant»;
sky [SKAI] «sky»;
soda [COУDE] «carbonated drink».

Closed syllable in English

Finally, consider the vowels in a closed syllable… Here their pronunciation may seem more familiar to you, perhaps, with the exception of the letter uwhich is pronounced like a sound like [A]. A letter a — [E] (see table # 2).

Table 2. Closed syllable in English (listen in the examples below the table) Vowel letter Transcription Russian pronunciation

A a	[æ]	э
E e	[e]	э
I and	[ɪ]	и
The o	[ɔ]	о
U u	[ʌ]	а

examples:

lip [LИP] «lip»;
but [BАT] «but»;
pet [PЭT] «pet»;
hot [XОT] «hot».

Note: Consonants at the end of words in a closed syllable are not stunned, as in Russian. So, we write «horn» and we say [ROCK]. There is no such thing in English, otherwise there would be confusion:

mad [MEД] «Crazy» — mat [MEТ] «rug».

Combinations of letters with the letter require special attention. r  (see table # 3):

Table 3. Closed syllable. Letter combinations with rCombination vowel + r (listen) Transcription

ar	[ɑː]	long a
er	[ɜː]	long yo
urr	[ɜː]	long yo
or	[ɔ:]	long about
ur	[ɜː]	long yo
yr	[ɜː]	long yo

Examples of words with syllables from the table:

bar [BA:] «bar»;
her [Hyo:] «her»
fir [ФЁ:] «fir-tree»;
for [FO:] «for»;
fur [FOO:] «wool»;
Byrne [BYO: N] «Byrne» (proper name).

The letter itself r not pronounced, and the vowel in front of it is pronounced for a long time.

Source: https://englishforeducation.ru/otkrytyj-i-zakrytyj-slog-v-anglijskom-yazyke.html

English Sounds: The Complete Guide to Reading and Pronunciation

This article will help you understand the features of the pronunciation of English sounds, and what combinations of letters they can be expressed in writing.

For a more detailed study of the rules for reading words in English, use our «Reading Rules Guide».

English pronunciation

English often sounds more dynamic compared to smoother Russian. It is a little faster (about 10% — 15%, according to various studies), and sometimes it seems to us that not all words are pronounced in fast speech.

Despite the fact that the languages ​​come from the same Indo-European family — which means that they are based on the same pronunciation system — there are a number of significant differences in the pronunciation of Russian and English sounds, words and phrases.

English has more vowel sounds than Russian. They are usually pronounced with less lip strain.

We have 6 of them: [a], [y], [o], [e], [and], [s], in English there are 12 of them: / ɪ /, / ɪː /, / ʌ /, / ɑː / , / æ /, / ɛ /, / ɜː /, / ɒ /, / ɔː /, / ʊ /, / ʊː /, / ə /.

English sounds generally come in two flavors:
short and long: / ɪ / and / ɪː /, / ɒ / and / ɔː /, / ʊ / and / ʊː / light and deeper: / ʌ / and / ɑː /

open and closed: / æ / and / ɛ /

Unique English vowel sounds:
/ æ/ Is a cross between A and E
/ ɜː / (soft O) — a cross between O and Yo
/ Ə / — weak schwa (extremely weak sound, a cross between A, O, E — pronounced in most unstressed syllables).

In English, our compound vowel sounds e [ye], yo [yo], yu [yu], i [ya] are absent, but there are diphthongs

English diphthongs are double sounds / aɪ / (time), / eɪ / (space), / ɔɪ / (boil) / ɛə / (care), / əʊ / (know) / aʊ / (now) / ɪə / (fear), and / ʊə / (priest).

The first diphthong sound is pronounced more clearly than the second. That is why we often have a hard time hearing or confuse words with diphthongs when listening.

English consonants often differ in their pronunciation, even sounds similar to Russian

In Russian there are as many as 36 consonant sounds (with 21 letters), but in English there are only 24. It is important to remember that even such sounds (for example, / p / or / d / pronounced differently than in Russian — see the table below for details).

Unique English consonant sounds:
/ w / — semi-vowel sound, a cross between U and B
/ ð / и / θ / — interdental sound (voiceless and voiced variations), a cross between B and Z (F and C in a voiceless variation)
/ ŋ / — nasal H

The main difference between the pronunciation of Russian and English consonants is that in Russian we often deafen the final consonants (for example, year and goth may sound the same), but English doesn’t. It is important to remember this, as we can confuse pairs of words (for example, bed — bet) and it is difficult to hear final consonants.

Also, the so-called «Clusters» — combinations of several consonants inside or at the joints of words. Words like three, sixth and others can cause pronunciation problems.

I recommend using the interactive sound table or the Cambridge mobile app to practice pronunciation and accent.

The same letter can represent several sounds, depending on the position in the word

The biggest challenge in learning English is mastering its reading rules.

Despite the fact that there are only 26 letters in the English alphabet (in contrast to the Russian 33), learning to read words and phrases in English is not so easy.

1 / Vowel sounds in the alphabet have a so-called «open» pronunciation, which is different from other European languages.

How to read the sounds of the English alphabet

2 / Vowel sounds in stressed words are read differently, depending on the type of syllable in which they stand.

3 / Unstressed vowel sounds are pronounced with a very weak sound schwa / ə /.

This sound is so weak that we often simply cannot hear it. In our English pronunciation, we often pronounce it too intensely.

For example, a word vegetable pronounced not VEDGETABL with the same intensity of all sounds, but / vedʒt (ə) b (ə) l /, that is, after a clear stressed syllable VE, there are reduced syllables, all the sounds of which are read with schwa, and they are almost inaudible (and often not at all).

I will tell you more about this feature of English stress in the article «How to learn to understand English by ear».

4 / Many vowels and consonants in writing are indicated by letter combinations that need to be remembered.

Errors in pronunciation lead to problems with listening to fast English speech. I recommend purchasing our «The Complete Guide to Reading Rules»… It will help fill in the gaps in your knowledge of pronunciation rules and help you avoid common mistakes.

Pronunciation and reading of vowels

Sound	Pronunciation feature	Typical combinations	Exception words
/ Ə /	A weak unstressed sound is a cross between a very weak A and E	Any vowel without stress, mostly a, o, u, e
/ ɪ /	«And short» Lips are slightly stretched in a semi-smile, tongue in front of the mouth. We pronounce light I.	i in a closed syllableif, film,hise in endingsdancees, started	owomeneEnglish, decideawantsage, chocolateate
/ ɪː /	«And long» Lips are slightly stretched, tongue in front of the mouth. We pronounce a long I. We do not strain our lips.	eesee,sleepmost words with easea, RESPONSIVEead, eat,pleasee in open syllabletree, be,these	i under stress in borrowed wordsdoine, policeiefie

Source: https://stordar.ru/angliiskie-zvuki/

How to quickly learn to read English from scratch on your own. Tips for English learners

When you study a foreign language, you learn not only a set of vocabulary and grammar, you in any case come across the culture and peculiarities of the mentality of the people who speak this language. The best way to learn language and culture is reading in original … And in order to read in a foreign language, you must first learn to read in that language.

You don’t have to burn books to destroy a culture. You can just get people to stop reading them.

~ Ray Bradbury

Does it exist an easy way to learn to read English ? If you studied English at school, you should have gotten an idea of ​​how English letters are read, you know what transcription is and how basic letter combinations are read. If your level is not beginner, but for example intermediate, then you will be interested in the article «Books in English for intermediate level»

But, if at school or university you studied German or French, or your school base turned out to be smaller than you would like, and now you have decided to learn English, then let’s start with the very primary and basic and learn a few methods of where to start in order to master reading rules.

English alphabet

I think you know that English is different from Russian and German, in which we basically read and write. In English, the system is a little more complicated. The very first thing we need to do is learn the alphabet.

The English alphabet has 26 letters, including 21 consonants and 5 vowels. Knowledge of letters and the ability to pronounce them correctly is the key to successful and competent reading in English.

English alphabet with transcription of the names of letters.

A very easy way to memorize letters visually and by ear is with the help of a song. Watch the video and sing the song until you memorize the letters of the alphabet.

You can use the same method to teach the alphabet to your children and sing along with your little ones.

After studying the alphabet, let’s start learning the combination of letters and reading short words. There are a number of rules in English that you need to learn, practice and remember if you want to read English words correctly.

The same letter can be read in different ways, depending on the letters that surround it, as well as whether it is closed or open syllable.

Rules for reading English consonants

Many consonants read similarly to Russian consonants, such as letters m, n, l, b, f, z … You can see it in words like mom, lemon, finger, boy, zebra.

Letters such as t и d sound similar, but pronounced with aspirated… For example, the words table, teacher, dad, dirty.

Letter c has two reading options. Before letters i, e, y it reads like [s]— city, face, cyber. And before the rest of the vowels it reads like [k]— cat, cake, factory.

The vowel rule i, e, y works with the letter g… In front of them, it reads like [dʒ]— gym, George, giant. Before other consonants, the letter is read as [g].

Letter q always occurs in a combination of letters qu and reads like [kW]— quick, queen, square.

Letter j always reads like [dʒ]— jacket, jam, joy.

Table of the ratio of consonants and sounds in English.

How vowels are read in English

In English, a word can end in an open or closed syllable, which affects pronunciation. For example, the words cat, pot, sit end in a closed syllable and have vowels a, o, i give sounds [a, o, i].

Words such as name, home, five end with an open syllable, since there is a letter at the end of the word ewhich is not readable. But, thanks to her, the vowels in the middle of the word are read in the same way as they are pronounced in the alphabet, that is, the word name is read [neɪm].

Types of English vowel reading in stressed syllables.

Reading vowel combinations in English

There are certain combinations of letters that have well-established rules for reading, although English is the language of exceptions, and when reading more complex words, you should refer to the dictionary. The table below shows English vowel combinations with examples how they are read and how they sound.

Table of combinations of vowels in English.

And of course, there are exceptions to all the rules. However, do not worry and think that you will never be able to learn it. Everything can be understood, you just have to try a little and practice.

English diphthongs with transcription

When you learn the basic rules of reading, you will see that there are diphthong sounds that are quite difficult to reproduce in English, especially if you start learning the language not from childhood, but in adulthood.

Table of English diphthongs with transcription.

Transcription of sounds in English

Practice shows that when children learn a language, they must necessarily learn transcription, while adults do not want to learn it and it can be difficult for them.

If you still want to learn how to write and read the transcription, then great! And if not, then you can use online dictionaries where the word will be pronounced for you. One of the best dictionaries today is Multitran and the Lingvo online dictionary.

Remember to use dictionaries, not translators!

Here’s an example of reading short words with transcription:

English vowel table and transcription.

There are some advantages to being in the internet age. Sitting at home, you can learn a variety of knowledge online. For your attention video tutorial, which explains the basic principles of reading. Nevertheless, even having received knowledge through an online lesson, they need to be consolidated in order to form a skill.

In this section, we want to share with you the experience that was gained in practice, teaching students of different levels. These tips have proven their effectiveness and usefulness in language learning. They can be used for beginner to advanced levels. Use)

Learn English tongue twisters

Here tongue twisters, which are often aimed at practicing one sound, can help you. Here are some examples you can use.

English translation

Source: https://ienglish.ru/blog/interesno-ob-angliiskom/kak-viuchit-angliiskiy-bistro-samomu/kak-bistro-nauchitsia-chitat-po-angliiski

Vowel english letters

The phonetic system of many European languages ​​is generally of the same type, has a certain structure.

Of course, intonation plays a big role in the pronunciation of vowels in English words. There are certain rules for running it up and down, as well as for individual turns, for example, there is and there are.

However, in the phonology of the English language, the presentation of the English letters and their corresponding phonemes is in order.

Let’s try to process and structure the existing extensive material for compact and easy assimilation, applying the principle of comparative studies — comparison with the phonetics of the Russian language where possible.

There are 6 vowels in English:

If you look closely at the uppercase and lowercase versions of the same letter, you will notice that vowels such as O and U have identical spellings.

Vowel transcription in English

Absolutely everyone who has come across the study of English phonetics has difficulty in correctly understanding the transcription of vowel sounds.

The fact is that in the transcriptional embodiment, the pronunciation of English vowels is not similar to the pronunciation of, for example, identical Russian vowels. This circumstance is primarily due to the different history of origin.

So, the system of English vowel phonemes goes back to diphthongic combinations of sounds.

For reference: diphthongic combinations (diphthongs) are a combination of two or more sounds. In this case, they can have different overtones and are designated by one letter.

Graphically transcribed sound is indicated by enclosing it either in square brackets ([]) or in oblique brackets (/ /)

Consider the transcription of English letters:

Letter	Designated sound
— A a	[ei]
— E e	[i:] *
— I i	[ai]
— O o	[Where]
— U u	[ju:]
— Y y	[wai]

The sign «:», standing after the vowel sound, denotes the so-called longitude. This means that the sound needs to be pronounced continued, somewhat lingeringly.

Rules for reading vowels in English

However, the table above does not yet indicate that all sounds denoted by five English letters are transcribed in the same way.

As you know, there are only six vowels, but the sounds that can graphically represent these letters are much more — about 24.

To learn the rules for reading such sounds, scientists came to the conclusion that the reading of vowels depends on the type of syllable.

There are two types of syllables:

Speaking about the openness / closedness of a syllable, it should be understood that this is an organized phonetic system of phonemes in one word in a peculiar way.

A word can have from one to several syllables, and both open and closed can be present. According to statistics, almost all English words end with a closed syllable.

The theory of dividing a word into syllables in almost all languages ​​is based precisely on vowels. When studying our native language, we always say to ourselves or out loud when we have to divide a word into syllables: «How many vowels there are in a word, so many syllables.» This really fits well with the division into syllables of English words.

So, to determine the number of syllables in a syllable:

• find vowels in the word,
• mentally or graphically draw vertical bars after each vowel. How many cut-off sectors will turn out — there are so many syllables in the word.

For example, let’s take the word independent:

• count the vowels: 4 (i, e, e, e)
• draw perpendicular lines: in-de-pen-dent
• there were also 4 segments, hence 4 syllables containing 4 vowels.

Vowel letters in open syllable type

An open syllable is a syllable that either consists of one vowel or ends in a vowel.

For example: in the word bar there is only one syllable, in the word ru-ler there are two syllables, the first of them is an open syllable, since it ends in the vowel u.

English vowels should be read in an open type of syllable as in the alphabet:

Letter	Designated sound
— A a	[ei]
— E e	[i:]
— I i	[ai]
— O o	[Where]
— U u	[ju:]
— Y y	[wai]

Closed vowels

A closed syllable is a syllable ending in a consonant.

For example: in the word book — one syllable, ends with a consonant k, in the word dif-fi-cult — three syllables, the first and third of them are closed (in f and t), the second is open.

Features of the pronunciation of vowels in English

The vowels are read differently depending on the type of syllable. The letter R r stands apart in the reading rules. It greatly influences reading in both syllables.

For example, in the open type of syllable, the sound [r] seems to merge with the diphthong and sounds neutral —  [ǝ]. And in the closed type, the so-called short vowels are combined with a semi-consonant sound [r].

It turns out this combination:

• [A]  — [a:],
• [ɔ]  — [ɔ:],
• [e], [I], [at] — [ǝ:].

That is, the short ones turn into long ones.

As for the rules for reading stressed vowels in a syllable, the letters u, a, o acquire the ability to reduce (that is, become super-short) and even drop out completely. The sound is neutral [ǝ].

For example: in words like sofa [‘soufǝ] or today [tǝ’dei]. Letters i, e, y, when reduced, pronounced as a sound [i]. For example: enemy [‘enimi].

If the vowel is unstressed, then the corresponding vowel sound can manifest itself in the fact that its length is shortened. Therefore, one can often observe (especially in colloquial speech) how pronouns she, he, we, me often not pronounced with a long [i:]and with a short [I].

Also, the absolute dropout of sounds (when it is not heard at all) can be observed in examples such as: lesson [‘lesn], open [‘ oupn], pencil [‘pensl].

Short vowels in English, examples

Before characterizing short and long vowels, it should be noted that they differ from each other not only in the time of pronunciation, but in articulation — by the means of the oral cavity that are involved in their formation.

Under stress, vowel sounds are read in a truncated form, that is, they are closely adjacent to the consonant sound following them.

Brief sounds (otherwise — reduced sounds) may differ in quality and quantity. Basically, they manifest themselves in prepositions and other official parts of speech.

There they are usually unstressed, so theoretically they cannot assume longitude. But depending on the pronunciation situation, they can be pronounced lingeringly or when emphasized in a rhythmic manner (phrasal stress).

Qualitative reduction is a weakening of a vowel, accompanied by a change in its quality and transformation into a sound of a neutral type.

Quantitative reduction is accompanied by a reduction in the duration of the vowel sound.

There is also a reduction of zero (full) when the vowel drops out completely.

Thus, all reduced forms can be called weak.

For example:

weak forms — you [ju ·, ju], at [әt].

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Long vowels in English, examples

There are much more long vowel sounds in the language. For the most part, they are pronounced in monophthongs — the articulation does not change during the entire duration of the sound.

As already mentioned, in transcription such vowels are denoted by the «:» sign.

For example:

• Good [gu: d]
• Arduous [a: djues]
• Green [gri: n]

Diphthongs in English, examples

Diphthongs (or two-vowel sounds) are not peculiar to the Russian language, therefore it is not so easy to assimilate them.

They are such complex (composite) sounds that consist of two vowel sounds that must be pronounced as closely as possible. It turns out that the two sounds simply merge into one.

The percussive and syllabic sound is the first of the sounds to be merged. This is the core of the diphthong. The second vowel in the diphthong is called a glide. It complements the core, makes the combination more harmonious and easier to pronounce.

Due to the fact that the core is a long sound, and the glide is short, the pronunciation of the diphthong in terms of the degree of expenditure of pronunciation efforts and duration is approximately equal to the classical English monophthong. Although, in general, we can say that diphthongs are pronounced not long, but drawn out.

Affects the pronunciation of the diphthong and the position in the word in relation to the consonants. So, before voiced consonants, it is pronounced shortly, and if the consonant is voiceless, then very briefly

For example: sofa (influenced by a voiceless consonant f).

English diphthong table

So, there are 8 diphthongs: [ai] [ei] [iə] [eə] [ͻi] [ʊə] [əʊ] [aʊ].

They are read more than clearly — as in the above transcription. However, there are words, such as dear (dear) and deer (deer), in which the vowel combinations ea and ee are pronounced the same — [iə].

Such cases must be memorized. Thus, we see that phonemic difficulties in English lie in wait for the learner at every step.

There can be only one advice: compiling for yourself a «cheat sheet» with tables of English vowels, as well as tireless practice in the pronunciation of sounds. This can be achieved by reading texts aloud.

It is best to ask an experienced tutor about the correct pronunciation of certain vowels or diphthongs, who will carefully and painstakingly show how certain sounds are pronounced in various types of syllables.

Source: https://eng911.ru/rules/alphabet/glasnye-bukvy-v-anglijskom.html