-
#8
Spoken spelling is always «by letters». Are you asking about the difference between saying the normal names of the letters and using a «phonetic» spelling? For example:
A: How do you spell /ˈfaɪ.naɪt/?
B1: Eff eye enn eye tea ee. This is just ordinary spelling, using the way we normally pronounce each individual letter.
B2: Foxtrot India November India Tango Echo. This is spelling it phonetically, using a phonetic alphabet. It could be a standard one (such as the NATO phonetic alphabet I’ve used here), or one made up on the spot because you can’t remember the standard words: Foolish Isabel Now Incites Trouble Everywhere.
Unpronounceable sounds in English (knowledge, father, listen, etc.)
In this article, we will look at cases where letters in English words are written but not pronounced. In English, as in any other language, there are rules for reading words.
According to them, some letters are not read at all the way they sound in the alphabet, and some letters in words are not read at all. In the Russian language, this phenomenon also occurs.
For example, in the word «sun» we do not pronounce the consonant «l» and read the word as «sun», in the word «feel» we do not pronounce «v» after «y».
There are also many words in the English language with unpronounceable letters.
For example, the
Knowledge — knowledge. The first k is not pronounced.
The difficulty arises when we start looking for this word in the dictionary. After all, by ear it sounds like «nowledge». Naturally, we will not find such a word in the dictionary.
There are rules that allow you to determine in what situation certain letters from the word «fall out» and do not give any sounds, that is, they are not pronounced.
In this article, we have collected such rules and organized them for easy use and study. So, these are the rules.
Unpronounceable consonant «b «.
In a combination of letters «mb», the letter «b» is not pronounced if the word ends in these two letters, that is, in «mb».
Example: climb [klaim] climb, lamb [lam] lamb
In a combination of letters «bt», the letter «b» is not pronounced if the word ends in these two letters, that is, in «bt».
Example: debt [det] debt
Unpronounceable vowel «c «.
In the combination of letters «scl», the consonant «c» is not pronounced.
Example: muscle [m sl] muscle.
Unpronounceable vowel «and».
The vowel «e» at the end of a word is not readable.
Example: to breakdance move [mu: v] move, a name [neim] name, a Pink [rouz] rose
Unpronounceable consonant «g «.
In the combination of letters «gn» at the beginning and at the end of a word, the consonant «g» is not pronounced.
Example: campaign [kampein] campaign (meaning “action”, eg anti-smoking campaign),
design [dizain] design.
Consonants g, h.
In the combination of letters «igh», the consonants «gh» are not pronounced.
Example: eight [eit] eight, night [nait] night.
In the combination of letters «ough» and «augh», the consonants «gh» are not pronounced.
Example: thought [] thought, thought, thought.
There are also exclusion words in which «gh» is read as [g] or [f].
Example: cough [kof] cough, ghost [goust] ghost
Unpronounceable consonant «h «.
In the combination of letters «wh», the consonant «h» is not pronounced if after the combination of letters there is any vowel other than «o».
Example: Where [wee] where, white [wait] white.
The letter «h» is often not pronounced at the beginning of a word.
Example: hour [oue] hour, honor [uh: ne] honor.
Unpronounceable consonant «k ».
In the combination of letters «kn», the consonant «k» is not pronounced if the word begins with this combination of letters.
Example: knee [ni:] knee.
Unpronounceable consonant «l ».
The consonant letter «l» is not pronounced after the vowels «a», «o», «u».
Example: Could [ku: d] could (could, could).
In letter combinations «lm», «lk», «ln», the consonant «l» is not readable.
Example: calm [kam] calm, walk [wk] walk, walk, half [haf] half.
Unpronounceable consonant «not».
In the combination of letters «mn», the consonant «n» is not readable.
Example: column [color] column.
Unpronounceable consonant «p «.
Source: https://www.wallstreetenglish.ru/blog/neproiznosimyye-zvuki-v-angliyskom/
Letter combinations in English and their pronunciation. All about English transcription
The combination of letters in English is a phenomenon that is closely related to phonetics, since often the reading of consonants or vowels changes if another letter appears next to them.
It is important not only to navigate in the various variants of such combinations, but also to understand how these or those ways of connecting individual letters differ and what pronunciation features will arise in this case.
Therefore, it is required to consider the main letter combinations in English and give a special classification of such a phenomenon in order to understand the whole algorithm of actions somewhat easier.
Basic principles of combinations of English letters
The norms of the English language allow the combination of letters of the alphabet in such a way that new versions of sounds are subsequently formed. It must be remembered that sometimes such combinations are pronounced completely differently from what it seems at first glance, and the phonetics of both letters used in one combination or another may be lost.
Methods of letter combinations in English allow the formation of new sounds by combining two consonant letters, two vowels, as well as a combined version of vowels and consonants.
In this case, a certain combination can be formed by combining three letters; they are called triphthongs and differ from diphthongs in that they consist of three rather than two elements.
Therefore, it is necessary to consider the basic rules for reading English letter combinations, and you can start with the vowel + vowel options.
Vowel + vowel combinations
When reading English letter combinations that include consonants, it is necessary to take into account both letters that make up a particular construction. The options can be as follows:
ai — — pain, rain;
ay — — game, pay;
ei — — deceive, weight, height;
ea — [e] — head, read, break;
ey — — key, gray, eye;
ee — — tree, screen;
ew — — new, few;
eu — — neutral, feudalism;
oo — [u] [ɔ:] [ʌ] — wool, pool, door, blood;
oa — [əu] — road, soap;
or — — house, mouse;
ie — [e] — friend, field, diet.
All of these variants with vowels are quite common and in English are read only in accordance with the specified reading rules. Their sound conveys only vowel sounds, however, it is important not to confuse the combinations of letters, otherwise there is a risk of incorrect spelling of words and structures.
Combinations of consonants + consonants
It is necessary to remember very well how one or another variant of a combination of consonants is read, since there are much more such types of combinations than with vowels. Below are the most common ways to pronounce English consonants in combination with each other:
ch — [k] [ʃ] — chair, character, machine;
ck — [k] — stock, shock;
tch — the combination tch is consonant with the ch sound — — match, catch; the sound h in English is characterized by two variants of consonant combinations;
bt at the end of a word — [t] — doubt, debt;
gh — after combinations ou, au [f], [-] — cough, slight;
dg — — hedgehog, edge;
th — the th interdental sound is read in two ways. In the service parts of speech and between vowels, the th sound in English gives [ð] — brother, the, and at the beginning or at the end of words, as well as before consonants, it sounds like [θ] — throw, bath;
sh — the sh sound can be read as [ʃ] — shrimp, shell;
gn — [n] — sign, reign;
mb — in the middle of a word — remember, at the end of a word [m] — thumb;
mn — in the middle of a word — insomnia, at the end of a word [m] — column;
kn — in the middle of a word — sickness, at the beginning of a word [n] — knock;
wh — [w] — what, wheel;
ng — in the middle of a word [ŋg] — singer, at the end of a word [ŋ] — ring;
ph — [f] — philosopher, photo;
wr — [r] — write, wrong.
It is important to pay attention to how th, kn and other combinations are read, which have two pronunciation options and sound special depending on the position in the word. The rule of reading all the above combinations must always be observed, otherwise mistakes in the reading process and, accordingly, pronunciation will be inevitable.
Vowel + consonant combinations
Another option for combinations is vowels and consonants. Some letters in the alphabet can form certain ways of pronunciation, and this phonetic variation is also quite common. Here are the ways you can find:
er — in an unstressed position [ə] — worker, looker;
or — in an unstressed position [ə] — doctor, traitor;
an — before consonants — swan, plant;
al — [ɔ:] — chalk, talk. Another reading option is — half, calf;
wa — — was, water;
wor — — word, work;
war — — war, ward;
igh — — right, night;
qu — — quiet, sequence;
ild — — wild, mild;
ind — — find, bind.
All these options, presented with transcription, must be taken into account when pronouncing and reading the corresponding combinations. To display a combination of letters in English, a table can become an element capable of grouping all the main options and presenting information in the most concise form. This is how it might look:
All these methods of combining letters of the English alphabet are very actively used in the language and are taken into account when studying phonetics and reading rules.
All possible options should be memorized gradually, but you need to know them, since, judging by the examples, some of them can be read in different ways.
Being guided in all reading methods, it will be possible to avoid many mistakes, and the interlocutor will be able to assess the level of the speaker’s training, who, in turn, will correctly use the rules of letter combinations and not allow liberties in pronunciation.
Hello friends.
I think each of you — whether you are a parent or a teacher — understands that the rules for reading English for children differ from the rules for adults, but not in content, but in the volume and presentation of the material.
Preschoolers or schoolchildren who are just starting to learn English should be given such information in a very portioned manner, accompanying all this with vivid pictures, video and audio materials. Of course, you should immediately give memorable examples and, if possible, reinforce everything with exercises. Then this topic will be easy and even interesting for a young student.
On this page you will find very colorful and useful tables with basic English vowel sounds. ().
In the first table you can see the basic vowels and how they are read.
In the second table — the most common combinations of vowels in words and also how they are read.
And in the third and fourth — examples of sentences with words containing the mentioned letters and combinations.
How to work with them?
- To begin with, explain to your child that each vowel letter in English can be read in different ways and using the 1st table look at the examples and read them together (you can also study if it is not clear to the child).
- Then talk about the fact that in English there are vowels that often stand next to each other, and in this case they will sound differently together. In the examples from the 2nd table, you will see this and read it together.
- In the third and fourth tables, you and your child can read whole sentences, each of which contains several words with the same vowel sounds (they are underlined). Before each example-sentence, a transcription icon with a processed sound is highlighted in red. Read it first, and then read the entire sentence.
To make it easier for you, I have recorded audio for these materials. Listen and practice.
Letters and Sounds
Commentary on table 1:If you’ve noticed, every vowel letter in English can be read in two ways: either the way we read it in the alphabet, or differently. So, usually in the alphabetical way of the letter «A, e, i, o, u» read in words that end with a letter «and»or more than one syllable.
But in short monosyllabic words ending in a consonant, they are read differently. This must be remembered! Reading a letter «and» in two ways you also need to remember — but here the logic is different — in short words, where it is in the last place, we read it alphabetically (to be precise, almost alphabetically), and in long words — in a different way.
Regularly re-read with children examples of short monosyllabic and longer English words with vowels — then their reading rules will be «written» in the child’s memory, and later he will be able to learn the way a letter will be read by analogy. You will find a lot of similar practice in mine.
Sample sentences
Hope you enjoyed it!
By the way, I wrote about the important rules when teaching a child to read correctly in English — there you will also find a little practice with sounded material.
How to learn to read in English (M. Kaufman) Is a very interesting textbook for children. What is very remarkable, in parallel with learning to read, there is an acquaintance with the English-speaking culture. This awakens the child’s interest and curiosity in the language And interest, as you know, is already 50% of success! If not more
If you have any questions, write and ask them in the comments — I will be happy to help.
Source: https://msutt.ru/bukvosochetaniya-v-angliiskom-yazyke-i-ih-proiznoshenie-vse-o-transkripcii/
English reading rules for beginners
» English » Reading rules in English
If you set yourself the ambitious goal of mastering a foreign language, be prepared to face many challenges. One of them is correct pronunciation in general and learning the rules of reading in particular.
Some European languages do not have this problem. For example, in German and Spanish, words are pronounced in much the same way as they are spelled.
But if you are studying English, then you will have to sweat a lot, mastering the rules of reading in English. However, do not despair: if you remember a number of rules, there will be no more problems.
At the same time, the English language has a certain layer of vocabulary that you just have to learn, since the pronunciation of these words does not fall under any of the rules.
A whole section of the science of languages is devoted to the study of sounds — phonetics. She is seriously studied in specialized linguistic universities.
However, as practice shows, it is possible to master the rules of reading and use them correctly in practice without delving into such a jungle.
At the beginning of your English lessons, you will immediately understand that the differences between him and your native language are very large, including in terms of pronunciation.
Therefore, no matter how you would like to pronounce similar letters in the same way as in Russian, you need to remember that the laws are different here.
Linguists like to joke: «It is written Manchester — pronounced Liverpool.» In fact, everything is not so complicated and incomprehensible.
However, the complexity of reading rules has its roots in history. English developed in parallel with the country itself. In ancient times, Britain was repeatedly invaded by tribes — German and French speaking. In addition, while studying English, you will come across a lot of lexical borrowings that have affected the rules for reading words in English.
The situation is aggravated by the existence of many English dialects, in which their own reading rules are sufficient.
Over the years, these dialectal laws have had a tremendous impact on the official pronunciation of the capital.
In them, the same letters can be pronounced in different ways, and these differences persist in modern pronunciation.
For example, ough can be read differently in words that differ from each other by only one or two letters.
But enough of the «lyrics» — let’s get down to specifics, namely, the study of the rules for reading letters in English.
Vowel reading rules
The English alphabet has the following vowels — A, E, I, O, U, Y. In practice, their sounds are much larger, taking into account diphthongs and dialects.
Moreover, all these letters are not always pronounced as they are called in accordance with the alphabet. It is important to remember that no English word ends in I or U.
Before turning directly to reading vowels, let’s dwell on the consideration of English syllables.
This is important because the vowel can be read differently depending on the type of syllable.
A syllable (or syllable) is one or more sounds pronounced together with one push of air. A syllable is a constituent part of a word that has a direct impact on pronunciation.
There are open and closed syllables. Closed is called such because it ends in a consonant. Open: eye, see
Closed: bad, plan
In an open syllable, there are no problems with vowels: they sound the same as in the alphabet, with the exception of Y, which reads «ah».
You can visually familiarize yourself with the rules using the table below. When this table becomes clear to you, we will give and analyze in more detail examples of all cases.
So, the first letter of the alphabet is A. In a closed syllable, it reads like «e»: fat (thick), cap (cap). In a closed syllable that ends in the letter R, it reads like a long sound «a»: car (car). If the word ends with a combination of letters -re, then A will be read as «ea»: care (care), fare (fare).
The English letter E can be read as «e» (in a closed syllable and when combined -ead: bread (bread)), «e» (when combining the letters -er or -ear: pearl (pearl)) or «ua» (while the same combination –ear: hear).
We will read the letter I in a closed syllable as «and»: big (big). In other cases, it all depends on the combination of letters: igh (ah: night (night)), ir (e: bird (bird)) or ire (aye: tired (tired)).
The rules for reading Y depend on where this letter appears. If it is at the end of a word, and the stress falls on it, then we read it as «ay» (cry — to cry). If it is in the same place, but there is no stress, then «and» (happy — happy). At the beginning of the word Y sounds almost like «y» in Russian (yellow — yellow).
Rules for reading consonants
The English alphabet has 20 consonant letters. Some of them are deaf and voiced pairs. At the same time, unlike Russian, they do not soften here and always sound solid.
The consonants c, g, s, and x have two different readings depending on which letter they are next to. For clarity, we present a table.
As we can see, the reading of consonants is influenced by the letters a, i, o, y, e, as well as consonants and stressed sounds.
There are also a number of rules that indicate how certain consonants are read correctly in different combinations. Let’s turn to another table, and then we will analyze it in more detail using examples.
If there are consonants sh next to them, then we read them as «sh»: sheep (sheep), bookshelf (bookshelf). At the same time, it is important that this combination is pronounced exactly like that, regardless of the place occupied in the word.
The combination ch gives us the sound «h», which is also always preserved, and the position in the word is not important: chain (chain) or March (March).
When reading the combination of consonants ck, correctly pronounce it as «k». However, this rule is true only in those cases when these consonants follow the short A and other sounds: back (back).
Th can be read differently depending on which word this combination is in.
If we see it at the beginning of a significant word or at the end of a word, then it is pronounced like «s», pronounced through clenched teeth: birth (birth) or thin (thin).
At the beginning of a pronoun or service word, this combination sounds more solid: this (this), they (they).
The consonant wh also has two pronunciations. If it is followed by the letter O, then it is correct to read it as «x»: who (who), whole (all).
Before the rest of the letters, it is pronounced as «in»: where (where), what (what).
Qu at the beginning of a word reads «q»: queue.
Compare the pronunciation of the combination of kn and ng: in the first case, we read it as «n» (knight — knight), in the second this sound is nasal (thing — thing). This rule is true for finding kn at the beginning of a word and ng at the end.
The same nasal «n» sounds in the combination nk regardless of the place in the word: bank — bank.
There are also two combinations that, although they consist of two letters, are read as one: ph (read as «f» — phone (phone)) and wr (p — wrong). Note that wr is only pronounced like this at the beginning of a word.
Separately, it should be said about the combination with the English letters a, u, o and i. These rules for reading English are clearly demonstrated in the following table.
As you can see from it, the combination with the vowel al before the letter k is read as a long «o»: walk (to walk). In other cases — «ol», where «o» is also long (small — small).
Regardless of the place in the word, gu turns into «g» (guard — guard). Finally, for the combination with the vowel wa, the pronunciation of «wa» (wonderful — wonderful) or «vo» (before r — work) is characteristic.
Now that we know about all the complexities of consonants in English, it remains for us to consider the staging of stress in English words. After that, you can safely say that you have mastered the rules of reading the English language, and all that remains is to tirelessly practice and hone the knowledge gained.
How to put stress correctly?
Stress plays a huge role in the rules for reading English words. It should be given special attention. If there are fewer problems with the French language in this sense (the emphasis is always on the last syllable), and in Russian you will have to memorize almost every word separately, then with English everything is different. There are a number of laws you need to memorize to help you stress correctly and make your reading of English words correct.
We put stress on the first syllable in most cases when it comes to two-syllable nouns and adjectives: table (table), clever (smart).
The last syllable becomes stressed in the bulk of trisyllabic verbs: to decide (decide). The penultimate is stressed for words that end in –ic, –sion, and –tion: solution, biologic.
The third syllable from the end will be stressed for words that end in combinations with the vowel Y: –cy, -ty, -phy, -gy, as well as –al: biblical (biblical), democracy (democracy), biology (biology).
While all of these reading rules are important and require memorization, keep in mind that English has many exceptions. You will also have to memorize them, or always have special dictionaries at hand.
Learning to read with Capital School Center
Classes at the Capital School Center are characterized by the fact that teachers try to equally combine the study of grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation. At the exit, all our students have already mastered all the rules of reading in English, and can also speak and write fluently.
A separate difficulty for beginners is the transcription, which is taught to compose in order to just read English words correctly.
It is an excellent tool for memorizing the pronunciation, but very few people will be able to learn how to compose it on their own.
We will help you to master it without any particular difficulties and not delve into the linguistic jungle.
To remember how certain words sound, you need to listen to English speech as much as possible. The auditory element is one of four that we use in our classes in accordance with the 4D methodology. Another element useful for practicing is visual. With regard to our theme, it is important that you have all the visual materials at your disposal — both the drawing and the table.
Of course, in the classroom, we are also directly engaged in reading in English.
At your disposal are excellent adapted English texts on different topics and with different levels of difficulty, suitable for both beginners and those who have been studying the language for a long time.
It is believed that in order to formulate the pronunciation of words and texts, it is best to study with a native speaker. This opinion is fair, because who knows better than a person who speaks English since childhood about all its intricacies and laws in general and the rules of reading in particular? However, it should be borne in mind that such classes are not always suitable for those who are just starting to learn English.
Those who plan to take the IELTS or TOEFL exam are also required to familiarize themselves with the reading rules.
Another way to practice English is to travel to his country. Our school offers study trips to the UK and the USA, during which you will listen to English language and speak independently with the locals all the time.
Our school offers its clients a wide range of services. Depending on your needs, we will select the format of teaching English that is convenient for you. We have courses for those who are just starting their studies or want to continue their studies.
Upon completion of the courses, all of our students are tested and receive a certificate proving their level of English proficiency.
Sign up for a free trial lesson online or by phone. We will be glad to see you and are ready to answer any of your questions!
Source: https://capitalsc.ru/pravila-chteniya-v-anglijskom-yazyke/
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
The combination of letters in English is a phenomenon that is closely related to phonetics, since often the reading of consonants or vowels changes if another letter appears next to them.
It is important not only to navigate in the various variants of such combinations, but also to understand how these or those ways of connecting individual letters differ and what pronunciation features will arise in this case.
Therefore, it is required to consider the main letter combinations in English and give a special classification of such a phenomenon in order to understand the whole algorithm of actions somewhat easier.
English reading rules
In English lessons, students moan, «Why are reading rules in English so confusing?»
One of the reasons is that English has borrowed words from many languages. Sometimes they kept their spelling, sometimes they changed them for themselves. In good old England, words were often spelled the way they were read, so that one word could be spelled differently. Take, for example, Shakespeare’s manuscripts — all this chaos is there at a glance.
Ultimately, the spelling of words was standardized and entered into dictionaries, but as you study English, you will notice that a word is often read completely differently from how it is spelled. And there are usually historical reasons for this.
There is good news, too. Although many English words are written, it would seem, «as God puts it on his soul,» there are a number of rules. But be careful, there is an exception for every rule.
English has over 1100 ways to record 44 individual sounds — more than any other language. But let study be a game for you, not a duty.
Learn with our tips!
- Jot down the words you are having trouble with in your notebook. Underline the part of the word that is most difficult for you.
- Use a dictionary, not a spell checker! Unfortunately, you cannot always trust her.
- Learn words with all sorts of prefixes and suffixes, for example: biography — autobiography, child — childhood, etc.
- Learn the rules, but don’t rely on them. We have already said: there is an exception to any rule. We will talk about this below.
“I” is written before “e” (exception — after “c”)
One of the first reading rules taught in English class. The rule works for words in which a long “ee” is pronounced, as in shield.
Examples: piece (part), niece (niece), priest (priest), thief (thief).
But after “c”: conceive (to comprehend, to conceive), receive (to receive), receipt (receipt; not to be confused with recipe — recipe).
For words in which the sound «a» or «i» is pronounced, the opposite is true:
“A”: eight, neighbor, reign, weight
«I»: either (any; or), height (height), feisty (absurd), sleight (agility)
Exceptions: seize, weird, conscience, efficient, etc.
silent letters
English is full of unpronounceable letters. The question arises: why do the British insert letters into words, and then they simply do not pronounce them? ..
Silent witness, or What is an unpronounceable letter
A silent letter is a letter that should appear in a word, even if we do not read it. More than half of the letters of the alphabet can be unpronounceable. They can be at the beginning of a word, at the end or in the middle — from the sound of the word, you will not understand that they are there.
Examples of unpronounceable letters:
a — thread, bread, tread
B — lamb (lamb), bomb (bomb), womb (womb)
c — scissors, science, scent
d — edge, bridge, badge e — see below
h — honor, honest, school
Source: https://skyeng.ru/articles/pravila-chteniya-anglijskogo-yazyka
How To Read English Correctly | English letter combination table — SPEAK ENGLISH
01.07.2019
Consider letter combinations in English in the key of the rules of reading and pronunciation with the ability to listen to each letter combination in the examples. For brevity, the basic rules for reading letter combinations are given in the tables.
Reading vowel combinations
The table below shows the basic (common) set of vowel combinations (see table 1), Russian and English transcriptions with examples of words and notes.
Table # 1. Reading vowel combinations Letter combination Transcription Examples (listen) Notes
| ee, ea | [i:] (AND  |
see [si:], sea [si:] | |
| ai, ai | [ei] (HEY) | straight [streit], May [mei] | |
| oo | [u:] (U |
too [tu:] | before a consonant letter, except for k, r; also at the end of a word |
| oo | [u] (Ooh) | book [buk] | before the letter k; exception: good [gud] |
| ear | [ɔ:] (Ouch |
door [dɔ:] | |
| ow | [au] (au), [u] (eu) | now [nau], window [‘windəu] |
|
| oi, oi | [ɔi] (OH) | coin [kɔin], employ [im’plɔi] | |
| ou | [au] | out [aut] | |
| oa | [əu] (EU) | coat [kəut] |
Reading letter combinations with consonants
Below (in table 2) are the main consonant combinations.
Table 2. Letter combinations in English. Reading consonant combinations Letter (combination of letters) Transcription When used Examples (listen)
| b | [B] | in all cases | begin [bi’gin] |
| mb | [m] | b is not read at the end of a word after the letter m | climb [climb] |
| c | [s] | before vowels e, i, y | city [‘siti], nice [nais], cycle [saikl] |
| [k] | in all other cases | cap [kaep] | |
| k | [k] | in all cases | kite |
| ck | [k] | in all cases | black [blaek] |
| kn | [n] | at the beginning of a word | know [nəʊ] |
| g | [ʤ] | before vowels e, i, y | gentleman |
| [g] | in all other cases | gate [geit] Exceptions: give [giv], get [get] | |
| j | [ʤ] | in all cases | jacket [ˈʤækɪt] |
| z | [z] | in all cases | zoo [zuː] |
| h | [H] | in all cases | happy [ˈhæpɪ] |
| sh | [ʃ] | in all cases | she [ʃiː] |
| tch | [ʧ] | in all cases | catch [[kæʧ] |
| ch | [ʃ] | in words of French origin | champagne [ʃæmˈpeɪn] |
| [k] | in words of Greek origin | school [skuːl], chemistry [ˈkemɪstrɪ] | |
| [ʧ] | in all other cases | chalk [ʧɔːk] | |
| th | [θ] | at the beginning and end of significant words | think [θɪŋk] |
| [ð] | at the beginning of service words (pronouns, articles) | the [ðiː] | |
| in significant words between vowels | clothes [kləʊz] | ||
| x | [ks] | before a consonant and at the end of words | text [text] |
| [gz] | before the stressed vowel | exam [ɪgˈzaæm] | |
| ph | [f] | photo [ˈfəʊtəʊ] |
Source: https://ekaterina-alexeeva.ru/nachinayushhim/kak-pravilno-chitat-na-anglijskom-yazyke-tablitsa-sochetaniya-anglijskih-bukv.html
Letter combinations in English — reading rules, pivot tables
Consider letter combinations in English in the key of the rules of reading and pronunciation with the ability to listen to each letter combination in the examples. For brevity, the basic rules for reading letter combinations are given in the tables.
Learn to read English from scratch and teach a child — online examples of words
At the initial stage of teaching English, of course, the question arises of how to learn to read in English.
We all learned to read in Russian, therefore, theoretically, we know that we need to start by studying letters, sounds and syllables. You can’t do without it. That is, if you want to learn to read in English, you will have to start from scratch, that is, start from scratch.
Some people think that it is much easier for children to start learning English from scratch, because someone once proved that the ability to master new knowledge, memory and speed of perception in children is greater than that of adults. Yes, and somehow it is a shame for an adult, like a first-grader, to learn elementary rules.
However, as practice shows, adults have an advantage over children in mastering foreign languages from scratch. It is much easier for an adult to analyze the similarities and differences between the native and foreign languages, behind him all the material covered on the theory of his own language, and the experience of communication in his native language is much more.
That is, to compare, draw conclusions and correctly apply the knowledge gained in practice, adults often do much better.
Nowadays, you can learn to read English from scratch online. There are various services and sites describing the correct pronunciation of sounds and the ability to listen. But still, at the initial stage, it is advisable for both adults and children to hire a teacher who will observe the correctness of reading and pronunciation.
Alphabet
So, you decided to teach your child to read in English or you yourself decided to learn to read. Where to begin? The most logical thing is to start with the alphabet. Here is the English alphabet with English transcription.
In the transcription — square brackets, the spelling of English letters is written in the form of sounds. It is very important to immediately, at the initial stage, learn to read the transcription.
This is necessary, firstly, because not all English sounds can be written in Russian letters, and secondly, then, when you have to use dictionaries, knowing the transcription, you can easily pronounce any new word.
But this advice applies, first of all, to adults, because small children who cannot read will learn letters by ear in the first couples.
It will help you learn what the English letters are called, the famous English song — ABC-song. On the Internet, you can easily find many of its interpretations with different options for the video sequence, but we suggest you look at this option:
If we talk about how best to teach a child to read in English from scratch, that is, to teach him the English letters, then the recommendations here will differ little from those given by teachers when studying Russian letters. We teach in the most interesting ways for a child: with the help of songs, toy cubes or magnets, cards and coloring pages — in general, everything that will interest your child more and what he wants to return to.
Rules for reading English vowels
After you get acquainted with the alphabet, you need to pay attention to the fact that letters and sounds are different things. And if the situation with consonant sounds is more or less clear, and the sound that they convey in words, in most cases, coincides with the one that we hear when pronouncing a letter, then with vowels in English the picture is completely different.
There are only 6 vowels in English:
But each of them can be read in four different ways, depending on which letters it is surrounded by in a particular word. That is, in other words, there are 4 types of vowel syllables in English.
Let’s imagine this rule for all vowels in the general table.
| syllable type letter | I (open) vowel + acc. + Vowel | II (closed) vowel + acc. (+ Acc.) | IIIpax. + R | IV vowel + r + vowel |
| A | [ei] take | [æ] cat | [a:] car | [εə] care |
| E | [i:] Pete | [e] pet | [ə:] her | [iə] here |
| I | [ai] Mike | [i] pig | [ə:] bird | [aiə] fire |
| O | [əu] rose | [ɔ] dog | [ɔ:] for | [ɔ:] more |
| U | [ju:] use | [Λ] cup | [ə:] fur | [uə] sure |
| Y | [ai] fly | [i] system | [ə:] myrtle | [aiə] tire |
If you carefully study the table, you will see that in the third type of syllable, four of the six vowels (E, I, U, Y) are read the same. Moreover, the letters I and Y are read the same in all four types of syllables.
When we learn to read English from scratch, it is important to try to bring the reading of the same type of words, read according to the rules, to automatism, so as not to think every time before reading this or that word.
For example, practicing reading the letter «a» in a closed type of syllable, you can make the following chain of words (you can listen to sound files):
cat, sad, man, hand, stand
«O» in an open syllable — read
close, nose, note, home, hope
“I” in the third type of syllable will work in the following chain:
bird, first, girl, skirt, third
and so on.
To do this, there are many reading exercises, where whole lists of words are given, where the same vowel is read the same way, only the consonants around it change. Repeatedly reading aloud similar words will give a good result. In the absence of a teacher, it is desirable that these exercises be supported by sound or video to control the correct pronunciation.
Letter combinations in English
In addition to the reading rules for vowel sounds, the English language is also known for its numerous letter combinations — that is, certain combinations of letters give a sound that is different from those with which letters in the alphabet are read. Here are the most common ones.
- Vowel combinations
Source:
https://lim-english.com/posts/kak-naychitsya-chitat-po-angliiski-s-nylya/English letter combinations English for children
›Learning a language› Translation and reading ›English letter combinations — English for children in simple explanations
Acquaintance of kids with the English language is fun and bright: with songs, rhymes, cartoons and a variety of games. The playful form of classes instills in children an interest in the language and allows them to quickly memorize new information. It is very easy to conduct such lessons when learning the alphabet, sounds or popular words.
But how can you explain to a child the complex rules of reading that not every adult will understand the first time? Yes Easy! Our material about English letter combinations will teach English to children in an accessible and interesting way.
Today we will study the basic combinations of English letters with kids, but first, we will explain to adults when to start learning the rules of reading with children.
At what age to teach a child to read in English and how to conduct classes
Only a lazy person didn’t joke about the differences in spelling and pronunciation of English words, so it is widely known that reading is one of the pitfalls of British speech. Yes, in Russian we also often write differently than we pronounce. But, as a rule, this is an error of one letter and does not change the meaning of the word. But the grammar of the English language in terms of reading is much more difficult, because here it should be borne in mind that:
- There are 26 sounds for 44 letters of the alphabet;
- The pronunciation of some letters depends on the type of syllable;
- There are «dumb» syllables;
- Combinations of letters are often used (diphthongs, triphthongs);
- The duration of the sound affects the meaning of the word.
All these nuances led to the development of special reading rules, but not all words obey them either! Many English expressions have entered speech use with «wrong» pronunciation and are considered exceptions to the rule.
In such a confusion, not all adults are able to understand, and even more so for children. Therefore, we would recommend starting to engage in English reading with a child no earlier than 7-8 years old. During this period, children already go to school, become more disciplined and begin to understand the importance of knowledge. At the same time, the rules of reading in English are a rather complex topic, so it must be studied gradually. Here are some tips for class format.
- Conduct reading lessons at least 2 times a week.
- Be sure to memorize the correct transcription of the pronunciations.
- During the lesson, master 3-4 rules with the baby, carefully fixing them in practice. For example, we studied the pronunciation of a letter in an open syllable — read 10-15 words for this rule. In the next lesson, they necessarily conducted a repetition of what was previously learned.
- Memorizing letter combinations is best supported by writing. It is recommended to conduct a written dictation every 2 weeks (letter / combination — pronunciation).
- Encourage your child to read short texts and dialogues. Entertaining mini-stories will increase interest in classes and help consolidate the knowledge gained.
In addition to general recommendations, we note that you should not forget about individuality. When conducting classes, focus on the mood and well-being of the child: without the child’s interest, no lessons will bring the desired result.
Now, after a little theory, it’s time to move on to practice. Let’s consider the rules of reading in English and work them out using examples. Note that the material is largely simplified, since in this article we study English letter combinations in the English for children format. Let’s get started!
English reading rules for children
There are 26 letters in the English alphabet. Surely, you already know how they are spelled and how they are pronounced.
But did you know that pronunciation can change when we put letters into different words? For example, in the word sky (sky — sky) the last letter is read as «ah», and in the word family (family — family) the same last letter y already reads «and».
So how do you read English words then? In order not to be mistaken, we just need to learn special English rules and get acquainted with the options for the sound of letters.
Open syllable rule
An open syllable is the syllable of a word that ends with a vowel. We remind you that any syllable must necessarily contain a vowel sound and cannot consist of one letter.
For example, let’s analyze the word cake (cake — cake) by syllables:
- Take the first letter C.
- Add vowel A.
- 2 letters K and E remain, but the last E cannot be read, so a new syllable cannot be made with it. It turns out that the whole given word is one syllable cake.
- Even though E cannot be read, it is still a vowel. Therefore, we have an example of an open syllable. And in this case, the letter A reads «hey».
So, if the last letter of a syllable is a vowel, then it is an open syllable. In this case, the vowel is taken into account even in those cases when it is not pronounced.
Closed syllable rule
A closed syllable is a syllable ending in a consonant.
Let’s analyze the word cat (cat — cat): take the first letter C, add the vowel A. One remaining letter T cannot be a separate syllable, so it belongs to the first syllable, and again our whole word consists of one syllable cat. This syllable ends with a consonant letter, which means it is closed and here the rule of reading the letter A as «e» applies.
Note that if we pronounced the word cat like «Kate», we would not have gotten a cat, but the female name Kate. Therefore, it is very important to learn how to correctly distinguish between open and closed syllables. Now let’s find out what other letters change their sound in different words.
Vowels
This table explains the English vowel sounds for children.
Letter Sound in an open syllable Closed syllable sound Open syllable + R Closed syllable + R A [ei] «hey» make, lake, game [æ] «uh» apple, man, map [eǝ] «ee» care, hair, square [a:] «aa (p)» car, far, star E* [i:] «and» me, he, she [e] «e» pen, pencil, red [iǝ] «ye» clear, here, fear [ə:] «ё» her I [aɪ] «ah» wife, fine, bike [ɪ] «and» Source:
https://speakenglishwell.ru/anglijskie-bukvosochetaniya-anglijskij-dlya-detej/English letter combinations — English for children in simple explanations
Consider letter combinations in English in the key of the rules of reading and pronunciation with the ability to listen to each letter combination in the examples. For brevity, the basic rules for reading letter combinations are given in the tables.
English letter combinations: rules for reading vowels and consonants, sound length, a list of the first words to study and summary tables
02.07.2019
From the previous lessons, we learned how to correctly read the letter combinations AI, as in the word train, and AY, as in the word play. We already know how to pronounce the combination of letters OO in the words book (short sound [u]) and moon (long sound [u:]).
In addition, we already know how the letter O is read in combination with W — cow [kau]. Now let’s talk about how vowels are read in combination with the letter R. If the letter R comes before a vowel, then it usually reads like [r].
Pay attention to the peculiarities of pronunciation of the sound [r]: it does not look like the Russian sound [p] and in order to pronounce it correctly, you need to touch the palate with the tip of your tongue. Practice pronouncing this sound using the words rose [rəuz] and rabbit [‘ræbɪt].
Here are some more examples to illustrate the reading of the letter R in front of vowels:
My rose is red. — My rose is red (fig. 1).
His robot is green. — His robot is green.
Reading vowels before the letter R
If the letter R is after the vowels, then they will be read differently than in an open or closed syllable. For example, the letter combination AR will be read as a long sound [ɑː]: park [pɑːk] — park, car [kɑː] — car, star [stɑː] — star (Fig. 2), party [pɑːtɪ] — party, farm [fɑːm] — farm, arm [ɑːm] — hand.
Pay attention to the reading of the AR combination in these sentences:
We are at a party. — We’re at a party.
His garden is dark. — His garden is dark.
The letter combination OR will be read as a long sound [ɔː]: horse [hɔːs] — horse, fork [fɔːk] — fork, morning [‘mɔːnɪŋ] — morning, popcorn [‘ pɔpkɔːn] — popcorn (Fig. 3).
Quantity
The longitude of a sound is very important in the English language. If we pull and pronounce Russian words briefly, then only the intonation will change. And in English words, their meaning depends on the brevity and longitude of the sound.
In the third type of reading, after the vowels, there is the letter R, which affects the longitude of the sound, that is, all these sounds are read as long.
Compare, paying attention to the short sounds in the left column and the long sounds in the right column:
cut [kʌt] — cut cart [kɑːt] — cart duck [dʌk] — duck dark [dɑːk] — dark spot [spɔt] — spot sport [spɔːt] — sport pot [pɔt] — pot port [pɔːt] — port Reinforce the difference in pronunciation by practicing reading these pairs of words.
All other English vowels in combination with R are read the same way: they make a long sound [əː] (Fig. 4). Rice. 4. Combination of vowels and R
Please note that there is no such sound in Russian. It is a bit like the sound in the word «honey». Practice reading words with this sound:
purple [‘pɜːpl] — purple, nurse [nɜːs] — nurse, fur [fɜː] — fur, her [hɜː] — her, bird [bɜːd] — bird, girl [gɜːl] — girl, first [fɜːst] — first.
Now pay attention to the reading of these words in sentences:
The fur is purple. — Fur — purple (fig. 5).
The girl has got a bird. — The girl has a bird.
Reading combinations of vowels before R
Consider reading some of the vowel combinations before the letter R.
If there is a letter combination AI before R, then together AIR will be pronounced as [eə]: air [eə] — air, hair [heə] — hair, chair [ʧeə] — chair, fair [feə] — light. His hair is fair. — His hair is blond (Fig. 6).
My teddy bear is on the chair. — My teddy bear on the chair.
If there is a letter combination ЕA before R, then together ЕAR will also be pronounced as [eə]: bear [beə] — bear, pear [peə] — pear. However, not all English words read EAR as [eə].
In some words, it reads as [ɪə]: ear [ɪə] — ear, near [nɪə] — near, hear [hɪə] — to hear, tear [tɪə] — tear. The combination of letters EER — [ɪə] will also be read: deer [dɪə] — deer (Fig.
7), engineer [ˌenʤɪ’nɪə] is an engineer.
Read the same but write differently
There are words in English that are read the same way but are spelled differently. Plus, they have different meanings. Compare:
meet [mi: t] — meet meat [miːt] — meat flour [‘flauə] — flour flower [‘flauə] — flower their [ðeə] — their there [ðeə] — there Pay attention to these words in sentences:
Meet me, please. — Meet me, please.
Source:
https://tutorblog.ru/uprazhneniya/anglijskie-bukvosochetaniya-yazyk-dlya-detej-v-prostyh-obyasneniyah.html
письмо, буква, символ, послание, литера, надписывать, помечать буквами
существительное ↓
- буква
capital [small] letter — прописная [строчная] буква 
initial letter — а) начальная /первая/ буква; б) заглавная /прописная/ буква
- литера
letter company — воен. литерная рота
- шрифт
black letter — старинный английский готический шрифт
white letters — латинский шрифт, антиква; прямой шрифт
- буква, шифр (завода-изготовителя)
- буква, формальная сторона (чего-л.)
the letter of the law — буква закона
letter for letter — дословно, точно
in letter and in spirit — по форме и по существу
to the letter — буквально, в точности
to carry out instructions to the letter — выполнять указания точно /в точности/
to know smth. to the letter — знать что-л. досконально
ещё 9 вариантов
глагол ↓
- помечать буквами
- надписывать чертёж
- полигр. вытиснять буквы, заглавие (на корешке книги)
- унив. заслужить право быть членом спортивной команды
she lettered in three sports in college — в колледже она была в командах по трём видам спорта
Мои примеры
Словосочетания
the layout of a business letter — макет делового письма
an open letter to the editor — открытое письмо редактору
black-letter book — старопечатная книга
letter / pillar box — уличный почтовый ящик
capital letter — прописная, заглавная буква
letter of caption — ордер на арест
confessional letter — откровенное письмо
letter of congratulations — поздравительное письмо
covering letter — сопроводительное письмо
dead letter office — отдел невостребованных писем
abusive letter — ругательное письмо
letter of acceptance — письмо с выражением согласия
Примеры с переводом
I burnt her letter.
Я сжёг её письмо.
Just bin that letter.
Выбрось то письмо, да и всё.
I reached him the letter.
Я протянул ему письмо.
Your letter of the 15th May has come to hand.
Ваше письмо от 15 мая получено нами.
The letter’s a flam.
Это письмо — фальшивка.
This letter bears no date.
На этом письме нет даты.
Let me have a look at that letter.
Позвольте мне взглянуть на это письмо.
ещё 23 примера свернуть
Примеры, ожидающие перевода
They scraped a letter into the stone 
…you need a verifiable letter from your doctor to file a claim for short-term disability…
Someone’s forged my signature (=made an illegal copy of my name to deceive people) on this letter.
Для того чтобы добавить вариант перевода, кликните по иконке ☰, напротив примера.
Возможные однокоренные слова
let — позволять, давать, препятствовать, препятствие, помеха, сдача внаем
lettered — литерный, начитанный, обозначенный буквами, литературно образованный
lettering — надпись, тиснение, написание буквами, тиснение буквами
letterless — неграмотный, необразованный
letters — письмена, литература
letable — сдаваемый внаем, выдаваемый напрокат, сдаваемый в аренду
Формы слова
noun
ед. ч.(singular): letter
мн. ч.(plural): letters
Pronounce the letter N /ɛn/, not /en/
To answer your first question, the OED entry for the letter N (paywalled link) gives only /ɛn/ as the pronunciation in both American and British dialects alike. If you for whatever reason choose to view that dictionary’s pronunciation as prescription not description, then the letter N “should” be pronounced to rhyme with men and ten, not with main and feign.
That means that native speakers of English say the name of the letter N as /ɛn/ using the lax DRESS vowel, not /en/ using the tense FACE vowel the way you’ve described hearing it said in that non-English country you’ve so far only alluded to.
In some native-speaker accents these two contrasting phonemes do move around a bit compared with how they work out in other dialects, but they should still belong to distinct lexical sets no matter how they are pronounced. The same would hold true with words like gem with an open/lax vowel and name with a close/tense one.
To answer your second question, although I’ve heard native-speaker accents where pin and pen merge, I’ve never heard any native-speaker accents where pen and pain merge.
I have heard non-native-speaker accents where this happens, however…
Non-English phonologies
I bet the people wherever you’re talking about also pronounce the letter L to rhyme with nail not with bell the way native speakers do. Unlike English, some languages like Spanish do not distinguish lax vowels from tense ones. All five vowels there are considered close, and while some speakers may in some utterances say some words with a vowel that’s a little more open there due to its phonological environment, they cannot «hear» this as a separate vowel because they lack minimal pairs.
But because you can, you do, and this ends up being confusing.
That’s why in a Spanish accent, the English word bit sounds the same as English word beat, and why English met in their accent would sound like mate to you. Maybe that’s what you’re hearing happen here: the original language doesn’t distinguish an open/lax e from a close/tense one.
English dialectal variations
It turns out that name is a pretty good example for demonstrating variation in this phoneme across various English dialects. Follow that link to see those, and even hear them.
Notice how differently that works out in practice. Sometimes it’s one diphthong, sometimes it’s another, and at other times it’s not a diphthong at all.
- You’ll find that native-speaker name variants with tense [e] include monophthongs in [neːm], [ne̞ːm] [ne̝ːm], [neˑm], [ne̝ˑm], [ne̝m], and diphthongs in [neˑəm], [nëˑəm], [ne̝ˑəm], [neˑɪm], [ne̞ˑɪm], [neɪm], [ne̝ɪm].
- There are also native-speaker name variants with lax [ɛ] that include a monophthong in [nɛ̝ːm] and diphthongs in [nɛɪm], [nɛˑɪm], [nɛ̝ˑɪm] [nɛ̞ˑɪm].
- There’s even [njɛːm] with a rising diphthong and [niˑəm] with a falling one.
Every single one of those is a “correct” but different pronunciation of that same word by native speakers from around the world. It’s therefore “correct” in that accent but “incorrect” in others. What sounds normal in one dialect would necessarily sound abnormal in another that uses different rules for realizing its phonemes.
Phonemically those are all /e/, but phonetically they are certainly not always [e]! But this doesn’t matter to our ear. Whether the vowel from name is ever some sort of diphthong there is a different matter altogether, one not especially important since that’s merely a minor unconscious phonological effect, an offglide made by some speakers and not others. The contrasting feature distinguishing the two phonemes is whether the vowel is the open one as in DRESS or the close one as in FACE.
English has no minimal pairs differing only in whether there’s a glide there in a falling diphthong versus a monophthong without a glide. So we have no minimal pair that has /eɪ/ in one word and /e/ in the other, with all else held equal. The same is true with /ɛɪ/ versus /ɛ/.
Typical Spelling Patterns for Vowel Sounds
Spelling and pronunciation are closely connected and should be studied together. This is especially true of English vowel sounds and their representation in writing.
This material provides examples of typical spelling patterns for English vowel sounds, proceeding from the sound to spelling. If it is more convenient for you to proceed from the letters and letter combinations to the sounds that they represent, you can reorganize this material according to your wish. (An example how to do it is given in Method 2 in the section Phonetics.)
Note that spelling and pronunciation in this material are given according to the American variant of the English language. (See British and American Spelling in the section Writing; English Vowel Sounds and Vowels Glossary of Terms in the section Phonetics.)
Letters and sounds
There are six vowel letters in English: A, E, I, O, U, Y. The letter Y represents the vowel sounds [i], [ai] (mystery, type) and the consonant (semivowel) sound [y] (yes). Together, vowel letters represent from 15 to 22 vowel sounds. This difference comes mostly from counting the diphthongs differently in British English and in American English. Generally, American linguists list five diphthongs: [ei], [ai], [au], [oi], [ou].
The number of English vowel sounds represented by vowel letters and by certain vowel combinations is larger than the number of vowel letters and their combinations, which means that one and the same vowel letter or letter combination is used to represent more than one sound. English also has several spelling variants for each vowel sound, which means that the same vowel sound is represented by different letters and letter combinations in writing.
For example, the letter A typically represents five sounds: [ei], [æ], [o:], [a:], [ə] (Kate, cat, call, card, alone). Its common open-syllable sound [ei] is represented in writing not only by the letter A as in «Kate» but also by five different vowel combinations as in «may, rain, weigh, they, break». The combinations EI, EY, which are usually pronounced [ei] in English words, represent the sound [ai] in some words of foreign origin (Einstein, geyser).
There is also a connection between a sound, its spelling, and the surrounding letters. For example, the combination AR, which is normally pronounced [a:r] as in «car, park, hard», is pronounced [o:r] after the consonant W (war, ward, warm, warn).
The most practical approach is to learn typical spelling patterns for vowel sounds. The other spelling variants may be present only in a couple of words or in words that are not used very often.
1. SOUND [i:]
Spelling examples: me, Pete, Japanese, equal, rewrite, seem, read, piece, seize, police.
Letter E
The sound [i:] is represented by the letter E in the open syllable of the root: me, be, he, she, we; Pete, eve, these, theme, scene, complete, intervene, precede.
The sound [i:] is represented by the letter E in the root in the initial syllable that is not easily recognizable as an open syllable, usually under stress: equal, evening, evil, recent, region, meter, secret, media, demon, female, legal, genius, senior, convenient, frequent, veto, premium, previous.
The sound [i:] is represented by the (first) letter E in the suffix «ese»: Japanese, Chinese, Vietnamese, Maltese, Portuguese, Lebanese, Burmese, manganese.
The sound [i:] is represented by the letter E in the prefixes «pre, re» in some words: prehistoric, prewar, prefix, preoccupy, prepay, preview, react, rewrite, remake.
Note: In many words, the letter E in the prefixes «pre, re» represents the short sound [i] (remove, repair, repeat, reply, return, prepare, prevent, presume).
Letter combinations EE, EA
The sound [i:] is represented by the combination EE: see, free, agree, knee, feel, feed, proceed, succeed, keen, seek, seem, screen, deep, greet, sleeve.
The sound [i:] is represented by the combination EA: sea, tea, peace, teach, lead, read, peak, deal, reveal, scream, team, clean, leap, please, release, beat, beneath, breathe, creature, leave.
Letter combinations IE, EI
The sound [i:] is represented by the combination IE in the root: piece, field, achieve, believe, relief, brief, chief, fiend, siege, shriek, priest.
The sound [i:] is represented by the combination EI in the root: seize, receive, receipt, deceive, conceive, perceive, ceiling, Leigh.
Letter I
In some English words of foreign origin, the sound [i:] is represented in writing by the letter I: police, caprice, gasoline, machine, magazine, marine, routine, vaccine, prestige, regime, elite, naive, pizza, ski, liter, fatigue, intrigue, antique, physique, technique, unique.
Rare spelling for the sound [i:]: key, people, Aesop, Oedipus.
2. SOUND [i]
Spelling examples: sit, ignore, public, working, enough, reply, hardness, boxes, symbol, lady, Annie, honey.
Letter I
The short sound [i] is represented by the letter I in the closed syllable of the root: it, sit, miss, tip, pick, pin, bring, list, fill, film, trim, dinner, finger, river, consist.
The short sound [i] is represented by the letter I in some prefixes: inform, illogical, immune, impudent, irregular, dislike, disturb, mistake, misunderstand. Note spelling: ignore, ignorant, ignite.
The short sound [i] is represented by the letter I in some suffixes: public, dramatic, habit, justice, native, foolish, working.
Letter E
The short sound [i] is represented by the letter E in the initial syllable of the root: English, pretty, ecology, enough, eleven, electric.
The short sound [i] is represented by the letter E in some prefixes: effect, emotion, become, before, despair, depart, remove, repair, repeat, reply, return, preliminary, prepare, prevent, secure.
The short sound [i] is represented by the letter E in some suffixes and endings: hardness, madness, actress, countless, childless, rocket, pocket, boxes, catches, added, counted.
It is very difficult to decide where to say the long sound [i:] and where to say the short sound [i] when they are represented by the letter E in the root or prefix. For easier memorization, it is advisable to make a comparison list of such words arranged in two columns.
Note: The final single letter E, which is usually mute in English words, is pronounced as [i], or as a shorter variant of [i:], in the words «apostrophe, catastrophe, psyche».
Letter Y
The sound [i] is represented by the letter Y in the root: symbol, lyrics, myriad, hymn, hypnosis, pyramid, sympathy, synchronize, crystal, system, typical, tyranny, mystery, myth, rhythm, antonym, synonym, pseudonym, acronym.
The sound [i] is represented by the letter Y in the suffix: lady, family, Daddy, duty, whisky, carry, hurry, funny, happy, busy, dirty, many, very, lovely, nicely, hardly, Larry, Billy, Mary.
Letter combinations IE, EY
The sound [i] is represented by the combination IE in the suffix: Annie, Carrie, Katie, auntie.
The sound [i] is represented by the combination EY in the suffix: honey, hockey, journey, money, monkey, whiskey, Sydney, Casey, Rodney.
Note: According to many dictionaries, the letter Y in the suffix (lady, busy) and the combinations IE, EY in the suffix (Annie, honey) are pronounced as a shorter variant of the long sound [i:].
3. SOUND [e]
Spelling examples: end, well, bread, heavy, many.
Letter E
The sound [e] is represented by the letter E in the closed syllable in the root: bet, set, well, guest, seldom, empty, every, berry, regular, accept, connect, inspector, impress, address, architect, project, enter, entrance, entire.
The sound [e] is represented by the letter E in the prefixes «em, en»: embalm, embark, embody, embrace, employ, enable, enlarge, engage, enjoy, environment.
Note: The prefixes «em, en» may also be pronounced [im], [in], especially in BrE; in some cases, two words exist, e.g., «ensure, insure; enquire, inquire».
Letter combination EA
There are many words (but still a limited number) in which the sound [e] is represented by the letter combination EA.
Learn them by heart: bread, dead, head, header, lead, read, spread, thread, dread, tread, instead; already, ready, steady, meadow; sweat, sweater, threat, threaten; breath, death, health, stealth, wealth; weather, leather, feather; measure, pleasure, treasure, treasury, pleasant, peasant, pheasant; dealt, meant, cleanse, jealous, realm; heaven, heavy, endeavor, deaf; breakfast, breast, treachery, weapon.
Rare spelling for the sound [e]: any, many, friend, said, says, bury.
4. SOUND [ei]
Spelling examples: age, lake, nation, wait, play, they, eight.
Letter A
The sound [ei] is represented by the letter A in the open syllable in the root: Kate, ate, late, take, race, name, save, ache, table, cradle, change, strange, paste, taste, waste.
The sound [ei] is represented by the letter A in the root in the initial syllable that is not easily recognizable as an open syllable, and sometimes in the closed syllable, usually under stress: bacon, baby, lazy, angel, danger, stranger, chamber, April, paper, basin, basis, Asia, pastry, nation, patriot, fatal, naval, facial, racial, vacant, ancient, patient, radio.
The sound [ei] is represented by the letter A in the verbal suffix «ate»: decorate, educate, create, celebrate, concentrate, separate, dictate, investigate, originate.
Letter combinations AI, EI
The sound [ei] is represented by the combination AI, usually before a consonant letter in the root: aim, aid, sail, tail, main, vain, rain, raise, faint, paint, saint, strait, straight, remain, complain, disdain, explain, restrain.
The sound [ei] is represented by the combination EI, usually before a consonant letter in the root: rein, veil, vein, feign, reign, deign, sleigh, weigh, weight, eight, freight, neighbor.
Note: The combination EI is pronounced [ai] in the words «height, sleight, either». (See 7. SOUND [ai].)
Letter combinations AY, EY
The sound [ei] is represented by the combination AY, usually in the final position in the root: day, gray, may, say, way, hay, gay, play, pray, stay, stray, essay, relay, delay; betrayal, player, essayist, saying. But: daily, gaily (also, gayly).
The sound [ei] is represented by the combination EY, usually in the final position in the root: they, grey, prey, hey, whey, survey, obey, convey, conveyance, surveyor.
Note: In some words of foreign origin the combinations EI, EY are pronounced as [ai]: Einstein, Fahrenheit, geyser, Meyer.
Note: Note the spelling of these words: mayor, major.
Letter combination EA
In the following words, the sound [ei] is represented by the combination EA: break, great, steak.
Words of French origin
In some English words of French origin, the final sound [ei] is represented in writing by the letters E, EE, ET: cafe, attache, pate, resume, fiance, fiancee, divorcee, matinee, entree; ballet, beret, buffet, bouquet, fillet, gourmet.
Note: There is usually a French stress mark on the final letter E (cafe) and on the first letter E in EE (matinee) in the above-mentioned words, but some of such words may be written without the stress mark (e.g., divorcee, matinee, entree) in AmE.
There are some English words with the ending EE that is pronounced [i:]: employee, trainee, refugee. A large number of English words have the ending ET (pronounced [it]): bullet, wallet, skillet, packet, picket, pocket, rocket.
5. SOUND [æ] as in CAT
Spelling examples: bad, sat, bank, stand, family, accident, apple.
Letter A in the closed syllable
In American English, the letter A under stress in the closed syllable of the root is usually pronounced [æ]: ask, task, fast, last, contrast, master, disaster, castle, answer, act, pack, actor, factory, add, mad, staff, after, half, class, glass, grass, jazz, chance, dance, can’t, land, handle, command, talent, example, happy, happen, travel, fashion, bath, matter, Manhattan.
In British English, the letter A in many of these words is pronounced [a:], for example, in the words «class, dance, answer, master, castle, fast, disaster, after, half, bath».
The sound [ei] represented in writing by the letter A changes to [æ] in some derivatives: Nature [ei] – natural [æ]; nation [ei] – national [æ]; sane [ei] – sanity [æ]; vain – vanity.
Rare spelling for [æ] (AmE): aunt, laugh.
6. SOUND [a:]
Spelling examples: army, regard, father, calm, bravo, mirage.
Letter combination AR
The sound [a:] is represented by the combination AR in the root, usually under stress: arm, art, car, card, yard, part, charge, large, margin, argue, guard, regard, garden, pardon, market.
Letter A
The letter A represents the sound [a:] in several English words in American English: father, Pa, Papa, Ma, Mama; calm, palm, balm, alms, psalm. (The letter L in these words is silent.)
The letter A represents the sound [a:] in some words of foreign origin: drama, Panama, saga, cantata, sonata, spa, bravo, aria, lama; mirage, garage, espionage, sabotage, massage, facade.
Note: In some words of French origin the sound [a:] is represented by the initial combination «en»: entree, ensemble.
Rare spelling for [a:]: sergeant, heart; (BrE) aunt, laugh, draught.
Sounds [æ] and [a:] in AmE and BrE
In British English, the letter A is usually pronounced [æ] as in CAT under stress in the closed syllable of the root, but the letter A is usually pronounced [a:] before the consonants f, ff, ph, sk, sp, ss, st, th, nce, nd, and some others.
In American English, the letter A under stress in the closed syllable of the root is usually pronounced [æ] as in CAT in all cases.
Examples of words with AmE [æ] or BrE [a:]: staff, after, draft, half, ask, task, grasp, grass, glass, class, fast, last, castle, master, disaster, bath, path, example, chance, dance, answer, can’t, demand, command.
7. SOUND [ai]
Spelling examples: nice, surprise, minus, private, type, reply, dynamic, find, light, tie.
Letter I
The sound [ai] is represented by the letter I in the open syllable of the root: ice, nice, ride, life, file, smile, line, pipe, quite, wise, hi, polite, surprise, prize, combine, arrive.
The sound [ai] is represented by the letter I, stressed or unstressed, in the root in the syllable that is not easily recognizable as an open syllable: idea, identical, idol, isolation, item, science, society, client, crisis, climate, minus, private, library, finance, horizon, dial, vital, vitamin.
The sound [ai] is represented by the letter I and by the letter Y in the verbal suffixes «ize» (ise), «yze» (yse) and «fy»: organize, modernize, analyze, analyse, satisfy, modify, signify.
The sound [ai] is represented by the letter I in some prefixes: diagram, dialect, digest, digress, bicycle, biannual, biography.
Letter Y
The sound [ai] is represented by the letter Y in some English words, usually in the final position in the root: by, my, cry, dry, fly, fry, ply, pry, sky, sly, try.
The sound [ai] is represented by the letter Y in many words of Greek and Latin origin: style, type, hype, rhyme; deny, rely, apply, reply; cycle, cyclone, dynamic, dynamite, hybrid, hyphen, nylon, hyperactive, hypodermic, psychopath, psychiatrist.
Note: Final Y in words like «cry, fly, try, satisfy» in certain cases changes to I before suffixes or endings: cries, flier, flyer, tried, trial, trying, satisfied, satisfying. (See the materials on adding suffixes and endings in the section Writing.)
Other spelling variants for the sound [ai]
The sound [ai] is represented by some other spelling variants in a limited number of words.
The letter I before LD, ND and before some other consonant combinations: child, mild, wild, climb, find, kind, mind, blind; rifle, trifle, title, idle, Bible.
The letter I before GH, GHT, GN: high, sigh, thigh; fight, light, night, right, slight; sign, align, benign, malign.
Letter combinations IE, YE, EI, EY, UY: die, tie, lie, pie, vie; dye, lye, rye, bye; height, sleight, either, neither; eye, geyser; buy, guy.
Latin plural ending I: alumni, fungi, stimuli, alkali, alibi. (Nouns with Latin plural endings are listed in the material Irregular Plural Nouns in the section Writing.)
Note: The sound [ai] represented by the letter I may change to [i] in some derivatives: signature, malignant, biblical.
Note: The combination EI in the words «either, neither» is pronounced [i:] or [ai] in AmE.
8. SOUND [au]
Spelling examples: how, brown, out, noun.
Letter combinations OW, OU
The sound [au] is represented by the combination OW in any position in the word: now, how, cow, row, bow, brow, allow, plow, crowd, owl, fowl, howl, prowl, down, gown, town, clown, brown, drown, crown, browse, browser, powder, power, flower, tower, allowing, allowance.
The sound [au] is represented by the combination OU, usually before a consonant letter in the root: out, about, doubt, couch, cloud, loud, proud, foul, noun, announce, bounce, ounce, pound, found, ground, hound, around, sound, surround, count, account, amount, mountain, house, mouse, louse, blouse, mouth, south, scout, shout, bough, plough, drought.
It is difficult to decide where to say [ou] and where [au] when they are represented by the combination OW. For example: own – owl; bowl – brown; mow – pow. Besides, there are a few homonyms that are spelled in the same way but are pronounced differently: row [rou] and [rau]; bow [bou] and [bau]; sow [sou] and [sau]. It is advisable to make a comparison list of such words.
It may also be difficult to decide where to write OW and where to write OU. For example: fowl – foul; browse – blouse; crowd – cloud; powder – pound. It would be useful to have a comparison list of such words.
9. SOUND [o:]
Spelling examples: more, order, law, call, cause, caught, bought, course, war, water.
Spelling patterns for the sound [o:]
Letter combinations OR, ORE: cord, Ford, form, born, corn, torn, short, sport, torch, porch, orange, order, orient, normal, mortal, storm, story, glory, forum, forty, morning; bore, more, before, shore, sore, store, tore, explore, ignore.
Letter combination AW: law, draw, drawer, saw, thaw, crawl, shawl, hawk, dawn, lawn, awful, awkward.
Letter combinations ALL, AL: all, ball, call, fall, hall, wall, appall, alter, always, already, walk, talk, chalk, false, salt, halt.
Letter combination AU: cause, pause, applause, sauce, audio, audience, fraud, August, auto, author, Paul, fault, haunt, launch, laundry.
Letter combination AUGHT: caught, taught, daughter, slaughter, haughty, naughty.
Letter combination OUGHT: bought, brought, fought, ought, sought, thought; cough.
Letter combinations OUR, OAR, OOR: course, court, four, mourn, pour, source, your; board, hoarse, hoard, roar, soar, broad; door, floor.
Letter combinations WAR, WA: war, warm, ward, warden, warn, warning, award, reward; water, want, wand, wash, wasp, watch, swamp, swan.
Letter combination QUAR: quart, quarter, headquarters, quartz, quarrel, quarantine.
Letter O as [o:] in AmE: long, wrong, song, boss, lost, cost, dog, gone, coffee.
Note: In AmE, the letter O in words like «long, cost, dog» may be pronounced as [o:] or as [o]. In BrE, the letter O in such words usually has the sound [o].
There are several spelling variants for the sound [o:] that are also used for some other sounds. For example: door [o:] – poor [u]; pour [o:] – tour [u]; cost [o:] – post [ou]. Nevertheless, spelling patterns for the sound [o:] are quite recognizable and should be easy to memorize.
10. SOUND [o]
Spelling examples: not, stop, rob, body, sorry, model, conference, want, watch, wash.
Spelling patterns for the sound [o]
Letter O: got, hot, not, stop, rob, odd, off, clock, coffee, gone, bomb, bond, soft, often, body, hobby, dollar, doctor, document, occupy, college, compliment, conference, model, monitor, option, promise, prompt, follow, borrow, sorrow, tomorrow, sorry, orange.
Letter combination WA: want, watch, wash, what, swamp, swallow, swan.
Letter combination QUA: quality, qualify, quantity, quarrel, quarantine.
Rare spelling for [o]: cough, knowledge, yacht.
Sound [o] in BrE and AmE
It is interesting to note that in American English there is no sound like the British short sound [o]. Instead of it, the sound that sounds like a hybrid of the long sounds [o:] and [a:] is pronounced in American English where British English has the short sound [o].
This hybrid American sound is usually indicated in American dictionaries as [o], but may be indicated as [a:]. For example, there may be the following variants of transcription for the word «want» in American dictionaries: [wont] or [wo:nt]; [wo:nt] or [wa:nt].
The same hybrid sound [o], or [o:] colored as [a:], may be pronounced in American English in words like «water, ought, daughter» in which long [o:] is considered standard. But long [o:] always remains [o:] in the stressed syllable before [r]: more [mo:r], lord [lo:rd], normal, port.
Examples of words with BrE [o] or AmE hybrid [o]: got, not, hot, stop, rob, odd, off, dog, log, clock, coffee, cough, gone, long, song, cost, loss, boss, bomb, bond, soft, often, body, hobby, dollar, doctor, document, occupy, college, compliment, conference, model, monitor, option, promise, prompt, follow, borrow, sorrow, tomorrow, sorry, orange, quality, quantity, want, wash, watch, what, swamp, swallow, swan.
This peculiar hybrid sound [o], the sound [r] that is pronounced in all positions, and the sound [æ] in words like «class, ask, castle, fast, demand, dance» give American English its characteristic accent.
11. SOUND [oi]
Spelling examples: boil, noise, toy, loyal.
Letter combinations OI, OY
The sound [oi] is represented in writing by the combination OI, usually before a consonant letter in the root: oil, ointment, boil, foil, spoil, toil, coin, join, voice, void, avoid, point, appoint, noise, poison, hoist, moist, exploit, loiter, embroidery.
The sound [oi] is represented in writing by the combination OY in any position in the word: boy, joy, ploy, soy, toy, annoy, destroy, employ, corduroy, oyster, loyal, royal, voyage, boyish, joyful.
12. SOUND [ou]
Spelling examples: home, post, bonus, hero, know, road.
Letter O
The sound [ou] is represented by the letter O in the open syllable of the root: home, role, cone, stone, hope, note, close, remote, suppose, homeless, lonely, hopeful.
The sound [ou] is represented by the letter O in the root in the syllable that is not easily recognizable as an open syllable: open, obey, omit, omen, opal, ocean, potent, polar, solar, motor, rotor, modal, total, moment, rodent, soldier, bonus, focus, notice, social, donate, donut, vogue, rogue. Note: In the words «obey, omit», the letters «ob, o» are Latin prefixes.
The sound [ou] is represented by the letter O in the closed syllable of the root, usually before LD, LT, LL and before some other consonant combinations: old, bold, cold, hold, sold, bolt, colt, roll, poll, toll, control, folk, yolk, most, post, host, ghost, gross, both, comb, don’t, won’t.
The sound [ou] is represented by the letter O in the prefix «co» and in some cases in the prefix «pro»: coeducation, coworker, coexist, coordinate, pronoun, program, prohibit, prohibition.
Note: In many words, the letter O in the prefix «pro» represents the sound [ə] (propose, pronounce, protect, provide, production, profession).
Letter O in the final position
The sound [ou] is represented by the letter O in the final position in the word: go, no, so, also, cargo, echo, hero, zero, piano, potato, tomato, mosquito, radio, studio, Mexico, Idaho, motto, logo, veto.
Note:: The final letter O may represent the sound [u:] as in «do, two, who, to, into» and the sounds [u:] or [ə] in the unstressed position as in «to, into».
Letter combinations OW, OA
The sound [ou] is represented by the combination OW in any position in the word: know, low, show, row, tow, owe, grow, throw, blow, flow; bowl, own, blown, flown, grown, shown, thrown, growth; follow, hollow, borrow, narrow, window, yellow; owing, growing, follower, lower, yellowish.
The sound [ou] is represented by the combination OA, usually before a consonant letter in the root: oat, oak, coal, goal, load, road, boat, coat, soak, toast, roast, coast, boast, coach, approach, cockroach.
Letter combinations OE, OUGH, OU
The sound [ou] is represented by the combinations OE, OUGH, OU in a limited number of words: toe, roe, doe, foe, woe; though, although, dough; soul, shoulder, poultry, boulder, mold / mould.
Because the letter O can represent different vowel sounds, for example, [ou], [o:], [o], [ə], and can also form a number of combinations with the other vowels, it would be most useful to study its pronunciation by arranging groups of words in columns on one page according to the sound that the letter O represents.
13. SOUNDS [u:] and [yu:]
Spelling examples: use, rude, food, do, few, blue, group.
Spelling patterns for the sound [u:]
The letter U and the combinations EW, EU, UE, UI represent the sound [u:] after the consonants R, L, J, CH. The vowel O and the combinations OO, OU represent the sound [u:].
Letter U as [u:]: rude, crude, rule, rumor, brutal, prune; Lucy, Luke, lumen, flute; judicial, June, junior, Julia, judo; chute, parachute.
Letter O as [u:]: do, two, who, whom, whose, lose, move, prove, improve, tomb, womb.
Letter combination OO as [u:]: food, mood, room, broom, moon, cartoon, cool, pool, school, scoop, tooth, boots, poodle, ooze, choose, soothe, shoot, too, zoo, bamboo, taboo, kangaroo, shampoo, tattoo.
Letter combination OU as [u:]: group, soup, loupe, cougar, coupon, mousse, route, routine, wound, souvenir, through, rouge.
Letter combination OE as [u:]: shoe, canoe.
Letter combination EW as [u:]: jewel, Jew, flew, blew, chew, crew, screw.
Letter combination UE as [u:]: true, blue, clue, glue.
Letter combination UI as [u:]: juice, fruit, bruise, cruise, recruit, sluice.
Spelling patterns for the sound [yu:]
The letter U and the combinations EW, EU, UE, UI represent the sound [yu:] after the other consonants (except R, L, J, CH). The letter U is pronounced [yu:] when it starts the word.
Letter U as [yu:]: use, usual, union, unit, unite, unique, universe, universal, university, urine, utility, utensil, ubiquitous.
Letter U as [yu:]: fume, funeral, fuse, refuse, fuel; cube, cute, vacuum; music, museum, amuse, community, immune, mute; pupil, human, humor, huge, Hugh.
Letter U as [yu:]: duty, due, produce, tulip, tune, student; nude, nuclear, numeral, menu; super, Susan, consumer.
Letter combination EW as [yu:]: few, nephew, view, dew, new, mew, pew, stew.
Letter combination EU as [yu:]: eucalyptus, euphemism, feud, neurotic, neutral.
Letter combinations UE, UI as [yu:]: hue, cue, due, sue, pursue, suit.
After Y always [yu:]: yule, yuletide, Yukon; youth, yew.
Rare spelling for [yu:]: beauty.
Note: In American English, the sound [u:], not [yu:], is usually pronounced after the consonants D, T, N, S, though both variants are considered standard. Examples: duty [‘du:ti], dew [du:], due [du:], dual; tune [tu:n], tulip [‘tu:lip], stew [stu:], student; new [nu:], nude [nu:d], nuclear; suit [su:t], sue [su:], pursue, super.
14. SOUND [u]
Spelling examples: book, good, pull, sugar, could.
Spelling patterns for the short sound [u]
Letter combination OO: book, cook, look, hook, shook, took, good, stood, wood, hood, childhood, foot, wool, broom, rookie.
Letter U: put, push, pull, bush, bull, bullet, full, pudding, sugar, cushion, butcher.
Letter O: wolf, woman.
Letter combination OU: could, should, would.
It is quite difficult to decide where to say the long sound [u:] and where to say the short sound [u] when they are represented by the combination OO (and, to a lesser extent, by the letter U). It is advisable to keep a comparison list of such words. In some cases, there are two variants of pronunciation: room – [ru:m], [rum]; roof – [ru:f], [ruf]; hoop – [hu:p], [hup]; soot – [sut], [su:t].
15. SOUND [ər] as in SIR
Spelling examples: verb, turn, first, learn, work, journey, dollar.
In American English, the sound [ər] is represented by the combinations of vowels with the letter R in the root, prefix, or suffix, under stress or unstressed. The sound [r] is pronounced in all positions in the word in AmE. All of the vowels can form such combinations. The combination AR represents the sound [ər] only in an unstressed position, usually in the suffix.
Spelling patterns for the sound [ər]
Letter combination ER: her, herb, serve, verb, verse, were, certain, person, concern, emergency, energy, perceive, percent, prefer, teacher, mister, buyer, finger, better, powder.
Letter combination UR: urge, fur, burn, turn, curse, purse, purr, hurry, current, occur, curtain, furnish, turkey, purpose, pursue, disturb, pleasure, lecture, pressure.
Letter combination IR: sir, fir, girl, bird, stir, shirt, skirt, third, whirl, circle, circus, dirty, thirsty.
Letter combination EAR: learn, heard, search, early, earn, earth, pearl, yearn, rehearse.
Letter combination OR: word, work, worm, world, worry, worse, worth; attorney, forgive, forget, doctor, visitor, favor, effort, comfort.
Letter combination OUR: courage, courtesy, journey, journal, glamour.
Letter combination AR: dollar, collar, grammar, sugar, solar, vulgar, anarchy, monarchy, beggar, coward, hazard.
Letter combination YR: martyr, satyr, zephyr.
Letter combination EUR: amateur, connoisseur, chauffeur.
It would be easier to memorize spelling patterns of words with the sound [ər] if you arrange such words in columns according to their spelling.
Note: In the words above (and in other similar words), the sound [ər] in American English generally corresponds to the sound [ə:] in stressed syllables and to the sound [ə] in unstressed syllables in British English.
Note: In British English, the first vowel sound in the words «hurry, current, courage, worry» is [ʌ], not [ə:].
16. NEUTRAL SOUND as in BUT
Spelling examples: about, son, much, rough, golden, possible.
The neutral sound [ə] (the schwa) is the most common vowel sound of English. It occurs in initial, medial, or final position in the root, prefix, and suffix, under stress or unstressed. Usually, transcription symbols for the neutral sound are [ʌ] (caret) in stressed syllables and [ə] (schwa) in unstressed syllables. In American ESL materials, the neutral sound is often shown as [ə] (schwa) both in stressed syllables and in unstressed syllables. The neutral sound is represented by several spelling patterns.
Spelling patterns for the neutral sound
Letter A: about, around, asleep, Italy, ornament, likable, central, resistance, assistant, cinema, opera, soda.
Letter O: son, mother, money, other, front, done, some, love, observe, oppress, protect, provide, decorate, memory, history, freedom, lesson.
Letter U: but, sun, much, lucky, ugly, sudden, number, punish, publish, consult, submit, success, suggest, unhappy, understand, industry, difficult, minus, helpful, skillful.
Letter E: tolerate, operate, academy, gallery, system, golden, kitten, different, movement.
Letter I: terrible, possible, family.
Letter combination OU: rough, tough, country, cousin, couple, double, trouble, touch, flourish, nourish, young, famous, dangerous.
Letter combination OO: blood, flood.
The neutral sound is one of the most difficult vowel sounds in terms of pronunciation and spelling. In everyday speech, the unstressed short vowels are often pronounced as the neutral sound, and in some cases the neutral sound is dropped. In some other cases, the neutral sound may appear in the syllable between two consonants where there is no vowel in spelling, for example, in «table, apple, idle, riddle, prism». This stresses the necessity to study the pronunciation of English words together with their spelling.
Типичные варианты написания для гласных звуков
Написание слов и их произношение тесно связаны и должны изучаться вместе. Это особенно верно в отношении английских гласных звуков и их передачи на письме.
Данный материал даёт примеры типичных вариантов написания для английских гласных звуков, идя от звука к написанию. Если вам более удобно идти от букв и буквосочетаний к звукам, которые они передают, вы можете преобразовать данный материал согласно своему желанию. (Пример, как это сделать, дан в материале «Method 2» в разделе Phonetics.)
Обратите внимание, что написание и произношение в данном материале даются согласно американскому варианту английского языка. (См. «British and American Spelling» в разделе Writing; «English Vowel Sounds» и «Vowels Glossary of Terms» в разделе Phonetics.)
Буквы и звуки
В английском языке шесть гласных букв: A, E, I, O, U, Y. Буква Y передаёт гласные звуки [i], [ai] (mystery, type) и согласный (полугласный) звук [y] (yes). Вместе, гласные буквы передают от 15 до 22 гласных звуков. Эта разница происходит в основном из разного подсчета числа дифтонгов в британском английском и в американском английском. Обычно, американские лингвисты приводят пять дифтонгов: [ei], [ai], [au], [oi], [ou].
Количество английских гласных звуков, передаваемых гласными буквами и определёнными сочетаниями гласных, больше, чем число гласных букв и их сочетаний, а это значит, что одна и та же гласная буква или буквосочетание используется для передачи более чем одного звука. В английском языке также есть несколько вариантов написания для каждого гласного звука, что значит, что один и тот же гласный звук представлен на письме разными буквами и буквосочетаниями.
Например, буква A типично передаёт пять звуков: [ei], [æ], [o:], [a:], [ə] (Kate, cat, call, card, alone). Её распространённый звук открытого слога [ei] представлен на письме не только буквой A как в «Kate», но и пятью различными сочетаниями гласных букв как в «may, rain, weigh, they, break». Буквосочетания EY, EI, которые обычно произносятся [ei] в английских словах, передают звук [ai] в некоторых словах иностранного происхождения (Einstein, geyser).
Также есть связь между звуком, его написанием и окружающими буквами. Например, буквосочетание AR, которое обычно произносится [a:r] как в «car, park, hard», произносится [o:r] после согласной W (war, ward, warm, warn).
Наиболее практичный подход – выучить типичные модели написания для гласных звуков. Другие варианты написания могут присутствовать только в нескольких словах или в словах, которые не часто употребляются.
1. ЗВУК [i:]
Примеры написания: me, Pete, Japanese, equal, rewrite, seem, read, piece, seize, police.
Буква E
Звук [i:] передаётся буквой E в открытом слоге корня: me, be, he, she, we; Pete, eve, these, theme, scene, complete, intervene, precede.
Звук [i:] передаётся буквой E в корне в начальном слоге, который нелегко распознать как открытый слог, обычно под ударением: equal, evening, evil, recent, region, meter, secret, media, demon, female, legal, genius, senior, convenient, frequent, veto, premium, previous.
Звук [i:] передаётся (первой) буквой E в суффиксе «ese»: Japanese, Chinese, Vietnamese, Maltese, Portuguese, Lebanese, Burmese, manganese.
Звук [i:] передаётся буквой E в префиксах (приставках) «pre, re» в некоторых словах: prehistoric, prewar, prefix, preoccupy, prepay, preview, react, rewrite, remake.
Примечание: Во многих словах, буква E в префиксах «pre, re» передаёт краткий звук [i] (remove, repair, repeat, reply, return, prepare, prevent, presume).
Буквосочетания EE, EA
Звук [i:] передаётся буквосочетанием EE: see, free, agree, knee, feel, feed, proceed, succeed, keen, seek, seem, screen, deep, greet, sleeve.
Звук [i:] передаётся буквосочетанием EA: sea, tea, peace, teach, lead (вести), read (читать), peak, deal, reveal, scream, team, clean, leap, please, release, beat, beneath, breathe, creature, leave.
Буквосочетания IE, EI
Звук [i:] передаётся буквосочетанием IE в корне: piece, field, achieve, believe, relief, brief, chief, fiend, siege, shriek, priest.
Звук [i:] передаётся буквосочетанием EI в корне: seize, receive, receipt, deceive, conceive, perceive, ceiling, Leigh.
Буква I
В некоторых английских словах иностранного происхождения звук [i:] представлен на письме буквой I: police, caprice, gasoline, machine, magazine, marine, routine, vaccine, prestige, regime, elite, naive, pizza, ski, liter, fatigue, intrigue, antique, physique, technique, unique.
Редкое написание для звука [i:]: key, people, Aesop, Oedipus.
2. ЗВУК [i]
Примеры написания: sit, ignore, public, working, enough, reply, hardness, boxes, symbol, lady, Annie, honey.
Буква I
Краткий звук [i] передаётся буквой I в закрытом слоге корня: it, sit, miss, tip, pick, pin, bring, list, fill, film, trim, dinner, finger, river, consist.
Краткий звук [i] передаётся буквой I в некоторых префиксах: inform, illogical, immune, impudent, irregular, dislike, disturb, mistake, misunderstand. Обратите внимание на написание: ignore, ignorant, ignite.
Краткий звук [i] передаётся буквой I в некоторых суффиксах: public, dramatic, habit, justice, native, foolish, working.
Буква E
Краткий звук [i] передаётся буквой E в начальном слоге корня: English, pretty, ecology, enough, eleven, electric.
Краткий звук [i] передаётся буквой E в некоторых префиксах: effect, emotion, become, before, despair, depart, remove, repair, repeat, reply, return, preliminary, prepare, prevent, secure.
Краткий звук [i] передаётся буквой E в некоторых суффиксах и окончаниях: hardness, madness, actress, countless, childless, rocket, pocket, boxes, catches, added, counted.
Очень трудно решить, где произнести долгий звук [i:], а где краткий звук [i], когда они передаются буквой E в корне или в префиксе. Для более легкого запоминания целесообразно сделать сравнительный список таких слов, расположенных в двух колонках.
Примечание: Конечная одиночная буква E, которая обычно является немой в английских словах, произносится как [i], или как более короткий вариант звука [i:], в словах «apostrophe, catastrophe, psyche».
Буква Y
Звук [i] передаётся буквой Y в корне: symbol, lyrics, myriad, hymn, hypnosis, pyramid, sympathy, synchronize, crystal, system, typical, tyranny, mystery, myth, rhythm, antonym, synonym, pseudonym, acronym.
Звук [i] передаётся буквой Y в суффиксе: lady, family, Daddy, duty, whisky, carry, hurry, funny, happy, busy, dirty, many, very, lovely, nicely, hardly, Larry, Billy, Mary.
Буквосочетания IE, EY
Звук [i] передаётся буквосочетанием IE в суффиксе: Annie, Carrie, Katie, auntie.
Звук [i] передаётся буквосочетаниями IE, EY в суффиксе: honey, hockey, journey, money, monkey, whiskey, Sydney, Casey, Rodney.
Примечание: Согласно многим словарям, буква Y в суффиксе (lady, busy) и буквосочетания IE, EY в суффиксе (Annie, honey) произносятся как более короткий вариант долгого звука [i:].
3. ЗВУК [e]
Примеры написания: end, well, bread, heavy, many.
Буква E
Звук [e] передаётся буквой E в закрытом слоге корня: bet, set, well, guest, seldom, empty, every, berry, regular, accept, connect, inspector, impress, address, architect, project, enter, entrance, entire.
Звук [e] передаётся буквой E в префиксах «em, en»: embalm, embark, embody, embrace, employ, enable, enlarge, engage, enjoy, environment.
Примечание: Префиксы «em, en» могут также произноситься [im], [in], особенно в BrE; в некоторых случаях, существуют два слова, например, «ensure, insure; enquire, inquire».
Буквосочетание EA
Есть много слов (но всё же ограниченное количество), в которых звук [e] передаётся буквосочетанием EA.
Выучите их наизусть: bread, dead, head, header, lead (свинец), read (читал), spread, thread, dread, tread, instead; already, ready, steady, meadow; sweat, sweater, threat, threaten; breath, death, health, stealth, wealth; weather, leather, feather; measure, pleasure, treasure, treasury, pleasant, peasant, pheasant; dealt, meant, cleanse, jealous, realm; heaven, heavy, endeavor, deaf; breakfast, breast, treachery, weapon.
Редкое написание для звука [e]: any, many, friend, said, says, bury.
4. ЗВУК [ei]
Примеры написания: age, lake, nation, wait, play, they, eight.
Буква A
Звук [ei] передаётся буквой A в открытом слоге корня: Kate, ate, late, take, race, name, save, ache, table, cradle, change, strange, paste, taste, waste.
Звук [ei] передаётся буквой A в корне в начальном слоге, который нелегко распознать как открытый слог, и иногда в закрытом слоге, обычно под ударением: bacon, baby, lazy, angel, danger, stranger, chamber, April, paper, basin, basis, Asia, pastry, nation, patriot, fatal, naval, facial, racial, vacant, ancient, patient, radio.
Звук [ei] передаётся буквой A в глагольном суффиксе «ate»: decorate, educate, create, celebrate, concentrate, separate, dictate, investigate, originate.
Буквосочетания AI, EI
Звук [ei] передаётся буквосочетанием AI, обычно перед согласной буквой в корне: aim, aid, sail, tail, main, vain, rain, raise, faint, paint, saint, strait, straight, remain, complain, disdain, explain, restrain.
Звук [ei] передаётся буквосочетанием EI, обычно перед согласной буквой в корне: rein, veil, vein, feign, reign, deign, sleigh, weigh, weight, eight, freight, neighbor.
Примечание: Буквосочетание EI произносится [ai] в словах «height, sleight, either». (См. 7. ЗВУК [ai].)
Буквосочетания AY, EY
Звук [ei] передаётся буквосочетанием AY, обычно в конечном положении в корне: day, gray, may, say, way, hay, play, pray, stay, stray, essay, relay, delay; betrayal, player, essayist, saying. Но: daily, gaily (также, gayly).
Звук [ei] передаётся буквосочетанием EY, обычно в конечном положении в корне: they, grey, prey, hey, whey, survey, obey, convey, conveyance, surveyor.
Примечание: В некоторых словах иностранного происхождения сочетания EI, EY произносятся как [ai]: Einstein, Fahrenheit, geyser, Meyer.
Примечание: Обратите внимание на написание этих слов: mayor, major.
Буквосочетание EA
В следующих словах, звук [ei] передаётся буквосочетанием EA: break, great, steak.
Слова французского происхождения
В некоторых английских словах французского происхождения конечный звук [ei] представлен на письме буквами E, EE, ET: cafe, attache, pate, resume, fiance, fiancee, divorcee, matinee, entree; ballet, beret, buffet, bouquet, fillet, gourmet.
Примечание: Обычно ставится французский знак ударения на конечной букве E (cafe) и на первой букве E в EE (matinee) в вышеуказанных словах, но некоторые из таких слов могут писаться без знака ударения (например, divorcee, matinee, entree) в AmE.
Есть некоторые английские слова с окончанием EE, которое произносится [i:]: employee, trainee, refugee. Большое количество английских слов имеют окончание ET (произносится [it]): bullet, wallet, skillet, packet, picket, pocket, rocket.
5. ЗВУК [æ] как в CAT
Примеры написания: bad, sat, bank, stand, family, accident, apple.
Буква A в закрытом слоге
В американском английском буква A под ударением в закрытом слоге корня обычно произносится [æ]: ask, task, fast, last, contrast, master, disaster, castle, answer, act, pack, actor, factory, add, mad, staff, after, half, class, glass, grass, jazz, chance, dance, can’t, land, handle, command, talent, example, happy, happen, travel, fashion, bath, matter, Manhattan.
В британском английском буква A во многих из этих слов произносится [a:], например, в словах «class, dance, answer, master, castle, fast, disaster, after, half, bath».
Звук [ei], представленный на письме буквой A, изменяется на звук [æ] в некоторых производных словах: Nature [ei] – natural [æ]; nation [ei] – national [æ]; sane [ei] – sanity [æ]; vain – vanity.
Редкое написание для [æ] (AmE): aunt, laugh.
6. ЗВУК [a:]
Примеры написания: army, regard, father, calm, bravo, mirage.
Буквосочетание AR
Звук [a:] передаётся буквосочетанием AR в корне, обычно под ударением: arm, art, car, card, yard, part, charge, large, margin, argue, guard, regard, garden, pardon, market.
Буква A
Буква A передаёт звук [a:] в нескольких английских словах в американском английском: father, Pa, Papa, Ma, Mama; calm, palm, balm, alms, psalm. (Буква L в этих словах немая.)
Буква A передаёт звук [a:] в некоторых словах иностранного происхождения: drama, Panama, saga, cantata, sonata, spa, bravo, aria, lama; mirage, garage, espionage, sabotage, massage, facade.
Примечание: В некоторых словах французского происхождения, звук [a:] передаётся начальным буквосочетанием «en»: entree, ensemble.
Редкое написание для [a:]: sergeant, heart; (BrE) aunt, laugh, draught.
Звуки [æ] и [a:] в AmE и BrE
В британском английском буква A обычно произносится [æ] как в CAT под ударением в закрытом слоге корня, но буква A обычно произносится [a:] перед согласными f, ff, ph, sk, sp, ss, st, th, nce, nd и некоторыми другими.
В американском английском буква A под ударением в закрытом слоге корня обычно произносится [æ] как в CAT во всех случаях.
Примеры слов с AmE [æ] или BrE [a:]: staff, after, draft, half, ask, task, grasp, grass, glass, class, fast, last, castle, master, disaster, bath, path, example, chance, dance, answer, can’t, demand, command.
7. ЗВУК [ai]
Примеры написания: nice, surprise, minus, private, type, reply, dynamic, find, light, tie.
Буква I
Звук [ai] передаётся буквой I в открытом слоге корня: ice, nice, ride, life, file, smile, line, pipe, quite, wise, hi, polite, surprise, prize, combine, arrive.
Звук [ai] передаётся буквой I, под ударением или без ударения, в корне в слоге, который нелегко распознать как открытый слог: idea, identical, idol, isolation, item, science, society, client, crisis, climate, minus, private, library, finance, horizon, dial, vital, vitamin.
Звук [ai] передаётся буквой I и буквой Y в глагольных суффиксах «ize» (ise), «yze» (yse) и «fy»: organize, modernize, analyze, analyse, satisfy, modify, signify.
Звук [ai] передаётся буквой I в некоторых префиксах: diagram, dialect, digest, digress, bicycle, biannual, biography.
Буква Y
Звук [ai] передаётся буквой Y в некоторых английских словах, обычно в конечном положении в корне: by, my, cry, dry, fly, fry, ply, pry, sky, sly, try.
Звук [ai] передаётся буквой Y во многих словах греческого и латинского происхождения: style, type, hype, rhyme; deny, rely, apply, reply; cycle, cyclone, dynamic, dynamite, hybrid, hyphen, nylon, hyperactive, hypodermic, psychopath, psychiatrist.
Примечание: Конечная Y в словах типа «cry, fly, try, satisfy» в определённых случаях изменяется на I перед суффиксами или окончаниями: cries, flier, flyer, tried, trial, trying, satisfied, satisfying. (Посмотрите материалы на прибавление суффиксов и окончаний в разделе Writing.)
Другие варианты написания для звука [ai]
Звук [ai] представлен некоторыми другими вариантами написания в ограниченном количестве слов.
Буква I перед LD, ND и перед некоторыми другими сочетаниями согласных: child, mild, wild, climb, find, kind, mind, blind; rifle, trifle, title, idle, Bible.
Буква I перед GH, GHT, GN: high, sigh, thigh; fight, light, night, right, slight; sign, align, benign, malign.
Буквосочетания IE, YE, EI, EY, UY: die, tie, lie, pie, vie, dye, lye, rye, bye; height, sleight, either, neither; eye, geyser, buy, guy.
Латинское окончание мн. числа I: alumni, fungi, stimuli, alkali, alibi. (Существительные с латинскими окончаниями мн. числа даны в материале «Irregular Plural Nouns» в разделе Writing.)
Примечание: Звук [ai], представленный буквой I, может изменяться на [i] в некоторых производных: signature, malignant, biblical.
Примечание: Буквосочетание EI в словах «either, neither» произносится [i:] или [ai] в AmE.
8. ЗВУК [au]
Примеры написания: how, brown, out, noun.
Буквосочетания OW, OU
Звук [au] передаётся буквосочетанием OW в любом положении в слове: now, how, cow, row, bow, brow, allow, plow, crowd, owl, fowl, howl, prowl, down, gown, town, clown, brown, drown, crown, browse, browser, powder, power, flower, tower, allowing, allowance.
Звук [au] передаётся буквосочетанием OU, обычно перед согласной буквой в корне: out, about, doubt, couch, cloud, loud, proud, foul, noun, announce, bounce, ounce, pound, found, ground, hound, around, sound, surround, count, account, amount, mountain, house, mouse, louse, blouse, mouth, south, scout, shout, bough, plough, drought.
Трудно решить, где произнести звук [ou], а где звук [au], когда они представлены сочетанием OW. Например: own – owl; bowl – brown; mow – pow. Кроме того, есть несколько омонимов, которые пишутся одинаково, но произносятся по-разному: row [rou] и [rau]; bow [bou] и [bau]; sow [sou] и [sau]. Желательно сделать сравнительный список таких слов.
Также может быть трудно решить, где писать OW, а где писать OU. Например: fowl – foul; browse – blouse; crowd – cloud; powder – pound. Будет полезно иметь сравнительный список таких слов.
9. ЗВУК [o:]
Примеры написания: more, order, law, call, cause, caught, bought, course, war, water.
Модели написания для звука [o:]
Буквосочетания OR, ORE: cord, Ford, form, born, corn, torn, short, sport, torch, porch, orange, order, orient, normal, mortal, storm, story, glory, forum, forty, morning; bore, more, before, shore, sore, store, tore, explore, ignore.
Буквосочетание AW: law, draw, drawer, saw, thaw, crawl, shawl, hawk, dawn, lawn, awful, awkward.
Буквосочетания ALL, AL: all, ball, call, fall, hall, wall, appall, alter, always, already, walk, talk, chalk, false, salt, halt.
Буквосочетание AU: cause, pause, applause, sauce, audio, audience, fraud, August, auto, author, Paul, fault, haunt, launch, laundry.
Буквосочетание AUGHT: caught, taught, daughter, slaughter, haughty, naughty.
Буквосочетание OUGHT: bought, brought, fought, ought, sought, thought; cough.
Буквосочетания OUR, OAR, OOR: course, court, four, mourn, pour, source, your; board, hoarse, hoard, roar, soar, broad; door, floor.
Буквосочетания WAR, WA: war, warm, ward, warden, warn, warning, award, reward; water, want, wand, wash, wasp, watch, swamp, swan.
Буквосочетание QUAR: quart, quarter, headquarters, quartz, quarrel, quarantine.
Буква O как [o:] в AmE: long, wrong, song, boss, lost, cost, dog, gone, coffee.
Примечание: В AmE, буква O в словах типа «long, cost, dog» может произноситься как [o:] или как [o]. В BrE, буква O в таких словах обычно имеет звук [o].
Есть несколько вариантов написания для звука [o:], которые также используются для некоторых других звуков. Например: door [o:] – poor [u]; pour [o:] – tour [u]; cost [o:] – post [ou]. Тем не менее, модели написания для звука [o:] вполне узнаваемые и должны легко запоминаться.
10. ЗВУК [o]
Примеры написания: not, stop, rob, body, sorry, model, conference, want, watch, wash.
Модели написания для звука [o]
Буква O: got, hot, not, stop, rob, odd, off, clock, coffee, gone, bomb, bond, soft, often, body, hobby, dollar, doctor, document, occupy, college, compliment, conference, model, monitor, option, promise, prompt, follow, borrow, sorrow, tomorrow, sorry, orange.
Буквосочетание WA: want, watch, wash, what, swamp, swallow, swan.
Буквосочетание QUA: quality, qualify, quantity, quarrel, quarantine.
Редкое написание для [o]: cough, knowledge, yacht.
Звук [o] в BrE и AmE
Интересно отметить, что в американском английском нет такого звука, как британский краткий звук [o]. Вместо него, звук, который звучит как гибрид долгих звуков [o:] и [a:], произносится в американском английском там, где в британском английском краткий звук [o].
Этот гибридный американский звук обычно указывается в американских словарях как [o], но может указываться как [a:]. Например, в американских словарях могут быть следующие варианты транскрипции для слова «want»: [wont] or [wo:nt]; [wo:nt] or [wa:nt].
Тот же гибридный звук [o], или [o:] окрашенный как [a:], может произноситься в AmE в словах типа «water, ought, daughter», в которых долгое [o:] считается нормой. Однако долгое [o:] всегда остается [o:] в ударном слоге перед [r]: more [mo:r], lord [lo:rd], normal, port.
Примеры слов с BrE [o] или AmE гибридным [o]: got, not, hot, stop, rob, odd, off, dog, log, clock, coffee, cough, gone, long, song, cost, loss, boss, bomb, bond, soft, often, body, hobby, dollar, doctor, document, occupy, college, compliment, conference, model, monitor, option, promise, prompt, follow, borrow, sorrow, tomorrow, sorry, orange, quality, quantity, want, wash, watch, what, swamp, swallow, swan.
Этот своеобразный гибридный звук [o], звук [r], который произносится во всех положениях, и звук [æ] в словах типа «class, ask, castle, fast, demand, dance» придают американскому английскому его характерный акцент.
11. ЗВУК [oi]
Примеры написания: boil, noise, toy, loyal.
Буквосочетания OI, OY
Звук [oi] представлен на письме буквосочетанием OI, обычно перед согласной буквой в корне: oil, ointment, boil, foil, spoil, toil, coin, join, voice, void, avoid, point, appoint, noise, poison, hoist, moist, exploit, loiter, embroidery.
Звук [oi] представлен на письме буквосочетанием OY в любом положении в слове: boy, joy, ploy, soy, toy, annoy, destroy, employ, corduroy, oyster, loyal, royal, voyage, boyish, joyful.
12. ЗВУК [ou]
Примеры написания: home, post, bonus, hero, know, road.
Буква O
Звук [ou] передаётся буквой O в открытом слоге корня: home, role, cone, stone, hope, note, close, remote, suppose, homeless, lonely, hopeful.
Звук [ou] передаётся буквой O в корне в слоге, который нелегко распознать как открытый слог: open, obey, omit, omen, opal, ocean, potent, polar, solar, motor, rotor, modal, total, moment, rodent, soldier, bonus, focus, notice, social, donate, donut, vogue, rogue. Примечание: В словах «obey, omit», буквы «ob, o» – латинские префиксы.
Звук [ou] передаётся буквой O в закрытом слоге корня, обычно перед LD, LT, LL и перед некоторыми другими сочетаниями согласных: old, bold, cold, hold, sold, bolt, colt, roll, poll, toll, control, folk, yolk, most, post, host, ghost, gross, both, comb, don’t, won’t.
Звук [ou] передаётся буквой O в префиксе «co» и в некоторых случаях в префиксе «pro»: coeducation, coworker, coexist, coordinate, pronoun, prohibit, prohibition.
Примечание: Во многих словах, буква O в префиксе «pro» передаёт звук [ə] (propose, pronounce, protect, provide, production, profession).
Буква O в конечном положении
Звук [ou] передаётся буквой O в конечном положении в слове: go, no, so, also, cargo, echo, hero, zero, piano, potato, tomato, mosquito, radio, studio, Mexico, Idaho, motto, logo, veto.
Примечание:: Конечная буква O может передавать звук [u:] как в «do, two, who, to, into» и звуки [u:] или [ə] в неударном положении как в «to, into».
Буквосочетания OW, OA
Звук [ou] представлен на письме буквосочетанием OW в любом положении в слове: know, low, show, row, tow, owe, grow, throw, blow, flow; bowl, own, blown, flown, grown, shown, thrown, growth; follow, hollow, borrow, narrow, window, yellow; owing, growing, follower, lower, yellowish.
Звук [ou] представлен на письме буквосочетанием OA, обычно перед согласной буквой в корне: oat, oak, coal, goal, load, road, boat, coat, soak, toast, roast, coast, boast, coach, approach, cockroach.
Буквосочетания OE, OUGH, OU
Звук [ou] представлен на письме буквосочетаниями OE, OUGH, OU в ограниченном количестве слов: toe, roe, doe, foe, woe; though, although, dough; soul, shoulder, poultry, boulder, mold / mould.
Поскольку буква O может передавать разные гласные звуки, например, [ou], [o:], [o], [ə], а также может образовывать ряд буквосочетаний с другими гласными, будет очень полезно изучать её произношение, расположив группы слов в колонках на одной странице согласно звуку, который буква O передаёт.
13. ЗВУКИ [u:] и [yu:]
Примеры написания: use, rude, food, do, few, blue, group.
Модели написания для звука [u:]
Буква U и буквосочетания EW, EU, UE, UI передают звук [u:] после согласных букв R, L, J, CH. Гласная O и буквосочетания OO, OU передают звук [u:].
Буква U as [u:]: rude, crude, rule, rumor, brutal, prune; Lucy, Luke, lumen, flute; judicial, June, junior, Julia, judo; chute, parachute.
Буква O as [u:]: do, two, who, whom, whose, lose, move, prove, improve, tomb, womb.
Буквосочетание OO as [u:]: food, mood, room, broom, moon, cartoon, cool, pool, school, scoop, tooth, boots, poodle, ooze, choose, soothe, shoot, too, zoo, bamboo, taboo, kangaroo, shampoo, tattoo.
Буквосочетание OU as [u:]: group, soup, loupe, cougar, coupon, mousse, route, routine, wound, souvenir, through, rouge.
Буквосочетание OE as [u:]: shoe, canoe.
Буквосочетание EW as [u:]: jewel, Jew, flew, blew, chew, crew, screw.
Буквосочетание UE as [u:]: true, blue, clue, glue.
Буквосочетание UI as [u:]: juice, fruit, bruise, cruise, recruit, sluice.
Модели написания для звука [yu:]
Буква U и буквосочетания EW, EU, UE, UI передают звук [yu:] после других согласных букв (кроме R, L, J, CH). Буква U произносится [yu:], когда она начинает слово.
Буква U as [yu:]: use, usual, union, unit, unite, unique, universe, universal, university, urine, utility, utensil, ubiquitous.
Буква U as [yu:]: fume, funeral, fuse, refuse, fuel; cube, cute, vacuum; music, museum, amuse, community, immune, mute; pupil, human, humor, huge, Hugh.
Буква U as [yu:]: duty, due, produce, tulip, tune, student; nude, nuclear, numeral, menu; super, Susan, consumer.
Буквосочетание EW as [yu:]: few, nephew, view, dew, new, mew, pew, stew.
Буквосочетание EU as [yu:]: eucalyptus, euphemism, feud, neurotic, neutral.
Буквосочетания UE, UI as [yu:]: hue, cue, due, sue, pursue, suit.
После Y всегда [yu:]: yule, yuletide, Yukon; youth, yew.
Редкое написание для [yu:]: beauty.
Примечание: В американском английском звук [u:], а не [yu:], обычно произносится после согласных D, T, N, S, хотя оба варианта считаются нормой. Примеры: duty [‘du:ti], dew [du:], due [du:], dual; tune [tu:n], tulip [‘tu:lip], stew [stu:], student; new [nu:], nude [nu:d], nuclear; suit [su:t], sue [su:], pursue, super.
14. ЗВУК [u]
Примеры написания: book, good, pull, sugar, could.
Модели написания для краткого звука [u]
Буквосочетание OO: book, cook, look, hook, shook, took, good, stood, wood, hood, childhood, foot, wool, broom, rookie.
Буква U: put, push, pull, bush, bull, bullet, full, pudding, sugar, cushion, butcher.
Буква O: wolf, woman.
Буквосочетание OU: could, should, would.
Довольно трудно решить, где произнести долгий звук [u:], а где краткий звук [u], когда они представлены буквосочетанием OO (и буквой U, хотя и в меньшей степени). Целесообразно вести сравнительный список таких слов. В некоторых случаях есть два варианта произношения: room – [ru:m], [rum]; roof – [ru:f], [ruf]; hoop – [hu:p], [hup]; soot – [sut], [su:t].
15. ЗВУК [ər] как в SIR
Примеры написания: verb, turn, first, learn, work, journey, dollar.
В американском английском, звук [ər] передаётся сочетаниями гласных с буквой R в корне, префиксе или суффиксе, под ударением или без ударения. Звук [r] произносится во всех положениях в слове в AmE. Все гласные буквы могут образовывать такие сочетания. Сочетание AR передаёт звук [ər] только в безударном положении, обычно в суффиксе.
Модели написания для звука [ər]
Буквосочетание ER: her, herb, serve, verb, verse, were, certain, person, concern, emergency, energy, perceive, percent, prefer, teacher, mister, buyer, finger, better, powder.
Буквосочетание UR: urge, fur, burn, turn, curse, purse, purr, hurry, current, occur, curtain, furnish, turkey, purpose, pursue, disturb, pleasure, lecture, pressure.
Буквосочетание IR: sir, fir, girl, bird, stir, shirt, skirt, third, whirl, circle, circus, dirty, thirsty.
Буквосочетание EAR: learn, heard, search, early, earn, earth, pearl, yearn, rehearse.
Буквосочетание OR: word, work, worm, world, worry, worse, worth; attorney, forgive, forget, doctor, visitor, favor, effort, comfort.
Буквосочетание OUR: courage, courtesy, journey, journal, glamour.
Буквосочетание AR: dollar, collar, grammar, sugar, solar, vulgar, anarchy, monarchy, beggar, coward, hazard.
Буквосочетание YR: martyr, satyr, zephyr.
Буквосочетание EUR: amateur, connoisseur, chauffeur.
Будет легче запомнить модели написания слов со звуком [ər], если вы расположите такие слова в колонках согласно их написанию.
Примечание: В словах выше (и в других похожих словах), звук [ər] в американском английском обычно соответствует звуку [ə:] в ударных слогах и звуку [ə] в неударных слогах в британском английском.
Примечание: В британском английском, первый гласный звук в словах «hurry, current, courage, worry» – [ʌ], а не [ə:].
16. НЕЙТРАЛЬНЫЙ ЗВУК как в BUT
Примеры написания: about, son, much, rough, golden, possible.
Нейтральный звук [ə] – самый распространённый гласный звук английского языка. Он встречается в начальном, среднем или конечном положении в корне, префиксе и суффиксе, под ударением или без ударения. Обычно, символы транскрипции для нейтрального звука – [ʌ] (caret) в ударных слогах и [ə] (schwa) в безударных слогах. В американских материалах ESL нейтральный звук часто даётся как [ə] (schwa) и в ударных слогах, и в безударных слогах. Нейтральный звук представлен несколькими моделями написания.
Модели написания для нейтрального звука
Буква A: about, around, asleep, Italy, ornament, likable, central, resistance, assistant, cinema, opera, soda.
Буква O: son, mother, money, other, front, done, some, love, observe, oppress, protect, provide, decorate, memory, history, freedom, lesson.
Буква U: but, sun, much, lucky, ugly, sudden, number, punish, publish, consult, submit, success, suggest, unhappy, understand, industry, difficult, minus, helpful, skillful.
Буква E: tolerate, operate, academy, gallery, system, golden, kitten, different, movement.
Буква I: terrible, possible, family.
Буквосочетание OU: rough, tough, country, cousin, couple, double, trouble, touch, flourish, nourish, young, famous, dangerous.
Буквосочетание OO: blood, flood.
Нейтральный звук – один из самых трудных гласных звуков, говоря о произношении и правописании. В разговорной речи безударные краткие гласные часто произносятся как нейтральный звук, а в некоторых случаях нейтральный звук выпадает. В некоторых других случаях нейтральный звук может появляться в слоге между двумя согласными, где для него нет гласной буквы на письме, например, в «table, apple, idle, riddle, prism». Это усиливает необходимость изучать произношение английских слов вместе с их написанием.