by learning english vowel rules

8/12/2019 By Learning English Vowel Rules

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By learning English Vowel Rules, you will recognize whena vowel sound changes.

Long Vowels: VCV = vowel consonant vowel (ate)Long Vowels: VVC =vowel vowel consonant (eat)Short Vowels: CVC = consonant vowel consonant (cat)[One syllable]

LONG VOWELS in one-syllable words

1. Rule: VCV Vowel Consonant Vowel

When a one-syllable word has one consonant between two vowels,the first vowel is long and the second is silent ( VCV) )The silent vowel at the end of the word is a signal that the first vowel

is long.

Examples: at e , lak e , cak e , mak e , kit e , bit e , cut e , flut e , sav e , shav e , shak e ,rak e , whal e , whit e , rip e , grip e , strip e , grap e , tap e , shav e , gav e , ic e ,wis e ,ric e , brav e, and so on.[ There are exceptions such as live, give, have, said, olive*]

2. Rule: VVC Vowel Vowel Consonant

Usually, when a word has two vowels together, the first is long and thesecond is silent. Remember this little saying: "When two vowels go walking,the first one does the talking."

Examples of words where the first vowel is long and the second is silent:oat, eat, meat, float, boat, coat, doe, meet, feel, reel, real, steel, steal, deal,

jail, reap, heap, cheap, steep, sheep, keep, jail, blue, lie, tie (Exceptions: said, does, )

3. Rule: Letter "I" before an H or GH is long in one-syllable words.

Examples: sign, consignment, sigh, high, thigh, night, fight, fright,light,might,light, blight, sight, tight, alight,


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Note: However, when the word sign changes to signature, the "i" has a short soundbecause the vowel is followed by two consonants sig na ture CVCC (short vowelrules)

4. Rule: second vowel is not long in 3-syllable words ending in VCVunless the stress is on the third syllable.

Examples: stress on first syllable =last vowel is not long:EStimate, apPROXimate, INfinite, MALice, CHAlice, ACcurte (Pronounced estimit approximit, infinit)

When the Stress is on last syllable, the vowel is long as in the followingwords:

prorATE, adjudiCATE, elongATE, estimATE , divINE

Long I Sounds

5. The Letter "Y" has a long I sound, (like in "MY") in one-syllable wordsending in Y, and also when a word ends in "Y" and the stress is on the "Y."Examples: my, try, fly, shy, cry, rely, mystify, justify, nullify, deny,

6. EY or YE has a Long I sound in: eye , gey ser, r ye, d ye, Meye r UY has a Long I sound in: buy, guy

7. German Words and names: English Long I sound in words with EI: kein,nein, Reinhardt, mein,

8. The Letter Y has a LONG I sound in one-syllable words such as "MY," andin two-syllable words if the stress is on the Y - such as in "NYlon anddeNY" and is between two consonants (VCV)Other examples are:

byte, by, fly, my, cry,sty, sky, fry,try, justify, mystify, radify,comply, rely, beautify, PYlon,multiply, satisfy, edify.

9. The Letter Y has a long E sound as in "baby" when it is at the end of theword, and it is not stressed.

pony, baby, silly, jelly, bully, Tony, bony, sunny, funny, bunny,stormy


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10. The Letter Y has a short I sound in words such as "Odyssey" (CVCC)

11. EA as in "wear" has a LONG A sound as in the word "dare". Examples:

wear, *tear (heteronym), s wear, bear.Note: "tear" has a long E sound when used as a noun: "Her eyes were full oftears."

12. EI as in "sleigh" has a LONG A when followed by silent "GH": Examples:neighbor, weigh, neigh,

13. AY has a long A sound: bays, days, lays, may,slay, tray, crayola, clay.NOTE: Exception = The word "SAYS" is pronounced "SEZ"

14. Letter Y has three sounds and functions both as a consonant andvowel sounds.Y = ConsonantUsually, if a word begins with a "Y," then the Y has the sound asin Ye llow . Examples: Yell, year, yam,York, yard, yoke, yolk,

Y=Vowel (long I) End of one-syllable words and words where the Y isstressed: fly, my, sky, deny, rely, villify, mystify,justify.

Y=Vowel (long E) End of words where the Y is not stressed: baby, stormy,comely, jelly

Y=Vowel (short I) Odyssey

Words with EW combinations have a Long U sound as inthe word " new"Examples: knew, blew, stew, grew, drew, brew. slew,few, flew
http://www.lilpoets.org/Grammar___Mechanics.html#Heteronymshttp://www.lilpoets.org/Grammar___Mechanics.html#Heteronymshttp://www.lilpoets.org/Grammar___Mechanics.html#Heteronymshttp://www.lilpoets.org/Grammar___Mechanics.html#Heteronyms


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DOUBLE OO SOUNDS

Short OO sound as in: cook, book, took, shook

Long OO sound as in: boot, shoot, hoot, moot, root,

Words with OUGH and AUGH:With the exceptions of enough,tough,rough , and laugh, the GH is silent in words. No particular rule appliesto how words with "ough" are pronounced. You just have to memorize thesounds.

1. OU has a s hort U sound and the GH make an " f' sound: enough (e nuf)tough (tuf)rough (ruf)

laugh (laf)

2. GH is silent and OU has a long U sound :through (rhymes with threw)

3. GH isSilent and OU has a Long O sound :although

thoughdough

4. GH is silent and OU has an OW sound and rhymes with the word "now:"Bough

5. GH is silent and OU has an " AW" sound as in law, saw:thought, bought, ought,

6. GH is silent in the word: daughter

S H O R T V O W E L S O U N D S Words with the letters EA.

CVVC = CONSONANT VOWEL VOWEL CONSONANT

CVVC = Short Vowel Sounds In some words, the rule of "when two vowels go walking, the first one does thetalking" does not apply. All the following have Short E sounds as in the word "bed" :


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bread, sweat, lead, read, dread, stead

Note : when the EA is changed to EE, the E is long:

breed, sweet, reed, steed

SHORT VOWEL SOUND

CVC = Consonant Vowel Consonant

The vowels are short in one-syllable words with one vowel between twoconsonants. Examples:cat, hat, bad, rat, sad, bat, map, must, gum, gun, drum, slum, slid,hit, bit, did,stop, top, mop, bed, led, sled, red.

CVCC Consonant Vowel Consonant ConsonantVowels are short if followed by double consonants: back, tuck, month,

Note: The long I sound in the word SIGN changes to short I sound inSIGNATURE (sig na ture)

The long I sound in the word FINITE changes to short I in INFINITE(in fi nite)

R-controlled vowels: It's important to remember that when pronouncing wordswith ar, er, ir, ur, and or, to not pronounce the vowel separate from the R.

OR, IR, UR is pronounced between a short "IR and ER" in words such as work,

world, *worm, word, girl, bird, whirl, shirt, furl, hurt,AR: Vowel sound as in "father" in words: far, tar, mar, barley, car, scar, bard,

AR after a W as in WAR changes to an "AWR" sound such as in: warm, *ward,

Note: *Worm, ward = different pronunciations.

1-1-1 RULE = one consonant, one vowel, one syllable words


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Double the last letter in one-syllable words with a short vowel when addinga suffix to keep the short vowel sound. Otherwise, the vowel will be longand will be a different word. VCV = long vowel sound CVCC = short vowel

Different words formed if you don't double the

last consonant.grip gripping gripe gripingcut cutter cute cuterstrip stripper strip striperscrap scrapper scrape scraperrun running sun sunnystop stoppedrip ripped ripe, riperdip dippedship shippedtrip trippedskip skipped

Double the last letter in two -syllable words when the stress is on the lastsyllable and ends with a Vowel and Consonant:Em it emittedrem it remittedacqu it acquittedann ul annulled

Do not double the last letter when the stress is not on the last syllable:Cancel canceledtravel traveledmarvel marveled

The Letter C sound rules

1. C has a K or hard sound if it is followed by A, O, U, and K:

cat, cash, coat, company, cut, cousin, cock, cat, cattle, coat, cold, come, cut,

castle, corn, cap,neck, deli cate,bellicose, stucco, loco, lock, stuck, muck, buck, jack, sack, black.

2. The letter C will have a soft sound or S sound if it is followed by E, I .ceiling, cell, cement, scissors, cyst, deceive,


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3. CIOUS, CIENT, CIENCE The following words are spelled with an I after aC to keep the C soft, but the C sound changes to a "sh" sound.

If you omitted the "i" after the "c" in delicious, you would automatically

pronounce the "c" like a "k" - delicous

delicious proficientprecious consciencesuspiciousmaliciousgraciouspernicioussalaciousvicioussagaciousbodaciousconscious

"TURE" at the end of words is pronounced "chur" as in church:

futurenaturepasturecapturerapture

"TION" at the end of words is pronounced either "shun" or "chun"

CH SH

mention stationcaption friction

nationactiondetermination

junction

optionnotionlotion


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The Letter D sounds like a "J" sound when it is followed by a U.EducationIndividualModuleArduous

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