2. VOWEL SOUNDS
A vowel letter can represent different vowel sounds: hat [hæt], hate [heit], all [o:l],
art [a:rt], any ['eni].
Open and closed syllables
Open syllable: Kate [keit], Pete [pi:t], note [nout], site [sait], cute [kyu:t].
Closed syllable: cat [kæt], pet [pet], not [not], sit [sit], cut (the neutral sound [ə]).

3. VOWELS AND VOWEL COMBINATIONS
The vowels A, E, I, O, U, Y alone, in combination with one another or with R,
W represent different vowel sounds. The chart below lists the vowel sounds
according to the American variant of pronunciation.

4. AMERICAN VARIANT OF PRONUNCIATION
Sounds Letters Examples Notes
[i:]
e, ee
ea
ie, ei
be, eve, see, meet,
sleep,
meal, read, leave,
sea, team,
field, believe,
receive
been [i];
bread, deaf [e];
great, break
[ei];
friend [e]
[i]
i
y
it, kiss, tip, pick,
dinner,
system, busy, pity,
sunny
machine, ski,
liter, pizza [i:]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eOrnifRtWxI

5. AMERICAN VARIANT OF PRONUNCIATION
Sounds Letters Examples Notes
[e]
e
ea
let, tell, press, send,
end,
bread, dead,
weather, leather
meter [i:]
sea, mean [i:]
[ei]
a
ai, ay
ei, ey
ea
late, make, race,
able, stable,
aim, wait, play, say,
day,
eight, weight, they,
hey,
break, great, steak
said, says [e];
height, eye [ai]

6. AMERICAN VARIANT OF PRONUNCIATION
Sounds Letters Examples Notes
[æ] a
cat, apple, land,
travel, mad;
AmE: last, class,
dance, castle, half
[a:]
ar
a
army, car, party,
garden, park,
father, calm, palm,
drama;
BrE: last, class,
dance, castle, half
war, warm [o:]

7. AMERICAN VARIANT OF PRONUNCIATION
Sounds Letters Examples Notes
[ai]
i, ie
y, uy
ice, find, smile, tie,
lie, die,
my, style, apply,
buy, guy
[au]
ou
ow
out, about, house,
mouse,
now, brown, cow,
owl, powder
group, soup
[u:]
know, own [ou]

8. AMERICAN VARIANT OF PRONUNCIATION
Sounds Letters Examples Notes
[o] o
not, rock, model,
bottle, copy
[o:]
or
o
aw, au
ought
al, wa-
more, order, cord,
port,
long, gone, cost,
coffee,
law, saw, pause,
because,
bought, thought,
caught,
hall, always, water,
war, want
work, word [ər]

9. AMERICAN VARIANT OF PRONUNCIATION
Sounds
Letter
s
Examples Notes
[oi] oi, oy oil, voice, noise, boy, toy
[ou]
o
oa, ow
go, note, open, old, most,
road, boat, low, own, bowl,
do, move [u:]
how, owl [au]
[yu:]
u
ew
eu
ue, ui
use, duty, music, cute,
huge, tune,
few, dew, mew, new,
euphemism, feud, neutral,
hue, cue, due, sue, suit

10. AMERICAN VARIANT OF PRONUNCIATION
Sounds Letters Examples Notes
[u:]
u
o, oo
ew
ue, ui
ou
rude, Lucy, June,
do, move, room, tool,
crew, chew, flew, jewel,
blue, true, fruit, juice,
group, through, route;
AmE: duty, new, sue, student
guide, quite [ai];
build [i]
[u]
oo
u
ou
look, book, foot, good,
put, push, pull, full, sugar,
would, could, should
neutral sound
[ə]
u, o
ou
a, e
o, i
gun, cut, son, money, love,
tough, enough, rough,
about, brutal, taken, violent,
memory, reason, family

11. AMERICAN VARIANT OF PRONUNCIATION
Sounds Letters Examples Notes
neutral
sound [ə]
u, o
ou
a, e
o, i
gun, cut, son, money,
love,
tough, enough, rough,
about, brutal, taken,
violent,
memory, reason,
family
[ər]
er, ur, ir
or, ar
ear
serve, herb, burn,
hurt, girl, sir,
work, word, doctor,
dollar,
heard, earn, earnest,
earth
heart, hearth
[a:]

12. THE LETTER Y
The letter Y can function as a vowel or as a consonant.
As a vowel, Y has the vowel sounds [i], [ai].
As a consonant, Y has the consonant sound [y] (i.e., a semivowel sound), usually
at the beginning of the word and only in the syllable before a vowel.
[i]: any, city, carry, funny, mystery, synonym;
[ai]: my, cry, rely, signify, nylon, type;
[y]: yard, year, yes, yet, yield, you.

13. DIPHTHONGS
A diphthong is one indivisible vowel sound
that consists of two parts. The first part is
the main strong component (the nucleus);
the second part is short and weak (the glide).
A diphthong is always stressed on its first
component: [au], [ou].
A diphthong forms one syllable. American
linguists usually list five diphthongs: [ei],
[ai], [au], [oi], [ou].

14. Diphthongs
[ei], [ai], [au], [oi], [ou]
ray – ride – how – boy – no;
The sound [ei] as in RAY
rate – late – Kate – fate – race – base – place – same – name – take – ache – lake – rage – age – wage – save – cave – wave;
dictate – educate – decorate – celebrate – concentrate – investigate;
cable – table – able – cradle – range – change – strange – taste – waste;
baby – bacon – paper – April – danger – angel – stranger – basis – lazy – crazy;
patient – racial – nation – nature – fatal – patriot – radio – vacant;
ray – gray – play – lay – day – may – say – way – pray – stay – stray – delay;
hey – prey – they – convey – obey;
rain – main – aim – brain – drain – train – stain – remain – explain – complain;
fail – mail – sail – rail – raise – raid – afraid – wait – straight – faint – paint;
weight – weigh – eight – vein – neighbor;
break – great – steak;
betrayal – portrayal – layer – player – conveyor – surveyor;
saying – staying – playing – laying – praying – delaying – conveying – obeying – archaic.

15. The sound [ai] as in RIDE
ride – nice – ice – life – file – smile – line – fine – quite – rise – wise – prize – hi;
polite – combine – arrive – surprise – despise – organize – modernize;
private – library – final – minus – crisis – climate – bicycle – horizon – item – Ida;
idea – ideal – identity – identical – biology;
find – kind – mind – blind – child – mild – wild – climb – rifle – trifle – title – idle;
high – sigh – sign – right – fight – night – light – sight – height;
lie – die – tie – dye – rye – bye – eye – buy – guy – alibi;
cry – dry – fry – try – by – my – sky – style – type – hype;
nylon – cycle – cyber – hybrid – dynamite – dynamic – hyperactive;
rely – reply – apply – deny – satisfy – modify – signify – analyze – paralyze;
buying – lying – flying – frying – trying – drying – crying – dying – denying – replying;
diet – client – quiet – riot – giant – lion – violet – dial – diary – diagram – denial – trial – science – society –
pioneer;
buyer – flyer – dryer – higher – iron – liar – prior;
fire – hire – dire – wire – tire – tired – entire – aspire – expire – desire – require – acquire – empire.

16. The sound [au] as in HOW
how – cow – now – allow – owl – brown – down – town – clown – drown –
crown – crowd – powder – browse – browser;
loud – proud – cloud – out – shout – about – doubt – foul – noun – house –
mouse – mouth – south – couch;
found – ground – around – pound – sound – count – amount – mountain –
announce – bounce;
allowing – plowing / ploughing;
towel – bowel – Powell;
power – tower – flower – shower – coward – Howard;
hour – our – sour – flour.

17. The sound [oi] as in BOY
noise – voice – avoid – poison – join – coin – point – boil – foil – oil – spoil
– toil – exploit;
joy – toy – boy – annoy – employ – destroy;
toying – employing – destroying – annoying;
loyal – royal – voyage – annoyance – oyster – destroyer – employer.

18. The sound [ou] as in NO
role – bone – phone – stone – close – note – notice – lonely – home – hope – open – ocean – remote –
suppose;
go – ago – no – so – toe – hero – zero – veto – ego – echo – radio – studio – Mexico – potato – tomato – logo –
motto;
solar – polar – modal – total – motor – moment – bonus – focus – vogue – social – soldier – coworker;
cold – gold – hold – old – bold – sold – told – roll – poll – control – bolt – colt – folk – yolk – comb – don't –
won't;
most – post – host – hostess – ghost – both;
road – load – boat – coat – oat – oak – soak – goal – coal – coach – approach – roast – toast – boast – coast;
soul – shoulder – though – although – dough;
OK – obey – omit – hotel – motel;
low – know – mow – snow – show – tow – owe – own – bowl – blow – blown – grow – grown – growth – throw –
thrown;
follow – borrow – narrow – sparrow – window – yellow;
knowing – going – growing – throwing – showing – sewing – towing – blowing – owing – flowing;
following – borrowing – narrowing – zeroing – echoing;
heroic – stoical – poet – poetry;
lower – slower – mower – borrower – follower – widower.

19. THE SOUND [O]
The sound [o] is short in British English. In the same words in American
English, the sound [o] is a long sound colored as [a:]. This sound is
often listed as [a:] in American materials for ESL students. In some
words, there are two variants of pronunciation in AmE: [o:] or [o].
[o]: lot, rock, rob, bother, bottle, college, comment, document, modern,
popular, respond, John, Tom;
[o:] or [o]: gone, coffee, office, borrow, orange, sorry, loss, lost, want, wash,
water.

20. THE NEUTRAL SOUND
Transcription symbols for the neutral sound are [ʌ] (caret) in stressed syllables
(fun, son) and [ə] (schwa) in unstressed syllables (about, lesson). In American
ESL materials, the neutral sound is often shown as [ə] (schwa) in both stressed
and unstressed syllables.

21. VOWELS: HTTP://WWW.ABCFASTPHONICS.COM/LONG-SHORT-
VOWELS.HTML
Vowel Rules
http://www.abcfastphonics.com/vowel-rules.html
http://www.abcfastphonics.com/vowel-rules/one-vowel-not-at-end.html
Videos:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V7yREETwdmU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HKzf1GMLUkU
PDF to practice:
http://www.recitfga.qc.ca/english/projects-before-
after/pages_0607/before/ann_before.pdf

22. Blends: http://www.abcfastphonics.com/letter-blends.html
Consonants: http://www.abcfastphonics.com/consonant-letters.html
Common words: http://www.abcfastphonics.com/common-words.html