We continue to study the rules of reading in English language. If you have already mastered, then you will cope with consonants much faster. Since most consonants convey only one sound.

Several features of consonant reading should be noted:

• Voiced consonants in English are not stunned no matter where they stand. Replacing a voiced consonant with a voiceless consonant can lead to a change in the meaning of the word.
• Double consonants are read as one sound, for example: bottle [‘bɔtl], pepper [‘pepə].
• Some consonants are not read at all - these are the so-called mute consonants.

Consonants with one sound

The following table lists consonants that have the same sound.

Consonants with multiple sounds

Some consonants, depending on the position in the word, may sound differently. There are few such letters, they are not difficult to remember.

Consonant letter combination

Some letter combinations in English have special reading rules. Consider the following table.

Silent consonants

Some consonants are not pronounced in combination with other consonants. For example:

• the letter r and the combination of letters re at the end of the word are not pronounced - ear
• the letter k is not readable before the letter n - knife [‘naif]
• g is also not pronounced before n - sign, foreign [‘fɔrin]
• w is not readable if it comes before r - write
• m is not readable after the letter b - climb [‘klaim]

Once again I want to remind you that in English there are many exceptions to the rules. Therefore, at first, it is worth turning to the dictionary more often to look up an unfamiliar word. It is not necessary to memorize the rules of reading. Read more. Practice will help you master the reading skill faster and read without errors in the future.

The English language is becoming more and more widespread every day. Today it is spoken by most of the world's population, which automatically makes it international language communication. In addition to the American continents, it is studied in Europe and Asia. Australia, being part of the former British Empire, has long recognized English state language. If in Western Europe American and British English are studied by children from the very early age, then in Russia, Ukraine and other CIS countries it is treated very mediocrely. The school curriculum casually goes through the most frequent words, while the children are not really explained the rules for their use. All this makes people learn on their own, which is much more difficult. Today we will analyze how the vowels of the English alphabet are used in words. They affect the quality of pronunciation and perception of the language.

The consonants of the English alphabet are the basis of all words. The total number of letters is 26, of which 20 are consonants, and there are only 6 vowels in English. Despite such a meager number, they can take on various forms of pronunciation, as a result, about 20-24 sounds are obtained from 6 letters. All vowels and consonants are listed in the table below:

As you can see in the picture, the vowels in the English alphabet are highlighted yellow. A transcription is written next to each letter, thanks to which you can learn how to pronounce this or that letter correctly. The need for transcription has always been due to the fact that to explain correct pronunciation on the example of the Russian language is simply impossible. If in Russian one letter is equated to one sound, then most of the vowels in the English alphabet are pronounced using a combination of two phonemes.

The last letter "Yy" can be a vowel or a consonant, depending on the type of syllable. This should be taken into account when reading morphemic analysis words. Which sound will determine this or that letter depends on its position in the word and syllable.

Types of syllables in the English alphabet

At the lessons of the Russian language, everyone studied an unshakable rule: how many vowels in a word, so many syllables in it. This also applies to the English language, which greatly simplifies its learning. For example, take the word "octopus", which means "octopus". Oc-to-pus - three vowels and three syllables. The example is remarkable in that it has everything we need: open and closed syllables.

open syllable

This concept means a syllable that ends in a vowel or consists of one vowel:

1. And [hey] - the indefinite article, consisting of one letter, is an open syllable. Therefore, the article is read as indicated in the transcription.
2. Rules (rules) - consists of two syllables, but only the first is open. Therefore, "u" is read as in transcription, and "e" practically disappears from the word during pronunciation.
3. Far (far) - the syllable is closed. Therefore, instead of [hey], a long [a] is pronounced.

Consonants and their combinations often change the phonetic meaning of vowels in the English alphabet, forming non-syllables of different types.

Closed syllable

Book, cook, root, meet, flat, and other words where a consonant closes a syllable are words with closed syllables. In the examples listed above, "oo" is read as Russian "u", "a" instead of [hey] is read as Russian "a".

Vowels of the English alphabet: reading features

You already know that there are far fewer vowels in the English alphabet than their sounds. What else can affect the quality of pronunciation of phonemes besides the type of syllable in a word? We will look at a few basic rules that will help you start pronouncing words correctly and improve your reading skills in a foreign language.

1. The presence of the letter "R" in the word. If a letter is present in an open syllable, it is practically unreadable and merges with the adjacent vowel. This produces a sound similar to the Russian "e". If the letter is in closed syllable, then it affects the duration of the pronunciation of the vowel: long sounds become short and vice versa.
2. stress. If the accent falls on the letters "a", "o" or "u", then their pronunciation is practically not performed. They are read casually, the duration of emphasis on these sounds is extremely short. The result is again a sound similar to the Russian "e". For example, the combination sofa-bed (sofa bed) is pronounced together, its transcription looks like [‘soufǝbǝd]. If the accent falls on "i", "e" or "y", they are pronounced like the Russian "i". For example: city, enemy.
3. Pronunciation speed. When speaking quickly, it may turn out that the stress in the word is not recognized at all. This results in the fact that a long vowel shortens the length of its pronunciation or disappears from the word altogether. All pronouns in English are pronounced with short vowels, although the rules are to speak with long phonemes.
4. Weak and strong forms. Short vowels are automatically considered weak, since they cannot take on stress, but in combination with other letters they can form new sounds. Weak short forms mostly expressed in particles, articles and pronouns. In full-fledged words, strong long phonemes are much more common.

The most incomprehensible for a Russian-speaking person in the study of the vowels of the English alphabet is the analysis of diphthongs. The combination of two sounds for the pronunciation of one letter is new to the Russian language. For a general understanding, it is worth noting that all diphthongs are pronounced briefly, but their position in the word relative to consonants and the type of consonants themselves matter. Before deaf sounds like "f", "h", "s", "t" and other diphthongs practically disappear from sound pronunciation and become very short.

The sounds that represent are 44 English phonemes, which are divided into two categories: consonants and vowels. Since sounds cannot be written down, graphemes (letters or combinations of letters) are used to convey sounds in writing.

English alphabet

There are 26 letters in English. The standard one starts with the letter a and ends with the letter z.

When classifying alphabetic characters, they distinguish:

• 5 pure vowels: a, e, i, o, u;
• 19 pure consonants: b, c, d, f, g, h, j, k, l, m, n, p, q, r, s, t, v, x, z;
• 2 semivowels: y, w.

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Features of English consonants

A consonant combination is a set of two or three consonant letters that retain their original sound when pronounced. Such sets occur either at the beginning or at the end of a word. For example, the word brave, in which both "b" and "r" are pronounced, is the initial combination. In the word bank "-nk" is the final combination.

Classification:

1. Initial combinations are classified into sets with "l", "r", and "s". In "l" the combination ends with "l". An example would be the letters "bl" in the word blind. Similarly, the final sound in "r" in combination with "r" when "br" and "cr", for example, in the words bridge, crane. On the contrary, in "s" it starts with s, "st" and "sn" - stap, snail.
2. The final combinations are grouped into sets with "s", "l" and "n": -st, -sk, -ld, -nd, -nk. Examples, first, desk, gold, sand, sink.

Digraphs

Consonant digraphs refer to a set of consonants that form one sound. Some digraphs are both at the beginning and at the end of the word - "sh", "ch" and "th". There are also strict initial and final digraphs - "kn-" and "-ck".

Examples of digraphs:

Ch-	-ch
Kn-	— ck
Ph-	-sh
Sh-	-ss
Th-	-th
wh-	-tch
Wr-

Features of digraphs:

Table of pronunciation of English consonants

b	b	bag, band, cab	bag, band, cab
d	d	dad, did, lady, odd [ɒd]	dead, did, lady, od
f	f, ph, sometimes gh	fable , fact , if [ɪf], off [ɒf], photo , glyph	fable, fact, if, of, foutow, glyph
	g	give , flag	givew, flag
	h	hold, ham	hold, ham
j	usually represented by y, but sometimes by other vowels	yellow, yes, young, neuron, cube	Yelow, ies, yang, n (b) yueron, k (b) yu: b - the sound j is similar to the vowel sound i:.
k	k, c, q, que, ck, sometimes ch	cat, kill, queen, skin, thick [θɪk], chaos	kat, kil, qui:n, sik, keyos
l	l	lane, clip, bell, milk, sould	lane, clip, bel, milk, sould - has two sound options: pure /l/ before a vowel, “darkened” /ɫ/ before a consonant or at the end of a word
m	m	man, them [ðem], moon	man, zem, mu:n
n	n	nest, sun	nest, san
ŋ	ng	ring, sing, finger [ŋ] is sometimes followed by the sound [g]. [ŋ] if "ng" is at the end of a word or a related word (sing, singer, thing), to "-ing", which translates verbs into participles or gerunds. [ŋg] if "ng" is not at the end of a word or in related words, also in comparative degrees(longer, longest).	/ring/, /sing/, /finge/
p	p	pen, spin, tip, happy	pen, spin, type, happy
r	r	rat, reply, rainbow,	rat, ripple, rainbow - movement of the tongue close to the alveolar ridge, but without touching it
s	s, sometimes c	see, city, pass, lesson	si:, pa: s, forest
ʃ	sh, si, ti, sometimes s	she [ʃi:], crash , sheep [ʃi:p], sure [ʃʊə], session , emotion [ɪməʊʃn], leash	shi:, crash, shi:p, shue, session, imashn, li:sh
t	t	taste, sting	test, sting
tʃ	ch, sometimes t	chair [ʧɛə], nature teach beach	t che e, ney t che, ti: t h, bi: t h
θ	th	thing [θɪŋ], teeth, Athens [æθɪnz[	t sing, ti: t s, et sinz - voiceless fricative
ð	th	this [ðɪs], mother	d sis, ma d ze - voiced fricative
v	v, sometimes f	voice, five, of [ɔv]	voice, five, ov
w	w, sometimes u	wet, window, queen	y in em, y in indeu, ku in i: n - [w] is similar to
z	z	zoo, lazy	zu: lazy
ʒ	g, si, z, sometimes s	genre [ʒɑːŋr], pleasure, beige, seizure, vision	genre e, plezhe, beizh, b:zhe, vision
dʒ	j, sometimes g, dg, d	gin [ʤɪn], joy [ʤɔɪ], edge	gin, joy, edge

English vowels

Each English vowel is pronounced in three ways:

1. like a long sound;
2. like a short sound;
3. as a neutral vowel (schwa).

In the English alphabet, there are 5 vowels, but sometimes y becomes a vowel and is pronounced like i, and w replaces u, for example, in the digraph ow.

Rules for reading vowels

Short vowels, which are characterized by a "short" sound, appear when there is one vowel in a word, either at the beginning of a word or between two consonants. For example, if, elk, hop, fan. A typical short vowel pattern is consonant+vowel+consonant (CHS).

Words are taught as families that represent groups of words with a common pattern, such as in the pattern "-ag" - bag, wag, tag or "-at" - cat, bat, hat.

vowels:

Sound	Letter	Examples
[æ]	a	rag, sag, ram, jam, gap, sap mat
[ɛ]	e	hen, pen, wet, bet, let
[ɪ]	i	pig, wig, dig, pin, win, tin, tin, bit
[ɒ]	o	hop, pop, top, hot, pot, lot
[ʌ]	u	bug, lug, tug, hut, but, cut

vowels:

Sound	Writing	Examples
A	ai, ay, a+consonant+e	name, mail, gray, ace
E	e, ee, ea, y, ie ,ei, i+consonant+e	he, deep, beast, dandy, thief, receive, elite
I	i, i+gn, igh, y, i+ld, i+nd	mine, sign, high, sky, wild, kind
O	o+consonant +e, oa, ow, o+ll, ld	tone, road, note, know, roll, bold
U	ew, ue, u+consonant+e	few, due, tune

The vowel sound in unstressed syllables is expressed by the abbreviated neutral sound ("schwa"), the phonemic symbol /ə/, especially if syllabic consonants are not used.

For example:

• a in about, around, approve, above [ə bʌv];
• e in accident, mother, taken, camera ;
• i c, family, lentil, officer pencil ;
• o in memory, common, freedom, purpose, London;
• u in supply, industry, suggest, difficult, succeed, minimum ;
• and even y in sibyl;
• schwa appears in function words: to, from, are.

Features of vowel sounds in English

Vowels are divided into monophthongs, diphthongs or triphthongs. A monophthong is when there is one vowel in a syllable, a diphthong is when there are two vowels in a syllable.

Let's take a closer look:

1. Monophthongs are pure and stable vowels., whose acoustic characteristics (timbre) do not change during the time they are pronounced.
2. - a sound formed by a combination of two adjacent vowels in one syllable. Technically, the tongue (or other parts of the speech apparatus) moves when a vowel is pronounced - the first position is stronger than the second. In the transcription of a diphthong, the first character is the starting point of the body of the language, the second character is the direction of movement. For example, you should know that in /aj/ the body of the tongue is in the lower center position represented by /a/ and immediately starts moving up and forward to the position for /i/.
3. Diphthongs are often formed when separate vowels work together in rapid conversation.. Usually (in the speaker's speech) the body of the tongue does not have time to get to the position /i/. Therefore, the diphthong often ends closer to /ɪ/ or even to /e/. In the diphthong /aw/, the body of the tongue moves from the lower center position /a/, then moves up and back to the position /u/. Although single diphthongs are also distinguished, which are heard as separate vowel sounds (phonemes).
4. English also has triphthongs.(combinations of three adjacent vowels), including three sound types, for example, fire /fʌɪə/, flower /flaʊər/. But in any case, all diphthongs and triphthongs are formed from monophthongs.

Table of pronunciation of simple English vowels

All vowels are formed from only 12 monophthongs. Each, regardless of spelling, is pronounced using some combination of these sounds.

The table shows examples of simple English vowels with Russian pronunciation:

[ɪ]	pit, kiss, busy	pete, kitty, beezy
[e]	egg, let, red	eg, years, red
[æ]	apple, travel, mad	apple, travel, mead
[ɒ]	not, rock, copy	music, rock, copy
[ʌ]	cup, son, money	cap, san, mani
[ʊ]	look, foot, could	bow, foot, cool
[ə]	away, away	hey, hey
	be, meet, read	bi:, mi:t, ri:d
[ɑ:]	arm, car, father	a:m, ka:, fa:dze
[ɔ:]	door, saw, pause	to:, from:, to: from
[ɜ:]	turn, girl, learn	cho:n, gyo:l, le:n
	blue, food, too	blu:, foo:d, tu:

Diphthong pronunciation table

	day, pain, rein	dei, pein, rein
	cow, know	kou, know
	wise, island	visa, island
	now, trout	naw, trout
[ɔɪ]	noise, coins	noiz, coin
[ɪə]	near, hear	nee, hie
[ɛə]	where, air	uh uh uh
[ʊə]	pure, tourist	p (b) yue, tu e rist

Learn the transcription of English words

Consider some features of English transcription:

The Internet has online a large number of video to listen to and you can also practice using the exercises.

It is believed that reading in English is a rather difficult skill for the simple reason that the English language does not have a rigid system of reading rules and letters, in particular vowels, can be read differently depending on their position in a word or in a syllable.

In this publication, I will cover the rules for reading vowels in English with examples.

English vowels and reading features

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

Vowels:

• A - hey
• E - and
• I - ai
• O - oh
• U - yu
• Y - wye

The English language is characterized by the presence of diphthongs.

diphthongs- these are sounds, during the pronunciation of which one vowel sound passes into another, that is, in fact, they are pronounced as two sounds.

For example, word for word home vowel o reads like " OU", that is, essentially forms two sounds [əʊ]. The same with the word house, where the letter combination « ou" reads like "ay" and gives a double sound.

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

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

Rules for reading English vowels and vowel combinations

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

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

Closed syllable in English, this is the syllable that ends in a consonant letter. For example, ma p, pe n,ba g, bea d etc.

open syllable- a syllable that ends in a vowel letter. For example, so e, pa y, bik e etc.

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

Letter A

Letter E

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

Letter I

Letter O

Letter U

Letter Y

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

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

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There are few rules for reading consonants in English. They can be compared with similar rules in Russian: the name of the letter does not always correspond to the designated sound.

There are only 20 letters in the English language, which can convey 24 consonants in various positions and combinations. Some sounds of the English language are similar to Russian, while others are significantly different from them. There are also those that have no analogues in Russian: [ð], [θ], [w]

However, there a few rules. English consonants are always:

• pronounce firmly - do not soften, as, for example, in the word suit
• at the end of words we do not deafen the voiced ones, we pronounce the deaf more clearly: pin-pit
• we pronounce double consonants as one sound, for example swimmer [ˈswɪmər]

Rules for reading letters that convey one consonant sound

Let's start with 15 consonants that represent one sound. They correspond to the letters of the English alphabet and their transcription marks are the same.
letter and sound	Pronunciation features	Examples	Translation
	always sounds like "b"		boy
P[p]	resembles the Russian "p"	panda	swimming pool
F[f]	similar to Russian "f"	fire [ˈfaɪər]
V[v]	this is Russian pure "in"		minibus brave
T[t]	hard Russian "t", with strong aspiration		vertex
D[d]	identical to Russian "d" with stronger aspiration	riddle [ˈrɪdl]	mystery
M[m]	identical to Russian "m"
N[n]	identical to Russian "n", but more nasal	number[ˈnʌmbər]
K[k]	identical to the Russian "k" with intense aspiration
L[l]	identical to Russian "l", always hard		little
R[r]	this letter should be given a little more attention. The tongue rests on the upper palate and the Russian "r" is pronounced. It sounds at the beginning of a word after consonants and between some vowels. At the end of a word, it is usually not pronounced, or barely audible.	writer [ˈraɪtər]	writer
H[h]	this sound is pronounced with a slight breath, almost like an exhalation
w[w]	at the beginning of the word, like Russian [y], but more energetically
S[s]	identical to Russian "s"
Z[z]	identical to Russian "z"	zebra [ˈziːbrə] crazy [ˈkreɪzɪ]	crazy

Rules for reading consonants that convey several sounds

letter and sound	Pronunciation features	Example	Translation
C[s]	before vowels e, i, y
C[k]	in other cases
J	like [j], only softer
X	- as :		next
X	- before the stressed syllable	exotic [ɪgˈzɔtɪk] example [ɪgˈzɑːmpl]	exotic
X [z]	- at the beginning of a word	Xerox  [ˈzɪərɔks]	Xerox
G	- before vowels e, i, y		Gym page
G[g]	- in other cases
Q	- occurs only in the letter combination qu -	squirrel [ˈskwɪrəl]	Queen

Rules for reading letter combinations with consonants

Consonants often form letter combinations. Consider the main ones:
Ch	Basically, this combination of letters sounds like Russian "h"
Ch[k]	- in Greek words	character [ˈkærɪktər]	character
Ch [ʃ]	- in words of French origin	machine	the car
Sh [ʃ]	Sounds like a Russian "sh"	mushroom [ˈmʌʃrum]
Th[θ]	At the beginning of nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs; at the end of words; before a consonant or after a consonant. You need to stick the tip of your tongue between your teeth and pronounce the Russian “s”		thick
Th [ð]	- the second pronunciation option, like [ð] (in functional words (article, pronouns), between vowels). Pronunciation method: tongue between teeth, pronounce Russian "z"	father [ˈfɑːðər]
Ng [ŋ]	At the end of a word. It has no analogue in Russian. Pronounced something like [n], in the nose		long
Ng [ŋg]	- inside the word:	England [ˈɪŋglənd] finger [ˈfɪŋgər]

There are many exceptions to the English language, and this does not make it any less attractive. Each word must be memorized separately. Let the dictionary be yours good friend and an assistant, and teachers at the English language school via Skype are your personal consultants!

Watch the video on consonants