We continue well"English: we repeat the rules of reading" and we will continue to learn to read in English. In Part 1, you learned how to read a vowel Aa v different types syllables in English language.

Now let's get down to part 2 and you will find out how to read combinations of letters with the letter Aa.

Do you remember that in English, all 6 vowels, but each is read differently depending on the type of syllable. The total is 24 sounds.

Reading letter combinations in English: ai (ay), au (aw), wa, al. Rules

Rule 1. Ai = ay

• aim - target
• main - main
• day - day
• ray - ray

Exceptions: said - said Sunday - Sunday (unstressed syllable)

Rule 2. Au = aw

• daughter - daughter
• saucer - saucer
• paw - paw
• claw - claw

An exception: because - because

Rule 3. Wa after w

• swan - swan
• what - what?
• wash - wash
• want - to want

or: warm - warm, war - war
Exceptions: swam - swam, wax - wax, wagon [`wægən] - wagon

Rule 4. A after Qu

Rule 5.A + l

• small - small
• bald - bald
• false - fake
• call - call
• talk - to talk (before k, the letter l is not readable)

Exceptions: shall [∫æl] - will

Rule 6. A+ ss, sk, sp, st, ft, lm, lf, th, ff, ns (c), ph + acc.

a+ ss, sk, sp, st, ft, lm, lf, th, ff, n, ph + acc. read

• grass - grass
• pass - pass
• ask - ask
• grasp - grass
• mast - mast
• after - after
• calm - calm
• calf - calf
• path - path
• staff - staff
• answer - answer
• dance - to dance
• photograph - to photograph

Exceptions: lass - girl (shot), mass - mass, translate - translate; in them a read [æ]

Rule 7. Differences in reading letter combinations.

1. ai read [i] unstressed: fountain - fountain, mountain - mountain
   
2. ai + r read: air - air, hair - hair
   

Reading letter combinations in English: ai (ay), au (aw), wa, al. Phonetic exercises with audio recording and answers

Phonetic exercise 1

1. Read the words:
Your browser does not support the audio tag!
saw, claw, call, talk, play, class, train, paw, Paul, saucer, war, what,

father, also, cosmonaut, false, ball, auction, class, stay, path, ask, dance, can't, last, grass, almost, all, water, salt, clay, plain, warm, small, chalk, dawn, bay, law, recall, crawl, spray, sail, swamp, paid, draw, brain, fall, wash, snail, warn, fail, stalk, laid, hall, altar, rail, past

2. Distribute the words of the first line according to the way you read the letter A

Check yourself ->

Phonetic exercises for practicing the reading of letter combinations (closed content)

Paid content is hidden. Registered users who have paid for access have the right to view paid content.

Title: Phonetic exercises with audio recording

Description: Access to closed content * We repeat the rules of reading in English *

»We examined the basic rules for reading consonants. Do not think that, having memorized only them, you will correctly read any English word. Be sure to meet an unfamiliar word that will not be read according to the rule. But yes, 90% will obey you. In any case, knowing these patterns of reading various letter combinations, you can guess how the word you need is read. And if in doubt, check the dictionary.

English reading rules: vowels

1. First in line letter A. What sounds can it make?
   • in an open stressed syllable, in combinations ai, ay , and before the combination of letters ange : baker, crane, cable, gain, rain, bay, stay, change, dangerous... Among the exceptions: many, have, said.
   • in combinations ai , ay , age in an unstressed syllable, this letter gives the sound [i]: carriage, captain, storage.
   • [æ] in closed syllable: cap, dangle, factor, hatch, rash, rat.
   • [Ɔ] in a closed syllable after w, wh : wad, waffle, what.
   • [Ə] in an unstressed syllable: myopia, pasta, regalia.
   • [ƐƏ] in combinations air, are : hair, bare, pair, rare, stair, mare.
   • in combinations ar, aft, ass, ance, ast, ath, ans, ask, ant, alf, anch : card, barge, craft, after, grass, dance, glance, last, past, rather, father, answer, bask, task, plant, grant, half, calf, branch... Among the exceptions: mass, gather, pathos.
   • [Ɔ:] before l or l+ consonant, as well as in combinations au, aw, aught, auth, war, quar : call, football, altogether, paunch, law, caught, authority, warble, quart, quarterly.
2. The second letter will be O. Her range of sounds is as follows:
   • in an open stressed syllable, before the letter l, letter combinations ll, ld, st, and also in combination oa and ow (at the end of words): so, ago, note, provoke, rose, enroll, bold, coat, oath, oat, road, boast, show, mow, blow, most, post... Among the exceptions: do, does, who, now, how, cost, lost.
   • [Ɔ] in a closed stressed syllable: plot, fox, spot, knot, drop.
   • in combination oo : moon, afternoon, poop, rooter... Exceptions: good, wood, foot, etc.
   • [u] combined oo but before the letter k : cook, look, brook, hookey, nook, rookie.
   • in combinations ou, ow in the middle of a word: gown, clown, crown, crowd, about, cloud, proud, bound... Among the exceptions: enough, country, double, touch, young, bowl.
   • [Ɔi] in combinations oi, oy : choice, voice, boil, spoil, enjoy, loyal, toy.
   • [Ɔ:] combined or in the shock position, as well as in combinations oor, ore, oar, ough + t and our (in the middle of a word): fort, corn, boring, torn, adore, floor, door, therefore, more, board, bought, fought, sought, source, mourn, course, pour... Among the exceptions: poor, moor, courage... Combination our under stress can produce another sound -: hour, sour, lour, but four... The same combination at the end of words is conveyed by the sound [Ə], as well as the combination or in an unstressed position: neighbor, labor, doctor, creator, illustrator.
   • [Əs] - this is how we read the combination ous at the end of words: glamorous, tremendous, curious.
   • [Ə:] is reading the combination wor in shock position: world, workable, worse, worship... An exception: worn .
   • [ᴧ] - this sound occurs when reading combinations oth, on, om, ov under stress: mother, other, month, son, some, become, lover, dove... Note: both .
3. The next vowel from the rules for reading English is a letter E. What sounds can we meet in her presence:
   • in open stressed syllable and combinations ee, ea: be, fetor, Steve, feel, peel, teeth, seem, breathe, dean, meal, peace... Among the exceptions: great .
   • [e] in closed stressed syllable and in combination ea before letters d, n and letter combinations th, sure : nest, pet, mental, spread, steady, feather, weather, measure, treasure, meant, cleanser... Among the exceptions: read , lead .
   • in combinations ei, ey in stressed syllable: prey, convey, eight, freighter.
   • we read with combinations eu, ew: few, nephew, Europe, deuterium.
   • [Ə:] should be read in combination er in the stressed syllable, and in ear followed by a consonant: deserve, Berlin, mercy, earth, pearl, dearth... Among the exceptions: heart... If the combination er is in an unstressed position, the same sound appears, only a short one, not a long one [Ə]: limber, answer, producer, perhaps.
   • we will pronounce in combinations ear, eer, ere : near, dear, fear, career, steer, here, hemisphere... Among the exceptions: bear , there [ƐƏ], were .
   • [i] - this is how the letter will be read E in an open unstressed syllable (including the combination er ), in combinations et and ey at the end of words: prevent, erect, exact, regret, restore, regress, bonnet, planet, closet, journey, attorney, honey.
4. Moving on to the vowel I. In addition to alphabetical reading, this vowel also produces other sounds:
   • in a stressed open syllable, in combination ie at the end of monosyllabic words and before combinations of letters such as nd, ld,gn, gh : prime, kite, bite, die, blind, mind, wind(loop), child, wild, design, sign, sigh, high, fight, bright... Among the exceptions: wind- wind, gild ,live, forgive, cinema.
   • in a closed stressed syllable and in an unstressed position, this letter is read as [i]: brick, risk, whist, testimony, handiwork, inclusion.
   • a long sound is obtained when reading a combination ie in the middle of root words: field, priest, grief, believe... An exception: friend .
   • [Ɛ:] requires a combination ir in shock position: stir, first, thirty, girl.
   • in combinations ire, ia, io : desire, mire, diagnosis, bias, violinist, riot.
5. The penultimate vowel will be Y . She has five options for sounding in different cases:
   • in stressed open syllable: cry, lye, byway, cynosure.
   • [i] in a closed stressed syllable and in an open unstressed syllable: mystery, syntax, randy, oily, quandary... But: apply[Ə'plai]
   • in combination yr+ consonant this is the sound [Ɛ:]: myrtle... And in the same combination, only in a company followed by a vowel, we get the sound: lyre, pyre, gyration.
   • [j] at the beginning of a word before vowels: yard, yellow, yawl, youth, yet, yolk.
6. And finally, the letter U ... What should you know about the sounds it makes?
   • in stressed open syllable: puce, mute, lurid, fuel, cucumber.
   • [ᴧ] in a closed syllable: publicity, pug, mug, mustard, butter, fun, hurry... Among the exceptions: put, push, pull, full, etc.
   • [Ɛ:] combined ur in stressed syllable: purpose, purse, hurl, urban, urge... But: current[‘KᴧrƏnt].
   • and in the same combination, but in an unstressed syllable, as well as simply in an unstressed position in words, this letter is read [Ə]: suggest, supply, mustache, suppose... Note: mercury[‘MƏ: kjuri].
   • before the letter r followed by a vowel: pure, furious, mural... But: sure[ʃuƏ].
   • after letters l, r, j in combinations ue,ui : true, blue, juice.

If you are studying with a teacher (

Reading ow combinations

This combination of letters is difficult to memorize, as it has a number of words - exceptions to the rules. These words must be remembered. Ow reading rules

Letter combination -ow- can be read in two ways: as [əʋ] and . But in what cases it is how to read - in theory there are many versions. One is better than the other. And the main thing is that there are always a few words of exceptions to the rules and each time different words fall into exceptions. For example, consider a few rules:

1.ow + consonant = . Examples: town, down, owl, gown. It seems that everything is normal. There is no ow + consonant! And in the word now, in general, there is no consonant after ow. Well, maybe as an option, this rule is also suitable.

Still IMPORTANT! There are words in which there are 2 reading options, but depending on how you read the word, its meaning will change.

For instance: bow- bend (Xia), bend (Xia); tilt)

bow;

bow- arc, rainbow ( rainbow[ˈReɪnbəu] - rainbow) or bow (weapon); bow

although these words have a close single-root meaning - after all, when we bow, we bend our back in an arc. And where is the "bow"?

2.ow at the end of a word -[əʋ] — all our exceptions go there: snow, low, know, show, arrow. And what

to do with the words now, how, cow? They fall into an exception. Although only 3 words - tempting!

So, it turned out that this rule has claim for the best, so all words fit it, and there are only 3 words exceptions.

I found another rule that I will take as the main one in this article, although it is not the easiest one. You are free to choose the rule that is closer and more understandable to you.

Rule 1. -ow- reads as if it is stressed in words with one syllable.

One more note: There are words tower, towel, flower. There, in theory, the combination of letters is also ow, but the letter -e goes there, so the sound will be different.

Rule 2. -ow reads [əʋ] if it is unstressed and the word consists of two syllables. That is, in these words the stress falls on the first syllable. In any case, it is unrealistic to pronounce Ay in an unstressed syllable. You can try)))

Exceptions: low - low, snow - snow, know - know, row - row, grow - grow, throw - throw, show - show - read as [əʊ]

In English, reading two consecutive vowels in a stressed syllable differs from reading each one separately. At the same time, do not confuse combinations of vowels and two adjacent vowels belonging to different syllables. Such adjacent letters are found at the junction of a prefix and a root, or a root and a suffix or end. For example: bean - a combination of vowels; react - two adjacent vowels.

For ease of memorization of letter combinations, it is necessary to know letters duplicating each other, which form combinations of the same sound. These are the letters: "i" = "y"; "U" = "w". They form the same sounding combinations: ai = ay, ei = ey, oi = oy [ɔı], au = aw [ɔ:], eu = ew, ou = ow (in the middle of a word).

The letter "y" before the vowel gives the consonant sound [j]. For example: yes - yes, yard - yard.

For the convenience of memorization, we will divide the combinations into groups:

Group	Combination	Sound	Examples of	Note
1	oi = oy	[ɔı]	boy - boy, voice - voice
	ei = ey		eight - eight, they [ðeı] - they
				Both letters are read by their Latin name
2	au = aw	[ɔ:]	pause pause, saw - saw
	oo		too - too, too
	oo + k	[ʊ]	took - took, took
	ou		out
	ow	[əʊ],	at the end of the word: know - to know, snow - snow at the beginning or middle of a word: down - down
				Special reading that does not follow from reading each letter separately
3	ai = ay		aim - goal, day - day
	oa	[əʊ]	road - road, coat - coat
	oe	[əʊ]	toe - toe
	ue	[(j) u:]	due - due
	ui	[(j) u:]	fruit - fruit
	ea		sea ​​- sea
	ee		see - to see
	ie	,	lie - lie, chief - leader
	ye		rye - rye
				Only the first letter of its alphabetical name is readable
4	eu = ew	[(j) u:]	neutral [‘nju: trəl] - neutral, new - new, crew - team
				Only the second letter is read as in the alphabet
5	air, eir		air - air, their [ðeə] - their
	ear, eer	[ıə]	ear [ıə] - ear, cheer - greeting
				Arny combinations. The letter "r" turns the second sound of non-ary combinations into an indefinite sound "ə"

1st group of English vowel combinations

The main features of this group:

- the combinations "oi", "oy" are read as a diphthong [ɔı]. For example: noise - noise, boy - boy;

- in the unstressed position the combinations "oi", "oy" are read in the same way as in the stressed one. For example: turmoil [‘tз: mɔıl] is a bustle, envoy [‘ envɔı] is a messenger;

- the combinations "ei", "ey" are read as a diphthong. For example: eight - eight, they [ðeı] - they. Or as long, for example: receive - receive, key - key;

- exceptions: the combination "ei" reads as in the words either [‘aıðə] - also, neither [‘ naıðə] - none, height - height, reads like [e] in the word leisure [‘leʒə] - leisure;

- in the unstressed position, the combinations "ei", "ey" are read as a weakened sound [ı], that is, with a reduction, for example: foreign [‘fɒrın] - foreign, money [‘ mʌnı] - money;

- combinations "ei", "oi" are found in the middle of words;

- combinations "ey", "oy" are found at the end of words.

2nd group of English vowel combinations

In this group, the following features can be distinguished:

- the combinations "au" and "aw" are read as a long sound [ɔ:], for example: daughter [‘dɔ: tə] - daughter, law - law;

- it is necessary to remember that in some cases the combination "au" is read as, for example: aunt - aunt, laugh - laughter, or as [ɒ] - because - because;

- the combination "oo" is read as a long sound, for example: too - also, moon - moon;

- exceptions: the combination "oo" reads as [ʊ] in the words foot - leg, good - good, soot - soot, stood - stood, wood - wood, wool - wool; reads as [ʌ] in the words blood - blood and flood - flood;

- the combination "oo" + "k" is read as a short sound [ʊ], for example: look - look, book - book;

- in most cases, the combination "ou" is pronounced like a diphthong. For example: sound - sound, out - outside;

- you need to remember that in words borrowed from French, the combination "ou" reads like. For example: you - you, bouquet - a bouquet;

- reading the combination "ou" differs from the general rule and reads like [ʌ] in the words: country ['kʌntrı] - country, enough [ı'nʌf] - enough, rough - rough, trouble - trouble, young - young, and so it reads like "əʊ" in the words shoulder ['∫əʊldə] - shoulder, though [ðəʊ] - although it reads like [ɒ] in the word cough - cough;

- in the unstressed position, the combination "ou" is read as a neutral sound [ə]. For example: nervous [‘ns: vəs] - excited, famous [‘ feıməs] - famous;

- the combination "ow" is read like or like [əʊ]. For example: now - now, snow - snow, bow - bow;

- it is necessary to remember that in the word knowledge [‘nɒlıdʒ] - knowledge, the combination“ ow ”reads as [ɒ];

- in the unstressed position, the combination "ow" is read in the same way as in the stressed [əʊ]. For example: window [‘wındəʊ] - window, yellow [‘ jeləʊ] - yellow;

- due to the irregular reading of the combinations "ou" and "ow", they should be checked by dictionary transcription and memorized.

3rd group of English vowel combinations

This is the largest group of vowel combinations. Consider the features of these combinations:

- the combinations "ai" and "ay" are pronounced like a diphthong. For example: main - main, day - day;

- words of exclusion with combinations "ai" and "ay": said - said, says - speaks;

- in the unstressed position, the combinations "ai" and "ay" are reduced to a short [ı], for example: mountain [‘maʊntın] - mountain, Sunday [‘ sʌndı] - Sunday;

- sometimes the combinations "ai" and "ay" are completely absorbed if the letter "n" follows them in an unstressed syllable. For example: certain [‘sз: t (ə) n] - undisputed, Britain [’ brıt (ə) n] - Great Britain;

- the combinations "oa" and "oe" are read like a diphthong [əʊ]. For example: boat - boat, toe - toe;

- the following exceptions must be remembered: abroad [ə'brɔ: d] - abroad, does - does;

- in the unstressed position, the combinations "oa" and "oe" are pronounced in the same way as in the stressed position: cocoa [‘kəʊkəʊ] - cocoa;

- the combinations "ue" and "ui" are read as. For example: fruit - fruit, cruise - cruise, due - must, Tuesday [‘tju: zdı] - Tuesday;

- the combination "ee" is read as a long one, for example: see - to see, meet - to meet;

- the combination "ie" has a reading, for example: piece - part, chief - leader, believe - believe. But in monosyllabic words with an open syllable (when the word ends in a vowel), the combination "ie" is read as in the English alphabet: tie - tie, lie - lie;

- in the unstressed position, the combination “ie” is pronounced with a short sound [ı]. For example: Willie ['wılı] - Willie, Freddie [' fredı] - Freddie;

- the combination "ye" is pronounced like. For example: dye - paint, rye - rye.

4th group of English vowel combinations

This group contains two combinations:

- the combination "eu" is read as it occurs in the middle of a word. For example: feud - hostility, neutral ['nju: tr (ə) l] - neutral;

- the combination "ew" occurs at the end of a word and has different readings: (new - new, few - few, steward [‘stju: əd] - steward) or (chew - to chew, crew - team).

5th group of English vowel combinations

- ary combinations are similar to non-ary ones, but the second element of a diphthong or longitude of a single vowel sound is replaced by an indefinite sound [ə]:,.

In conclusion, it should be said that in all doubtful cases, in order to find out the pronunciation of English words when reading combinations of English vowels, you will have to quite often refer to the transcription of words in the dictionary.