english has only 26 letters - wordpress.com
TRANSCRIPT
English has only 26 letters
5 vowels:
21 consonants
a, e, i, o, u
20 different vowel sounds
24 consonant sounds
But 44 different sounds
Difficult to read out English words because:
1. Same letter - different soundsapplealwaysaboutacornartist
2. Different letters –same sound
be policetree quay sea peoplepiece completeseize key
Difficult to read out English words because:
Long vowels:Sometimes the vowels ‘say their names’ i.e., they have the same sound as letters of the alphabet.
When they do this they are called LONG vowels.
A : play, cage, way E : see, feet, eatI : pie, kite, tryO : rope, old, grow
U : tube suit, you
‘Magic e’When ‘e’ is written at the end of a 3 letter word or a 4 letter word, the short vowel sound changes to a long vowel sound.
Short voweltappipnotmatbithop
Long voweltapepipenotematebitehope
Common Patterns ( I )
Consonant – vowel (c-v)
Vowel – consonant (v-c)
Example:
to go be do no
Example:
an at in it on up us
Consonant–vowel–consonant (c-v-c)
Rhyming words with different initial consonants
Example:
man can ran pan van fan
Common Patterns ( II )
Consonant–vowel–consonant (c-v-c)
Words with different final consonantsExample:
man mat mad map
Common Patterns ( III )
Consonant–vowel–consonant (c-v-c)
Words with different mid short vowels and long vowels
Example: pan pen pin; pain, pine
Common Patterns ( IV )
Consonant Clusters
Consonant ClustersDouble consonants - two identical consonants which sound like a single consonant in the final position
L LLpill bill mill sell tell bell
Blends - two consonants ‘blended’ together to form a new sound
Consonant Clusters
bl bl
Digraphs - two letters joined together to form a new single sound which is quite different from their separate sounds
Consonant Clusters
ch ch
Pattern Position Example Words
Double consonants Final _bb _dd _gg _ll _ss _ff _zz
and _ck
Pill pull bell bull
Blends Initial
bl_ cl_ fl_ gl_ pl_ sl_ br_ cr_ dr_ fr_ gr_ pr_ tr_ sc_ sk_ sl_ sm_ sn_ sp_ st_ sw_
flat drip step shop this
Digraphs Initial ch, sh, th, ph, wh, qumuch must mush
Pattern Position Example Words
Blends &
Digraphs Final _sh, _ch, _st, sk, _sp, _st,
_th, _tch
last list
lost
‘n’ and ‘m’ blends
Finals _nd, _nch, _ng, _nk, _mp, _nt
and band land hand sand stand camp damp lamp
stamp
Syllables and Word stress
English words break into sound units, or beats, which are called ‘syllables’.
Syllables
Every syllable contains at least one vowel.
SyllablesWe need to say words aloud to find out how many syllables they have.
We have to think about how they sound, not how they look.
SyllablesBreaking words into syllables will help us to work out how to spell them.
dic-ta-tion
d-i-c-t-a-t-i-o-n
Basic structure:
Description of a syllable
Types of syllables✶ Closed syllable – vowel sound followed by a consonant
sound; vowel sound usually short. e.g. am, bit, rab-bit, gang-ster
✶ Open – ending with a single vowel, usually long. e.g. go, be, see, law
✶ R-controlled – e.g. far, bird, tar-get; neither short nor long ✶ Vowel team – two letters making one sound; long, short,
diphthong. e.g. boy, boiling, show, cow ✶ Vowel-silent e – consonant silent -e; long vowel. e.g. shape,
have, cube ✶ Consonant+le /+on/+en–button, cotton, apple, bottle, given (Syllabic consonant)
Segmental & Suprasegmental
1-syllable 2-syllable 3-syllable 4-syllable 5-syllable 6-syllableI ago dictation composition communication responsibility
do father potato television supernatural Mediterranean
much letter understand comparison photosynthesis Encyclopaedia
small picture animal
spring potentiality
ExampleWhen nine thousand aliens landed in the school playground, our headteacher went wild.
When nine thou - sand a - li - ens lan - ded in the
school play - ground, our head - teach - er went
wild.
1 1 1 1
1 1
1
12
2 3 2
3
Spell/ing is/n’t hard,
Once you know some of the tricks,
Di/vide the word into syl/lab/les,
That makes it ea/sy.
2 2 1
1 1 1 1 1 1 1
2 3211
11 1 2
reliable
Word stressdictation
compositionpotato
absolutely
Listen to your teacher reading
these words
How many syllables do these words
have?
Which syllable is more loudly read?
Try it yourself!
letter college
compare school
happily discovery
Where are the stressed syllables?
Word with 2 syllables
The stress is on the first syllable if the word ends in:
-ic(s) music, physics, phonics-ia Asia, Sonia-(i)on nation, poison, season-ior junior, senior-ive passive, active-ous famous, conscious-ure picture, capture
More examples
-som(e) handsome, seldom-le little, uncle, bible-al medal, total-e/ant moment, servant-en garden, driven, kitten-age passage, courage-ry story, history
Continue…
The stress is on the first syllable if the word ends in:
Word with 2 syllables
The stress is on the last syllable if the word ends in:
-aim proclaim-cur occur-duce reduce-eem esteem-irm confirm-ose oppose
More examples
-ume resume-ide, -ite divide, decide, recite-self himself-ote promote-ert insert-ect/act react
Continue…
The stress is on the last syllable if the word ends in:
Word with 2 syllables
The stress is on different syllables when the word is in different forms
Noun (Stress on the first Syllable)
Verb
(Stress on the last syllable)
subject subject record record conduct conduct object object produce produce contract contract transfer transfer
Word with 2 syllables
Continue…
Noun
(Stress on the first syllable)Verb
(Stress on the last syllable)
present present
The stress is on different syllables when the word is in different forms
Word with 2 or more syllables
Usually the third syllable from the end of the word is stressed.
possibility
innocent
popular
originparticle
originality publicity
Prefixes and stress
Prefixes will not change the word stress:
Word
form
rich
prison
cover
interpret
New word
reform
enrich
imprison
discover
misinterpret
Prefix
re-
en-
im-
dis-
mis-
Suffixes and stressSuffixes will not change the word stress:
Suffix-ly-ful-dom-less-ness-ment-ism-e/or-ship
New wordhappilybeautifulkingdom, freedomhomelessselfishnessappointmentheroismvisitor, uglierscholarship
Wordhappybeautyking, freehomeselfishappointherovisit, uglyscholar
Say together
1. guaranTEE, overSEE, Can’t you SEE
2. howEVer, forEVer, Pull the LEver
3. underSTAND, comMAND, Play the BAND
4. ceLEbrity, comMUNity, Come PLAY with me.
Say the words and
pay attention
to the stressed syllable.
Intonation
Intonation
Some words are stressed‘
Some words are stressed in a phrase or sentence because they give a rhythm or more important information. !Example:
Sentence stress
e.g. Nouns, adjectives, action verb (walk, sit…), adverbs, number, question words and demonstratives (this, that…)
The witch is flying across the sky.
Rule 1
The STRESSED words ! The CONTENT words
Example
The UNSTRESSED words are usually the FUNCTION words.
The witch is flying across the
sky.
articles (a, an, the)
Pronouns (I, me, my)
Prepositions (at, by, for)
conjunction (and, so, but)auxiliary verbs (have, had, has)
modals (may, can, might)‘to be’ verbs (am, is, are)
Sentence stressRule 2
Stressed words are: Longer, louder
and slightly higher in pitch than
unstressed words.
Sentence stressRule 3
2. run together with other unstressed words CONNECTED SPEECH ‘a lot of’ ! ‘alota’ ‘want to’ ! ‘wanna’ ‘have to’ ! ‘hafta’ ‘going to’ ! ‘gonna’
Sentence stressRule 4
Say unstressed words quickly enough:
1. reduced or made shorter with contractions she’ll, he’ll
Connected speech: Try saying
1. It is just so wonderful – It’s jusso wonnerful
2. I don’t know – I dunno
3. It’s not easy – It’s nodeasy
4. What do you think? Whadya think?
5. How is that? Howzzat?
Stress (or do not reduce) the final word of a sentence if it is a function word (of, to, with, for, me…)
Come PLAY with ME.
WHO is he GOing to SCHOOL WITH?
Sentence stressRule 5
Only stress on the same syllable as the word stress.
I’m going to the movie.
I’m GO-ING to the MOVIE.
I’m GOing to the movie.
Sentence stressRule 6