Vowels

Vowels

A letter that represents a vowel sound. Represent speech sounds whre air leaves the mouth without any blockage by the tongue, lips or throat. Vowel sound are differentiated by pitch, accent, volume and duration.

What is a vowel?

Fuente: TikTok

Unlike consonants, every word needs at least one vowel. In fact, the shortest words in the English language are one letter, and they’re both vowels: the article a and the pronoun I. Every syllable also needs a vowel sound. If a word has more than one syllable, it then needs more than one vowel. There are only five vowels (sometimes six) in the English language, but there are twenty vowel sounds in total.

When do you need a vowel?

6th vowel

Classification of Vowels

Long vowels are a little more complex. Generally, they’re created by combining two vowels, where one is typically silent. Often they’re pronounced like the name of the vowel.

Long vowel

Short vowels are the standard pronunciation of vowels—usually when there is only one vowel in the word—especially in short words.

Short vowel

vs

tiger

snail

bat

hen

four

ship

scene

dish

Jean

sleep

dog

chip

gin

lead

mill

lid

bin

bean

Long vowel

Short vowel

dad

cap

play

gap

take

made

has

gas

sale

paint

day

cap

cat

ask

game

tap

van

nail

act

came

mail

Classification of Vowels

vs

Use of an

Use of a

How to use it?

The two indefinite articles in English are a and an. The indefinite article an is used to make pronunciation easier when reading a text aloud. The general rule is to use a when the indefinite article precedes a word beginning with a consonant sound and an when it precedes a word starting with a vowel sound.

The indefinite article a, an

Indefinite articles are used when we are referring to an unspecified thing or quantity. We use them when we don’t know (or don’t care) which thing we’re talking about.

When the indefinite article comes before a word beginning with a consonant sound

When the indefinite article comes before a word beginning with a vowel sound

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Stress

Stress is a quality of vowel sounds. It has three primary characteristics: Length ↔ Volume 🔊 Pitch ↑ Stressed vowel sounds are longer, louder, and/or higher in pitch than vowel sounds without stress. You can use just one of these features, or any combination of these features at the same time. Overall, stressed sounds are “stronger” than unstressed sounds.

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Basically, y can be either a vowel or a consonant, depending on how it’s used. When y is used as a vowel, it copies either the long or short vowel sound for i or the long vowel sound for e.

Is y a vowel?

my (long i)shy (long i) system (short i) crypt (short i) lady (long e) hairy (long e)

Stress and syllables are closely related. Almost all syllables in English contain a vowel sound; therefore, we usually say that syllables are stressed or unstressed. Every multi-syllable English word contains at least one stressed syllable. For example:

• Amazing
• Discard
• Appreciated

How to use?

Rules

Example

Likewise, there are some nouns beginning with a vowel that make a consonant sound. In these cases, the indefinite article a should be used.

Example

Exceptions

It’s important to note that not all nouns that begin with a consonant begin with the consonant sound. Always trust the sound, not the letter when applying the a vs. an rule. Remember, it’s about pronunciation.

These same rules apply to acronyms: