English has only 26 letters - WordPress.com

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