The English alphabet is based on the Latin script, which is a basic set of letters common to the various alphabets originally from the Classical Latin alphabet.
In the British alphabet, we say, Zed. In American English, we say, Zee.
The English word Alphabet comes from the first two letters of the Greek Alphabet, Alpha, and Beta.
The letters don't always represent the same sounds of English.
Each letter has an uppercase or what we call capital letters and the lowercase or known as a small letter.
Letters are written. Sounds are spoken.
When we write, we use the English alphabet consists of 26 letters. When we speak, we use phonetic which consist of 44 sounds.
Until recently, the 27th letter of the alphabet, right after the letter z was the ampersand &
There are forty-four (44) sounds in the English alphabet: 24 consonant sounds and 20 vowel sounds.
The 44 sounds in the English alphabet are divided into three (3), namely: Vowels, Consonant, and Diphthongs.
Five (5) letters of the English alphabet are called Vowels, namely: A, E, I, O, and U. It has twenty (20) sounds, wherein pure vowels have twelve (12) sounds and diphthongs with eight (8) sounds. Vowels have five (5) long sounds and 7 short sounds. The vowel is a sound we make when the breath flows out through the mouth freely, without being blocked.
Vowels 5 long sounds:
"a": Rain, pain, sail, whale, fail.
"o": Coat, boat, goat, whole, coal.
"i": Kite, bike, hike, fly, sigh.
"e": Tweet, sheet, meet, feet, retreat.
"u": Glue, stew, phew, cube, suit.
Vowels 7 short sounds:
/a,(æ)/ cat, ant
/e,(e)/ peg, egg
/i,(I)/ pin, pig
/o,(ɒ)/ hot, orange
/u,(ʌ)/ hut, bus
/oo(u),(Ʊ)/ bull or could
/uh,(ǝ or schwa)/ zebra, doctor, corner
Diphthongs:
/aɪ/ Cry, My, Like, Bright, Lime, my, die, thigh
/eɪ/ Bake, rain, lay, eight, break, they, way
/əʊ/ Go, oh, slow, loan, though, joke, vote, throw
/aʊ/ Bound, house, vow, out, lounge
/eə/ Pair, lair, chair, where, there
/ɪə/ Career, fear, year, beer, ear
/ɔɪ/Boy, coy, toy, joy, noise, choice
/ʊə/Fur, sure
There are 8 diphthongs commonly used in English:
Aw: straw, claw, law, thaw, hawk, draw, crawl
Au: haul, fault, vault, pauper, author, cause, pause, applause
Ew: brew, chew, blew, cashew, stew, few, dew, drew
Oo: food, room, soon, zoo, taboo, kazoo, bamboo, shampoo
Oi: boil, point, coin, broil, spoil, noise, oil, join
Oy: boy, toy, coy, soy, oyster, decoy enjoy
Ow: cow, how, bow, growl, down, brown, plow
Ou: out, house, found, round, cloud, loud, ouch
The remaining 21 letters are called Consonants with twenty-four (24) sounds. Consonants have fifteen (15) voiced sounds and nine (9) voiceless sounds. Consonant is the sound we make that isn't vowels, namely: B, C, D, F, G, H, J, K, L, M, N, P, Q, R, S, T, V, W, Z and usually W and Y.
These are the voiced consonants: B, D, G, J, L, M, N, Ng, R, Sz, Th (as in the word "then"), V, W, Y, and Z. Words that include voiced consonants such as travel, gloves, shells, started, changed, wheels, lived, dreams, exchanged, globes, phones, listened, and organized.
These are the voiceless consonants: Ch, F, K, R, P, S, Sh, T, and Th (as in "thing"). Common words using them include: washed, coats, watched, books, seats, dropped, and carts.
Note that every voiceless sound has a similar voiced sound.
Two (2) letters, like A and I also constitute a word.
A digraph is a combination of two letters that make one completely speech sound.
Consonant digraphs:
Ch: chair, much, each, chore
Ck: back, rock, neck, duck
Gh: tough, laugh, rough, cough
Kn: know, knife, knot, knee
Ll: wall, fall, ball, all
Ng: wing, sing, ring, king
Ph: phone, photo, graph, gopher
Qu: queen, quiz, quiet, quack
Sh: ship, shoe, dish, fish
Th: thing, than, both, bath
Wh: what, when, where, whale
Wr: write, wrist, wrap, wreath
Vowel Digraphs:
Ai: train, rain, main, paint
Ay: stay, play, today, day
Ea: team, read, eat, seat
Oa: road, boat, goat, soap
Ue: true, glue, clue, blue
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Syntax Error
RandomThis book, Syntax Error, will give you a glimpse into parts of grammar, emphasize different language skills that will not only meet the needs in listening, writing, and speaking but will also provide a foundation for more advanced language which lie...
