Vowels in English have different sounds based on whether they are short or long. Let’s have a look at the vowels a and i.
A Video Summary about the long and short ‘a’ and ‘i’
A few explanations about the long and short 'a' and 'i'
WHAT ARE VOWEL SOUNDS?
Vowels, in human speech, sound in which the flow of air from the lungs passes through the mouth, with minimal obstruction and without audible friction.
Although usually produced with vibrating vocal cords, vowels may be pronounced without such vibration, resulting in a voiceless, or whispered, sound.
All vowels can be divided into two main categories:
- diphthongs, a long vowel sound
- monophthongs which are mainly short vowel sounds
Below, we will examine both the short and long ‘a’ and ‘i’.
THE SHORT ‘a’ SOUND
The short a /æ/ sounds short. It’s the vowel sound in the word cat /k æ t/.
Normally, when a word has only one vowel and ends with a consonant the vowel makes a short sound.
Examples of the short ‘a’ when the words end with a consonant:
act apt bag cap cab fan fad gap ham had lap lad mad zap |
When a word has two vowels separated by two or more letters, the first vowel makes a short sound as in
apple rabbit angry actor attic astronaut carrot barrier |
THE LONG ‘a’ SOUND
When a word contains the letter “e” at the end, it is usually silent and the preceding vowel is a long sound, as in the words below:
cake date bake mate fate case dame late mane sale |
The vowel team rule states when two vowels go walking, the first does the talking and the second vowel is silent. The combination of both an “a” and an “i” (double vowels) results in the long a sound, as in:
maid brain paint braid faint saint fail |
A combination of both an “a” and “y” can result in the long a sound:
may day say bay play ray clay hay layout |
An open syllable occurs when a vowel is at the end of the syllable:
April hazy lazy |
THE SHORT ‘i’ SOUND
The short ‘i’ sound, which is the vowel sound in hit and big, is an important sound for English students to learn.
Examples of the short ‘i’ are seen in:
bit clip hid tip jig gin fig wit zip |
In words where the short ‘i’ comes first, you can hear the ‘i’ sound very clearly:
ink igloo iguana inn irritated imposter |
Though the above list of words with short vowels is not exhaustive, you can use it to understand the basic usage for the short vowel sounds.
THE LONG ‘i’ SOUND
The long ‘i’ sound can be represented by different spelling patterns:
- ‘i’ – In open syllables, the long ‘i’ sound is represented by just the letter ‘i’ by itself. Most of these will be in two or more syllable words:
silent tiny hi biology |
- ‘i_e’ – The ‘i’ silent ‘e’ spelling pattern is very common:
kite five besides mine ride abide dive fire hide lime nice |
- ‘igh’ – This spelling pattern is another common representation of the long ‘i’ sound, the spelling pattern appears in the middle of a base word
night sight light tightrope flight right might sigh |
- ‘y’ – When the long ‘i’ sound is at the end of a base word, the most common way to spell it is with a ‘y’
my cry deny fry pry rely |
- ‘y_e’ / ‘ie’ – type, pie
type pie tie die lie byte |
Exercises About The Long and Short ‘a’ and ‘i’
Exercise 1: Decide whether the ‘a’ sounds in these words are long or short
Exercise 2: Decide whether the ‘i’ sounds in these words are long or short
Exercise 3: Decide whether the ‘i’ and ‘a’ sounds in these words are long or short
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