Vowels in English have different sounds based on whether they are short or long. Let’s have a look at the vowels o and u.
A Video Summary about long and short ‘o’ and ‘u’
A few explanations about long and short ‘o’ and ‘u’
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 ‘o’ and ‘u’.
THE SHORT ‘o’ VOWEL
The short ‘o’ sounds like short ‘o’. It’s the vowel sound in the word ‘dog’.
Examples of the short ‘o’ when the words end with a consonant:
bog bop cop crop dog fog odd mop tot pot top |
While pronouncing the short ‘o’, we don’t have to stress on the vowel ‘o’.
The letter ‘o’ also has an alternative short sound that sounds like a short ‘u’ sound, as in the words; son, done, come, and love.
THE LONG ‘o’ VOWEL
The long ‘o’ sound is represented by just the letter ‘o’ by itself. The words can be both one syllable words or more often, they are two syllables or more.
It often appears at the end of both short and long words. Examples include:
go total tomato |
The ‘oa’ spelling of long ‘o’ usually appears at the beginning or middle of a one syllable word. Examples include:
oat boat toast |
The ‘ow’ spelling of long ‘o’ usually appears at the end of a one or less commonly two syllable word. Examples include:
snow tow window |
THE SHORT ‘u’ VOWEL
‘U’ is the last of the vowels in the English alphabet. Like the other vowels, it has both a short vowel sound and a long vowel sound.
The short “u” sound sounds like “uh”. Short ‘u’ sound words include:
jump mug sun duck bus umbrella drum truck hut gum cut mud cup |
Short ‘u’ sound words can also be spelled with the letter ‘o’. You’ll often see this before a ‘v’, ‘n’ or ‘th’, as in the words glove, love, some, month, brother, although spelt with an ‘o’ the sound you make is /uh/
THE LONG ‘u’ VOWEL
At the end of an open syllable, ‘u’ makes the long ‘u’ sound. This is one of the most common ways of spelling the long ‘u’ sound.
Some examples include:
pupil tulip student |
It can make either the ‘oo’ or the ‘y’ sound. The ‘u’ silent ‘e’ spelling pattern is also common, but much less than ‘u’ alone.
This one is usually in the middle of a base word. Examples include:
cute rule fume |
Exercises About Long and Short ‘o’ and ‘u’
Exercise 1: Decide whether the ‘o’ sounds in these words are long or short:
:
Exercise 2: Decide whether the ‘u’ sounds in these words are long or short:
Exercise 3: Please change the order of the words:
To go further, take a look at the pronunciation of the vowels a and i and other English pronunciation topics.