Type 2 – a vowel in a closed syllable

A closed syllable is a syllable which ends in a consonant, for example: pea- nu t. According to the 2^nd type of reading the English vowels are pronounced in the following way:

a [ æ ] fl a g o [ ɒ ] d o ll i h i p

[ ɪ ]

e [ e ] b e d u [ ʌ ] b u s y m y th

Exercise 6. Practice reading the words.

a [ æ ]has, cat, plan, man, ant, ham, pants, grab, fat, flat, black, mad, that, tram, Jack;

e [ e ]men, bet, belt, set, get, met, melt, pet, rest, let, send, lend, mend, bed, d e ntist;

o [ ɒ ]dog, fog, fox, box, ox, got, hot, pot, lost, golf, frog, drop, sock, lock;

u [ ʌ ] bus, cup, cut, run, mud, muddy, dull, puff, must, fun, hunt, hunter, plug, trust;

i [ ɪ ] fill, did, miss, pick, till, split, stick, hit, mix, fix, milk, brick, kilt, kill, trick;

y [ ɪ ] gym, myth, cyst, lynx, system, symbol, gypsy, hymn;

Exercise 7. Read and transcribe the words. Do not forget to put the stress mark if a word has two or more syllables.

Drag, mug, risk, lamp, butter, top, red, silk, help, luck, nod, hand, hip, ev e nt, s u ffer, crack, tell, clock, jog, under, flag, settle, win, fund, kiss, net, nanny, grumble, tent, ins i st, stuck.

Exercise 8. Read the words and underline those with the indicated sounds.

[ æ ] black, made, fat, fate, scat, tone, race, tag.

[ ʌ ] busy, boy, bus, butter, tube, but, music, cut, fun, honey.

[ ɒ ] pot, block, ton, nod, doggie, coal, frost.

[ ə ʊ ] dog, pony, knock, sock, lone, drop, problem, nosy.

[ e ] let, time, be, see, get, set, live, tock, spend, spent.

Exercise 9. Practice reading the following tongue-twister quickly and distinctly. Underline the words that are pronounced according to the second type of reading.

Betty Botter bought some butter. But, she said, This butter’s bitter!

If I put it in my batter, it will make my batter bitter.

So, she bought a bit of butter better than her bitter butter,

And she put it in her batter and her batter was not bitter.

So, ‘twas better Betty Botter bought a bit of better butter.

Exercise 10. Practice reading the words in pairs.

[ e ] - [ æ ] [ I ] - [ i: ]

men - man slip - sleep

ten - tan fill - feel

led - lad lick - leak

pen - pan did - deed

pet - pat fit - feet

send - sand mill - meal

bed - bad sit - seed

said - sad ship - sheep

met - mat chip - cheap

Exercise 11. Read the words and define the type of reading. Transcribe the words, do not forget to put the stress mark if a word has two or more syllables.

Lake, sip, att e nd, risk, later, att a ck, song, nice, tax, baby, constr u ct, me, grab, tape, mile, dep e nd, bucket, fist, nose, date, gang, golf, res i st, grace, bug, sane, chess, frost, dad.

Exercise 12. Read and translate the text. Define the type of reading of the vowels in the italicized words.

Margaret Thatcher (1925-2013)

She was born above a shop in the small English town of Grantham. Her father, Alfred Roberts, was a grocer. He worked very hard for little money. Margaret also worked hard, and she went to Oxford University, where she studied chemistry. In 1951 she married Denis Thatcher, a rich businessman. They had twins, a girl and a boy. The love of her life was politics. She didn’t have much time for other interests. She said she only needed four hours’ sleep a night.

She became a politician in 1959, leader of the Conservative Party in 1975, the Prime Minister of Britain four years after that. She had a strong personality. A lot of people were afraid of her, and she was called “The Iron Lady ”. In 1984 Irish terrorists bombed her hotel, but she survived. She was Prime Minister for eleven years. She finally resigned in 1990, but she didn’t want to, and she was in tears when she left 10 Downing Street.

Study the following notes:

1. In some words letter u in a closed syllable ispronounced [ ʊ ] as in put.

2. Very often letter o before n, m, v, th is pronounced [ ʌ ] as in love.

3. In words ending in -nd, -ld some vowels are pronounced according to the 1^st type as in kind.

4. Letter a before s, f is usually pronounced [ a: ] as in class, after.

5. Letter a before l is usually pronounced [ ɔ: ] as in walk, hall.

Exercise 13. Practice reading the words using the rules from the notes above.

u [ ʊ ] put, pull, push, bull, full;

o [ ʌ ] son, ton, won, done, none, front, month, money, honey, tongue, come, become, some, company, stomach, love, dove, above, glove, mother, brother, other, another, nothing, onion;

i [ aI ] find, kind, mind, blind, remind, behind, mild, wild, child;

o [ ə ʊ ] cold, gold, fold, told, retold;

a [ a: ] ask, task, past, pass, grass, last, fast, after.

a [ ɔ: ] all, call, tall, wall, mall, hall, ball, talk, walk, chalk, stalk, false;

Type 3 – a vowel + r (+a consonant)