First, let's find out what is different open syllable in English from the closed one and using examples, let's see how to read letters correctly in a particular syllable.
Open syllable in English
If a word ends in a vowel, then it is an open syllable.
name - name
my - my
take - take
You have probably already noticed that in almost all cases, the vowel e at the end of the word is mute (unreadable). Let's now take a closer look at how to correctly read vowels in an open stressed syllable.
In an open syllable, all vowels are read as in the alphabet. The exception is the letter y . There are 6 vowels in the alphabet. Let's look at each of them in the table below.
English vowels and examples of their pronunciation in words
aa
name - name
lake - lake
say - to say
As you have already noticed, the last vowel in the English word is not readable. She only says that the first vowel in the word should be read as in the alphabet.
ee
be - to be
me - me
settle - bench
In most prepositions, we pronounce the last vowel, as in the example with the preposition be (to be) and me (me).
II
nice - to be
like - me
line - bench
Oh
no - no
nose - nose
go - go, go
Uu
mute - mute
tune - tune
Yy
my - my
skype - skype
The vowel y in the English word conveys the sound despite the fact that it has a transcription.
Closed syllable in English.
If a word ends in a consonant, then it is closed syllable.
pen - pen
good [ɡʊd] - good
sit - to sit
Let's analyze the rules for reading each vowel separately in closed syllable in English.
English vowels and examples of their pronunciation in a closed syllable
aa
bad - bad
dad - dad
back - back
black - black
flat - flat
The letter Aa in a closed stressed syllable is read as a sound [æ]. This sound is similar to something between Russian A and E. In the examples, you can clearly hear how to pronounce this sound. Practice well before moving on to the next letter.
Oh
stop - stop
box - box
from - from, from
shop
hot - hot
Letter Oo in a closed stressed syllable is read as sound [ə]. This sound is similar to the Russian sound Oh, but in Russian, when we pronounce Oh, we stretch our lips forward, in English, when pronouncing the sound [ə], the lips do not stretch forward. The examples clearly audible how to pronounce this sound.
II
big - big
film - film
milk - milk
sit - to sit
fish - fish
The letter Ii in a closed stressed syllable is read as a sound [I]. This sound is similar to the Russian sound I. In the examples, you can clearly hear how to pronounce this sound.
ee
best - the best
bed - bed
dress - dress
egg - egg
get - receive
The letter Ee in a closed stressed syllable is read as a sound [e]. This sound is similar to the Russian sound E. In the examples, you can clearly hear how to pronounce this sound.
Uu
cup - a cup
sun - the sun
run - to run
fun - fun
up - up
The letter Uu in a closed stressed syllable is read as a [ʌ] sound. This sound is similar to the Russian sound A, but in English it is more tense. The examples clearly audible how to pronounce this sound.
Yy
gym - gym
myth - myth
rhythm - rhythm
The letter Yy in a closed stressed syllable is read in the same way as the letter Ii. This sound is similar to the Russian sound I. In the examples, you can clearly hear how to pronounce this sound.
Useful
A diphthong is when one letter contains two sounds. For example, in the letter a, two sounds.
Open closed syllable in English: exercises
Now let's practice a little. Choose which of the sounds is present in the word.
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Trainer for reading English vowels in open and closed syllables. For children who are just starting to learn English letters, it is very difficult to learn English sounds.
The simulator is used to practice open and closed syllables and is designed for 2nd grade students. According to the teaching staff of Biboletova (4th quarter). According to UMK Vereshchagina (the end of the second quarter - the beginning of the second quarter). According to UMK Starlight (end of September). This simulator will help not only memorize vowels and sounds, but also help to distinguish in what position the letter is read in an open or closed syllable.
aa
cake, Kate, name, plane, plate, snake, take, Jane, sale
hat, cat, bat, fat, Sam, cap, bad, parrot, carrot, rat, ant, many, black, map, can
a black cat, a bad snake, many parrots, a fat rat, a black rat and a fat cat, a cake and a plate, a black bat hat
Take a cat. Take a plate. Take a black rat and a fat cat. Take a map.
Take a cake, Kate. Jane, take a parrot and a carrot. Take a fat cat and a black hat, Sam.
What's your name? How many plates has Jane got? Has Sam got a map?
[əʊ] no, rose, stone, open, home, go, globe
[ͻ] on, not, hot, dog, frog, doll, hop, robot, box, clock
Rose, doll, frog, home, robot, dog, stone, box
No, go, globe, hop, hot, doll, doll, home
go home, a big dog, a big doll, a big box, a small clock, a box and a dog
go home. A big dog has a big clock. A small frog has a big box.
Open box. A frog opens a small box. I have at a doll at home.
Have they got a doll at home? - No, they haven't. They have got a robot at home.
Kite, mice, bike, hi, Mike, nice, fine, like, white, nine
[i] Tim, Bill, pink, kitten, big, little, pig, milk, it, his, with
a little kite, a little cat, a little pig, a little hat, little mice
a nice bike, a nice cat, a nice pet, nice mice
a big kitten, a big pink kitten, a big fat cat, a big plane
I like my bike. I like my cat. I like my big fat cat. I like my nice little pink pig. I am fine.
I like my little nice mice. I like my nice pink kite. I like it.
I like to play with my nice little kitten. Let's play with his big bike.
ee
see, be, Pete, he, beet, she, bee, keep, we, green, sweet,
Ned, pet, let "s, hen, ten, pen, desk, red, bed, Bet, lemon,
Pete, bed, Ted, let, green, pen, bee
Peg, desk, see, keep, red, hen, beet
Green pen, red desk, Pete and a bee, Ted and his pet,
A black desk, a big red hen on the little black desk
See a red beet. Take a pen. Take a hen. Keep a green pen. See a black desk.
Take a pen, Pete. His pen is bad. His desk is big. Ted, see a big bee.
Let's play with a pet, Pete. What green toys has Peg got?
Computer, pupil, tube, due, student, tulip, music
Up, cup, bus, cut, sun, sunny, plus, puppy, funny
Computer, bus, cup, pupil, plus, student
Up, puppy, tube, student, pupil, sun, cut
A sunny day, a sunny smile, a big bus and a little cup,
A big funny puppy, a funny puppy and a sunny smile
Get up, puppy. Let's listen to the music. students are funny.
Let's play computer games with the students. They are funny.
My, fly, why, try, cry, type
Funny, puppy, sunny, system, myth, baby
Funny, why, cry, funny, try, fly, system, myth
A big fly, my big fly, a big fat funny fly, a big thin funny puppy
Don't cry. Don't try. Don't fly. Fly my little kite.
Try to cry, my baby. I want you to cry. Why do you cry?
Why don't you try to cry? Fly! Fly a kite. Fly my little funny kite.
See the full text of the material Simulator for reading English vowels in open and closed syllables in the downloaded file.
The page contains a snippet.
Closed syllable. In a closed syllable, a stressed vowel is followed by one or more consonants (except r), and a vowel in a closed syllable conveys a short sound.
An example of words with an open type of syllables
- pen-[ pen] - pen
- cat-[ kæt] - cat
There are four types of syllables in English, more on that. Types of syllables
Rules for reading vowels in open and closed types of syllables.
The most common rules for reading English vowels are the rules for reading them in four types of syllable.
The vowels i and y are, as it were, duplicating each other (in the sense of the rules for their reading). The letter y occurs mainly at the end of words, and the letter i occurs in the middle of words and almost never at the end.
1 Alphabetical reading, i.e. the pronunciation corresponding to the name of the letter in the alphabet, vowels have only in the second type of syllable, which is also called open, since it ends with a vowel.
2 A syllable becomes closed if a vowel is followed by one or more consonants.
3 In polysyllabic words, according to the rules of English syllable division, one consonant, being on the border of syllables between read vowels, goes to the next syllable. For example, in the word lad [ læd] guy, the consonant d refers to the first and only syllable, "closing" it. In the word lady [ ˈleɪdi] lady the same consonant applies to the second syllable, while the first is left open.
4 If there are two or more consonants on the border of syllables, then at least one of them necessarily goes to the previous syllable, making it closed: splendid [ ˈsplɛndɪd] magnificent, luxurious.
This also applies to cases where consonant combinations give only one sound: funny [ ˈfʌni] funny, amusing ticket[ ˈtɪkɪt] ticket, ticket
The boundary of syllables then passes, as it were, directly along this sound. The preceding syllable becomes closed, although the sound itself belongs to the subsequent syllable.
5 The letter x transmitting two sounds is considered as two consonants boxer [ ˈbɒksə] boxer.
6 The final mute vowel e serves to indicate the openness of syllables ending in the consonants made [ ˈmedɪd] made . The letter e at the end of a word is read only when it is the only vowel: be [ bi] be .
7 sound [ (j) u: ] after hissing, consonant [ r] and combinations of consonants ending in [ l], pronounced [ u:]
- rule[ ruːl] rule, rule, authority
- blue [ blue] blue, cyan
- shoot [ ʃuːt] take off, shoot.
In other cases, the more common [ juː]
- few[ fjuː] little, a little
- use[ ˈjuːs] benefit, use, application
In American English, the sound [ juː] occurs much less frequently than in British, which in the following transcriptions is denoted as [ (j) u: ].
8 Syllables closed with a consonant r or letter combinations r + consonant are distinguished into a separate, third type of syllable, with special reading rules. In disyllabic words with several consonants beginning with r at the syllable boundary, r goes to the previous syllable, the rest to the next (including cases of rr):
- [ ˈdʒəːmən] German
- porridge [ ˈpɒrɪdʒ] porridge .
9 Finally, if a vowel follows immediately after the closing r, an open syllable of the fourth type is formed. If one letter r stands on the syllabic boundary in disyllabic words, then, according to the general rule of syllable division, it goes to the next syllable, but at the same time it is an indicator of reading the previous vowel according to the rules of syllables of the fourth type:
staring [ ˈsteərɪŋ] bright .
10 The rules for reading open syllables of types 2 and 4 have quite a few exceptions regarding polysyllabic words in which the vowels in the indicated syllables are read according to the rules for closed syllables.
11 The consonant r after vowels in syllables of the third and fourth type is not pronounced in British English. However, if the next word begins with a vowel, the final "mute" -r or -re ceases to be so:
to take care of [ təˈ teɪkkerəv] take care . In the American version, the consonant r is always read.
12 Vowels e , i , y and u in syllables of the third type give the same sound [ ə: ] , and their reading in syllables of the fourth type is easily obtained from the alphabet by adding the sound [ ə ] .
13 The vowel o in syllables of the third and fourth type is read the same way [ ɔː ]
14 Letter combinations -er -re at the end of words, giving the same vowel sound [ ə ] , are treated as a vowel that opens the previous syllable: metre [ ˈmiːtə] meter . The letter combination -le at the end of words has a similar property: table [ ˈteɪbl] table . Sonorant consonant sound [ l]. close in sound characteristics to vowels, acts in such cases as a syllable-forming vowel.
In an open syllable, the vowel A is pronounced like . Here are examples of words with A in the open syllable: snake - snake (Fig. 2.), lake - lake, plane - plane, plate - plate, name - name.
If the vowel A is before the vowels Y and I, then such combinations AY, AI will be read as. Here are examples of words with such combinations: rain - rain, train - train, tail - tail, wait - wait, sail - sail, May - May, play - play, day - day, way - path. If the vowel A is in combination with the letters W and L, then the pairs AW and AL are pronounced as [ɔː]. Here are examples of such words: ball - ball (Fig. 3.), tall - high, all [ɔːl] - everything, small - small, wall - wall, paw - paw, draw - draw, straw - straw, law - law, flaw - a crack.
In a closed syllable, the vowel E is read as a short sound [e]. Here are examples of words with E in a closed syllable: pen - pen, red - red, bed - bed, egg - egg, hen - chicken. In an open syllable, the vowel E is pronounced as a long sound. Here are examples of words with E in an open syllable: she [ʃiː] - she, he - he, be - be, Pete - Pete, we - we.
If there are two vowels E side by side in a word, then such a combination of EE will be read as a long sound. Here are examples of words with this combination: tree - tree, sweet - candy (Fig. 4.), green - green, meet - meet, bee - bee. 
If the vowel letter E is in combination with the letter A, then the pair EA is also pronounced as a long sound. Here are examples of such words: read - read, please - please, mean - keep in mind, tea - tea, sea - sea.
So, we got acquainted with the rules for reading the vowels A and E in an open and closed syllable, as well as in their combinations.
The vowel A is pronounced in two ways. In an open syllable, it is read as a sound, for example plane - an airplane. In a closed syllable, the vowel A is read as the sound [æ], for example flat - flat.
The vowel letter E in a closed syllable is read as a sound [e], for example red - red, and in an open syllable - as a long sound, for example we - we.
Bibliography
- Afanas'eva O.V., Mikheeva I.V. English language. Grade 2 - M: Bustard, 2014.
- Biboletova M.Z., Denisenko O.A., Trubaneva N.N. English language. Grade 2 - Title, 2008.
- Bykova N.I., Dooley D., Pospelova M.D. etc. English language. Grade 2 - Enlightenment, 2013.
- Alleng.ru ().
- Alleng.ru ().
- Learnathome.ru ().
Homework
- Learn how to read all the words from the video lesson correctly.
- For each learned rule for reading the vowels A and E, find two English example words.
- Learn the words from the video lesson and the new words you find.
The pronunciation of words, in any language, is largely determined by the rules of syllable division. Having understood the basic provisions, you will not only learn the rules of competent transfer, but also begin to understand the language better.
The practical necessity of syllable division
A syllable is a phonetic-phonological unit. Simply put, it stands out only during pronunciation, but does not play any role in semantic word formation. Therefore, this unit is called pronunciation.
The easiest way for native Russian speakers to understand the rules for dividing words in English is with the help of an analogy. The fact is that the norms for highlighting syllables in both languages are similar. The main similarity of syllable division is the leading role of vowels, they are called syllable-forming.
A simple way to divide words is told in elementary school. The hand is brought to the chin, after which the word is pronounced. The number of touches of the chin of the hand determines the number of syllables.
Rules for syllable division in English
Depending on the sound the word ends with, open and closed syllables are distinguished. Open ones always end in vowels. In addition, when a syllable is formed by a long stressed vowel or diphthong, it will also be open.
Closed syllables always end in a consonant. If the syllable is formed by a short vowel, it will also be closed.
The main feature of syllable division is the need to separate the word not from the beginning, but from the end. The rules of syllable division of the English language become more understandable when studying specific examples.
1. As a rule, the number of syllables depends on the vowels used: po-ta-to.
2. The presence of already one vowel forms a syllable: a-bo-ut.
3. Two consonants on the border of a syllable are the basis for division into parts: po-et.
4. A word that has several vowels formed by a diphthong, i.e. one sound, has only one syllable: like, it cannot be divided into parts.
5. The appearance of a consonant at the syllable boundary leads to its separation into the second syllable: i-ma-gine, if several consonants appear at the junction, then the first one is attributed to one syllable, and the rest to another: ab-sent.
6. Syllables are formed by the combination -er, located after w: flow-er.
7. The appearance of the letter l on the border of syllables refers it to the next syllable, together with the adjacent consonant: ta-ble.
8. The consonant combinations ld and nd draw a syllable boundary in front of them: mi-ld, ki-nd.
Syllabification and its role:
1. Norms of correct transfer. It is thanks to the knowledge of the provisions of syllable division that one can competently divide words into parts that need to be highlighted in writing when transferring between lines.
2. Criteria for dividing a word into components. In English, there is no single norm for syllable division, therefore, morphological, phonetic or spelling principles of division can be used.
3. Language development. The ongoing processes of correlation of syllogomorphism set new parameters for dividing words.
We have outlined the basic rules for syllable division in the English language. In general, they are quite simple and do not present any particular difficulties for mastering. Although, everyone who seeks to improve their language and write correctly, it is necessary not only to learn them, but also to understand them.
A short and clear course on syllable division
