Search results for 'tag:Vowels tag:Consonants' matching tags 'Vowels' and 'Consonants'

Re: grammar/vocabulary

Clive — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 01:08:00 GMT

Hi,

Could you please check my reflection for grammar and vocabulary mistakes?

For a number of months I have been studying word families. In addition to this, I have also been dissecting words for prefixes, suffixes, consonant blends and digraphs, as well as vowel diphthongs. In order for me to have the ownership of my learning, no list of spelling words is provided weekly by my teacher. My active participation in my learning consists of generating a list of words that belongs to the word family I am studying. Words for my spelling quiz are chosen randomly from my lists. I think that this approach to spelling makes me think and therefore helps me remember better. Also, I notice/have noticed that when I am reading I utilize my spelling strategies to decode words.
Thank you
Knjiga

This is excellent writing.

Try to avoid starting a sentence with 'also'.

Best wishes, Clive

grammar/vocabulary

knjiga — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 00:57:23 GMT

Could you please check my reflection for grammar and vocabulary mistakes?

For a number of months I have been studying word families. In addition to this, I have also been dissecting words for prefixes, suffixes, consonant blends and digraphs, as well as vowel diphthongs. In order for me to have the ownership of my learning, no list of spelling words is provided weekly by my teacher. My active participation in my learning consists of generating a list of words that belongs to the word family I am studying. Words for my spelling quiz are chosen randomly from my lists. I think that this approach to spelling makes me think and therefore helps me remember better. Also I noticed that when I am reading I utilize my spelling strategies to decode words.
Thank you
Knjiga

Re: How will it be correct? And why?

Skynessa — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 17:52:47 GMT

OK, it seems as I found the answer:
Double the final consonant before a suffix beginning with a vowel if both of the following are true: the consonant ends a stressed syllable or a one-syllable word, and the consonant is preceded by a single vowel.

How will it be correct? And why?

Skynessa — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 17:24:10 GMT

Hi! I read Murphy's Grammar in use (for elementary). And I have a question.Â

Sometimes a word ends in a vowel + a consonant.
Before -ing / -ed / -er / -est, the consonant at the end is 'doubled'.
So, why is "listening", not "listenning" correct? And also "wearing", not "wearring"...

Re: IS "w" A VOWEL

Anonymous — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 21:24:13 GMT

Historically, English is a Germanic Language. The 'W' graph in Germanic languages is usually pronouced like a 'V', as in Volkswagen (phonetically 'foksvagen'). So originally it was like a consonant. Phonetically in English. 'W' represents a rounding of the lips before, between, or after a vowel. Try pronouncing words like 'wake' without the W. Then round your lips and say it again. You get 'oo-ake'. So there is really not much to a 'w' in English. Phonetically, you might say it is not a vowel or a consonant in English. It's a marker for lip rounding. Does the clear things up?

Re: IS "w" A VOWEL

AlpheccaStars — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 13:58:13 GMT

The conventional teaching is that the vowels are AEIOU and sometimes Y.

Y is a consonant in Yet and Yoghurt. It is a vowel in City and Candy.

W is a consonant in Woman and Wine.

W is part of a diphthong in words like

PAWN, FAWN, FOWL, FEW

My ESL books based on phonics study teach the short vowel sound for 'Y", but W is not taught as an independent vowel letter. It modifies the preceeding vowel sound in some words to make a new vowel sound. There are similar lessons on R as in

FARM, BURN, TERN /ur/

Here are the current definitions:

VOWEL

1.    Phonetics.
a.    (in English articulation) a speech sound produced without occluding, diverting, or obstructing the flow of air from the lungs (opposed to consonant).
b.    (in a syllable) the sound of greatest sonority, as i in grill. Compare consonant (def. 1b).
c.    (in linguistic function) a concept empirically determined as a phonological element in structural contrast with consonant, as the (Ã©) of be (bÃ©), we (wÃ©), and yeast (yÃ©st).
2.    a letter representing or usually representing a vowel, as, in English, a, e, i, o, u, and sometimes w and y.

CONSONANT
1.    Phonetics.
a.    (in English articulation) a speech sound produced by occluding with or without releasing (p, b; t, d; k, g), diverting (m, n, ng), or obstructing (f, v; s, z, etc.) the flow of air from the lungs (opposed to vowel).
b.    (in a syllable) any sound other than the sound of greatest sonority in the syllable, as b, r, and g in brig (opposed to sonant). Compare vowel (def. 1b).
c.    (in linguistic function) a concept empirically determined as a phonological element in structural contrast with vowel, as the b of be, the w of we, the y, s, and t of yeast, etc.

Re: ::: Why not to double the last letter !!? :::

Cool Breeze — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 20:24:49 GMT

The consonant is doubled if there is a short vowel between consonants in a stressed syllable:

forgetting, swimming

If the syllable is not stressed, doubling doesn't occur:

targeting

No doubling occurs if the vowel is pronounced as a diphthong:

growing

In British English - illogically - l is doubled even in an unstressed syllable in similar words:

travelling

There are numerous cases where usage is unsettled and you have a choice:

focused / focussed

Re: the "s" sound in "pals" and in other plural forms of other nouns

Kooyeen — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 18:03:05 GMT

Anonymous
Hi, I also have the same problem. I am not sure which sounds -s and -z on words:

opens
rides
believes
goes

thanks,
Gj

Opens - Z
rides - Z
believes - Z
goes - Z

All Z sounds, because they all end with a voiced consonant, and "goes" ends with a vowel sound.

Re: IS "w" A VOWEL

Anonymous — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 16:36:59 GMT

In the '60s we used a grammar booked called Hooked on Phonics [it was blue & had a jet plane on the cover].
It taught there were 5 regular vowels & 2 sometimes vowels.
We learned the rhyme as "A E I O U and sometimes Y and W".
There were also sometimes consonants.
The welsh-borrowed words are not the illustrators, the complete rule refers to words such as "how" and "sky".
But welsh-borrowed words ARE english words, as are all the french and german and.. "borrowed" words people often use.

When I asked an educator in the 90s why the full rull wasn't being taught, the reply was "it's too hard to remember".
Amazing. I had no trouble, and neither did my 63 classmates [or 247 grade-mates].

[It reminds me of the other rhyme rule where the second part is often dropped but should not be:
" i before e
except after c
or when sounding like "ay"
as in neighbor and weigh."
Many times parents have said "eight confuses my child because it doesn't follow the rule". When I say it does, but the second part, they will say they never heard it. When the child is taught the full rhyme-rule, the difficulty generally disappears.]

Children can handle this just fine if presented correctly.

It often amazes me that so many "educators" are amazed when young children can relate info about multi-syllabled dinosaurs or plants or astronomical events; or tell children they are wrong when the child presents an unusual fact.
A better response would be "I don't believe that is correct, but I will follow up and let you all know what I learn.", but this rarely occurs. I recall a music teacher told my then 6-year old son [in front of the class] he was wrong for saying Irish bagpipes were not mouth-blown because everyone knew all bagpipes were mouth-blown. He brought in pictures to show her and I also spoke to her, but she never corrected the information to the entire class, missing a great teaching opportunity [you are never too old to learn; verify something of which you may not be sure]. However, some of the other students did check it out for themselves... I know because their parents eventually mentioned their research to me.

Too bad many educators feel the need to dumb things down.

Remember- to almost every rule there is an exception.

Will we go back to teaching the sun circles the earth to make it easier?

Don't underestimate the learning capacity of most children.

Re: How do you pronounce words like 'resources' and 'prices'?

MissMandy — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 17:11:57 GMT

I think you're right on, Kooyeen. And thanks for the reply. I am a stickler in my pronunciation classes that students learn to say the -s (and -ed) endings correctly. Even though I do this, I know that native English speaking Americans rarely say that voiced endings as perfectly voiced, yet it doesn't sound like the unvoiced counterpart sound (s sound and t sound, for these endings).

I knew we said the vowel differently depending on the consonant that follows, but I didn't realize it was also changing the perception of the consonant as well. I think I will also pay attention to how my students are producing the vowels before the final consonant sound.

Back to the original question, it must be correct, then, to point out that the schwa sound in the final syllable of "prices" and "resources" needs to be prominent enough to make the final z sound be perceived as a z sound, even if it ends up being unvoiced. Otherwise, it will sound like an s sound, which native English speakers can tell the difference between. It wouldn't cause a miscommunication to say it as an s sound, it is just telling of a foreign accent.

~Miss Mandy