10. Sound [oi]

Spelling examples: boil, noise, toy, loyal.

Combinations OI, OY

The sound [oi] is represented in writing by the combination OI: oil, ointment, boil, foil, spoil, toil, coin, join, voice, void, avoid, point, appoint, noise, poison, hoist, moist, exploit, loiter, embroidery.

The sound [oi] is represented in writing by the combination OY: boy, joy, ploy, soy, toy, annoy, destroy, employ, corduroy, oyster, loyal, royal, voyage.

11. Sound [ou]

Spelling examples: home, post, bonus, hero, know, road.

Letter O in the open syllable

The sound [ou] is represented by the letter O in the open syllable of the root: home, role, cone, stone, hope, note, close, remote, suppose, homeless, lonely, hopeful.

Letter O in the closed syllable

The sound [ou] is represented by the letter O in the closed syllable of the root, often before L: old, bold, cold, hold, sold, bolt, colt, roll, poll, toll, control, folk, yolk, most, post, host, ghost, gross, both, comb, don't, won't.

The sound [ou] is represented by the letter O in the closed syllable of the root or prefix, or in the syllable that is not easily recognizable as an open syllable (hidden [ou]): open, obey, ocean, omit, omen, opal, potent, polar, solar, motor, rotor, modal, total, moment, rodent, bonus, focus, notice, social, donate, donut, vogue, rogue, soldier, pronoun, prohibition, coworker, coeducation.

Letter O in the final position

The sound [ou] is represented by the letter O in the final position in the word: go, no, pro, so, cargo, echo, hero, zero, piano, potato, tomato, mosquito, radio, studio, Mexico, Idaho, motto, logo, veto.

Combinations OW, OA

The sound [ou] is represented by the letter combination OW: know, low, show, row, tow, owe, grow, throw, blow, flow; bowl, own, blown, flown, grown, shown, thrown, growth; follow, hollow, borrow, narrow, window, yellow.

The sound [ou] is represented by the letter combination OA: oat, oak, coal, goal, load, road, boat, coat, soak, toast, roast, coast, boast, coach, approach, cockroach.

Combinations OE, OUGH, OU

The sound [ou] is represented by the combinations OE, OUGH, OU in a limited number of words: toe, roe, doe, foe, woe; though, although, dough; soul, shoulder, poultry, boulder, mould / mold.

Because the letter O can represent different vowel sounds, e.g. [ou], [o:], [o], the neutral sound [ə], and also forms a number of combinations with the other vowels, it's most useful to study its pronunciation by arranging the words with the letter O in columns according to the sound it represents.

12. Sounds [u:] and [yu:]

Spelling examples: use, rude, food, do, few, blue, group.

Spelling patterns for the sound [u:]

The letter U and the combinations EW, EU, UE, UI represent the sound [u:] after the consonants R, L, J, CH. The vowel O and the combinations OO, OU represent the sound [u:].

Letter U as [u:]: rude, crude, rule, rumor, brutal, prune; Lucy, Luke, lumen, flute; judicial, June, junior, Julia, judo; chute, parachute.

Letter O as [u:]: do, two, who, whom, whose, lose, move, prove, improve, tomb, womb.

Combination OO as [u:]: food, mood, room, cool, pool, school, scoop, moon, cartoon, tooth, boots, poodle, ooze, choose, soothe, shoot, too, zoo, bamboo, taboo, kangaroo, shampoo, tattoo.

Combination OU as [u:]: group, soup, loupe, cougar, coupon, mousse, route, routine, wound, souvenir, through, rouge.

Combination OE as [u:]: shoe, canoe.

Combination EW as [u:]: jewel, Jew, flew, blew, chew, crew, screw.

Combination UE as [u:]: true, blue, clue, glue.

Combination UI as [u:]: juice, fruit, bruise, cruise, recruit, sluice.

Spelling patterns for the sound [yu:]

The letter U and the combinations EW, EU, UE, UI represent the sound [yu:] after all other consonants (except R, L, J, CH), and the letter U is pronounced [yu:] when it starts the word.

Letter U as [yu:]: use, usual, union, unit, unite, unique, universal, university, urine, utility, utensil, ubiquitous.

Letter U as [yu:]: fume, funeral, fuse, refuse, fuel; cube, cute, vacuum; music, museum, amuse, community, immune, mute; pupil, human, humor, huge, Hugh.

Letter U as [yu:]: duty, due, produce, tulip, tune, student; nude, nuclear, numeral, menu; super, Susan, consumer.

Combination EW as [yu:]: few, nephew, view, dew, new, mew, pew.

Combination EU as [yu:]: eucalyptus, euphemism, feud, neurotic, neutral.

Combinations UE, UI as [yu:]: hue, cue, due, sue, pursue, suit.

After Y always [yu:]: yule, yuletide, Yukon; youth, yew.

Rare spelling for [yu:]: beauty.

Note AmE:

In American English, the sound [u:], not [yu:], is usually pronounced after the consonants D, T, N, S, though both variants are considered standard. Examples: duty ['du:ti], dew [du:], due [du:], dual; tune [tu:n], tulip ['tu:lip], student; new [nu:], nude [nu:d], nuclear; sue [su:], pursue, super ['su:per], suit [su:t].