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Reading of Consonants Reading of Endings -(e)s, -(e)d
The ending -(e)s of plural forms of nouns and of the 3rd singular present indefinite of verbs is read
|
|
how |
when |
|
a) |
[s] |
after voiceless consonants; |
|
b) |
[z] |
after vowels, voiced consonants and sonorants; |
|
c) |
[ız] |
after
[s], [z], [∫],
|
,
[t∫],
.
The ending -(e)d of regular forms of verbs is read
|
|
how |
when |
|
a) |
[d] |
after vowels, voiced consonants and sonorants; |
|
b) |
[t] |
after voiceless consonants |
|
c) |
[ıd] |
after [t], [d] |
Reading of combinations of vowels with consonants.
|
Letter combination |
sound |
Examples |
|
O + ld I+ld I+nd Igh A+ s + consonant A+ n + consonant A+ th A+ll Al+k W+a W+ar W+or ow |
[əυ]
[aı]
[ɑ:]
[ɔ:] [ɒ] [ɔ:] [3:] [əυ], [aυ] |
Cold, gold Wild, child Kind, find High, night Class, past Plant, dance Path, father All, ball, wall Talk, walk, chalk Want, was War, warm Word Row, cow |
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Mute Consonants
|
Mute letter |
Combinations of letters |
Examples |
|
b |
bt mb |
Doubt, subtle, but: obtain Bomb, comb, lamb, tomb |
|
d |
Before consonants |
Wednesday, handsome |
|
g |
gn gm |
Sign, sovereign, gnat, resign, but: pregnant, magnet Paradigm, gnome |
|
h |
wh rh, h gh kh |
Which, white, where, what Rhyme, hour, exhibition, honor Ghost, gherkin Khaki, khan |
|
gh |
igh |
High, light, weight, fight |
|
k |
kn |
Know, knife, knight, knee |
|
l |
ld (only in words) lf alk lm |
Could, would, should Half, calf, but: golf, wolf Talk, walk, chalk Calm, psalm, but: film |
|
n |
nm |
Autumn, column, condemn |
|
p |
pn pt ps |
Pneumonia, pneumatic Receipt, but: helicopter, September, raptorial Psychology, psalm, but: laps, perhaps |
|
r |
after vowels |
Far, farm, girl, turn, term |
|
t |
ften stle sten |
Often, soften Whistle, castle Listen, fasten |
|
w |
wh (before –o) wr sw |
Who, whose, whom, whole Writer, playwright, wrong, wrestling Answer, but: swallow, swan, sweet |
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Reading of English Consonant Clusters
English sibilants and interdental sounds which don’t have their equivalents in the Latin alphabet are denoted by combinations of consonants, the second element of which is “h”, e. g. she, chain, thus, three.
All the combinations of consonants, except “sh”, have the primary and the secondary sound meanings. The combinations of consonants are read in the primary sound meaning in most English words. In the words of foreign origin they are read in their secondary meaning.
|
cluster |
sound |
where |
examples |
|
ch |
[t∫] [k] [∫] [d3] [h] |
Geek and Latin French |
cheap, chair, watch ache, school machinery, chef sandwich, spinach Loch |
|
th |
[θ] [t] [ð] |
word end and beginning proper names between and before vowels |
throw, tooth Thomas, Thailand this, leather |
|
ph |
[v] [f] |
Greek and Latin |
Stephen philosophy, phonetics |
|
sh |
[∫] |
|
shelf, wash |