Reading is one of the most difficult parts of learning English. In my experience, children more or less begin to read only at the end of the second year of study, if we are talking about high school. However, it happens that even after graduating from school, many graduates still cannot read English words.
Unlike the Russian language, almost 99% of what we see is what we read (adjusted for reduction, assimilation, etc.), in English language the situation is completely different. Historically, the same letter in different positions can be read differently.
Let's take the following words for comparison: cat - cake - want - bath - sofa. The letter “a” in these words will correspond to the following sounds: [æ], , [ɒ], [ɑ:], [ə]. And it’s not just about the 4 types of reading vowels. There are also a bunch of rules for letter combinations that regulate the reading of the letter “A”.
In fact, the English language is made up of rules and exceptions. Therefore, you can memorize reading rules as much as you like, which may not work in a particular case. Why do you think the verb “to spell” is popular only in English?
To have an idea of the rules of reading English, I recommend you the following manuals. You can download all of them for free using the links below;
- S.V. Shimansky “Reading Rules in English” - gives a general set of reading rules with a few examples; there are no exercises in the manual. Excellent as a cheat sheet, because... consists of only 15 pages.
- The “Reading Rules” poster is an excellent tool for visually memorizing the rules of reading English.
- Shuman S.E. "English language. Reading Rules" - a guide to reading rules for middle school students and adults. The publication contains rules for reading letters English alphabet, vowels and consonants, articulation options in various language situations.
- Appendix Vasilyeva E.A. “Rules for Reading English Words for the Lazy” is a program for Windows that outlines the rules for reading one-syllable, two-syllable and polysyllabic words in the English language. The material is presented in the form of tables and models, which makes it easier to learn the rules of reading English words.
- Narrow A.F. “Rules for Reading English Words” - this book is convenient for use by teachers, students and their parents. Its goal is to develop readiness to understand spoken speech and skills correct reading.
- L.P. Bondarenko “Fundamentals of English Phonetics” is a complete textbook on phonetics for high school students. Contains many rules, examples and exercises for practicing the pronunciation of English sounds.
On initial stage learning English inevitably comes across differences between your native language and a foreign language. Reading in English for beginners, children and adults, is usually one of the first stages in learning. And the first such differences between Russian and English appear as soon as you begin to learn to read English. You are faced with transcription and reading rules of the English language. These two concepts are related, since with the help of transcription we can write down and read the sounds that are conveyed by vowels and consonants in various combinations. But the reading rules explain exactly how letters are pronounced in different environments.
There are quite a lot of reading rules in English, and they concern both vowels and consonants. In addition, a huge number of words are not read according to the rules, that is, they are exceptions. Therefore, it begins to seem that it is extremely difficult to learn all this. In fact, the rules of reading need to be learned, but there is no need to learn them by heart. After doing several exercises on reading rules, you will already know how exactly the same type of words is read. As you learn, as you read and listen to a variety of learning materials, the spelling, pronunciation, and meaning of new words will be memorized as a whole.
Features of English pronunciation
Reading in English for beginners at first presents some difficulties due to the peculiarities of pronunciation - words are often pronounced differently from how they are written. Linguists even have a saying: “We write Manchester, we pronounce Liverpool.” This situation is due to the fact that historically there were, and still are, many dialects in the English language in which the same letters and combinations of letters were read differently, which over time became entrenched in official English. An example is the letter combination ough. The words though, through, thought differ in only one letter, and the letter combination ough is read differently in all words.
The role of transcription in teaching reading in English
So, as we have already said, in addition to the numerous rules for reading in English, difficulties arise when mastering the transcription of the English language. Transcription is the recording of speech sounds using special symbols. You should not avoid it, as it is the best assistant in learning a language, which, firstly, will save you time when learning new words, and secondly, will help you avoid mistakes in pronunciation. After all, when you write out or memorize new words, you definitely need to know how to read them correctly. There are two options on how to do this. The first is to listen to it in some online resource, and the second is to watch the transcription. 
Now in some tutorials, as well as on training sites, you can find “ English transcription in Russian". It is believed that writing an English word in Russian letters is much easier than learning some incomprehensible phonetic symbols. In fact, this is a misconception. English phonetics differs from Russian so much that Russian letters can only approximately convey the pronunciation of English words, mostly the simplest ones, the reading of which is not particularly difficult even without this kind of “transcription.” Some English sounds simply do not exist in the Russian language, and the correct pronunciation of seemingly similar English and Russian sounds may have certain differences.
Therefore, we recommend that you take the time to learn the transcription symbols and read the sounds. This is one of the basic knowledge when mastering the rules of reading English for beginners. Knowledge of transcription will serve you faithfully at all stages of your training.
Let's look at the rules of reading English
Exist different classifications rules for reading consonants and vowels in English. For vowel letters, as a rule, 4 types of syllables are distinguished. These are 4 types of environments in which a vowel may find itself, and which affect its pronunciation. Some textbooks consider only the first two syllable types - open and closed, but consider whether the letter r is involved in these syllable types - as it affects the reading of vowels. Consonants in different combinations can also be read differently. It must be said that the number of exceptions and variants of reading the same letter combinations in different words give reason to consider the reading rules rather as generalized recommendations that should be studied before you start reading.
To familiarize yourself with the rules of reading in English, we suggest that you take as a basis the tables with options for reading letters, which are given in our textbook for children “English Language. Grades 1-4 in diagrams and tables” N. Vakulenko. These English reading rules for children cover almost everything possible options reading vowels and consonants in English. But before we move directly to the tables, let’s look at two more concepts that you will definitely come across when getting acquainted with the rules of reading. This open And closed syllable.
The syllable is called open, When
- ends with a vowel and is the last of the word
- a vowel is followed by a consonant and then a vowel again
- a vowel is again followed by another vowel
Examples of words with open type syllable (You can listen with sound):
age, blue, bye, fly, go
The syllable is called closed, When
- ends with a consonant and is the last of the word
- a vowel is followed by several consonants
Examples of words with closed type syllable:
bed, big, box, hungry, stand
So, let’s formulate the rules for reading English for beginners: tables for reading vowels and consonants.
Vowel Reading Charts
Consonant Reading Tables
Intonation in English
Even if a student learns all the basic grammatical rules and 10-12 thousand lexemes, this will not make him close to the native speaker, because he also needs to delve into the phonemic structure of the language, in particular, to learn in which cases to use which type of intonation.
There are two main types - ascending and descending.
The first is used in request sentences, when addressing a person, when announcing a list (in this case, the intonation goes up on each of the words except the last), after adverbs and introductory words at the beginning of a phrase, at the beginning of an alternative question, in a dividing question.
The second type of intonation, lowering the tone, is relevant in statements when giving orders. It can be found in exclamations and special questions.
How to train this skill?
- Listen to how native speakers speak, how this or that word, sound, phrase is read in audiobooks.
- Watch videos on this topic. Moreover, English should be the narrator’s first and main language.
- Use educational materials and apply the acquired knowledge in practice. Read aloud in English, after listening to the recording, talk at least several times a week.
- Record your speech and do comparative analysis with the native language.
Accent in English
If the accent is incorrectly placed in certain letter combinations, it will be difficult for a native English speaker to understand you. However, it is pointless to memorize the stress for each word, since there is a certain systematicity in this aspect.
Most words have stress on the first syllable. But there are those who obey a different rule. For example, the suffix formations -tion, -cian and -cial require an accent in front of them (inform A tion, opt i cian). The suffixes -(g)nomy and -logy (ge) also behave O logy, ec O nomy).
With prefixes it’s even simpler - they are skipped and remain unaccented. This works with the prefixes in-, en-, con-, com-, re-, de-, ex-, etc.: exch A nge, enc O mpass.
Prefixes with the meaning of negation (non-, un-, in-, ir-, not-) also fall under this rule: un U sual, irr E levant
There are a number of words that change the stressed syllable type in English to unstressed, depending on the meaning:
- to object - object; O bject - object;
- to press E nt - to give; pr E sent - gift, present moment.
Having learned the basic provisions that regulate stress and with a little practice, you can easily reach a high language level.
How to learn reading rules. Online exercises
As we said earlier, there is no need to memorize the rules of reading. You just need to use them. To begin, go through several exercises on reading rules, reading aloud the same type of words in a row. This will help reinforce reading rules and develop pronunciation skills. For additional control, you can take exercises with audio accompaniment. In fact, the rules of reading are practiced automatically by themselves, since by regularly studying English, you listen, read, write - that is, practice for practicing the rules of reading is quite enough.
Choose words that have similar vowel sounds
Choose words that have the same consonant sounds
Make up an English tongue twister from the words
You can apply the reading rules in practice on our website. By going through unique exercises using the Lim English method, you will be able to master not only reading, but also writing English words, as well as learn basic grammatical rules and continue learning further.
Transcription and reading rules in English - two closely related concepts. Reading rules explain how letters and letter combinations are pronounced different cases, and with the help of transcription we record and read speech sounds.
Reading rules can confuse a beginner. There are many of them, they are confusing, and there are more exceptions than the rules themselves. In fact, these rules are only so scary if you understand them deeply and try to learn them by heart, along with the exceptions. In reality, everything is much simpler: reading rules do not need to be remembered by heart.
While studying English, you will constantly be doing something, and will soon learn to relate letter designations and sounds without thinking, automatically. There is no need to worry about exceptions either. Usually the pronunciation, spelling and meaning of a word are remembered as one whole - you just know that such and such a word is pronounced this way.
Feature of English phonetics: we write “Manchester” - we read “Liverpool”
The phonetics of the English language has a noticeable feature: words are often read differently from how they are written, that is, from the spelling of a word it is not always possible to guess how it is pronounced. As linguists joke: “We write “Manchester”, but read “Liverpool.”
In the history of many languages, the following pattern can be traced: the phonetic structure becomes more complex, but the letters and spelling remain the same or change with great delay. English is no exception. At the dawn of its development, words were read and pronounced more or less similar, but over time this discrepancy became greater and greater, the situation was aggravated by the diversity of dialects, and now we are in words though, thought And through read a combination of letters - ough completely different, although the words themselves differ by one letter.
No one is in a hurry to reform English spelling; there are many reasons for this. For example, the English language has not had a single “control center” for a long time. Reforms initiated in London may be coolly received in Sydney and rejected in Washington. And in general, spelling reform is always a painful process that meets resistance among a significant part of native speakers. It's much easier to leave it as is.
What is transcription and why is it needed?
Transcription in English is the recording of speech sounds using special characters. She should not be afraid or avoided, because she is a very good assistant in learning the language, which will be great for saving time and helping to avoid mistakes. One glance at the transcription of an English word is enough for you to understand how it is read correctly.
When you memorize or write down a new word that comes across in the text, you definitely need to look at its transcription and/or listen to the pronunciation (for example, in), otherwise you may remember it incorrectly, and then they will not understand you.
Is it possible to write English words in Russian letters?
Sometimes on websites or even in books you can see “English transcription in Russian” or “pronunciation of English words in Russian letters” - that is, writing English words in Russian letters. Like, why learn sophisticated icons if Can convey sounds in Russian letters? Then what it is forbidden. The phonetics of the Russian language differs from the English phonetics so much that the sound can only be conveyed very, very approximately. Some sounds English speech We simply don’t, and vice versa.
Transcription and pronunciation of all sounds of the English language separately (video)
With this interesting video table, you can listen to the sound of all sounds separately and see how they are recorded using transcription. Click on play and wait for the video to load completely, then click on the sound you want.
Please note that in the transcription, in addition to the symbols themselves denoting sounds, the following are used:
- Square brackets– traditionally, transcription is always written in [square brackets]. For example: [z].
- Vowel length icon– in English, vowels can be long or short, longitude is indicated by a colon after the vowel. For example: .
- Accent icon– if a word with more than one syllable is transcribed, the stress must be indicated with an apostrophe (comma at the top). It is placed before the stressed syllable. For example: – decision.
In total, there are 44 sounds in the English language, which, like in Russian, are divided into consonants and vowels. Among them there are sounds similar to Russian, for example: [b] - [b], [n] - [n], and sounds that have no analogues in the Russian language: [ ð ], [θ ].
In English phonetics there are no such concepts as softness/hardness of consonants, but there is longitude of vowels (not characteristic of the Russian language) - vowels can be short [a] and long. It should also be noted that vowel sounds in English can be:
- single (monophthongs): [ i: ], [ e ],
- consisting of two sounds (diphtogni): [ ai ], [ ɔi ],
- consisting of three sounds (triphthongs): [ aiə ].
Diphthongs and triphthongs are read and perceived as solid sounds.
Table of English sounds with examples and cards
Having studied how English sounds are pronounced individually, be sure to listen to how they are read whole words. It is often easier for students to understand and hear the pronunciation of English sounds when they are heard as part of a word, rather than separately.
In the tables below, all sounds are given with example words. Using electronic cards you can listen to the pronunciation.
| Consonants in English | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| [ f] fox | [ d] date | [ v] vase | [ k] cat |
| [ θ ] think | [ g] go | [ ð ] father | [ tʃ] change |
| [ s] say | [ dʒ] age | [ z] zoo | [ m] mom |
| [ ʃ ] ship | [ n] nose | [ ʒ ] pleasure | [ ŋ ] sing |
| [ h]hound | [ l] lazy | [ p] pen | [ r] red |
| [ b] bro | [ j] yes | [ t] today | [ w] wine |
| Vowel sounds in English | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| [ i:] he, she | [ ei] name | [ i] his, it | [ ai] line |
| [ e]ten | [ au] town | [ æ ] hat | [ ɔi] toy |
| [ a:] car | [ ou] go home | [ ɔ ] not | [ iə] here |
| [ ʌ ] nut | [ ɛə ] dare | [ u] good | [ uə] poor |
| [ u:] food | [ juə]Europe | [ ju:] tune | [ aiə] fire |
| [ ɜ: ] turn | [ auə] our | [ ə ] paper | [ ɔ: ] all |
How to learn to pronounce English sounds?
There are two approaches:
- Theoretical- usually in textbooks detailed description how to press your tongue against the roof of your mouth to form a certain sound. With an illustration showing a cross-section of a human head. The method is scientifically correct, but it is difficult to use on your own: not everyone will understand what it means to “slide” upper teeth along the lower lip” and will be able to perform this action.
- Practical– listen, watch and repeat. I think it's much easier this way. You simply repeat after the announcer, trying to imitate the sound as accurately as possible. Pay attention to articulation, try to repeat all movements of the lips and tongue. Ideally, of course, someone should supervise, but you can simply record yourself on a webcam and watch from the outside.
If you want to repeat after the speaker, imitating his speech, I recommend using the materials on Puzzle English, namely the “Video Puzzles” exercises, which are aimed at developing listening comprehension. In video puzzles, you can slow down your speech and, as in Lingvaleo, watch the translation of words by clicking on them directly in the subtitles.
In video puzzles, you first need to watch a video and then assemble sentences from words.
Detailed review of this service:
In addition, for practical training in different kind people Many videos have been shot and are available on YouTube. For example, these two videos examine in detail the sounds of English speech in the American and British versions:
British pronunciation
American pronunciation
When you start learning English, you shouldn’t strive to achieve “perfect” pronunciation. Firstly, there are a lot of varieties of pronunciation (the “generalized” British and American versions are presented above), and secondly, even native speakers who speak professionally (for example, actors) often take lessons from special trainers in order to master the features of or another version of pronunciation - practicing speech is not an easy task.
Just try to speak in a way that 1) is understandable and 2) doesn’t hurt your ears too much.
Reading rules in English: table and cards
Reading rules in English are, rather, not even rules, but generalized recommendations that are not particularly accurate. Not only that, say, the letter “o” in different combinations and syllable types can be read in nine different ways, there are also exceptions. For example, in the words food, too it is read as , and in the words good, look – as [u]. There is no pattern here, you just need to remember this.
If you look in different books, it turns out that the rules of reading, and indeed phonetics in general, can be told differently by different authors with varying degrees of immersion in detail. I think that there is no point in delving into the jungle of phonetic science (you can dive into it ad infinitum), and the easiest way is to take as a basis the most simplified version of the reading rules, that is reading rules in English for children.
For this article, I took as a basis the rules given in the textbook “English. Grades 1 – 4 in diagrams and tables” N. Vakulenko. Believe me, this is more than enough for both children and adults!
What is an open and closed syllable?
In English, there are open and closed syllables; it also matters whether it ends with the letter “r” and whether it is stressed.
A syllable is called open if:
- the syllable ends with a vowel and is the last in the word,
- a vowel is followed by another vowel,
- a vowel is followed by a consonant, and followed by one or more vowels.
A syllable is closed if:
- it is the last in the word, and ends with a consonant,
- A vowel is followed by two or more consonants.
In these cards and the table below you can see how to pronounce different letters in different combinations and syllable types.
| Reading rules | |
| Reading the letter “A” | |
|---|---|
| A – in an open syllable | name, face, cake |
| A [æ] – in a closed syllable | hat, cat, man |
| A – in a closed syllable on r | far, car, park |
| A [εə] – at the end of the word vowel + re | dare, care, stare |
| A [ɔ:] – combinations all, au | all, wall, fall, autumn |
| Reading the letter “O” | |
| O [əu] – in an open syllable | no, go, home |
| O [ɒ] – in a closed stressed syllable | not, box, hot |
| O [ɜ:] – in some words with “wor” | world, word |
| O [ɔ:] – in a closed syllable with r | form, fork, horse, door, floor |
| O – in combination “oo” | too, food |
| O [u] – in combination “oo” | book, look, good |
| O – in combination “ow” | town, down |
| O [ɔɪ] – in combination “oy” | toy, boy, enjoy |
| O [ʊə] – in combination “oo” | poor |
| Reading the letter “U” | |
| U, – in an open syllable | pupil, blue, student |
| U [ʌ] – in a closed syllable | nut, bus, cup |
| U [u] – in a closed syllable | put, full |
| U [ɜ:] – in combination “ur” | turn, hurt, burn |
| Reading the letter “E” | |
| E – in an open syllable, combination “ee”, “ea” | he, she, see, street, meat, sea |
| E [e] – in a closed syllable, combination “ea” | hen, ten, bed, head, bread |
| E [ɜ:] – in combinations “er”, “ear” | her, heard |
| E [ɪə] – in combinations of “ear” | hear, near |
| Reading the letter “I” | |
| i – in an open syllable | five, line, night, light |
| i [ɪ] – in a closed syllable | his, it, pig |
| i [ɜ:] – in combination “ir” | first, girl, bird |
| i – in combination “ire” | fire, tired |
| Reading the letter “Y” | |
| Y – at the end of a word | try, my, cry |
| Y [ɪ] – at the end of a word | family, happy, lucky |
| Y [j] – at the beginning or middle of a word | yes, year, yellow |
| Reading the letter “C” | |
| C [s] – before i, e, y | pencil, bicycle |
| C [k] – except for combinations ch, tch and not before i, e, y | cat, come |
| C – in combinations ch, tch | chair, change, match, catch |
| Reading the letter “S” | |
| S [s] – except: at the end of words after ch. and voiced acc. | say, books, six |
| S [z] – at the end of words after ch. and voiced acc. | days, beds |
| S [ʃ] – in combination sh | shop, ship |
| Reading the letter “T” | |
| T [t] – except combinations th | ten, teacher, today |
| T [ð] – in combination th | then, mother, there |
| T [θ] – in combination th | thin, sixth, thick |
| Reading the letter “P” | |
| P [p] – except for the combination ph | pen, penalty, powder |
| P [f] – in combination ph | photo |
| Reading the letter “G” | |
| G [g] – except for combinations ng, not before e, i, y | go, big, dog |
| G – before e, i, y | age, engineer |
| G [ŋ] – in combination ng at the end of a word | sing, bring, king |
| G [ŋg] – in combination ng in the middle of a word | strongest |
The most important reading rules
The table above looks very busy, even intimidating. From it we can highlight several of the most important rules, which have almost no exceptions.
Basic rules for reading consonants
- The combination ph is read as [f]: photo, Morpheus.
- The combination th is read as [ð] or [θ]: think there. These sounds do not exist in the Russian language; their pronunciation requires some practice. Do not confuse them with the sounds [s], [z].
- The combination ng at the end of a word is read as [ŋ] - this is a nasal (that is, pronounced as if in the nose) version of the sound [n]. A common mistake is to read it as . There is no “g” in this sound. Examples: strong, King Kong, wrong.
- The combination sh is read as [ʃ]: ship, show, shop.
- The letter “c” before i, e, y is read as [s]: celebrity, cent, pencil.
- The letter “g” before i, e, y is read as: age, magic, gym.
- The combination ch is read as: match, catch.
Basic rules for reading vowels
- In an open stressed syllable, vowels are usually read as in: no, go, name, face, pupil, he, five. These can be monophthongs and diphthongs.
- In a closed syllable, vowels are read as short monophthongs: nut, got, ten.
How to remember reading rules?
Most people who are fluent in English as a foreign language will not be able to immediately name even a few basic reading rules. Rules readings do not need to be memorized, you need to be able to use them. But is it possible to use what you don’t know? As much as possible! Thanks to frequent practice, knowledge turns into skills and actions begin to be performed automatically, unconsciously.
In order for the reading rules to quickly reach the automatic stage, I recommend:
- Study the rules themselves - read, comprehend, speak examples out loud.
- Practicing reading aloud will help develop pronunciation skills, and at the same time, the rules of reading will be reinforced. Take the text with audio, video with subtitles so that you have something to compare it with.
- Do small written works – writing practice is good for development vocabulary, consolidating grammar knowledge and, of course, improving spelling.
In English classes, students groan: “Why are the rules of reading in English so confusing?”
One reason is that English . Sometimes they kept their spelling, sometimes they changed it to suit themselves. In good old England, words were often spelled the way they were read, so one word could be spelled in many different ways. Take Shakespeare's manuscripts, for example - all this chaos is there in full view.
Eventually, the spelling of words was standardized and recorded in dictionaries, but... As you learn English, you will notice that a word is often read completely differently from how it is spelled. And usually there are historical reasons for this.
There is some good news. Although many English words are written, it would seem, “as God wishes,” there are a number of rules. But be careful, because for every rule there is an exception.
English has more than 1,100 ways of writing 44 individual sounds, more than any other language. But let studying be a game for you, not a duty.
Learn with our tips!
- Write down words that you have problems with in a notebook. Underline the part of the word that is most difficult for you.
- Use a dictionary, not spell check! Unfortunately, you can't always trust her.
- Learn words with all kinds of prefixes and suffixes, for example: biography - auto biography, child hood and so on.
- Learn the rules, but don't rely on them. We have already said: every rule has its exception. We'll talk about this below.
“i” is written before “e” (exception is after “c”)
One of the first reading rules taught in English classes. The rule works for words that have a long “ee”, as in shield(shield).
Examples: piece (part), niece (niece), priest (priest), thief (thief).
But after “c”: conceive (comprehend, plan), receive (receive), receipt (receipt; not to be confused with recipe).
For words in which the sound “a” or “i” is pronounced, the opposite is true:
“a”: eight (eight), neighbor (neighbor), reign (reign), weight (weight)
“i”: either, height, feisty, sleight
Exceptions: seize (grab), weird (strange), conscience (conscience, consciousness), efficient (effective), etc.
silent letters
The English language is full of unpronounceable letters. The question arises: why do the English insert letters into words and then simply not pronounce them?..
The silent witness, or What is the unpronounceable letter
Unpronounceable letter ( silent letter) is a letter that should appear in a word, even if we don’t read it. More than half of the letters of the alphabet can act as unpronounceable letters. They can be at the beginning of a word, at the end or in the middle - you won’t even realize from the sound of the word that they are there.
Examples of unpronounceable letters:
a— thread(a thread), bread(bread), thread(step)
b — lamb(lamb), bomb(bomb), womb(womb)
c— scissors(scissors), science(the science), scent(aroma)
d— edge(edge), bridge(bridge), badge(icon)
e - see below
h - honor(honor), honest(honest), school(school)
k — knot(node), knight(knight), knowledge(knowledge)
l — talk(speak), psalm(psalm), balm(balm)
n — hymn(hymn), autumn(autumn), column(column, column)
p— pneumatic(pneumatic), psalm(psalm), psychology(psychology)
s— isle, island(island), aisle(passage, e.g. in an airplane cabin)
t— listen(listen), rustle(rustle) whistle(whistle)
u — biscuit(cookies; not biscuits!), guess(a guess), guitar(guitar)
w— write(write), wrong(wrong), wrist(wrist)
Unpronounceable “e”
The unpronounceable “e” is the most common unpronounceable letter. There are several strict rules for writing words that end in an unpronounceable “e”.
When you add a suffix to such a word and that suffix begins with a consonant, the stem of the word does not need to be changed.
force (strength) + ful = forceful (strong)
manage (manage) + ment = management (management)
sincere (sincere) + ly = sincerely (sincerely)
If the suffix begins with a vowel or with “y”, then the “e” before the suffix must be omitted.
fame + ous = famous
nerve + ous = nervous
believable (plausible) + y = believable (plausible)
criticise (criticize) + ism = criticism (criticism)
Exceptions: mileage (distance in miles), agreeable.
Prefixes and suffixes
When you add a prefix to a word, you usually don't need to change the base of the word.
anti + septic = antiseptic (antiseptic)
auto + biography = autobiography (autobiography)
de + mobilize = demobilize (demobilize)
dis + approve = disapprove (disapprove)
im + possible = impossible (impossible)
inter + national = international (international)
mega + byte = megabyte (megabyte)
mis + fortune = misfortune (failure)
micro + chip = microchip (microchip)
re + used = reused (recycled)
un + available = unavailable
When you add a suffix to a word, it often changes the base of the word. Below are a few rules. As always, there are exceptions, so if you're not sure how to spell a word, consult a dictionary.
Words ending in a consonant
If the suffix starts with a consonant, just add it to the stem, don't change anything.
Example: treat (treat; treat) + ment = treatment (treatment; attitude).
Doubling a consonant
For most words with a short vowel sound that end in a single consonant, that consonant doubles when you add a suffix that starts with a vowel (ing, er, ed, est).
mop (to wash) + ing = mopping (to wash)
big (large) + est = biggest (largest)
hot (hot) + er = hotter (hotter)
For words that end with an “l” after a vowel, this “l” is doubled.
model + ing = modeling
travel (to travel) + er = traveler (traveler)
Exceptions
For some words ending in “r”, “x”, “w”, “y”, the doubling rule does not apply.
fear (to be afraid) + ing = fearing (fear, afraid, fearful)
box (to box, not box!) + er = boxer (boxer)
know (know) + ing = knowing (knowledge, knowing, knowing)
play (play) + ing = playing (game, playing, playing)
And if a word has two consonants at the end or more than one vowel, the consonant is also not doubled.
maintain (maintain) + ing (two vowels a + i) = maintaining (maintenance)
keep (keep) + er (two vowels e + e) = keeper (keeper; owner)
hang (hang) + er (two consonants n + g) = hanger (hook)
Word endings
Words ending in “ce” and “ge”
When you add a suffix starting with “a” or “o,” the “e” remains.
manage (perform) + able = manageable (doable)
notice (notice) + able = noticeable (noticeable)
courage (courage) + ous = courageous (courageous)
Exception: prestige (prestige) + ous = prestigious (prestigious)
Words ending with “ie”
When you add “ing” to verbs that end in “ie,” the “e” is dropped and the “i” changes to “y.”
die (die) - dying (dying, dying, dying)
lie (lie) – lying (lying, lying, lying)
tie (to tie) - tying (tying, tying, tying)
Words ending in “y” after a consonant
When you add suffixes such as “as”, “ed”, “es”, “er”, “eth”, “ly”, “ness”, “ful” and “ous” to a word ending in “y” ” after the consonant, “y” changes to “i” before the suffix.
eighty (eighty) + eth = eightieth (eightieth)
duty (duty) + es = duties (responsibilities)
lazy (lazy) + ness = laziness (laziness)
mystery (mystery) + ous = mysterious (mysterious)
beauty (beauty) + ful = beautiful (beautiful)
multiply (multiply) + ed = multiplied (multiplied)
cozy (cozy) + ly = cozy (cozy)
Words ending in “y” after a vowel
“y” is preserved before suffixes such as “er,” “ing,” or “ed.”
destroy (destroy) - destroying - destroyed
buy (buy) - buying - buyer
play (play) - playing - player
You may be confused by some of the discrepancies in spelling and reading rules that are caused by . It's not that this option is better and that option is worse, you just need to stop at one, learn it and stick with it. Try not to mix one with the other.
The rules of reading and writing are like a weather forecast: we can rely on them, but we cannot count on them to help us out every time. Therefore, it is very important to read more in English so that the sound of words and their style merge into a single image.
The following method is perfect for this purpose: listening English books with parallel viewing of the original text.
10 English classic books narrated by native English speakers
Mother Goose by W. W. Denslow - “Mother Goose”, W.W. Denslow
The Tale of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter - “The Tale of Peter Rabbit”, Beatrix Potter
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland Audiobook by Lewis Carrol - “Alice in Wonderland”, Lewis Carroll
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain - “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer”, Mark Twain
A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens - “A Tale of Two Cities”, Charles Dickens
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen - “Pride and Prejudice”, Jane Austen
Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus by Mary Shelley - “Frankenstein, or Modern Prometheus”, Mary Shelley
The Happy Prince and Other Tales by Oscar Wilde - “The Happy Prince and Other Tales”, Oscar Wilde
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle - “The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes”, Arthur Conan Doyle
It happens that native speakers of English ask forgiveness from those who study it... Because the pronunciation of English words and their spelling are so different. So be it, we will accept their apology. After all, anyone who is determined to learn English can handle any difficulties!
Are you surprised by English reading rules? Share with us in the comments :)
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Having studied the Russian alphabet, we can easily read any texts. But to read correctly in English you will have to put in more effort, because there are many discrepancies between the spelling and pronunciation of words. If you decide to learn this language on your own and cannot understand how to read words in English correctly, then this material– exactly what you need. Today we will look at the nuances of pronunciation of English letters and letter combinations, and find out how easy it is to learn to read English from scratch. A table that shows all the letters and their sounds will help you learn the rules of reading English for beginners.
First, let's get to know the most important law reading in English - the rule of open and closed syllables. There is no similar norm in the Russian language, so we will analyze in detail what it is. Please pay attention to the transcription.
An open syllable is a syllable that ends with a vowel sound. As a rule, it occurs in the following cases:
- The word ends in a vowel, so the last syllable is always open: t ake[take].*
- A vowel is followed by a consonant, followed by another vowel sound: ed uca tion [education].
- There are two vowels adjacent to the word: cr ue l [cruel].
*Final e in most cases it is considered “dumb”, that is, it is not pronounced, but appears at the heart of the word specifically for education open syllable.
In open syllables, the vowel is always pronounced smoothly and drawn out. Accordingly, closed syllables are all those syllables in which the vowel sound is closed by a consonant and therefore sounds short and abrupt: c ut[cat].
In addition, special reading rules in English are characteristic of syllables in which the vowel sound ends with the letter r. The fact is that in the British version of the pronunciation of such syllables, the letter r is often completely omitted, i.e. not pronounced. Therefore, there are two options for reading such letter combinations:
- In an open syllable, when r is surrounded by vowels, only both vowels are read: c are[keea]. In such cases, the last e will not be dumb.
- In a closed syllable ( voice+r+acc.), r is also unreadable, but affects the sound of the vowel sound, making it longer: start [staat]
The rule of open and closed syllables is the basic law of reading in English, although there are many exceptions to it. But it’s too early to teach exceptions without knowing the main rules. Therefore, now we will look at the sound options of all letters and letter combinations.
Rules for reading English for beginners - letter and sound correspondence table
Even if you started learning English and reading it from scratch, you are probably already familiar with the spelling and sound of all the letters of the English alphabet. But, as we already learned from the previous section, when reading, the pronunciation of letters depends on the type of syllable or letter combination. Therefore, in the tables below you can find several sound options for the same letter. But don't be alarmed, there will be an accessible explanation for each case. So, let's continue to learn English for beginners and learn the rules of reading in English.
Consonants
Let's start with the easiest thing: with a table of consonants, the pronunciation of which is similar to the Russian sound.
| Letter | Transcription | Russian pronunciation |
| B | [b] | b |
| D | [d] | d* |
| F | [f] | f |
| K | [k] | To |
| L | [l] | l |
| M | [m] | m |
| N | [n] | n |
| P | [p] | P |
| R | [r] | R |
| S | [s] | With |
| [z] | z (only in special positions: after voiced consonants, between two vowels and in the suffix –ism.) | |
| T | [t] | T* |
| V | [v] | V |
| W | [w] | V** |
| Z | [z] | h |
*English d and t are pronounced with more aspiration than their Russian counterparts.
**w is pronounced with the lips extended into a tube, the result is something between the Russian sounds v and u.
Now let's look at more complex letters.
| Letter | Transcription | Pronunciation and explanations |
| C | [s] | s (before vowels i, e, y) |
| [k] | to (in other cases) | |
| G | j (before vowels i, e, y) | |
| [g] | g (in other cases) | |
| H | [h] | Very weakly pronounced Russian X (almost just a strong exhalation) |
| Q | kv | |
| X | ks (before a consonant or at the end of a word) | |
| gz (between two vowels) | ||
| [z] | z (at the beginning of a word before a vowel) |
We will also study letter combinations of consonants in English.
| Combination | Transcription | Pronunciation |
| ck | [k] | To |
| ch | h | |
| tch | ||
| ng | [ŋ] | nasal n |
| ph | [f] | f |
| sh | [ʃ] | w |
| th | [θ] | 1) sound intermediate between s and f (tongue between teeth) 2) the sound is average between z and v (tongue between teeth) |
| wr | [r] | R |
| wh | [w] | u/v x (only before o) |
| qu | kv |
In addition, it is worth considering that the English language never allows consonants at the very end of a word to be deafened. Otherwise, you may say something completely different from what you wanted. For example: back [back] – behind, behind; bag [bag] – bag, sack.
Vowels
It is much more difficult to cope with reading English vowels, but the already familiar rules of open and closed syllables will help us understand it. We take them into service and learn to read the vowels of the English language correctly.
| Closed syllable | |||
| Letter | Transcription | Pronunciation | Examples |
| A | [æ] | uh | bat, track, sad |
| E | [e] | uh | pet, red, check |
| I | [ɪ] | And | pit, fill, tin, system, myth, lynx |
| Y | |||
| O | [ɒ] | O | spot, not, cross |
| U | [ʌ] | A | spun, truck, butter |
Do not forget that in a closed syllable all letters are pronounced briefly.
| Open syllable | |||
| Letter | Transcription | Pronunciation | Examples |
| A | Hey | game, flame, lake | |
| E | And | he, be, Pete | |
| I | ah | mine, like, nine, cry, bye, type | |
| Y | |||
| O | [əʊ] | OU | bone, tone, rose |
| U | Yu | pupil, music, cube | |
And the vowels of an open syllable are always smooth and drawn out.
| Open syllable with r | |||
| Letter | Transcription | Pronunciation | Examples |
| A | ea | square | |
| E | [ɪə] | ie | here |
| I | aye | tired | |
| Y | |||
| O | [ɔː] | oo | more |
| U | Yue | cure | |
We remember that the letter r after a vowel, as a rule, is not pronounced.
| Behindcovered syllable with r | |||
| Letter | Transcription | Pronunciation | Examples |
| A | [ɑː] | ahh | dark |
| O | [ɔː] | oo | sport |
| E | [ɜː] | e | pert, bird, myrtle, burn |
| I | |||
| Y | |||
| U | |||
Now we know how to read vowels in English words. But for perfect reading in English, it is necessary to study one more point.
Diphthongs and triphthongs in English
An important aspect of English for beginners is diphthongs and triphthongs, i.e. combinations of two or three letters that have a special sound. Their pronunciation is called sliding, because. First, the main sound is pronounced intensively, and then it is smoothly transferred to the secondary sound. Diphthongs are a kind of exception and do not obey general grammatical laws, so they can only be learned by heart. The table below will help us learn the rules for reading English diphthongs for beginners.
| English diphthongs | ||
| Combinations | Transcription | Pronunciation |
| air, ear, are | uh* | |
| ye, igh, uy, ie | ah | |
| ea, ey, ay, ai, ei | Hey | |
| ere, eer, ier, ear | [ɪə] | IEE |
| oh, oh | [ɔɪ] | Ouch |
| ou, ow | awww | |
| ou, ow, oa, ol | [əu] | oooh |
| ure, ue, our, oor | wow | |
| English triphthongs | ||
| ower, our | aaue | |
| eur, ure | Yuyue | |
| iet, ire, ier, iar, yre | aaye | |
*doubling the letter indicates the length of the first sound in relation to the second.
So, we have looked at the main nuances of reading in English. Treat the stated rules responsibly: conduct reading lessons more often and be sure to learn to distinguish between types of syllables in English. Otherwise, you will make gross mistakes in pronunciation, which will lead to a complete misunderstanding of your words by the interlocutor. Good luck in learning English and see you again!