Monophthongs and Diphthongs

The vowels in English are classified into two main groups pure vowels (monophthongs) and diphthongs

A. Monophthongs: The monophthongs are sub-classified into short vowels and long vowels.

The monophthongs are listed below with examples of words where they occur.

1.         / i: /      –           beat, seat

2.         / i /       –           bit, sit

3.         / e /      –           bed , hen

4.         /æ/       –           cart, part

5.         /a:/       –           cart, part

6.         / כ /      –           Pot, cork

7.         /כ:/       –           port, cork

8.         /u /       –           put, foot

9.         /u:/       –           two, woo

10        /л/        –           hut, cut

11.       /3:/       –           bird, herb

12.       /ə/                    akin, baker

1. Diphthongs: The diphthongs differ from the pure vowels (monophthongs) because their articulation involves a glide from one vowel quality to the other. There are eight diphthongs in English and their phonetic symbols indicate the initial and final vowels represented in the articulation.

Diagram showing the diphthongs in English.

The diphthongs are listed below with examples of words where they occur.

1.         /ei/       –           pay, again

2.     / əu /        –           go, home

3.     / αi/          –           rice, kite

4.      / au  /      –           cow, house

5.     / כi/          –           toy, voice

6.      / iə /        –           ear, here

7.      / eə /       –           air, hair

8.      / uə  /      –           poor, tour

EVALUATION

Exercise 1, Question C, Nos 1 – 10, Page 30. Exercise 2, Question B, Page 31 Oral English for Schools and Colleges.

READING ASSIGNMENT

Adverbs and Adverbials

GENERAL EVALUATION

Comprehension

1. Meteors:- Summarise the passage in three short sentences.

Structure

      State the grammatical functions of the underlined expressions;

• Mr John who lost her sight a year ago was elected to the council last week.
• She gave us direction to the restaurant where we are to meet for lunch.
•  What are the nouns formed from these verbs: lose, lend, do, omit, injure.

Letter Writing

• Write a letter to your friend who is in another school about your annual inter-house sports which you celebrated recently.

WEEKEND ASSIGNMENT

Exercise 2, Question C, Page 31, Oral English for Schools and Colleges

Revision and Tests, Part 2, Page 46 Effective English.