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Consonants are easier than vowels in terms of spelling. A consonant sound is often represented by the same consonant letter in writing: bed [bed], pin [pin], kind [kaind], take [teik], mark [ma:rk], false [fo:ls], first, joke, government, skeleton, distribute, tremble, inventive, horrible, wonderful.
But there are several consonant sounds that are represented by different consonant letters or letter combinations in writing, for example, [k], [s], [g], [j], [f], [sh]. There are also consonant letters and letter combinations that have several variants of pronunciation, for example, c, ch, g, gh, x, xh. This often presents a difficulty for language learners. Spelling notes on difficult consonants are given below.
The letter S represents two common English sounds [s] and [z].
The letter S has the sound [s] at the beginning, in the middle, or at the end of the word before or after a vowel or a consonant: same, seem, sit, sore, suit, sky, slim, sneak, stray, swim; sausage, master, absent, answer, listen; case, loose, sense, glimpse, serious, basis.
Double S is also pronounced [s] and is found in the middle or at the end of the word: lesson, assume, pessimist, oppressive; class, cross, address, hopeless. Exceptions: dessert [di'zərt], possess [pə'zes], scissors ['sizərz].
The letter C represents the sound [s] in the position before E, I, Y: center, ceremony, circus, civil, cylinder, cyber. Students often have a problem choosing between C and S in this case, because C and S occur in the same positions before the vowels E, I, Y and have the same pronunciation. Compare: cent – sent, cell – sell, sense – absence, assess – excess, cinema – sing, privacy – fantasy. Write such words in two columns for comparison, with pronunciation and meaning, and it will help you to memorize their spelling easier. Also, many words of Latin origin with the letter C exist in Russian and have the Russian sound [ts] in them: center, circus, cycle.
The combination SC has the sound [s] before E, I, Y: scent, science, fascinate, scythe.
In several words, the sound [s] is represented in writing by the combination PS, where P is a silent letter: psalm, pseudonym, psychology.
The sound [z] is usually represented by the consonant S: rose, cause, always, his, wise, was, present, poison, reason, clumsy, organism, realism, advertise, advise, comprise, raise. But the letter S never has the sound [z] at the beginning of the word, so expect the letter Z there: zone, zero, zip. (The consonant Z is described at the end of this article.)
The ending S/ES
The ending S/ES of nouns and verbs has three different variants of pronunciation depending on the sound or letter after which it stands. (The mute letter E at the end of the word is not taken into consideration in this rule.)
[s] after a voiceless consonant: parks, takes, streets, writes, cuffs, myths, jumps, laughs;
[z] after a voiced consonant or a vowel: kids, rides, legs, girls, rooms, chairs, robs, leaves, learns, clothes, boys, cows, goes, ties, studies;
[iz] after the letters s, z, x, ch, tch, ge, dge, sh: classes, roses, prizes, quizzes, matches, oranges, bridges, dishes, fixes. In this case, the ending ES is added if the word doesn't have the mute letter E at the end, and the ending S is added if mute E is there. Compare: rise, rises; kiss, kisses; cage, cages; flash, flashes.
The combination TH may sometimes present a problem because it represents the voiced sound [ð] and the voiceless sound [θ], and there is no rule on where and which of the two sounds to pronounce. But if you just write words with these sounds in two columns, look at them attentively, and read them aloud several times, it will take care of the problem.
The sound [ð]: the, this, that, these, those, then, they, their, there, though, other, mother, father, brother, weather, neither, bathe, breathe, clothes, soothe, northern, southern.
The sound [θ]: thin, thick, thank, think, thought, theater, theory, therapy, thermometer, thorough, thunder, three, through, method, author, bath, breath, cloth, teeth, truth, health, north, south.
(See more examples of words with the sounds [ð] and [θ] in the file Practice for Consonants in the section Phonetics.)
The sound [k] is represented in writing by the letters and combinations k, ck, c, ch, que.
Initial letter K representing the sound [k] is not very common in English words: keep, keen, kerchief, kernel, kettle, key, kick, kid, kill, kind, king, kiss, kit, kitchen, kitten. Many words that begin with the letter K are of foreign origin: kaleidoscope, Kabul, kangaroo, karma, kerosene, kilogram, kinetic, kleptomania, Korea. Note that in some words, initial K is silent: knee, knife, knit, knock, knot, know.
Note that many English names begin with K: Kathleen, Karen, Kimberly, Keith, Kenneth, Kent, Kevin, Kelvin. Some of the names beginning with K are variants of spelling with C: Catherine, Katherine; Caroline, Karoline; Chris, Kris; Carl, Karl. (See the file English Names and the other files about names in the section Vocabulary.)
The letter K in English words is often found after another consonant: skate, skeleton, skill, skin, sky, bank, pink, blanket, napkin, mask, park. The letter K stands alone after a long vowel, a diphthong, or a combination of vowels: seek, break, take, joke, soak, like, look.
Single K at the end of the word after a short vowel sound is rare in English: sputnik, beatnik, Nikky. The letter combination CK is used instead of K in such cases: pack, sick, neck, Nick, jacket, rocket, cracker.
In several words, the final sound [k] is represented by QUE in writing: unique, technique, antique, physique, clique, grotesque. Note that the combination QU has the sound [kw] at the beginning and in the middle of many English words: queen, quarter, quite, quiet, question, squad, squirrel, require, inquire.
The letter C represents two sounds: [s] and [k], and there are strict rules on where and which of the two sounds is pronounced.
Letter C: sound [s]
The letter C has the sound [s] before the vowels E, I, Y.
The sound [s]: celebrate, center, certainly, ceremony, cemetery, receive, race, price.
The sound [s]: cider, cigarette, civil, circus.
The sound [s]: cycle, cylinder, Cyprus.
Letter C: sound [k]
The letter C has the sound [k] before the vowels A, O, U and before consonants.
The sound [k]: cat, cabin, cake, call, care, carry, cancel, cast, delicate, intricate.
The sound [k]: come, complete, cord, cost, country, acoustic, decorate.
The sound [k]: cut, custom, cute, current, curious, cucumber, calculate.
The sound [k]: clean, clip, claim, cloud, craft, cream, credit, crown.
Combination SC
The combination SC follows the same rule: SC has the sound [s] before the vowels E, I, Y, but SC has the sound [sk] before the vowels A, O, U and before consonants.
The sound [s]: scent, science, fascist, scythe, miscellaneous.
The sound [sk]: scan, scale, escape, scope, scorch, scuba, school.
Exception: sceptic ['skeptik], sceptical, scepticism. (In AmE, mostly skeptic, skeptical, skepticism.)
Combination CC
The combination CC follows the same rule: CC has the sound [ks] before the vowels E, I, Y, but CC has the sound [k] before the vowels A, O, U and before consonants.
The sound [ks]: accent, access, accept, eccentric, succeed, accident, coccyx.
The sound [k]: accommodations, accordingly, account, accuse, occur, acclaim.
Letter C in the suffixes
The letter C in the suffix -ic is always pronounced [k]: panic, traffic, magic, static, systematic, democratic, economic, economical, historic, historical, practical, politics.
The letter C in the suffixes -ice, ence, ance, cy is always pronounced [s]: notice, practice, service; competence, audience, silence; resistance, reluctance, arrogance; agency, democracy, efficiency, policy.
The combination CH represents the sound [ch] in typically English words: chair, chess, child, chief, choke, achieve, reach, rich, which, church, such, bunch.
The combination CH represents the sound [k] in words of Greek or Latin origin: chemistry, chaos, charisma, chlorine, chorus, archaeology, archaic, archive, archipelago, architect, echo, mechanic, monarchy, anarchy, synchronize, psychologist, school, scholar.
The combination CH represents the sound [sh] in words of French origin: champagne, chandelier, charlatan, chef, chevron, chic, chiffon, cache, moustache, machine, parachute.
At the end of the word the sound [ch] is also represented by TCH in writing: catch, match, watch, pitch, pitcher, butcher.
The sound [ch] is also represented by the combination TU in the suffix: departure, feature, furniture, literature, picture, lecture, adventure, adventurous, nature, torture, signature, gesture, sculpture, century.
The letter G before vowels represents either the sound [g] (go) or the sound [j] (just).
Letter G: sound [g]
The letter G has the sound [g] before the vowels A, O, U and before consonants.
The sound [g]: gain, again, game, gate, gap, Gary, gas, gather, gaunt, gawk, gay.
The sound [g]: go, goal, gold, gone, good, goose, gourd, gourmet, govern.
The sound [g]: gull, gust, gut, guy, argue, regular, singular, angular.
The sound [g]: glare, glide, global, glow, grand, grim, grip, gross, pygmy, enigma, stagnant.
Letter G before E, I
The letter G before the vowels E, I can represent the sound [g] or [j]. There is no rule that could help us to decide which of the two sounds to pronounce in such cases, so you have to memorize such words.
The sound [g]: get, geyser, gear, geese, anger, finger, singer.
The sound [j]: gentle, gender, general, gelatin, genius, geology, gesture, German, legend, sergeant, vegetable, gorgeous, carriage, marriage, passage, language, voyage, college, change, manage, huge, urge, urgent, danger, stranger.
The sound [g]: give, gimmick, girl, girdle, giggle, gilded, gigabyte, begin.
The sound [j]: giant, gin, gist, gigolo, giraffe, gigabyte, engine, imagine, region, religious.
The letter G before Y has the sound [j]: gym, gypsy, gyro, Egypt, energy.
Single G at the end of the word is pronounced [g]: bag, rag, lag, dig, fig, log, beg, Meg, rug. Double G is usually pronounced [g]: egg, giggle, wriggle, toggle, struggle, aggressive, reggae. But GG is pronounced [j] in the words exaggerate, suggest.
The sound [j] at the beginning and in the middle of the word is often represented by the letter J: jet, jumbo, just, Jane, John, jelly, jealous, jury, majority, pajamas. It is helpful to write two columns of words in which the sound [j] is represented by the letters G and J: gin, jinx; gene, jeans; Gene, Jean; gym, Jim.
The sound [j] at the end of the word is often represented in writing by the combination DGE: bridge, edge, hedge, judge, knowledge, cartridge, badger, budget, fidget. But there are many words in which the sound [j] is represented by GE at the end of the word (see above: Letter G before E, I). It may help to know that DGE is part of the root and occurs after a short vowel sound (compare: hedge – huge), while GE occurs in various positions in the word and is also part of the noun-forming suffix AGE (marriage, postage). But the best way to memorize words ending in GE and DGE is to arrange them in two columns on one page for comparison.
Note: Sound [zh]
The combination GE is pronounced [zh] at the end of some words of foreign origin: beige, garage, mirage, montage, prestige, rouge. The sound [zh] is also represented by the combinations SI and SU in the suffix: erosion, explosion, vision, leisure, pleasure, seizure, usually, visual.
The combination GH at the beginning of the word is always pronounced [g]: ghost, ghastly, Ghana, ghetto, ghoul.
The combination GH at the end of some words is pronounced [f]: enough, rough, tough, laugh, cough.
The combination GH at the end of some other words is silent: though [ðou]; bough [bau]; plough (BrE), plow (AmE) [plau]; through [θru:].
The combination GH at the end of the word before T is usually silent: bought [bo:t], caught [ko:t], thought [θo:t], drought [draut], night [nait], height [hait], weight [weit], straight [streit]. But GH is pronounced [f] before T in the words draught, laughter.
The combination GU is pronounced [g] at the beginning and in the middle of the word: guard, guardian, guarantee, guess, guest, guide, guilt, guitar; argue, regulate, singular, disguise.
The combination GUE is pronounced [g] at the end of the word: catalogue, dialogue, tongue, fatigue, league, vague, rogue. In American English, some of these words have two variants of spelling: catalogue, catalog; dialogue, dialog; monologue, monolog; prologue, prolog.
The combination GU is pronounced [gw] in some words of Latin and Spanish origin: language, lingua, linguistics, guava, Guatemala, Nicaragua, distinguish.
The sound [f] is usually represented by the consonant F: file, full, faint, flame, flick, flight, fly, free, fry, prefer, defend, after, safe, scarf, half, beef, roof.
Double F is usually found in the syllable with a short vowel sound: puff, cuff, cliff, riff, traffic. Double F is also found in cases where the prefix ends in F, and the root starts with F: affair, affirm, afford, differ, effect, offend, offer, suffer, suffix.
The combination PH also has the sound [f]: photograph, physics, phonetics, philosophy, alphabet, symphony, apostrophe.
The combination GH represents the sound [f] at the end of the word: enough, rough, tough, laugh, cough.
In English words, the sound [sh] is usually represented by the combination SH: she, shine, shark, shoe, rush, fish.
The combination CH is pronounced [sh] in words of French origin: champagne, chandelier, charlatan, chef, chevron, chic, chiffon, cache, machine.
There are several consonant + vowel combinations that are pronounced [sh], namely, TI, CI, SI, SU, and they are usually in the suffix or right before it.
The combination CI: appreciate, associate; social, official, special, financial; musician, politician, magician; ancient, efficient; delicious, suspicious, precious, vicious, conscious.
The combination SI: extension, expansion, comprehension; discussion, expression, fission, mission.
The combination TI: negotiate, initiate, substantiate; essential, confidential, initial, martial; patient, ambitious, cautious; condition, section, organization.
The combination SU: sugar, sure, sensual, assure, censure, fissure, pressure, issue, tissue.
The letter X and the combination XH represent the sounds [ks]: exercise, exclaim, exclude, expect, experiment, explain, extreme, exhibition.
The letter X and the combination XH represent the sounds [gz]: exact, example, execute, exempt, exert, exist, exhaust, exhibit, exhilarate.
Some words with X or XH have two variants of pronunciation: exile ['egzail], ['eksail]; exhale [eks'heil], [ig'zeil]; exhume [ig'zu:m], [eks'hyu:m].
Note that in some words, there is C after EX: exceed, excellent, except, excite, excuse, Excalibur, excavate. In such cases, the pronunciation follows the rules of C before vowels: [ks] exceed, excellent, except, excite; [ks+k] excavate, Excalibur, excuse.
In some words of Greek origin, the letter X is pronouned [z]: xenon ['zenon], ['zi:non]; xenophobia, Xerox ['zi:roks], xylophone.
The sound [z] is often represented by the consonant S in writing: rose [rouz], wise, was, always, his, present, resist, music, poison, reason, busy, clumsy, organism, realism, advertise, advise, comprise, raise, surprise.
But the letter S is never pronounced [z] at the beginning of the word, so when you hear [z] as the first sound of the word, you can be practically sure that this word is spelled with initial Z.
The letter Z usually has the sound [z]: zebra, zeal, zenith, zero, Zeus, zinc, zip, zipper, zombie, zone, zoo; dozen, citizen, horizon, razor, enzyme, ozone, plaza, lazy, crazy, quiz; seize, organize, realize, apologize, modernize.
Double Z is also pronounced [z]: drizzle, sizzle, puzzle, mezzanine; buzz, jazz, fuzzy.
The letters Z and ZZ are pronouned [ts] in some words of foreign origin: pizza ['pi:tsə]; mezzo ['metsou], ['mezou]; Mozart ['moutsa:rt]; mozzarella [motsə'relə]; Nazi ['na:tsi:].
In several foreign borrowings the sound [ts] is represented by the letters TZ: waltz, chintz, blitz, blitzkrieg, Fitzgerald.
The consonant sound [y] is represented by the letter Y before a vowel, mostly at the beginning of the word: yacht, Yale, Yankee, yarn, yard, yawn, year, yearn, yeast, yell, yellow, yelp, Yemen, yen, yes, yesterday, yet, yield, yoga, yogurt, yoke, yolk, New York, you, young, Yukon, yule; beyond, canyon, Tanya, Tonya, lawyer.
The consonant sound [y] is also represented by the vowel I in certain positions in the word after a consonant before another vowel: billiards, billion, familiar, milliard, million, onion, junior, senior, union.
In a number of cases, the consonant sound [y] is not represented by any letter in writing, for example, in the case of the vowel U when it is pronounced [yu:]: use [yu:z], unit ['yu:nit], cube [kyu:b], music, human, few, fuel, feudal, view.
Согласные легче, чем гласные, если говорить о правописании. Согласный звук часто представлен на письме той же самой согласной буквой: bed [bed], pin [pin], kind [kaind], take [teik], mark [ma:rk], false [fo:ls], first, joke, government, skeleton, distribute, tremble, inventive, horrible, wonderful.
Но есть несколько согласных звуков, которые представлены на письме разными согласными буквами или сочетаниями букв, например, звуки [k], [s], [g], [j], [f], [sh]. Также есть согласные буквы и сочетания букв, которые имеют несколько различных вариантов произношения, например, c, ch, g, gh, x, xh. Это часто представляет трудность для изучающих язык. Заметки по написанию трудных согласных приведены ниже.
Буква S передает два распространенных английских звука [s] и [z].
Буква S передает звук [s] в начале, в середине или в конце слова перед или после гласной или согласной буквы: same, seem, sit, sore, suit, sky, slim, sneak, stray, swim; sausage, master, absent, answer, listen; case, loose, sense, glimpse, serious, basis.
Двойная S тоже произносится [s] и встречается в середине или в конце слова: lesson, assume, pessimist, oppressive; class, cross, address, hopeless. Исключения: dessert [di'zərt], possess [pə'zes], scissors ['sizərz].
Буква C передает звук [s] в положении перед E, I, Y: center, ceremony, circus, civil, cylinder, cyber. Студенты часто испытывают трудность в выборе между C и S в этом случае, т.к. C и S встречаются в одинаковых положениях перед гласными E, I, Y и имеют одинаковое произношение. Сравните: cent – sent, cell – sell, sense – absence, assess – excess, cinema – sing, privacy – fantasy. Напишите такие слова в две колонки для сравнения, с произношением и значением, и это поможет вам легче запомнить их написание. Также, многие слова латинского происхождения с буквой C существуют в русском языке, и в них русский звук [ц]: центр, цирк, цикл.
Сочетание SC произносится [s] перед гласными E, I, Y: scent, science, fascinate, scythe.
В нескольких словах звук [s] представлен на письме буквосочетанием PS, где P немая буква: psalm, pseudonym, psychology.
Звук [z] обычно передается согласной буквой S: rose, cause, wise, was, always, his, present, poison, reason, clumsy, organism, realism, advertise, advise, comprise, raise. Но буква S никогда не передает звук [z] в начале слова, поэтому ожидайте, что там буква Z: zone, zero, zip. (Согласная буква Z описывается в конце этой статьи.)
Окончание S/ES
Окончание S/ES существительных и глаголов имеет три варианта произношения в зависимости от звука или буквы, после которых оно стоит. (Немая буква E на конце слова не принимается во внимание в этом правиле.)
[s] после глухого согласного звука: parks, takes, streets, writes, cuffs, myths, jumps, laughs;
[z] после звонкого согласного или гласного звука: kids, rides, legs, girls, rooms, chairs, robs, leaves, learns, clothes, boys, cows, goes, ties, studies;
[iz] после букв s, z, x, ch, tch, ge, dge, sh: classes, roses, prizes, quizzes, matches, oranges, bridges, dishes, fixes. В данном случае, окончание ES прибавляется, если в конце слова нет немой буквы E, а окончание S прибавляется, если немая E там есть. Сравните: rise, rises; kiss, kisses; cage, cages; flash, flashes.
Сочетание TH может иногда представлять проблему, поскольку оно передает звонкий звук [ð] и глухой звук [θ], и нет правила о том, где и который из двух звуков произнести. Но если вы просто напишете слова с этими звуками в две колонки, посмотрите на них внимательно и прочтете их вслух несколько раз, проблема будет решена.
Звук [ð]: the, this, that, these, those, then, they, their, there, though, other, mother, father, brother, weather, neither, bathe, breathe, clothes, soothe, northern, southern.
Звук [θ]: thin, thick, thank, think, thought, theater, theory, therapy, thermometer, thorough, thunder, three, through, method, author, bath, breath, cloth, teeth, truth, health, north, south.
(Посмотрите еще примеры слов со звуками [ð] и [θ] в файле Practice for Consonants в разделе Phonetics.)
Звук [k] представлен на письме буквами и сочетаниями k, ck, c, ch, que.
Начальная буква K, передающая звук [k], не очень часто встречается в английских словах: keep, keen, kerchief, kernel, kettle, key, kick, kid, kill, kind, king, kiss, kit, kitchen, kitten. Многие слова, которые начинаются с буквы K – иностранного происхождения: kaleidoscope, Kabul, kangaroo, karma, kerosene, kilogram, kinetic, kleptomania, Korea. Отметьте, что в некоторых словах начальная K немая: knee, knife, knit, knock, knot, know.
Отметьте, что многие английские имена начинаются с буквы K: Kathleen, Karen, Kimberly, Keith, Kenneth, Kent, Kevin, Kelvin. Некоторые из имен, начинающихся с K, являются вариантами написания с буквой C: Catherine, Katherine; Caroline, Karoline; Chris, Kris; Carl, Karl. (Посмотрите файл English Names и другие файлы об именах в разделе Vocabulary.)
Буква K в английских словах часто встречается после другой согласной: skate, skeleton, skill, skin, sky, bank, pink, blanket, napkin, mask, park. Буква K стоит одна после долгой гласной, дифтонга или комбинации гласных: seek, break, take, joke, soak, like, look.
Одиночная K в конце слова после краткого гласного звука – редкость в английском языке: sputnik, beatnik, Nikky. Сочетание CK употребляется вместо K в таких случаях: pack, sick, neck, Nick, jacket, rocket, cracker.
В нескольких словах конечный звук [k] представлен на письме сочетанием QUE: unique, technique, antique, physique, clique, grotesque. Заметьте, что сочетание QU имеет звук [kw] в начале и в середине многих английских слов: queen, quarter, quite, quiet, question, squad, squirrel, require, inquire.
Буква C передает два звука: [s] и [k], и существуют строгие правила, где и который из этих двух звуков произносится.
Буква C: звук [s]
Буква C имеет звук [s] перед гласными E, I, Y.
Звук [s]: celebrate, center, certainly, ceremony, cemetery, receive, race, price.
Звук [s]: cider, cigarette, civil, circus.
Звук [s]: cycle, cylinder, Cyprus.
Буква C: звук [k]
Буква C имеет звук [k] перед гласными A, O, U и перед согласными.
Звук [k]: cat, cabin, cake, call, care, carry, cancel, cast, delicate, intricate.
Звук [k]: come, complete, cord, cost, country, acoustic, decorate.
Звук [k]: cut, custom, cute, current, curious, cucumber, calculate.
Звук [k]: clean, clip, claim, cloud, craft, cream, credit, crown.
Сочетание SC
Сочетание SC следует тому же правилу: SC имеет звук [s] перед гласными E, I, Y, но SC имеет звук [sk] перед гласными A, O, U и перед согласными.
Звук [s]: scent, science, fascist, scythe, miscellaneous.
Звук [sk]: scan, scale, escape, scope, scorch, scuba, school.
Исключение: sceptic ['skeptik], sceptical, scepticism. (В AmE, в основном skeptic, skeptical, skepticism.)
Сочетание CC
Сочетание CC следует тому же правилу: CC имеет звук [ks] перед гласными E, I, Y, но CC имеет звук [k] перед гласными A, O, U и перед согласными.
Звук [ks]: accent, access, accept, eccentric, succeed, accident, coccyx.
Звук [k]: accommodations, accordingly, account, accuse, occur, acclaim.
Буква C в суффиксах
Буква C в суффиксе -ic всегда произносится [k]: panic, traffic, magic, static, systematic, democratic, economic, economical, historic, historical, practical, politics.
Буква C в суффиксах -ice, ence, ance, cy всегда произносится [s]: notice, practice, service; competence, audience, silence; resistance, reluctance, arrogance; agency, democracy, efficiency, policy.
Сочетание CH передает звук [ch] в типично английских словах: chair, chess, child, chief, choke, achieve, reach, rich, which, church, such, bunch.
Сочетание CH передает звук [k] в словах греческого или латинского происхождения: chemistry, chaos, charisma, chlorine, chorus, archaeology, archaic, archive, archipelago, architect, echo, mechanic, monarchy, anarchy, synchronize, psychologist, school, scholar.
Сочетание CH передает звук [sh] в словах французского происхождения: champagne, chandelier, charlatan, chef, chevron, chic, chiffon, cache, moustache, machine, parachute.
В конце слова звук [ch] также представлен буквосочетанием TCH на письме: catch, match, watch, pitch, pitcher, butcher.
Звук [ch] также представлен сочетанием TU в суффиксе: departure, feature, furniture, literature, picture, lecture, adventure, adventurous, nature, torture, signature, gesture, sculpture, century.
Буква G перед гласными передает или звук [g] как в слове go, или звук [j] как в слове just.
Буква G: звук [g]
Буква G имеет звук [g] перед гласными A, O, U и перед согласными.
Звук [g]: gain, again, game, gate, gap, Gary, gas, gather, gaunt, gawk, gay.
Звук [g]: go, goal, gold, gone, good, goose, gourd, gourmet, govern.
Звук [g]: gull, gust, gut, guy, argue, regular, singular, angular.
Звук [g]: glare, glide, global, glow, grand, grim, grip, gross, pygmy, enigma, stagnant.
Буква G перед E, I
Буква G перед гласными E, I может передавать звук [g] или [j]. Нет правила, которое могло бы нам помочь решить, который из этих двух звуков произнести в таких случаях, поэтому надо запомнить такие слова.
Звук [g]: get, geyser, gear, geese, anger, finger, singer.
Звук [j]: gentle, gender, general, gelatin, genius, geology, gesture, German, legend, sergeant, vegetable, gorgeous, carriage, marriage, passage, language, voyage, college, change, manage, huge, urge, urgent, danger, stranger.
Звук [g]: give, gimmick, girl, girdle, giggle, gilded, gigabyte, begin.
Звук [j]: giant, gin, gist, gigolo, giraffe, gigabyte, engine, imagine, region, religious.
Буква G перед Y имеет звук [j]: gym, gypsy, Egypt, gyro, energy.
Одиночная G в конце слова произносится [g]: bag, rag, lag, dig, fig, log, beg, Meg, rug. Двойная G тоже обычно произносится [g]: egg, giggle, wriggle, toggle, struggle, aggressive, reggae. Но GG произносится [j] в словах exaggerate, suggest.
Звук [j] в начале или в середине слова часто передается буквой J: jet, jumbo, just, Jane, John, jelly, jealous, jury, majority, pajamas. Полезно написать две колонки слов, в которых звук [j] представлен буквами G и J: gin, jinx; gene, jeans; Gene, Jean; gym, Jim.
Звук [j] в конце слова часто представлен на письме сочетанием DGE: bridge, edge, hedge, judge, knowledge, cartridge, badger, budget, fidget. Но есть много слов, где звук [j] представлен сочетанием GE в конце слова (см. выше: Буква G перед E, I). Возможно, будет полезно знать, что DGE часть корня и встречается после краткой гласной (сравните: hedge – huge), в то время как GE встречается в различных положениях в слове, а также является частью суффикса существительных AGE (marriage, postage). Но лучший способ запомнить слова, оканчивающиеся на GE и DGE – расположить их в две колонки на одной странице для сравнения.
Примечание: Звук [zh]
Сочетание GE произносится [zh] на конце некоторых слов иностранного происхождения: beige, garage, mirage, montage, prestige, rouge. Звук [zh] также передается буквосочетаниями SI и SU в суффиксе: erosion, explosion, vision, leisure, pleasure, seizure, usually, visual.
Сочетание GH в начале слова всегда произносится [g]: ghost, ghastly, Ghana, ghetto, ghoul.
Сочетание GH в конце некоторых слов произносится [f]: enough, rough, tough, laugh, cough.
Сочетание GH в конце некоторых других слов немое: though [ðou]; bough [bau]; plough (BrE), plow (AmE) [plau]; through [θru:].
Сочетание GH в конце слова перед буквой T обычно немое: bought [bo:t], caught [ko:t], thought [θo:t], drought [draut], night [nait], height [hait], weight [weit], straight [streit]. Но GH произносится [f] перед буквой T в словах draught, laughter.
Сочетание GU произносится [g] в начале и в середине слова: guard, guardian, guarantee, guess, guest, guide, guilt, guitar; argue, regulate, singular, disguise.
Сочетание GUE произносится [g] в конце слова: catalogue, dialogue, tongue, fatigue, league, vague, rogue. В американском английском некоторые из этих слов имеют два варианта написания: catalogue, catalog; dialogue, dialog; monologue, monolog; prologue, prolog.
Сочетание GU произносится [gw] в некоторых словах латинского и испанского происхождения: language, lingua, linguistics, guava, Guatemala, Nicaragua, distinguish.
Звук [f] обычно передается согласной буквой F: file, full, faint, flame, flick, flight, fly, free, fry, prefer, defend, after, safe, scarf, half, beef, roof.
Двойная F обычно встречается в слоге с кратким гласным звуком: puff, cuff, cliff, riff, traffic. Двойная F также встречается в случаях, где приставка оканчивается на F, а корень начинается с F: affair, affirm, afford, differ, effect, offend, offer, suffer, suffix.
Буквосочетание PH тоже имеет звук [f]: photograph, physics, phonetics, philosophy, alphabet, symphony, apostrophe.
Буквосочетание GH передает звук [f] в конце слова: enough, rough, tough, laugh, cough.
В английских словах звук [sh] обычно представлен на письме буквосочетанием SH: she, shine, shark, shoe, rush, fish.
Сочетание CH произносится [sh] в словах французского происхождения: champagne, chandelier, charlatan, chef, chevron, chic, chiffon, cache, machine.
Есть несколько сочетаний согласная + гласная, которые произносятся [sh], а именно, TI, CI, SI, SU и они обычно находятся в суффиксе или прямо перед ним.
Сочетание CI: appreciate, associate; social, official, special, financial; musician, politician, magician; ancient, efficient; delicious, suspicious, precious, vicious, conscious.
Сочетание SI: extension, expansion, comprehension; discussion, expression, fission, mission.
Сочетание TI: negotiate, initiate, substantiate; essential, confidential, initial, martial; patient, ambitious, cautious; condition, section, organization.
Сочетание SU: sugar, sure, sensual, assure, censure, fissure, pressure, issue, tissue.
Буква X и буквосочетание XH передают звуки [ks]: exercise, exclaim, exclude, expect, experiment, explain, extreme, exhibition.
Буква X и буквосочетание XH передают звуки [gz]: exact, example, execute, exempt, exert, exist, exhaust, exhibit, exhilarate.
Некоторые слова с X или XH имеют два варианта произношения: exile ['egzail], ['eksail]; exhale [eks'heil], [ig'zeil]; exhume [ig'zu:m], [eks'hyu:m].
Обратите внимание, что в некоторых словах после EX есть буква C: exceed, excellent, except, excite, excuse, Excalibur, excavate. В таких случаях произношение подчиняется правилам буквы C перед гласными: [ks] exceed, excellent, except, excite; [ks+k] excavate, Excalibur, excuse.
В некоторых словах греческого происхождения буква X произносится [z]: xenon ['zenon], ['zi:non]; xenophobia, Xerox ['zi:roks], xylophone.
Звук [z] часто представлен на письме согласной буквой S: rose [rouz], wise, was, always, his, present, resist, music, poison, reason, busy, clumsy, organism, realism, advertise, advise, comprise, raise, surprise.
Но буква S никогда не произносится [z] в самом начале слова, поэтому если вы слышите звук [z] как первый звук слова, вы можете быть практически уверены, что это слово пишется с начальной буквой Z.
Буква Z обычно имеет звук [z]: zebra, zeal, zenith, zero, Zeus, zinc, zip, zipper, zombie, zone, zoo; dozen, citizen, horizon, razor, enzyme, ozone, plaza, lazy, crazy, quiz; seize, organize, realize, apologize, modernize.
Двойная буква Z тоже произносится [z]: drizzle, sizzle, puzzle, mezzanine; buzz, jazz, fuzzy.
Буквы Z и ZZ произносятся [ts] в словах иностранного происхождения: pizza ['pi:tsə]; mezzo ['metsou], ['mezou]; Mozart ['moutsa:rt]; mozzarella [motsə'relə]; Nazi ['na:tsi:].
В нескольких иностранных заимствованиях звук [ts] представлен буквами TZ: waltz, chintz, blitz, blitzkrieg, Fitzgerald.
Согласный звук [y] представлен на письме буквой Y перед гласной, в основном в начале слова: yacht, Yale, Yankee, yarn, yard, yawn, year, yearn, yeast, yell, yellow, yelp, Yemen, yen, yes, yesterday, yet, yield, yoga, yogurt, yoke, yolk, New York, you, young, Yukon, yule; beyond, canyon, Tanya, Tonya, lawyer.
Согласный звук [y] также передается гласной I в определенных положениях в слове после согласной перед другой гласной: billiards, billion, familiar, milliard, million, onion, junior, senior, union.
В ряде случаев, согласный звук [y] не обозначен никакой буквой на письме, например, в случае гласной U, когда она произносится [yu:]: use [yu:z], unit ['yu:nit], cube [kyu:b], music, human, few, fuel, feudal, view.
Spelling patterns for English consonant sounds. Consonant letter combinations and the sounds that they represent.
Модели написания для английских согласных звуков. Сочетания согласных букв и звуки, которые они передают.