BSS & How many letters, how many sounds? Spelling and pronunciation [All sections with this symbol (, .) are on the recording. Listen to them while you read this page. ‘There are 26 letters in the English alphabet. ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ There are five vowel letters. A E10 U And there are 21 consonant letters. 8 CD FGH J KLMNPQRSTVWXYZ But there are more than 40 vowel and consonant sounds in Tn some words, the number of leters is the same as the number of sounds. best 4 esters, 4 sounds bpelsyt thafsls dentist 7 letters, 7 sounds @fefm]tyifs|e tf2falatsl[e[7 ‘But sometimes the number of sounds is different from the number of leters. In green, ee is one sound, and in happy, pp is one sound. green S letters, 4 sounds slrlele n] [*TaJoTe[y tet 3 lala 3 [4] In bread, ea is one sound, bl lelaya bread’ S lees, 4 sounds thats ta In some words there are silent letters (letters with no sound). In listen, tis silent. listen 6 letters, 5 sounds. TTifs[tje[n 12[3{-[als In some words, one letter is two sounds. The x in sixis two sounds like k + s. six 3 letters, 4 sounds s[ilx t2h3T4 ‘We sometimes write the same sound differently in different words. For example, the ein red sounds like the ea in bread. Sometimes two words have the same pronunciation but different spellings. (See Section ES. Homophones.) know ~no Az Do you know? 8: No, | don't ‘And sometimes two words have the same spelling but different pronunciations. rend (infinitive and present tense) ~ read (past tense) ‘A: Do you want to read the newspaper? B: No, thanks, read i this morning, ‘Because there are more sounds than letters, we use symbols for pronunciation. Mest/ best dentist/ dentist /gritn/ green Phepi/ happy kofi/ coffee ison listen (Orit three /siks/ six Jsnks/ socks fored/ bread /naw/ no /nau/ know —/red red ‘ced! rend (past tense) [rsd read (infinitive and present tense) ‘The symbol ' (look at the beginning of the symbols for dentist, happy, coffee, listen) comes before stressed syllables (see Section B Syllables and words). Englsh Pronunciation in Use (Elementary)1 ® 12 Section A Sounds and speling Exercises Write the number of letters and the number of sounds in these words. letters | sounds green 5 4 all back could knee sixty thing 7 who 8 adress Check with the Key (09 page 138). Then listen and repeat. Some pronunciation symbols are easy. Write these words in their normal speling. EXAMME /best/ best 1 Pig! 2 idres! S fhelpl 6 nest A lgtv) — 7 Meri! — Check with the Key. Then listen and repeat. Al five words in each group have the same vowel letter or u~ but one has a different vowel sound. Circle the word with the different vowel sound in each group. EXAMOLE on ‘op stop gone 1 give time sit rich 2 apple bad wash bank 3 much bus sun up 4 many ‘maths man flat Cheek with the Key. Then listen and repeat. Write words that rhyme (the end part of the word sounds the same). EXAMPLE Check with the Key. Then listen and repeat.