Spoken English: Flourish Your Language

Spoken English II

with a vowel sound

UNdERSTANdiNG vOWEls ANd CONSONANTS fOR liNkiNG
To understand linking, it is important to know the difference be-
tween vowel sounds and consonant sounds. Given below is a list
of English vowels and consonants:
Vowels: a, e, i, 0, U
Consonants: b, c, d, f, g, h, j, k, 1, m, n, p, q, r, s, t, V, w, x, y, z
The list shows the letters that are vowels and consonants. But the
important thing in linking is the sound, not the letter. Often the
letter and the sound are the same, but not always.
For example, the word 'pay' ends with:

• the consonant letter 'y'
  the vowel sound {a' Here are some more examples:

ends with the letter

ends with the sound

begins with the letter

begins with the sound

liNkiNG CONSONANT TO vowEl

though

h

0

unifonn

U

Y

know

w

0

honest

h

0

When a word ends in a consonant sound, we often move the con-

sonant sound to the beginning of the next word if it starts with a

vowel sound.

For example, in the phrase 'turn off':

We write it like this: turn off