Practice Materials for Simple Vowels (AmE)

These materials can be used as additional phonetic exercises for practicing simple vowel sounds (monophthongs) in frequently used words. Words are arranged here in groups with similar spelling. After sufficient practice of these exercises, you can mix the words and practice their pronunciation again. (You can listen to similar words in Listening for Vowels (AmE) in the section Phonetics.)

Эти материалы можно использовать как дополнительные фонетические упражнения на простые гласные звуки (монофтонги) в часто употребляемых словах. Слова собраны здесь в группы с похожим написанием. После достаточной практики на этих упражнениях, можно перемешать слова и снова упражняться в их произношении. (Вы можете прослушать похожие слова в материале для прослушивания Listening for Vowels (AmE) в разделе Phonetics.)

Monophthongs

[i:], [i], [e], [æ], [a:], [o:], [o], [u:], [yu:], [u], [ər], [ə]

see – hit – red – cat – car – more – not – rule – use – book – sir – but;

The sound [i:] as in SEE

be – me – he – she – we – eve – these – theme – scene – Pete – Steve;

equal – even – evening – evil – recent – region – legal – detail – female – media – meter – secret – veto;

hero – zero – period – superior – experience – series – serious – cereal – material – bacteria – criterion;

compete – delete – complete – Chinese – Japanese;

remake – retell – rewrite – reorganize – prehistoric;

bee – see – fee – free – agree – degree – knee – trainee – refugee;

feel – keen – seen – seem – seek – deep – sleep – keep – meet – feed – speed – succeed – cheese;

sea – tea – team – cream – clean – lead – read – speak – teach – deal – leave – leap – please – breathe – peace – heat – meat;

piece – field – achieve – believe – brief – chief – siege – priest – yield;

ceiling – seize – receive – deceive – leisure;

machine – marine – police – casino – regime – magazine – naive – pizza – ski – liter – unique – technique;

key – people;

[i:] before final [r]: diphthongal character [i:(ə)r]

here – mere – sincere – severe – sphere – atmosphere – interfere;

beer – peer – cheer – sheer – steer – queer – engineer – pioneer – volunteer;

fear – hear – ear – near – clear – rear – tear – dear – appear – year – beard;

fierce – pierce – pier – tier – cashier – brigadier.

Note: The sound [i:] before the final sound [r] in words like BEER, NEAR, HERE has diphthongal character. Transcription symbols for this sound in American ESL materials may be [i:r], [ihr], [ir], [i:(ə)r], [iə(r)].

Примечание: Звук [i:] перед конечным звуком [r] в словах типа BEER, NEAR, HERE имеет характер дифтонга. Символы транскрипции для этого звука в американских материалах ESL могут быть [i:r], [ihr], [ir], [i:(ə)r], [iə(r)].

The sound [i] as in HIT

hit – him – his – is – it – fit – did – rid – tip – lip – pick – sick – fill – kill – swim – win – sing – bring – pink – kiss – miss – list – build – guilt;

river – dinner – idiot – city – busy – sister – history – consist – resist – admit – forbid – begin;

ignore – inform – invite – disturb – dislike – mistake – mislead;

cabin – habit – unit – justice – public – stupid – foolish – terrible – active;

running – stopping – talking – hitting – eating – living – leaving;

English – pretty – enough – effect – emotion – despair – decide – depart – deposit – security;

remove – renew – repair – repeat – reply – prepare – preliminary,

actress – illness – madness – careless – bullet – pocket – rocket;

classes – prizes – mixes – watches – bridges – added – loaded – painted – counted;

symbol – lyrics – pyramid – sympathy – crystal – system – typical – mystery – synonym.

The sound [e] as in RED

red – bed – bet – let – met – set – sell – well – tell – rent – end;

berry – very – every – empty – better – letter – center – second – accept – connect – impress – address;

embrace – employ – engage – enjoy – enlarge – enroll – escape – establish – estate;

bread – dead – head – lead – read – spread – thread – ready – steady – sweat – sweater – threat – breath – death – health – wealth – dealt – meant – weather – leather – measure – pleasure – treasure – pleasant – heavy – deaf – jealous – breakfast – weapon;

any – many – friend – said – says – bury;

[e] before final [r] – diphthongal character [e(ə)r]

care – dare – bare – rare – share – spare – scare – declare – compare – prepare;

fair – hair – air – affair – pair – repair – despair;

wear – swear – bear – pear – tear.

The sound [æ] as in CAT

bad – lad – sad – had – mad – add – cat – rat – sat – back – pack – lack – rack – sack – stack;

fan – pan – Ann – Annie – Dan – tan – man – ban – plan – clan;

land – hand – sand – stand – command – demand – ant – aunt;

dance – chance – glance – fancy – answer – dancer;

bank – tank – rank – rang – bang – sang – anger;

class – grass – jazz – glass – last – fast – past – master – disaster – castle – task – ask – grasp;

talent – family – travel – panel – manner – matter – grammar – marry – carry;

fashion – rational – national – natural – sanity – vanity;

happy – happen – apple – battle – cattle – rattle – candle – handle – example;

fact – factory – act – action – actor – accident;

draft – after – laugh – staff – bath – path.

The sound [a:] as in CAR

car – card – hard – are – far – bar – garden – pardon – part – party – yard;

art – start – heart – harm – charm – arm – army – argue – guard – regard;

lark – dark – park – parking – mark – market – marker – march – large – charge – margin;

father – calm – palm – balm – drama – bravo – spa;

mirage – garage – massage – facade – ensemble.

The sound [o:] as in MORE

core – more – bore – before – shore – sore – store – tore – explore – ignore;

cord – lord – order – form – normal – fork – pork – port – sport – short – horn – torn – born – corn – corner;

boring – story – sorry – borrow – sorrow – tomorrow – morning – forum – forest – orange;

law – saw – draw – crawl – lawn – dawn – awful – awkward;

call – hall – ball – all – always – already – walk – talk – chalk – false – salt – halt;

cause – because – pause – sauce – Saul – Paul – haul – launch – laundry;

August – autumn – audio – audience – auto – author – fraud;

quart – quarter – quantity – quality;

caught – taught – daughter – bought – brought – fought – ought – thought – cough;

four – pour – course – of course – source – court – door – floor – roar – board – broad;

war – warm – warn – warning – award – reward – water – want – wash – watch – swan;

long – wrong – song – gone – boss – loss – lost – cost;

coffee – off – soft – often – office – offer.

The sound [o] as in NOT

hot – lot – not – got – forgot – forgotten – bottle – bottom – body – model – modern;

dog – fog – log – lock – clock – rock – doctor – document;

top – stop – pop – popular – proper – profit – problem – rob – robber – hobby – lobby;

college – dollar – Tom – bomb – comment – compliment – follow – swallow;

John – bond – fond – respond – possible – concert – conference – monitor – monster;

possible – positive – probably – bother – hostel – hostage;

object – occupy – odd – option – optimist – optical.

The sound [u:] as in RULE

rude – rule – rumor – brutal – Lucy – June – junior – Julia – parachute;

do – two – who – whom – whose – lose – move – prove – improve – tomb – shoe;

food – cool – school – fool – foolish – pool – tool – boom – moon – soon – choose – boost – tooth – soothe – boot – shoot – too – zoo;

group – soup – wound – coupon – route – routine – souvenir – boulevard – through;

flew – blew – crew – Jew – jewel – blue – glue – true – fruit – juice – cruise – cruel – fluent.

[u:] or [u]

room – broom – roof – root – soot – hoof – coop – boulevard.

The sound [yu:] as in USE

use – useful – union – unit – unite – unique – university – usual – utility;

fuse – refuse – future – cute – cube – huge – humor – human – fuel;

music – museum – amuse – community – mute – mutual – pupil – computer – dispute – menu;

few – view – mew – nephew – feud – beauty – youth.

[u:] or [yu:]

duty – duplicate – produce – reduce – dual – dude – due – dew – stew;

tune – tulip – tumor – student – studio – stupid;

new – newspaper – nude – nuclear – numeral – nutrition;

sue – pursue – suit – consume – consumer – Susan – super – supermarket.

The sound [u] as in BOOK

book – cook – hook – look – shook – took – good – hood – stood – wood – foot – wool – woolen;

put – push – pull – full – bull – bullet – bush – butcher – pudding – sugar – cushion – plural – jury;

woman – wolf – could – should – would;

[u] before final [r] – diphthongal character [u(ə)r]: poor – tour – sure – assure;

[yu] before final [r] – diphthongal character [yu(ə)r]: pure – cure – secure – obscure.

The sound [ər] as in SIR

her – herb – verb – serve – perfect – person – certain – were – concern – prefer;

mister – cover – buyer – better – teacher – finger – powder – perceive – percent;

fur – burn – turn – purse – hurry – current – curtain – furnish – purple – purpose – turkey – urge – urgent;

return – disturb – occur;

lecture – nature – picture – pressure – pleasure – measure;

fir – sir – stir – bird – shirt – skirt – girl – circle – circus – dirty – third – thirty – first – thirsty;

heard – learn – search – pearl – early – earn – earth;

word – work – worm – worry – worse – worst – worth – world;

forget – forgive – favor – visitor – doctor – comfort – effort;

courage – courtesy – journey – journal – glamour – amateur – chauffeur;

grammar – dollar – sugar – solar – vulgar – beggar.

The neutral sound [ə] as in BUT

but – nut – fun – sun – dull – lucky – ugly – suddenly – punish – publish;

bus – fuss – buzz – plus – must – rust – trust – much;

unhappy – undo – submit – suggest – helpful – skillful – difficult – minus;

about – afraid – around – asleep – away – likable – central – constant – cinema – soda;

some – son – done – money – mother – brother – other – color – love;

correct – collect – contain – memory – history – freedom – lesson;

blood, flood;

rough – tough – touch – country – cousin – couple – double – trouble – famous – jealous;

gallery – operate – tolerate – golden – system – different – movement;

terrible – horrible – possible – festival – family.

Note: The following transcription symbols are generally used for the neutral sound in American ESL materials: 1. [ʌ] (caret) in stressed syllables (fun, son) and [ə] (schwa) in unstressed syllables (about, lesson); 2. [ə] (schwa) in both stressed and unstressed syllables.

Примечание: Следующие символы транскрипции обычно используются для нейтрального звука в американских материалах ESL: 1. [ʌ] (caret) в ударных слогах (fun, son) и [ə] (schwa) в безударных слогах (about, lesson); 2. [ə] (schwa) и в ударных, и в безударных слогах.