First, let's find out what is the difference open syllable in English language from the closed one and, using examples, let's see how to correctly read the letters in a particular syllable.

Open syllable in English

If a word ends in a vowel, then it is an open syllable.

name - name

my - my

take - to take

You probably already noticed that in almost all cases, the vowel e at the end of a word is mute (unreadable). Let's now take a closer look at how to correctly read vowels in an open stressed syllable.

In an open syllable, all vowels are read as in the alphabet. An exception is the letter y. There are 6 vowels in the alphabet. Let's look at each of them in the table below.

English vowels and examples of their pronunciation in words

Aa

name - name
lake - lake
say - to say

As you may have noticed, the last vowel in the English word is not readable. It only says that the first vowel in a word should be read as in the alphabet.

Ee

be - to be
me - me
settle - bench

In most prepositions, we pronounce the last vowel, as in the example with the preposition be (to be) and me (me).

Ii

nice - to be
like - me
line - bench

Oo

no - no
nose - nose
go - go, go

Uu

mute - mute
tune - tune

Yy

my - my
skype - skype

The vowel y in the English word conveys sound despite the fact that it has a transcription.

Closed syllable in English.

If a word ends with a consonant, then it is closed syllable.

pen - pen

good [ɡʊd] - good

sit - to sit

Let's analyze the rules for reading each vowel separately in closed syllable in English.

English vowels and examples of their pronunciation in a closed syllable

Aa

bad - bad
dad - dad
back - back
black - black
flat - apartment

The letter Aa in a closed stressed syllable is read like the sound [æ]. This sound is similar to something between the Russian A and E. In the examples, you can clearly hear how to pronounce this sound. Practice well before moving on to the next letter.

Oo

stop - stop
box - box
from - from, from
shop - shop
hot - hot

Letter Oo in a closed stressed syllable reads like the sound [ə]. This sound is similar to the Russian sound O, but in Russian, when we pronounce O, we pull our lips forward, in English, when pronouncing the sound [ə], the lips do not extend forward. In the examples, you can clearly hear how to pronounce this sound.

Ii

big - big
film - film
milk - milk
sit - to sit
fish - fish

The letter Ii in a closed stressed syllable is read like the sound [I]. This sound is similar to the Russian sound I. In the examples, you can clearly hear how to pronounce this sound.

Ee

best - the best
bed - bed
dress - dress
egg - egg
get - get

The letter Ee in a closed stressed syllable is read like the sound [e]. This sound is similar to the Russian sound E. In the examples, you can clearly hear how to pronounce this sound.

Uu

cup - cup
sun - sun
run - run
fun - fun
up - up

The letter Uu in a closed stressed syllable is read like the sound [ʌ]. This sound is similar to the Russian A sound, but in English it is more intense. In the examples, you can clearly hear how to pronounce this sound.

Yy

gym - gym
myth - myth
rhythm - rhythm

The letter Yy in a closed stressed syllable is read in the same way as the letter Ii. This sound is similar to the Russian sound I. In the examples, you can clearly hear how to pronounce this sound.

Useful

A diphthong is when one letter contains two sounds. For example, in the letter a, there are two sounds.

Open closed syllable in English: exercises

Now let's practice a little. Choose which of the sounds is present in the word.

red (red)

black (black)

A word consists of one or more syllables. In Russian, as you know, a syllable is formed by a vowel. In English, a syllable is formed not only by vowels, but also by some sonorous consonants(in which the voice received by vibration vocal cords prevails over the noise that occurs when overcoming the obstacle with exhaled air), namely, the consonants [m], [n], [l]. They can form a syllable when there is a consonant in front of them, and after them there is no vowel. Thus, such consonants are called syllabic.
An example is the word table ["teɪbl], which has two syllables, in which the second syllable is formed by the consonant" l ": ta-ble (I foresee a possible question - what about the final" e "? And the final" e "is not pronounced here and serves only to ensure the openness of the first syllable and the alphabetical reading of the stressed vowel "a" in it, which will be discussed in more detail below.) In the example of sudden ["sʌdn], a word that also consists of two syllables: sud-den, the second syllable is formed by the consonant "n", due to the fact that the preceding "e" is unreadable (in English suffix"en" is generally not readable "e").

If there are more than one syllable in a word, then one of them (and in a polysyllabic word there can be two) is pronounced stronger, clearer, louder, more intense - such a syllable is called percussion... The rest of the syllables are therefore unstressed. In English, the stress, which is never placed directly on the letter, but only when a word is transcribed, for example, in a dictionary, is always stressed in a syllable, above (main stress) and below (secondary stress, if any):

factory

to begin

screwdriver

To learn to read correctly in English, it is necessary not only to know the correspondence of letters and sounds, both vowels and consonants, but also rules for dividing into graphic syllables which directly determine reading rules in English.

So, the rules for dividing into graphic syllables are as follows:

1. If there is one consonant in a word between two vowels (but NOT the letter r), then when dividing into syllables it goes to the second unstressed syllable, that is, the stressed syllable turns out to be open and the vowel in it is read by type I of the syllable (as in the alphabet): lo-tos ["ləʊtəs], o-bey [ə" beɪ]. If there is a consonant "r" behind the stressed vowel of a two-syllable word, this vowel is read according to the IV type of syllable, for example, during ["djʊərɪŋ], Mary [" mɛərɪ].
   Exception: in English there are a number of two-syllable words in which the stressed vowel in an open syllable is read briefly, for example: city ["sɪtɪ], pity [" pɪtɪ], copy ["kɔpɪ], very [" verɪ], etc.
2. If there are two or three consonant letters in a word between two vowels (including the doubled letter r), then one of them (sometimes two) remains in the first syllable (closing the stressed syllable). The vowel in this case is read according to type II of a syllable (briefly), and the second (sometimes second and third) consonants go to the second syllable: ten-der ["tendə], trans-la-te. The exception to this rule will be discussed in the following point 2.
3. If in a word between two vowels there are two consonant letters, of which the second conveys a sound that is a syllable ([m], [n], [l]), then when dividing into syllables, both consonants move to the second syllable, leaving the first (stressed ) open syllable: no-ble ["nəʊbl], Bi-ble [" baɪbl].
4. Doubled consonants convey one sound, although they are broken into syllables in writing. In this case, the border of a syllable passes inside this sound: let-ter ["letə], sor-ry [" sɔrɪ].
5. If there are three consonants in a word between two vowels, one of which conveys a syllable sound, then when dividing into syllables, the first consonant goes to the first syllable, and the other two to the second: twid-dle ["twɪdl].

Types of syllables in English

The English language has the following types of graphic syllables.

1. Open syllable ending in a vowel: be, me, he;
2. Closed syllable ending in one or more consonants: met, nest;
3. Conditionally open syllable, occurs when a word has two vowels separated by one consonant. There are two graphic syllables in such a word: ta-ke, li-ke. In the second syllable, the vowel "e" is not read (hence its name dumb e). The first syllable ends in a vowel, i.e. is open. Thus, in such words, only one vowel is read, that is, phonetically (in pronunciation) one syllable is in it, since the second vowel is not readable.

In preparing the article, materials were used

1. Ed. Arakina V.D .; Selyanina L.I., Gintovt K.P., Sokolova M.A. and other Practical course of the English language. 1 course: Textbook. for pedagogical universities on specials. "Foreign language." - 5th ed., Rev. - M .: Humanit. ed. center "Vlados", 1998. (pp. 42-43)
2. Belkina, G.A .; Levina, L.V. Corrective course in English phonetics. Publisher: M .: In-Yaz, 1971 (p. 8)

The reading of a vowel depends on the letters adjacent to it and on the type of syllable in which it is located.

Open syllable

A syllable is considered open if it ends in a vowel (to-tal, ri-val, bi-ble, mo-tor). The vowel in this case gives a long sound - that is, it is read as in the alphabet. Words with a dumb "e" also belong to this type. For example:

• take
• Pete
• kite
• nose
• cute

Some monosyllabic words also represent open syllables. For example, me, she, he and no, so, go.

Closed syllable

The closed syllable is the most common spelling unit of the English language; it makes up about 50% of the syllables in the text. The closed syllable ends in one or more consonants, and the vowel is read briefly in this case.

In English, there are many closed-type monosyllabic words (cat, pin, hen). If a vowel is added to them, the consonant in front of it is doubled. This is done in order to avoid changing the sound. For example:

• hat - ha tt er
• pin - pi nn ed
• hot - ho tt est
• red - re dd ish
• cut - cu tt ing

The syllable "vowel + r"

The third type of syllable is one in which the vowel is followed by the letter "r". At the same time, the vowel gives a long sound, and the "r" itself is not readable (c).

• car
• herb
• girl [ɡɜːl]
• form
• turn

The doubled "r" does not affect the sound of the vowel. In this case, the syllable is read as closed. Compare:

• smi r k - mi rr or [ˈmɪrə]
• cu r l - cu rr ent [ˈkʌr (ə) nt]
• po r t - to rr ent [ˈtɒr (ə) nt]

The syllable "vowel + re"

In a syllable of this type, the letter "r" is also not read, and the vowel forms a diphthong.

• dare
• mere
• hire [ˈhaɪə]
• core
• pure

The syllable "consonant + le"

Sometimes this syllable stands out separately - it occurs only at the end of a word. If -le is preceded by one consonant, the syllable is read as open. If -le is preceded by two consonants, it is read as closed. Compare:

• ta bl e [ˈteɪbl] - da bbl e, ti tl e [ˈtaɪtl] - li ttl e [ˈlɪtl]
• bu gl e - stru ggl e [ˈstrʌɡl], ri fl e [ˈraɪfl] - sni ffl e [ˈsnɪfl]

Not every consonant is found in combination with -le... Here are the ones that are typical for the English language:

• -ble (bubble) -fle (rifle) -stle (whistle) -cle (cycle)
• -gle (bugle) -tle (brittle) -ckle (pickle) -kle (tinkle)
• -zle (dazzle) -dle (bridle) -ple (staple)

Vowel combinations (digraphs)

A digraph is a combination of two letters that are pronounced as one sound. In the case of vowels, it can be a long, short sound or a diphthong. Most often, digraphs are found in old Anglo-Saxon words, the pronunciation of which has undergone changes over hundreds of years: thief, boil, hay, boat, straw. They are read by special rules, but they have many exceptions, so these words need to be learned gradually and systematically.

Basic vowel digraphs

Writing	Pronunciation	Examples of
ai / ay	[eɪ]	bait, hay
au / aw	[ ɔː ]	taunt, draw
ea	[i:]	meat, deal
	[e]	bread, steady
ee	[i:]	feed, reel
ei	[eɪ]	feint, vein
	[i:] (after c)	ceiling, receive
eu / ew	[ju:]	feud, strewn
ie	[i:]	thief, priest
oa	[ əʊ ]	coat, goal
oi / oy	[ ɔɪ ]	coin, toy
oo	[u:]	root, food
	[ʊ] (before k)	book, look
ou	[aʊ]	loud, noun
	[u:]	soup, ghoul
ow	[aʊ]	cow, howl
	[oʊ]	know, low

A vowel combination is not a digraph if the vowels belong to different syllables. In this case, the first vowel is read as in an open syllable, and the second is in an unstressed position and gives the sound [ə]. For example: lion ["laɪən], diet [ˈdaɪət].

You will come across these words in almost any English textbook. What syllables are is more or less clear. Why are they open and closed? And why do you need to know this at all?

Open syllables end in a vowel (for example, ma-ma). Closed , respectively, to a consonant (for example, port felle). For reading in Russian it does not matter what type of syllable. But in English, it will depend on how to read the word correctly.

So that's it. Shock vowel in an open syllable reads same way, what is the name of in the alphabet ( Attention: not any vowel, but only a stressed one!). Besides the letter Yy (wye) which reads simply (ay).

Aa			Oo
Ee			Uu
Ii			Yy

It happens three variants of an open syllable:

1) C G SG - stressed vowel is separated from the next vowel in the word by only one consonant. It doesn't matter if there are any further consonants. For example:

i = ah l i ke - [l aI k] ( like - like)

a = hey k a te [k eI t] (Kate)

u = u p u pil [p ju pl] (pupil - student)

By the way: letter Her (AND) at the end of a word is not readable if there are other vowels besides it.

2) C G- a single vowel at the end of a word. For example:

i = ah i[h aI ] (hi - hi)

e = and: h e[h J ] (hee - he)

y = ah m y[m aI ] (May is mine)

3) C GГ - two vowels stand side by side. Then the first (stressed) vowel is in an open syllable, and the second is not read at all. For example:

o = oy c o at ( cote - coat)

e = and: s e e [s J ] (si - see)

a = hey p a int ( paint - dye)

V closed syllable (that is, one that ends in a consonant - one (and immediately after it there is no vowel) or several at once)vowels read like this :

Aa	[x] (eh)		Oo	[O] (oh)
Ee	[e] (e)		Uu	[A] (a)
Ii	[I] (and)		Yy	[I] (and)

That is, each letter has its own sound, except for letters. Ii - Ayy Yy - Wye who read the same- (and).

For example:

Aa		(hat) - hat (fan)- fan The mouth opens wide, the sound is "big"
Ee		(ed) -red (ten) - ten The mouth opens slightly, the sound is pronounced on a half smile. Consonants don't soften!
Ii		(pig) - pig (sit) - sit
Oo	stop	(great dane) - dog (stop) - stop
Uu		(ran) - run (cat) - cut
Yy	system symbol	(systems) - system (symbol) - symbol

What happens?

1. 1) There are syllables open(end in a vowel or immediately after them there is a vowel) and closed(end in a consonant).

2. 2) B open we read the stressed vowel in the syllable, what is it called in the alphabet. V closed syllable vowels denote brief sounds.

Letter	Called	Read
		in open syllable	in a closed syllable
	Hey	Hey	uh (wide)
		and	e (narrow)
	Ay	ah	and
	OU	OU	O
		NS	a
	Wye	ah	and

3. 3) Letters Ii-Hey and Yy-Wye read equally: in an open syllable - (ah), in a closed - (and).

:) If it is not clearer - please ask questions!