Pronunciation of "u"

Ex. 1 Put the following words into categories depending on the pronunciation of the letter "u", sometimes including adjacent letters.

full, pull, cute, put, beautiful, dune, duty, careful, lute, minute (adjective), tearful, sugar, mute, cut, wonderful, nude, rebuke, rune, duck, tune, rude, luck, mutton and spuds, business, unable, minute (noun), unseen

1. /ʊ/ 2. /uː/ 3. /juː/ 4. /ʌ/ 5. /ə/ 6. /ɪ/

Ex. 2 How do we pronounce the letters "-ure" in the following words?

leisure, pure, obscure, measure, sure, endure, pleasure, lure, seizure,


Key
1. /ʊ/ full, pull, put, sugar 2. /uː/ lute, rude, rune 3. /juː/ cute, dune, duty, minute (adj), mute, nude, rebuke, tune 4. /ʌ/ cut, duck, luck, mutton and spuds, unable, unseen 5. /ə/ beautiful, careful, tearful, wonderful 6. /ɪ/ business, minute (n)

2. leisure, measure, pleasure, seizure /ə/, pure, obscure, endure, lure /jɔː/ (conservative /jʊə/), sure /ɔː/ (conservative /ʊə/)

Pronunciation of digraphs beginning with "o"

Ex. Below is a list of words containing "o" followed by another vowel letter (including "y"). How should they be pronounced? Are there any words in which "oo" are not inside one syllable?

OA boa, board, hoard, roar, soar, toad
OE doe, foe, poet, roe, shoe, toe
OI hoist, loiter, moist, oi!
OO book, cool, cooperate, loot, rook, soot,
OU bough, coup, doubt, gout, sought, through
OY boy, coy, oyster, Roy, soy, toy


Key
OA /ˈbəʊə/, /bɔːd/, /hɔːd/, /rɔː/, /sɔː/, /təʊd/
OE /dəʊ/, /fəʊ/, /ˈpəʊɪt/, /rəʊ/, /ʃuː/, /təʊ/
OI /hɔɪst/, /ˈlɔɪtə/, /mɔɪst/, /ɔɪ!/
OO /bʊk/, /kuːl/, /kəʊˈɒpəˌreɪt/, /luːt/, /rʊk/, /sʊt/,
OU /baʊ/, /kuː/, /daʊt/, /gaʊt/, /sɔːt/, /θruː/
OY /bɔɪ/, /kɔɪ/, /ˈɔɪstə/, /rɔɪ/, /sɔɪ/, /tɔɪ/
The letters "oo" in "cooperate" belong to different morphemes, hence they are in different syllables. This is why they are not pronounced as /uː/ or /ʊ/.

The transcription comes from ToPhonetics: tophonetics.com.

Pronunciation of "o"

Like some other vowel letters described before, "o" can be pronounced in several ways, sometimes depending on whether the word contains a double consonant letter, a silent or 'magic' "-e" or if the "o" is in an unstressed syllable.

Ex. 1 Put the following words into categories depending on the pronunciation of the letter "o", sometimes including adjacent letters.

Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (a film), one, lot, tore, come, sore, spot, some, shore, cot, more, none, job, done, core, tore, jot, dozen, shot, doll, dock, mock, frock, owl, role, consider, cowl, roll, contain, dole, contract (noun), contract (verb), How now, brown cow?, hole, other, lose, joke, coke, broke, rose, another, pose, women, propose

1. /ɒ/ 2. /ʌ/ 3. /ɔː/ 4. /əʊ/ 5. /aʊ/ 6. /ə/ 7. /uː/ 8. /ɪ/

Ex. 2 Are these pairs of words pronounced the same?

a. none - nun   sore - soar   bored - board   come - comb

b. ore - oar   lot - loot   sod - soared   loft - laughed


Key
Ex. 1
1. /ɒ/ lock, stock, lot, spot, cot, job, jot, shot, doll, dock, mock, frock, contract (n)
2. /ʌ/ one /wʌn/, come, some, none, done, dozen, other, another
3. /ɔː/ tore, sore, shore, more, core, tore
4. /əʊ/ smoking, role, roll, dole, hole, joke, coke, broke, rose, pose, propose
5. /aʊ/ owl, cowl, how, now, brown, cow
6. /ə/ consider, contain, contract (v)
7. /uː/ lose, two
8. /ɪ/ women

Ex. 2 a. yes, yes, yes, no   b. yes, no, no, no

Pronunciation of digraphs beginning with "i"

Ex. 1 Look at the following words and write how to pronounce the digraphs beginning with the letter "i". Note that in the letters in question may belong to different syllables (so the letter combinations are not technically digraphs).

IA aria, diary, liar, pariah, piano, tiara, via

IE achieve, believe, fiery, pliers, retrieve, supplier

IO biology, ion, lion, Zion
IU diuretic

Ex. 2 Do these words rhyme?

a. belief - relief   b. aria - Maria   c. liar - dire   d. lion - lying   e. liege - league


KEY

1. IA /ˈɑːrɪə/, /ˈdaɪəri/, /ˈlaɪə/, /pə'rɪə/, /pɪˈænəʊ/, /tɪˈɑːrə/, /ˈvaɪə/ 

IE /əˈʧiːv/, /bɪˈliːv/, /ˈfaɪəri/, /ˈplaɪəz/, /rɪˈtriːv/, /səˈplaɪə/

IO /baɪˈɒləʤi/, /ˈaɪən/, /ˈlaɪən/, /ˈzaɪən/
IU /ˌdaɪjʊəˈretɪk/
2. a. yes, b. no, c. yes, d. no, e. no

I used toPhonetics at https://tophonetics.com/. 

Pronunciation of "i"

The pronunciation of "i" can change depending on the surrounding sounds and their spelling, e.g. in the sequences "ir" and "-ire", or in words with a silent or 'magic' "-e".

Ex. 1 Put the following words into categories depending on the pronunciation of the letter "i", sometimes including adjacent letters.

terrine, bin, girth, dire, fir, bicycle, machine, dirt, diner, birth, bring, live (adj.), mind, poutine, mine, sir, dinner, pride, smirk, ski, fire, right, hire, kiss, spine, Ireland, lips, sire, live (v.), pig, whip

1. /ɪ/ 2. /iː/, 3. /aɪ/, 4. /aɪə/ 5. /ɜː/

Ex. 2 How do we pronounce these noun suffixes?

1. "-sion": conclusion, vision, precision, television   2. "-ssion": concussion, passion, session

3. "-shion": fashion 4. "-tion": fraction, nation, probation, ration

Key

1. 1. /ɪ/ bin, bring, dinner, kiss, lips, live (v.), pig, whip 2. /iː/ machine, poutine, ski, terrine, 3. /aɪ/ bicycle, diner, live (adj.), mind, mine, pride, right, spine 4. /aɪə/ dire, fire, hire, Ireland, sire 5. /ɜː/ birth, dirt, fir, girth, sir, smirk

2. "-sion" /-ʒən/; "-ssion", "-shion" and "-tion" /ʃən/

I looked up a few words in the Cambridge Dictionary at https://dictionary.cambridge.org/.

Silent "-e": words beginning with "w/wh"

Ex. a. Add an "-e" to the spelling of the following words to form new words and write the difference in the pronunciation of the vowel. Change the spelling from "w" to "wh" or conversely if necessary.

wad, wag, war, win, whip, wit, wok

b. Transcribe the following pairs of words phonemically.

will - while, whirr - wire, wall - whale, whiz - wise

KEY
a. wad-e /ɒ/ - /eɪ/, wag-e /wæg/ - /weɪdʒ/, war-e /ɔː/ - /eə/, win-e/whine /ɪ/ - /aɪ/, wipe /ɪ/ - /aɪ/, white /ɪ/ - /aɪ/, wok-e /ɒ/ - /əʊ/,
b. will - while /wɪl - /waɪl/, whirr - wire /wɜː/ - /waɪə/, wall - whale /wɔːl/ - /weɪl/, whiz - wise /wɪz/ - /waɪz/

Silent "-e" and changes in pronunciation

English contains thousands of words in which the final letter "e" is called 'silent e'. In fact, however, it is a sign that the previous vowel sound is a long vowel or a diphthong. Sometimes other changes in spelling and pronunciation occur as well. Some sources call it 'magic e', as it is supposed to 'make a vowel say its name'. Look at the following example:

The vowel "e" is called 'ee' /iː/. The word 'pet' is pronounced /pet/, and the name 'Pete' is pronounced /piːt/.

The same is sometimes true of the letters "a", "i", "o" and "u". Of course there are exceptions: 'come', 'some' 'one' have a 'silent e' but retain a short vowel.

When a vowel letter is followed by the letter "r" and "-e" is added, the 'magic e' rule does not apply and other changes take place. Note that Exercise 3 describes non-rhotic pronunciation (no /r/ after vowels).

Ex. 1 Add an "-e" to the following words and write how the vowels change when a new word is formed (look at the example above).

A: mat, man, pan, can, tap, fat, hat, pal

E: met, den

I: thin, lit, pin, spit, spin, win

O: cod, con, mod

U: hug, cut

Ex. 2 Change the letters "-ck" to "-ke" to form new words and write how the vowels change when a new word is formed.

A: back, lack, rack, tack   I: lick, pick, hick   O: jock, pock, stock   U: duck, luck

Ex. 3 Add an "-e" to the following words and write how the vowels change when a new word is formed (look at the example above).

A: bar, car, far, mar, scar, star   E: her, sever I: sir, fir  O: cor, for, lor

KEY

Ex. 1
A: mat-e, man-e, pan-e, can-e, tap-e, fat-e, hat-e, pal-e /æ/ - /eɪ/
E: met-e, den-e /e/ - /iː/ 

I: thin-e, lit-e, pin-e, spit-e, spin-e, win-e /ɪ/ - /aɪ/, NB. thin /θɪn/, thine /ðaɪn/
O: cod-e, con-e, mod-e /ɒ/ - /əʊ/
U: hug-e, cut-e /hʌg/ - /hjuːdʒ/, /kʌt/ - /kjuːt/

Ex. 2
A: bake, lake, rake, take /æ/ - /eɪ/, I: like, pike, hike /ɪ/ - /aɪ/ O: joke, poke, stoke /ɒ/ - /əʊ/, U: duke, Luke /ʌ/ - /uː/

Ex. 3
A: bar-e, car-e, far-e, mar-e, scar-e, star-e /ɑː/ - /eə/
E: her-e, sever-e /hɜː/ (weak /hə/) - /hɪə/, /ˈsevə/ - /sɪˈvɪə/
I: sir-e, fir-e /ɜː/ - /aɪə/
O: cor-e, for-e, lor-e no change /ɔː/

This time I got a little help from:

Tophonetics https://tophonetics.com/

Wordplays https://www.wordplays.com

Magic -e is described at Teflpedia: https://teflpedia.com/Magic_e