Before we begin to understand what an open and closed syllable is, I would like to immediately warn - in English language reading rules have so many exceptions that it's best to just memorize the reading as best you can more words, and read the rest by analogy.

But at school they teach the rules and give grades ... To correctly apply the rules, first we will deal with syllables.

In English, as well as in Russian, words are divided into syllables. Very often, in order to correctly read a vowel in a syllable, it is necessary to determine the type of syllable - open or closed syllable.

Let's take the usual Russian word « book Let's divide it into syllables: BOOK. Both syllables end in a vowel, so both syllables OPEN.

Let's take the word trap", divide into syllables: TRAP. AT this example both syllables end in a consonant, so both CLOSED.

But to define a syllable English syllable not as easy as in Russian. Typical English word contains 2, maximum 3 syllables, so finding a syllable is not difficult.

If you take a word name, then you might think that it has 2 syllables, but we all know that this is read, that is, there is one syllable. Let's take a closer look at why this is so.

open syllable
1. If there is no consonant in a syllable after a vowel.
For example: go, no, ago, my, hi, be, me.
2. If after the vowel immediately there is an "e" at the end of the word
For example: pie, lie, toe, blue, bye, dye.
3. If there is a consonant, but it is immediately followed by a “mute” vowel “e”, which is not readable.
For example: name, blade, take, these, mine, time, type.
3. After a stressed vowel - consonant + le
For example: table, noble.

Remember!!! In an open syllable, vowels are read same way, as they are called in .

Closed syllable
If a syllable has one or more consonants after a vowel (except for the letter r).
For example: bad, cat, vet, strip, stop, camp, battle, end, center, pink.

But in English there are "tricky" vowels and consonants. They can be read differently depending on how they are placed in the word.

In English, it is customary to distinguish 4 types of syllable:

1. An open syllable ends with a vowel. In English, a syllable is conventionally considered an open syllable followed by a consonant + an unpronounceable final "e".
The vowels in this syllable are pronounced the same as they are called in the alphabet.

2. A closed syllable ends with a consonant. In this type of syllable, vowels convey short sounds.

3. The third type of syllable is a syllable in which a letter follows a vowel "r"(at the end of a syllable) or "r"+ consonant. In this syllable, all vowels convey long sounds.

4. The fourth type of syllable is a syllable in which the vowel is followed by the combination "r"+ vowel. In this syllable, all vowels convey long and complex sounds.

Rules for reading vowels in English

To listen, click on the highlighted word.

Features of the pronunciation of vowels.

1. If a word consists of two or more syllables, namely, it contains two or more vowels, then the letter e not pronounced at the end of a word. for example: die , mate , bottle .
2. If the word consists of one syllable and ends with a letter e, which in this case will be the only vowel, then the letter e pronounced as in the alphabet. For example: me , he , she .
3. If the word consists of one, two or more syllables and ends in ee, then this combination is always stressed and pronounced like. For example: fee , employee , see.

The rule of open and closed syllables affects the pronunciation of vowels in English.
A stressed syllable is said to be open if it ends in a vowel followed by no consonant, or if it ends in a consonant followed by another vowel. For example, me, tea, play or ending in a consonant followed by a vowel, as in the words place, truly, precise.

4. Stressed vowels in an open syllable a, e, u, i, o

a - place , May,play, take
e - fee , me, tea, meter
u - true , truly, plume
u - pure , fuel, due
i - tie , nice, tiny
o[əu] - bone , toe, go

A stressed syllable is said to be closed if it ends in a consonant that is not followed by a vowel. For example: pot, tips, pattern, doctor, but, sector. All of these words have a closed syllable, that is, a syllable that ends in a consonant, as in the words: pot, tips, but; or followed by another consonant, as in: pattern, doctor, sector.

5. Stressed vowels in a closed syllable a, e, u, i, o are pronounced like this:

a [æ] - bag , pattern , flag, exam
e[e]- bed , message , met, pretend
u [Λ] - but , must , button, disgust
i[i]- insist , pin , tips, pistol
o [ɔ] - bottle , prolong , box, lock

There are many exceptions to the rules of open and closed syllables.

6. Vowel a before a consonant s, followed by another consonant reads: pass , master, past.
7. Vowel a before a consonant th pronounced like: father , path, rather.
8. Vowel a before a consonant w in a closed syllable it is pronounced as [ɔ] or [ɔ:]: want , was, wander.
9. Vowel a before l + consonant pronounced like [ɔ:]: walk , also, false.
10. In a closed syllable, vowels a, i, y before combination consonant + le pronounced as in an open syllable: title , maple , cycle , table, idle.
11. Vowel o before consonants m, n, th, v pronounced like [Λ]: front , some , dove , brother , glove, won, mother, come.
12. Vowel o in words like host , most, post pronounced as in an open syllable [əu].
13. There are also isolated exceptions, such as the words: put , pull, push, where in a closed syllable the vowel u is pronounced like [u], or the word give, where in an open syllable the letter i pronounced the same as closed.
14. Stressed vowel y in an open syllable is pronounced as: sky , fly, type.
15. Unstressed y at the end of a polysyllabic word it is pronounced as [i]: happy , truly, ferry.
16. In a closed syllable under stress y pronounced like [i]: myth , rhythm, system.

RULES FOR READING CONSONANTS:

Features of pronouncing some letters at the beginning of a word.

A letter is not pronounced at the beginning of a word w if followed by r: wrong , write, wrist.
No letter is pronounced at the beginning of a word g and k if followed by n: knight , knot, gnat, gnaw.
If at the beginning of a word there is a combination wh, then the letter h in this combination is not pronounced: what , where, white.
However, if after combining wh followed by a vowel about, then the letter is not pronounced w, but not h: who , whose, wholesale.

Features of pronouncing some letters in the middle of a word.

In the middle of a word combination ng pronounced like [ŋg]: angry , finger, singer.

Features of pronouncing some letter combinations at the end of a word

Unstressed letter combinations at the end of a word er, re, or, unlike percussion, is pronounced like [ə]:, brisque.

Features of pronunciation of some letters in combination with other letters.

Letter c pronounced like [s] if it comes before letters e, i, or y: cycle , cell, piece, circle, precise, cynic c pronounced like [k]: cat , cut, pack, back, clock.
Letter g pronounced like if it comes before letters e, i, or y: college , germ, giant, Gipsy, gym, prodigy. In all other cases, the letter g pronounced like [g]: guest , game, flag, magnetism, saga, plug.
However, there are a number of exceptions to this rule, where, despite the combination with the above letters, the letter g pronounced like [g]: give , girl, bagger, finger and others.

A word consists of syllables - from one or more. In Russian, as you know, a syllable is formed by a vowel. In English, the syllable is formed not only by vowels, but also by some sonorant consonants(in which the voice received during the vibration of the vocal cords prevails over the noise that occurs when the obstruction is overcome by exhaled air), namely, consonants [m], [n], [l]. They can form a syllable when they are preceded by a consonant and not followed by a 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 that the first syllable is open and the stressed vowel "a" in it is read alphabetically, which will be discussed in more detail below.) In the example of sudden ["sʌdn], a word also consisting 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 the English suffix "en" in general, "e" is often not readable).

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

factory

to begin

screwdriver

To learn how 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 division into graphic syllables, which directly determine reading rules in english.

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

If there is one consonant between two vowels in a word (but NOT the letter r), then when divided 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 according to the I type of syllable (as in the alphabet): lo-tos ["ləʊtəs], o-bey [ə" beɪ]. If the consonant "r" is 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.
If there are two or three consonants between two vowels in a word (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 the type II syllable (briefly), and the second (sometimes the second and third) consonant goes to the second syllable: ten-der ["tendə], trans-la-te. An exception to this rule will be discussed in the following paragraph 2.
If in a word between two vowels there are two consonants, of which the second conveys a sound that is syllabic ([m], [n], [l]), then when divided into syllables, both consonants go to the second syllable, leaving the first (stressed ) open syllable: no-ble ["nəʊbl], Bi-ble ["baɪbl].
Doubled consonants convey one sound, although they are written and broken into syllables. In this case, the syllable boundary passes inside this sound: let-ter ["letə], sor-ry ["sɔrɪ].
If there are three consonants between two vowels in a word, one of which conveys a syllable-forming sound, then when divided into syllables, the first consonant goes to the first syllable, and the other two to the second: twid-dle ["twɪdl].

Types of syllable in English

English has the following types of graphic syllables.

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

In preparing the article, materials were used

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

Trainer for reading English vowels in open and closed syllables. For children who are just starting to learn English letters, it is very difficult to learn English sounds.

The simulator is used to practice open and closed syllables and is designed for 2nd grade students. According to the teaching staff of Biboletova (4th quarter). According to UMK Vereshchagina (the end of the second quarter - the beginning of the second quarter). According to UMK Starlight (end of September). This simulator will help not only remember vowels and sounds, but also help to distinguish in what position the letter is read in an open or closed syllable.

aa
cake, Kate, name, plane, plate, snake, take, Jane, sale
hat, cat, bat, fat, Sam, cap, bad, parrot, carrot, rat, ant, many, black, map, can
a black cat, a bad snake, many parrots, a fat rat, a black rat and a fat cat, a cake and a plate, a black bat hat
Take a cat. Take a plate. Take a black rat and a fat cat. Take a map.
Take a cake, Kate. Jane, take a parrot and a carrot. Take a fat cat and a black hat, Sam.
What's your name? How many plates has Jane got? Has Sam got a map?

[əʊ] no, rose, stone, open, home, go, globe

[ͻ] on, not, hot, dog, frog, doll, hop, robot, box, clock

Rose, doll, frog, home, robot, dog, stone, box

No, go, globe, hop, hot, doll, doll, home

go home, a big dog, a big doll, a big box, a small clock, a box and a dog

go home. A big dog has a big clock. A small frog has a big box.

Open box. A frog opens a small box. I have at a doll at home.

Have they got a doll at home? - No, they haven't. They have got a robot at home.

Kite, mice, bike, hi, Mike, nice, fine, like, white, nine

[i] Tim, Bill, pink, kitten, big, little, pig, milk, it, his, with

a little kite, a little cat, a little pig, a little hat, little mice

a nice bike, a nice cat, a nice pet, nice mice

a big kitten, a big pink kitten, a big fat cat, a big plane

I like my bike. I like my cat. I like my big fat cat. I like my nice little pink pig. I am fine.

I like my little nice mice. I like my nice pink kite. I like it.

I like to play with my nice little kitten. Let's play with his big bike.

ee
see, be, Pete, he, beet, she, bee, keep, we, green, sweet,
Ned, pet, let "s, hen, ten, pen, desk, red, bed, Bet, lemon,

Pete, bed, Ted, let, green, pen, bee

Peg, desk, see, keep, red, hen, beet

Green pen, red desk, Pete and a bee, Ted and his pet,

A black desk, a big red hen on the little black desk

See a red beet. Take a pen. Take a hen. Keep a green pen. See a black desk.

Take a pen, Pete. His pen is bad. His desk is big. Ted, see a big bee.

Let's play with a pet, Pete. What green toys has Peg got?

Computer, pupil, tube, due, student, tulip, music

Up, cup, bus, cut, sun, sunny, plus, puppy, funny

Computer, bus, cup, pupil, plus, student

Up, puppy, tube, student, pupil, sun, cut

A sunny day, a sunny smile, a big bus and a little cup,

A big funny puppy, a funny puppy and a sunny smile

Get up, puppy. Let's listen to the music. students are funny.

Let's play computer games with the students. They are funny.

My, fly, why, try, cry, type

Funny, puppy, sunny, system, myth, baby

Funny, why, cry, funny, try, fly, system, myth

A big fly, my big fly, a big fat funny fly, a big thin funny puppy

Don't cry. Don't try. Don't fly. Fly my little kite.

Try to cry, my baby. I want you to cry. Why do you cry?

Why don't you try to cry? Fly! Fly a kite. Fly my little funny kite.

See the full text of the material Simulator for reading English vowels in open and closed syllables in the downloaded file.
The page contains a snippet.

Hello dear friends! Today I will tell you about the types of syllables in English. Some readers will now close the article and say that they do not want to go so deep into learning the language. No need to rush. Only at first glance it seems that the British read completely differently than they write. In fact, there is logic everywhere. Knowing it, you can learn to read confidently. So let's figure it out.

Why is transcription necessary?

Many people don’t teach it at school anymore and you don’t have to memorize these obscure symbols at all, but there is one secret. It is important to learn the division into syllables.

The rule is:

If there is a consonant behind the stressed vowel (except for r), then we give it to the next, unstressed one. As in the word stu / dent. When pronouncing, you emphasize u more clearly. The emphasis falls on her. Therefore, d goes to the second part. If there are two or more consonants after the stress, the stressed part of the word takes the first, and the unstressed part (pat / tern) takes the second.

Doubt? Open a dictionary. upper comma in transcription indicates stress.

open and shut

Now you need to know how to determine the type of syllable. Many of you were taught at school, but few will say for sure what an open syllable means. It's the one that ends in a vowel.

Why is the letter r special?

Because she doesn't obey general rules but dictates his own. In the third type, it comes after the letter under stress and makes it long. Pay attention to fur (fёёё), fork (fook), serve (shoev). Syllable type 4 is similar to type 3, but there is an e after the r. As in care, mere, more.

Let's put all the information in a table:

Therefore, I recommend subscribing to my blog and get acquainted with other articles. You will also receive as a gift, completely free of charge, an excellent basic phrasebook in three languages, English, German and French. Its main advantage is that there is a Russian transcription, therefore, even without knowing the language, you can easily master colloquial phrases.