Vowel a and its combinations

In most cases, the sound of a vowel combination depends on the sound of one of the vowels that make up the combination. For example, the letter combination ai formed by the vowel letter a mainly has three pronunciations, namely /ā/, /ě/ and /ə/, as in the words rāin, a·gain(ě) and mountain·tain(ə). All three pronunciations are of the vowel letter a, as in the words nāme, man y (ě) and pan da (ə). As another example, the vowel combination ea mainly has six pronunciations, namely /ē/, /ě/, /ǐ/, /ə/, /ā/ and /ä/, such as in the words sēason, brěad, ear (ǐ) , learn (ə), greāt, and heärt. These six kinds of pronunciations are the pronunciations of the vowel letter e or a in these letter combinations. Therefore, as long as you understand and master the pronunciation rules of vowels, the pronunciation rules of vowel combinations will be easily solved.

The pronunciation of vowels in words is a difficult point in learning word spelling, but it is also an important point, and we must make great efforts to master it. Below we analyze the pronunciation rules of the five vowels and their combinations one by one.