Rules of reading in english

Reading is an inevitable process when learning any language, so if you study English, it is worth figuring out how to read English words correctly. Understanding the phonetic basics of English will significantly improve your pronunciation, spelling, and general language skills.

This article is devoted to the basic principles and rules of reading in English and will be useful for both children and adults. At first, these rules may seem confusing and difficult to remember, so to facilitate the learning process, you can check the correct pronunciation of new words by transcription and practice memorizing them by listening to the pronunciation. Over time, with regular practice, the need to refer to the reading rules will decrease.

Rules of reading in english - photo

The pronunciation of individual letters and letter combinations in English depends on their position in the word, the syllable type, and neighboring sounds.

Words in English consist of syllables. A syllable is a single unit of speech, either a whole word or one of the parts into which a word can be separated, usually containing a vowel. Consequently, the number of syllables in English words is determined by the number of pronounced vowels.

In English, six letters denote vowel sounds: A, E, I, O, U, and sometimes Y. At the same time, there are many more vowel sounds: together with diphthongs, their number can exceed 20. In total, there are 44 sounds in English.

It is important to understand that the number of vowel sounds does not always coincide with the number of vowel letters. For example, in the word cake /keɪk/ there is only one syllable because only one vowel sound is pronounced, although the word contains two vowel letters. So, when determining the number of syllables in a word, we take into account the vowel sounds and not the letters that can denote them.

Let's take a look at examples of English words with different numbers of syllables:

cat, dog, fix — 1 syllable
water, follow, hero — 2 syllables
banana, octopus, apricot — 3 syllables
vegetable, education, necessary — 4 syllables
university, imagination, unbelievable — 5 syllables
accommodation, internationally, administration – 6 syllables.

A syllable can be:

Closed – if it ends in a consonant: dog, must, track, task, in, if, when, pen, rule, children, pencil, helmet, contest, rabbit.
Open – has one vowel sound at the end of the syllable, including syllables formed by only one vowel without consonants: I, a, my, you, we, no, tiger, baby, zebra, idea, hero, show.
With a “silent” E – a syllable ending in a consonant and a “silent” E, (“silent” sound is not pronounced): ice, glance, ride, cake, bike, take, these, live, life, time.
With a combination of several vowels – has a combination of several vowel sounds or a combination of a vowel and a consonant, which when combined form a new sound: true, team, piece, flood, good, day, sheep, green, noise, boy, day.
R-controlled – consists of one vowel sound and the consonant R, including syllables formed by a vowel, consonant R, and a “silent” E: car, or, for, more, star, care, deer, ear, pair, share, sure.
A combination of a consonant and -le – such a combination is also called a syllable if -le comes after consonants: -ble, -cle, -dle, -fle, -tle, -gle. This syllable is found in words with two or more syllables: able, circle, miracle, bubble, candle, castle, rectangle, uncle.

In English, the stress is not fixed, which means that a syllable can be:

Stressed – highlighted with the help of intonation.
Unstressed – an unstressed syllable is pronounced shorter than a stressed one.

how to read in English - image

Sometimes the meaning of a word changes depending on the stress.

present – gift (noun)
present – to give people information in a formal way (verb).

Since there are many more sounds in English than letters in the English alphabet, it becomes obvious that some letters (denoting both vowels and consonants) can sound differently depending on their position in the word.

The pronunciation of English vowels

According to the reading rules of English, vowels are not always pronounced as they sound in the alphabet. The pronunciation of vowels depends on the position in the word, that is, on the type of syllable they form.

The pronunciation of English vowels

The letters A, E, I, O, and U in an open syllable are mostly pronounced as they sound in the alphabet. Remember that E at the end of a word after a consonant is not pronounced ("silent" E).

Reading rules. Vowels in an open syllable

Letter	Transcription	Example
A	[eɪ]	take, make, cake, fake, bake
A	[ə] at the end of words	Canada, agenda, extra
E	[iː]	she, eve, these
I	[aɪ]	spicy, shine, fine, diving
O	[əu]	no, go, pose, nose, dose
O	[u:] or [u]	who, do, woman
U	[juː]	use, university, cube, perfume
Y	[aɪ] in a stressed syllable	dry, fly, sky, purify, shy
Y	[ɪ] in an unstressed syllable	happy, baby, tidy, diary

In a closed syllable, the pronunciation of the letters A, E, I, O, and U is different:

Reading rules. Vowels in a closed syllable

Letter	Transcription	Example
A	[æ]	cat, act, fact
	[ə] in an unstressed syllable	account, woman, am
	[ɑː] in a stressed syllable	ask, task, class, after
	[ɔː] before -l and -w	fall, small, draw, all
	[ɔ] after w-, wh-, qu-	was, what, quality
E	[e] in a stressed syllable	then, men, ten, open, depend, defend, dentist
	[ə] or silent before -n	even, happen, taken, spoken, broken
	[u:] or [ju] before -w	few, new, drew, knew, flew, nephew
I	[ɪ]	in, big, written, pig
	[aɪ] before -ld, -nd, -gn and -gh	child, kind, blind, sign, design, high, light
	but:	wind /wɪnd/
O	[ɔ]	on, of, sock, cock, possible
	[əu] before -ld and -w	old, bold, show, snow, blow
	[ʌ] in a stressed syllable before -th or -n, -m + consonant	comfortable, company, london, mother
	[ə] or silent in an unstressed syllable, often before -n	second, common, today, reason
U	[ʌ]	cup, conduct, duck, sudden
U	[u] after b-, f-, p- and before -sh, -l	full, pull, push
Y	[ɪ]	symbol, system, myth

Preceding R letters A, E, I, O, and U are pronounced as long vowels:

Reading rules. Vowel + R

Vowel+R	Transcription	Example
AR	[ɑː]	car, charge, marvel
ER	[ɜː]	determine, terminate, person
IR, UR	[ɜː]	girl, firm, fur, further
OR	[ɔː] in a stressed syllable	or, portrait, short, sort
OR	[ə] in an unstressed syllable, often at the end of the word	conductor, solicitor, monitor, forgive
YR	[ər] in the word:	byrd

If there is another vowel after the vowel + R, such as the silent E at the end of a word, then according to the phonetic rules of British English the consonant R is not pronounced.

Reading rules. Vowel + R + vowel

Vowel+R+vowel	Transcription	Example
AR + vowel	[ɛə]	care, caring, dare, fare
ER + vowel	[ɪə]	zero, here, hero
	[ɛə]	where, there
	[ɜː] (exception)	were /wɜː /
IR, YR + vowel	[aɪə] чи [aɪ]	hire, desire, iron, tyre
OR + vowel	[ɔː]	more, bored, shore, oral
UR + vowel	[uə] (but: bury /beri/)	sure, plural

The pronunciation of vowel combinations in English depends on whether the vowel combination is within one syllable or whether these vowels belong to different syllables:

Letter combination	Transcription	Example
AI, AY	[eɪ]	chain, main, always, stay
AI, AY	[ɛə] before -r (in the letter combination air, as well as aer)	chair, pair, air, aerial
AU	[ɔː]	fault, daughter, automatic
EA	[iː]	team, tea, meat, teaser
	but:	break /bɹeɪk/, breakfast /'bɹɛkfəst/
	[e] before -d, -th, -lth, -sure, -sant	bread, feather, weather, wealth, pleasure, pleasant
	but:	read /riːd/, lead /li:d/, bead /bi:d/
EAR	usually, [ɪə]	ear, clear, fear, near
	[ɛə]	wear, pear, swear
	[ɜː] ear + consonant	search, earth, learn
EE	[iː]	feel, seek, need, between, see
EE	[ɪə] in the letter combination eer	deer, career, cheerful
EI, EY	[eɪ] in a stressed syllable	eight, weight, they
EI, EY	[iː], [i] in a stressed syllable before «silent» e or in an unstressed syllable	receive, foreign, money, honey
EU, EAU	[ju] or [ju:]	beautiful, neutral
EU, EAU	[juə] or [ʊə] in the letter combination eur	Europe, euro, pleural
IE	[aɪ] at the end of monosyllabic words or before the endings -s, -d	tie, lied, fries,died
	[iː]	piece, niece, field, chief
	but:	friend /frɛnd/
IO	[jə] or [iə] (usually, with consonant n – ion)	onion, opinion, million
IO	[ə] or silent before -n after c-, g-, s-, t-, sh-, ch-	religion, conclusion, fashion, suspicion, conversation, falchion
OA	[əu]	road, goal, goat, boat
OA	[ɔː] before -r	soar, board, roar
OE	[əu]	toe, mistletoe, poet
OI, OY	[ɔɪ]	noisy, voice, employment
OO	[uː] or [u] in a closed syllable	zoo, shook, took, moose
OO	[ɔː] before -r	flood, door
OU	[au] in a stressed syllable	found, loud, proud, bound
	[ə] in an unstressed syllable	famous, enormous, moustache, humour
	[ɔː] before -ght	bought, fought, ought

Pronunciation of consonants in English

English consonants can also sound differently depending on their position in a word. In the table below we will consider in more detail how to correctly pronounce consonants in English:

Reading rules. Consonants

Letter	Transcription	Example
B	silent in the letter combinations mb, bt within one syllable	climb, lamb, doubt, debt, dumb
C	[s] before letters -e, -i, -y	cinema, place, cyber, cycle, centre
	[k] before vowels -a, -o, -u and consonants, as well as at the end of words	cat, cow, cut, clock, create, picnic
	[k] in the letter combination ck	kick, nock, shock, clock, quick
	[ ʧ ] in the letter combination ch	chair, check, chance, church, child
	[k] in the letter combination ch in the words of Greek origin	Christ, mechanic, technology, school
	[ ʃ ] in the letter combination ch in the words of French origin	Parachute, moustache, champagne
	[ ʃ ] in -cion, -cial, -cian, -cean, -cient	ocean, efficient, facial, suspicion
D	silent in the letter combinations nd, and dn	sandwich, Wednesday
G	[ʤ] before -e, -i, -y	genious, giraffe, gym
	but:	give /gɪv/, get /get/, foggy /'fɔgɪ/
	[g]	garlic, goose, gun, guide, go, big, flag, ghost
	not pronounced in the letter combinations gn, gh	Foreign, sign, light, high, daughter
	[g] in the combination of letter g and h belonging to different syllables	doghouse, foghorn
	[f] as an exception in the letter combination gh, often at the end of words	laugh, cough, rough, tough, enough
H	[h]	help, house, hand, horse, hero
	silent in some words and in the letter combination gh	hour, exhaust, ghee, ghost
	silent in the letter combination wh	what, why, when, where, whatever but: who /huː/, whose /huːz/, whom /huːm/
K	not pronounced in the letter combination kn	knee, knigt, knife, know
L	silent in the letter combinations alf, alk, alm, ould within one syllable	chalk, walk, half, calm, could, should
L	but:	mould /məuld/
N	silent in the letter combination mn within one syllable	autumn, column, damn
P	[f] in the letter combination ph	photo, sphere, philosophy
P	silent in the letter combinations ps, pn at the beginning of a word	psychology, pseudo, pneumatic, pneumonia
Q	[kw] in the letter combination qu	quantity, quick, quiet, question, quarter
Q	[k] in the letter combination que at the end of the words of French origin	technique, mystique
R	in British English is not pronounced at the end of words, before a “silent” е or a consonant	car, for, sure, care, cart, smart, large
S	[s]	sun, son, spoon, sick, swear, stop
	[z] between vowels	use, reason, wise, vase, release
	[ʃ] in the letter combination sh	short, show, share, smash, dish
	[ʃ] in the letter combinations sure, sion after consonants	sure, assure, mission, expression
	[ʒ] in the letter combinations sure, sion after vowels	leisure, measure, treasure, revision, conclusion
T	silent at the end of some words of French origin	bouquet, croissant, ballet
	[ð] in the letter combination th between or before vowels (mostly in pronouns)	the, they, mother, other
	[θ] in the letter combination th after consonants, at the end of a word or at the beginning of words	fifth, thing, think, theatre, filth
	[ʃ] in the letter combinations tion, tial, tient after vowels	reservation, nation, initial, patient
	[ʧ] in the letter combination stion	question, suggestion
	[ʧ] in the letter combinations ture, tural, tury at the end of words	nature, cultural, century
W	not pronounced in the letter combination wr	write, wrong, wrap, wrist
	silent at the end of words in the letter combinations aw, ow, ew	law, know, few
	[h] in the letter combination who	who, whose, whom
X	[ks] before a consonant at the end of a word	fox, lynx, box, next, text
X	[gz] before a vowel or a «silent» h	exam, example, exact, exhausted
Y	[j] used as a consonant at the beginning of a syllable before a vowel	year, yard, yellow, beyond
Z	[ʒ] before the letter combination -ure	seizure, azure

We have considered the basic reading rules in English. Use these tables to learn how to pronounce English words correctly. Beginners will probably still have doubts about how to read English words correctly, but by regularly practicing reading, combining it with listening, you can master English pronunciation.

Read also:

Our courses:

Rules of reading in english

The pronunciation of English vowels

Reading rules. Vowels in an open syllable

Reading rules. Vowels in a closed syllable

Reading rules. Vowel + R

Reading rules. Vowel + R + vowel

Pronunciation of consonants in English

Reading rules. Consonants

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