Speak Better English
Example lesson
Fate, Fat
The vowel sounds /eɪ/ and /æ/
When you pronounce the letters of the alphabet, the letter a can make the long vowel sound /eɪ/ as in the word fate and can also make the short vowel sound /æ/ as in the word fat.
/eɪ/ late same day wait | Open your mouth and raise the front of your tongue a little, pushing it forward. |
/æ/ bad trap hand cat |
Open your mouth, lower your jaw and push your tongue down. |
Listen and repeat - The rain in Spain stays mainly in the plain.
Listen and repeat - The fat black cat trapped the big bad rat.
Ways to spell the sounds:
| /eɪ/ | a-c-e ~ take, ay ~ day, ai ~ train. Less common, ei ~ eight, ea ~ great. |
| /æ/ | a ~ apple, back, cat, jazz. |
Exercises
Listen, then note the word that has a different vowel sound.
1. make came spare race
2. break steak great clean
3. wait said paid brain
4. bar map rat sat
5. scratch watch patch match
6. sleigh weight eight height
1. make came spare race
2. break steak great clean
3. wait said paid brain
4. bar map rat sat
5. scratch watch patch match
6. sleigh weight eight height
show answers
1. spare 2. clean 3. said 4. bar 5. watch 6. height
Listen and repeat.
|
railway raining table eighty-eight waiting weight lady made baker trade |
travel handbag jacket cap apple battle static happy sad action |
Minimal Pairs practice.
Minimal pairs are two words separated by one vowel sound. Practice saying them until you can pronounce the different sounds clearly.
Minimal pairs are two words separated by one vowel sound. Practice saying them until you can pronounce the different sounds clearly.
/æ/ /eɪ/
ax aches
lad lady
snack snake
ran rain
back bake
stack stake
/æ/ /eɪ/
man main
hat hate
plan plain
tax takes
at ate
mad made
ax aches
lad lady
snack snake
ran rain
back bake
stack stake
/æ/ /eɪ/
man main
hat hate
plan plain
tax takes
at ate
mad made