Vowel sounds: ship or sheep

Hear and make the short and long vowels that change a word. Lesson 7 of 58: Foundations, CEFR A1.

Short and long

• English has short vowels and long ones, and the difference changes words: ship and sheep, full and fool, live and leave. For the long /iː/ in sheep, smile and stretch it. For the short /ɪ/ in ship, relax your mouth and make it quick.
• ship, sheep (/ɪ/ and /iː/)
• full, fool (/ʊ/ and /uː/)
• live, leave (/ɪ/ and /iː/)
• Tip: Careful with “beach”, “sheet” and “piece”: say them with a long, smiling /iː/.

Cat, cut, cart

• “Cat” /æ/ opens the mouth wide; “cut” /ʌ/ is short and central, like a small grunt; “cart” /ɑː/ is long and deep. Get them right and “hat”, “hut” and “heart” stop sounding the same.
• cat, cut, cart
• hat, hut, heart
• bad, bud, bard

The schwa: the most common sound in English

• The schwa /ə/ is a short, lazy “uh”. Almost every unstressed vowel becomes one: the “a” in “about”, the “o” in “today”, the “er” in “teacher”. Saying every vowel fully is what makes speech sound foreign; letting the small ones fall to schwa is what makes it sound natural.
• about, today, teacher (uh-BOUT, tuh-DAY, TEA-chuh)
• banana (buh-NA-nuh)
• a cup of tea (uh CUP uhv TEA)

Lines to have ready

• Could I have a sheet of paper? (Long /iː/ in sheet)
• Let’s leave now. (Long /iː/ in leave)
• I live near the beach. (Short live, long beach)
• It’s a full day. (Short /ʊ/ in full)

Your turn to speak

• Read these aloud slowly, then at normal speed, and record yourself: “Please leave the sheep on the hill. I live in a little village near the beach. The fool is full.” Listen back and compare with the model.
• I made the long sounds clearly longer
• I relaxed the short sounds
• I listened back and found one sound to improve

Related

• Lesson 6: A, an, the and plurals
• Lesson 8: Yesterday: the past simple
• The whole English course

FinClamp: skills, brain and play. About · Contact · Privacy · Terms