Reading Vowels in Closed Syllables

#	Meaning	Context	Examples
	Secondary	indicators of vowel secondary meanings	no r m [ɔ:] a ll [ɔ:] fa st [α:]
	Primary long	indicators of vowel length	not e [əυ] ni gh t [aı] o l d [əυ]
	Primary short	absence of indicators	cat [æ] get [e]

VOWEL LETTERs + “R”

vowel	+ “r” + vowel + vowel + ”r” + vowel + ”l/n”	+ “r” + consonant + final “r”
Aa	[εə] Fair, fare	[α:] Farm, far
Ee	[ıə] Here, hero, neon	[3:] Herbal, her
Ii	[aıə] Liar, fire,giant	[3:] Firm, fir
Oo	[ :] Boar, more	[ :] North, for
Uu	[(j)υə] Pure, sure, fuel	[3:] Surf, fur
Yy	[aıə] tyrant	[3:] Byrd

Ex.1 Name the stressed sound of every line:

1. share, rare, care, compare, prepare, hare.

2. here, mere, sphere, material, serial, period.

3. fire, lyre, hire, tired, wire, satire.

4. pure, cure, lure, curious, during, secure.

5. more, shore, explore, before, store.

Ex.2 Divide the words into groups according to the sounds:

Air, bear, deer, square, tour, real, giant, your, near, ear, pair, oar, more, secure, cure, fire, lure, lyre, pure, satire, board, fair, hair, hear, dear, tire, fuel, sore, our, area, near, pier, hour, fire, mere, real, diamond, ear, fierce, science, vary, zero, theory, fuel, ore, millionaire, lair, mere, where, trial, work, earn, sergeant, warm, worm, heart, world, merry, persuade, nurse, harp, early, scarcely, clerk, form, target, learn, hurry, bird, persue, war, firm, circus, turn, farm, earth, word, market, girl, fir, bargain, turkey, mortar, swirl, sword, order, urgently, orchid, appear, observe, persue, surface, disregard, perm, sardines, require, depart, quarrel.

Ex.3 Read as quickly as possible:

1. Hares, rare hares, take care of rare hares; my parents take care of rare hares. My parents rarely take care of rare hares and canaries.

2. Football, more than football, basketballs more than football, adore basketball more than football, boys adore basketball more than football, tall boys adore basketball more than football. Almost all tall boys adore basketball more than football.

3. The theory, the theory of this experienced engineer is clear, the theory of this experienced engineer is really clear. My dear! The theory of this experienced engineer is really clear.

4. Near an ear, a nearer ear, a nearly eerie ear.

5. Cheers, dear! Cheers! Here’s to the bearded mountaineer!

6. Charming, large and charming, farms are large and charming, gardens and farms are large and charming. The parks, gardens and farms are large and charming.

7. A girl, a circus girl, Pearl is a circus girl, Pearl is a circus girl who works, Pearl is a circus girl who works with birds.

8. Her work, her work in workshop, her work in a dirty workshop, her work in a dirty workshop was the worst. Her work in a dirty workshop was the worst in the world.