Meaning & use
long vowels
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Meanings
nounpluralspecialist
Vowel sounds that a speaker holds for a noticeably longer time than short vowel sounds, as in the words 'see' or 'food'.
Grammar: Always used in the plural when talking about the category as a whole; use the singular 'long vowel' for one sound, as in 'the long vowel in "bean"'.
Patterns
- long vowels in a word
- a long vowel sound
- pronounce something with a long vowel
- short vowels and long vowels
Teachers often contrast long vowels with short vowels when they introduce the alphabet to young children.
In 'seat' the letters 'ea' spell a long vowel, while in 'sit' the vowel is short.
Her accent makes some long vowels sound shorter than mine do.
nounpluralspecialist
The letters A, E, I, O and U when they are said with their alphabet names, as in 'cake' or 'bite'.
Grammar: Used mainly in phonics teaching for children; the singular 'long vowel' refers to one such letter sound.
Patterns
- the long vowel 'a'
- learn the long vowels
- a long vowel sound
The worksheet asks children to circle every word that contains a long vowel.
When you say the long vowels aloud, you are simply saying the names of the five letters.
She learned to read by matching long vowels with the silent 'e' at the end of words like 'hope'.
Word forms
| singular | long vowel |
|---|
Common combinations
- short and long vowels
- The chart on the wall shows short and long vowels side by side.
- a long vowel sound
- Can you hear the long vowel sound in the middle of 'boat'?
- pronounce a long vowel
- Try to pronounce the long vowel clearly at the end of the word.
- long vowel patterns
- These long vowel patterns appear again and again in early reading books.
- the long vowel 'e'
- 'Team' and 'green' both contain the long vowel 'e'.
Synonyms and how they differ
- tense vowel
- A technical term from phonetics for a vowel made with more muscular effort; it overlaps with 'long vowel' but is not the same thing, since some long vowels are not tense.
- vowel sound
- A much broader term covering every vowel, long or short; use it when length is not the point.
Opposites
Word family
- vowel noun
- A speech sound like /a/ or /i/, or the letter that represents it.
- vowel length noun
- How long a vowel sound lasts when it is spoken.
- semivowel noun
- A sound such as /w/ or /j/ that behaves partly like a vowel.
Commonly confused: long vowels or long consonant? long vowels or diphthong?
long vowels vs long consonant
A consonant held for a longer time, as in the double 't' of some accents; learners sometimes mix the two terms up, but consonants and vowels are different kinds of sound.
long vowels vs diphthong
A vowel that glides from one sound to another, as in 'coin'; it can be long in time, but length is not what defines it.
Practice
Which sentence uses 'long vowels' correctly?
Choose one answer.
'Long vowels' is a plural noun phrase, so it works as the object of 'tell ... from' in option 1. Options 0 and 3 use it like a modifier before a noun, which needs the singular form 'long vowel', and option 2 wrongly places a plural noun before another noun as an adjective.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “long vowels”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.