1 of 6

How to spell long

A, O and I sounds

2 of 6

All these phonemes can make an A sound

-ai-

raid, maid, laid, tail, trail, sail, mail, grail, bail, bait, wait, prevail, paid, pain, fail, braid, plain, main, slain, chain, brain, Spain, rain, train, strain, grain

-ay

say, Monday, day, play, okay, way, clay, slay,

bay, lay, May, tray, ray, spray, pray, pay, stay

-a_e

whale, game, lake, tale, cake, sake, made, sale, shake, cave, fake, fate, make, kale, date,

chase, crane, crave, face, bake, Wales, mace, brake, take, male, rake, snake, scale, late, plate, mate

-ei-

reins, veil, weight, neigh, vein, sheikh, eight, freight

-a-

acorn, apron, alien, agent, basic, basin, data, fatal

3 of 6

These words sound the same but have different meaning and are spelt different.

-a_e

whales - Wales tale - tail

made - maid

sale - sail

weight - wait brake - break

rain - rein - reign

vein - vane

eight - ate

veil - vale

mail - male

4 of 6

How to pronounce the 'long o' /oʊ/

The 'long o' /oʊ/ is a two-sound vowel that ends in a brief 'w sound' /w/.

Part 1: The body of the tongue is pushed back and in a low-to-mid mouth position and the bottom teeth can be felt along the sides of the tongue.

Part 2: The sound moves into a 'w sound' /w/ by raising the jaw slightly while closing the lips into a small circle. The body of the tongue moves upward until the tongue is near the back of the hard palate.

5 of 6

All these phonemes can make an O sound

-oa-

oat,

-ow

snow,

-o_e

drove,

6 of 6

All these phonemes can make an I sound

-ie-

tie

die

lie

pie

applied

denied

identified

multiplied

-i_e

bribe

wide

life

hike

reconcile

time

shine

gripe

-igh-

high

thigh

bright

knight

slight

nightmare

twilight

highlight

-ig-

sign

resign

design

consign

align

assign

-y

by

dry

sly

shy

apply

deny

identify

multiply

-i-

item

idea

iron

irate

crisis

final

pilot

silent