| ā is called long a, and is marked with the macron |
| ă is called short a, and is marked with the breve |
| â is called caret a, and is marked with the caret |
| ä is called Italian a, and is marked with the diaeresis |
| ȧ is called short Italian a, and is marked with the dot |
| ẽ is called tilde e, and is marked with the tilde or wave |
Exercise 11—Vowels
Of the twenty-six letters in the alphabet, how many are vowels? Name them. What are the other letters called?
Compare the ă in hat and the ā in hate. Which has more nearly the sound of a in the alphabet? This is called the natural or long sound of the vowel. The other is called the short sound.
Drop the e from hate. Explain the result.
Name other monosyllables ending in e and containing the long a sound.
Explain the difference in pronunciation between Pete, pet, ripe, rip, hope, hop, cube, cub.
Find other monosyllables ending in e and containing a long vowel that becomes short if the e is dropped.
Monosyllables ending in silent e usually contain a long vowel sound, which becomes short when the final e is dropped.
Exercise 12