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Hi Mandy, Can you please elaborate the defintion of short vowels with example? "Short vowels are the most common sound for the vowel to make when there is no silent e at the end of a word" Example?  "or when vowels occur individually between consonants" Example Thanks, ShortHair
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Ahh, ShortHair, you are asking this question at the exact same time as I am working on the answer to it in the video podcast, which is scheduled to be published January 1st, 2009.
As a preview, here are some examples of different things to look for as clues as to a vowel's pronunciation.
When a single vowel occurs alone between two consonants, it has a god chance of being a short vowel sound. Of course, be careful of the silent e, it will cause a change in pronunciation.
For example:
hop (short o)
hope (long o)
plan (short a)
plane (long a)
cut (short u)
cute (long u)
If two vowels occur together between consonants, the vowel is probably NOT a short vowel sound. Some examples of this:
pan (short a)
pain (long a)
did (short i)
died (long i)
rod (short o)
road (long o)
bond (short o)
bound (ow sound)
drop (short o)
droop (oo sound)
By the way, when w or y get attached to a vowel, it is also probably not a short vowel. It is tougher to find minimal pairs of this, but here are some examples without a comparison to a short vowel.
day (long a)
down (ow sound)
boy (oi sound)
These "rules" are so frequently broken, that is is hard to even call them rules. I like to think of them as "guidelines", as the first and most likely guess to a word's pronunciation. But it is a place to start, and it is still how we teach kids in the US to read, so it does work much of the time. You should always understand, though, that a spelling is not a guarantee to an English pronunciation!
I'll try to update the lessons online that talk about these things, too, so the examples will be right there on the same page. Thanks for the question, I'll now make that clarification a higher priority!
Best of luck!
Mandy
edited: links added
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Mandy, Thanks for the detail answer. It helps me to understand more. But would you like to eleborate more on the following definition of short vowel. "Short vowels are the most common sound for the vowel to make when there is no silent e at the end of a word"Also, "oo" spelling in a word like hood, seems like to pronunce "oo" instead of "u" sound. Is there any tip to fix this problem  You said you are making video(s)??? will it be available on pronuncian.com? Thanks, ShortHair
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Hey ShortHair,
Quote:Short vowels are the most common sound for the vowel to make when there is no silent e at the end of a word.
What I mean is that the "e" at the end of a word will change a short vowel pronunciation into a long vowel pronunciation.
Tom Lehrer wrote the following cute little song called Silent E to teach children about the silent e when they are learning to read in English. It also works for non-native speakers.
Quote:Who can turn a can into a cane?
Who can turn a pan into a pane?
It's not too hard to see,
It's Silent E.
Notice, the words "can" and "pan" have no silent e at the end, and are pronounced with a short a. "Cane" and "pane" have a silent e, and are pronounced with a long a sound.
About the oo spelling... many non-native speakers only use the sound in the word "soon" for all words spelled with oo. Don't fall into this pronunciation trap! You simply need to memorize which words are spelled with oo, but sound like "put" instead. The only tip I have is to read through the list of u as in put words. That list does include most of the words that are spelled like oo, but sound like "put." (It also includes other spellings.)
Here are some of words that are spelled with oo, but sound like "put":
look, took, book, foot, stood, cook, and hood
If you have a subscription to Pronuncian, there is an exercise link from the oo or u as in put lesson that will also help you drill these words. You can view the lesson without a subscription, but you need to be logged in to view the exercise that goes with it.
And finally, about the videos. We'll be creating video podcasts as well as video lessons. The podcasts will be available through the podcast link. The full video lessons will only be available to Pronuncian subscribers. The first lesson will be posted in the next few days. Yay!
I hope that helps!
~Mandy
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