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The English / I
/ sound (the vowel sound in bit and hit)
is sometimes difficult to hear,
but it's not too difficult
to spell: its
most common spelling
is i + consonant(s).
Here are
some
common words with the
/ I / sound:
bid, big, bill, bin, bit;
chicken, chill, chimney, chin, chip, clip, click,
clip;
did, difference, dig, dill, dim, din,
dip, dish, ditch;
fig, fill, film, fin, fish, fist,
fit, flip;
gill, gin, gist, glint, grid, grill,
grim, grip, grit;
hid, hill, him, hip, his, hissed,
history, hit, hitch;
ill, in, is, it, inch, itch;
kid, kill, kin, kiss, kit, kitchen;
lick, lid,
lift, limb, limp, lint, lip, list, lit;
mill, missed,
mist, mitt, mix;
nick, nil, nip;
pick, pig,
pill, pin, pit, pitch;
quick, quill, quip, quit;
rich, rid, rim, rip, river;
sick, sill,
sin, sip, sister, sit, slim, slip, stick, still, stitch;
shin, ship;
tick, till, tin, tip, trick, trill,
trim, trip;
thick, thin, this, thistle;
wick, will, win, wish, witch, wrist
In a few words, the /
I / sound also has other spellings.
Here are the
most common ones:
|
spelling |
|
examples |
| |
|
|
|
ui |
|
build, guild,
guilt, guitar |
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|
|
|
y |
|
crypt, cryptic,
cynic, gypsy, hymn,
mystery, mystic, mystical |
______________________________________________
Special
Notes:
| 1. |
The
sounds of the first vowel in women,
busy, and
business are exceptions. They are
all pronounced
with the / I / sound, even though
they use spellings which
are normally used for
other sounds. |
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|
| 2. |
Be careful! A
few common words with / I
/
have the same pronunciation but different
spellings and meanings:
billed / build; gild / guild
/ gilled; gilt / guilt;
him / hymn; mist / missed
|
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|
| 3. |
In some dialects
of American English, the vowel
sounds /
I / and / e / pronounced the same (as /
I /)
before nasal sounds (particularly
/ m / and / n
/).
In these dialects,
pin and
pen or him
(hymn)
and hem have the same pronunciation. |
| |
|
| 4. |
A number of common words spelled
with typical
/ iy / spellings are pronounced with
/ I
/, not with
/
iy /,
when they are followed by r:
beer, cheer, deer, jeer, leer,
peer, queer,
sheer, steer, veer
dear, clear, fear, gear, hear,
near, rear,
sear, shear, spear, tear (noun), year
here, mere
pier, tier
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* Vowel sounds
with r will be treated later. |
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