Is it important to know how many letters in the English alphabet? In this article we will give an answer to this question, as well as highlight other important points.
Interesting to know
This alphabet has 26 characters, and for comparison in Russian - 33. The most used letter of the English alphabet is E, the least - Z.
Reading abbreviations
Let's get acquainted with the rules for pronouncing the most popular combinations.
The simplest group is abbreviations that are pronounced according to the names of characters. This includes not only the BBC (BBC), but also USA (U.S.A. Hey), EU (IU), UK (U.K.), HIV (H.H.
In and). Complex abbreviations used to organize information are spelled out. Some are pronounced according to their origin, that is, in Latin.
Another common group is acronyms. Such abbreviations are pronounced by the initial sounds of the names of the characters. There are abbreviations, abbreviations, which are those only in writing. They are pronounced as full words, for example, St. (Street - street), Dr. (Doctor - Doctor).
How do vowels sound?
Answering the question: “How many letters are in the English alphabet?” - we indicate that there are only six vowels: A, E, I, Y, U, O. But there are many more options for reading them. This is affected by stress, combination with other letters and its position (open or closed syllable).
There are four types of pronunciation:
- The vowels of the English alphabet in an open syllable are read exactly the same as the letters are called.
- In a closed syllable, they are short and expressive: A - wide deep "e", E - narrow "e", I - "and", Y - "and", U - "a", O - "about".
- If there is an “R” after the vowel, then it acquires an almost throaty sound. For example, "ar", as in the word star. It is more difficult with the sound given by E, I, Y, U, followed by “r”. Many replace it with the Russian "", but this is a gross mistake.
- And finally, the same characters can be read as somewhat in the combination “vowel letter” + re, for example, in the words care, here, pure, fire, tire. These sounds are better to listen to, they are easily absorbed.
Consonants
No matter how many letters in the English alphabet, the main part is consonants. There are 20 of them, they form 23 sounds, of which 14 are voiced and 9 are deaf.
P, b, d, t, f, k, l, m, n, v, z in any combination can be heard the same way, almost analogously to Russian n, b, d, t, f, k, l, m, n, c, h. Why almost? Because many of them have pronunciation features that make it possible to clearly distinguish them.
"C" and "G" have two reading options
. Before the vowels "A", "U", "O" they sound like Russian "K" and "G". In all other cases, like "C" and "J". But it should be borne in mind that there are exceptions.
“H” is pronounced “x” at the beginning of the words before the vowels. But pay special attention that her articulation is significantly different from the Russian equivalent. Also this letter helps to form sounds w, h, f in sh, ch, ph combinations.
“J” corresponds to our “j” variant.
The consonants "Q", "R", "W" have no Russian counterparts, but, as a rule, their sound is reproduced without difficulty after listening to audio materials in English. Also, it is not difficult to read the letter “X”, which always corresponds to the diphthong “ks”. Although it is worth paying special attention to the "R". In her pronunciation, mistakes are often made.
“S”, depending on the position, can have two of our options - “C” and “Z”. It acquires the second type after other voiced, as well as between vowels. As you can see, the answer to the question of how many letters in the English alphabet is much deeper than a simple arithmetic calculation.