The Sounds of the Vowels.---(1) Each of the vowels has what is called
a long sound and a short sound. It is important that these two sets
of sounds be fixed clearly in the mind, as several necessary rules
of spelling depend upon them. In studying the following table,
note that the long sound is marked by a s t r a i g h t l i n e
o v{colon : aft}er the letter, and the short sound by a
c u{g}r{a}ve {accent mark ` }.
_Long Short_
a:te a`t
ga:ve ma`n
na:me ba`g
the:se pe`t
m:e te`n
(com)ple:te bre`d
ki:te si`t
ri:ce mi`ll
li:me ri`p
no:te no`t
ro:de ro`d
so:le To`m
cu:re bu`t
cu:te ru`n
(a)bu:se cru`st
scy:the (like)ly`
If we observe the foregoing list of words we shall see that each of the
words containing a long vowel followed by a single consonant sound ends
in silent _e_. After the short vowels there is no silent _e_.
In each case in which we have the silent _e_ there is a single long
vowel followed by a single consonant, or two consonants combining to
form a single sound, as _th_ in _scythe_.
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