The English alphabet has vowels and consonants, from 26 alphabets there are 5 vowels A, E, I, O, U and the rest of the alphabet letters are consonants.
However, there is the exception of the letter Y, which can act as a consonant and a vowel.
What is a vowel?
A vowel is a sound that is made when air flows out of the mouth without being blocked by any part of the mouth or throat.
What is a consonant?
A consonant is a sound that is made when air is partially blocked by part of the mouth or throat.
All words in English have at least one vowel.
Let’s look at some examples:-
- Hat
Here we can see the letter, ‘H’ is a consonant and ‘a’ is a vowel and ‘t’ is also a consonant.
- Bed
- Boy
- Beg
- Bat
- Sun
- Son
- Pig
- Pet
Above all words have only one vowel.
In English grammar some words have more than one vowels:-
- Look
- Book
- Suit
- Sheep
- Powder
- Picture
- Mobile
- Computer
- Television
Above all examples have more than one vowel.
All vowels can present in a single word also,
In English grammar there are a lot of examples having 5 vowels but the most useable examples are:-
- Education
- Precautions
- Misbehavior
- Automobile
- Authentication
Now, let’s see how the letter Y can act as a vowel and a consonant.
Let’s start with vowels-
For example:-
- sky
Here, the letter ‘Y’ makes an ‘I’ sound and the letter i’ is a vowel. Therefore in this example the letter Y is considered to be a vowel.
It’s important to remember that the letter Y is a vowel when there are no other vowels in the word.
So as we can see here, the letter ‘s’ is a consonant and the letter ‘k’ is also a consonant and the letter ‘Y’ is a vowel.
Let’s look into another example:-
- Try
Again, we can see here, the letter ‘T’ is a consonant and the letter ‘r’ is also a consonant and the letter ‘Y’ is a vowel.
- Angry
In this word the letter ‘Y’ makes an ‘e’ sound and the letter ‘e’ is a vowel. Therefore in this example the letter Y is considered to be a vowel.
‘Y’ as a consonant:-
The letter ‘y’ is considered to be a consonant when it comes at the beginning of the word and makes the ‘ye’ sound.
For example:-
- Yellow
- You
- Yelp
- Yolk
Each vowel has a short and a long sound
Vowel A:-
- Short sound :- Apple, Cat
- Long sound:- cake, Bake
Vowel E:-
- Short sound :- Jet, Net
- Long sound:- Feet, Leaf
Vowel I :-
- Short sound :- Fish, Pig
- Long sound:- Kite, ice-cream
Vowel O :-
- Short sound :- Clock, Dog
- Long sound:-Rope, Boat
Vowel U:-
- Short sound :- Sun, Jump
- Long sound:- Cute, Unicorn
Up to rules, you can follow which will make reading words easily:-
The first is, when you have one vowel in a word here, the vowel sounds like it’s short sound.
For Example.:-
- Jam
Here the vowel “a” makes a short sound.
- Bed
- Had
If there are two vowels in a word then the first vowel sounds like its alphabet name and the second vowel is silent.
For Example:
- Bake
There are two vowels A and E. The letter ‘A’ makes its alphabet name, which is the long sound A, and the letter ‘e’ is silent.
- Same
- Coat
- Goat
Common difference between vowels and consonants:-
| Vowel | Consonant |
| There is no contact between the speech organs in the production of vowels. | The air does not go out freely; it is rather obstructed by different speech organs. |
| Vowels are free air stream. | Consonants are Blocked air stream. |
| Vowels are produced with no obstruction. | Consonants are produced with various type of obstruction. |
| There are 5 vowels in 26 alphabets. | Consonants are produced with various type of obstruction. |
Quiz:-
- Is the letter “Y” is a consonant or vowel?
- How many vowels are there in the word “Nursery” ?
- How many consonants are there in the word “Skate” ?
Comment Your Answer.
