Skip to main content Skip to course navigation

Long Vowels

In this lesson, we will focus on long vowel sounds in English pronunciation. Long vowels are an essential aspect of clear and accurate speech, and understanding them will help you improve both your listening and speaking skills. You will learn to identify and practise common long vowel sounds using the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). Below are examples of words with long vowels and their corresponding IPA transcriptions:

Seem/siːm//iː/
Part/pɑːt//ɑː/
Law/lɔː//ɔː/
Soon/suːn//uː/
Bird/bɜːd//ɜː/

Exercise 1A

For each of the IPA transcriptions provided, select the correct word from the list that matches the transcription.

This task will help reinforce your recognition of long vowel sounds and their use in different words.

/biːt/ *
/fɑːm/ *
/kɔːl/ *
/muːv/ *
/lɜːn/ *
/buːt/ *
/pɔːt/ *
/pɜːs/ *
/liːn/ *
/pɑːm/ *
/ɡruːp wɜːk/ *
/ɡriːn ɡrɑːs/ *
/tɔːl ɡɜːl/ *
/kɑːm siː/ *
/bluː bɔːl/ *
/fɜːst klɑːs/ *
/kiːp kuːl/ *
/lɑːst wiːk/ *
/wɜːld wɔː/ *

Exercise 1B

Match the given word with the correct IPA transcription from the choices provided. Doing this task will test your ability to accurately connect spoken sounds to their IPA symbols, further solidifying your understanding of long vowels.

firm *
lawn *
mood *
start *
keep *
taught *
heart *
been *
worse *
fruit *
palm tree *
schoolgirl *
broad beans *
work card *
brute force *
teaspoons *
passport *
first form *
pea soup *
last word *