1.2: Always Vowels

Our alphabet has twenty-six letters. Some are vowels and some are consonants. While many people learn that the standard five letters (<a>, <e>, <i>, <o>, and <u>) are vowels, the four letters that are always used as vowels are <a>, <e>, <i>, and <o>.*

Note that when we talk about letters, versus sounds, we put them inside pointed brackets, like this:

<a>

<e>

<i>

<o>

Examples

Underline the vowel letters in each word.

1. itself
2. join

Review

1. Underline the vowel letters in each word as we have done with the examples itself and join. Don't worry about the check marks yet.

   itself √	magic	rabbit	favor
   join √	bridge	asking	their
   better	knee	village	often

2. Now sort the words into these four groups and check them off the list as we have done with itself and join. Be careful: most words go into more than one group.

   vowel <a>	vowel <e>	vowel <i>	vowel <o>
   	itself	itself	join
   		join

3. Fill in the blanks. (Don't forget the pointed brackets!) Four letters that are always vowels are ____, ____, ____, and ____.
4. Underline each vowel letter.

   above	chance	height	behind
   board	whose	believe	phone
   voted	region	important	government

5. Now sort the words into these groups and check them off the list.

   vowel <a>	vowel <e>	vowel <i>	vowel <o>

Show Answer

1. Underline the vowel letters in each word.

   itself	magic	rabbit	favor
   join	bridge	asking	their
   better	knee	village	often

2. Now sort the words into these four groups and check them off the list as we have done with itself and join. Be careful: most words go into more than one group.

   vowel <a>	vowel <e>	vowel <i>	vowel <o>
   magic	itself	itself	join
   rabbit	better	join	favor
   asking	bridge	magic	often
   village	knee	bridge
   favor	village	rabbit
   	their	asking
   	often	village
   		their

3. Fill in the blanks. (Don't forget the pointed brackets!) Four letters that are always vowels are <a>, <e>, <i>, and <o>.
4. Underline each vowel letter.

   above	chance	height	behind
   board	whose	believe	phone
   voted	region	important	government

5. Now sort the words into these groups and check them off the list.

   vowel <a>	vowel <e>	vowel <i>	vowel <o>
   above	above	region	above
   board	voted	height	board
   chance	chance	believe	voted
   important	whose	important	whose
   	region	behind	region
   	height		important
   	believe		phone
   	behind		government
   	phone
   	government