Of the 26 English letters, there are 5 vowels and 2 1 consonants.
Vowel, also called vowel, is a kind of phoneme, as opposed to consonant. Vowel is the sound made by air flowing through the mouth without obstacles when pronouncing.
When vowels are pronounced, the air flow from the lungs impacts the vocal cords through the glottis, so that the vocal cords vibrate evenly, and then the vibrating air flow passes through the mouth unimpeded, making different sounds through the adjustment of the tongue and lips. When the vocal cords inevitably vibrate, vowels are called voiced. In some languages, the vocal cords do not vibrate when vowels are pronounced, and clear vowels are issued.
Vowel letters and consonants:
Vowel letters:
When vowels are pronounced, the vocal cords vibrate and the airflow through the mouth is unimpeded. Vowels are divided into monosyllables and diphthongs, and the lip shape and tongue position of monosyllables remain unchanged when pronounced. When diphthongs pronounces, he slides from one vowel to another. The difference between vowels depends on the position of the tongue, the degree of opening and closing of the gums, the size and roundness of the lips.
Consonant letter:
Consonant letters are concepts opposite to vowel letters. All non-vowel letters are generally consonants. Simply put, all non-vowel letters are consonants except semi-vowel letters.
English consonants can be classified according to different pronunciation methods, that is, different methods used when airflow breaks through obstacles. For example, some sounds sound like a rapid explosion when the airflow breaks through an obstacle, while others sound like strong friction.
Generally speaking, vowels are vowels, consonants are consonants, and articles in front of words starting with vowels and phonemes should use an, such as apple; The article in front of a word that starts with a consonant phoneme should be a, such as man? A man.
But some words start with vowels, but their pronunciation does start with consonants, so the article in front of such words can't use an, it uses a? Like a university. Although "Daxue" starts with a U, its pronunciation starts with a consonant phoneme, so it should start with the article A.
On the contrary, although some words begin with a consonant, their pronunciation begins with a vowel phoneme. In the face of such words, the article can't be an, but an, such as a hero. Although "hero" begins with a consonant, its pronunciation begins with a vowel phoneme, and the previous article should use an instead of a.
Many people will fall into a misunderstanding that when they encounter vowels, they should use an, but in fact, the correct understanding should start with vowels and phonemes, that is, the initial phonetic symbols should be pronounced as vowels, so that an can be used, while others should use A. It is still difficult to correctly distinguish vowel phonemes from consonants, so it is necessary to read more and more phonetic symbols of words starting with vowel phonemes to distinguish them. )