✨Creating an account only takes 20 seconds, and doesn’t require any personal info.
If you’ve got one already, please log in.🤝
O
O (/əʊ/ lower case o) is the 15th letter of the Latin alphabet, as used in English, and the 4th vowel letter.
Decoding[edit | edit source]
force /fɔːrs/ |
north /nɔːrθ/ |
hope /həʊp/ |
lot /lɒt/ |
The letter O (lower case o, pronounced /əʊ/), as most vowel letters in English, had initially four main pronunciations; however in Received Pronunciation and in General American they are currently three.
- So-called “short o”, IPA phoneme /ɒ/, as in lot, hop, hopping, cloth,BrE longBrE or torridBrE
- Short o spelling, IPA phoneme /ɔː/,AmE as in cloth,AmE or longAmE
- So-called “long o”, IPA phoneme /əʊ/, as in go, hope, hoping or most
- Long "or" monophtong (short vowel spelling), IPA phoneme /ɔː/, as in north, horse, born or torrid.AmE
- Long vowel "or" spelling, currently also /ɔː/, but it used to be /oə/ as in force, core or glory.
It also can be pronounced /ʌ/ as in love plus other, less common pronunciations, sometimes in combination with other letters, and, of course, it can be used as schwa. There are some helpful rules (to be taken with the habitual pinch of salt).
Distinctions by dialect[edit | edit source]
Teaching the letter O is one of those cases in which teachers, whichever their preferences might be, need to point out the differences between Received Pronunciation and General American. The best known of these differences is that RP /ɒ/ is normally GA /ɑː/. Also RP /ɒ/ in some cases is GA /ɔː/ as in cloth and long. Also, many North Americans pronounce /ɔː/BrE as /ɑː/; see also Cot-caught merger.
Dialect | lot | sorry | cloth | thought | north | forest | glory |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Received Pronunciation | [ɒ] | [ɒ] | [ɒ] | [ɔː] | [ɔː] | [ɒ] | [ɔː] |
General American | [ɑː] | [ɑː] | [ɔː] | [ɔː] | [ɔː] | [ɔː] | [ɔː] |
Cot-caught merger | [ɑː] | [ɑː] | [ɑː] | [ɑː] | [ɔː] | [ɔː] | [ɔː] |
As /ɒ/[edit | edit source]
See main article IPA phoneme /ɒ/.
See also So-called “short o” and Decoding exercises: "orV" and "orrV"
- before final consonants: bomb - bond - box - drop - hot - job - lot - not - on - shop - stop - top - upon
- before double consonant or “ck": block - clock - coffee - follow - occupy - offerBrE - possible - shock
- before one consonant: body - goneBrE - holiday - model - poverty - probably - product
- before two different consonants: compact (adj., n.) - oftenBrE - problem
As /əʊ/[edit | edit source]
See main article IPA phoneme /əʊ/.
- with magic e: alone - bone - phone - stone - whole - zone
- with final e: noble
- mid position: global - local - mobile - motivate - notable - slogan - soldier
- ending in consonants: bold - both - don’t - fold - folk /fəʊk/ - ghost - gold - gross - hold - host - most - old - post - roll - poll - won’t
- ending in "o": ago - also - buffalo - espresso - go - judo - no - potato - radio - so - taco - tomato - tuxedo - video
As /ɔː/[edit | edit source]
See also Decoding exercises: "orV" and "orrV"
- afford - born - force - form - horse - important - north - order - report - short - sort - store - storm - support - sword
- AmE: across - along - chocolate - cloth - cost - dog - gone - long - lost - off - offer - often
As /ʌ/[edit | edit source]
See main article IPA phoneme /ʌ/.
- O adjacent to "m": accomplishBrE - Colombia - come - comfort - comfortable /ˈkʌmftəbəl, ˈkʌmfərtəbəl/ - company - compass - mother - some - stomach
- O adjacent to "m" and "n": among - Monday - money - mongrel - monk - monkey - month
- O adjacent to "n": another - confrontation - done - front - honey - London - none - nothing - one /wʌn/ - once /wʌns/ - onion /ˈʌnjən/ - son - sponge - ton - tongue - tonne
- O adjacent to "n" and "w": won - wonder - wonderful
- O adjacent to "v": above - Coventry /ˈkʌvəntriː, ˈkɒvəntriː/ - cover - covet - discover - dove (bird) - glove - government - love - lover - oven - shovel - slovenly
- Other: brother - colorAmE - colourBrE - dozen - other - thorough /ˈθʌrə,BrE ˈθɜːrəʊAmE/
As /ɜː/[edit | edit source]
- attorney - word - work - world - worm - worse - worship - worst - worth
As /uː/[edit | edit source]
- do - lose - move - tomb - two - who - whose - womb
As /ʊ/[edit | edit source]
- bosom - woman - wolf
As /ɪ/[edit | edit source]
- women
As schwa[edit | edit source]
See main article schwa.
- weak forms: for - from - of - some - to
- at beginning (including many verbs): object (verb) - observe - occasion - occur - official - oppose
- as part of suffix -tion: nation - motion
- as part of suffix -sion: version - vision
- other: antonym - broccoli - compact (verb) - director - ecology - forbid - gorilla
Combinations[edit | edit source]
As "oa"[edit | edit source]
See main article Decoding exercises: "oa"
- as /ɔː/: abroad, boar, board, broad, oar, roar, soar
- as /əʊ/: approach, boat, coach, coal, coat, coast, float, foam, goal, goat, load, loan, oats, road, roast, throat, toast
As "oe"[edit | edit source]
See main article: Decoding exercises: "oe"
- /əʊ/: Joe - mistletoe - oboe - toe
- plurals: does (noun) - mosquitoes - potatoes
- /ʌ/: does (verb)
- /uː/: canoe - shoe
- /əʊə/: poem - poet - poetry
As "oi"[edit | edit source]
See main article: IPA phoneme /ɔɪ/
- /ɔɪ/: choice - oil
As "oo"[edit | edit source]
- See main article: Decoding exercises: "oo"
- /uː/: boot - choose - cool - fool - loose - moon - pool - root - school - soon - stool - tool
- /ʊ/: book - cook - foot - good - hook - look - shook - took - wool - whoops!
- /ʌ/: blood - flood
As "ou"[edit | edit source]
See main article Decoding exercises: "ou"
- /aʊ/: about - cloud - house - mountain - mouth - out - round
- /aʊə/: flour - hour - our - sour
- /ʌ/: country - cousin - touch - trouble - young
- /ɔː/: bought - course - court - fought - source - thought
- /əʊ/: although - dough - shoulder - soul - though
- /uː/: group - soup - through - you - youth
- /ʊ/: could - would - should
- /ɜː/: journalist - journey
- /ə/: ending in -ourBrE: colour - neighbour - vapour
- ending in -ous: dangerous - enormous - famous - obvious - religious - serious
As "ow"[edit | edit source]
See main article: Decoding exercises: "ow"
- /əʊ/: know - row - window
- /aʊ/: brown - down - towel
- /ɒ/: knowledge
As "oy"[edit | edit source]
See main article: IPA phoneme /ɔɪ/
- /ɔɪ/: boy - destroy - employ - enjoy - Joyce - royal - toy
Silent "o"[edit | edit source]
- colonel, jeopardy, Geoffrey, laboratory,BrE Leonard, leopard, people
- varisyllabic words ("o" is silent or it sounds /ə/): catholic, chocolate, corporate, comfortable /ˈkʌmfərtəbəl, ˈkʌmftəbəl, ˈkʌmftərbəlAmE/, Deborah, favoriteAmE/favourite,BrE history, incorporate (adj.), laboratory,AmE temporary
Homophones[edit | edit source]
- /əʊ/: lone - loan; no - know; poll - pole; roll - role; so - sew - sow; sole - soul;
- /ʌ/: none - nun; one - won; some - sum; son - sun;
- /ɔː/ all accents: bored - board; or - oar - ore; worn - warn;
- only in some accents: shore - sure; stork - stalk
Heteronyms[edit | edit source]
- compact (noun, verb)
Variant pronunciations[edit | edit source]
Anticipated pronunciation difficulties depending on L1[edit | edit source]
Preconceived ideas and other interferences from L1 obviously interfere in many cases with how students perceive - and pronounce - sounds/words in English. The following sections aims to point out some of the most typical difficulties teachers and students may encounter regarding pronunciation.