🔹 1. Short E — /ɛ/ (like in “red”)
- Occurs in closed syllables (ends in a consonant).
- Common spelling: e
Examples:
- red
- pen
- bed
- men
🔹 2. Long E — /iː/ (like in “me”)
Occurs when:
- “E” is followed by a silent ‘e’ at the end of the word (magic ‘e’ rule).
- There are double “ee”, or “ea” spelling patterns.
- Also found in some open syllables (ends in a vowel).
Examples:
- me, she, these
- see, tree, green
- eat, sea, team
- even, equal
🔹 3. Unstressed E — /ə/ or silent
- In unstressed syllables, “e” is often pronounced as a schwa /ə/ or not pronounced at all.
Examples:
- problem → /ˈprɒb.ləm/ (schwa)
- chocolate → /ˈtʃɒk.lət/ (e is silent)
🔹 4. “E” as part of other vowel combinations
- ei – often /iː/ or /eɪ/
- receive /rɪˈsiːv/
- eight /eɪt/
- ea – can be /iː/, /ɛ/, or even /eɪ/ depending on the word
- /iː/: read, eat, sea
- /ɛ/: head, bread, dead
- /eɪ/: great, break, steak
🔹 5. Silent E
- At the end of many words, “e” is silent but affects the pronunciation of the vowel before it (makes it long).
Examples:
- made (not mad)
- hope (not hop)
- cube (not cub)