Short and Long A sounds

Short sound

When a short word with one vowel ends in s, l, or f, the end consonant is doubled, as in:

If there are two vowels in a word, but the first vowel is followed by a double consonant, the vowel's sound is short, such as:

If there are two vowels in a word and the vowels are separated by two or more letters, the first vowels is usually short, for example:

The long vowel sound is the same as the name of the vowel itself. Follow these rules:

Long vowel sounds are often created when two vowels appear side by side in a syllable. When vowels work as a team to make a long vowel sound, the second vowel is silent. Examples are: