consonant là gì

by Craig Shrives

What Are Consonants? (with Examples)

A consonant is a letter of the alphabet that represents a basic speech sound produced by obstructing the breath in the vocal tract. All the letters in the alphabet apart from A, E, I, O, and U are consonants. (A, E, I, O, and U are vowels.)

Bạn đang xem: consonant là gì

How Consonants Are Formed

Here are some examples of how consonants are formed by obstructing the breath in the vocal tract.

• T is pronounced using the tongue (front part)
• K is pronounced using the tongue (back part)
• B is pronounced with the lips
• H is pronounced in the throat
• F is pronounced by forcing air through a narrow gap
• M is pronounced using the nasal passage

If you make any consonant sound, you will notice some obstruction of the breath from the lungs. This is how consonants differ from vowels. Vowels are formed with an open configuration of the vocal tract. In other words, when pronouncing a vowel, there is vibration of the vocal cords but no audible friction.

A consonant can be combined with a vowel to tát size a syllable.

Why Consonants Are Important

There are two good reasons to tát care about consonants.

(Reason 1) Use "a" and "an" correctly.

Use "a" (not "an") before a consonant sound. Note the word sound. (The ruling is not use "a" before a consonant.)

• It was a unique experience to tát receive an unequivocal answer.
(Even though "unique" and "unequivocal" start with the same letter (the same two letters in fact), "unique" starts with a consonant sound (Y) while "unequivocal" starts with a vowel sound. Remember that you must use "a" (not "an") before a consonant sound.)

• Becoming a eunuch wasn't a one-off khuyễn mãi giảm giá – it was a two-off khuyễn mãi giảm giá.
("Eunuch" and "one-off" both start with vowels but with consonant sounds.)

Read more about "an" and "a" on the page about indefinite articles.

Be particularly careful with abbreviations.

Xem thêm: landmark là gì

• A MAFF official came to tát stuff an MRSA outbreak.
(The acronym MAFF attracts "a" because it is pronounced "maf," i.e., it starts with a consonant sound. However, the initialism MRSA attracts "an" because it is pronounced "em-ar-ess-ay," i.e., it starts with a vowel sound.)

Read more about using "an" and "a" with abbreviations.

(Reason 2) Use consonance to tát add rhythm and musicality to tát your writing.

Consonance is a literary technique created by repeating the same consonant sound in neighboring words. It is used by poets and lyricists to tát compel their audiences to tát consider the near rhyme created by consonance. Consonance is not the same as alliteration, which sees neighboring words all starting with the same letter or sound.

• I earn my keep by cracking locks or picking a pockets.
• She swung her fist in angst against the beast.
• The new logo says boorish and English but also stylish.

Read more about consonance.

Key Points

Interesting Words with Only Consonants

With seven consonants, "rhythms" is the longest word without any vowels. There are three words with six consonants and no vowels:

• He moved very spryly.
("Spryly" means in a nimble or agile manner.)
• She is sylphy.
("Sylphy" means lượt thích a "sylph" (a slender graceful girl).)
• Eclipses occur at times of syzygy.
("Syzygy" is the straight-line configuration of three or more celestial bodies.)

Some might argue that these words vì thế contain vowels because they include Y, which is often called a semi-vowel. (There is more on this on the vowels page.)

With no "vowels," we have crwth (a stringed instrument) and cwtch (a shed, cuddle, or hiding place). But, both of these words derive from Welsh, which typically treats W lượt thích the U in "cut."

Xem thêm: task force là gì

Printable Test