Classification of vowels according to the height of the raised part of the tongue
CLOSE/HIGH VOWELS
In the production of close/high vowelsone part of the tongue comes close to the roof of the mouth and the air passage is narrowed, but not so much as to form a consonant.
The English close/high vowels are: 
.
OPEN/LOW VOWELS
In the production of open/low vowelsthe raised part of the tongue is very low in the mouth and the air passage is very wide.
The English open/low vowels are:
and the nuclei of
and 
.
MID-OPEN/MID VOWELS
In the production of mid-open/mid vowelsthe raised part of the tongue is half-way between its high and low positions.
The English mid-open/mid vowels are: 
and the nuclei of [ε ə] 
.
| Sounds | Letters | Examples | Notes |
| [i:] | e, ee ea ie, ei | be, eve, see, meet, sleep, meal, read, leave, sea, team, field, believe, receive | bread, deaf [e]; great, break [ei]; friend [e] |
| [i] | I Y | it, kiss, tip, pick, dinner, system, busy, pity, sunny | machine, ski, liter, pizza [i:] |
| [e] | E Ea | let, tell, press, send, end, bread, dead, weather, leather | meter [i:] sea, mean [i:] |
| [ei] | A ai, ay ei, ey ea | late, make, race, able, stable, aim, wait, play, say, day, eight, weight, they, hey, break, great, steak | said, says [e]; height, eye [ai] |
| [æ] | A | cat, apple, land, travel, mad; AmE: last, class, dance, castle, half | |
| [a:] | Ar a | army, car, party, garden, park, father, calm, palm, drama; BrE: last, class, dance, castle, half | war, warm [ɔ:] |
| [ai] | i, ie y, uy | ice, find, smile, tie, lie, die, my, style, apply, buy, guy | |
| [au] | Ou ow | out, about, house, mouse, now, brown, cow, owl, powder | group, soup [u:] know, own [ou] |
| [ɒ ] | o | not, rock, model, bottle, copy | |
| [ɔ:] | or o aw, au ought al, wa- | more, order, cord, port, long, gone, cost, coffee, law, saw, pause, because, bought, thought, caught, hall, always, water, war, want | work, word [ə:] [ɜ:] |
| [ɔi] | oi, oy | oil, voice, noise, boy, toy | |
| [ou] | o oa, ow | go, note, open, old, most, road, boat, low, own, bowl | do, move [u:] how, owl [au] |
| [ ju:] | u ew eu ue, ui | use, duty, music, cute, huge, tune, few, dew, mew, new, euphemism, feud, neutral, hue, cue, due, sue, suit | |
| [u:] | u o, oo ew ue, ui ou | rude, Lucy, June, do, move, room, tool, crew, chew, flew, jewel, blue, true, fruit, juice, group, through, route; AmE: duty, new, sue, student | guide, quite [ai]; build [i] |
| [u] | oo u ou | look, book, foot, good, put, push, pull, full, sugar, would, could, should | |
| neutral sound [ə] | a, e er o, i ar,or | about, sofa,brutal, taken, violent, teacher,letter memory, reason, family dollar, doctor | |
| [ə:] [ɜ:] | er, ur, ir,or ear | serve, herb, burn, hurt, girl, sir, work, word, heard, earn, earnest, earth | heart, hearth [a:] |
| [ʌ] | u o ou | cut, cup,but colour, dozen,worry tough, rough | put,bull,truth,bush [u] group [u:] |
The story of Betty Botter and the butter - short vowels
Betty Botter had some butter,
"But," she said, "this butter's bitter.
If I put it in my batter,
It would make my batter bitter.
But a bit of better butter-
Better than the bitter butter-
That would make my batter better."
So she bought a bit of butter,
Better than the bitter butter,
And she put it in her batter,
And it made her batter better.
So it was better Betty Botter
Bought a bit of better butter.
The cold old house - long vowels and diphthongs
I once knew a house,
A cold, old house,
A cold, old house by the sea.
If I were a mouse,
In a cold, old house,
What a cold, old mouse I would be!
I joined the navy - long vowels and diphthongs
I joined the navy,
To see the sea.
And what did I see?
I saw the sea.
The wild rover - long vowels and diphthongs
I've been a wild rover for many a year,
And I've spent all my money on whisky and beer,
But now I'm returning with gold in great store,
Now I never will play the wild rover no more
And it's no, nay, never,
No nay never, no more,
Will I play the wild rover?
No, never, no more.
THE TASK: