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Question

Difficulty: MediumMonophthongs (Pure Vowels)

From the options lettered A to D, choose the word that has the same pure vowel sound as the one represented by the underlined letters in the word s<u>ay</u>s.

  1. friendAnswer
  2. B
    days
  3. C
    sees
  4. D
    sighs

Answer

The word containing the same pure vowel sound is 'friend'.
In standard English phonetics, the word 'says' is transcribed as /sez/, meaning the underlined spelling 'ay' represents the short monophthong sound /e/. Among the options, the word 'friend' (/frend/) is the only word that contains this exact pure vowel sound.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify the phonetic transcription and monophthong sound of the target word 'says'.
The word 'says' is transcribed phonetically as /sez/, where the underlined 'ay' represents the short pure vowel sound /e/.
English spelling rules often make 'ay' appear as a diphthong /eɪ/, but in the irregular third-person singular 'says', it is pronounced as the monophthong /e/.
2
Analyze the vowel sound present in each of the given options.
'friend' is pronounced /frend/ (contains /e/); 'days' is pronounced /deɪz/ (contains /eɪ/); 'sees' is pronounced /siːz/ (contains /iː/); 'sighs' is pronounced /saɪz/ (contains /aɪ/).
Comparing phonetic representations isolates the exact matching monophthong.
3
Match the target monophthong sound /e/ with the correct option.
'friend' matches the target vowel sound /e/.
Both 'says' and 'friend' share the identical pure monophthong sound /e/.

Key Concept

Identifying monophthong (pure vowel) sound equivalences in irregular English orthographic patterns.
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Topics

Monophthongs (Pure Vowels)

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