The Problematic O

Mastering the American Accent » The Problematic O

The Problematic O

Trouble is only opportunity in work clothes.
Henry Kaiser

Words spelled with the letter o can cause many frustrations for students of the American accent. You have already learned that the pronunciation of a vowel does not necessarily correspond to the spelling of the vowel. This is especially true of the letter o. The letters o in the words job, love, and only are all pronounced differently.

This quote from Helen Keller contains fourteen words spelled with the letter o and features all three different vowel pronunciations: "When one door of happiness closes, another opens; but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one which has opened for us." The confusion surrounding the letter o for non-native speakers is certainly understandable!

The Neutral Sound /ɘ/

First, let’s look at the most problematic sound with an o spelling. It’s the neutral sound /ɘ/, as in love, other, and Monday, which non-native speakers frequently mispronounce as laav, ather, and Mahn day. The wrong pronunciation occurs because the /ɘ/ doesn’t exist in some languages and also because learners are used to this sound usually being spelled with the letter u as in up, fun, and Sunday. You will improve your American accent if you simply memorize some very common words with the neutral /ɘ/ sound that are spelled with an o, or ou, or even oo. Start by studying the pronunciation exceptions in the chart below.

Memorizing the Exceptions

Words spelled with o but pronounced as /ɘ/.

above	another	brother
color	cover	come
does	done	dove
from	gonna	love
Monday	money	month
mother	none	nothing
of	once	one
other	oven	some
something	somewhere	son
ton	tongue	won
wonderful

Words spelled with ou and pronounced as /ɘ/.

double	country	couple
tough	Douglas	cousin
enough	touch	rough
southern

Words spelled with oo and pronounced as /ɘ/.

blood

flood

Practice Sentences

My cousin is in another country.
I love some of those colors.
He makes a ton of money every month.
My other brother comes once a month.
Nothing was done on Monday.
None of the above are good enough.

Word Pairs in Sentences

The word pairs in each of the sentences below are spelled the same except for one consonant being different. Both words are spelled with an o, but this vowel is pronounced differently in each word. The second word of each pair contains the /ɘ/ sound.

other vowel sound	/ɘ/
1. bother	brother	Don’t bother your brother.
2. Rome	come	When will you come to Rome?
3. bone	done	The dog is done with the bone.
4. Tom	from	Where is Tom from?
5. pouch	touch	Don’t touch the pouch.
6. cough	tough	It’s tough to have a cough.
7. goes	does	He goes there and does it.
8. collar	color	What is the color of the collar?
9. over	oven	Come over to see my new oven.

Sentence Pairs for Practice

/ɑ/	/ɘ/
1. You have a good lock.	You have good luck.
2. Where is that cop?	Where is that cup?
3. I shot it.	I shut it.
4. He’s a big boss.	It’s a big bus.
5. This is Don.	This is done.

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