[IamJen]

<<prepares to hear her sweetie eat his words.

 

[Sevenseas]

English speakers think W is a vowel or that Y is a consonant?

Now that is just ... disturbing.

 

[Sevenseas]

Y is a vowel, W is a consonant, ****damnit. Any grammar book claiming otherwise should be headed for the flames.

 

[Indian Summer]

How can a letter sometimes be a vowel and sometimes a consonant? It shows a total lack of backbone!

 

[Skylark]

Y sometimes acts as a vowel and sometimes as a consonant. It shows versatility, IS, not lack of backbone.

 

[Elena99]

I've never heard anyone question whether or not w was a consonant and only a consonant before. Where did you hear otherwise, IS?

I wanted to vote that Y is a vowel and sometimes a consonant.

 

[GhostUser]

Quote:

Originally Posted by skylark

Y sometimes acts as a vowel and sometimes as a consonant. It shows versatility, IS, not lack of backbone.

 

[troub]

wtb word with no vowels but a 'w'.

wlk

wrt

rwt

clw

until some word is given as proof: y is vowel/consonant. w is a consonant only

 

[troub]

I mean, if we are going to start turning all soft sounding letters into vowels, lets make L's M's N's and H's "sometimes-vowels" too.

 

[nigel]

Quote:

Originally Posted by skylark

Y sometimes acts as a vowel and sometimes as a consonant. It shows versatility, IS, not lack of backbone.

Yeah! English kicks ass!

 

[Skylark]

Quote:

Originally Posted by troub

wtb word with no vowels but a 'w'.

wlk

wrt

rwt

clw

until some word is given as proof: y is vowel. w is not.

Abbreviations and acronyms don't count.

 

[bstutzma]

W is never a vowel. Y is unique in that it can both. Unless my kindergarden teacher lied to me.

 

[ynaffit]

The sounds /y/ (or IPA /j/) and /w/ as in "yes" and "west" are glides or approximants. They are consonant versions of the vowels /i/ and /u/. In English spelling, <y> is sometimes used to spell /i/. <w> is used to spell /u/ in "cwm" and possibly some other Welsh borrowings.

 

[Jessica Alana]

Yep. W is a consonant. A, E, I, O, U, and sometimes Y are vowels.

He probably heard "Dubya is a bowel (movement)" and thought it was W is a vowel.

 

[IamJen]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ynaffit

The sounds /y/ (or IPA /j/) and /w/ as in "yes" and "west" are glides or approximants. They are consonant versions of the vowels /i/ and /u/. In English spelling, <y> is sometimes used to spell /i/. <w> is used to spell /u/ in "cwm" and possibly some other Welsh borrowings.

There ya go...

I know I must not be the only American here who learned the chant re: "A E I O U, sometimes Y and W". Our teachers could never give us a w word though. My dad, English geek extraordinaire though, knew of cwm, a word which comes in handy in Scrabble occasionally.

 

[Brandon]

I learned that same chant in Kindergarten, and my teacher never knew a 'w' word either.

 

[Sevenseas]

Filthy heretics, all of you.

 

[Jessica Alana]

I heard the chant sans "w."

 

[GhostUser]

Quote:

Originally Posted by IamJen

There ya go...

I know I must not be the only American here who learned the chant re: "A E I O U, sometimes Y and W". Our teachers could never give us a w word though. My dad, English geek extraordinaire though, knew of cwm, a word which comes in handy in Scrabble occasionally.

Whoa, they taught you that?

 

[WonderRandy]

that's what I was taught as well...