Iq ...

[BuddMan]

Um....English majors (like myself), professors, teachers, etc, if they know anything about English, will agree that y is not a vowel.

[BuddMan]

Oh, sorry Grubs, didn't read your statement well enough. Yes, in some circumstances y is a vowel. Yet it is in most cases stated as not being one.

[Greebe]

and to think earlier today I was going to message you just to let you know I have no hard feelings and now you turn around and behave like a spoiled brat who not only has a comprehension problem, but a major chip on his shoulder... get over it Budd.

BTW your answer would be incorrect on the IQ test.

[Agent31]

MadOnion has just realeased...

<img src="http://home.iprimus.com.au/agent31/stuff/IQMark2002.gif" width="176" height="44" title="Sorry MadOnion, I couldn't help myself!">

personally I think this thread belongs in the bechmarks forum...

[MadScot]

ROFLMAO!

[thop]

how can Y sometimes be a vowel.

[T'kul Bastile]

Hmmmmm Actually I thought the wrong part was the question itself. What kinda idiot would ask someone, "Why run from fire ants"? I mean, why the hell wouldn't ya?

Well I guess you could just walk away eh?

I think I am to old to take this test. I would likely get some odd number like 15. And since I do not see patterns in anything I would get a zero on that.

And Y = sometimes vowel. I do not think I have ever seen it when it would not be considered a vowel though. But hey, I am not an english major.

[RichL]

I've only ever done IQ tests online or the sort you get in the back of a magazine. They always come out somewhere between 135 to 145. I scored 137 on this one.

Considering I'm suffering from two weeks worth of insomnia and it took me five minutes this morning to work out what to do next when standing before the toaster with a slice of bread, I'd say this test isnt particularly accurate.

Oh, and I scored 100 on pattern recognition too. I must be an idiot.

[Dr Mordrid]

Originally posted by thop
how can Y sometimes be a vowel.

Most kids in North America are taught the vowells as "A, E, I, O, U and sometimes Y", but in some schools W is also added to the list.

Traditionally, there are 5 letters in the Latin alphabet that represent pairs of Latin vowels (A is long or short /a/, E is long or short /e/, etc.) English speakers got these when they started using the Latin alphabet, but English had more vowels than Latin, and sometimes used two vowels (AE, EA, OA, OU, etc.).

W and Y are late additions to the English alphabet that often replace U (which is why it's still called 'double-U') or I after vowels, respectively. Both of these letters also represent more consonant-like sounds like the first sound in 'we' or 'you'. Thus they're called 'semi-vowels'; halfway between vowels and consonants, and that's what "sometimes W and Y" really means.

It's also true that occasionally in English Y is used to spell something we'd ordinarily use I for, like 'byte' or 'fly', and that *very* rarely (usually in words of Welsh origin, like 'cwm') W is used to represent some kind of U. But mostly it's their use as part of a diphthong like OY OW AW AY that makes them 'sometimes'.

Dr. Mordrid

Def: diphthong

A diphthong is a phonetic sequence, consisting of a vowel and a glide, that is interpreted as a single vowel.

[Technoid]

what a mess!

[Rakido]

I scored 158 with a 100 pattern recognition. Now i'm depressed, you're all smarter than i am.

And for the Y-sometimes-a-vowel: http://www.decoz.com/Y_vowel-consonant.htm

When determining if the Y is a vowel or a consonant, the basic rule is this:
When the letter serves as a vowel, and in fact sounds like one, it is a vowel. The same is true when the Y serves as the only vowel in the syllable. Examples of both of these cases are such names as Lynn, Yvonne, Mary, Betty, Elly, and Bryan.

However, if the Y does not provide a separate vowel sound, as when it is coupled with another vowel, it is considered a consonant.
In names such as Maloney or Murray, the Y is a consonant, because the vowel sound depends upon the long E in Maloney and the long A in Murray.

Rakido

[GNEP]

In England I was never taught that Y or W were vowels. Only a, e, i, o, u - hence the puzzle "Which tube station contains all the vowels?" (Answers on a postcard please for your Blue Peter badge)



gnep

[Dr Mordrid]

Originally posted by Technoid
what a mess!

That's what you get when you mix a Germanic language root with a Latin alphabet

Dr. Mordrid

[VJ]

The whole Y-discussion just makes me wonder... if Y isn't a vowel, does that mean that "why" and "my" are words only consisting of consonants ?

(just for the record: English is not my native language)


Jörg

[GNEP]

Yes. As is rhythm...

Pedants rule!