Spelling the short vowel sound /ŭ/ : u, o or ou

Some more on:
the /ŭ/ sound spelled with o as in oven

There is one rule to tell you when to use o to spell the /ŭ/ sound:

We never put u and v together - always use ov.

Some examples:

above
love
dove
shovel
cover

discover
glove
shove
govern
government

The following are not rules but they are letter patterns which you often see:

1. on words:

son
ton
won
done
none
monk
month
front

honey
money
among
wonder
London
Monday

2. oth words:

other
another
mother
brother
smother

Learn the words:

blood -
When I cut my finger there was a lot of blood.

flood -
After a lot of rain, York is often flooded.

Note:
In some parts of the UK these two vowel sounds sound almost the same:


u as in umbrella	oo as in books

For more on the oo words, please see Unit 13.