When I was in the second grade, (about 50 years ago), I was taught that the vowels were:
"a,e,i,o,u and sometimes y and w"
However speaking with an elementary school teacher, she laughed and said the letter 'w' was never a vowel. Am I rememberng this incorrectly,or has this changed or ????
I learned the same thing 60 years ago but I never really understood because it was never explained to me until my wife became a language therapist and I remembered to ask her about this. (no more that 10 years ago)
There are rarely used words that are taken from other languages that might fit an explanation, but if you are talking about common everyday words used in English, "w" is not a vowel by itself. It is a vowel when used in some diphthongs like draw, cow or few. In these words you couldn't get that vowel sound unless you put the "w" on there so in those cases it is a vowel.
Dick said .... Â draw, cow or few. In these words you couldn't get that vowel sound unless you put the "w" on there so in those cases it is a vowel.
But that is also true with drab, cot, fed Â