What was the main effect of the Great Vowel Shift on spelling-pronunciation relationships?

• A. It produced a mismatch between pronunciation and spelling.
• B. It caused spelling to adjust to pronunciation.
• C. It had no impact on spelling or pronunciation.
• D. It affected consonants only.

Answer: (A)

The main idea here is how a big sound change in English changed how words are spoken without an equivalent change in how they are written. The Great Vowel Shift moved the long vowel sounds, but spelling stayed largely fixed from earlier forms. As a result, the way a word is pronounced no longer lines up neatly with its spelling, creating the mismatch we see in modern English. This shift mainly affected vowels, not consonants, so it’s not about consonants. Spelling didn’t systematically adjust to match the new pronunciations, which is why the correspondence between spelling and pronunciation became irregular. That makes the statement about a mismatch the best description of the main effect.