The ending _-ile_ in _agile_, _docile_, _fertile_, _futile_, _hostile_, _puerile_ is pronounced [ail], and not [il] as used to be the case.
=41.= The next sounds in the series, obtained by raising the tongue a little higher than for [ɛ], are "middle" [_e_] and "close" [e]. The vowel in _pen_, _get_, _fell_ is usually the middle [_e_]; some speakers (perhaps mostly ladies) use the close [e] here, but the very close [e], heard in French _été_, is not found in standard English. For ordinary purposes the sign [e] may serve to designate both [e] and [_e_], as they are so closely connected. When unstressed, the [e] gives place to [ə]; thus unstressed _them_ is [ðəm]. Notice that _'em_ really goes back to the old form _hem_.
Observe the colloquial tendency to pronounce _get_ as [git].
A fairly close [e] is in standard English the first element of the diphthong in _laid_, _tame_, _late_, etc. There is not one uniform vowel sound in these words; pronounce _aid_ quite slowly, and you will notice that the tongue rises before the consonant is reached. The diphthong is long when a voiced sound follows it, short before a voiceless sound. Thus _laid_ [leid] is longer than _late_ [leit]. Test this statement by finding other words containing the diphthong, and pronouncing them to yourself or getting others to pronounce them. What is the quantity of the [ei] when the diphthong is final?
In vulgar speech the first element of the diphthong tends to [ɑ], sometimes almost to [ɔ].
Listen to a foreigner's pronunciation of English words containing this diphthong; what do you notice?
The vowel in _says_ and _said_ is short [sez, sed], as also in _ate_ [et]. The pronunciation of _-ain_ as [ein] in such words as _fountain_, _captain_, _bargain_, is a pedantic affectation.
How do you pronounce _villain_, _curtain_?
=42.= Two front vowels remain to be considered, the _i_ sounds. Say _bid_ and _bead_. You recognise that one is longer than the other; are they otherwise the same? Say _bid_ and repeat it with the same vowel drawn out; then say _bead_, and repeat it with the vowel shortened. If you are careful in each case to change only the length, and not the quality of the vowel, you will perceive that the vowels in _bid_ and in _bead_ are different.