

The letter was adopted with this value in the Old Italic alphabets, including the early Latin alphabet. The use of this Phoenician letter for a vowel sound is due to the early Greek alphabets, which adopted the letter as O "omicron" to represent the vowel /o/. Its original sound value was that of a consonant, probably, the sound represented by the cognate Arabic letter ع ʿayn. ʿeyn, meaning "eye", and indeed its shape originates simply as a drawing of a human eye (possibly inspired by the corresponding Egyptian hieroglyph, cf. Its graphic form has remained fairly constant from Phoenician times until today. You can always use it in a sentence to show surprise or disappointment, but just remember to follow it with a comma.Late Renaissance or early Baroque design of an O, from 1627 In John Keats’ famous poem “Ode to a Nightingale,” the first line of the second verse reads, “O, for a draught of vintage!” How Is Oh Used in a Sentence? When it comes to poetry, you’ll see “O” used at the beginning of a line to show a direct address to a person, object, or idea. It needs to be spelled o-h to be grammatically correct.

Is Oh Grammatically Correct?Ībsolutely! You might see the single letter O used as an interjection to show surprise or disappointment, but just know it’s incorrect.

You should always spell “oh” with an “o” and an “h” – not to be confused with the letter “o” by itself, which we will discuss next. Words like ah, ahh, yikes, oops, and phew are also interjections to give you a better idea. In English, “oh” is classified as an interjection, which basically means it’s a word used to express strong emotions or feelings.
