sentences:  For more information see English phonology (vowels).The earliest stage of Early Modern English had a contrast between the long mid monophthongs (as in "pane" and "toe" respectively) and the diphthongs (as in "pain" and "tow" respectively).In the vast majority of Modern English accents these have been merged, so that the pairs "pane"–"pain" and "toe"–"tow" are homophones.