FOCUS ON PRONUNCIATION 1
Unit 1: Vowel Overview
Unit 3: Wait, Wet, and Wit
Unit 2: Sleep and Slip
* friend
* best
* dead
* trend
* wet
* any
* pen
* breakfast
* said
* brevity
* feast
* these
* sheep
* cheap
* beat
* sleep
* feet
* keys
* eat
* steal
* fist
* this
* ship
* chip
* bit
* slip
* fit
* kiss
* it
* still
* pain
* taste
* eight
* obey
* date
* brave
* fame
* grain
* great
* paper
Relax your tongue, lips, and cheeks.
a. That's too bad. It's a terrible neighborhood.
b. That's too bad. He seemed so happy at that job.
* The computer chip was pretty cheap.
Alternating Vowels:
a. I've heard they make good pets.
b. I thought he was afraid of the water.
a. With water?
b. It's very smooth.
* Do your feet fit in those shoes? They look a bit small for you.
a. Really? He deserved to get the most!
b. Is my name on it?
* This outfit goes perfect with these glasses.
Unit 4: Man and Men
Unit 5: Lock and Luck
Unit 6: Head, Had, Hut, and Hot
* blood
* bus
* zebra
* pencil
* country
* carrot
* come
* husband
* love
* enough
* awkward
* block
* lock
* clock
* raw
* start
* guard
* knowledge
* job
* popular
* friend
* best
* dead
* trend
* wet
* any
* pen
* breakfast
* said
* brevity
* bad
* aunt
* exam
* cat
* sandwich
* black
* laugh
* jacket
* past
* bland
Your mouth is nearly closed.
The tip of your tongue is behind your lower teeth
Relax your tongue, lips, and cheeks.
(schwa)
Stressed and Unstressed Vowel Sounds
Help Homer find the Schwa's in these words with unstressed vowel sounds:
* far
* bar
* guard
* car
* card
* fur
* burr
* gird
* cur
* curd
* bad
* back
* axe
* can
* pat
* bed
* beck
* ex
* Ken
* pet
* bandage
* vitamin
* lettuce
* pizza
* ketchup
* chicken
* soda
* orange
* potato
Help Scooby-Doo classify these minimal pairs under the right phonetic symbols:
* Choose some of your favorite minimal pairs and create a nice short story with them.
* burn
* had
* curve
* star
* and
* sax
* pan
* stir
* heart
* end
* barn
* flesh
* dart
* sex
* flash
* pen
* head
* dirt
* carve
* hurt
BE CREATIVE!
Unit 9: Cool, Could, and Cute
Unit 8: Boat, Bought, and Pot
Unit 7: Vowels followed by /r/
look
full
would
foot
bush
cook
good
bull
took
sugar
human
review
humid
punitive
cute
cucumber
future
numerous
introduce
news
* awkward
* block
* pot
* clock
* raw
* start
* guard
* knowledge
* job
* popular
Luke
choose
fool
flu
true
pool
moon
fruit
coo
drew
* boat
* joke
* focus
* open
* grow
* road
* know
* toe
* although
* sew
* pause
* loss
* fault
* call
* strong
* dawn
* thought
* bought
* broad
* law
Betty Botter bought a bit of butter.
The butter Betty Botter bought was a bit bitter,
Look! The wolf howls at the moon.
You shouldn't put sugar in your soup.
Is it true Luke plays the flute?
and made her batter bitter.
But a bit of better butter makes her batter better.
Who could buy the two shoes?
To open the new door, just push or pull.
Did you choose the good boots, the jewelry or the blue suit?
So Betty Botter bought a bit of better butter,
better than her bitter butter.
* Same or different?
Now, her bitter batter was better.
Let's see more vowel sounds + /r/
/r/ + /l/ =
Unit 10: Wide, House, and Boy
Unit 11: Consonant Overview
Unit 12: Beginning and Final Consonants
Final Consonant + Vowel
What is ASPIRATION?
Aspiration is a strong puff of air released from the mouth when we pronounce words with these consonant sounds at the beginning or when they are in the stressed syllable:
* vow
* round
* count
* bound
* crowd
* now
* brown
* bough
* drought
* house
* kind
* spy
* dye
* die
* eye
* height
* high
* buy
* aisle
* either
* boy
* koi fish
* voice
* toy
* loyalty
* spoil
* noise
* oil
* employ
* going
(
* Is there ASPIRATION in the following words with /p/, /k/ and /t/?
Read the following phrases clearly:
* Red apple
* Look it up
* Not Anne
* What is it?
* Take it out
* Cook it all
* Put a sandwich in
* Hang on a minute
Final Consonant + Same (or similar) Consonant
Final Consonant + Different Consonant
(
/z/ /z/
/g/ /g/
(
/s/ /s/
/g/ /k/
(
/k/ /k/
/f/ /v/
Unit 14: TH sounds
Unit 15: pack, back, fan, van, and west
Unit 13: -ed Endings; and Flapped /t/ and /d/
Exception
Voiceless
TH Sound
Voiced
TH Sound
/w/
*In some adjectives -ed is pronounced as a syllable even though the base word doesn't end in /t/ or /d/. Many of these base words end in /k/ or /g/:
/f/
/v/
Past Tense -ed Ending
RULE
/p/
/b/
Voiced
TH Sound
Voiceless
TH Sound
(voiced)
(voiceless)
When the BASE FORM of the verb ends in:
(voiced)
(voiceless)
*The pronunciation of these regular verbs depends on the last sound of the base form of the verb.
naked people
a two-legged monster
* strength
* length
* thanks
* warmth
* Thursday
* plinth
* theme
* three
* threat
* death
* something
* birth
Example:
* then
* them
* soothe
* with
* than
* brother
* mother
* father
* either
* feather
* this
* these
* that
* those
* together
* water
* where
* wine
* one
* well
* request
* effect
* favor
* after
* friend
* telephone
* van
* love
* video
* universe
* version
pronounce the ending:
* happy
* pace
* pack
* apple
* tap
* baby
* hobby
* bean
* biology
* rob
* hated
* hate
* Flapped /t/ and /d/:
* washed
* wash
* Some verbs are:
Read the following words aloud:
* listened
* listen
hated, waited, added, ended, admitted, fitted, knitted, accepted, decided, needed, invited, etc.
Read the following sentences aloud:
RULE
All /t/ and /d/ sound like a voiced sound called "flap" or "Fast D" The symbol for the flap is:
When the BASE FORM of the verb ends in:
Famous Vincent, the very vivacious vampire, visited his favorite friend, Francis, the vegetarian veterinarian vacationing in Valentine Valley, full of elephants.
* Thailand (Country)
* Thai (Nationality)
* Thames (River)
* months (plural)
I thought of thinking of thanking you.
The thirty thousand thieves thought they thrilled the throne throughout Thursday.
They threw three thick things.
Not these things here, but those things there.
While we were walking, we were washing washers wash Washington's windows with warm washing water.
Peter batted better than Pat poured butter, so Peter told Pat to buy pie pans before Peter bought butter plates.
pronounce the ending:
Many times, the flap creates homophones. In American English, these words are pronounced the same because of the flap:
* Flaps and Homophones:
* Some verbs are:
1. When I must choose between coffee and tea, I prefer the latter.
2. John used the ladder to climb onto the roof.
robbed, dragged, breathed, believed, used, sabotaged, judged, filmed, frightened, wingged, remembered, spelled, etc.
developed, asked, frothed, coughed, crossed, washed, watched, etc
1. I was putting one foot in front of the other, like a machine.
2. Bread pudding with raisins and sauce is delicious.
1. May I have a liter of milk, please?
2. The leader of the tour took them into the next room.
These rules also work with -ed adjectives