133 Pronunciation Z-A
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These Activities are designed to help you improve your pronunciation and communication skills in English. Whether you have a strong grasp of grammar and vocabulary or not, clear pronunciation is essential for effective communication. Through these activities, you will learn the nuances of English speech, including elision, simplification, intonation, stress, and rhythm, and develop the ability to understand spoken English. Additionally, you will gain a deeper understanding of the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) symbols and improve your pronunciation, making you a more confident and effective communicator in the English language.
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Snake
Snake is one of D. H. Lawrence's most famous poems and was published in the poetry collection Birds, Beasts and Flowers. I use this poem in this lesson to help you with your pronunciation, your vocabulary, your understanding of the British English IPA chart symbols, and to introduce you to this most beautiful of poems. Poems are a great way to enrich many aspects of your English and I hope that you enjoy the poem and the exercises included in the lesson.
Silent H at the Beginning of Words
Some English words begin with the letter H but don’t start with the / h / sound. This is because these words were borrowed into English from the original French. At first, they kept their French pronunciation, but gradually, over time, most of them became Anglicised and lost their French connection. Some of them, however, refused to lose their posh French pronunciation. These words, like honour, never had the / h / sound inserted at the beginning. I made this video and the English Activation Pack to help students like you learn which words should be pronounced with an initial / h / sound and which should not.
Schwa Vowel / ə /
Activate your use of the Schwa, the most common English sound, with this Pronunciation Activation Pack. In this Pronunciation Activation Pack we will be looking at the sixth of the pure vowels the schwa / ə /. The schwa is the most commonly heard vowel sound in English. The schwa / ə / is a neutral central vowel which occurs as the peak of unstressed syllables. The exact sound and quality of the schwa / ə / depends on the sounds around it and so it is very difficult to produce it in isolation. The schwa sound / ə / has many spellings and can be made with any of the vowel letters A, E, I, O, and U, and any combination of these vowel letters. Only words of more than one syllable can contain the schwa sound. The schwa / ə / is the most commonly heard sound in British English.
S or Z
When do we use the /s/ sound and when do we use the /z/ sound, and what’s the difference? Let’s find out… The two sounds /s/ and /z/ are very close and cause endless confusion for students. There are some rules and the rules are normally to do with the voiced and unvoiced sounds. A voiced sound is that made when we use our vocal cords. /z/ is the voiced form of the sound /s/, which is unvoiced. Put your fingers on your throat when you say the word buzz. You should feel a vibration in your throat at the end of the word. This is caused by the vocal cords vibrating and adding to the sound. Now say hiss. This time you should not feel any vibration in your throat. Your vocal cords are not involved in making the sound /s/.
Plum Plumb Plume
Words that begin with plum* have some radically different pronunciations which confuses a lot of students. This lesson came from a request by Spyridon, a student of mine in Australia, who was perplexed by the pronunciation. I created this lesson to make sure that nobody need ever be confused by these words again. The lesson contains the most common plum* words including, plum, plumage, plumb, plumber, plumbery, plumbic, plumbing, plume, plumed, plummet, plummy, plumose, plump, plumper, plumule, and plumy. Listen to me pronouncing each word and do the exercises to make sure you learn, remember, and use them correctly from now on.
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