PRONUNCIATION

These are the symbols for the sounds of English. Clicking on a symbol will take you to another page where you can watch a video about that particular sound.

The sounds are organised into the following different groups:

Short vowels

Long vowels

Diphthongs (double vowel sounds)

Voiceless consonants

Voiced consonants
 

Similar sounds exercises

Unit 1 - Key and Pin

Unit 2 - Book and Do

Unit 3 - Door and Coat

Unit 4 - Egg, Cat and Cup

Unit 5 - Sock and coat

Quizzes

• Quiz 1
• Quiz 2
• Quiz 3
• Quiz 4
• Quiz 5

Programmes

• Programme 1
• Programme 2
• Programme 3

RHYTHM

PRACTICE

Section 1: Focus

Introduction:   Introduction of Sentence Stress and Rhythm

Sentence Stress    When a speaker says a sentence, there is usually one focus of meaning which the speaker stresses. Sentence stress is where the focus is on. When the sentence is simple, there is only one sentence stress. But if the sentence is a compound or complex sentence, which may carry more than one clause, there will be more than one sentence stress. The following sentences are simple ones that will help you build up the conception of sentence stress. 1.     It doesn’t say.  2.   I’ve never seen it.  3.   We could go dancing.  4.   We might go to the circus.  5.   I’ve lived in Seattle my whole life.  6.   I think it’s on at nine o’clock.  7.   It’s incredibly fast.  8.   Well, she worked hard.  9.   It was one of the funniest part of the movie!  10. They serve all kinds of hamburgers.

Rhythm    The rhythm of English is based on the contrast of stressed and unstressed syllables. The rhythm may not be always there, but overall, it follows a musical unity. The following sentences will give you an idea of how they are said. The stressed syllables are in capital letters, but the unstressed parts are underlined, its rotation shows the “do-me-do-me” rhythm, which is mentioned in Unit 4. Rhythm is most obvious in report English, such as news reports and narration of a reading passage. While the most common narration we experience, such as telling a children’s story, presents the most distinctive rhythm. Please note No. 10 in this exercise to feel the rhythm of report English. 1.     You can either WALK or take the SUBway.  2.     Well, they ALSO come in SMALler sizes.  3.     In fact, BOTH of my daughters live in CHICAGO.  4.     You can either DRIVE or take a BUS.  5.     I should be BACK no later than THREE.  6.     I’ll give her the message as soon as she GETS IN.  7.     My BROther and I used to FIGHT all the time.  8.     I’m so HUNgry I could eat a HORSE.  9.     I guess a LITTLE EXercise would do YOU good.  10. The HUman BOdy is MADE to MOVE and it WORKS BEST when it GETS REgular EXcercise.

Top

　

　

Read the passage below. Mark the places where you can pause using /. Underlin the stressed syllables.

　

My friend ha a new job. He´s working as an IT specialist for the new bank that opened down the street. He´s excited because he gets to create his own position since the bank is new. The pay is good. That´s lucky because his wife recently lost her job. She has been applying all over town for the past two months and hasn´t had any luck. Now she´s going to take one month off, relax, and then try again.

key