Pronunciation of -ED

Silent letters

Teaching the alphabet to digital natives

Vowel sounds 6

This is a long vowel sound. Watch the video and practice the pronunciation of this sound. You can also download a poster with examples. Click here.


Usual spellings: oo as in school, food; u as in June, use; ew as in new, flew. But also: do, fruit, juice, shoe.

Vowel sounds 5

 

This is a short vowel sound. Watch the video and practice the pronunciation of this sound. You can also download a poster with examples. Click here.

Usual spelling: e. Examples: yes, help, ten, pet, very, red. But also: friend, bread, breakfast, any, said.

Consonant sounds 3

 




This is a voiced consonant. You can hear it at the beginning of the word joke, in the middle of the word lodger, at the end of the word bridge and at the beginning and at the end of the word judge. Watch the video and practice the pronunciation of this sound. You can also download a poster with examples. Click here.

The usual spellings are j as in January, juice, July, enjoy; dge as in bridge, fridge. But also German, manager.

Source: BBC Learning English 

Consonant sounds 2

 




This is a voiceless consonant. Watch the video and practice the pronunciation of this sound. You can also download a poster with examples. Click here.

The usual spellings are sh as in shopping, shoes, Spanish, fish; ti (+ vowel) as in station, information. But also sugar, sure.

Source: BBC Learning English

Consonant sounds 1

 

This is a voiceless consonant. You can hear it at the beginning of the word choke, in the middle of the word teacher, at the end of the word match and at the beginning and the end of the word church. Watch the video and practice the pronunciation of this sound. You can also download a poster with examples. Click here.

The usual spellings are ch as in cheap, children, church; tch as in watch, match; t(+ure) as in picture, adventure.

Source: BBC Learning English

Vowel sounds 4

 

This is a short vowel sound. Watch the video and practice the pronunciation of this sound. You can also download a poster with examples. Click here.


Many different spellings. It's always unstressed. Examples: teacher, umbrella, America, famous, second, ago

Source: BBC Learning English

Countries and nationalities

AudioEnglish.net is a website to improve your pronunciation. Click here.

Why are Phonetics Important?

English Diphthongs 2

 
This is a diphthong, a double vowel sound. Watch the video and practice the pronunciation of this sound. You can also download a poster with examples. Click here.

The usual spellings are 'i' as in nine, twice; 'y' as in my, why; 'igh' as in high, night.
But also 'uy' as in buy.

Source: BBC Learning English

English Diphthongs 1

This is a diphthong, a double vowel sound. Watch the video and practice the pronunciation of this sound. You can also download a poster with examples. Click here.

The usual spellings are 'a' as in name, make; 'ai' as in rain, paint; 'ay' as in play, day.
But also 'ea' 'eigh' 'ey' as in break, steak, great, eight, they, grey.

Source: BBC Learning English

Vowel sounds 3

 

This is a short vowel sound. Watch the video and practice the pronunciation of this sound. You can also download a poster with examples. Click here.

Usual spelling 'a'. Examples: cat, thanks, flat, black, Japan, have, stamp.

Source: BBC Learning English

Vowel sounds 2

 

This is a long vowel sound. Watch the video and practice the pronunciation of this sound. You can also download a poster with examples. Click here.

The usual spellings are 'ee' as in meet, three; 'ea' as in speak, eat; 'e' as in me, we.
But also 'eo' 'i' 'ey' 'ie' as in people, police, key, niece.

Source: BBC Learning English

Vowel sounds 1

 

This is a short vowel sound. Watch the video and practice the pronunciation of this sound. You can also download a poster with examples. Click here.

The usual spelling is 'i 'as in his, this, film, six, big, swim.
But also 'e' 'o' 'u' as in English, women, busy.

Source: BBC Learning English

Pronunciation

Pronunciation is probably one of the most complicated areas of the English language. The spelling of a word is not always the same as its pronunciation. So a lot of practice and becoming familiar with the phonetic symbols will help you improve. Click here to revise them.

Here is a pronunciation flash to help you. Click on the subtitles to help you understand the explanations.

The dictionary howjsay will help you with individual words.

Finally here is a famous personality who also has problems with English pronunciation!

Remember you already have a lot of links in this blog to practise pronunciation, for example 1,2 or 3.

Source: EOI Elx