Pronunciation Practice

Finding English pronunciation tricky?

Having problems with English pronunciation? Well, don't be too hard on yourself - blame the language! Is it any surprise people have problems speaking English clearly when we pronounce words like 'once' with a /w/, but then ignore the /w/ completely in 'answer'. Why on earth are words like 'Wednesday' pronounced as 'wensday'? And what about 'creature' with 2 syllables but 'creation' pronounced with 3?

Pronunciation can certainly be a problem for some students. However, the most important thing to remember in the IELTS exam is that you will not be graded on your ability to speak with a perfect 'English' accent. As I explained in the ebook, there is no such thing as a perfect English accent but simply a wide variety of accents and dialects. What you will need to show the examiner is your ability to speak English clearly.

One of the key ways of improving your spoken English is to be aware of the key features of pronunciation, which includes individual vowel and consonant sounds, correct word stress, sentence stress and intonation. Today, you'll have the chance to practice vowel/diphthong sounds.

Task: Vowel sounds

Look at the underlined vowel/diphthong sounds in the pairs of words below. For each pair, say if you think the sounds are pronounced in the same way (S) of differently (D). Then use the phonetic chart on the right to write the appropriate number of the sound as in the first example. These words are commonly mispronounced by learners of English!

(Answers appear below)

1.                identify    (D)    15
         happy                1          

2.     Ill   
I  

3.     topic
total

4.     discuss
bus

5.     represent
better  

6.     towards
car

7.     bought
cough

8.     money
they

Answers

                                                                                                               

1.                  identify    (D)    15
            happy                1          

2. Ill            (D)    2
   I                      15
3. topic       (D)    6
   total                 14  
4. discuss    (S)    10
   bus
5. represent (S)    3
   better  
6. towards   (D)    12
   car                    5
7. bought     (D)    7
   cough               6
8. money     (D)   2
   they                 13