Scribd Logo
Upload

Welcome to Scribd!

  • 110 views

    The Pronunciation of The S at The End of Words in English

    Uploaded by

    bejaia
    The pronunciation of the final S in plural words and verbs in English depends on the final consonant sound before the S. If the last consonant is a sibilant sound like S, Z, J, CH, or SH, the S is pronounced as /ɪz/ like an extra syllable. If the last consonant is voiceless like P, T, K, F, or TH, the S is pronounced as /s/ without an extra syllable. If the last consonant is voiced like B, D, G, M, N, V, Y, TH, or a vowel, the S is pronounced as /z/ similar to the buzz of a bee.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd

    The Pronunciation of The S at The End of Words in English

    Uploaded by

    bejaia
    110 views2 pages
    The pronunciation of the final S in plural words and verbs in English depends on the final consonant sound before the S. If the last consonant is a sibilant sound like S, Z, J, CH, or SH, the S is pronounced as /ɪz/ like an extra syllable. If the last consonant is voiceless like P, T, K, F, or TH, the S is pronounced as /s/ without an extra syllable. If the last consonant is voiced like B, D, G, M, N, V, Y, TH, or a vowel, the S is pronounced as /z/ similar to the buzz of a bee.

    Original Description:

    open and down

    Original Title

    The Pronunciation of the S at the End of Words in English

    Copyright

    © © All Rights Reserved

    Available Formats

    PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd

    Did you find this document useful?

    Is this content inappropriate?

    The pronunciation of the final S in plural words and verbs in English depends on the final consonant sound before the S. If the last consonant is a sibilant sound like S, Z, J, CH, or SH, the S is pronounced as /ɪz/ like an extra syllable. If the last consonant is voiceless like P, T, K, F, or TH, the S is pronounced as /s/ without an extra syllable. If the last consonant is voiced like B, D, G, M, N, V, Y, TH, or a vowel, the S is pronounced as /z/ similar to the buzz of a bee.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    110 views2 pages

    The Pronunciation of The S at The End of Words in English

    Uploaded by

    bejaia
    The pronunciation of the final S in plural words and verbs in English depends on the final consonant sound before the S. If the last consonant is a sibilant sound like S, Z, J, CH, or SH, the S is pronounced as /ɪz/ like an extra syllable. If the last consonant is voiceless like P, T, K, F, or TH, the S is pronounced as /s/ without an extra syllable. If the last consonant is voiced like B, D, G, M, N, V, Y, TH, or a vowel, the S is pronounced as /z/ similar to the buzz of a bee.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    of 2

    The pronunciation of the S at the end of words in English

    The pronunciation of the final S in plural words and verbs in the third person depend on the final consonant
    sound before that S.

    1. The /z/ sound (or /z/ sound)


    Sometimes this sound is written as /z/ and uses the symbol "schwa" or "upside down e" before the z. For ease
    we will write this sound as /z/ or /iz/
    If the last consonant sound of the word is a sibilant sound (a hissing or buzzing sound), the final S is
    pronounced as /z/. This /z/ sound is pronounced like an extra syllable. (e.g. the word buses has two syllables)
    If the sound has a J sound (/d/ like the letter J at the beginning of the word jacket or // like the S in pleasure),
    then the final S is also pronounced as /z/.

    Examples of words ending in the /z/ sound:

    C: races (sounds like "race-iz")


    S: pauses, nurses, buses, rises
    X: fixes, boxes, hoaxes
    Z: amazes, freezes, prizes, quizzes
    SS: kisses, misses, passes, bosses
    CH: churches, sandwiches, witches, teaches
    SH: dishes, wishes, pushes, crashes
    GE: garages, changes, ages, judges

    Remember: after verbs ending in -sh, -ch, -ss and -x, we add the -es to the end of the verb (in third person) and
    the pronunciation is /iz/ as an extra syllable.

    2. The /s/ sound


    If the last consonant of the word is voiceless, then the S is pronounced as /s/. Be careful not to create an extra
    syllable.
    NOTE: The consonants c, s, sh, ch and x are voiceless though they use the sibilants ending seen above.

    Examples of words ending in the /s/ sound:

    P: cups stops, sleeps


    T: hats, students, hits, writes
    K: cooks, books, drinks, walks
    F: cliffs, sniffs, beliefs, laughs, graphs, apostrophes (the -gh and -ph here are pronounced like a F)
    TH: myths, tablecloths, months (voiceless th)

    The pronunciation of the final S in English 1

    3. The /z/ sound


    If the last letter of the words ends in a voiced consonant (or sound), then the S is pronounced like a Z /z/
    (without creating another syllable). This Z sound is similar to the sound a bee makes zzzz.
    We also use this ending when the word ends in a vowel sound (e.g. bees, flies etc.)

    Examples of words ending in the /z/ sound:

    B: crabs, rubs
    D: cards, words, rides, ends
    G: rugs, bags, begs
    L: deals calls, falls, hills
    M: plums, dreams
    N: fans, drains, runs, pens
    NG: kings, belongs, sings
    R: wears, cures
    V: gloves, wives, shelves, drives
    Y: plays, boys, says,
    THE: clothes, bathes, breathes
    VOWEL SOUNDS: sees, fleas

    The pronunciation of the final S in English 2

    You might also like