ELC3203

Pronunciation
Exercise 1

A common problem is the confusion between /s/ and ‘sh’ sounds. Practise saying the following word
pairs correctly.

sort/short sue/shoe sea/she

self/shelf sip/ship seat/sheet
sun/shun lease/leash rust/rushed
parcel/partial iris/Irish sour/shower
plus/plush save/shave so/show

Exercise 2 Past tense endings

1. Verbs which end in /b/, /g/, /l/, /z/, /v/, /ʒ /, /ʤ /, /ð/, /m/, /n/ or a vowel sound have their past endings
pronounced as /d/. The –ed ending is not pronounced as an extra syllable. Practise saying the
following words aloud.

arranged tugged filled listened concerned managed

engaged maintained involved rained programmed urged

2. Verbs which end in /k/, /s/, /ʃ/, /f/, /p/, /tʃ/ and /θ/ have their past endings pronounced as /t/. The –ed
ending is not pronounced as an extra syllable. Practise saying the following words aloud.

watched laughed purchased worked passed washed

looked asked helped squashed cracked developed

3. Verbs which end in /t/ and /d/ have their past endings pronounced as an extra syllable. Practise
saying the following words aloud.

added corrected compounded provided recommended printed

responded suggested completed needed tested benefited

Exercise 3 /ɪ/, /i: /, /e/ or /æ/

 ELC3203
Pronunciation
Aim: this activity looks at the pronunciation of some words containing the vowel sounds /ɪ/, /i: /, /e/ and
/æ/, such as bit, beat, bet and bat.

Say one of the following words to a partner, who should listen and identify the word by pointing to it. Take
it in turns to say the words.

/ɪ/ /i:/ /e/ /æ/

1. bitter beater better batter
2. knit neat net gnat
3. slip sleep slap
4. fit feet fat
5. bit beat bet bat
6. hit heat hat
7. sit seat set sat
8. fill feel fell
9. hill heel hell
10. nil kneel Nell
11. pill peel pal
12. ill eel ‘L’ Al
13. will wheel well

Vocabulary:
 ‘Al’ is a short form of the men’s names Alan, Albert, Alfred, Alvin and Alphonse (e.g. American
actor Al Pacino).
 ‘El Al’ is the Israeli national airline, famous for its high security.
 ‘Nell’ is a woman’s name.
 A ‘gnat’ is a small insect that bites. It is similar to a mosquito, but much smaller. The ‘g’ at the
start is a silent letter.

Exercise 4 Endings
 ELC3203
Pronunciation
Say one of the following words to a partner, who should listen and identify the word by pointing to it. Take
it in turns to say the words.

A B C
1. current currents currency
2. agent agents agency
3. dependent dependents dependency
4. consist consists consistency
5. competent competence competency
6. democrat democrats democracy
7. secret secrets secrecy
8. bankrupt bankrupts bankruptcy
9. hesitate hesitates hesitancy
10. tenant tenants tenancy

Exercise 5 Final consonants

A common communication problem between Hong Kong speakers of English and others, such as tourists,
is that Hong Kong speakers sometimes do not say the final consonants of words clearly.

This causes problems because these final consonants contain important information, such as:
 Tenses – endings with ‘ed’
 Plurals – endings with ‘s’
 Meanings – e.g. ‘towel’ and ‘tower’

Say a word from the table below to a classmate. Your classmate should point out the word, or tell you
the cell reference; e.g. A1.

A B C
1. efficient efficiency efficiencies
2. receive receipt received
3. sing sink sin
4. train trained trains
5. success successful successfully
6. towel town tower
7. accept accepted accepts
8. exit exist exited
9. obtain obtains obtained
10. beer beard beat
11. crisp crisps Chris
12. chip chipped chips
 ELC3203
Pronunciation
Exercise 6 /l/, /w/ & /r/

Many Hong Kong speakers of English have problems with these sounds. For the /r/ sound, do not let
your lips close.

Say a word from the table below to a classmate. Your classmate should point to the word you have say.

A B C
/l/ /w/ /r/
1. lake wake rake
2. lied wide ride
3. lies wise rise
4. lay way ray
5. light white right
6. led wed red
7. line wine Rhine
8. lock wok rock
9. late wait rate
10. lot what rot

Vocabulary: The Rhine is a large European river and a wine growing area.
Tongue-twisters:
 A bright white light, right?  White rice rises nicely.
 Which white rabbit?  White Rhine wine rocks!
 White wok or red wok?

Exercise 7 /f/, /v/, ‘th’ & /s/

Many Hong Kong speakers of English have problems with these sounds. For the /f/ and /v/ sounds, touch
your bottom lip with your top teeth. The /f/ is unvoiced, but /v/ is voiced.

Say a word from the table below to a classmate. Your classmate should point to the word you have said.

A B C D E
/f/ /v/ /s/ /d/ /t/
1. feel veal seal deal teal
2. fly vie sigh die tie
3. fees V’s seize D’s tease
4. froze sews doze toes
5. fret vet set debt
6. for saw door tore
7. fault volt salt dolt
8. fail veil sail dale tail
9. fee V see D T
10. fine vine sign dine tine

Vocabulary:
 vat – a large container for liquid such as wine  tine – the sharp part of a fork
 dolt - idiot  vine – a grape plant
 sought – past participle of ‘seek’  volt – a unit of electricity
 teal – a green colour and a type of duck  dale – valley
 fret – to worry  vie – to contend