This post is the fourth in a series on the subject of differences between American and British English. For more information on this topic, please see the first three parts of the series:
- British Versus American “A”
- News About American “oo” and British “you” That You Never Knew
- The “oo” Sound: American Versus British Pronunciation
As mentioned in the previous posts in this series, if you are an adult who speaks English as a second language, the English that you learned in your school classroom was likely to have been British English. This may cause confusion about certain pronunciations if someone is living in the U.S. and/or trying to learn American English. There are many differences in pronunciation between American and British English (and differences within these forms too -of course, neither British nor American English pronunciation are a monolith- but that’s a more complex topic for a different day. So here, I’ll speak in general terms, for the sake of simplicity.) The previous blog posts linked above all pointed out patterns in differences between American and British pronunciation.
This blog post will point out the most common examples of words that are pronounced differently in American versus British English. Some of these words fit into a pattern, but many of the pronunciations of these words are unpredictable and simply need to be memorized. These words are split up into two categories: Words Pronounced Differently in American vs. British English, and Words with Different Stressed Syllables in American vs. British English. A “stressed syllable” is the syllable of a word which is emphasized – in other words, the syllable of a word which is said a little bit louder and a little bit longer than the other syllables in the word.
To hear and practice these examples, please listen to the audio file at the bottom of the page.
Words Pronounced Differently in American vs. British English:
| Word | American pronunciation tips |
| schedule | The “ch” is pronounced as /k/ |
| issue | The “ss” is pronounced like “sh” as in shoe |
| progress | The “o” sounds like the /a/ sound as in “want” |
| Tuesday | first syllable sounds like “too” (without a “y” sound between the “t” and the “oo”) |
| knew/new | rhymes with “too” (without a “y” sound between the “n” and the “oo” sounds) |
| tomato | “a” sounds like “a” in late |
| vase | rhymes with “base” |
| privacy | 1st syllable “pri” sounds like “pry” |
| vitamin | 1st syllable “vit” rhymes with “bite” |
| water | “t” sounds like a flap (a quick “d” sound); see this blog post about “t” for more detail, and the final “r” gets a full pronunciation |
| ate | Sounds like “eight” |
| again | Rhymes with “ten” |
| banana | 1st and 3rd “a” sound like “uh”, 2nd “a” sounds like “a” as in “cat” |
| basket | “a” as in “cat” |
| ball | “a” as in “aw” in “awesome” |
| bath | “a” as in “cat” |
| herb | Do not pronounce the “h” |
| h (letter of the alphabet) | Sounds like “ate” + “ch”; “atch” |
| z (letter of the alphabet) | Sounds like “zee” |
Words with Different Stressed Syllables in American vs. British English:
| Word | American pronunciation with stressed syllable capitalized: |
| adult | uh-DULT |
| advertisement | AD-ver-tize-ment |
| ballet | ba-LAY |
| buffet | buh-FAY |
| caffeine | kaf-EEN |
| café | kaf-AY |
| chauffeur | show-FUR |
| controversy | KON-truh-ver-see |
| debut | day-BYOO |
| detail | DEE-tail |
| garage | guh-RAZH |
| gourmet | gor-MAY |
| ice cream | ICE kreem |
| mobile (adjective) | MO-bill |
| montage | MON-tazh |
| nonchalant | non-shu-LAHNT |
| premature | pree-muh-CHURE |
| princess | PRIN-sess |
| salon | sa-LON |
| Thanksgiving | thanks-GIVE-ing |
| vaccine | vaks-EEN |
| weekend | WEEK-end |
Practice these words at home with this audio file of the word list above! Simply listen and repeat while reading along.
Do you have more questions about British vs. American English, or are you interested in accent training? Reach out and contact me!
This is an interesting question. Several comments and one of the answers here make it sound like any word can go through this radical kind of transformation if it is used in a different part of the sentence. This is not true!!
We can split words up, generally speaking, into two types for our purposes here. There are the kinds of words that you look up in the dictionary to find their meaning. These are often called content words, or lexical words. I prefer the second term. These words normally carry the essential meaning of a sentence. So if a two-year-old kid walks up to you and says:
- WANT GO PARK!
then you know pretty much what they’re on about. Notice that these types of words are easy to look up in a dictionary and easy to explain. They consist of common Nouns, Verbs, Adjectives and Adverbs.
The second group of words are what people call function words, or grammatical words. These words are difficult to explain, and you wouldn’t be able to understand them by looking them up in a dictionary. They’re usually small and they’re the kinds of words that you would study in a grammar lesson, especially if you’re learning English. Importantly, they rarely take stress. They consist largely of Pronouns, Auxiliary Verbs, Prepositions, Determiners, Coordinating Conjunctions and Subordinators as well as strange words like infinitival to. These words are actually not very important or very helpful at all in terms of communication. Note that if a two-year-old walks up to you and says:
- I TO TO THE!
.. you won’t have the foggiest idea what they’re trying to say! These words are the words that were missing, however, from the original sentence I want to go to the park.
Now the lexical words in a sentence usually contain the stressed syllables in that sentence. Stressed syllables in English give the impression of occurring at regular intervals. The effect of this is that stress and not the number of syllables is important for the perceived timing or duration of English sentences. The other effect is that the lexical words stand out more and the function words are less prominent.
In order to make this happen, English has a system for reducing the length of time it takes to say many of these function words that we’ve been talking about. This is so we can squash them in between the stresses. For many, if not most, of these words there are two forms (in terms of their sound). The usual form is the one used when:
- They aren’t stressed
- They have another type of word or phrase following them, that they grammatically go together with.
These forms are called WEAK FORMS. They normally have a very short vowel. So the normal form for the Preposition to is the weak form /tə/ [‘tuh’ in the Original Poster’s example]. However if to is used without a Noun directly following it it must be STRONG as in /tu:/. Note the vowel there has a colon-type mark. This indicates that the vowel is long. Also notice that the Noun is still there in the Original Poster’s example, but it has moved to the beginning of the question and left to stranded at the end. We can draw up contrasts then such as:
- Who are you looking /fɔ:/?
- I’m looking /fə/ you!
Here we see strong and weak for respectively occurring without and with a following Noun. Note that strong for at the end of the sentence there is NOT stressed.
The rule is that prepositions like this are strong only if stressed OR if stranded. A strong form is definitely not an indicator of stress. We can have a full strong form vowel there without any stress at all.
As a rule of thumb then, if the word is the last word in the sentence it will be strong. If it isn’t and it’s not being stressed then it will be weak. [Pronouns
are an exception though, they don’t take another word and so they’re usually always weak when not stressed].
One last point to make is that not all function words have weak forms. For example the words in and on don’t have weak forms ( — perhaps we should say that they have no exceptional strong form — they’re already quite short …). These words are always the same.
Conclusion
To try and answer the Original Poster’s question, the words whose pronunciation is most likely to be radically affected by their position in a sentence, are function words. Not all function words are affected by this process however. The different forms that are used are called weak and strong forms. Weak forms are the standard pronunciations and the strong forms are the exceptions. We should note that when we call a word by name, for example if we want to talk about the word to, we use the strong form. This is because a) we’re stressing the word, and b) because we have dislocated the word from any following items.
Hope this is helpful!
One of the most confusing things about the English language is that there are so many words that have more than one correct pronunciation. There is a lot of debate around some of these words, with some people arguing over the correct pronunciations.
Of course, everyone wants to pronounce words correctly, but certain words have more than one correct pronunciation. Here is a list of 25 words that can be pronounced differently.
List of Words that Can Be Pronounced Differently
1. Almond
This word has three correct pronunciations: “ALL-mund” – the “L” is pronounced and “al” sounds like the word “all”, “AH-mund” – the “L” is not pronounced, and “a” sounds like the “a” in father, and “AW-mund” – the “L” is not pronounced and “a” sounds like “aw” in the word awesome.
2. Apricot
This word has two correct pronunciations: “APP-ri-caht” – the first syllable rhymes with “map” and “APE”-ri-caht- first syllable rhymes with “cape.”
3. Aunt
This word can be pronounced like “ant” – sounds like the insect or “ahnt” – rhymes with “want.”
4. Broom
This word has two correct pronunciations: /brum/ – The “oo” sounds like the vowel in “food” and /brʊm/ – The “oo” sounds like the vowel in “foot.”
5. Caramel
You can either pronounce it like “CARE-uh-mel” – 3 syllables, the first syllable sounds like “care” or “CAR-mel” – 2 syllables, first syllable sounds like “car.”
6. Cauliflower
You can pronounce it like “COLL-ih-flower” – The “i” sounds like “ih” in “bit” or “COLL-ee-flower” – The “i” sounds like “ee” in “bee.”
7. Crayon
This word can be pronounced like “CRAY-on”- 2 syllables – rhymes with “rayon”, “cran” – 1 syllable – rhymes with “ban”, “CRAY-awn” – 2 syllables – last syllable rhymes with “pawn.”
8. Cot/Caught
The two words sound the same. The vowel in both “cot” and “caught” sound like the “a” in father. But also the two words sound different. The vowel in “cot” sounds like the “a” in father and the vowel in “caught” sounds like “aw” in “awesome.”
9. Coupon
This word has two correct pronunciations: “KOO-pon” – first syllable rhymes with “too” and “KYOO-pon” – first syllable sounds like “queue.”
10. Data
This word can be pronounced like “day-tuh” – the first syllable sounds like “day” or “da-tuh” – the first syllable has the “a” sound like in cat.
11. Don/Dawn
The two words sound different. The vowel in “don” sounds like the “a” in father and the vowel in “dawn” sounds like “aw” in “awesome.” But they also sound the same. The vowel in both “don” and “dawn” sounds like the “a” in father.
12. Either
You can either pronounce it like “EE-ther” – first syllable rhymes with “bee” or “AYE-ther” – the first syllable rhymes with “hi.”
13. Horrible
There are two ways to pronounce this word correctly: “HOR-uh-bul” – first syllable rhymes with “more” and “HAR-uh-bul” – first syllable rhymes with “car.”
14. Lawyer
The two correct pronunciations for this word are: “LAW-yer” – first syllable rhymes with “saw” and “LOY-er” – the first syllable rhymes with “boy.”
15. Neither
There are two correct ways to pronounce this word: “NEE-ther” – first syllable rhymes with “bee” and “NAI-ther” – first syllable rhymes with “hi.”
16. Pajamas
This word can be pronounced like “jam” rhymes with “Tom” or “jam” sounds like the fruit spread “jam.”
17. Pecan
This word has three correct pronunciations: PEE-can – sounds like a tin full of small round vegetables- “pea can”, “pick-AHN” – sounds like “pick Ron” minus the /r/, and “pee-KAHN” – rhymes with “see Ron.”
18. Poem
The two correct pronunciations are: “po-em” – two syllables – “po” rhymes with “go” and “em” rhymes with “them” and “pome” – one syllable – rhymes with “home.”
19. Quarter
You can pronounce it like “kor-ter” – starts with /k/ sound, no /w/ or “kwor-ter” – starts with /kw/ sound.
20. Roof
This word can be pronounced in two correct ways: /ruf/ – The “oo” sounds like the vowel in “food” and /rʊf/ – The “oo” sounds like the vowel in “foot.”
21. Room
There are two correct ways to pronounce this word: /rum/ – The “oo” sounds like the vowel in “food” and /rʊm/ – The “oo” sounds like the vowel in “foot.”
22. Root
The two correct ways to pronounce this word include /rut/ – The “oo” sounds like the vowel in “food” and /rʊt/ – The “oo” sounds like the vowel in “foot.”
23. Route
You can pronounce this word like /rut/ – The vowel sounds like the vowel in “food” or /raʊt/ – The “ou” sounds like the vowel in “house.”
24. Syrup
This word can be pronounced like “SIR-up” – First half of word sounds like “sir” which rhymes with “burr” “SIHR-up” or “SEAR-up.”
25. Thanksgiving
There are two correct ways to pronounce this word: “thanks-GIV-ing” – stress on the second syllable and “THANKS-giv-ing” – stress on the first syllable.
What Are the 15 Most Mispronounced Words?
1. Aisle
Wrong pronunciation: ai-suhl / ei-suhl
Correct pronunciation: ile
2. Archive
Wrong pronunciation: aa-keev / aa-cheev
Correct pronunciation: AA-kive
3. Athlete
Wrong pronunciation: eh-tuh-leet / eh-tleet
Correct pronunciation: ATH-leet
4. Calendar
Wrong pronunciation: kuh-len-duh
Correct pronunciation: KA-luhn-duh
5. Colonel
Wrong pronunciation: kuh-luh-nuhl / koh-loh-nuhl
Correct pronunciation: KUH-nuhl
6. Congrats
Wrong pronunciation: con-grates
Correct pronunciation: KUHN-grats
7. Cupboard
Wrong pronunciation: cuhp-bohrd
Correct pronunciation: KUH-buhd
8. Debris
Wrong pronunciation: deh-brees / duh-brees
Correct pronunciation: DEI-bree
9. Debut
Wrong pronunciation: dee-buht / dei-butt / duh-buht
Correct pronunciation: DEI-byoo
10. Epitome
Wrong pronunciation: eh-pi-tohme
Correct pronunciation: uh-PI-tuh-mee
11. Forte
Wrong pronunciation: forth
Correct pronunciation: FOR-tei
12. Gauge
Wrong pronunciation: gowj
Correct pronunciation: geij
13. Genre
Wrong pronunciation: jen-ruh / jen-rei
Correct pronunciation: ZHON-ruh
14. Honour
Wrong pronunciation: hoh-nuhr / hoh-nuh
Correct pronunciation: O-nuh
15. Invitation
Wrong pronunciation: in-vie-tei-shun
Correct pronunciation: in-vuh-TEI-shun
What Are the Hardest Words to Pronounce?
- Anathema – the many As in this word make it difficult it difficult to pronounce. It is pronounced like / uh-nath-uh-muh
- Anemone – the first two syllables in this word make it difficult to pronounce. It is pronounced as / uh-nem-uh-nee.
- Antarctic – the double Cs cause real trouble when pronouncing this word. Its correct pronunciation is / ant-ahrk-tik.
- Antidisestablishmentarianism – this is one of the longest words in English and a perfect tongue-twister. Its correct pronunciation is / an-tee-dis-uh-stab-lish-muh n-tai-ee-uh-niz-uh-m.
- Asterisk – the metathesis in this word makes it hard to pronounce. It is pronounced like / as-tuh-risk.
- Brewery – its middle syllable is quite tricky to pronounce. This word is pronounced like / broo-uh-ree.
- Cavalry – this word contains a metathesis that makes it difficult to pronounce. Its actual pronunciation is / kav-uh l-ree.
- Comfortable – the “tuh” in this word can easily be skipped, but that makes the word difficult to pronounce. It should be pronounced like / kuhm-fer-tuh-buh l.
- Defibrillator – the dissimilation in this word spells real trouble when pronouncing it. The correct pronunciation is / dee-fib-ruh-ley-ter.
- Deteriorate – the first R in this word gets the same treatment as the second one, making the word difficult to pronounce. Its correct pronunciation is / dih-teer-ee-uh-reyt.
Anne B. Robinson
Life is full of difficulties and challenges, but you can overcome them. I’m hoping that this blog can help many people with their problems.
Which English word when pronounced differently has different meanings?
Homonyms
What words have different pronunciations?
Words with more than one correct pronunciation
| Word | Pronunciations |
|---|---|
| almond | 3. “AW-mund” – the “L” is not pronounced and “a” sounds like “aw” in awesome |
| apricot | 1. “APP-ri-caht” – first syllable rhymes with “map” |
| 2. “APE”-ri-caht- first syllable rhymes with “cape” | |
| aunt | 1. “ant” – sounds like the insect |
What are some words that are spelled the same but pronounced differently?
Words that are spelled the same but pronounced differently are: heteronyms….Some heteronyms – which are also homographs:
- (argue) row (sport)
- (guitar) bass (fish)
- (genuflect) bow (ribbon)
- (wind) buffet (canape)
What words have 2 meanings?
Homonyms, or multiple-meaning words, are words that have the same spelling and usually sound alike, but have different meanings (e.g. dog bark, tree bark). Beginning in kindergarten, children learn to use context to determine which meaning of a multiple-meaning word is correct in a sentence.
What two words sound the same?
- Explanation of. HOMONYMS, HOMOPHONES,
- HOMONYMS are words that sound alike but have different meanings.
- HOMOGRAPHS are words that are spelled the same but have different meanings.
- WORDS THAT BOTH SOUND THE SAME AND ARE SPELLED THE SAME are both homonyms (same sound) and homographs (same spelling).
What is a homonym word?
In linguistics, homonyms, broadly defined, are words which are homographs (words that share the same spelling, regardless of pronunciation) or homophones (words that share the same pronunciation, regardless of spelling), or both.
What are Oronyms?
oronym (plural oronyms) A word or phrase that sounds the same as another word or phrase. The toponym of a mountain.
What is an anagram for I Love You?
Rearranging the letters of ‘I love you’ gives: O! You live! O!…I love you anagrams.
| You’ve oil? | (by Joe Fathallah using Anagram Genius) (2004) |
|---|---|
| Lou Voyie. | (by Rotem by hand) (2013) (pending approval) |
What is the anagram of heart?
4 letters words from ‘heart’
| ARET 4 | EATH 7 |
|---|---|
| RHEA 7 | TAHR 7 |
| TARE 4 | TEAR 4 |
| TEHR 7 | THAE 7 |
| THAR 7 |
What is anagram number?
Given two integers A and B, the task is to check whether the given numbers are anagrams of each other or not. Just like strings, a number is said to be an anagram of some other number if it can be made equal to the other number by just shuffling the digits in it.
What is anagram number in C?
They are anagrams of each other if the letters of one of them can be rearranged to form the other. So, in anagram strings, all characters occur the same number of times. For example, “ABC” and “CAB” are anagrams, as every character, ‘A,’ ‘B,’ and ‘C’ occur the same number of times (one time here) in both the strings.
What is anagram number in Java?
Two strings are called anagrams if they contain same set of characters but in different order.
What is anagram in coding?
An anagram of a string is another string that contains the same characters, only the order of characters can be different. For example, “abcd” and “dabc” are an anagram of each other.
What is S in Java?
The string s is a regular expression that means “whitespace”, and you have to write it with two backslash characters ( “\s” ) when writing it as a string in Java.
How do you find the anagram of a word?
Then your lookup becomes the following algorithm:
- Use the correct dictionary map based on the length of the word.
- Compute the length of your word’s vector.
- Lookup the list of words that match that length.
- Go through the list and pick the anagrams using a naive algorithm is now the list of candidates is greatly reduced.
Why is String final in Java?
The string is immutable means that we cannot change the object itself, but we can change the reference to the object. The string is made final to not allow others to extend it and destroy its immutability.
Is a string class final?
The String class in the java. lang package is a final class for just this reason. The String class is so vital to the operation of the compiler and the interpreter that the Java system must guarantee that whenever a method or object uses a String they get exactly a java.
What is difference between immutable and final?
final means that you can’t change the object’s reference to point to another reference or another object, but you can still mutate its state (using setter methods e.g). Whereas immutable means that the object’s actual value can’t be changed, but you can change its reference to another one.
Why is string immutable or final in Java?
The String is immutable in Java because of the security, synchronization and concurrency, caching, and class loading. The reason of making string final is to destroy the immutability and to not allow others to extend it. The String objects are cached in the String pool, and it makes the String immutable.
There are many English words that are spelled the same but pronounced differently. Such words are called heteronyms (more loosely also homographs, but homographs can also be pronounced the same; they just mean different things). The widest class of heteronyms are words that change their meaning depending on where the stress is placed. In this article, we shall learn about heteronyms that are not of that kind.
read – /riːd/ (the same as “reed”) means to perceive information provided in a written form; /rɛd/ (the same as “red”) is the past tense of the verb “to read”.
live – to /lɪv/ (rhyming with “give”) is a verb meaning “to be alive” /əˈlaɪv/; /laɪv/ (rhyming with “dive”) is an adjective meaning “being alive”.
wind – /wɪnd/ (rhyming with “pinned”) is a movement of air (it can also be a verb meaning “to blow to a wind instrument”); to /waɪnd/ (rhyming with “kind”) is a verb meaning “to turn, especially something around something else”. For example, a river or a way can “wind” /waɪnd/, or you can wind /waɪnd/ a wire around a coil.
wound – a /wuːnd/ (rhyming with “spooned”) is an injury; /waʊnd/ (rhyming with “sound”) is the past tense of the verb “wind” (/waɪnd/, see above).
tear – to /tɛə/ (UK), /tɛr/ (US) (rhyming with “fair”) means “to rip a solid material” (a /tɛə/ (UK), /tɛr/ (US) is a hole caused by tearing /tɛrɪŋ/); a /tɪə/ (UK), /tɪr/ (US) (rhyming with “dear”) is a water drop coming from someone’s eyes.
bow – a /bəʊ/ (UK), /boʊ/ (US) (rhyming with “snow”) is a medieval weapon or a device used to play the violin and other bowed /bəʊd/ (UK), /boʊd/ (US) (like “boat”) instruments (it can also be a verb meaning “to become bent” or “to play a bowed instrument”); to /baʊ/ (rhyming with “cow”, pronounced the same as “bough”) is a verb meaning “to bend oneself in a gesture of showing respect”.
row – /rəʊ/ (UK), /roʊ/ (US) (rhyming with “low”) is a line of objects (or a verb meaning “to propel a boat in water a using oars”); a /raʊ/ (rhyming with “cow”) is a noisy argument (to /raʊ/ means “to argue noisily”). (Also, J. K. Rowling is pronounced /rəʊlɪŋ/)
sow – to /səʊ/ (UK), /soʊ/ (US) (the same as “so”) means “to scatter plant seeds” (you can sow a field, for example) and it is pronounced exactly the same as “to sew” (i.e. as “so”, not as “Sue”) meaning “to use thread and a needle to join two pieces of fabric”; a /saʊ/ (rhyming with “cow”) is a female pig.
sewer – a /ˈsuːə/ (UK), /ˈsuːər/ (US) (rhyming with “newer”) is a pipe used to remove liquid human waste; a /ˈsəʊə/ (UK), /ˈsoʊər/ (US) (rhyming with “lower”) is someone who sews (/səʊz/ (UK), /soʊz/ (US), see above).
close – to /kləʊz/ (UK), /kloʊz/ (US) (rhyming with “doze”) is the opposite of the verb “open”; /kləʊs/ (notice the “s” at the end) is an adjective meaning “near”.
excuse – to /ɪkˈskjuːz/ or /ɛksˈkjuːz/ (rhyming with “lose”) means to forgive somebody for something that they have done; an /ɪkˈskjuːs/ or /ɛksˈkjuːs/(rhyming with “juice”, notice the “s” at the end) is an explanation designed to avoid negative judgement.
Polish – to /ˈpɒlɪʃ/ (UK), /ˈpɑlɪʃ/ (US) (beginning like ”pot”) means “to make a surface smooth”; /ˈpəʊlɪʃ/ (UK), /ˈpoʊlɪʃ/ (beginning like “Poe” (Edgar Allan, the writer)) refers to the language or the nation based in Poland /ˈpəʊlənd/ (UK), /ˈpoʊlənd/ (US).
lead – to /liːd/ (rhyming with “seed”) means “to guide or conduct” (/liːd/ can also be a noun meaning “the act of leading”); /lɛd/ (rhyming with “red”) is a chemical element with the symbol “Pb” (“plumbum” in Latin).
graduate – a /ˈɡrædʒuət/ (with “oo-ət” at the end) is a person holding an academic degree; to /ˈɡrædʒueɪt/ (rhyming with “late”) means to obtain an academic degree. Notice that although the pronunciation is different, there is no difference in stress position.
does – /dʌz/ (rhyming with “fuzz”) is the third person of the verb “to do”; /dəʊz/ (UK), /doʊz/ (US) (the same as “doze”) is the plural form of the noun “doe” (a female deer).
bass – a /beɪs/ (like “phase” but with “s” at the end, not “z”) is the lowest voice in a harmony (/beɪs/ is also an adjective meaning “low sounding”); a /bæs/ is a member of a certain species of fish.
number – /ˈnʌmbə/ (UK), /ˈnʌmbər/ (US) (rhyming with “lumber”) is a mathematical object, such as 1, 65536, 3.1415; /ˈnʌmə/ (UK), /ˈnʌmər/ (US) (rhyming with “summer”) means “more numb” (numb is pronounced /nʌm/).
dove – a /dʌv/ is a bird related to pigeons; /dəʊv/ (UK), /doʊv/ (US) is a non-standard form of the past tense of the verb “to dive” used in some dialects (the standard one is “dived”).
drawer – /ˈdrɔː/ (UK) (the same as “draw”), /ˈdrɔːr/ (US) (rhymes with “more”) is a piece of furniture. Note that there are British dialects in which the “er” is pronounced as /ə/ and American dialects in which the word is pronounced as “draw”. /ˈdrɔːə/ (UK) (like “draw-uh”), /ˈdrɔːər/ (US) (like “draw-uhrr”) is a person who draws.
house – a /haʊs/ (rhymes with “mouse”) is a building; to /haʊz/ (rhyming with “cows”) means “to provide a place for somebody to live”.
use – to /juːz/ (rhyming with “fuze”) means “to utilize”; a /juːs/ (rhyming with “goose”) is a way in which something is used.
Modern English writing reflects the pronunciation of Middle English. This means that the way English words are now written, they were pronounced until the XNUMXth century. For example, the word night was pronounced «nigh», and also as «also». … Be that as it may, as time went on, the pronunciation became more and more different from the spelling.
What letters are not readable in English?
In English, silent letters — a term used informally — are letters or letter combinations that we usually do not pronounce in words. This includes, for example, the b in comb, c in scissors, g in design, t in listen, and gh in thought. Many words contain these silent letters.
Why are English letters read differently?
Historically, this happened due to the large number of dialects in which the same letters and letter combinations were read in different ways.
In which word is the sound h] not pronounced?
Unpronounceable consonant «h».
In the combination of letters «wh», the consonant «h» is not pronounced if after the combination of letters there is any vowel other than «o». Example: where [wee] where, white [wait] is white. The letter «h» is often not pronounced at the beginning of a word. Example: hour [oue] hour, honor [e: ne] honor.
What English words are mispronounced?
10 words you mispronounce
- Hotel. Almost identical to our hotel, so we know this word well. …
- Cocoa. Do you like cocoa? …
- Salmon. The word is unique, because even native speakers pronounce it incorrectly. …
- Clothes. …
- Suit. …
- Chicago. …
- Garage. …
- Sword.
When is am is are used?
Am / is / are is used in Present Simple as a linking verb. It connects the subject with the following noun or adjective and is part of the compound predicate. In such sentences, the linking verb is usually not translated into Russian.
Which syllable has a mute letter?
An open syllable ends in a vowel (my, go) or a dumb e, preceded by a consonant (home, name). Remember that the dumb e is not readable (that’s why it is dumb), it only indicates an open type of syllable. Vowels in this type of syllable are read in the same way as in the alphabet, except for the letter y, which is pronounced [ai].
When is the letter R not pronounced in words?
Not pronounced at the end of a word, before an unreadable «e» and before a consonant. Important note! In the American version, «r» is always read.
What endings are not read in French?
How to read French letters e, s, t, d, z, x
At the end of words, letters are not read: e, s, t, d, z, x. In the numbers six (six) and dix (ten), the letter x is read as Russian s.
How to learn to read correctly in English?
Here are some tips to help you develop your English reading skills:
- Learn to comprehend English by ear. …
- Try to read every day. …
- Get used to writing in English. …
- Learn English tongue twisters and poems. …
- Practice your pronunciation.
How are English letters read in the text?
English letters. Pronunciation and transcription of English letters. Rules for reading letters
- The letter A, a [ei] in an open stressed syllable is read as a diphthong [ei], in an unstressed position — as a sound [ə].
- Reading the letter A, a [ei] in a stressed syllable.
- The consonant letter B, b [bi:] is read like the sound [b].
How to correctly read letter combinations in English?
Examples of English letter combinations in Russian and English:
| Combination | Transcription | How to pronounce |
|---|---|---|
| ea | / ı: / | И |
| oo | / or / | У |
| th | /ð/ /Ѳ/ | З, С (interdental) |
| sh | /ʃ/ | Ш |
What does the h sound sound like?
The sound [h] occurs only before vowels and sounds like a slight exhalation. The tongue, at the moment of pronouncing [h], assumes a position for the production of a subsequent vowel. Replacing the English sound [h] with Russian [x] does not affect the meaning of the words, but it gives the speech a strong Russian accent.
How to pronounce the h sound correctly?
It is pronounced in accordance with the transcription [eitʃ], which in Russian is denoted as [hi].
When is h pronounced like g?
In Latin and French it is «ash», in English «h», in German «ha». In the words that came to us from Europe and the USA, the letter h is much more often replaced with the letter G than X, although many people think that X is nevertheless closer. … The fact is that in English the letter H gives a very soft, weightless, aspirated sound.
British English vs. American English: Pronunciation
I have documented many mispronounced words, however this entry concentrates on words you are probably saying correctly, as there are two ways to say them.
“How should we pronounce these words in Singapore”
Most of the words have either a British (BrE) pronunciation or an American (AmE) pronunciation. In Singapore there is quite a mix of pronunciations, even if English is based on the British system (spelling etc.). For example in Singapore; privacy, vitamin, tomato are commonly pronounced the American way, and advertisement, missile, and mobile are pronounced the British way.
So which pronunciation should you use?
“Both also can”
Word |
British Pronunciation |
American Pronunciation |
| 1. Advertisement | uhd-VER-tis-muhnt | AD-ver-ties-muhnt |
| 2. Bald | bor-ld | bold |
| 3. Clique | cleek | clik |
| 4. Either | eye-thuh | ee-thuhr |
| 5. Envelope | EN-VUH-lohp / ON-vuh-lohp | |
| 6. Esplanade | ES-pluh-nayd | ES-pluh-nard |
| 7. Leisure | LEZH-uh | LEE-zhuhr |
| 8. Mobile | MOH-bye-ul | MOH-buhl |
| 9. Missile | MIS-eye-ul | MIS-uhl |
| 10. Neither | NIGH-thuh | NEE-thuh |
| 11. Niche | neesh | nitch |
| 12. Often | OF-uhn / OF-tuhn | |
| 13. Parliament | PAR-li-muhnt | PAR-luh-muhnt |
| 14. Privacy | PRIV-uh-see | PRAI-vuh-see |
| 15. Semi | SEM-ee | SEM-eye |
| 16. Schedule | SHED-jool | SKED-jool |
| 17. Scone | skon | skohn |
| 18. Stance | starns | stans |
| 19. Tomato | tuh-MAR-toe | tuh-MAY-toe |
| 20. Vase | varz | vays |
| 21. Vitamin | VIT-uh-min | VAI-tuh-min |
| 22. Wrath | roth | rath |
Bonus Words
Word |
British Pronunciation |
American Pronunciation |
| Amen | Ah-MEN | Ay-MEN |
| Asia | AY-shure | AY-zhure |
| Basil | Bah-suhl | Bay-suhl |
| Buddha | BUD-uh | BOOD-uh |
| Crescent | CREZ-uhnt | CRES-uhnt |
| Dynasty | DIN-uh-stee | DIE-nuh-stee |
| Evolution | ee-vuh-LOO-shun | eh-vuh-LOO-shun |
| Expatriate | ek-SPAT-ri-uht | ek-SPAY-tri-uht |
| Falcon | FORL-cuhn | FAL-cuhn |
| Herb | HERB | ERB |
| Medicine | MED-suhn | MED-ee-suhn |
| Nissan | nis-an | nis-arn |
| Pasta | PAS-tuh | PAR-stuh |
| Patent | PAY-tuhnt | PAT-uhnt |
| Patronise | PAT-ruhn-eyez | PAY-truhn-eyez |
| Produce (noun) | prod-joos | proh-joos |
| Progress (noun) | PROH-gress | PROG-ress |
| Project (noun) | PROH-ject | PROJ-ect |
| Route | ROOT | ROUT |
| Vendor | VEN-duh | VEN-door |
| Version | VER-shun | VER-zhun |
| Yogurt | yog-uht | yoh-gurt |
| Zebra | ZEB-ruh | ZEE-bruh |
These lists are really focused on single differences where the vowel or consonant are sounded differently. Please do forgive me if in some cases an American or British speaker can use both, when I’ve said otherwise.
Take a look at this article for reasons why there is a difference in the first place. Generally, “the British took a French word and re-pronounced it according to English spelling rules, while Americans preferred a pronunciation that sounded more French, even if the word is still heavily Anglicized.”
Interestingly, in Britain a lot of the American pronunciations are creeping into everyday usage. For example:
- Schedule (SKED-jool)
- Advertisement (AD-ver-ties-muhnt)
Linguists put changing pronunciations down to the influence of broadcasters and US culture.
There is so much more to cover in terms of pronunciation differences including but not limited to:
- Which syllable to stress in a word
- Rhoticity (sounding or not sounding the ‘r’ sound in words)
Try to be clear and pronounce words correctly based on the dictionary definition.
Recommended textbook solutions
The Language of Composition: Reading, Writing, Rhetoric
2nd Edition•ISBN: 9780312676506Lawrence Scanlon, Renee H. Shea, Robin Dissin Aufses
661 solutions
Edge Reading, Writing and Language: Level C
ISBN: 9781285439594David W. Moore, Deborah Short, Michael W. Smith
304 solutions
Technical Writing for Success
3rd Edition•ISBN: 9781111786786Darlene Smith-Worthington, Sue Jefferson
468 solutions
Literature and Composition: Reading, Writing,Thinking
1st Edition•ISBN: 9780312388065Carol Jago, Lawrence Scanlon, Renee H. Shea, Robin Dissin Aufses
1,697 solutions
Перевод задания
Подчеркните слово, которое произносится иначе.
[ɡ] начать, журнал, незабываемый, умный, узнавать
[k] собирать, готовить, танцевать, активный, любопытный, тактичный
[s] спорт, чувство, хомяк, пожалуйста, петь, серьезный
[θ] думать, театр, вещь, вместе, стоит, три
ОТВЕТ
[ɡ] begin, magazine, unforgettable, intelligent , recognize
[k] collect, cook, dance , active, curious, tactful
[s] sport, sense, hamster, please , sing, serious
[θ] think, theatre, thing, together , worth, three
Перевод ответа
[ɡ] начать, журнал, незабываемый, умный , узнавать
[k] собирать, готовить, танцевать , активный, любопытный, тактичный
[s] спорт, чувство, хомяк, пожалуйста , петь, серьезный
[θ] думать, театр, вещь, вместе , стоит, три
Confusing English Pronunciation: Words that Look Similar but Sound Different
In today’s lesson, I want you to practice with me as we learn some words that look similar but are pronounced differently.
One very frustrating thing about the English language is that the pronunciation is irregular. There aren’t strict pronunciation rules that you could memorize and always know exactly how words are pronounced – it’s just not possible.
There ARE some pronunciation patterns… but there are also exceptions to those patterns! Some letters and combinations of letters have multiple different pronunciations, and you can’t know which one to use just by reading the word; you need to hear the word. That’s why listening and repeating is so important.
You can improve your pronunciation fast inside my American English Pronunciation Course – we’ll learn and practice all the sounds of the language, helping you to make the differences between similar sounds and avoid pronunciation mistakes.
Let’s try some of these similar-but-different words.
horse / worse
dull / pull
heart / heard
break / bleak
war / far
daughter / laughter
round / wound
tomb / bomb / comb
soul / foul
shoes / goes / does
mint / pint
Thanks for practicing with me! And I hope you’ll join me inside my American English Pronunciation Course, because it will help you speak English more clearly and confidently.