In Consonants^x, Spelling^x

I understand that vowels in the unstressed syllables are often pronounced /ə/ or /I/ . My question is: how do I know when to use /ə/ and when to use /I/? The vowels in unstressed syllables are collectively referred to as schwas, or simply as schwa. When you see a schwa symbol in...

Ricky, The English speaker hears the difference between 'b' and 'p' as the difference between a voiced and an unvoiced consonant. The Chinese speaker hears the difference between 'b' and 'p' as the difference between an unaspirated and an aspirated consonant. Initial 'p' as in 'pot'...

It's been said before, but here's the fully-detailed (too-much-detailed) explanation of octopus. Don't worry if you get confused; this is more for the English-speakers who are confused about the whole matter: "Octopus" comes from the Greek roots "okto" (eight) and "pous" (foot). It's a Latinized...

But FBI is not a word, we are saying the individual letters. We are spelling out Eff-bee-eye, not drawling all the sounds into a new word (Fbeye?) To use a couple of UK examples. RSPCA. This is pronounced by spelling out the letters, 'Ar, es, pee, cee, ay' as in FBI. 'I received a visit...

Yes, you can rhyme that way, but here, the vowel alone is not enough. In an isolated couplet, slanted or imperfect rhyme or mere assonance seldom work. Here are some solid feminine rhymes for each of your words: wither, thither, with her, zither. winter, splinter, printer ...

Rules help a long as they are predominantly consistent. When a rule is significantly inconsistent then it will lead to confusion. For example, what rule can be applied to the double "o" sound in English? The words: food, blood, took, foot, moon, stool, and many other double "o" words are...

Initial p, t, k are aspirated. The same consonants after 's' are not aspirated, so they will definitely sound different to a non-English speaker. If your native language is Chinese, then you make contrasts between aspirated and unaspirated sets of consonants. To us English speakers it...

Hi Xcats, This is related to the spelling of the past tense forms of regular verbs; it also applies to the "ing" form. spelling of regular affirmative past tense forms Most regular verbs: add -ed work —worked help —helped start — started rain —rained stay —stayed show —...

Hi Jazz, Thanks for saying I could correct your post on line. Re: your reply to Ali; 1. In English we always begin a new sentence with a capital letter, and we use a capital letter for people's names, and for names of places such as London, the Indian Ocean etc. So your greeting should...

Hi, Khoff and all you native English speakers! I've always been sympathetic with English/American people trying to study my native language, Bulgarian. We are lucky, because it is easier for us to learn English. It doesn't sound strange that inanimate nouns do not have gender in English - it...