The use of 'a' or 'an' is based on pronunciation . If a word begins with a vowel sound , you should use 'an'. For example: - an apple - an elephant - an idea - an orange - an umbrella - an hour - an SOS If a word begins

Hi Mathew, Yes, as Mister Micawber says, native English-speakers instinctively know which pronunciation of 'the' to use before a noun (or an adjective + noun), but I can see that it may be a problem for some people learning the language.

Hi. On TV you may not hear the sounds, the tongue-play within the chamber of the mouth and the tiny air stops, etcetera that occur when people speak. You need to be face-to-face with your pronunciation coach. I can well see how you

The word 'the' has the voiced /th/ sound. Before consonants the vowel has a schwa sound so 'the' sounds like th ə, Before vowel sounds the vowel has an /iy/ sound like th ē.

As per phonetics theory, I've been told one should use the indefinite article "a" before words beginning with a consonant and "an" before words beginning with a vowel or a diphthong. And the sound "y" ( or / j /

Yes, there are regional variations in American English. Do you know which accent is chosen by MW as the reference in the pronunciation keys. Is it General American? My problem is that, as I have mentioned before, they are indeed denoted

(b) I really don't think that /w/ is a vowel-like sound at all... think of the difference in pronunciation between the word 'shah' and the name 'Shaw'. It's a subtle difference, but they produce different sounds. In my

Are you sure? I think that: (a) In writing <w> can function as a vowel sign (as in "cow") and as a semi-consonant (as in "won") (b) in (English) speech /w/ is a semi-consonant, by which I mean a vowel-like sound

Hi Jim, Sorry, I forgot that a syllable has to contain at least one vowel. You are also correct about the sound of the d . I referred to different pronunciation tables and all the tables had that the consonant d would be pronounced as in card or

I've always heard that if the portion of the name after the Mc begins with a vowel, the name is pronounced with stressed MACK. Otherwise, it's unstressed mick, mi before c, k, or g (McGihon = mi - GHEE-in). It works for McElroy, McIntyre,