- the "l" in "lee" is a clear L : we find it before vowels and /j/. - the "l" in "bell" is a dark one : we find it in all other cases (end of word, before a consonant). However, it is said that in American

I don't fully understand what a contraction is. So if I put an 's, 'll, 'd, 've, etc after any word does it make it a contraction? Only in spoken English. But in written English, some contractions are not usually written that

What about The United States (of America)? Thuh or Thee? Some say that when U is pronounced as "you", then the consonant rule applies, and when the U sounds like "uh", then the vowel rule applies. Is this a grammatical rule, or

AJ Hoge's "effortless english" is a waste of money. I made the mistake of buying it for a friend who doesn't speak much English and she doesn't even use it. I don't blame her because it takes a lot of effort to learn with

I recently worked with a coworker who claimed to have grown up in England. He pronounced words like "bagel" as "bag'gel" (short a) instead of the American version "bAgul" (long 'A'). Is this typical? In

Ok, I deleted the other thread you started, since it's the same as this. Well, it depends if they are irregular or not. "Girl" is not irregular, so you can just add the 's': one girl, two girls. "Country" is not

I don't know why you would pronunce the last one like a 'z', may be because for native english speakers is natural to say it tha way, but as an Italian student i have to say that there is no difference between those two 's'.

Well Howard... This is one my my most fervent pet peaves... I can't stand when I hear newscasters, politicians and even academics trying to sound ed-ja-ma-kated by using "an history" instead of "a history". What you

I just thought ealrier today that "th" and "d" in fast unclear speech must be indistinguishable, after I heard something on youtube. I'll try to find it again. (EDIT: On second thought I think that depends a lot on the

I don't know of a webpage that drills these ideas, but here is some written material that may help. There are, in American English, five types of verb with regard to the pronunciation of the regular past tense. (The spelling rules are