In Vowels^x, Consonants^x, Pronunciation^x

I think you're right on, Kooyeen. And thanks for the reply. I am a stickler in my pronunciation classes that students learn to say the -s (and -ed) endings correctly. Even though I do this, I know that native English speaking Americans rarely say that voiced endings as perfectly voiced, yet...

Frequently listen to English spoken by native speakers and repeat them. Watch English movies, listen to music, audio clips, BBC news and presentations. Control your rate of speech to get the correct intonation and rhythm of English. Use your dictionary.Familiarize yourself with the phonetic...

I am glad we agree about the sound /w/.That leaves us with the letter <w>.Letters of the alphabet must not be confused with sounds. By convention and for convenience, letters that represent vowel sounds are called vowels and letters that represent consonant sounds are called consonants. (In...

.You have a problem, but I can suggest little more than practice and concentration; I presume you have a tutor or teacher or acquaintance who can listen to and advise you. I hadn't noticed that Chinese students have much trouble with vowel sounds before-- I thought the consonants were more...

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 SOSIf a word begins with a consonant sound, you should use 'a'. This...

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.As you have yourself noted, we generally use the...

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 "hear" FAX for facts, because the sounds are about...

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

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 differently in British English. The first one is a simple...

There is no /h/ and /w/ in the words "shah" and "shaw". There are the letters <h> and <w>, but it's a mistake to think that these letters are somehow determining which vowels you have in these words.