Cider Inside Her
Here is a fun limerick. First, listen to how it sounds: There once was a lady from Hyde Who ate some green apples and died The apples fermented Inside the lamented And made cider inside […]
Reductions
Sentence Stress and Limericks
A limerick is a special kind of rhyme that uses a specific rhythm pattern — and limericks usually tell a funny or silly story. Here is an example: I knew a man whose name was […]
Sentence Stress Part 6
Reductions and Formality The rhythm of English sentences causes weak words to be reduced, but the amount of reduction varies according to formality. As a general rule, in more formal situations, there are less reductions, while […]
Sentence Stress Part 5 Confusable Reductions
The rhythm of English sentences, or sentence stress, causes weak words to be reduced. Reduced words have some of their sounds missing, so that they can be spoken more easily and quickly. However, this can […]
Sentence Stress Part 4 – Common Reductions
Sentence stress is the combination of strong words and weak words in a sentence, which creates a sort of rhythm. Strong words, such as nouns and verbs, are spoken stronger and more clearly than weak […]
Few and little
This topic is a little bit more about grammar than pronunciation, but it is important because so many students are confused by it. There is one very small difference in grammar, which can make a […]
Sentence Stress Part 1
What is sentence stress? In English, some words are spoken more strongly and are easier to hear, and some words are spoken quickly, or weakly, and can be hard to hear clearly. This combination of […]
Phrasal Verbs — The Good News (The Pronunciation)
The pronunciation pattern of phrasal verbs is less complicated than the grammar. Phrasal verbs have a stable, predictable stress pattern, which is: the 2nd word gets the stress. That means that the 2nd part is […]
What is Schwa?
Schwa is the name for the most frequently used vowel sound in English. It is used for Short-u, the alternate Short-o, and reduced vowels. Short-u The Short-u sound is in many words that are spelled […]
A tongue-twister: Fuzzy Wuzzy
Here is a good tongue-twister to try: Fuzzy Wuzzy was a bear. Fuzzy Wuzzy had no hair. Fuzzy Wuzzy wasn’t fuzzy, was he? There are 2 keys to pronoucing this well: 1. “Wuzzy” and “was […]
PronunciationCoach 