The vowel Schwa was introduced previously in “What is Schwa?” and “The Sound of Schwa”, so if you are unfamiliar with Schwa, you can learn about it in those posts. This post is a little practice activity that comes from my Medium article: English Vowels – The Schwa (No Stress!).

Unstressed syllables often use a Schwa sound rather than a full clear vowel. Listen to the words below, to see if you can hear which vowels are schwa.

adjacent almost asleep

happen hesitate phonetic

prevalent student symbol

The Answers:

adjacent – 2^nd syllable strong with two schwas: ədjacənt

almost – 1^st syllable strong, and two clear vowels

asleep – 2^nd syllable strong with one schwa: əsleep

happen – 1^st syllable strong, one schwa: happən

hesitate – 1^st syllable strongest, just one schwa: hesətate

phonetic – 2^nd syllable strong, two schwas: phənetəc

prevalent – 1^st syllable strong, two schwas: prevələnt

student – 1^st syllable strong, one schwa: studənt

symbol – 1^st syllable strong, one schwa: symbəl

If you like this practice, there are two longer articles (with audio) about Schwa on my new Patreon page! Patreon tiers range from $2 to $100 USD per month and support my mission to create a comprehensive English pronunciation learning platform!! Come join my English pronunciation learning community on Patreon!