WHY IS PRONUNCIATION IMPORTANT? (III)

 HOW TO IMPROVE YOUR PRONUNCIATION

LONG AND SHORT "I"

Watch and listen to the video. Pay attention to the teacher's mouth and lips and repeat after her.

Here you can do some exercises about these two vowel sounds in English.

SCHWA WITH ARTICLES, PREPOSITIONS AND CONJUNCTIONS

Short words like articles (a, the), conjuctions (and, but) and prepositions (of, at) are usually unstressed. Listen to this chant. Every line has the stress pattern oOoO. They have this rhythm because the first and third words are all unstressed. These unstressed words are in blue. The stressed words are in red.

A SHOPPING LIST

Some milk and eggs,

A tin of peas,

A snack for lunch,

Some fruit and cheese.

The loaf of bread,

A jar of jam,

Some juice to drink,

A piece of ham.

Some pears or grapes,

Some beans and rice,

A can of beer

As cold as ice.

(English Pronunciation in Use, by Mark Hancock)

LISTENING  EXERCISE

Click on this link and do the exercise. Remember to listen and repeat the sentences and try to imitate the stress and rhythm to improve your pronunciation and accent.

SCHWA WITH PRONOUNS AND ADJECTIVES

Listen to the sentences and complete. Write the pronoun and the contracted form from 1 to 6. From 7 to 14 write the pronuoun or the possessive adjectives.




1- I'll ask her.
2- I'm coming.
3- He's finished.
4- They're hungry.
5- We've seen him.
6- She's angry.
7- Can you give it to them please?
8- Did you meet their daughter, Catherine?
9- I don't think he likes her .
10- What did she say to them?
11- Where did she buy her guitar?
12- What's his mother's name?
13- Where are your parents from?
14- We bought presents for our children.

SCHWA IN AUXILIARY VERBS

Listen to these questions. Please note how, in fast speech, the speakers pronounce many of the questions with only three syllables. The rhythm is OooO in most of them.Write down the words between the two stressed ones. The auxiliary verbs are : do-does-did-have-has-will-are.

1- What do you want?

2- What does he do?

3- Where have you been?

4-Where did he go?

5- What did he do?

6- Where do they live?

7- What did he say?

8- Where will they work?

9- What did you see?

10- Where have you gone?

11- Who did we meet?

12- Where will he sit?

13- When will it end?

14- Where have you been?

15- Who has she asked?
16- What do you do? I'm a doctor

16- Where do you live? I live in Kingston, Jamaica

17-Where do you work? I work in the University Hospital.

18- Are you married?  Yes, I'm married. My husband is a teacher.

19- What does he teach? He teaches History and Geography.

20- Where does he teach? At the Grove Road Secondary School.

21- Where did you meet him?  I met him when I was on holiday in Florida.

22- When did you get married?  We got married in 1999.

SCHWA / ə / OR SHORT / ɪ / ?

Listen and choose the sound you hear in the unstressed syllable:  / ə / or / ɪ /
 

SCHWA IN UNSTRESSED SYLLABLES

Listen to the poem and pay attention to the words which rhyme.

Mr Porter loves his pasta.
No one else can eat it faster.
Mr Porter's sister Rita,
Buys the pasta by the metre.
Mr Porter's older daughter,
Boils it all in tubs of water.
(From the book English Pronunciation in Use, by Mark Hancock)

The syllables in red ink are schwas

SCHWA

The teacher pronounces this special vowel sound and explains why it is so important.

WHY IS PRONUNCIATION SO IMPORTANT? (II)

INTRODUCTION (II)

Watch the video and write the words in the boxes.

WHY IS PRONUNCIATION SO IMPORTANT? (I)

INTRODUCTION (I)