Audio illustrations

Unit 7

Predicting Pronunciation from Spelling (and Vice Versa)

AI 7.1. Pronunciation of the letter <a>

Unit 7 – Exercise 1

Pronunciation of the letter <a> and combinations thereof. When you hear the number, say the word containing the letter <a>. Then, listen and repeat. Give the phonemic transcription of just the vowel.

1. lad 2. fall 3. quarter 4. ladder 5. water
6. take 7. salt 8. warn 9. change 10. chalk
11. dollar 12. ask 13. many 14. can´t 15. chocolate
16. care 17. half 18. animal 19. aren´t 20. bath
21. normal 22. mail 23. swan 24. star 25. say
26. want 27. garden 28. again 29. chair 30. daughter
31. says 32. sauce 33. sausage 34. aunt 35. because

1. /ӕ/ 2. /ɔː/ 3. /ɔː/ 4. /ӕ/ 5. /ɔː/
6. /eɪ/ 7. /ɒ/ 8. /ɔː/ 9. /eɪ/ 10. /ɔː/
11. /ә/ 12. /ɑː/ 13. /e/ 14. /ɑː/ 15. /ɪ/
16. /eә/ 17. /ɑː/ 18. /ә/ /ә/ 19. /ɑː/ 20. /ɑː/
21. /ә/ 22. /eɪ/ 23. /ɒ/ 24. /ɑː/ 25. /e/
26. /ɒ/ 27. /ɑː/ 28. /ә/ /e/ 29. /eә/ 30. /ɔː/
31. /e/ 32. /ɔː/ 33. /ɒ/ 34. /ɑː/ 35. /ɒ/

AI 7.2. Pronunciation of the letter <g>

Unit 7 – Exercise 3

Pronunciation of the letter <g>. When you hear the number, say the word containing the letter <g>. Then, listen and repeat. Give the phonemic transcription of just the consonant.

1. guess 2. sign 3. garage 4. give 5. gym
6. sing 7. egg 8. agent 9. prestige 10. danger
11. singer 12. magnet 13. bridge 14. might 15. finger
16. ghost 17. ginger 18. gift 19. weigh 20. guitar

1. /g/ 2. /n/ 3. /g/ /ʤ/ 4. /g/ 5. /ʤ/
6. -- 7. /g/ 8. /ʤ/ 9. /ʒ/ 10. /ʤ/
11. -- 12. /g/ 13. /ʤ/ 14. -- 15. /g/
16. /g/ 17. /ʤ/ /ʤ/ 18. /g/ 19. -- 20. /g/

AI 7.3. Silent letters

Unit 7 – Exercise 7

Silent letters. When you hear the number, say the word, paying special attention to silent letters. Then, listen and repeat. Underline the silent letters.

1. foreign 2. debt 3. scene 4. folk 5. heir
6. vehement 7. salmon 8. sandwich 9. sign 10. scissors
11. Christmas 12. honour 13. vehicle 14. bomb 15. plumb
16. Theresa 17. honest 18. almond 19. know 20. castle
21. Wednesday 22. gnome 23. sing 24. chalk 25. exhibit
26. handsome 27. subtle 28. scent 29. could 30. aren´t
31. Birmingham 32. kneel 33. island 34. fasten 35. muscle

1. foreign 2. debt 3. scene 4. folk 5. heir
6. vehement 7. salmon 8. sandwich 9. sign 10. scissors
11. Christmas 12. honour 13. vehicle 14. bomb 15. plumb
16. Theresa 17. honest 18. almond 19. know 20. castle
21. Wednesday 22. gnome 23. sing 24. chalk 25. exhibit
26. handsome 27. subtle 28. scent 29. could 30. apostle
31. Birmingham 32. kneel 33. island 34. fasten 35. muscle

AI 7.4. Pronunciation of the sequence <ough>

Unit 7 – Exercise 5

Pronunciation of the sequence <ough>. When you hear the number, say the word containing the combination of letters <ough>. Then, listen and repeat. Give the phonemic transcription of just the vowel.

1. bought 2. tough 3. bough 4. although 5. thorough
6. cough 7. through 8. hiccough 9. thought 10. enough

1. /ɔː/ 2. /ʌf/ 3. /aʊ/ 4. /әʊ/ 5. /ә/
6. /ɒf/ 7. /uː/ 8. /ʌp/ 9. /ɔː/ 10. /ʌf/

AI 7.5. Pronunciation of the ‘-ed’ ending

Unit 7 – Exercise 6

Pronunciation of the <-ed> ending. When you hear the number, say the word containing <-ed>. Then, listen and repeat. Give the phonemic transcription of just the ending.

1. abandoned 2. abolished 3. baked 4. benefitted 5. burned
6. carried 7. centered 8. chased 9. clashed 10. clothed
11. composed 12. cooled 13. debated 14. derailed 15. designed
16. diverted 17. dried 18. ducked 19. expired 20. fenced
21. hoped 22. kissed 23. laughed 24. learned 25. played
26. raked 27. remembered 28. sounded 29. talked 30. tamed
31. walked 32. wanted 33. wetted 34. wished 35. worked

1. /d/ 2. /t/ 3. /t/ 4. /ɪd/ 5. /d/
6. /d/ 7. /d/ 8. /t/ 9. /t/ 10. /d/
11. /d/ 12. /d/ 13. /ɪd/ 14. /d/ 15. /d/
16. /ɪd/ 17. /d/ 18. /t/ 19. /d/ 20. /t/
21. /t/ 22. /t/ 23. /t/ 24. /d/ 25. /d/
26. /t/ 27. /d/ 28. /ɪd/ 29. /t/ 30. /d/
31. /t/ 32. /ɪd/ 33. /ɪd/ 34. /t/ 35. /t/

AI 7.6. Some English homophones

Unit 7 – Exercise 8

The following words you will hear are homophones. Can you give at least two possible spellings for each one? For example: /heә/ <hair, hare>

1. greɪt 2. θruː 3. raɪt 4. siːz 5. rәʊd
6. veɪn 7. wɔːn 8. weә 9. pɑːst 10. fraɪә
11. preɪz 12. pɔː 13. sent 14. sәʊ 15. θrәʊn
16. meɪd 17. nәʊz 18. nʌn 19. tuː 20. piːs
21. kruːz 22. naɪt 23. njuː 24. baɪ 25. wʊd

1. grate – great 2. threw – through 3. wright – right – write – rite 4. seas – sees – seize 5. road – rowed
6. vain – vein 7. warn – worn 8. ear – where – were 9. past – passed – parsed 10. friar – fryer
11. prays – preys 12. paw – poor – pore – pour 13. scent – sent – cent 14. so – sew – sow 15. throw – throne
16. maid – made 17. nose – knows 18. none – nun 19. too – two 20. peace – piece
21.crews – cruise 22. night – knight 23. new – knew 24. buy – bye – by 25. wood – would

Second revised edition

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