Sentence Stress

We've been studying the rules for sentence stress.  You know that you need to stress the content words and not the structure words.  Content words are nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs.

Homework practice:
Many students say they would like to hear a recording of the homework before they record it. You can find such a recording here. I've included the original recording of A Thousand Times No for you here. Enjoy and good luck!!

 A Thousand Times No

-ed Endings

There are 3 final ed sounds in English: /t/, /d/, & /Id/.

The rules are easy!

1. When the sound before the ed ending is a /t/ or a /d/, the ending is /Id/.
2. When the sound before the ed ending is voiced, the ending is /d/.
3. When the sound before the ed ending is voiceless, the ending is /t/.

Homework practice:
Many students say they would like to hear a recording of the homework before they record it. You can find such a recording here. I've included both my husband and myself recording the -ed ending homework. Enjoy and good luck!!

Howard's Morning- Teresa

Howard's Morning- Eric

Final -s

There are 3 final s sounds in English: /s/, /z/, & /Iz/. 

The rules are easy!

1. When the sound before the s ending is a sibilant, the ending is /Iz/.
2. When the sound before the s ending is voiced, the ending is /z/.
3. When the sound before the s ending is voiceless, the ending is /s/.

Homework practice:
Many students say they would like to hear a recording of the homework before they record it. You can find such a recording here. I've included both my husband and myself recording the -s ending homework. Enjoy and good luck!!

Laundry Time- Teresa

Laundry Time- Eric

Word Stress in Words with the Suffix -tion

In words with the suffix -tion, the syllable before the suffix gets the stress.
 
Homework practice:
Many students say they would like to hear a recording of the homework before they record it. You can find such a recording here. I've included both my husband and myself recording the Ations homework. Enjoy and good luck!!

Ations- Teresa

Ations- Eric

Word Stress

There are two parts to stress: emphasizing and de-emphasizing.  It's not enough to only stress syllables; you also need to reduce syllables.

Homework practice:
Many students say they would like to hear a recording of the homework before they record it. You can find such a recording here. I've included both my husband and myself recording the Anita homework. Enjoy and good luck!!

Anita- Teresa

 

Anita- Eric

Tongue Twisters

Every language has them, and English is no exception. I love tongue twisters! They provide much enjoyment for me, and I think that they can give you a great sense of success if you are able to master them!

I think my favorite is:

Theodore Thistle was a successful thistle-sifter. He sifted a sieve full of un-sifted thistles, and thrust three thousand thistles through the thick of his thumb.

Homework practice:
Many students say they would like to hear a recording of the homework before they record it. You can find such a recording here. I've included both my husband and myself recording the Tongue Twisters homework. Enjoy and good luck!!

Tongue Twisters- Teresa



Tongue Twisters- Eric

Consonant Practice

We've been working on sibilants and sounds people sometimes confuse with sibilants.

As you know there are 6 sibilants in English- 3 voiced and 3 voiceless ones.

The three voiced sibilants are:

/z/ buzz /ʒ/ measure /dʒ/ judge

The three voiceless sibilants are:

/s/ bus /∫/ wash /t∫/ watch

People sometimes confuse the two th sounds in English with sibilants as well, but they do not have a hiss or a buzz sound.

Homework practice:
Many students say they would like to hear a recording of the homework before they record it. You can find such a recording here. I've included both my husband and myself recording Consonant Practice homework. Enjoy and good luck!!

Consonant Practice- Teresa



Consonant Practice- Eric

Reducing O

Many words in English are spelled with an o. Often when the o comes at the end of the word it is reduced to /I/ not a /ǝ/.

Here are some words that exemplify this, meaning in these words the o's are reduced to /I/ not /ǝ/.

Carrot

Boston

Second

Person

Pilot

Lisbon

London