Here we show you several basic English pronunciation rules to help you during your classes at your ESL School and in your practice time alone. Make your practice a dynamic and effective one by looking for new words these rules apply to:
1. Pronunciation of the “Y”
“Y” is pronounced as ‘ai’ or ‘i:’.
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In one-syllable words, “Y” is pronounced as ‘ai’. For example: my, by, fly, shy, sky, dry, cry, fry, and try.
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In two-syllable words, “Y” is pronounced as ‘i:’. As example: happy, funny, baby, bony, puppy, party, tiny, city, candy, berry, penny, and turkey.
2. Pronunciation of the “C”
“C” is pronounced as ‘s’ or ‘k’. For example: city, cider, circle, and country.
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When an “E” or “Y” follow the “C”, it is pronounced as ‘s’. Good examples are: cellar, center, cent, ice, cycle, cell, cypress, and cyclone.
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When an “O”, “U”, or “A” follows the “C”, it is pronounced as ‘k’. Some examples are: cold, country, computer, couple, cup, curb, cut, cap, can, and cat.
Read these sentences aloud and compare both sounds:
_ The city is cloudy.
_ The center is covered.
_ We cycle in the city but drive the car in the country.
3. Pronunciation of the “G”
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When an “E”, “I”, or “Y” follows the “G”, it is pronounced as ‘ʤ’. Examples are: gym, giant, gem, gorgeous, and George.
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When a “U” or “A” follows the “G”, it is pronounced as ‘’ or ‘æ’. For example: gun, gum, gas, garden, and gap.
4. Pronunciation of vowel letters
- The long “A” and the short “A”, for example: cape and gap.
-at: bat, cat, hat, fat, sat, rat
-ad: bad, had, mad, sad
-ag: tag, wag, rag, bag
-an: fan, pan, can, ran
-am: jam, ham, ram, yam
-ap: map, tap, nap
When the word ends in “E”, the “A” is pronounced as a long vowel. Examples of this are: rake, gate, face, base, cage, wave, and take.
When the word ends in “R”, the “A” sound is as in: tar, jar, car, and far.
- The long “I” and the short “I”.
-id: bid, kid, lid, did
-ig: big, rig, wig, pig, dig
-in: pin, fin, tin, win, bin
-ip: tip, lip, hip, rip, dip
-it: kit, hit, fit, sit, pit
When the word ends in “E”, the “I” is pronounced as a long vowel. For example: kite, bike, dime, ride, and vine.
- The long “O” and the short “O”.
-og: fog, hog, dog, jog, log
-op: mop, pop, hop, top
-ot: hot, pot, got, not
-ob: mob, cob, job, sob
When the word ends in “E”, the “O” is pronounced as a long vowel. As examples: rose, pole, and hope.
- The long “U” and the short “U”.
-ut: pup, cup, put, up, rut, hut, cut, nut
-ub: cub, tub
-us: bus, pus
-un: fun, sun, run, bun, gun
-ug: mug, bug, tug, hug
When the word ends in “E”, the “O” is pronounced as a long vowel. Examples: tune, cube, and cute.
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Rachel Clarkson