Pronunciation and Spelling in English

 
 

Ex. 6.6 Compare the reading of the vowels in stressed and unstressed position. Read the following words:

 
 

Ex. 6.7 Pronounce the following words and comment on the reading of unstressed vowels:

Error, terror, horror, chirrup, barrack, mirror;

Ballot, gallop, cactus, census;

Grammar, beggar, collar, cellar, dollar, poplar;

Volga, delta, extra, villa, Sylva, Edna, character, manager;

Baggage, bandage, courage, garbage, message, accurate, adequate, affectionate, approximate, delicate;

Amber, banner, summer, supper, dinner, number, member, butter, pepper, shelter, winter;

Academy, generous, achievement, ailment, golden, deepen, different, patience, fluency, bravery;

Positive, possible, ineligible, invisibility;

Doctor, proctor, tractor, factor, actor.

Ex. 6.8 Read the following words. Note that they have complete vowel reduction.

Britain, curtain, separate, metal, medal;

Interest, model, parcel, travel;

Medicine, professional, revolutionary.

 

Ex. 6.9 Find the words in which unstressed vowels are not reduced:

1. government, assurance, terrible, crock ware
2. translation, improvable, partial, monotonous
3. meaningless, soluble, wisdom, trainer
4. monkey, canvas, carpet, dismount

 

Ex. 6.10 Listen and circle the word you hear ( , track 9)

1. Woman or women? What time did the woman\women arrive?
2. Dress or address? Where’s Kate’s dress\address?
3. Manager’s or manages? The team manager’s\manages well.
4. Teacher’s or teaches? The German teaches\teacher’s English.
5. Weight’s or waiter’s? The weight’s\waiter’s heavy.
6. Dancer’s or dances? The woman dancer’s\dances fast.
7. Officer’s or office’s? The officer’s\office’s here.
8. Away or way? Take that away\way.
9. Drive or driver? What a nice driver\drive!
10. Racer’s or races? The racer’s\races finished.

 

Ex. 6.11 Read the following words and pay attention to the reading of unstressed vowels:

Dizzy, remedial, examination, painful, remedy, extract, fever, giddy, recovery, malady, giddiness, harmful, injury, illness, injection, inflammation capable, record, competitor, chessman, curable, handicap, amateur, sensible, garment, recovery, expert, stressful, careless, judgement, remedy, doctor, patient, medical, inflammation, to operate, ambulance, ointment, prescription, painful, treatment, cancer, ailment.

 

Ex. 6.12 Write down the unstressed vowels, which the following words have:

clumsy, ointment, stressful, complication, dormitory, treatment, sickness, vitality, surgery, conscious, deficiency, condition, shivery, breathless, ailment, cavity, therapy, bandage, appointment, funny, rocket, nature, dollar, bottom, Poland, costume, samba, attendance, capable, student, message, delicate, freedom, awful, careless.

 

Ex. 6.13 Choose the words, in which the unstressed vowel is not reduced and has its primary alphabetical meaning. Explain the rule:

Stamina, contest, participant, costume, sedentary, snooker, polo, badminton, racket, victory, samba, hockey.

 

Ex. 6.14 Extract the words with unstressed vowels and group them according to the sound, which they denote:

      Stress is a disease of the twentieth century. Life has never been faster and jobs have never been more stressful than they are today. People have to perform more and more work under difficult and more stressful conditions. Many people suffer from stress and the illness it can cause. But as this situation is becoming recognized, people shouldn’t have to fear comments such as, “He’s had a nervous breakdown. Can’t take the pressure, you know.” This is because more people are recognizing that stress is a natural reaction – it is a reaction of a person’s body to pressure, either from the outside world or from the inner world of emotions and physical organs. We can’t avoid stress. And we can’t help ourselves, or others, until we know more about it. Not all stress is bad and perhaps if we understand it better we could make the most of it.

 

Ex. 6.15 Find the superfluous word in each group (unstressed vowels):

[ɔ:] – ^׀football, ^׀terror, ^׀record;

[I] – ^׀phoneme, ^׀profit, ^׀fifties;

[æ] – can^׀teen, fan^׀tastic, sex^׀tet;

[e] – sen^׀sation, ^׀congress, ^׀drawback;

[i:] – re^׀set, re^׀group, e^׀lusive.

 

Ex. 6.16 Transcribe the following words and explain why the unstressed vowel is reduced or not:

 

Ex. 6.17 Read the limerick and underline the words with [ə], [I]:

There once was a student named Bessor

Whose knowledge grew lesser and lesser

It at last grew so small,

He knew nothing at all,

And today he’s a college professor.

 

Ex. 6.18 Read these twisters and underline the words with [ə], [I]:

The hammer man hammers the hammer on the hard highroad.

Little lady Lilly lost her lovely locket. Lucky little Lucy found the lovely locket. Lovely little locket lay in Lucy’s pocket. Lazy little Lucy lost the lovely locket!

 

Ex. 6.19 Read the proverbs, explain the reading of the unstressed vowels:

1. Appearances are deceitful.
2. Honesty is the best policy.
3. Better late than never.
4. Love is a malady without cure.
5. Little knowledge is a dangerous thing.
6. Don’t make a mountain out of a molehill.
7. Absence makes the heart grow fonder.
8. Accident will happen.
9. Desperate disease must have desperate remedies.
10. Prevention is better than cure.
11. A merry heart is a good medicine.
12. Caution is the parent of cure.
13. To be a cut throat competition.

 
 

TEST

 

Ex. 1 Distribute the words into four groups (one and the same word can be in different groups) according to the reading of unstressed vowels:

 
 

Radio, message, kingdom, hopeless, gratitude, cellar, belong, changeable, divide, downy, also, prepare, deliberate, attribute, deliver, courage, teacher, countable, probable, tempo.

 

Ex. 2 Find the words with unstressed vowels and explain their reading:

1. Look before you leap.
2. Hasty climbers have sudden falls.
3. If you run after two hares, you’ll catch neither.
4. It’s not cricket.
5. Study sickness, while you are well.
6. Health isn’t valued, till sickness come.

 

Ex. 3 Transcribe the words:

Samba, gymnastics, glider, contest, spectator, vicious, medical, polo, bicycle, judo, discuss, stamina, marathon, achievement, disqualification.

 

7. Reading of Consonants

 
 

READING OF “c, g, j”

 

Ex. 7.1 Read the following words according to the rules and find exceptions:

 
 

Ex. 7.2 Put the words into the right column and find exceptions if there are any:

 
 

      Cc: biscuit, cake, can, cap, car, cat, carpet, carry, chocolate, cinema, city, class, clean, clear, clerk, clever, clock, close, coat, come, concert, cook, cool, count, cousin, cow, cucumber, cup, cure, dance, December, doctor, face, race, factory, ice-cream, pencil, picture, place, quick, second, secretary, uncle.

 

      Gg: august, begin, finger, flag, game, garden, get, girl, give, go, good, goose, grandfather, grass, great, green, grey, ground, jug, jungle, large, leg, orange, page, pig, porridge, tiger, village, engineer, giraffe, cage, German, together, forget, egg, dog, again, agree, angry, England, hungry, glass.

 

Ex. 7.3 Find the odd word:

1. cap, candle, centre, cosy, council.
2. gold, gum, gossip, game, give.
3. curriculum, century, ceramic, circle, cycle.
4. gentle, gerund, giant, gymnast, get.
5. cake, call, cease, cause.
6. gas, gentleman, ginger, gymnastics.
7. get, gain, give, begin.
8. scissors, scientific, scarf, scene.

 

Ex. 7.4 Add the word according to the rule:

1. career, car, can, capital, ...
2. century, centre, cite, Cyprus, ...
3. gallery, gamble, garlic, governmental, ...
4. gentle, general, gibber, gymnasium, ...