Better Rhythm with Disappearing H

 Disappearing H Practice

(We can omit and often omit his, her, hers, he, and him at the middle or end of a sentence.  Doing so helps us squeeze the pronouns between content words and achieve better rhythm.)

  Repeat after me.  Listen to the audio practice above.  Observe and imitate everything about the sentence.

1. He’s got her head on his shoulder.
( got her = godder.  on his = onniz)

2. How does she keep her head on her shoulders?

(keep her = keeper.  on her = onner)

3. He’s holding his hamster on his shoulder.

(holding his = holdingiz.  on his = onniz

4. He’s holding his daughter on his shoulders with his hands on her legs, and she has her arms on his head. 
holding his = holdingiz.  on his = onniz.  with his = withiz.  on her = onner.  has her = hazzer.  on his = onniz.

5. She has a pain on her back right next to her shoulder.

(on her = onner.  to her = toower)  Adding a W smoothly links “to” to “er.”)

6. He’s riding his bike with his girlfriend sitting behind him holding on to his hips.

(riding his = ridingiz.  with his = withiz.  behind him = behindim.  to his = toowiz.

7. She’s holding her daughter in her lap and helping her paint a picture.

(holding her = holdinger.  in her = inner.  helping her = helpinger.

8. She’s helping her son keep his balance on a log.

(helping her = helpinger.  keep his = keepiz.  

9. She’s sharing her carrot with her horse, but the horse’ll probably beat her to it.

(sharing her = sharinger.  with her = wither.  beat her = beader)  T becomes fast D between vowels.

10. He’s sharing his money with his buddy. 

(sharing his = sharingiz.  with his = withiz.)

11. Let’s talk to him before he changes his mind.

(to him = towim.  before he = beforee.  changes his = changeziz.)

12.  I gave her a chair and took one for myself, but she left hers in the other room.

(gave her = gaver.  Stress hers and say the H because we are contrasting it with “my” chair.)

13.  Tell him that he has to do it himself.

(Tell him = tellim.  that he = thudee.  that is reduced to thut, and T becomes Fast D between vowels.  it himself = idimself.)

How to Say Coal, Core, Cold and Cord

How to  Say Coal and Core, so you don't sound like "Co" and "Co."
This lesson has a video.  Click here.

If your tongue isn't strong enough, no one will hear the L, unless you do this:

CO + W + UL

1) Round your lips for O.
2) Round your lips even more for W.  Your lips will grow forward. (W connects the O, or any round and tense back vowel, to the next vowel.
3) Put a Schwa in front of the L to make the L more noticeable.

This 3 step process is most noticeable when "coal" is at the end of a phrase.  By stretching the word out, we can give it intonation.

I want to buy some coal.

Be sure to say it all in one breath of air!  The air should exit your mouth at a  constant rate.  You will go up on "CO" and down on "WUL" However, don't have 2 puffs of air; in other words, don't let the 2 parts of the word be sharply contrasted.  The up and down should be rounded out.

Suppose the word "coal" is not at the end of a phrase.
"coal miner"
Now I stress "coal" but go down on "miner."  So I have less time to stretch "coal."  I will still have the two parts, but everything will be faster.    Otherwise, you might sound like "co-miner"

How do you make the L at the end of "coal"?   It's not the same as the L in "light."  Don't raise the tip of your tongue to the top of your mouth, like in "light."  Don't make a clear L;  instead make a dark L.

To make a Dark L, try putting a pencil or popsicle stick in your mouth.  Rest it on your bottom teeth.  Let the front of your tongue press up against the stick.  Make your tongue tense and really push up on the stick.  The tongue can't go higher than the stick and that's what we want.

Now try it without the stick, but pretend the stick is still there.  Your tongue will be tense.  At the same time, feel the area between your chin and throat.  Something tense pops out of that area.  That's the back of your tongue working hard to make the Dark L sound.  There will be tension in your throat too.  If you're not used to the Dark L, this tension will make you tired.  Practice every day.  It's like going to the gym to make your arms stronger.  You need to make your tongue stronger for Dark L.

The whole word is "Coal."  The 2nd half of the word is lower-pitched.  It will sink down into your chest.

How about "Cold?"  How do we add the D?   It's not a true D, as in "dog."  It's a held D.  I make it by swallowing or cutting off my air supply in my throat.  Do it suddenly and you'll have a  held D.

How about "Core?"

CO + W + ER

To make ER, pinch the corners of the lips, to make your mouth narrow.  Then pull your tongue straight backward, like you're going to swallow it.  Because your mouth is narrow, the sides of your tongue will touch the inside edges of the top molars.    Practice pulling your tongue backward to develop tongue strength.

You can also say "cord" if you stop exhaling.   The sudden stop of air will create the held D.    If you don't hold the OR long enough, it will sound like "court."  So stretch out the "OR."

Let's practice:  Coal Core Cold Cord Repetition Audio

Repeat after me  Observe carefully and then imitate:

coal
cold
core
cord
coal cold
core cord
soul sore
toll tore
bowl bore
dole door
foal four
goal gore
hole whore
mole more
pole pour
coal miner
I want to buy some coal.
The worm ate through the apple's core.
They scored four goals.
She poured milk in the bowl.
I need more old doors.
It's boring to do chores.
Scroll through the whole text.

Questions?  See www.smooth-english.com

Word Stress: Nouns and Verbs

Word Stress

Find the full course on Word Stress here:  Click here for Word Stress course.

 To study word stress, we must understand that many words are made up of more than one syllable. A syllable is a unit of pronunciation that has only one vowel sound. The vowel sounds are related to a,e,i, o and u. All syllables are not of equal importance. Some syllables will be louder, held longer and have higher pitch than other syllables.

 Example: Roses has 2 syllables. “Ros” has one vowel “o”. “es” has another vowel “e.” Don’t treat the 2 syllables equally. Only one will be stressed. For 2 syllable nouns, we usually stress the first syllable. RO-ses, not RO-SES . VIO-lets, not VIO-LETS. HON-ey, not HON-EY If a word has only one syllable, like “word,” the word stress is easy. There are no choices.

 But we will look at rules for determining stress in words with more than one syllable:

 Word Stress Rules
 1) Nouns and adjectives – 1st syllable (rabbit, blossom, permit, addict, conduct, pretty)

     2 or 3 word nouns (compound nouns) – 1st word (parking lot, credit card, bookmark, football, database, laptop, baseball bat, bedroom furniture)


 Example Sentences:  (Play the above track and repeat after me  Try to imitate everything you hear.  Doing so several times will improve your observation and imitation skills as well as your muscle memory.  The more you practice, the sooner your accent will change.)
 1. The woman has a credit card.
 2. Put sunglasses on your checklist.
 3. The Russian needs a green card.
 4. The bus driver bought a plane ticket.
 5. The football coach gave me his cell phone number.

2) verbs – 2nd syllable ((permit, addict, conduct, prevent, discuss, demand) Exceptions

                -(same whether noun or verb) – (copy, honor, market, measure, notice, practice, promise, purchase, sample, service, study, total, affect, alarm, attempt, demand, design, exchange)

 Example Sentences:  (Play the above track to practice.)
1. The addict is addicted to cocaine.
2. The permit permits you to camp here.
3. Have you sampled the sample?
4. Have you studied the study?
5. Have you discussed the problem and exchanged your thoughts?

 3) Phrasal Verbs/Nouns Verbs:
Verbs + particles (phrasal verbs) – 2nd word ((look over, pick out, turn down, rip off, let on)

Phrasal nouns: 1st word (cut off, work out, turn up, turn off)

Example Sentences: (Play the above track to practice.)
1. His body odor was a turn off; it turned me off.
2. I took car in for a tune-up. The mechanic looked at the engine and tuned it up.
3. The salesman ripped me off. The car was too expensive; it was a rip-off.
4. She wore cut offs (pants that are cut into shorts.) The other car cut me off when I tried to change lanes.
5. Go to the gym to work out. Enjoy your workout!

American English Pronunciation for Indian IT Professionals: online course

     

     I keep meeting guys like this:  "I had 4 interviews with Google (or other high tech company) and they were about to hire me (because I'm so talented at what i do) but at the last minute they dropped me because of my 'communication skills.'  They couldn't understand my Indian accent."

    See if you can quickly solve these word puzzles.  If not, my course (American English Pronunciation for Indian IT Professionals) will definitely help your pronunciation (and teach you the rules behind these puzzles.)  If you're curious about the answers, find them on Smooth English Facebook page.

1.Gowoutinfindayello wapple. 

2.Wha rin the were ruld aryu struddingoff to?

3.Pudidinthechruckbifor ri leave furreno. 

4.I feeyul thudee really yappreshiyatesme.

5.Iyalways hope tubeyon time tu skoowul.

6.The newatturney at my yoffice has bluewize.

7.Tri yagin nafter riduwit.

     
     After earning a master's degree in teaching ESL with a focus on teaching pronunciation, I taught ESL and accent reduction in Silicon Valley for over a decade.  I have worked with many high tech engineers and managers from India and dedicate this course to them.  Students from different language backgrounds make different types of errors in English. Therefore, I am making separate courses for learners from different language backgrounds.  This will save your time because you won't have to wade through material that is irrelevant to you. 

     There are three types of students who could use this course.  First, students who have already studied with me or in other accent reduction classes can use this course to review.  Second, for new students, the most economical way to reduce your accent is to learn a few sections of this course on your own and then schedule a private lesson to make sure you are producing the sounds correctly.  Third, you can use this course to practice at the same time you are taking private lessons.  Students often think they are producing a sound correctly but almost always need a private lesson to fine-tune their production.

     No one student is likely to make all the errors accounted for in this course.  These errors are gathered from academic articles describing English learner errors  and private data collected from the pre-test recordings of over 50 of my past Indian students.  Their language backgrounds included Tamil, Telugu, Hindi, Punjabi, Hindi, Bengali, Marathi, Malayalam, and Punjabi.

    This course teaches pronunciation with advanced vocabulary words.  We are not just using standard words like "cat," "dog" or "go to the store."  The sentences for each target sound start with simple, everyday words but then each section ends with IT sentences, which revolve around the topic of information technology, business or computers.  Words you use at work related to software and IT will be used in the course.  This makes it different from other courses, which tend to use very basic, mundane vocabulary.

    The course is interactive.  At any time you can ask me a question, and I'll get back to you.  You won't be on your own.

     This first published course covers vowels.  https://www.udemy.com/american-english-vowels-for-indian-it-professionals/?couponCode=SMOOTHENGLISHWEBSITE This link will allow you to buy the course, which consists of one hour of information-packed video, as well as written summaries and quizzes, for only $45.  Consonants will be in a separate course.      

Rules for Predicting S or Z sound (besides 3rd person/plural endings)

Many sources have published the rules for pronouncing s or z at the end of a 3rd person singular or plural word.  Fewer sources have published other rules governing S and Z.  This is what I've come up with:

1)      The following letter combinations often make the “S” sound: ce, ci, cy, x, psy, consonant +se, cc +e, i or y, sc, ss and s

a.      Ce: Ice, rice, price, entrance, since, face, trace, peace, place, niece, procedure, necessary, police, office, license, cent, certain, receive, cell

b.      Ci: Accident, decision, circulate, acid, aerobicize, anglicize, annunciate, carcinogen, cigar, anticipate, homicide, society, athleticism, calcium, cinch, circus, civil, crucify, decimal, docile

                                                               i.      Exceptions: (sh instead) ancient, commercial, artificial, social, appreciate, atrocious, suspicious

c.      Cy: Lucy, lacy, fancy, juicy, cylinder, cycle, vacancy, conspiracy, cymbal, cyanide, cyber, cypress, cyst

d.      X + consonant, unstressed vowel or final X: excavate, exceed, exhale, axle, expire, expert, expect, extreme, extra, next, elixir, toxic, axon, fix

                                                               i.      Exception: (sh instead) sexual, luxury, complexion

e.      Ps (beginning of word): Psychology, pseudo, psalm, psyllium

f.        Consonant +se: Course, worse, disperse, hoarse, corpse, eclipse, tense, expense, censor, rinse, immense, defense, Farsi, absent, false, curtsey

                                                               i.      Exception: observe, birdseye, cleanse

g.      Cc + e, i or y: accent, accept, accident, success, eccentric, accessory, vaccine

                                                               i.      Exception: bocci, soccer, cappuccino

h.      Sc: ascent, crescent, descend, disciple, fascinate, fluorescent, isosceles, luminescent, miscellaneous, muscle, obscene, resuscitate, scenario, scene, scent, science, scissors

i.        Ss: lesson, gloss, chess, bassoon, assign, assist, assassinate, address

j.        s: soft, escape, small, statistics, mistake, chemistry, minister, register, miniscule, slow, snow, spout, spray, display, squeak, sweet

2)      The following letter combinations often make the “Z” sound:

a.      X + stressed vowel: examine, example, exact, exist, executive, exotic, exude, exuberant, exult

                                                               i.      Exception: ation words: taxation. relaxation

b.      S is between two vowel sounds: music, reason, season, cousin, disease, easy, posie, resign, isn’t, present, physician, position, positive, president, preside, visit, physique

                                                               i.      Exception:  second vowel sound begins plural or 3^rd person ending or other suffix:  leases, places, nooses, houses (noun), defenses, busing, curiosity

                                                             ii.      Exception: (zh instead) ambrosia, corrosion

                                                            iii.      Exception: atherosclerosis

c.      Vowel + se: use (verb), these, lose, cause, because, choose, phase, tease, raise, cruise 

                                                               i.      exceptions: promise, house (noun), use (noun), close (adj.), mouse, lease, loose, moose, noose, caboose, chartreuse, dose

d.      ZZ:  dizzy, puzzle, fuzz

                                                               i.      Exception: (Italian words) pizza, pizzicato

e.      Z: Zipper, crazy, doze, razor

f.        Other: Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, lens

3)      S can be silent:  aisle, island, isle, debris, Arkansas, Illinois, rendezvous, corps

4)   Z can be silent: rendezvous, laissez-faire

Invisible Y Before Some Long U Sounds

(After P, B, K, G, F, V, H and M, there always seems to be a Y sound before the long U unless the long U is spelled "oo" or "ou" as in papoose, cougar, acoustic, gooey or food. (exception = buoy, jacuzzi, guru, hula, and other foreign words. also "move") 
There also seems to be a Y sound after L and N if the L or N occurs at the end of a stressed syllable. example: value, cellular, salutation- but not salute or illuminate 
continue, venue - but not manure, nuclear ) 

How do you know which syllable to stress?   Try this online course on word stress

Beginning of Word:  (Insert a y before eu, ew, u vowel) Unicorn.  Utensil.  Ewe.  Unison. Eulogy.

P:  Computer.  Pewter.  Puke.  Reputation.  Puny.  Population.  Copulate.  Impunity.  Putrid.  Amputate.  Pure.  Opulence.    Pupil.  Puberty.  Scapula.  Stipulate.  Spew.  Deputy, Puget Sound   (But no Y in: Papoose, spoon)

B:  Rebuke.  Beauty.  Busey.  Tribunal.  Tribute.  Abuse.  Distribute.  Nebula.  Ambulance.  Attribute.  Bugle.  Butane.  Fabulous.  Debutant.  Nebulizer.  Bureaucrat.  Tabulate.  Tribulations.  Tubular  (But no Y in: Buoy, boost, boomerang)

K:  Cue.  Queue. Cute. Curious.  Incubate.  Cube.  Accuse.  Cupid.  Curator.  Accumulate.  Matriculate.  Articulate.  Speculate.  Innoculation.  Molecule.  Accurate.  Barbecue.  Calculus.  Obscure.  Procure.  Rescue.  Ridicule.  Secular.  Skewer. Vacuum,  Vascular.  Innocuous.  Mercury.  Excuse.  Occupy.  Mucus.  Binocular. Acuity, acupuncture (But no Y in:  coo, cool, coon, acoustic, cougar)

G:  Argue.  Singular.  Angular.  Regulate.  (But no Y in: guru, gooey, goofy, goose)

F:  Few.  Confusion.  Fuse.  Feud.  Fuel.  Fume.  Fuse.  Infusion.  Funeral.  Futile.  Refuge.  Refuse.  Diffuser.  Refute.  Coiffure.  Sulfuric, phew  (But no Y in food, fool)

V:  View.  Ovulation.  Interview.  (But no Y in voodoo)

H:  Huge.  Hugh.  Hue.  Humor.  Houston.  Human.  Humid.  (But no Y in hula)

L:  Value.  Cellular.  Volume.  Soluble.  Salutation.  Telluride.  Failure  (But no Y in salute, conclude, absolute, aluminum, lewd, illuminate) Notice that each word has a stressed syllable that ends in l.

M: Music.  Amuse.  Museum.  Mutant.  Mural.  Mutual.  Mule.  Mute.  Mucous. 

(But no Y in move, moo, moody)

N:  Continue.  Insinuate.  Venue.  Granular.  Manual.  Monument.  Minuet.  Sinuous.  Tenuous.  Tenure.  Annual.  Annuity (optional)  (But no Y is manure, nuclear, nude)  Notice that each word has a stressed syllable that ends in an N.

Practice:   (Play this audio to hear these sentences repeated several times.  Use the space between each repetition to imitate the sentence yourself.  Try to imitate exactly what you hear.  Each time you repeat a sentence, you will catch something you didn't hear the previous time.)

1. He’s curious about how to do the computation.
2. The deputy has a fabulous reputation at the tribunal.
3. Everyone in the ambulance was confused.  Would he need his leg amputated?
4. The levels of mercury are regulated in Houston.
5. He refused to stipulate the requirements of his tenure in the interview.

When to use Voiced or Voiceless TH/th

When to use voiced or voiceless TH / th

1) In the initial position, the "TH" is voiced in "function words". This includes pronouns, articles, demonstrative adjectives, etc. The list is finite and not very long. They, them, their, theirs, the, this, that, these, those, then, than, though, although, thus, there, (therefore, thereby, etc.)
(Exception =  through)

2) In medial position, the "th" is voiced when followed by "er" or a final silent "e":  feather, mother, brother and breathe, teethe, seethe, writhe, etc. Note: "er" means the spelling, "er", not "or".
"author" is not voiced.   (Also, notice how well the rule works with:
south/ southern, north/northern.)

Exception = Katherine, ether, panther, anther,

3) Words with final thm are voiced: rhythm, algorithm, logarithm.   The following words have a voiceless th, silent th or alternate sound because the thm is not final or the spelling is “them” or “thom.”  voiceless th: arithmetic, anthem, xanthoma, birthmark, bathmat.  Silent th: Isthmian, Isthmus.  Z: asthma.   Exception = fathom (voiced TH)

4) "th" is final position is voiceless with one exception: "smooth".
5) Note:  I've come up with these rules through research and the input of other teachers.  If you find any more exceptions or know of other rules, please share.

Use the rules to determine how to pronounce the “th” in each of these words:

Th and TH list:

Together           Nothing           Thirst               Mother             Thursday

Those               fathom             Everything        These               Thing

There               Authority          Thin                 Then                 Thesaurus

Wrath               Bath                Katherine         ethereal             panther 

anther               algorithm         rhythm              bathmat             With                

Pathetic            Catheter          Faithful             Gothic               Lethal

Mathematics    Seethe             Teethe               Teeth                The     

Bother              Father             Mother             Leather             Feather

North               Northern          South               Southern          Atheist            

Author             Smooth             Myth                Either               Ether               

Isthmus             logarithm