Pronunciation and Spelling in English

–PAGE_BREAK–2.   The Primary and the Secondary Meaning of Letters

In English one letter can denote a few different sounds (polysemantic letters). That’s why there are the primary and the secondary sound meanings of them. The primary meaning of a letter is the sound which this letter:

1)     denotes in the alphabet: a – [eI], e – [i:]. E.g. bake, be;

2)     doesn’t correspond to the alphabetical letter: a – [æ]. e.g. cat;

3)     approximates the alphabetical letter:f– [f], y – [aI].

     The secondary meaning of a letter is the one which differs from its primary alphabetical meaning and depends on the consonants preceding or following this letter. E.g. a – [ a:
] — staff, [o

] – wander, [
ɔ
:
] – war.

The sound formation of the English language distinguishes long and short vowels. According to this peculiarity in English each stressed vowel can have two meanings: alphabetical (long) and short.
READING  OF  VOWELS  IN  STRESSED  SYLLABLES

Letter

Primary meaning

Secondary meaning

long

short

Vowel + r

Vowel +re

a

Kate

cat

car

hare

e

he, Pete

hen, help

her

here

i\y

I, Mike, mine

sit, gym

bird, Byrd

hire, tyre

o

no, stone

not

for

more

u

use

but

turn

cure

3.       The Primary Sound Meanings of Vowels in Different Types of Syllables

In disyllabic and polysyllabic words the vowel letter has its alphabetical (long) primary meaning if:

1)               it is used in word final position e. g. he, no, my;

2)               it is separated from the following vowel letter or from the combinations –le, -re by only one consonant letter e.g. pilot, idle, fibre;

3)                it is followed by a consonant + r +vowel e.g. library, April;

4)               in some vowel combinations* e.g. diet, going.

The vowel letter has its short primary meaning:

1)     if it is separated from the following vowel or the combination –le by two or more consonants e.g. render, silly, fiddle.

2)     if the vowel letter (apart from “u”) is in the third stressed syllable from the end e.g. family, cylinder; but: funeral;

3)     if the vowel letter is followed by a single letter “v” e.g. river, never; but: uvula [\ju:vju:lə], fever [\fi:və], over[\əυvə];

4)     if the vowel letter is followed by a consonant and one of the combinations, such as –-ic, -ish, -ity e.g. tragic, polish, cavity;

5)     in disyllabic words with the sound [I] and [ju:] in the last unstressed syllable the vowel letter of a stressed syllable has a short meaning: e.g. tribune, facet; but: stupid.

But if the word ends in –y, -ie as in the words ladies, Edie the letters “a”, “e” have their alphabetical (long) meaning.
*For more information about the rules of reading of vowel combinations (digraphs), see further rules.

READING  SINGLE  VOWEL  LETTERS  IN  STRESSED  NON-FINAL  SYLLABLES

Ex. 3.1 (  , track 2)

Read the following names and decide, from their spelling, if the vowel is short or long. (If there is more than one vowel, focus on the vowel receiving most stress.) If you are not sure, check the recording.
Example: Mick = short   Susan = long

Mick

Susan

Dean

Sammy

Cathy

Martha

Jane

Luke

Tammy

Rose

Bert

Muriel

Patty

Pete

Ross

Ted

David

Becky

Bud

Simon

Beth

Mike

Mary

Tom

Jean

Timmy

Joan

Bonnie

Sheila

Bill

Primary short meaning

Primary long meaning

Ex. 3.2 Read these words according to the rules:
Letter “A” (primary short and long meanings):

barrel

gas

bat

land

shall

angry

cab

bag

band

marry

tangle

fat

tan

pack

cattle

back

has

sand

dad

carry

sail

brain

paper

baby

lady

main

able

bacon

wait

parade

famous

mate

lain

pain

fate

Letter “E” (primary short and long meanings):

best

clever

led

met

peck

bell

seven

set

beg

shell

send

very

men

lend

merry

berry

when

pen

bend

kettle

he

we

these

agree

evening

she

be

me

even

deep

Letters “I/Y” (primary short and long meanings):

thimble

thin

chips

wish

wiggle

scribble

twin

little

picnic

fiddle

kitchen

history

ministry

primitive

system

why

mine

vice

imply

rise

idle

license

while

by

fly

nylon

byre

rhyme

arrive

bicycle

triangle

line

kite

file

white

why

mine

vice

imply

 
Letter “U” (primary short and long meanings):

crumple

under

humble

hungry

duck

must

funny

ugly

begun

thus

thunder

bungle

buck

lust

fuss

yuck

cluck

bud

puck

luck

 
tube

duty

dual

music

tune

computer

tune

muse

humour

unit

use

student

human

cube

tunic

Letter “O” (primary short and long meanings):

dot

stop

chop

flop

cost

doctor

bottle

body

robber

coffee

promise

fox

cod

shot

stock

con

cock

cop

wop

doll

 
      so                  nose

      go                 probe

      phone           open

hope

rose

joke

note

whole

quote

tone

hole

drove

Ex. 3.3

A: Here are the twelve pairs of rhyming words. In each case, one has an expected spelling for the particular sound and one has not. Choose which has the more predictable spelling.
Example:cheque  neck

(compare neck with peck, deck, wreck, speck and so on)

1

dome

some

5

rich

stitch

9

file

style

2

mash

cache

6

chest

breast

10

taste

waist

3

steak

make

7

wand

bond

11

want

pant

4

moon

prune

8

blood

mud

12

cut

put

Ex. 3.4 (  , track 3)

A: In this section the spelling is 100% predictable from the pronunciation. Listen to the recording and write these individual words down.

1

________

5

________

9

________

13

________

2

________

6

________

10

________

14

________

3

________

7

________

11

________

15

________

4

________

8

________

12

________

16

________

B: Now see if you can read the following words aloud before you listen to them on the recording. Remember that the pronunciation is still predictable from the spelling.

1

scoop

5

patched

9

puddle

13

shun

2

muted

6

rotter

10

stutter

14

candle

3

glitch

7

hugged

11

handy

15

rumbled

4

spine

8

treck

12

budge

16

trash

C: Now do the same with the following nonsense words.

1

flape

5

snork

9

frake

13

spump

2

spline

6

preck

10

drumble

14

flinge

3

smotted

7

glumpy

11

duddle

15

chinker

4

gatter

8

chandy

12

shunker

16

strended

It doesn’t matter if you don’t know what the words in A andB mean; you can always check them in a dictionary afterwards. Don’t look in a dictionary for the nonsense words in C.

Ex. 3.5 Find and practice reading vowels in their short meanings:

Letter” A”

a) Read as quickly as possible:

A cat, a black cat, a black cat sat, a black cat sat on a mat, a black cat sat on a mat and ate. A black cat sat on a mat and ate a fat rat.
b) Read the sentence:

There was a red van traveling West, and several cars and vans behind it. The van driver suddenly turned and crashed into the taxi. The taxi driver wasn’t badly hurt, but he was very angry.

Can you imagine an imaginary menagerie manager, imagining an imagery menagerie.

c) Proverbs and idioms:

Flat as a pancake.

A hungry man is an angry man.
d) Rhymes and tongue-twisters:

Pat’s black cat is in Pat’s black hat.

Pussy-cat, pussy-cat

Can you catch that bad fat rat?

If you catch that bad fat rat,

You will have some milk for that.
Letter “E”

a)Hens, red hens, best red hens, ten best red hens, Ted sells ten best red hens. Every day Ted sells ten best red hens.

b)Only ten per cent of Kensington Express readers take regular exercise. Ten per cent felt that they were healthy or very healthy.

c)All’s well that ends well.

d) Better late than never.

e)Lesser leather never weathered wetter weather better.

f) Fred fed Ted bread and Ted led Fred bread.

g) Can you retell ten texts in twelve seconds?
Letters “I, Y”

a)As fit as a fiddle.

b)Which witch wished which wicked wish?

c)Needles and pins, needles and pins,

When a man marries, his trouble begins.

d) I slit the sheet, the sheet I slit, and on the slitted sheet I sit.
Letter “O”

a)Bob’s dog got a hot pot of porridge and some chops.

b)I’ve got a job in a sports shop at the moment.

c)Honesty is the best policy.

d) A proper cup of coffee from a proper copper coffee pot.
Letter “U”

a)A duck, an ugly duck, an ugly duck was in a cup, an ugly duck was in a funny cup, an ugly duck was in a funny cup on Sunday. An ugly duck was in a funny cup on a sunny Sunday.

b) Lucky in cards unlucky in love.

c)Mummies munch much mush.

d) Double bubble gum bubbles double bubbles.
Ex. 3.6Practice reading vowels in their long meanings:

Letter “A”
a)  This amazing lake in Wales is a famous place for great races.

b)I can explain. The Daily Mail came late.

c)Make hay while the sun shines.

A stitch in time saves nine.

d)Rain, rain, go away,

Come again another day.

e) Billy, Billy, come and play

While the sun shines bright today.

Letter “E”

a)A man of words and not of deeds

    Is like a garden full of weeds.

b) He speaks Chinese and Japanese with equal ease.

c)Easy come easy go.
Letters “I, Y”

a)Mike likes spicy pies with fried pike.

b)Hi, Mike! I’m busy typing. I have ninety-nine pages to type by Friday.

c)Out of sight out of mind.

    Variety is a spice of life.

d)Why do you cry, Willy?

     Why do you cry?

     Why, Willy, why, Willy?

     Why, Willy, why?

Letter “O”

a)The road below goes from Rome to the south coast. We are very close to our home.

b)Chip-chop, chip-chop,

     Chipper-chopper Joe,

     One big blow.

     Oh! My toe!
Ex. 3.7 Put the words given below into a suitable column according to the rules of reading of stressed vowels:
Twilight, crying, Friday, magic, transport, limit, fiddle, panic, student, trying, bypass, never, uncle, letter, river, alphabet, timid, numeral, being, stupid, apricot, atomic, cinema, majority, better, hunting, visit, novel, palace, luggage, sentence, alcoholic, beginner, British, cucumber, famine, forever, Labrador, laser, microphone, noble, novel, poet, printer, puritan, puzzle, regular, Roman, secret, stupidity, syllabic, typical.

Primary long meaning

Primary short meaning

Ex. 3.8 Read the following words and see how –e changes the pronunciation

WITHOUT –e:

WITH –e:

fat

cat

am

plan

hat

gate

late

name

plane

hate

NOW PRONOUNCE: man  same  take  that lemonade  bale  safe  tap  tape

WITHOUT –e:

WITH –e:

sit

in

begin

if

swim

invite

fine

wine

wife

time

NOW PRONOUNCE: fit  inside  still  mile  hid ride  tide  like  pipe  strip 

WITHOUT –e:

WITH –e:

stop

top

not

hot

clock

hope

home

note

nose

smoke

NOW PRONOUNCE: job  stone  rose  God  joke  dome bone  on  spot  coke

WITHOUT –e:

WITH –e:

bus

run

pub

sun

just

excuse

June

tube

rude

use

NOW PRONOUNCE: much  fuse  cube  cub  fuss  tune  gun  fun  duke  luck

EXCEPTIONS: some  come  one  have  give  live  love

Ex. 3.9 Place the following words in the grids according to their vowel sound:
Rich, curl, month, cart, suit, breath, flashed, loom, herd, still, hemmed, torn, scene, cruise, floor, dock, just, don, sword, hoop, banned, rang, bin, love, hat, bird, stabbed, hood, farm, ought, ridge, ton, cloth, chalk, hoot, son, link, next, calm, germ, hymn, cab, wood, breath, creep, itch, blood, cough, should, could, black, said, foot, monk, dog, stood, piece, arch, move, purr, feast, palm, pearl, edge, shopped, eve, barred, soup, leaf, bard, begged.
Short vowel sounds

 

Long vowel sounds:

[i:]

[
3
:]

[
ɑ
:]

[o:]

[u:]

TEST  I
1.    
Divide into groups and transcribe these words:

Worry, student, apricot, oppose, novel, after, magic, limit, visit, excuse, sentence, bypass, money.

primary alphabetical meaning

primary short meaning

secondary meaning

2.    
 Find the odd word:

a)                 little, silly, fiddle, middle, quite

b)                tragic, pathetic, paste, falls

c)                 ruling, tulip, truthful, trustee, numeral
3. Transcribe these words:

         Archery, point, cricket, victory, golf, runner-up, water polo, racket, rugby, swimming, championship, spectator.
TEST II
1.    
Divide into groups and transcribe these words:

Cinema, never, crying, stupid, numeral, uncle, Monday, figure-skating, war, river, panic, staff, hunting, transport.

primary alphabetical meaning

primary short meaning

secondary meaning

2.    
Find the odd word:

a)    doing, hunting, uncle, cinema, magic

b)    stupid, trying, Friday, April, silly

c)    student, numeral, never, crying, being
3. Transcribe the words:

Fibre, April, going, render, family, avid, cavity, facet, lady, fever, over, funeral, fencing.

    продолжение
–PAGE_BREAK–4.               Reading of Stressed Vowels in Combination with the  Letter ”r”

VOWEL LETTERS + “R
”

Ex.

4.1

a) Name the stressed sound of every line:

1.     share, rare, care, compare, prepare, hare.

2.     here, mere, sphere, material, serial, period.

3.     fire, lyre, hire, tired, wire, satire.

4.     pure, cure, lure, curious, during, secure.

5.     more, shore, explore, before, store.
b) Read these words according to the rules:

Letter “A” (primary short and long meanings):

farce

arch

scarf

market

alarm

jar

fare

Mary

daring

sharing

snare

care

Letter “E” (primary short and long meanings):

germ

perch

mercy

verse

concern

German

hero

mere

inhere

era

severe

zero

Letters “I/Y” (primary short and long meanings):

thirty

birch

smirch

shirk

circle

quirt

fire

lyre

tyre

require

wire

quire

Letter “U” (primary short and long meanings):

turn

further

lurch

Thursday

curtains

turkey

endure

cure

pure

obscure

fury

curious

Letter “O” (primary short and long meanings):

storm

mort

orchard

pork

force

thorn

core

shore

score

wore

oral

forehead

Ex.4.2

a) Make words with these beginnings and write them in the correct part of the table:

Beginnings    ba     fa     ra     da    sta    squa    ca     ha     cha

Endings         r     re     lf     ir     rd     rt     lm

Words with the vowel [α:]

Words with the vowel [εə]

bar

bare

b) Divide the words into groups according to the sounds:

Air, bear, deer, square, tour, real, giant, your, near, ear, pair, oar, more, secure, cure, fire, lure, lyre, pure, satire, board, fair, hair, hear, dear, tire, fuel, sore, our, area, near, pier, hour, fire, mere, real, diamond, ear, fierce, science, vary, zero, theory, fuel, ore, millionaire, lair, mere, where, trial, work, earn, sergeant, warm, worm, heart, world, merry, persuade, nurse, harp, early, scarcely, clerk, form, target, learn, hurry, bird, persue, war, firm, circus, turn, farm, earth, word, market, girl, fir, bargain, turkey, mortar, swirl, sword, order, urgently, orchid, appear, observe, persue, surface, disregard, perm, sardines, require, depart, quarrel.
Ex.4.3 Read as quickly as possible:

1. Hares, rare hares, take care of rare hares; my parents take care of rare hares. My parents rarely take care of rare hares and canaries.

2. Football, more than football, basketballs more than football, adore basketball more than football, boys adore basketball more than football, tall boys adore basketball more than football. Almost all tall boys adore basketball more than football.

3. The theory, the theory of this experienced engineer is clear, the theory of this experienced engineer is really clear. My dear! The theory of this experienced engineer is really clear.

4. Near an ear, a nearer ear, a nearly eerie ear.

5. Cheers, dear! Cheers! Here’s to the bearded mountaineer!

6. Charming, large and charming, farms are large and charming, gardens and farms are large and charming. The parks, gardens and farms are large and charming.

7. Agirl, a circus girl, Pearl is a circus girl, Pearl is a circus girl who works, Pearl is a circus girl who works with birds.

8. Her work, her work in workshop, her work in a dirty workshop, her work in a dirty workshop was the worst. Her work in a dirty workshop was the worst in the world.
Ex. 4.4 Pick out the odd word:

1.     term, clerk, serve, perfect.

2.     target, farm, warm, market.

3.     learn, earth, pearl, heart.

4.     Vernon, terrible, merry, hurry.

5.     word, work, world, war.

6.     first, fur, far, turn.

7.     girl, shirk, wire, birch, birth.

8.     earn, learn, heart, early.

9.     worm, worn, world, work.

10.nurse, lurk, hurry, hurt, suburb.

11.advertisement, university, reserved, western.
Ex. 4.5 Put the words into three columns:

[ɑ:]

[ɔ:]

[з:]

Tardy, sort, purge, war, heart, dormant, world, port, darling, warm, earn, lord, work, partake, furbish, learn, mortify, clerk, purblind, portly, sergeant, dart, further, partner.
Ex. 4.6 Complete this conversation using the words in the box. Then listen and check

 (  , track 4)

Cars     cares     stars     stares

Sid: This is a great life, with no worries or  cares
!

Joe: It would be nice if we had  ________  though, Sid.

Sid: I didn’t say  ______, I said  ______!

Joe: Oh, I see. Not  _______,  as in traffic, but  ______  with an ES at the end!

Sid: That’s right. I’ve always loved sleeping under the  ______.

Joe: But why? There’ hardly any space under the  ______!

Sid: No, not  ______,  ______!  You know, little lights in the sky.

Joe: Oh,  ______!  I thought you said  _________,  that people walk up!

Ex. 4.7 Read and transcribe the following sentences:

1.     I’d like to reserve a seat on the ten-thirty flight to Birmingham, on Thursday. My name is Vernon.

2.     I’ll search under the fir trees and the birches, I’ll circle the earth – and I’ll return with a superb firm earthworm for my perfect turtledove.

3.     Pearl will be thirty next birthday. Her perfume from Germany is perfect.

4.     Gregory reported about this story with sarcasm, then he asked rhetorical question.

5.     I always think about misfortune with a horror.

6.     Barbara’s government had a very bad reputation.

7.     Sorry, but I don’t like horror films, I prefer going to the theatre.
Ex. 4.8 Listen and circle the word you hear (  , track 5)

Heart or hat? She put her hand on her heart\hat.

1.     Nowhere or no way? There’s nowhere\no way to go.

2.     Fair or far? It isn’t fair\far.

3.     Part or port? This is the main part\port of Athens.

4.     Bear or beer? That’s a strong bear\beer.

5.     Come or calm? She told me to come\calm down.
Ex. 4.9  Practice reading

 idioms, sayings:

He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.

If the cap fits, wear it.

Here today, gone tomorrow.

Five fat friars frying fish.

While there is life there is hope.

No smoke without fire.

Real weird rear wheels.

First come, first served.

Even a worm will turn.

It is the early bird that catches the worm.

A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.

One good turn deserves another.

A picture is worth a thousand words.

The calm before the storm.

To put the cart before the horse.

A barking dog seldom bites.

Don’t take your harp to the party.

A bird is known by its note, and a man by his talk.

Adversity makes the man wise, not rich.

Through hardship to the stars.

Return good for evil.

Better unborn than untaught.

You can bring your horse to the water but you can’t make it drink.
 rhymes and twisters:

An old woman, old woman, shall we go a – shearing?

Speak a little louder, sir, — I am very hard of hearing.

Old woman, old woman, shall I love you dearly?

Thank you, kind sir, I hear you very clearly.
How many boards

Could the Mongols hoards

If the Mongol hoards got bored?
“What is this life if, full of care,

We have no time to stand and stare?”
I cannot bear to see a bear

Bear down upon a hare.

When bare of hair he strips the hare,

Right there I cry, “Forbear!”

    продолжение
–PAGE_BREAK–5.       Reading of Vowel Digraphs*

Aa

Ee

Ii

Oo

Uu

Yy

Aa

[i:] formulae

[eı] aid

[aı] balalaika

[æ] plaid

[e] said

[α:] aunt

[ɔ:] August

[ɒ] sausage

[əυ] aubergine

[eı] way

[e] says

[ə] always

[ı] Monday

Ee

[i:] sea

[eı] great

[ıə] idea

[e] bread

[i:] need

[i:] ceiling

[eı] beige

[aı] either

[e] leisure

[i:] people

[ıə] theory

[e] leopard

[(j)u:] neutral

[jυə] Europe

[i:] key

[ı] money

[eı] they

Ii

[ə] Parliament

[aıə] diamond

[aı] tie

[i:] achieve

[ı] Freddie

[e] friend

[ıə] patriot

[aıə] lion

[aıə] triumph

Oo

[əυ] oak

[ɔ:] broad

[u:] shoe

[ɔ
I] boil

[ə] tortoise

[ı] connoisseur

[əυ] brooch

[u:] food

[υ] foot

[Λ] blood

[əυ] soul

[u:] you

[υ] could

[aυ] thousand

[Λ] courage

[ɒ]  cough

[ɔ:] ought

[ı] loyal

Uu

[u:] true

[υə] cruel

[(j)u:] juice

[ı] biscuit

[aı] buy

Yy

[aıə] hyacinth

[aı] bye

[(j)əυ]  yoga

Principles of Reading Vowel Digraphs

1)     The 1st letter is read in its primary long meaning: sea [i:], oak [əυ], etc.;

2)     The 2nd letter is read in its primary long meaning: neutral [u:], either [aı], etc.;

3)     Two letters are read in their primary short meanings, forming a diphthong: beige [eı], they [eı], boil [ɔ
I], oyster [ɔ
I];

4)     One of the letters is read in its primary short or secondary meaning: aunt [ɑ:], theory [ıə], etc.
Ex. 5.1 Read the following words with digraphs [ei|ey]. Identify the sound of each line.

[ ] 1. beige, deign, heinous.

[ ] 2. either, seismograph, deictic.

[ ] 3. seize, inveigle, ceiling, receive, deceive, conceive, perceive.

[ ] 4. heir, heiress.

[ ] 5. leisure, Leicester.

[ ] 6. counterfeit, sovereign, foreign, surfeit, forfeit.

[ ] 7. eight, freight, neighbour, weight, sleigh, weigh.

[ ] 9. they, survey, grey, obey.

[ ] 10. eyrie.

[ ] 11. key.

[ ] 12. monkey, money, whisky, hockey, trolley.

Ex. 5.2  Which twelve of these words contain the sound [eə] (as in chair)? How are the others pronounced? Can you think of any more words with [eə]?

Air, care, dear, fair, hair, her, here, pear, pair, share, tear (verb), their, there, they’re, were, we’re, where.
Ex. 5.3

a) Read the poem. Explain the reading of vowel combinations.

A little health, a little wealth

A little house and freedom

With some few friends for certain ends,

But little cause to need them.
b) Each word on the left rhymes with one word on the right. Match the words that rhyme and try to write a short poem using some of the rhyming words.

Brain, teeth, lost, foot, boast, suit, weight, slight, death, says, dull, phrase, war, full, chef, leaf, glued

Deaf, great, beef, breathe, skull, Les, reign, days, tossed, post, height, wreath, food, shoot, put, law, wool

Ex. 5.4

a) Put the following words in the correct column according to the pronunciation of “ea”. Careful! Three of the words have two different pronunciations (and different meanings).

scream

bean

bread

gear

tear

breath

dread

lead

spear

break

heal

steak

dead

yearn

spread

read

knead

plead

pear

bead

great

team

breathe

fear

bear

thread

instead

wear

head

year

mean

pearl

[e]

10 words

[i:]

11 words

[
ε
ə]

5 words

[
ıə]

5 words

[
3
:
]

2 words

[e
I
]

3 words

b) Give 2 examples of your own to each variant of pronunciation of the given digraph.

              

                                 [ıə]                          [
ε
ə
]

                                                    
                    [ e
I
]

                                              
EA
                       [ɑ:]
              

                  [ i:]

                                                         [ e ]

                                                  

           

Ex. 5.5 Read the following words.  Identify the sound of each line.

[     ]   1. food, boot, foolish, boost

[     ]   2. good, cook, took, look

[     ]   3. should, would, could

[     ]   4. blood, flood

[     ]   5. door, four, floor, boor

[     ]   6. moor, tour, poor

[     ]   7. brooch

[     ]   8. round, found, sound, pound

[     ]   9. soul, bowl, mould, shoulder

[     ]   10. touch, rough, nourish, courage

[     ]   11. soup, group, boulevard, goulash

[     ]   12. thought, bought, caught, fought

[     ]   13. you, youth
Ex. 5.6 Pick out the odd word.

Example:

Like  by  ninth  live

1.     monkey — donkey — whiskey — key

2.     feudal — few — sew — queue

3.     cook – look – pound – could

4.     foot — good — food  — cook

5.     round — house — ounce — trouble

6.     could — would — mould — should

7.     seize — receive — deictic – ceiling

8.     toilet – tortoise – boycott – buoy

9.     joy –oily –voyage – connoisseur

10. annoy – choice – they –joy – poison

11. pear — swear — near — bear

12. door – floor – start – small

13. cream — head — leave — fleet

14. purple – thirsty – journey – there

15. ooze—wood—kangaroo—booze

16. courage — soul — trouble — nourish

17. plaintiff — raider — plaintive — plaid

18. bread – reads – pence – very

19. work – third – person – hair

20. size – grey – life – eye

21. buy – like – rich – kind

22. wear – ear –  hear – nearly

23. earn – third – where – dirty
Ex. 5.7 Give 2 examples to each variant of pronunciation of the given digraph
.

              

                                 [əυ]                          [aυ]

                                                    
                    [u:]

                                                
OU
                      [Λ]
              

                                 [ɔ:]

                                                                [
Ŋ
]         

Ex. 5.8 Underline the words in which the vowel combinations are read according to the basic rule:

Cream, bleed, leave, fleet, death, dean, daily, head, rouge, great, tie, key, few, ceiling,  thief, plain.

Oar, fair, fuel, fare, ore, type, ear, prior, giant, pure, fire, here, trial, real.

May, oak, coin, connoisseur, heaven, broad, seize, agree, soar, aid, via, fiery, idiot, lie, peer, fear, lean, Sunday, says, formulae, main, leisure, sea, eagle, receive, triumph, foam, aegis, sieve, needle, people, leopard, die, Leicester, pseudonym, ceiling, holiday, read, clear.
Reading of the digraph “ou” in homographes:

slough– сброшенная кожа змеи, забытая привычка; уныние, депрессия, болото.

wound– рана; крутиться, извиваться (pastofwind)
Ex. 5.9 Translate the sentences and transcribe the underlined words:

1.     When I was going through the slough, I saw a slough.

2. Sometimes your slough can remind about itself. We went to the forest and found a slough there.

3. Aman was injured, he had a wound. A snake wound in the cage.

4. While he was wounding, somebody wounded him.
Ex. 5.10

Place the following words in the grids according to their vowel sound.
Rich\ curl\ death\ month\ shone\ lawn\ cart\ suit\ breathe\ flashed\ loom\ herd\ still\ earn\ hemmed\ poured\ torn\ scene\ cruise\ floor\ dock\ just\ would\ don\ sword\ hoop\ banned\ rang\ bin\ love\ hat\ bird\ stabbed\ hood\ farm\ ought\ ridge\ ton\ cloth\ chalk\ hoot\ son\  link\ next\ calm\ germ\ hymn\ cab\ wood\ breath\ creep\ itch\ blood\ cough\ should\ could\ black\ said\ pearl\ edge\ shopped\ eve\ barred\ soup\ leaf\  bard\ begged
Short vowel sounds

pit[pIt]

pat [pæt]

pet [pet]

putt [pʌt]

pot [pɒt]

put[pυt]

Long vowel sounds

peat[pi:t]

pert [pз:t]

part [pɑ:t]

port [pɔ:t]

boot [pu:t]

Ex. 5.11

a) Pronounce the words:

foot – booth – flood

booklet – coop – hook

hoof – footer – looter

wooed – wood – moorings

taproom – sooty – woof

doubt – honorable – tough

neighbour – drought – coup

should – soup – pouring

thought – amount – loaches

aloud – louver – brooch

colourist – pounding – coulter

b) Choose the right variant:

[u:] a) wood, b) foolish, c) country

[Λ] a) ooze, b) flood, c) boot

[υ:] a) good, b) brooch, c) floor

[əυ] a) nourish, b) mould, c) koumiss

[Λ] a) cough, b) tough, c) soup

[u:] a) douche, b) bounce, c) sound

c) Find the odd word:

1. plait, plaid, said, aiglet

2. heir, seize, ceiling, inveigle

3. Leicester, either, height, seismograph

4. break, great, steak, bread

5. tear, heart, fear, tear

Ex. 5.12 Give some examples on each of these combinations, but all of them should denote the sound [ei]:
                                
ai
                         
ei

                                                    
                                              
[ei]
                      

              

                                  
ay                        ey

Ex. 5.13 Pronounce the following pairs of words and write down the sounds:
[ ] – [ ]:

daughter – Dottie

caution – coughing

naughty – novice

 [ ] – [ ]:

joined – John

oyster – ostrich

soiled – solid

[ ] – [ ]:

tomb – tour

view – viewer

queue – cure

[ ] – [ ]:

cleaning – clearly

ease – ears

[ ] – [ ]:

beer – bear

teary – dairy

peer –pair

[ ] – [ ]:

climb – cloud

finder – founder

dry – drought

Ex. 5.14 Divide the words into columns:

[i:]

[e]

[aiə]

[I]

 

Eel, bread, aegis, seize, leisure, said, quay, says, diet, key, monkey, ion, leopard, formulae, fiery, sweat, agree, giant, biscuit, lion, Leonard, connoisseur, violate, breath, diamond, auntie, pioneer, species, biological, people, jeopardy, piece, triumph, feather, via, friend, achieve, dialogue, mischief, diadem, build.
Ex. 5.15 Insert the suitable word:
fair/fare, buy/bye, waist/waste, flower/flour

1.     This man in black is …

2.     When you get on bus you have to pay …

3.     My wife is satisfied with her good …

4.     It is necessary to say “Good …” when you leave home.

5.     It is a… of time.

6.     I am proud of my …

7.     We can’t bake a cake without …

8.     The girl has painted a …
Ex. 5.16 Find a way from start to finish. You may pass a square only if the word in it has the sound [aυ]. You can move horizontally or vertically only.

   START

house

sound

group

about

mouth

cow

soup

out

brown

mouse

bought

south

could

couple

grow

low

would

cloud

know

snow

touch

ought

down

count

thought

should

slow

blow

pound

young

soul

country

though

throw

town

round

                                                                                                    

FINISH
Ex. 5.17 Group the words below according to the pronunciation of the stressed vowels. Compare the meanings of single vowels and vowel combinations. What principle of reading vowel digraphs do the given words illustrate?

1. [e]

2. [eı]

3. [I]

4. [i:]

5. [aı]

6. [əυ]

7. [ɒ]

8. [ɔI]

9. [u:]

Antennae, beg, beige, believe, brooch, bruise, boy, buy, by, coin, die, dine, either, got, in, key, made, maiden, needle, neutral, obey, pay, people, receive, seat, she, shoulder, soap, sold, soup, steak, tune, true.

Ex. 5.18 Practice reading the following words.

The letter «a»:

pale, dale, rake, navy, table, ladle, staple, cradle, apron, sabre, latch, rack, jacket, quack, yank, jag, carry, parrot, garret, sparrow, barrel, rattle, tangle, sample, angry, fare, Mary, snare, daring, age, sharing, air, hairy, chair, repair, affair, farce, arch, jar, market, scarf, alarm, call. all, also, chalk, walk, tall, augur, sauce, pause, aught, author, caught, taught, claw, crawl, law, yawn, hawk, jaw, draw, day, nail, rain, wait, gait, quail, chain, away, praise, lay;
The letter «o»:

nose, probe, Joe, quote, drove, wove, phone, noble, ogre, cobra, joke, ogle, yoke, jog, lodge, wrong, knock, knot, strong, core, shore, wore, oral, score, story, storm, mort, orchard, thorn, force, pork, lorry, horror, borrow, porridge, goggle, jostle, bottle, scallop, foam, coal, load, toast, roach, throat, coach, oak, roam, hold, cold, gold, jolt, stroll, roll, scold, pillow, show, window, snow, glow, crow, yellow, row, know, own, hook, hoys, coil, coy, choice, enjoy, roil, voice, destroy, cook, book, wood, look, stood, rook, coo, wool, soon, moon, zoo, broom, coop, hover, too, wooed, roof, ooze, sooth, out, about, mouth, south, scouts, count, down, town, crowd, crown, clown, howl, jowl, fowl, tower, power, flower, shower, coward, towel, trowel;
The letter «u»:

cute, cube, humour, purple, unit, super, student, bugle, bugler, duty, computer, tunic, cure, Ural, pure, dual, obscure, endure, fury, curious, furious, jury, plural, cruel, rural, flue, true, rule, jute, truce, June, lunar, plume, chute, under, cut, run, jump, thunder, just, hungry, hurry, current, burrow, humble, struggle, bungle, uncle, buckle, crumple, cur, hurl, turkey, gurgle, curtains, Thursday, lurch, further, turn;
The letter «e»:

bead, these, cede, Eve, recent, scene, secret, legal, sere, zero, sphere, cero, hero, mere, inhere, severe, era, well, text, vet, wet, zest, length, theft, gentle, error, cherry, sherry, Jerry, where, terror, derrick,  kettle,   temple,   nettle,  verse,   germ,  perch,   concern,   German, mercy, thermos, leap, knead, gleam, streak, teach, quean, streak, easy, wreak,  veal,   creek,  cheep,   screed,  jeep,   breeze,  meeting,   kneel, seethe,   queer,   wheedle,   ear,  tear,   clear,   weary,  hear,   rear,  beard, smeary, beer,  cheer,  fleer,  jeer,  queer, pioneer, few,  hew,  news,  yew, view, stew, newspaper, flew, grew, drew, blew, chew, threw, seize, deceive, conceit, conceive, receive, ceiling;
The letters «i/y»:

nice, knife, fly, type, stifle, trifle, fibre, nylon, idle, hydra, cycle, quite, fire, lyre, tyre, quire, wire, byre, require, pick, quick, think, crypt, symbol, myth, system, gym, gyps, with, griddle, little, wiggle, sizzle, scribble, thimble, mirror, chirrup, squirrel, shirk, chirp, thirty, birch, smirch, sir, circle, quirt, Myrtle, bind, kind, mind, wind, grind, behind, high, light, might, knight, bright, thigh, tight, sigh, dial, trial, lion, diary, triumph, pioneer, flyer, giant, quiet, violin, field, grieve, believe, achieve, thief, thieve, piece.

Vowel Letter Combinations

ay, ai

says, quay, certainly, always, holiday, Sunday, certainty, Monday, portrayal, play, clay, aid, straight, against, fair, chair, rain, air, said, aisle, balalaika, curtain, claim, certain, pay,  again, plait, plaid, plaintiff, plaintive, quay age, clay

ea

eagle, stream, sea, deal, bread, meal, lean, feather, sweat, breath,  breakfast, heaven, pleasure, break, great, steak, fear, idea, tear, theatre, clear, earthly, rear,  earthworm,  Earn, earn, ear-splitting,  Earn Shaw, earring,  earnest, eaglet,  each, eager, Easter, leave

ee

eel, needle, agree, addressee, employee, peer, beer, beetle, teenager, teem, teetotal, returnee

ei, ey

veil, convey,  receive, key, height, eye, either, seismograph,  sleight, money, heifer, Reynolds, atheism, deity, heir, heirloom, leitmotif, beige, donkey, eight, Leicester,  weight, leisure, ceiling, receive, seize, geyser, they,  survey, bogey, monkey, whiskey, weird

eu, ew, iew

feudal, few, masseuse, sew, Freudian, masseur, lieutenant, euphemism, feudalism, queue, pseudonym, neutral, Europe, leukocyte, rheumatism, leukemia, leucotomy, Lucite,  Peugeot,  Reuter,  Reuben,  reunion, reusable,  Seurat, chew,  Tewkesberry, mew, mewl,   fewness, Newton, New-York

eo

jeopardy, leopard, Geoffrey,  Leonard, people, theory, peony, theology, theorem, reorganize, reopen, Seoul,  Leo, Leonardo, Leopold,  Leonora, deodar, deoxyribonucleic, deodorant, ,  Neo-Latin, neologism, neoplasm, neonatal.

ie

piece, tie, fierce, tried, studied, dries, fries, friend, flies, sieve, handkerchief,  science, pliers, society, acquiesce, Viennese, happiest, Vietnam, viewpoint, achieve, chief, species, series, mischief, auntie, Freddie, brier, fiery, diet, field,  fiesta

oo

food, good, blood, flood,  door, moor, poor, brooch, zoology, cooperate, cook, book, wood, floor, ooze, boost, boot, foolish, too, woo, kangaroo, foot, boost, boor, boomerang, boondocks, soothe

oi, oy

noise, boy, patois, turquoise,  coin, oily, turmoil, boil, connoisseur, tortoise, loiter, loin, soiree, Boyd,  boysenberry, boycott, toy

ou

round, soul, touch, group,  could, should, would, thought, through, bough, through, rough, cough, thorough, flour, tourist, four, journey, courage, courier, ounce, oust, house, thousand, account, sound, fountain, youth, soup, boulevard, goulash, you, nourish,  trouble, poultry, mould, shoulder, bought, slough, house, wound
Ex. 5.19 Spot the homophones:

Homophones are words (or combinations of words) which sound the same, but are spelled differently and have different meanings: meet and meat, seen andscene. Find the pairs of homophones hidden in the list below.

Side, balls, bear, bowled, cue, ducked, fort, work grate, hair, hare, bales, week, dally, bald, hold, fought, weekly, stoke, walk, missed, air, pure, packed, pear, pore, where, pour, duct, bore, seam, quiet, sought, please, shake, wade, sheikh, pleas, weakly, bold, past, sighed, piece, mist, wear, seem, sight, slay, wake, win, steak, stalk, stroke, stork, daily, stake, weak, bare, holed, wine, pact, bawls, passed, wane, queue, great, heir, pair, whine, grant, sleigh, same, weighed, site, peace.

Some of these words do not form pairs of homophones.
Ex. 5.20 Read the following proverbs:

1.     The cook stood still and looked the bush was full of good wood.

2.     An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

3.     A sound mind in a sound body.

4.     A green wound is soon healed.

5.     I wouldn’t like to be in your shoes.

6.     Too many cooks spoil the broth.

7.     New brooms sweep clean.

8.     The proof of the pudding is in the eating.

9.     Too good to be true.

10. A little pot is soon hot.
Ex. 5.21 Try to read these tongue-twisters s quick as possible:

1. Atutor who taught on the flute

Tried to teach two young tooters to toot.

Said the two to the tutor,

Is it harder to toot or

To tutor two tooters to toot?

2. Whatever one toucan can do

Is sooner done by toucans two,

And three toucans (it’s very true)

Can do much more than two can do.

3. How many cookies could a good cook if a good cook could cook cookies?

A good cook could cook as much cookies as a good cook who could cook cookies.

TEST

 I
1. Transcribe the following words:
Four, boot, cook, young, couple, good, proud, round, look,foolish, food, sour, moon, loose, pronoun.
2.
Sort out the words according to the reading of vowel digraphs:
Borough, brought, tough, bough, thorough, ought, drought, dough, though, bought, sough, slough, pool, root, room, sooth, tootle, took, wooden, hooves, hook, foolhardy, footer, bootlegger, booklet.  
3.
Translate the following utterances and transcribe the words in bold type:
1.            After that she divorced from her husband and left her work, she was in a slough.

2.            The wound was fatal and there was no hope for his rescue.

 

TEST

 II
1
. Transcribe the following words:
Nutritious, food, young, neighbour, childhood, fourteen hours, joyous
cousin, wooden house, took, roomy, would.

                                                                                                              

2.
Sort out the words according to the reading of vowel digraphs:
Ooze, poor, floor, enough, choose, soul, book, southern, ounce, blood,

should, account, poultry, flood, too, could, mould, youth, rough,

trouble, mould, broach, bloom, tooth, tourist.
3.
Translate the following utterances and transcribe the words in bold type:
1.      The little girl very was very frightened, when she saw a slough of a snake on a stone.

2.   A man was injured, he had a wound.

    продолжение
–PAGE_BREAK–6.       Reading of Unstressed Vowels

Vowels in unstressed syllables in disyllabic and polysyllabic words usually denote the neutral sound [ə] and short [ı].

1.    The letters ‘e’, ‘i’, ‘y’ denote the sound [ı]: rocket, bandit, funny.

2.    The letters ‘a’, ‘o’, ‘u’ denote the sound [ə]: Poland, bottom, cactus.

BUT-age [ı] (message), -ate [ə/ı] (delicate), -ible [ı/ə] (terrible).

3.    The letter combinations ‘vowel + the letter ‘r” give the neutral [ə]: dollar, dinner, doctor, nature.

4.    In the letter combination ‘vowel + vowel + consonant’ (-ial, -ion, -our, -ous etc.) we pronounce the neutral [ə]: initial, division, labour, generous.

5.    In the letter combinations ‘vowel + consonant + consonant
(+ consonant/vowel)’ (-able, -ance, -ent etc.) we pronounce [ə]: capable, attendance, student.

6.    In the letter combinations ‘consonant + vowel + consonant (+ vowel)’ we can pronounce:

a) the neutral [ə]: freedom;

b) the neutral [ə] or short [ı]: careless;

c) the neutral [ə] or short [υ]: awful.

7.     The letters ‘o’ and ‘u’ in an open syllable and after a stressed syllable have their primary long meanings: sambo [əυ], costume [ju:].

8.     An unstressed vowel is not pronounced, as a rule, in the following cases:

                    a) e+ l\n (at the end of a word): seven [\sevn];

                             b) i+l (at the end of a word): pupil [\pju:pl];

                             c) o+n (at the end of  a word): lesson [\lesn]
Ex. 6.1 Read the riddles. Try to guess the right answer. Transcribe the underlined words, explain the rules.

1) A man looks at the photo and says: “Brothers and sisters I have none, but this man’s father is my father’s son.” What relation is the man in the photograph to the man who is looking at it?

2) There is a question to which you never answer “yes”. What question is it?

3) What is it that looks like a ball,

But stands still and does not fall

off its thin and graceful leg?

Childrenlike to turn it round,

Lakes and rivers are there found.

Countries, states and their towns

You can see on it all round.

Ex. 6.2 (  , track 6)

a) Listen to the poem. Circle the words which rhyme.

Mr. Porter loves his pasta.  

No one else can eat it faster. 

Mr. Porter’s sister Rita,

Buys the pasta by the metre.

Mr. Porter’s older daughter,

Boils it all in tubs of water.
b)Learn the rhyme.
The Time-table of Lazy-bones Grundy
Lazy-bones Grundy

Must do sums for Monday.

“And today it is Thursday”,

Says lazy-bones Grundy,

“So I’ll do it on Wednesday,

If not – then on Thursday,

Or even on Friday”,

Says lazy-bones Grundy.

Not very soon comes Friday

And Saturday comes,

But lazy-bones Grundy

Has no time for sums.

“Never mind”, says Grundy,

“I’ll do it on Sunday.”

So this time-table

Of lazy-bones Grundy.
Ex. 6.3 Transcribe the following words and divide them into three columns: [ju:], [əυ], [ə]

Tribune, monotony, statue, samba, cactus, attribute, customs, gratitude, ambulance, monogram, common, also, tempo, recognize.
Ex. 6.4 Pay attention to the full quality of the unstressed vowels and explain the rule:

a) mambo, canto, tempo, dingo, banjo, fresco, motto, tango, salvo, stucco, Plato, photo, solo, memo, credo, veto, Pluto, silo;

b) commune, costume, capsule, formula, circular, occupant.

Ex. 6.5

a) Listen. In each sentence or phrase there are two vowels which are not [ə]. Circle them (  , track 7)

Example:  an apple and a banana

1.     from Canada to China

2.     The parrot was asleep.

3.     The cinema was open.

4.     the photographer’s assistant

5.     a question and an answer

6.     a woman and her husband

7.     a pasta salad

b) Write the words in the correct part of the table. Then listen and check (  , track 8)

Orange   woman  return  collect  market  begin  visit  asleep

Salad  teaches  needed  letter  sofa  peaches  quarter  women

Vowel in weak syllable = [ə]

Vowel in weak syllable = [І]

woman

orange

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:

ba׀nana

׀profit

pre׀vented

׀tribune

ma׀chine

׀ticket

׀statue

po׀litical

׀lovely

׀dangerous

׀movement

׀horrible

׀echo

׀giddy

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:

[ə]

[
I
]

[ə/
I
]

primary alph. meaning

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.

    продолжение
–PAGE_BREAK–7.       Reading of Consonants

Letter

Meaning(s)

Examples

 
Bb

[b]

Boy, baby

 
Cc

[s] – before e, i, y

[k]

[∫] – before unstressed vowels

City, cycle

Come, cat

Social, musician, delicious, special

 
Dd

[d] – after vowels & voiced consonants in endings

[t] – after voiceless consonants in endings

Played, rained
Stopped, watched

 
Ff

[f]

[v]

Fine, film

of

 
Gg

[dʒ] – before e, i, y

[g]

 [ʒ] – in words of French origin

Gym, gentle, angel

Game !!!girl,get,give

Garage, rouge, beige

 
Hh

[h]

Hello, hamster

 
Jj

[dʒ]

Jane, joy

 
Kk

[k]

Kettle, kitchen

 
Ll

[l]

Lemon, little

 
Mm

[m]

Money, mirror

 
Nn

[n]

Nose, novel

 
Pp

[p]

Pepper, pick

 
Qq

[k] – at the end of words

[kw]

Unique, technique

Quarrel, quality

 
Rr

[r]

Right, reality

 
Ss

[s] – at the beginning of words, after voiceless consonants in endings

[z] – after vowels & voiced consonants at the end of a word; between two vowels

[∫]

[ʒ]

Son, stops, caps
Mends, loses, advertise, present

impression, sugar

Measure, pleasure,

 
Tt

[t]

[t∫]– in words ending in -ure

[∫]–when followed by a letter i in many suffixed words

Take, water

Nature, future,

Nation, education, initial, ambition

 
Vv

[v]

Van, cover

 
Ww

[w]

Wood, wet

 
Xx

[ks]

[k∫]\[gz]

[gʒ] – before a stressed vowel

Box, fox, mixture

Luxury\ luxurious

Luxury

 
Zz

[z]

Zero, zebra

 

READING  OF  “c, g, j”
Ex. 7.1 Read the following words according to the rules and find exceptions:

college

scoff

science

cyclist

screen

occupy

cinema

scenery

soccer

canteen

success

get

gallery

German

give

general

begin

goal

genus

game

ginger

gather

jar

judge

jelly

join

joke

justice

jungle

July

Jump

Job

journalist

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

[k]

[s]

[g]

[d3]

        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, …

Ex. 7.5   Indicate how the letter c is pronounced in the words: [s], [∫], [k].

1. success – 

2. juice –

3. sufficient –

4. anchor –

5. accept –

6. scientific –

7. chemist –

8. appreciate –

9. balcony –

10. proficiency –

11. decide –

12. clown –

13. precious –

14. tobacco –

Ex. 7.6 Indicate how the letter g is pronounced in the words: [g], [d3].

1. religion –

2. geography –

3. bridge –

4. beggar –

5. gear –

6. figure –

7. hamburger –

8. guilty —

9. engineer –

10. giant –

11. oxygen –

12. guard –

13. gypsy –

14. regulator –

15. bargain –

16. government –

Ex. 7.7 C, k, ck, que or ch for [k]? Complete the words by spelling the sound [k].

statisti_

che___

pani_ing

_riti_al

mimi_ing

traffi_er

mista_e

inspe_tor

heada_e

_ustoms

traffi_

musi_al

terrifi_

uni__

pani_

basi_

te_ni__

lu__

pi_ni_

che__

_ids

pi_ni_ing

tru_

wal_

basi_ally

drin_

mimi_

athleti_ally

Ex. 7.8 Underline the letters which are pronounced [∫] in the following sentences.
List the ways you found to spell this sound.

1. If you are an ambitious language learner, you should work hard on pronunciation and dictation.

2. So, after graduation you will be able to do translation and hold conversation taking part in negotiations.

3. He is impatient to go to the exhibition. Its expositions resulted from the exploration of the culture of ancient civilizations.

4. If you are anxious about future generations, please take part in our conversation project.

5. I don’t think I need your permission to go on an excursion.

6. Flies spread infectious disease. You’d better take measures against them.

7. I’m sure we won’t finish our work without financial support from a social organization.
Ex. 7.9 Fill in the missing letters s or z. Some words can be spelt both ways.

1. I must apologi_e for disturbing you so late.

2. Do you want to try on this sweater? I think it’s your si_e.

3. Everybody was surpi_ed at his calm.

4. She received the Nobel Pri_e for phy_ics.

5. What do you think of medicine adverti_ing on TV?

6. The doctor advi_ed him to take more exerci_e.

7. My parents do not sympathi_e with my ambition to go on a stage.

8. I could hardly recogni_e him. He looked different in his new suit.

9. Stop critici_ing everybody! Mind yourself!

10. It was very wi_e of you not to go there.
Ex. 7.10 Read the proverbs. Explain the rules of reading.

1.     To let the cat out of the bag.

2.     Appearances are deceitful.

3.     The devil is not so black as it is painted.

4.     The tongue is not steel, yet it cuts.

5.     To stew in one’s own juice.

6.     Well begun is half done.

7.     The game is not worth the candle.
READING  OF  ENDINGS -(e)s, -(e)d
The ending -(e)s of plural forms of nouns and of the 3rd singular present indefinite of verbs is read

how

when

a)

[s]

after voiceless consonants;

b)

[z]

after vowels, voiced consonants and sonorants;

c)

[ız]

after [s], [z], [∫], , [t∫], .

The ending-(e)d of regular forms of verbs is read

how

when

a)

[d]

after vowels, voiced consonants and sonorants;

b)

[t]

after voiceless consonants

c)

[ıd]

after [t], [d]

Ex. 7.11 (  , track 10)

Each line contains either verbs or adjectives ending in , or verbs or nouns ending in . Decide which is the odd one out in terms of the way that the ending is pronounced. Then check your answer with the recording.

Example:      seas            picks         pays           digs

1

picked

stopped

robbed

taped

2

wanted

shaped

estimated

congratulated

3

shops

digs

robs

codes

4

judges

horses

names

wishes

5

trapped

faked

hoped

faded

6

wicked

picked

tricked

licked

Ex. 7.12 Read the wordsaccording to the rule:

a) with the ending -(e)s

inches, hands, chiefs, shoes, maps, boxes, safes, dishes, machines, roofs, classes, wives, babies, benches, books, bottles, boys, brings, burns, buzzes, cages, capes, cars, catches, cats, checks, clashes, clings, clocks, crooks, dates, dishes, doctors, dresses, edges, faces, feeds, fetches, fifths, fingers, foxes, gains, gnats, hooks, hopes, horses, jobs, kites, knives, knows, ladies, leaps, lies, matches, moths, noses, nurses, pages, papers, parts, phones, pies, picks, pipes, places, pumps, roses, seats, sites, skies, sofas, swims, taxes, teachers, thinks, ties, trays, wages, waves, weeks, wives, writers.
b) with the ending -(e)d

acted, added, advised, agreed, begged, called, camped, carried, compiled, composed, concreted, concurred, crashed, decided, defended, diffe­red, dressed, ended, enjoyed, entered, explained, failed, finished, fired, followed, founded, handed, hoped, hurried, joked, listed, listened, looked, marked, mended, opened, packed, painted, placed, pronounced, pumped, reminded, rested, roun­ded, sacked, shouted, seemed, seized, skated, smoked, started, stayed, robbed, tacked, talked, turned, typed, waited, walked, washed, packed, arrived, moved, worked, played, needed, smashed, ended.
Ex. 7.13 Put the words into columns:

a) with the ending -(e)s

[s]

[z]

[Iz]

Cats, touches, drops, pencils, coats, poses, gods, cured, ports, causes, fits, its, adds, tends, courses, boxes, mottos, toes, heroes, saves, boxes, spies, memories, tomatoes, drivers, potatoes, matches, plays, pockets, fingers, sources, marches, invalids, secrets.
b) with the ending -(e)d

[t]

[d]

[Id]

Forced, recorded, swamped, saved, treated, brushed, connected, viewed, waited, stopped, used, enjoyed, needed, tended, dressed, helped, danced, opened, played, counted, decided, answered, wanted, cried, studied, traveled, used, skipped, stopped, hated, trusted, published, switched, named, sounded.
Ex. 7.14 Find the odd word:

1)     noses, pieces, years, dresses, dollies.

2)     stopped, used, traveled, smelled, agreed.

3)     pens, hens, pets, lessons, heads.

4)     coasted, ended, resulted, resisted, suffered.

5)     tips, backs, points, models.

6)     places, matches, cases, shocks.

7)     passed, worked, dropped, needed.

8)     hated, promoted, landed, licked.
Ex. 7.15 Add the word according to the rule:

1)     toys, arms, fingers, hairs, …

2)     displeased, smelled, pervaded, …

3)     secrets, tickets, shocks, foots, …

4)     hands, legs, years, eyes,…
Ex. 7.16 Find a way from Start to Finish. You may not pass a square if the word contains the sound [z]. You can move horizontally or vertically only.

start

    ↓

spots

squares

prize

since

six

sports

streets

wise

sells

sits

exact

escapes

rice

rise

sense

science

lose

lost

oasis

desert

smokes

songs

crisps

box

place

face

snacks

seas

voice

boxes

plays

phase

nose

smiles

focus

concert

↑finish

Ex. 7.17 The pronunciation of the possessive “s” is the same as for plural endings. For example: Peter’s [z], John’s [z], Philips [s], Steph’s [s], Gearge’s [
I
z], Alice’s [
I
z].

Put the words in italics in the correct column, according to the pronunciation of the possessive “s”.

a month’sholiday

Jane’sdog

the horse’s mouth

Joe’s ambition

Uncle Toby’s

Mr. Walsh’s car

Beth’sdoll

the judge’s decision

Liz’s mother

the Jones’s children

the government’s duty

the boys’ father

the world’s resources

a wasp’s nest

a week’s pay

[z]

[s]

[
I
z]

Ex. 7.18 Read the text, underline the past verbs with –ed ending and explain the rule of reading.

   Robin Tailor was born in Birmingham on the 27th of December 1958. His mother died the same day. Mr. and Mrs. Taylor adopted him.  In 1960, the Taylor family immigrated to Perth in Western Australia. Last year, Robin was in Britain on holiday. He traveled to Birmingham and asked about his family. He discovered that he had a twin brother! Robin phoned a BBC radio programme and told his story. He asked for information about his brother. That afternoon he received a phone call from Perth in Scotland. The next day he went to Scotland and met his brother for the first time.
Ex. 7.19 Read the proverbs. Explain the rules of reading.

1.     He laughs best who laughs last.

2.     What can’t be cured must be endured.

3.     Exception proves the rule.

4.     Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

5.     Where the shoe pinches.

6.     When in Rome, do as the Romans do.

7.     It’s the early bird that catches the worm.

8.     The devil is not so black as it’s painted.

9.     Still waters run deep.
READING OF COMBINATIONS OF VOWELS WITH CONSONANTS

Ex. 7.20 Read the following words containing combination of vowels and consonants:

[əυ] cold, fold, hold, bold, gold, told, sold;

[aı] wild, mild, child,;

[aı] kind, mind, find, bind, blind, rind.

[a:] class, fast, ask, plant, bath, pass, past, task, grant, path, glass, cast, bask, can’t, father, grass, vast, basket, shan’t, brass, mask, branch.

[ɔ:] all, small, ball, fall, call, stall, tall, wall.

[ɒ] was, wash, what, want, watch, quality;

     [aυ] now, how, cow, down, town, clown, brown, crowd, crown, flower, power, tower;

[əυ] row, own, slow, grow, snow, glow, show, throw, know
Ex. 7.21 Which word in the pair has more predictable spelling?

warm –charm

cork – work

wart –dart

worm – storm

window — binding

worm – squirm

want – pant

word – lord

call – shall

eight – height

Ex. 7.22 Find the odd word:

Target, farm, warm, market, barking.

Word, work, world, war, worse.

Behind, bind, wind, mind, blind.

Call, shall, tall, also, always.

Howl, jowl, crown, throw, coward.

Own, borrow, pillow, tower, crow.

Dance, can’t, bathroom, past, east.

Warship, quality, watch, wash, was.

Pond, gold, sold, behold, scold.
Ex. 7.23 Find the homophones:

side/ stalk/  hold/ might/ bold/ knight/ sight/ won/ site/ holed/ stork/ bowled/ night/ one/ sighed/ mite
Ex 7.24 Find the rhymes:

a) warm/ calm/ heard/ polite/ want/ show/ world/ aunts/ what/ work/ stalk/ bite

b) ago/ farm/ dance/ fight/ pot/ pond/ whirled/ perk/ night/ fork/ storm/ word
Ex. 7.25 (  , track 11)

Listen to the recording and decide which names you hear.

Example: I’ve invited ____Pete___to join us.

a) Pete   b) Peter   c) Pet
1. I’ve just been talking to __________________.

a) Jan Lipman   b) Jane Lipman   c) Jane Leapman   d) Jan Leapman
2. I’ve just got a letter from __________________.

a) Eryl   b) Meryl

3. Can I speak to _____________, please?

a) Mick Wilson  b) Mike Wilson  c) Mack Wilson  d) Mark Wilson

4. I haven’t seen ____________ for ages.

a) Mary   b) Marie

5. Could you give this to  __________, please?

a) Lucille   b) Lucy

6. I think that’s ___________ over there.

a) Peter Bales  b) Peter Vales  c)Pete Bales  d) Pete Vales

7. Have you met _________________?

a) Barbara Eaton  b) Barbara Heaton  c) Barbie Eaton  d) Barbie Heaton

8. I’ve invited _______________ as well.

a) Joe Newman   b) Joan Newman

9. That’s _________________, I think.

a) Sir Ralph   b) Sir Alf

10. I think that’s ____________over there.

a) Sue Weedon   b) Sue Eden

11. Is ___________ here today?

a)   Gert   b) Curt

12. I’m going with ___________ to the cinema.

a) Alec   b) Alex

13. Have you seen ____________ recently?

a) Rita   b) Lita

14. I hear that ___________has got a new job.

a) Bet  b) Beth  c) Betty  d) Bess

15. Isn’t that ________over there?

a) Carl   b) Carla
Ex. 7.26 (  , track 12)

Look at and listen to these pairs of words.

a. Peterand pepper. These start with the same consonant sound [p], but the following vowel sound is different: [׀pi:tə], [׀pepə].

b. Peter and pizza. These start with the same three sounds: [׀pi:tə] and [׀pi:tsə].

Now read the following pairs of words. How many identical sounds do they start with? Listen to the recording to check how they are pronounced.
Examples:

Peter/ pepper – 1             Peter/pizza – 3

1. Kate \ cake  __                                         9. Penny \ pizza  __

2. Charles \  chocolate ___                           10. Margery \margarine ___

3. Oliver \ olives ___                                    11. Barbara \ bananas ___

4. Tom \ tomatoes ___                                12. Sam \ salmon ___

5. Susan \ sugar ___                                    13. Colin \ cola ___

6. Salome \ salami ___                                           14. Brenda \ bread ___

7. Pat \ pasta ___                                                  15. Jim \ gin ___

8. Patty \ pastry ___                                              16. Raymond \ radishes ___
Ex. 7.27

a) Put the following words into the correct column according to the pronunciation of”-ough”:

Cough, through, plough, fought, thought, tough, nought, ought, drought, borough, bough, sought, bought, dough, though, enough, rough, thorough

[
ɔ
:
]

[
ʌ
f]

[
ɒ
f]

[u:]

[ə]

[ə
ʊ]

[
a
ʊ]

b) Add two more words into each group:

caught, cuff, burglar, glow, stew, toffee, groan, snuff, warn, queue, terror, doubt, frown, off.

    продолжение
–PAGE_BREAK–8.       Mute Consonants

Mute letter

Combinations of letters

Examples

b

bt

mb

Doubt, subtle,climb but: obtain

Bomb, comb, lamb, tomb

c

sc

Scissors, scene, muscle

d

Before consonants

Wednesday, handsome

g

gn

gm

Sign, sovereign, gnat, resign, but: pregnant, magnet

Paradigm, gnome

h

wh

rh, h

gh

kh

Which, white, where, what

Rhyme, hour, exhibition,  honor

Ghost, gherkin

Khaki, khan

gh

igh

High, light, weight, fight

k

kn

Know, knife, knight, knee

l

ld (only in words)

lf

alk

lm

Could, would, should

Half, calf, but: golf, wolf

Talk, walk, chalk

Calm, psalm, but: film

n

nm

Autumn, column, condemn

p

pn

pt

ps

Pneumonia, pneumatic

Receipt, but: helicopter, September, raptorial

Psychology, psalm, but: laps, perhaps

r

after vowels

Far, farm, girl, turn, term

s

sl

Island, isle

t

ften

stle

sten

Often, soften

Whistle, castle

Listen, fasten

w

wh (before –o)

wr

sw

Who, whose, whom, whole

Writer, playwright, wrong, wrestling

Answer, but: swallow, swan, sweet

Ex. 8.1 Find the homophones:

Lamb/ wood/ receipt/ rime/ hole/right/ reseat/ knew/ fought/ whine/ reign/ lam/ rain/ new/ fort/ wine/ would/ rhyme/ write/ whole.
Ex. 8.2 Find the rhymes:

 Farm, boom, delight, hurl, gate, design, sign, who, calm, threw, court, reign, alarm, height, gloom, bite, polite, refine, weight, whirl, pine, chew, caught, refrain, incite, womb, psalm, night, charm, tomb, through, balm.
Ex. 8.3 Choose the odd word:

when, which, whose, where

lump, limb, lamb, comb

calm, palm, film, balm

knapsack, knowledge, knick-knack, acknowledge

Gypsy, pseud, perhaps, eclipse

pseudonym, psychosis, trapshooting, psyche.
Ex. 8.4 Choose the appropriate word:

1.     That was really a very courageous _______.

a) knight               b) night

2.     She doesn’t  _____     _____ her necklace is.

a) no, were             b) know, where

3.     He ______ his father was coming home because he heard his horse’s _______.

a) new, slay                  b) knew, sleigh

4.     He became an ________ of a tremendous fortune after his ________ death.

a) heir, father’s                 b) air, father’s

5.     The troops had to _____ the river.

a) wade                        b) weight

6.     The rose was very beautiful but the thorns on the _______ hurt my fingers.

a) stork                        b) stalk

7.     The king’s ________ his spouse’s glance and understood everything.

a) court                        b) caught

8.     It was the first day of ______ for the ______.

a) rain, shake              b) reign, sheikh
Ex. 8.5 Correct the mistakes:

I got court in the reign this morning and got wet threw.

I’d like to get some fire-would.

I no wot you mean.

I always get aches and peigns in winter.

We booked the tickets threw the Internet.

She can’t weight for you.

It’s very hot there, she won’t knead her fur-coat.

Rite! That’s the correct variant.
Ex. 8.6 Complete the word by adding the silent letter.

1. An _onest man never tells lies.

2. _hose spectacles are these?

3. Abom_ exploded just near the bridge.

4. The spirit of a dead person is called a g_ost.

5. Do you hear someone _nocking at the window?

6. His _nowledge of the subject is rather poor.

7. The clock strikes every _our.

8. I’m afraid he’s caught _neumonia.

9. You’d better _rap her present up.

10. If you don’t want to forget, tie  _not in your handkerchief.
    продолжение
–PAGE_BREAK–9.       Reading of English Consonant Clusters

English sibilants and interdental sounds which don’t have their equivalents in the Latin alphabet are denoted by combinations of consonants, the second element of which is “h”, e. g. she, chain, thus, three.

All the combinations of consonants, except “sh”, have the primary and the secondary sound meanings. The combinations of consonants are read in the primary sound meaning in most English words. In the words of foreign origin they are read in their secondary meaning.

Cluster

Sound

Where

Examples

ch

[t∫]

[k]

[∫]

[d3]

[h]

Geek and Latin

French

cheap, chair, watch

ache, school

machinery, chef

sandwich, spinach

Loch

th

[θ]

[t]

[ð]

word end and beginning

proper names

between and before vowels

throw,  tooth

Thomas, Thailand

this, leather

ph

[v]

[f]

Greek and Latin

Stephen

philosophy, phonetics

sh

[∫]

shelf, wash

READING  OF  “ng, nk”

Cluster

Sound

Where

Examples

ng

[ŋ]

In final position or before suffixes –er, -est, -ed, -ing

Sing, singing, singer

ng

[ŋg]

In the middle of a root word

Anger, hunger  butangel, conglomerate, congratulate

nk

[ŋk]

Any position

Ink, pink

READING  OF  LETTER  “n”
The leter “n” denotes:

[n] in prefixes – con, — non, — in, -un (income, nonsense, confident, unread)

[ŋ] before: c, k ([k] function, tank), ck, qu ([k] conquer, ancker), xi ([k∫] anxious),
g ([g] England, longer), the suffixes and endings –er, -est, -ed, -ing (sing, singer, singing).
Ex. 9.1 Read the words with letter “n”:

condition

tranquil

non-stop

confidential

constant

cleanest

hank

infamous

unbroken

conquer

singing

interrupt

hang

anxious

lighting

fore-finger

unconscious

inkpot

Ex. 9.2 Transcribe the following words and divide them into groups according to the reading of the combinations of consonants:

linked, wings, inkpot, jungle, anxious, mounting, singer, single, anger, anxious, nonsense, eating, finger, income, function, conquer, having, confident, eaten, English, concentration, nonplus, indirect, frank, hanger, linked, wings, jungle, anxious, mounting, condition, nonunion, invisible, tank, function, belonged, nice, can’t, sing, incredible, land, giant, pane, strong, bringing, long, banker.
Ex. 9.3 Find the odd word:

1.     jungle, nonsense, Frank, sorting, single.

2.     uneasy, nonplus, convention, English, irritation.

3.     ring, tongue, boring, chunk, conversion.

4.     dinner, convenient, nonstop, involve, undid.

5.     unclaimed, nonsense, link, inhale.

6.     finger, hang, frank, stronger.

7.     singer, hanger, belonged, doing.
Ex. 9.4 Add the word according to the rule:

1.     informal, non-aggression, unable, …

2.     tank, frank, hank, …

3.     longer, stronger, younger, …

4.     sung, wing, finger, …

5.     consult, industry, indulge, …

6.     stinks, tank, inkpot, …

7.     boring, sorting, lying, …
Ex. 9.5 Find the way from Start to Finish. You may pass a square only if the word
in it has the sound [ŋ]. You can move horizontally or vertically only.

Start    ↓

sing

think

thick

strong

wrong

rung

sign

uncle

unless

drug

strange

comb

thanks

angry

signal

drank

English

finger

anxious

angel

single

monkey

money

young

language

tongue

skiing

skin

came

ink

lounge

danger

band

dream

swim

wing

                            ↑                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   Finish

Ex. 9.6 Explain the rules of reading in these proverbs:

1.     What is done cannot be undone.

2.     Wars the sport of kings.

3.     He who swims in sin will sink in sorrow.

4.     The proof of the pudding is in the eating.

5.     Better unborn than untaught.

6.     Honey is sweet but the bee stings.

Ex. 9.7 Join consonant clusters with the sounds they can denote. There are 4 sounds that don’t fit here.

[d3]

[t]

[t∫]

[v]

[ð]

[s]

CH                             SH                        TH

NG                            PH                         NK

[n]

[ŋk]

[h]

[f]

[θ]

[g]

[ŋ]

[∫]

[k]

[ŋg]

Find the word with each sound:

Chandelier, worth, anger, triumph, Anthony, sandwich, cheekbone, Stephen, shrewd, bang, Frank, than, monarchy
Ex. 9.8 Find the odd word according to the way of the reading of consonant clusters:

1.     accept, success, soccer, accede, access, accent.

2.     anchor, young, conquer, conclude, function.

3.     think, thunder, throne, thyme, thick, thing.

4.     chaos, chord, stomach, monarchy, chaste.

5.     tooth, scythe, truth, thumb, throw, thin.

6.     go, gargle, gage, glove, stage, give.

7.     chef, chic, champagne, charade, chick.
Ex. 9.9 Sort out the words into columns according to the reading of consonant clusters.

Machinery, scheme, scythe, child, Thames, weather, chef, Christmas, Thompson, chick, than, chic, chord, chalice, cliché, Chaos, neither, thyme, thrift, cheek, though, thorn, thaw, thief.
Ex. 9.10
Find a way from start to finish. You may pass a square only if the word in it has the sound [θ]. You can move horizontally of vertically.
Start

north

northern

either

weather

breathe

those

south

bath

bathe

thought

breath

youth

southern

third

their

through

though

thumb

Thailand

cloth

path

fifth

with

worth

month

clothes

these

brother

that

teeth

throw

thing

author

other

they

wealth

                                                                                                                           Finish

Ex. 9.11
Complete this rhyme using words from the box. Then listen and check (  , track 13)

Earth

another

Heather

together

brother

 birth

neither

either

mothers

brothers

Arthur had a  brother

And he didn’t want another.

And of the brothers, ______

Wanted sisters _____ .

The last thing on this_____

They wanted was a _____.

So Arthur’s mother _____

Got them both _____,

And told them all good _____

Should learn to share their _____.
Ex. 9.12 Listen and circle the word you hear(  , track 14)

1.     Youth or use? There’s no youth\use talking about that.

2.     Thought or taught? I don’t know what she thought\taught.

3.     Free or three? Free\Three refills with each packet!

4.     Closed or clothed? They weren’t fully closed\clothed.

5.     Breeding or breathing? They’ve stopped breeding\breathing.

6.     These are or visa? These are\Visa problems we can deal with later.
Ex. 9.13 Practice reading the following words observing the rules of reading of consonant clusters:

a) Sheep, fish, Lewisham, mishap, ghost, rough, high, eight, daughter,  Ghana, ghastly, ghee, gherkin, ghetto, ghillie, ghoul,  Ghana, ghee, gharry, ghoulish,  shoulder, shovel, show off, shrewd,  shrink,  Zhirinovsky,  Zhukov,  Zhivago,  Zhejiang, Zhang, Zhuhai,  photograph, shepherd, Stephen,  Clapham, nephew, cheap, chair,  charm, scheme,  school, ache, cholesterol, chemistry, machinery, clef, sandwich, Charles, charter,  charka,  charivari,  chateau, chauffeur,  cheekbone, Chaucer, chauvinism, Chihuahua,  chloral, choir, cholera, cholinesterase, pharmacology, pharyngeal, phoneme,  phonetic, physiotherapy, phthisis, phylum

b) Wristband, knout, wryneck, Khachaturian, wreathe, Khan, Khyber, khanate, pneumothorax, Knox, knuckle, wrongheaded, Khrushchev, knurl, knockdown.
Ex. 9.14 Read the proverbs; explain the reading of consonant clusters:

The tongue is not steel, yet it cuts.

Exception proves the rule.

Where the shoe pinches.

Don’t cross the bridge till you get to it.

Physicians mend or end us.

Neither fish nor flesh.

A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.

A watched pot never boils.

A drowning man will catch at a straw.

Little knowledge is a dangerous thing.

Ex. 9.15 Practice reading the following homophones:

Homophones are words (or combinations of words)

ü     which sound the same, but are spelled differently and have different meanings: e.g. meet andmeat, seen andscene.

ü     There are some examples of one word sounding like a combination of words: e.g. heed and he’d.

ü     Sometimes three words (or combinations of words) sound exactly the same: e.g. I’ll, isle andaisle.

Ø     scent – a distinctive smell, sent – the past tense of send

Ø     scene– the place where an event takes place, seen – the past tense of see

Ø     site – a piece of land, cite – to quote

Ø     session– the meeting of a court, cession – the act of ceding

Ø     scull– rowing motion, skull – head bone

Ø     sic– to set upon, sick — ill

Ø     sink– to submerge, synch – together in time

Ø     soared – to have sailed through the air, sword – long fighting blade

Ø     sucker – one who sucks, succor – relief

Ø     plum – purple fruit, plumb – straight up and down

Ø     profit– money earned, prophet – seer

Ø     bark– outer sheath of a tree, barque – square-rigged sailing ship

Ø     bloc– an alliance, block – square object

Ø     bold– brave, bowled – knocked over

Ø     boll– round seed pod, bowl – dish

Ø     borough– township, burrow – dig into the ground

Ø     bough– tree branch, bow – front of a ship, respectful bend

Ø     burger– meat sandwich, burgher – merchant

Ø     but– excepting, butt – the thick end
Ex. 9.16

Spot the homophones 1

isle / bard / beer / bored / caught / night / pale / cawed / chord / sly / died / dyer / cored/ dough / flawed / toed / pear / meal / floored / teas / knew / heard / soar / heal / lacks / lax / male / steer / we’ll / maize / might / slay / dead / stair / mite / breaks / knight / towed / dire / knit / weight / herd / seam / aisle / he’ll / nit / tees / new / pail / bier / board / barred / pare / doe / pair / rain court / bared / dyed / heel / reign / saw / mail / sore / I’ll / seem / maze / sleigh / stare / tease / toad / wait / wheel

Some of these words do not form pairs of homophones.

Ex. 9.17

Spot the homophones 2

In the following conversation a large number of words have been replaced by homophones. Spot where they have been used and decide how the words should be written.
— Lousy whether we’ve been having recently. (=Lousy weather…)

— We haven’t been having much son, that’s for shore. I got court in the reign this mourning and got wet threw.

— Me two. And how about that cold missed first thing? I went out bear headed to get sum fire-would and haven’t bean warm since. And my hands got quite saw as well. Really roar, they feel.

— I no watcher mean. I always get aches and panes in the winter. Anyway, weir off to get some son necks tweak. Weave booked a few daze in Singerpoor.

— Yes, I herd you had. Lucky yew! Still, I shouldn’t mown. We flue to Florida last cheer, witch was really nice, and it’s only fore weeks till we visit my sun and daughter-in lore in Roam. Haven’t scene them for rages. We only maid the booking yesterday, threw the internet. Mary’s already pact; she can’t weight.

— Well, tell her she won’t knead her fir coat any weigh.

— Rite. Oh Kay. Aisle sea you later.

— Buy. See ewe a round.

Some of the homophones show that this is fast, informal speech.
Ex. 9.18 Transcribe the following words:

Shop, fish, this, English, shot, three, cheese, something, thus, months, catch, through, that, child, chef, these, those, thirst, third, chop, shelf, anxious, trophy, scholarship, changes, England, machinery, gage, judge, science, echo, tongues, income, scheme.
Ex. 9.19 (  , track 15)

A   In each line, identify the word that has a different first consonant sound. Read them first, then listen to the recording to check.

Example:   friend          priest                    physical                philosophy

B  In each line, identify the word that has a different final consonant sound. Then listen to the recording to check.

1

picked

rubbed

fact

bought

2

dragged

road

dropped

hide

3

cough

safe

roof

of

4

packs

ox

begs

pats

5

lump

chasm

limb

name

6

sock

music

arch

ache

Ex. 9.20 Practice reading the following twisters:

1.     Have judgement not to judge this judgement judging by people’s judgement.

2.     Each child has much chance to become the champion of the match.

3.     This is a thick thimble.

4.     A handsome singer sang an exciting song in English.

TEST
I. Find the odd word in the line:

1. Guide, gas, general, glass, globe

2. Crimson, music, lens, always, research

3. Initiative, negotiate, transition, completion, station.
II. Explain assimilation(s) in the following words:

Cupboard, nice shoes, twice, try, sweet, plane, pray
III. Mark stresses:

heretical

Arabic

political

Chinese

attention

lunatic
IV. Transcribe the following words:

Psychiatrist, appointment, therapy, tranquilizer, medicinal, malaria, typhoid, hang gliding, windsurf, athletics, steeplechase, draughts, rink, oar, tournament.

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–PAGE_BREAK–10.     Revision and Consolidation Practice

Ex. 10.1 Practise the following poem, which illustrates the irregular spelling of English.
HINTS  ON  PRONUNCIATION  FOR  FOREIGNERS
I take it you already know

Of tough and bough and cough and dough?

Others may stumble but not you,

On hiccough, thorough, laugh and through…

Well done! And now you wish, perhaps,

To learn of less familiar traps.
Beware of heard: a dreadful word

That looks like beard and sounds like bird.

And dead: it’s said like bed not bead –

For goodness’ sake don’t call it deed.

Watch out for meat and great and threat

(They rhyme with suite and straight and debt!)
A moth is not a moth in mother;

Nor both in bother, broth in brother;

And here is not a match for there,

Nor dear and fear for bear and pear.

And then there’s dose and rose and lose

(Just look them up) and goose and choose,

And cork and work and card and ward,

And font and front and word and sword,

And do and go and thwart and cart…

Come, come! I’ve hardly made a start.

A dreadful language? Man alive!

I’d mastered it when I was five!
I will teach you in my verse

Words like corps, corks, horse, and worse.

For this phonetic labyrinth

Gives monkey, donkey, ninth and plinth;

Wounded, rounded, grieve and sieve;

Friendand fiend; alive and live.

Querydoes not rhyme with very,

Nor does fury sound like bury.

Diesand diet; lord and word,

Earthand hearth and clerk and herd;

Evil, devil, tomb, bomb, comb;

Doll, roll, dull, bull, some and home.

Finally – for I’ve said enough –

Through though thorough plough cough tough!

While hiccough has the sound of cup…

My advice is: GIVE IT UP!

Put the words which are wholly or partially in italics on the correct line, according
to the pronunciation of the italicized vowel sound. Some have been done for you.

[ʌ]

tough

[aʊ]

bough

[ɒ]

cough

[əʊ]

[ə]

[ɑ:]

[u:]

[ɜ:]

[ɪə]

[e]

[i:]

[eī]

[ɛə]

[ɔ:]

[aī]

[ɪ]

[ʊ]

Ex. 10.2 Group the letters of the English alphabet according to their pronunciation:

                 O                    P                            A                  C

                                                                 H                                              D

         V                             F          Z                J              Y

                       I

                                U            The Alphabet              B           Q         R                                             

                          M

                                            W                    G

               N                                       E                         S             L

                                   K

                                                   T                 X

Ex. 10.3 There is one spelling mistake in each word in the following text. Underline every word which is wrongly spelt. Then write the correct spelling in the space provided at the end of the sentence.

The moon is a natural satellite that travels around the earth (_______). As the moon moves, it seemes to change shape (______). But it does not change sheipe (_____). It has no ligth of its own (_____). When we see the moon, we see sonlight reflected off it (______). We can see the moon only if the lighted part is torned towards Earth (_____). During the full moon, the lighted part of the moon is torned towards Earth (_____). There is no eaar on the moon (____). And it is very hot in the day-time on it (____). It appeares to have no live (_____). Many people wanted to lean more about the moon (_____). Long ago, people used only there eyes to look at the moon (_____). They could not see the moon’s land clealy (_____). Later, a telescope was invanted (______). Since then, people have used telescops to study the moon (_____).
Ex. 10.4 There is one spelling mistake in each line in the following text. Underline every word which is wrongly spelt. Then write the correct spelling in the space provided at the end of the sentence.

Have you ever thought that a person’s apperance   ____________

revels more than we realise? According to some  _____________

experts, a persons’ face, head, and body can_________________

reveal a great deal about personallity. ______________________

The art of frenology studies the form of the  _________________

head, to be more acurate, the bumps on it.  __________________

Phrenologists have identified forty bumps of varios ___________

shapes and sises on the human head. They “read  _____________

these bumps to identifie a person’s talents and _______________

charactor. For exmple, a bump between the nose _____________

and forhead is said to be present in people who  ______________

have natural elegence and love of beauty. A bump ____________

behind the cirve of the ear is the sign of  ____________________

a courageous and adventerous person.   _____________________
Ex. 10.5 The two words that are written after each sentence sound alike, but have different meanings and spellings (they are called homophones). Fill in the blanks with the correct words to complete each sentence.

1. The _______ spent  the ______ in the castle.

                        A) knight                                B) night

2. Be sure to ______ your surname on the ______ line.

                        A) write                                  B) right

3. Have you heard the fairy ______ about the cat with no ______ ?

                        A) tale                         B) tail

4. Didn’t you ______ Ann ask you to put the plate______ .

                        A) here                                   B) hear

5. The ______ on a  ______ is called fur.

                        A) hare                                   B) hair

6. Yesterday the sky was clear ______ and the wind ______ from the north.

                        A) blue                                   B) blew

7. He decided to  ______ his new belt, but he doesn’t know ______ he put it.

                        A) where                                B) wear

8. From ______ hundred flowers the prince had to find the flower before it was ______ late.

                        A) too                         B) two

9. It is not ______ if some people do not pay their bus ______ .

                        A) fair                         B) fare

10. The coach announced which ______ of the teams ______ the game.

                        A) won                                   B) one

11. We brought a  ______ of cool water to the  ______ traveler.

                        A) pail                         B) pale

12. Do you always ______ the skin off a  ______ before you eat it?

                        A) pare                                   B) pear

13. The Indians wrote the ______ treaty on a  ______ of bark.

                        A) piece                                 B) peace

14. After his illness John felt ______ for a ______ .

                        A) week                                 B) weak

15. The boat sailed ______ through the ______ .

                        A) straight                              B) strait
Ex. 10.6 Correct the spelling mistakes in the letter below:

            Deer Jane,

            Hear I am in Siberia. We’ve been hear for too weaks now, and I can’t bare the thought of staying in this country any longer.

            What dreadful whether! It’s bitterly cold out. When I’m chilled to the bone, I think I’ll never warm up.

            Wee leave in a wooden house. It is surrounded with a huge would. The hunter, who lives with us, says that the would is full of beasts. You can walk their and meat a dear or a bear. As for me, I saw a hair’s sine.

            Do you think it is fare to leave me hear! I can’t even sleep in piece. Can’t you come and stay with me? The air fair is really not very expensive. Hope to sea you soon.                                                                                                                                                                             Your Jack.
Ex. 10.7 Find the pairs of homophones hidden in the list below:

Side/ balls/ bear/ bowled/ cue/ ducked/ fort/ work/ grate/ hair/ hare/ bales/ week/ dally/ bald/ hold/ fought/ weekly/ stoke/ walk/ missed/ air/ pure/ packed/ pear/ pore/ where/ pour/ duct/ bore/ seam/ quiet/ sought/ please/ shake/ wade/ sheikh/ pleas/ weakly/ bold/ past/ sighed/ piece/ mist/ wear/ seem/ sight/ slay/ wake/ win/ steak/ stalk/ stroke/ stork/ daily/ stake/ weak/ bare/ holed/ wine/ pact/ bawls/ passed/ wane/ queue/ great/ heir/ pair/ whine/ grant/ sleigh/ same/ weighed/ site/ peace
Ex. 10.8 Each line contains three words that rhyme and one word that doesn’t. Choose the odd one out.

Example:       steel                 peal                 stale                peel

      1.                              

Bert

Curt

shirt

Bart

      2.                              

coot

loot

soot

shoot

      3.                              

relate

fete

weight

height

      4.                              

spook

took

look

rook

      5.                              

food

mood

brewed

good

      6.                              

sewed

glued

chewed

nude

      7.                              

jerk

clerk

work

shirk

      8.                              

packed

backed

baked

fact

      9.                              

scene

sign

mean

convene

   10.                          

laze

phase

days

size

   11.                          

peak

steak

leak

cheek

   12.                          

soot

cut

put

foot

   13.                          

height

tight

weight

might

   14.                          

stalk

work

fork

cork

   15.                          

quite

night

lied

light

   16.                          

clear

bear

hare

fair

   17.                          

barred

bared

hard

yard

   18.                          

duke

spook

look

Luke

   19.                          

taught

court

snort

coughed

   20.                          

priced

missed

fist

kissed

Ex. 10.9 Spelling tests:

a) Each word here has the sound [e]. How many ways are there to spell this sound?
Arrange the words into the groups:

ready

desk

bread

instead

against

leather

hello

next

helpings

said

breakfast

sledge

meant

again

when

enemy

hedgehog

pencil

b) Tick the words that have the vowel sound [ɒ]:

catch

pond

bones

pocket

what

bought

job

home

blank

road

house

roof

wife

doctor

popular

soup

close

horse

c) Each word here has the sound [
Λ
]. How many ways are there to spell this sound?
Arrange the words into the groups:

touch

stuff

drum

rough

among

glove

tongue

dug

mother

trust

done

month

country

enough

son

double

couple

muddy

d) Each word here has the sound [f]. How many ways are there to spell this sound?
Arrange the words into the groups:

laugh

coffee

herself

face

enough

officer

fact

elephant

gift

off

epigraph

roof

farmer

rough

telephone

e) Each word here has the sound [e
I
]. How many ways are there to spell this sound? Arrange the words into the groups:

hay

main

trail

may

save

gate

tray

fail

lane

sail

stage

paint

stay

place

game

f) Each word here has the sound [i:]. How many ways are there to spell this sound?
Arrange the words into the groups:

seed

dream

sleep

wheel

team

grief

week

niece

delete

complete

sea

eve

field

meat

scene

g) Each word here has the sound [a
I
]. How many ways are there to spell this sound? Arrange the words into the groups:

find

dime

fly

right

quite

tight

bright

pile

ninth

kind

mine

dry

line

flight

sigh

h) Each word here has the sound [əυ]. How many ways are there to spell this sound? Arrange the words into the groups:

doze

moan

snow

goat

hold

stone

cold

joke

gold

bowl

road

code

grow

float

blow

i) Each word here has the sound [u:]. How many ways are there to spell this sound? Arrange the words into the groups:

moon

chew

glue

blew

zoo

blue

clue

drew

rule

true

threw

June

school

pool

rude

include

gloomy

boot

Ex. 10.10 Find the rhymes

Here are some very short, two-line poems, but the rhyming words are missing. Try to guess the missing words which complete each poem.  If you can’t think of any, choose from the list.
(The list contains some words which rhyme, but which do not make sense in the poems.)

A)

I think you ___________                                                    She’s learned to ___________

To leave the __________                                                   In just a __________________

You haven’t ________                                                            It’s always ___________

A single ___________                                                            Down on the __________

I like a ________

Last thing at ____
bike/ bird/ bite/ bought/ byte/ calm/ caught/ charm/ court/ farm/ feel/ fight/ harm/ heard/ herd/ leak/ leek/ light/ like/ listened/ meal/ might/night/ ought/ right/ should/ sight/ speak/ spoken/ talk/ taught/ token/walk/ weak/ week/ wood/ word/ work
B)

This shirt you ______                                                         I think I’ll __________

Is rather __________                                                          A pound of _________

He’s learned to _______                                                     It’s not too __________

In just one  __________                                                     To lose some ________

I wish the ___________

Would make less ______

bought/ boys/ buy/ by/ caught/ day/ height/ kids/ late/ light/ mate/ meat/ meet/ night/ noise/ play/ poem/ read/ reed/ right/ shake/ short/ soon/ sound/ steak/ take/ toys/ wait/ weigh/ weight/ write
C)

I think the ______                                                         It might make _____

Would like to _____                                                     To build a ________

My youngest ________                                                I’ll try to __________

Sure likes to _________                                                         To get a __________

He’s too ___________

To want to _________

alone/ aunts/ bone/ box/ dames/ dance/ fence/ fight/ friendly/ fun/ girls/ loan/ lone/ none/ one/ pence/ phone/ polite/ right/ run/ scared/ sense/ sight/ son/ sun/ trance 

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