ANGLO-PEDIA Anglo-File 117: The English Sound
System
The following exercises are designed to help you with the
recognition and production of English sounds. As a language that
has been derived from many other languages, English has one of the
richest collection of sounds. This means that you are likely to
come across several sounds that do not exist in your mother tongue.
Regular practice will help you to become familiar with these
sounds, and will improve both your listening comprehension and your
pronunciation.
Work through the recordings in the following way: 1. Listen to each
section several times until your ears have become familiar with the
sound(s). 2. Repeat each section several times. 3. Do the dictation
exercises at the end of selected sections. An answer key at the
back of the
booklet will enable you to check your dictation exercises.
CONTENTS:
Section 1: Vowels and diphthongs: short vowels long vowels
diphthongs
Section 2: Vowels & diphthongs: Minimal pairs (distinguishing
two sounds from each other)
Section 3: Consonants: Minimal pairs (distinguishing two sounds
from each other)
Section 4: Consonant clusters: 2 consonants following each other
SP, ST, SK, SM, SN, SL, KS, KT, FT Regular verbs ending in sound
/t/ Regular verbs ending in sound /d/ Plural nouns / third person
singular verbs ending in sound /s/ Plural nouns / third person
singular verbs ending in sound /z/
Section 5: Special sounds 5a. Contractions 5b. Weak forms
Section 1: VOWELS & DIPHTHONGS
Short vowels Sound 1: /a/ at, as, and, had, bank, sang, drank Sound
2: /e/ ex, egg, end, pen, said, rest, bread, friend Sound 3: /i/
it, ill, his, this, live, built, busy Sound 4: /o/ on, off, opt,
hot, want, prompt Sound 5: /u/ put, bush, would, could, should,
book Sound 6: /Λ/ up, us, other, cup, rough, just, blood
Long vowels Sound 1: /a:/ art, aunt, car, heart, half, calm, laugh
Sound 2: /:/ early, sir, her, firm, heard, word, skirt, turn Sound
3: /i:/ ease, see, key, sheep, read, field, please Sound 4: /o:/
all, law, war, port, source, hall, fault, bought Sound 5: /u:/ zoo,
who, suit, moon, cruise
Diphthongs Sound 1: /au/ out, hour, now, how, loud, south, found
Sound 2: /ai/ ice, high, buy, white, find, flight Sound 3: ei/ aim,
ace, pay, main, lane, weight, paint, great Sound 4: /oi/ oil, boy,
join, point, choice, noise Sound 5: /∂u/ own, old, low, so, boat,
rode, cold, most, close Sound 6: /e∂/ air, fair, rare, spare, there
Sound 7: /i∂/ ear, beer, fear, here, clear
Section 2: MINIMAL PAIRS
1. /a/ & /a:/ hat heart cat cart lad lard pack park lack lark
mass mars have half cap carp shack shark hash harsh
Dictation 1: Listen and write down the words you hear.
2. /e/ & /:/ bed bird ten turn Len learn Head heard Wed
word Weld world Gem germ Ben burn Best burst
5
3. /i/ & /i:/ grin green fit feet dip deep ship sheep sit
seat bit beat fill feel live leave sin seen gin Jean
Dictation 3: Listen and write down the words you hear.
4. /o/ & /o:/ pot port cot court fox forks cod cord wok
walk
Dictation 4: Listen and write down the words you hear.
5. /u/ & /u:/ full fool pull pool foot food soot suit
goods goose
Dictation 5: Listen and write down the words you hear.
6. /a/ & /Λ/ bag bug mad mud fan fun sang sung batter
butter hat hut track truck match much cap cup ankle uncle
Dictation 6: Listen and write down the words you hear.
Dictation 7: Listen and write down the words you hear.
8. /a:/ & /:/ farm firm barn burn star stir hard heard
dart dirt heart hurt bath birth pass purse
Dictation 8: Listen and write down the words you hear.
9. /e/ & /ei/ pen pain tell tail men main fell fail edge
age shed shade pepper paper let late wet wait get gate test taste
debt date
Dictation 9: Listen and write down the words you hear.
10. /o:/ & /∂u/ law low jaw Joe bought boat called
cold ball bowl tore toe torn tone snore snow hall hole saw so shore
show
Dictation 10: Listen and write down the words you hear.
moon moan rule role mood mode rude rode soup soap
Dictation 11: Listen and write down the words you hear.
Section 3: CONSONANTS
1. /s/ & /sh/ see she sell shell said shed save shave sock
shock saw shore so show Sue shoe
Dictation 1: Listen and write down the words you hear.
2. /sh/ & /ch/ ship chip sherry cherry shoes choose sheep
cheap share chair wash watch cash catch wish which
Dictation 2: Listen and write down the words you hear.
3. /s/ & /th/ sick thick sink think seem theme sing thing
pass path mouse mouth worse worth
Dictation 3: Listen and write down the words you hear.
4. /t/ & /th/ tin thin tank thank tick thick tree three
team theme fort fourth part path
5. /m/ & /n/ seem seen them then rum run team teen deem
dean dim din moon noon mail nail
Dictation 5: Listen and write down the words you hear.
6. /j/ & /dj/ yet jet use juice yak Jack yeti Jetty yam
jam yolk joke year jeer yes Jess
Dictation 6: Listen and write down the words you hear.
7. /b/ & /v/ best vest boat vote bat vat berry very ban
van bet vet
Dictation 7: Listen and write down the words you hear.
8. /w/ & /v/ wet vet west vest whale veil worse verse wire
via wine vine wheel veal
Dictation 8: Listen and write down the words you hear.
list wrist alive arrive collect correct long wrong Lice rice
Dictation 9: Listen and write down the words you hear.
10. /d/ & /th/ dare there den then Dan than Dough though
Breed breathe Wordy worthy
Dictation 10: Listen and write down the words you hear.
11. starting with /h/ & starting with a vowel sound hand
and hall all hear ear high eye hate eight harm arm hill ill his is
hold old hat at hair air
Dictation 11: Listen and write down the words you hear.
12. /s/ & /z/ Sue zoo said zed sip zip rice rise loose lose
race raise once ones
Dictation 12: Listen and write down the words you hear.
13. /p/ & /b/ pit bit pat bat port bought pull bull pride
bride rope robe tap tab cup cub
14. /t/ & /d/ two do ten den town down train drain site
side heart hard plate played bat bad set said
Dictation 14: Listen and write down the words you hear.
15. /k/ & /g/ could good cot got coat goat cave gave leak
league pick pig lock log ankle angle
Dictation 15: Listen and write down the words you hear.
16. /f/ & /v/ fan van ferry very fail veil feel veal fine
vine leaf leave safe save proof prove
Dictation 16: Listen and write down the words you hear.
Section 4: CONSONANT CLUSTERS
SP: Spain, spend, spoon, star ST: stay, stand, steal, must, rest
SK: sky, skirt, school, ask, task SM: smile, smell, smart, smooth
SN: snack, snore, snow SL: slow, sleep, slim KS: accept, accident,
excuse, export, occident KT: fact, duct, sect, FT: soft, gift,
theft
/st/ danced, kissed, produced, missed /ft/ laughed, bluffed,
staffed, coughed
Regular verbs ending in sound /d/: /bd/ robbed, described, grabbed
/gd/ begged, nagged, mugged, jogged /djd/ changed, aged, merged,
damaged /zd/ raised, organised, surprised /vd/ arrived, lived,
saved, shaved /md/ seemed, dreamed, bombed, filmed /nd/ listened,
happened, joined, learned /ld/ called, installed, spelled,
sailed
Plural nouns / third person singular verbs ending in sound /s/:
/ps/ stops, hopes, helps, drops /ks/ works, walks, thanks, asks
/fs/ laughs, bluffs, coughs, graphs /ts/ lights, seats, boats,
gates /ths/ months, breaths, baths
Plural nouns / third person singular verbs ending in sound
/z/: /bz/ robs, describes, grabs, labs /gz/ begs, mugs, jogs,
dogs /vz/ arrives, lives, saves, leaves /thz/ clothes, breathes,
bathes /dz/ needs, rides, roads, guards /mz/ seems, dreams, bombs,
films /nz/ listens, happens, joins, spoons /lz/ calls, installs,
spells, hills
Section 5: SPECIAL SOUNDS
5a. Contractions Verb ‘to be’: I’m, you’re, he’s, she’s, it’s,
we’re, they’re, there’s Verb ‘to have’: I’ve, you’ve, he’s, she’s,
it’s, we’ve, they’ve, there’ve Future ‘will’: I’ll, you’ll, he’ll,
she’ll, we’ll, they’ll, there’ll Would & had: I’d, you’d, he’d,
she’d, we’d, they’d, there’d
Question words plus ‘is: Who’s this?, What’s that?, Where’s she?,
When’s dinner?, Why’s that?, How’s this?
Negatives: isn’t, aren’t, wasn’t, weren’t, don’t, doesn’t, didn’t,
won’t, can’t, mustn’t, shouldn’t wouldn’t, haven’t, hasn’t,
hadn’t
5b. Weak forms: When these words are part of a sentence, the vowel
sound in them is reduced to the semi-vowel ∂.
Section 6: PHONETIC LINKS:
6a. Consonant to Vowel: Words beginning with a vowel are
often linked to the final consonant of the word before them:
Examples: Past eight = pas teight Put it on = pu ti ton Read it =
rea dit team eleven = tea meleven Soon after = Soo nafter sleep
early = slee pearly Rob Anderson = Ro bAnderson with Alan = wi
thAlan black out = bla kout dig in = di gin large egg = la gegg
much energy = mu chenergy half asleep = ha fasleep live alone = li
valone dress up = dre sup his own = hi sown fresh apples = fre
shapples catch all = ca tchall full application = fu lapplication
our idea = ou ridea
6b. Consonant to consonant: Same consonant sounds link up and
make a stronger sound: for example This soup, black car,
and down, light top, seem mad, full length, half f ive
6c. Vowel to vowel: If the end of a word and the beginning of
the next word are both vowel sounds, then the two sounds are linked
by adding the sound /w/ or the sound /j/ between them.
The /w/ link:
/u:/ Two (w) hours, Do (w) it. You (w) ought
to. Who (w) are you? /∂u/ Low (w) impact, go (w)
early, no (w) entry /au/ now (w) and then, how
(w) easy
The /j/ link:
/i:/ we ( j ) all, free ( j ) entry, the ( j ) end /ai/
my ( j ) arm, I ( j ) am /ei/ say ( j ) it. They (
j ) ask.