Section I

The Sound System

of English

© 2013, Dayalbagh Educational Institute Spoken English - Section 1 1

 Introduction
All languages have two forms, the oral and the written. Words in any spoken
language are primarily a combination of various speech sounds. Hence to speak
any language the first essential thing is to produce the sounds of that language
correctly.
In languages such as Hindi, each sound has one letter to represent this in the
written form. However, it is not so in the English language. English has 44 sounds
but only 26 letters to represent them. Hence various combinations of letters are
used to represent these sounds; sometimes the same letter (or a combination of
letters) may represent different sounds. For example, the letter ‘c’ represents two
different sounds as shown below.
1) ‘C’ as in care, cake and cat (with/k/sound)
2) ‘C’ as in cinema, cell and city (with/s/sound)
Therefore, it is not necessary that the written form of the word may match the
sound produced by it. This means that the sounds of English language need to
be correctly acquired to bring accuracy in our speech.
The use of silent letters sometimes complicates pronunciations in English; thus,
“knife” and “calm” which contain the silent letters “k” and “l”, respectively, are not
pronounced the way they are spelt.
Further, when we put together the sounds of English to produce continuous
speech, we need to pay attention to some other features of English such as
stress and intonation patterns, strong and weak forms of words, etc. When we
speak sentences in English all words are not pronounced with the same breath
force. Some words are spoken strongly with greater breath force while others are
spoken relatively weakly. For example:
Send him away.
Put it in on the table.
In the above sentences the highlighted parts of the words are spoken with greater
force, while the others are gone through rapidly with less force.
Within the same word too, some parts are spoken with more force than others.
For example:
International, application, teacher, because.
In English the varying breath force is called stress while change in the pitch of the
voice is called intonation. To be able to communicate accurately and fluently in
English the speaker must understand and use these features appropriately.
Lessons 1, 2 and 3 deal with the production of the individual sounds of English
language. Stress, intonation and other features of connected speech are discussed
in lesson 4 of this section.

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 LESSON I
The Sounds of English
In the English alphabet there are 26 letters, but these letters produce 44 sounds. For this reason,
one letter is used to produce more than one sound. In order to know the correct pronunciation
certain symbols denoting these sounds have been devised and standardized. By learning these
symbols you will be able to find the correct pronunciation of any word in a standard dictionary.
These symbols will also help you to go through the book with guidance for correct pronunciation
of words and conversations. These sounds are classified into two types:

Figure 1.1: Sounds of English

(i) What is a vowel sound?

There are only 5 vowel letters in English (a,e,i,o,u), but the sounds indicated by these 5 letters are
20. A vowel sound is produced when the air comes out of the mouth freely without any blockage
or closure in the mouth cavity by the tongue, teeth, lips, etc. The vowel sounds are of two types:

Single vowel sounds: When these sounds are produced, the tongue remains in the same position
even when the sound is prolonged. They consist of one sound only and are called pure vowels as
in ‘sit’, ‘pot’, ‘heat’, etc. (the underlined letters indicate the single vowel sounds)
Double vowel sounds: These vowel sounds are a combination of two single vowel sounds and in
pronouncing them the tongue moves from one position to another. For instance, in the word ‘light’
the sound of ‘i’ is a combination of the vowel sounds /a:/ as in ‘art’ and /i/ as in ‘it’. The
words ‘hair’, ‘toy’ and ‘poor’ also contain double vowel sounds.

You will find that sometimes two vowel letters may produce a single vowel sound as in ‘heat’,
whreas, a single vowel letter may produce a double vowel sound as in ‘light’ explained above.

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(ii) What is a consonant sound?
A consonant sound is one in which the air stream coming out of the lungs is modified in the
mouth cavity by some blockage created by the tongue, lips, etc. When you say the sound of
‘p’ as in ‘pen’ a blockage is created in the outgoing breath by closing both the lips and thus,
a consonant sound is produced.
The charts on the following pages illustrate all the vowel and consonant sounds of English.

Table 1.1: Vowel sounds in English

S.No. Symbol Examples with Common Spellings Examples with Other Spellings

1 /iː/- [- Sheep tea, me, fi_eld, key, receive

2 /ɪ /- [ bit, igloo gym, bucket, cabbage

3 /e/- e egg, net, bet bread, said

4 /æ/- eo bat, cat, rat, sat _

5 /ʌ/- A but, cut, shut _

6 /ɑː/- Aa car, large, march clerk, heart, guard

7 /ɔ/- Aa^ hot, pot, otter swan, pause

8 /ɔː/- Aa^: * caught, taught bought, paw

9 /u/ or /ʊ/- ] put, truth hood, could

10 /uː/- } uniform, unity, cube cue, shoe, new, boot

11 /ə:/or /3:/- A:* fern, perfect shirt, purple, earth, worm

12 /ə/- A\ about, alike _

13 /eɪ/- e[ tray, pray train, great, eight, skate

14 /aɪ/- Aa[ kite, bite, night, I tie, fly, height

15 /ɔɪ/- Aa^ya boy, toy noise

16 /əu/- Aao] home, bone, nose know, grow

17 /au/- Aa] how, now _

18 /iə/- [A ear, fear deer

19 /eə/- eA chair, pair there, their, square, bear, wear

20 /uə/or/ʊə/- ]A poor tour ,sure

Qvaina ko Aagao yah icanh ( : ) Qvaina kao lambaa KIMcanoa ka sMakot hO.
* Hindi This symbol ( : ) after a
sound indicates its prolongation.
Note: The vowel sounds from 1 to 12 are single vowel sounds and those from 13 to 20 are
double vowel sounds.

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Table 1.2: Vowel Sounds

1. /i:/ Sheep 2. /i/ Zip 3. /e/ Ten 4. /æ/ Cat

5. /ʌ/ Sun 6. /a:/ Car 7. /ɔ/ Pot 8. /ɔ:/ Ball

9. /u/ Book 10. /u:/ Moon 11. /3:/ Bird 12. /ə/ Around

13. /eɪ/ Eight 14. /aɪ/ Kite 15. /ɔɪ/ Toy 16. /əu/ Four

17. /au/ Cow 18. /ɪə/ Ear 19. /eə/ Chair 20. /ʊə/ Tourist

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Table 1.3: Consonant sounds
This list describes the consonant sounds of English. Read the examples aloud and also note
the various possible spellings of each sound

S.No. Spelling Symbol Examples with common spellings Examples with other spellings

1 p- p /p/ pit, pin -

2 b - ba /b/ bit, bat -

3 t-T /t/ time, ten -

4 d-D /d/ door, dog -

5 k-k /k/ kite, kit cat, duck, queen, chemistry

6 g - ga /g/ get, go -

7 ch - ca /tʃ/ chop, chick -

8 j - ja /dʒ/ judge, jam giraffe

9 f - f, /f/ fan, fun telephone, rough

10 v - va /v/ van, vine -

11 th - qa, /θ/ think, thought -

12 th - d, /ð/ that, this -

13 s - sa /s/ send, see circle

14 z - j,a /z/ zip, zoo pins

15 sh - Sa /ʃ/ shop, shoe invitation, sure, chef,

precious, permission

16 s- j,a^ * /ʒ/ leisure, pleasure -

17 h-h /h/ hen, happy -

18 m - ma /m/ man, monkey -

19 n - na /n/ nice, night knife, gnome

20 ing - [Mga /ŋ/ ring, sing, English tongue

21 l - la /l/ leg, long -

22 r-r /r/ rat, run write

23 w - va /w/ wet, wine -

24 y - ya /j/ yet, yes -

[sa Qvaina ka ]ccaarNa ‘j,a’ Qvaina ko samaana hO prntu [samaoM jaIBa ko isaro daantao ko pICo saoo AaOr pICo (dnatya
* talaU kI Aaor) lao jaa kr ikyaa jaata hO.This sound is pronounced like the /z/ sound but it is modified
by moving the tip of the tongue from the back of the teeth further backwards (towards the teeth ridge).

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Table 1.4: Consonant sounds

1. /p/ Pin 2. /b/ Ball 3. /t/ Ten 4. /d/ Deer

5. /k/ Kite 6. /g/ Girl 7. /tʃ/ Chair 8. /dʒ/ Jug

9. /f/ Fan 10. /v/ Van 11. /θ/ Teeth 12. /ð/ This box

13. /s/ Sofa 14. /z/ Zip 15. /ʃ/ Ship 16. /ʒ/ Treasure

17. /h/ Hat 18. /l/ Lamp 19. /r/ Rose 20. /m/ Monkey

21. /n/ Nine 22. /ŋ/ Ring 23. /w/ Wall 24. /j/ Yellow

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Now that you have gone through the symbols corresponding to all the 44 sounds of English
(also called phonemes), let us practise recognizing them in words written using these symbols
(phonemic script). When you get some practice with this, you can look up the pronunciation of
any word in a dictionary and find its correct pronunciation. For instance, when you look up the
word ‘cat’ in a dictionary you will find its pronunciation given as /kæt/. Similarly, the phonemic
transcription (written conventionally between two bars / /) of the word ‘show’ in the dictionary is
/ʃəu/. The symbols used in this book are those which are specified by the International Phonetic
Association. However, some dictionaries use a few different symbols, but their corresponding
sounds are listed at the beginning of the dictionary.

Exercise 1

Write the spellings (using the English alphabet) under each of the following words which are written
in phonemic script.

Phonemic /mi:t/ /∫ip/ /sʌn/ /ræt/ /gəut/ /ti:tʃ/

Script
Alphabetic
Script

Phonemic /gəu/ /ʃu:t/ /wɔ:tʃ/ /buk/ /kæt/ /əbaut/ /si:t/ /bɜ:d/

Script
Alphabetic
Script

You will find the answers to this exercise at the end of Lesson 2.

(iii) Organs of speech

In order to know how to produce the various sounds of English correctly, you must be familiar with
the speech organs that are used to produce them.
The English speech sounds are produced with the help of different organs or parts of the mouth.
These are lips, teeth, teeth ridge, tongue, the roof of the mouth cavity (consisting of the hard
palate and the soft palate at the back), uvula (the soft hanging part at the extreme end of the roof
of the mouth), vocal cords (two muscle strips placed horizontally at the top of the windpipe).
See Figure 1.2 ahead to understand where these parts are located.
Some of the organs which you see in the Figure 1.2 can move (the tongue, lower jaw, soft palate,
uvula, lips and vocal cords) while some are fixed (upper jaw, hard palate and teeth ridge). When
you speak, you can change the position of the movable organs to produce different sounds.
Sounds are produced when you breathe out air from the lungs and this air stream is modified by
the movable speech organs. For example, the lower jaw moves so that the lower lip touches the
upper teeth when the sound ‘v’ is produced as is shown in Figure 1.3.

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 Hard Palate
Nasal Cavity

Soft Palate
Teeth Ridge
Upper Teeth Oral Cavity
Upper Lip Uvula

Lower Lip
Air stream from
Lower Teeth lungs (outgoing)
Tongue
Wind Pipe
Vocal Cords

Figure 1.2: Organs of speech

The tip of the tongue moves up to touch the teeth ridge and create a blockage for air which comes
out from both sides of the tongue to produce the sound ‘l’ (see Figure 1.4).

This is how the sounds are produced with the help of organs in the mouth cavity.

Figure 1.3: Production of the Figure 1.4: Production of the

sound /v/ sound /l/

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(iv) Voiced and voiceless sounds
The vocal cords vibrate to produce a buzzing sound which is also called the ‘voiced sound’ for
example, the sound of the letter ‘j’ in the word ‘jam’ (phonetic symbol /dʒ/).

Figure 1.5: Production of the sound /dʒ/

Some other voiced sounds are /b/, /j/, /g/, /v/, /z/, etc. The other type of sounds where the
vocal cords do not vibrate are called voiceless sounds e.g. /p/, /t/, /f/, /s/, etc. You can feel the
difference between the two types of sounds by touching your throat and feeling the presence or
absence of vibrations in voiced and voiceless sounds, respectively.
See the figures given below and notice the production of the voiceless sound /f/ and the voiced
sound /v/.

Figure 1.6: Production of Figure 1.7: Production of

voiceless sound /f/ voiced sound /v/
(No vibration in the vocal cords) (Vibration in the vocal cords)

In this lesson you have been introduced to the various sounds of the English language and how
they are produced with the help of the speech organs. In the following lessons you will learn and
practise each of these sounds individually.

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 LESSON 2
Vowel Sounds
(i) Types of Vowel Sounds
You have read in the previous lesson that there are essentially two kinds of vowel sounds: pure or
single vowels and diphthongs or double vowels. The pure vowel sounds are further divided into
short and long vowels. This classification along with an example of each is given below.

Figure 2.1: Types of vowel sounds

(ii) Production of vowel sounds

For producing the vowel sounds you have to keep two things in mind:
(a) The shape of the lips and
(b) The part of the tongue raised

(a) The shape of the lips: The shape of the lips changes while producing different vowels. The
basic shapes are: spread, rounded and neutral. These are shown below.

Spread as in /i:/ (sheep) Rounded as in /ɒ/ (pot) Neutral as in /ə/ (aloud)

Figure 2.2: Shape of lips while producing vowel sounds

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(b) The parts of the tongue:
The different parts of the tongue are shown below.

Tip

Front

Middle

Back

Figure 2.3: Parts of the tongue

For producing different vowel sounds, the front, centre and back of the tongue move forward,
backward, up or down. Some of these movements are shown in the figure below.

Exercise 2
Match each of the given pictures to the following descriptions of tongue movements:
1. Forward, 2. Backward, 3. Up, 4. Down, 5. Forward-Up, 6. Backward-Down

Figure 2.4: Positions of the tongue

Now practice these movements and try to discover the sounds produced in each case.

Therefore, to describe a vowel sound we should state the position of the tongue (height and part
of the tongue raised) along with the shape of the lips.
We will refer to both these things while describing vowel sounds that follow.

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(iii) Pure vowel sounds
/i:/ Sheep

To say /i:/ :
1. Open your mouth very little and raise the front of the tongue close to the roof of the mouth.
2. Spread your lips as in the smiling position.
3. When we say the vowel sound /i:/ the front part of the tongue is raised very close to the hard
palate and the lips are spread as is shown in the figure.
4. The black spot on the tongue indicates the place of production of the sound in the first figure
and the next figure shows the position of the lips.

Position of tongue Shape of lips

Figure 2.5: Production of the sound /i:/

Read the words under the pictures and practise the vowel sound /i:/ as used in them.

Seat Teeth Jeep

Leaves Cheese Sheep

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Exercise 3
Read the sentences given below and underline the words which contain the vowel sound /i:/.
Then practise saying the sentences again paying attention to the target sound.
1. Deep breathing is good for health.
2. They will leave at three.
3. Cheese made from cow’s milk is cheaper than cheese made of sheep’s milk.
4. The fields are green in the rainy season.
5. Sneezes spread diseases.
6. Sandwiches are easier to eat.
7. Would you like tea or coffee?

Exercise 4
Have you ever noticed what we call the people of different nationalities? One way is to use the
suffix ‘-ese’ (/i: z/) which contains the target sound /iː/.

Match the countries to their nationalities.

No. Country Nationality

1 China Portuguese

2 Japan Lebanese

3 Portugal Chinese

4 Lebanon Japanese

5 Nepal Vietnamese

6 Vietnam Nepalese

The ‘teen’ numbers also have the sound /i:/.

Read aloud and practise the following:
Thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, seventeen, eighteen, nineteen.

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/i/ Zip

To say /i/ :
1. First practise the sound /i:/.
2. Open your mouth slightly more (move your lower jaw) to say the sound /i/.
3. In producing the sound /i/ the centre of tongue is raised a little lower than in /i:/.
4. The lips are spread as is shown in the figures given below.

Position of tongue Shape of lips

Figure 2.6: Production of the sound /i/

Read the following words aloud and practise the vowel sound /i/ used in them.

Zip Lips Fish

Ship Pin Bridge

Read the pairs of words written below. Note the difference in the vowel sounds.
Sit — seat, Hit — heat, Dip — deep, Lip — leap.

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Exercise 5
Read the following sentences and identify the words which contain /i/ and /i:/ sounds. Write
the words in the appropriate columns of the table given below.
1. Sita, Meeta and Gita each got a prize for winning in different events in the annual meet.
2. It was not easy to get this reward.
3. Their friends were pleased to give them a treat.
4. They reached quickly and enjoyed the feast with Nita, Ishita and their little brother.

Words containing the vowel sound /i/ Words containing the vowel sound /i:/

/e/ Ten

To say /e/ :
1. First practise the sound /i/.
2. Open your mouth slightly more to say the sound /e/.
3. To produce this sound raise the front of the tongue a little less than you would to make the
sound /i/.
4. The lips are loosely spread as is shown in the figures.

Position of tongue Shape of lips

Figure 2.7: Production of the sound /e/

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Read the words given below and note the vowel sound.

Bell Helmet Eggs

Pen Ten Head

Read the following pairs of words and note the difference in the vowel sounds.
Bill — bell Big — beg
Pin — pen Pick — peck

Exercise 6
Read the following sentences and underline the words which contain /i/ and /e/ sounds.
1. Send me ten tins of biscuits.
2. Get me a set of rings.
3. The men hid next door.
4. The eggs are eaten and finished.
5. Fill it and then send it.
6. It gets cold in North India in November and December.

Now write the words in the appropriate columns of the table given below:

Words containing the vowel sound /i/ Words containing the vowel sound /e/

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/æ/ Cat

To say /æ/ :
1. First practise the sound /e/.
2. Open your mouth slightly more to say the sound /æ/.
3. During the articulation of the vowel sound /æ/ the front of the tongue is slightly raised
towards the hard palate and the lips are neutrally open as is shown in the figures.

Position of tongue Shape of lips

Figure 2.8 Production of the sound /æ/

Read the following words aloud and note the way this sound is produced.

Apple Ant Jam

Hat Fan Cat

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Exercise 7
Read the following sentences aloud and underline the words which contain /æ/ sound as
described above.

Pat is a cat. Pat sat on a mat.

Pat had a can. The can had jam. The cat ate the jam.

Pat saw a rat. The cat had a nap.

The cat chased the rat.
Away ran the rat.

Exercise 8
Spot the objects which contain the /æ/ sound in these pictures. Write the words and say
them aloud.

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Exercise 9
Read the following conversation between Sam and Fanny and underline the words which
contain /æ/ sound.

Sam: Fanny, I need some cash urgently. My bank balance is nil.

Fanny: I am sorry Sam. I had the cash, but I left my bag at home. By the way, how much
do you need?

Sam: It’s ten thousand. The amount is rather large; I need it for a charitable trust. I’ll
give it back to you within a week.

Fanny: That’s alright. I’ll go back home and bring it for you. Wait for me till I bring
my bag.

/ʌ/ Sun

To produce the sound /ʌ/ :

1. First open your mouth as in saying /æ/.
2. Then put your tongue a little back to say the target sound /ʌ/.
3. In producing the sound /ʌ/ the centre of the tongue is raised toward the middle of the hard
palate and soft palate. The jaws are open and the lips are neutrally open as is shown in the
figures.

Position of tongue Shape of lips

Figure 2.9: Production of the sound /ʌ/

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Read the following words and note the vowel sound used in these words:

Truck Hut Sun

Nuts Mug Gun

Say the following words and note the vowel sound /ʌ/.
come, money, bus, butter, bun, cup, but, up, much, shut, couple, enough, trouble, country, hungry,
must, touch.

Exercise 10
Read the following sentences aloud. Underline the words which contain the vowel sound
used in the words given above:

Sunny is my little brother. He is playing with our pup, Bun. They are out in the sun.

Along comes a little bug. Run, Sunny! Run, Run.

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Exercise 11
Read the following conversation between Amar and Barun and underline the words which
contain /ʌ/ sound.

Amar: Hello! Which country do you come from?

Barun: I used to live in Russia, but I’ve recently shifted to Lucknow.
Amar: I’m also from Lucknow. I hope you didn’t have much trouble settling down.
Barun: Well, there were a couple of problems in the beginning. But now I’m comfortably
settled, thanks.
Amar: How’s your new school? How do you get there?
Barun: Oh, it’s quite nice. Our school bus picks me up at 6.30 in the morning. Going by
car costs a lot of money!
Amar: That’s pretty early! How about breakfast?
Barun: I just have time for a cup of milk. If I’m hungry in school, I get some buns and
butter from the canteen. That’s enough for me. But the canteen shuts down in
20 minutes, so, we have to be quick.
Amar: Well, I must leave now. It was nice meeting you.
Barun: Bye then. Do keep in touch!

/a:/ Car

To produce the sound /a:/ :

1. Open your mouth fully.
2. Lower the back part of your tongue to produce the long sound /a:/.
(This is the sound produced when a doctor examines the throat.)
3. During the articulation of the vowel sound /a: / the part of the tongue which is between the
centre and back is in fully open position. Lips are open as is shown in the figure.

Position of tongue Shape of lips

Figure 2.10: Production of the sound /a:/

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Read aloud the following words and note the vowel sound used in them:

Half Star Heart

Car Path Palm

Read the following words using the vowel sound /a:/.

far, hour, are, drama, father, car, garage, after, can’t, bath.
Note: The letter ‘a’ is used to produce two sounds /æ/and/a:/.

Exercise 12
Read the words given below and put them in two columns according to their vowel sounds
had, dad, card, guard, add, large, sharp, lack, glad, mark, man, bark, fat, far.

Words containing the sound /æ/ Words containing the sound /a:/

Exercise 13
Now, read the following conversation between Mala and Apar and underline the words which
contain /a:/ sound. Then practise the conversation with a friend.
Mala: We have a drama competition after school today. I need your father’s car to carry
some articles.
Apar: But, Mala my father’s car has gone to the garage for repairs.
Mala: Can’t we pick it up from the garage Apar? Is it very far?
Apar: Not too far. But the repairs will take an hour.
Mala: An hour is fine with me.
Apar: Fine then. In the meantime I’ll have a bath and get ready.
Mala: Thanks Apar. You are a big help.

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/ʌ/and /a: / sounds
The vowel sound /ʌ/ should be distinguished from the sound /a: /. The former is a short sound,
whereas, the latter is a long one.
Read the words given in the following two columns and note the difference in the vowel
sounds used in them:

/ʌ/ /a: /
duck dark
luck lark
hum harm
cut cart
cup carp
hut heart

Exercise 14
Read the following sentences and identify the words which contain the /ʌ/ and /a: / sounds.
Write the words in the appropriate columns of the table given below.
1. He hasn’t enough money.
2. The armies marched on.
3. Father needs spare parts for his car.
4. Please put this bundle on this bus.
5. Get me a bun and a cup of tea.

Words with /ʌ/ sound Words with /a:/ sound

Read the following sentences aloud twice using the alternative word given and note the
difference of the vowel sound. Also try to understand the difference in meanings of the
sentences.

cup
The { } cart
she bought was very expensive.

hut
His
{ }
heart
was filled with music.

bun
The cat is near the { }
barn
.

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/ɔ/ Cot

To produce the sound /ɔ/ :

1. Move your tongue backward.
2. Then bring your lips forward in a rounded position to say this sound.
3. To produce this sound the back of the tongue is slightly raised and the lips are
rounded as is shown in the figures.

Position of tongue Shape of lips

Figure 2.11: Production of the sound /ɔ/

Read aloud the following words and note the vowel sound used in them:

Pot Cot Fox

Drop Box Bottle

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/ɔ:/ Ball

To say /ɔ:/ :
1. First practise the sound /ɔ/.
2. Move your tongue up and a little more backward to produce the long sound /ɔ:/.
3. To produce this sound the back of the tongue is raised half way up in the mouth.
The lips are rounded.

Position of tongue Shape of lips

Figure 2.12: Production of the sound /ɔ:/

Read the words given below and note the vowel sound.

Corn Torch Ball

Wall Horse

Now read the following pairs of words and note the vowel sounds used in them.
Cot — caught Cod — cord Pot — port

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Exercise 15
Read the sentences given below and classify the words with vowel sounds /ɔ/ and /ɔ:/ in the
two columns given below.
1. Salt dissolves in water.
2. The hot weather has ended now and the monsoon has arrived.
3. They fought for the cause of freedom.
4. She has bought all the law books for her preparation.
5. I take cornflakes with milk every morning.
6. His office is in the north block of the building.

Words containing the vowel sound /ɔ/ Words containing the vowel sound /ɔ:/

Exercise 16
Read the following dialogues and note the words which contain the vowel sounds /ɔ/ & /ɔ:/.
Rohit: Do you know if this train stops at Hong Kong North?
Dev: No, I don’t think so. It goes straight to the City Mall.
Rohit: But they told me that it halts there.
Dev: Who told you this?
Rohit: An officer in that hall.
Dev: It would be better if you asked at the enquiry office.
Rohit: You’re right. I’ll do accordingly.

/u/ Book

To say /u/:
1. First practise the sound /ɔ:/.
2. Move your tongue up and a little more backward to produce the target sound /u/.
3. To produce this sound the back of the tongue is raised quite close to the roof of the mouth.

Position of tongue Shape of lips

Figure 2.13: Production of the sound /u/

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Read the words given below and note the vowel sound.

Book Hook Push

Pull Foot Woman

Read the following sentences containing the vowel sound /u/.

∎ Put your foot on this log of wood.
∎ He should get the book by hook or crook.
∎ We should wear woollen clothes in winter.
∎ They stood behind the bush.
∎ Push the door so that it opens fully.
∎ A good-looking woman pulled the door open.
∎ He could cook a good meal when he had visitors over for dinner.
∎ Have you understood the book now?

/u:/ Moon
To say /u: /:
1. First practise the sound /u/.
2. Move your tongue a little more up and backward to produce the long vowel sound /u:/
as is shown in the figures.

Position of tongue Shape of lips

Figure2.14: Production of the sound /u:/

28 Spoken English - Section I © 2013, Dayalbagh Educational Institute

Read aloud the following words and note the vowel sound used in them:

Moon Tooth Juice

Boot Tools Shoe

Exercise 17
Read the following sentences and identify the words which contain /u/ and /u:/ sounds.
Write the words in the correct columns of the table given below.
1. A fool can see a full moon at noon.
2. Too many cooks spoil the soup.
3. How much wood would a wood pecker peck, if a wood pecker pecked wood for two
months?
4. He wanted the book by hook or by crook.
5. Why do you use rulers at school?

Words containing /u/ sound Words containing /u:/ sound

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/ ɜ:/ Bird

To say /ɜː/ or /ə/:

1. Raise the centre of the tongue half way up.
2. Keep the lips slightly spread to produce this sound as is shown in the following figure.
3. The vowel sound /ɜː/ is produced by raising the centre of the tongue half way up to the
roof of the mouth. The lips are neutral as in the words, ‘bird’ and ‘first’.

Position of tongue Shape of lips

Figure 2.15: Production of the sound /ɜː/

Read the following words using the vowel sound /ɜː/.

serve, burn, nurse, purple, surface, journey, search, first.

Bird Circle Curly hair

Girl Thirty First

30 Spoken English - Section I © 2013, Dayalbagh Educational Institute

Exercise 18
Read the following dialogues aloud and underline the words which contain the /ɜː/ sound.
Ravi: Mother, please serve my breakfast. I have to leave early today. We’re going for a picnic.
Mother: I’ve heard that you are going to Mathura. That’s thirty kilometres from here.
Ravi: That’s right. What’s for breakfast?
Mother: Vegetable burgers. The surface is slightly burnt but it tastes alright.
Ravi: It’s perfect mother. I am thirsty. Please pass me the water.
Mother: Here you are. You can also have some sweetened curd.
Ravi: Thanks. I must leave now. I am taking your purple bag. Mine is a bit dirty.
Mother: That’s OK.
Ravi: I’ll be back by three thirty. See you then.

/ə/ Around

To say /ə/:
1. First practise the sound /ɜː/ :
2. Now say this sound making it very short to produce the target sound /ə/.
3. This sound is produced by raising the centre of the tongue half way up in the mouth cavity.
e.g.:- about, around, famous, centre.

Position of tongue Shape of lips

Figure 2.16: Production of the sound /ə/

© 2013, Dayalbagh Educational Institute Spoken English - Section 1 31

Read the words given below and note the vowel sound.

Butterfly Father Finger

Around Elephant River

The most common spelling for the vowel sound /ə/ is ‘a’, the other letters used are ‘e, o, u,’ and
some groups of letters such as ‘ous’, ‘or’, and ‘ar,’ etc.

Exercise 19
Read the following words and underline the spellings used for the vowel sound /ə/.

about, backward, problem, development, entertain, terrible, condition, produce, effort, famous,
succeed, beggar, bigger, actor, doctor, colour, honour.

(iv) Double Vowel Sounds (Diphthongs)

Now we move on to the double vowel sounds.
These are called double vowel sounds or diphthongs because the tongue takes one position in the
beginning when we say these sounds but it moves to another position when we end the sounds.

/eɪ/ Eight
To produce the sound /eɪ/ :

1. First practise the sound /e/ and then practise the sound /i/.
2. Now say the sounds together keeping the first sound longer and the second one shorter.
3. The figures showing production of all diphthongs which follow show the position of tongue
at the initial and the final stages. The second figure shows the position of the lips at both the
stages.

32 Spoken English - Section I © 2013, Dayalbagh Educational Institute

See the images carefully and practise this sound.

Position of tongue Shape of lips

Fig 2.17: Production of the sound /eɪ/

Read aloud the following words and note the vowel sound used in them:

Face Gate Pray

Veins Paper Eight

Read the words given below and note the letters used for the vowel sound /eɪ/.

vein, brain, spade, sailor, painter, flame, train, crane, blade, hail, rain, saint, place, save.

© 2013, Dayalbagh Educational Institute Spoken English - Section 1 33

Read the following pairs and note the difference between the sounds /ei/ and /e/ in each pair.

Saint — sent Fail —fell

Sail— sell Wait — wet
Late— let Spade — sped
Trade— tread Nail — knell
Pain — pen Fade — fed

Exercise 20
Read the sentences given below and underline the words which contain the vowel
sound /ei/.
1. The train came eight hours late.
2. She sprayed the place with an air freshener and then laid the table.
3. She went in for the last time to claim her chance.
4. The rains are late which is damaging the crops.
5. She made place for the spade.
6. She baked a cake for me but ate it up all herself.
7. They played the game to earn a good name.
8. The waiter laid eight plates on the table.
9. He made a name plate for Mr. James.

/ai/ Kite
To produce the sound /ai/ :
1. First practise the sound /a:/ and then practise the sound /i/.
2. Now say the sounds together keeping the first sound longer and the second one shorter.

/i/

Position of tongue Shape of lips

Figure 2.18: Production of the sound /ai/

34 Spoken English - Section I © 2013, Dayalbagh Educational Institute

Read the words given under the following pictures and note the vowel sound and the
spelling used.

Cycle Fly Write

Sky Kite Eye

Exercise 21
Read the sentences given below and underline the words which contain the vowel sound/aɪ/.
1. They must sign nine times.
2. It is a fine design.
3. Buy him an ice-cream or he will start crying.
4. I am fine this time.
5. The plane flew high in the sky and the children started crying.
6. He gave a sigh of relief as the noise died out.

/ɔi/ Toy
To produce the sound /ɔi/ :
1. First practise the sound /ɔ/ and then practise the sound /i/.
2. Now say the sounds together keeping the first sound longer and the second one shorter.
3. The figure given below shows the place of tongue at the initial and the final positions.
The other figure shows the position of the lips at both the points. See the images carefully and
practise this sound.

Position of tongue Shape of lips

Figure 2.19: Production of the sound /ɔi/

© 2013, Dayalbagh Educational Institute Spoken English - Section 1 35

Read aloud the following words and note the vowel sound used in them:

Boil Boy Toy

Coin Destroy Oil

Exercise 22
Read the sentences given below and underline the words which contain the vowel sound /ɔɪ/.
1. He has joined work at the oil company.
2. The boys were noisy and were annoying the teacher.
3. He has boils on his neck and joints.
4. They have spoilt the joy by telling us the end of the story.
5. We should not exploit the poor.

/əu/ Four
To produce the sound /əu/:
1. First practise the sound /ə/ and then practise the sound /u/.
2. Now say the sounds together keeping the first sound longer and the second one shorter.
3. The figure given below shows the position of tongue at the initial and the final positions.
The other figure shows the position of the lips at both the points. Look at the images carefully
and practise this sound.

Position of tongue Shape of lips

Figure 2.20: Production of the sound /əu/

36 Spoken English - Section I © 2013, Dayalbagh Educational Institute

Read the following words and note the vowel sound as well as the spellings used.

Four Soap Nose

Rose Boat Bowl

Exercise 23
Read the sentences given below and underline the words which contain the vowel sound /əu/.
1. This road is full of potholes.
2. They unloaded the boats and loaded the trucks with coal.
3. His coat was very old so he sold it.
4. Change your clothes before you go home.
5. He played a joke on the postman.

/au/ Cow
To produce the sound /au/ :
1. First practise the sound /a:/ and then practise the sound /u/.
2. Now say the sounds together making the first sound longer and the second one shorter.
3. The figure given below shows the position of tongue in the initial and the final positions.
The other figure shows the position of the lips at both the points. See the images carefully and
practise making this sound.

Position of tongue Shape of lips

Figure 2.21: Production of the sound /au/

© 2013, Dayalbagh Educational Institute Spoken English - Section 1 37

Read the following words and note the vowel sound as well as the spellings used.

Cow House Mouse

Mountain Owl

Exercise 24
Read the sentences given below and underline the words which contain the vowel sound /au/.
1. There are twenty vowel sounds in English.
2. The owl gazed down at the cow.
3. He had almost drowned when his father came around and saved him.
4. The dog growled and pounced upon the hunter.
5. The crowd howled loudly.

/iə/ Ear
To produce the sound /iə/:
1. First practise the sound /i/ and then practise the sound /ə/.
2. Now say the sounds together.
The figure given below shows the position of tongue in the initial and the final positions. The other
figure shows the position of the lips at both the points. Look at the images carefully and practise
this sound.

Position of tongue Shape of lips

Figure 2.22: Production of the sound /iə/

38 Spoken English - Section I © 2013, Dayalbagh Educational Institute

Read the following words and note the vowel sound contained in them. Also note the spellings used.

Spear Tear Ear Deer

Note: There are several letter-combinations that represent the sound /iə/. The most common
among them are: ‘ea’ (tear), ‘ee’ (peer), ‘ere’ as in (mere) and ‘ie’ as in (pierce).

Exercise 25
Read the sentences given below and underline the words which contain the vowel sound/iə/.
1. They cheered the leader.
2. Wipe away your tears and appear without any fear before the judge.
3. They pierced her ears with a needle.
4. Things get dearer and dearer every year.
5. A deer does not fear to go near the visitors.

/eə/ Chair
To produce the sound /eə/:
1. First practise the sound /e/ and then practise the sound /ə/.
2. Now say the sounds together.
3. The figure given below shows the position of tongue at the initial and the final positions.
The other figure shows the position of the lips at both the points. Look at the images carefully and
practise this sound.

Position of tongue Shape of lips

Figure 2.23: Production of the sound /eə/

© 2013, Dayalbagh Educational Institute Spoken English - Section 1 39

Read the following words and note the vowel sound contained in them.

Chair Pair Hair Air

Exercise 26
Read the sentences given below and underline the words which contain the vowel sound /eə/.
1. Don’t you dare tear the paper.
2. He cannot spare the time to care for this pair of parrots.
3. There is a chair under the staircase.
4. The mare stared and the horseman stared back.
5. It is fair to share the award.
Note: The common letter combinations that stand for the /eə/ sound are : ‘are’ (dare), ‘air’ (chair),
‘ear’ (bear), ‘ere’ (where), and ‘eir’ (their).

/uə/ Tourist
To produce the sound /uə/ or /ʊə/ :
1. First practise the sound /u/ and then practise the sound /ə/.
2. Now say the sounds together.
3. The figure given below shows the position of tongue at the initial and the final positions.
The other figure shows the position of the lips at both the points. Look at the images carefully and
practise this sound.

Position of tongue Shape of lips

Figure 2.24: Production of the sound /uə/

40 Spoken English - Section I © 2013, Dayalbagh Educational Institute

Read the following words and note the vowel sound contained in them. Also note the
spellings used to produce this sound.

Tourist Fuel Duel

Exercise 27
Read the sentences given below and underline the words which contain the vowel sound /ʊə/.
1. He is poor but he can afford to tour.
2. The reasons for this duel are fewer than you think.
3. The cure for cancer is sure.
4. There is no fuel in the car.
5. He was very cruel to the client.
You have now gone through the three diphthong sounds /iə/, /eə/ and /uə/. The following exercise
will help you to further understand the difference among these.

Exercise 28
Read the words given below and identify the vowel sound produced by the underlined letters in
these words and write the word in the correct column of the table given below.
engineer, farewell, fluent, square, weary, ideal, tourist, theory, assure, hare, hear, poor, peer,
sheer, stare.

/ɪə/ /eə/ /ʊə/

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 Answers to Lessons 1 and 2
Exercise 1
These words are meet, ship, sun, rat, goat, teach, go, shoot, watch, book, cat, about, seat, bird.

Exercise 2
The movements of the tongue are: backward, forward, up, down, backward down, forward up.

Exercise 3
The words which contain the sound /i:/ are:
deep, breathing, leave, three, cheese, cheaper, sheep, fields, green, season, sneezes, diseases,
eat, tea, coffee.

Exercise 4
1) Chinese, 2) Japanese, 3) Portuguese, 4) Lebanese, 5) Nepalese, 6) Vietnamese.

Exercise 5

Words containing the vowel sound /i/ Words containing the vowel sound /i:/

winning in, different, events, it, this, re- Sita, Meeta, Gita, each, meet, easy, pleased,
ward, give, quickly, Ishita, little treat, reached, feast, Nita.

Exercise 6
Words containing the vowel sound /i/ Words containing the vowel sound /e/

tins, biscuits, rings, hid, finished, fill, it, in, send, ten, get, set, men, next, eggs, then,
India, December send, gets, November, December

Exercise 7
The words which contain the vowel sound /æ/ are:
pat, cat, sat, mat, had, can, jam, rat, ran, nap.

Exercise 8
Objects which contain /æ/ sound are:
man, hammer, cat, hat, jam.

Exercise 9
The words which contain the vowel sound /æ/ are:
Sam, Fanny, cash, bank, balance, had, charitable, bag, back, that.

42 Spoken English - Section I © 2013, Dayalbagh Educational Institute

Exercise 10
The words which contain the vowel sound /ʌ/ are:
Sunny, pup, Bun, sun, bug, run.

Exercise 11
The words which contain the vowel sound /ʌ/ are:
Amar, country, come, but, Barun, Russia, Lucknow, much, trouble, couple, comfortably, bus, up,
money, just, cup, hungry, bun, butter, enough, shuts, must, touch.

Exercise 12

The words containing /æ/ sound The words containing /a:/ sound

had, dad, man, add, lack, glad, fat card, guard, large, sharp, mark, bark, far

Exercise 13
The words which contain the vowel sound /a:/ are:
Mala, drama, father, car, articles, garage, Apar, can’t, far, bath, are.

Exercise 14

The words containing /ʌ/ sound The words containing /a:/ sound

enough, money, bundle, bus, bun, cup armies, marched, father, parts, car

Exercise 15

The words containing /ɔ/ sound The words containing /ɔː/ sound

dissolve, hot, monsoon, office, block salt, water, fought, cause, bought, law,
cornflakes, morning, north

Exercise 16
The words containing /ɔ/ sound The words containing /ɔː/ sound

stops, Hong Kong, halts, officer, office North, mall, hall, accordingly

© 2013, Dayalbagh Educational Institute Spoken English - Section 1 43

Exercise 17

The words containing /u/ sound The words containing /u:/ sound

full, cooks, wood, would, hook, crook, fool, moon, noon, too, soup, you, use,
book, do ruler, school

Exercise 18
The words which contain the vowel sound /3:/ are:
serve, early, heard, thirty, burger, surface, burnt, perfect, thirsty, curd, purple, dirty.

Exercise 19
The spellings used for the vowel sound /ə/ are underlined:
about, backward, problem, development, entertain, terrible, condition, produce, effort, famous,
succeed, beggar, bigger, actor, doctor colour, honour.

Exercise 20
The words which contain the vowel sound /ei/ are:
train, came, eight, late, sprayed, place, laid, table, claim, rains, made, spade, baked, cake, ate,
they, played, game, name, waiter, plates, table, James.

Exercise 21
The words which contain the vowel sound /ai/ are:
sign, nine, times, fine, design, buy, ice-cream, crying, time, high, sky, sigh, died.

Exercise 22
The words which contain the vowel sound /ɔi/ are:
joined, oil, boys, noisy, annoying, boils, joints, spoilt, joy, exploit.

Exercise 23
The words which contain the vowel sound /əu/ are:
road, potholes, unloaded, boats, loaded, coal, coat, old, so, sold, clothes, go, home, joke,
postman.

Exercise 24
The words which contain the vowel sound /au/ are:
vowel, sounds, owl, down, cow, drowned, around, growled, pounced, crowd, howled, loudly.

Exercise 25
The words which contain the vowel sound /iə/ are:
cheered, tears, appear, fear, pierced ears, dearer, year, deer, fear, near.

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Exercise 26
The words which contain the vowel sound /eə/ are:
dare, tear, spare, care, pair, chair, staircase, mare, stared, fair, share.

Exercise 27
The words which contain the vowel sound /ʊə/ are:
poor, tour, duel, fewer cure, sure, fuel, cruel.

Exercise 28

/ɪə/ /eə/ /ʊə/

engineer, weary, ideal, farewell, square, hare, stare fluent, tourist, assure, poor
theory, hear, peer, sheer

© 2013, Dayalbagh Educational Institute Spoken English - Section 1 45

 LESSON 3
Consonant Sounds
We have learnt earlier that the speech sounds can be divided into two types: the vowel sounds and
the consonant sounds.
The consonant sounds are 24 in number. A brief description of these is given below. These may
be grouped according to:
a) the way they are pronounced
b) the place of pronunciation in the mouth, and
c) whether they are voiced or unvoiced (a sound is ‘voiced’ if accompanied by vibrations in the
vocal cords and it is ‘unvoiced’ when there are no vibrations in the vocal cords.)
We shall deal with consonant sounds in groups based on the first classification i.e. the way the
sounds are produced. This classification includes;
1. Plosives: /p/, /b/, /t/, /d/, /k/, /g/.
2. Affricates: /tʃ/, /dʒ/.
3. Fricatives: /f/, /v/, /θ/, /ð/, /s/, /z/, /ʃ/, /ʒ/, /h/.
4. Lateral: /l/.
5. Frictionless Continuant: /r/.
6. Nasals: /m/, /n/, /ŋ/.
7. Semi - Vowels: /w/, /j/.

(i) Plosives
Let us take the first group of consonant sounds, the plosives. These are six in number and
include:
/p/ as in ‘pet’, /b/ as in ‘bag’, /t/ as in ‘tap’, /d/ as in ‘dog’, /k/ as in ‘kite’ and /g/ as in ‘go’.
You will notice that while saying these sounds the air pressure is built up due to blocking of the
air stream coming out of our lungs by closing the speech organs at some point. The blocked air is
then suddenly released to produce a plosive sound.

/p/ Pin
To produce the sound /p/:
1. Close both the lips tightly to shut the mouth cavity.
2. Let the air pressure build up.
3. Open the lips to let the air out suddenly.
4. There should be no vibration in the vocal cords.
See the figure given below and practise producing this sound. The first figure shows the position
of lips when we begin to produce this sound, the second figure shows the position of lips immedi-
ately after the sound has been uttered.

Figure 3.1: Production of the sound /p/

46 Spoken English - Section I © 2013, Dayalbagh Educational Institute

Read the words given below and note how the consonant sound /p/ is produced.

Pen Pull Lamp

Pot Pin Pencil

Other words :
page, piece, point, pencil, punish, peace, patience, place, space, speak, spring, split ,happy,
simple, important, apply, pupil, lip, dip, ship, cap, hop, leap.

Exercise 1
Read the sentences given below and locate the words containing the sound /p/.
1. The painter sprayed the pink paint all over the puzzle.
2. To polish your pronunciation practise patiently.
3. Taking a sip of soup from the cup, Peter smacked his lips.
4. Please pack a pound of potatoes.
5. Polly won a prize in the triple race, which involved hopping, skipping and jumping.

Exercise 2
What is the sound of the letter ‘p’ in ‘cupboard’ and ‘receipt’?

/b/ Ball
To produce the sound /b/:
1. First practise the sound /p/.
2. Now add voice to it with the help of vibrations in the vocal cords.

Figure 3.2: Production of the sound /b/

© 2013, Dayalbagh Educational Institute Spoken English - Section 1 47

Read the words given below and note how the consonant sound /b/ is produced.

Bed Bottle Bowl

Banana Ball Boats

Other words :
stumble, member, hub, cub, bed, bike, bow, bite, bill, band, bay, bread, blade, block, back, bear,
big, board, behave, below ,behind, about, cupboard, labour, flabby, shabby, tribal, pebbles,
cobbler, cub, crab, job, cab, tribe, club, shrub, tub, cube.

Exercise 3
Read the sentences given below and locate the words containing the sound /b/.
1. The baby used the blocks to make a beautiful building.
2. Buy a bottle of black ink when you go to the bazaar.
3. Don’t borrow books, buy them.
4. We have baked beans and bread for breakfast.
5. The club members must pay the bills by February.

/t/ Table
To produce the sound /t/ :
1. Press the tip of the tongue tightly against the teeth ridge.
2. Let the air pressure build up .
3. Quickly remove the tip of the tongue to let the air out suddenly.
4. There should be no vibration in the vocal cords.

48 Spoken English - Section I © 2013, Dayalbagh Educational Institute

See the figure given below and practise producing this sound. The first figure shows the initial
position of the tongue and the lips while the second picture shows these positions at the final
stage of pronunciation.

Figure 3.3: Production of the sound /t/

Practise the sound /t/ by reading the following words aloud.

Ten Tear Truck

Torch Bottle Foot

Exercise 4
Practise the sound /t/ further with the help of these words and note the letters used to
produce the sound /t/.
time, tray, attack, top, tense mountain, tick, tough, time, pretty, fountain, cut , attract, captain,
hospital, bat, cot, meet, flight, pest, nest, seat, height, act, talked, laughed, sit, hopped, feet,
watched, festival.

Note: The past forms of words ending with ‘ed’ sound like/t/ at the end if the root word ends with
a voiceless sound such as /k/ as in ‘talked’, /f/ as in ‘laughed’, /p/ as in ‘jumped’ and /s/ as in
‘passed’.

© 2013, Dayalbagh Educational Institute Spoken English - Section 1 49

Exercise 5
Read the sentences given below and locate the words containing the sound /t/.
1. At no time must you be tense.
2. His tattered coat took twenty minutes to be stitched.
3. It’s time to set out for the tour.
4. Fatty Twinkle Teddy is her favourite toy.
5. Put it in the past perfect tense.
6. Don’t try to touch the hot pot.
7. They laughed and talked as they watched the movie together.
8. The pretty teenager attracted a lot of attention at the party.

Exercise 6
Read the following words and underline the letter ‘t’ where it is silent.
castle, kettle, Christmas, fight, whistle, cotton, fasten.

/d/ Deer
To produce the sound /d/ :
1. First practise the sound /t/.
2. Now add voice to it with the help of vibrations in the vocal cords.
See the figures given below and practise this sound. The two figures given below show the initial
and final positions of the tongue when we utter this sound.

Figure 3.4: Production of the sound /d/

Practise saying the following words aloud with special attention to the sound /d/.

Deer Head Drop Dog

50 Spoken English - Section I © 2013, Dayalbagh Educational Institute

 Bundle Spider Door

Exercise 7
Practise the sound ‘d’ with the help of the following words and write down the words ending
with the /d/ sound.
dig, day, dark, dozen, delay, bad, addition, dance, pod, saddle, dry, riddle, sad, dark, bread, blade,
behind, hand, pleased, desire, deal, ground, drop, called, sinned, shrugged.

Exercise 8
Read aloud the following verbs all ending with the regular past form (-ed).
You will notice that sometimes –ed is pronounced as /d/ and at other times as /t/ in these words.
Sort these words accordingly into the two columns and also note down the consonant after which
these sounds occur (preceding consonant).
asked, begged, helped, attacked, filled, shared, talked, watched, bathed, wished, dragged, rubbed,
slipped, kneeled, loved, laughed, judged, missed, hummed, pinned

Words ending with Preceding Word ending with Preceding

sound /t/ consonant sound /d/ consonant

Exercise 9
Read the sentences given below and locate the words containing the sound /d/.
1. He’d dried the dahlia and dog flower seeds for the garden.
2. Don’t add dollars to pounds directly.
3. Dye the dress and drip-dry it in the shade.
4. Do you dance on Fridays?
5. I had a bad day in Delhi yesterday.

© 2013, Dayalbagh Educational Institute Spoken English - Section 1 51

/k/ Kite
To produce the sound /k/ :
1. Press the back of the tongue against the soft palate (back part of the roof of the mouth).
2. Let the air pressure build up .
3. Quickly remove the back of the tongue to let the air out suddenly.
4. There should be no vibration in the vocal cords.
See the figure given below and practise this sound.

Figure 3.5: Production of the sound /k/

Practise saying the following words aloud with special attention to the sound /k/.

Clothes Car Kite

Cow Corn Cat

Exercise 10
Read the words given below and note the different spellings of the sound /k/ in these words.
kite, cake, cup, coat, coast, class, kind, kick, cross, keep, character, chemistry, chaos, stomach,
queen, quilt, queue, quality, quiet, across, account, record, request, decay, darkness, ankle,
breakage, background, occasion, occur, book, walk, truck, stick, frock, brick, ache, bark.

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Exercise 11
Say the following words aloud. What do you notice about the sound of the letter ‘k’ in these
words?
knock, know, knee, knickers, knife, knowledge.

Exercise 12
Read the sentences given below and locate the words containing the sound /k/.
1. The quality of cakes in this bakery is quite good.
2. The strikers have stopped work in the factory.
3. I can’t drink cold coffee because I’ve caught a cold.
4. Kamal kicked the ball to the back of the court.
5. Cut the cabbages, cauliflowers, carrots and capsicum for the baked dish.
6. The Cricket World Cup attracted controversy.
7. Keep quiet and sit calm during the class discussion.

/g/ Girl
To produce this sound /g/ :
1. First practise the sound /k/.
2. Now add voice to it with the help of vibrations in the vocal cords.
This sound, like /k/, is also made by pressing the back of the tongue against the soft palate. It is
accompanied by vibration of the vocal cords (throat). See the figure given below and practise this
sound. The two figures given below show the initial and final positions of the tongue when we
utter this sound.

Figure 3.6: Production of the sound /g/

Read the following words and note how the letter ‘g’ is pronounced.

Gate Jug Bag Tiger

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 Egg Gun Girl Glass

Exercise 13
Read the words given below and note whether the letter ‘g’ is pronounced as /g/ or as /dʒ/. Put
these words in correct column of the following table.
girl, ginger, gym, gingerbread, giraffe, give, glass, gesture, guest, general, generation, gem, gene,
gaze, gallant, game, gain, God, suggest, budge, George, Geography, sag, guard, jungle, dagger.

Words containing the letter ‘g’ Words containing the letter ‘g’
pronounced as /g/ pronounced as /dʒ/

Exercise 14
Read the sentences given below and spot the words which contain /g/ sound. Also note the
words which contain the letter ‘g’ but it is pronounced as /dʒ/.
1. He is holding a long string.
2. Did you get grass for your goat?
3. The beggar gave George his luggage and got a bag in return.
4. He returned in a giant ship after a great struggle.
5. Garbage in is garbage out.
6. They garnished the dish with ginger and garlic.

(ii) Affricates
These sounds are also produced by the blockage of the outgoing air stream like the plosives.
However, the release of air by parting of the speech organs is gradual and not sudden as in
plosives. The sounds of /tʃ/ as in ‘chair’ and /dʒ/ as in ‘jug’ are affricates.

/tʃ/ Chair
The consonant /tʃ/ is produced by pressing the front part of the tongue against the front part of
the roof of the mouth as is shown in the figure. The air is released slowly after the blockage is
removed. This is a voiceless sound as there is no vibration in the vocal cords. See the figure given
below and practise this sound.

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The two figures given below show the initial and final positions of the tongue when we utter this
sound.

Figure 3.7: Production of the sound /tʃ/

See the pictures given below and read the words given under them to practise this sound.

Switch Chair Chain

Child Torch Cheese

Exercise 15
Given below are words which contain the consonant sound /tʃ/. Read these words aloud and
note where this sound occurs in these words - a) beginning b) middle or c) end.
chair, chain, chew, choose, chick, cheese, charming, cheerful, feature, reaching, riches, archery,
watchman, speech, furniture, nature, picture, suggestion, question, catch, watch, match, peach,
bench, march, research, teach.

Exercise 16
Now read the words given above again and find out which letters are used to produce the
consonant sound /tʃ/.

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Exercise 17
Read the sentences given below and locate the words containing the sound /tʃ/.
1. Children choose to eat chips and sandwiches with ketchup rather than chapatti with chutney.
2. The watchdog cheerfully wagged his tail.
3. He gave a charming smile but his speech was very boring.
4. The researcher chased the chickens under the bench.
5. The chairperson wore a cherry- red coloured dress.
6. The question is: Why does the furniture not match with the carpet?
7. The teacher watched over the children at the beach.

/dʒ/ Jug
The consonant sound /dʒ/ is produced exactly the same way as /tʃ/, but it is a voiced sound so
the vocal cords vibrate in producing this sound. See the figure given below and practise producing
this sound. The two figures given below show the initial and final positions of the tongue when
we utter this sound.

Figure 3.8: Production of the sound /dʒ/

Practise saying the following words aloud with special attention to the sound /dʒ/.

Jam Jug Vegetables

Orange Juice Bridge

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Exercise 18
Given below are three sets of words which contain the consonant sound /dʒ/. Read these words
aloud and note where this sound occurs in these words.
Set 1: Joy, jelly, jump, jam, gentle, geography, giant, juice.
Set 2: Margin, pyjamas, largely, refrigerator, tragedy, soldier.
Set 3: Huge, orange, strange, bridge, charge.

Exercise 19
Read the words given above once again and find out which letters are used to produce the sound
/dʒ/.

Exercise 20
Now read the following sentences, and note the words containing the sound /dʒ/. Also, underline
the letters used to produce this sound.
1. There is jam and ginger bread in the fridge.
2. Janki joined the Geography Department in January.
3. The soldier drinking the juice is a gentleman.
4. They joined hands and jumped over the bridge.
5. You look gorgeous in the orange jacket.

(iii) Fricatives
Let us take the third group of consonant sounds. These are nine in number and include:
/f/ as in ‘fan’, /v/ as in ‘van’, /θ/ as in ‘think’, /ð/ as in ‘then’, /s/ as in ‘sit’, /z/ as in ‘zoo’, /ʃ/
as in ‘shoe’, /ʒ/ as in ‘pleasure’ and /h/ as in ‘hen’. These sounds are produced by a continuous
flow of air through a narrow passage in the mouth made by placing the two organs of speech very
close together. Now let us discuss these sounds one by one.

/f/ Fan
To produce the sound /f/:
1. Touch your upper teeth with the lower lip.
2. Blow out air between the teeth and the lower lip without using your voice.
See the figure given below and note how the consonant sound /f/ is produced.

Figure 3.9: Production of the sound /f/

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Read the following words aloud and practise the sound /f/.

Fan Family Fingers

Foot Flowers Forest

Exercise 21
Read the following sentences and underline letters which are used to produce the sound /f/.
1. This is a ceiling fan.
2. I bought a beautiful photo frame.
3. The surface of the road is rough.
4. Mangoes are my favourite fruit.

Exercise 22
Read aloud the passages given below and mark the words that produce the /f/ sound. Read
them aloud once again.
1. Kanha National Park came into existence in 1955. Since then, its flora and fauna have been
protected. It preserves a great number of wildlife species. It is one of the finest national parks in
Asia. You can see its photographs on the internet.
2. The forests of the Himalayan region have played an important role in the life of the people of
Uttarakhand. They have been supplying fodder for their cattle, wood for fuel, fresh fruits for food
and herbs for medicines. The forests have also prevented floods and soil erosion in the area during
the rough monsoon season.

/v/ Van
To produce this sound /v/:
1. First practise the sound /f/.
2. Then add voice to it to produce the target sound.

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Look at the figure below. It will help you to produce this sound correctly.

Figure 3.10: Production of the sound /v/

Read the following words aloud and note the way /v/ sound is produced.

Vase Liver Veins

Vote Vegetables Vision

Read aloud the conversation between two friends, Raj and Shyam to practise the sound /v/.
Raj: Shyam, I visited my grandparents last week.
Shyam: That’s very nice. Where do they live?
Raj: They live in a small village near Varanasi.
Shyam: I’d love to live in a village. Life is very simple there.
Raj: Yes. I think I will invest in some land near Varanasi.

Exercise 23
Read the sentences given below and underline the words that contain the sound /v/.
1. We should eat green vegetables every day.
2. Blood flows through the veins in our body very fast.
3. Many visitors to Agra see the Taj Mahal and also visit the Red Fort.
4. We must cast our votes to bring about a revolution in the country.
5. We have given away five expensive vases from our shop to the charitable society- ‘Vision for
All’.
Note: You have now learnt both the sounds /f/ and /v/. The former is voiceless, whereas the latter
is voiced. The following exercise will help you to differentiate the two sounds.

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Consonant sounds /f/ & /v/
Read the following pairs of words and note the difference in the way the sounds /f/ and /v/ are
produced.

Fan — van Few — view

Fine — vine Fission — vision
Ferry — very File — vile

Exercise 24
Read the following words aloud and divide them in two columns on the basis of the sounds
/f/ or /v/ they contain.
fridge, roof, voice, level, fur, victory, revolution, vision, raft, refresh, half, enough, love,
laugh, photo, behaviour, five.

Sound /f/ Sound /v/

Read the following sentences aloud using each of the two words given in brackets in turn and observe
the difference in meaning when using the sounds /f/ or /v/ in these words:
1. Their (fine/vine) seems good this year.
2. The (few/view) that we saw pleased us.
3. We got our (fans/vans) last week.

/θ/ Teeth
To produce the sound /θ/:
1. Bring your tongue between your teeth.
2. Then blow out air without using your voice.
See the image given below to know how the sound /θ/ is produced.

Figure 3.11: Production of the sound /θ/

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Read the following words aloud and note the way /v/ sound is produced.

Teeth Path Thumb

Thermometer Theatre Tooth

Exercise 25
Read the sentences given below and underline the words that contain the consonant sound
/θ/.
1. We place a thermometer in the mouth to measure temperature.
2. We should brush our teeth with toothpaste every day.
3. Wind the thread around your thumbs with care.
4. Soldiers need a health check up every three months.
5. The film in the theatre showed the birth of panther cubs.
6. The athlete let out a long breath after running through a thick fog.

/ð/ This
To produce this sound /ð/:
1. First practise the sound /θ/.
2. Then add voice to it to produce the target sound.
See the image given below to know more about how this sound is produced.

Figure 3.12: Production of the sound /ð/

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Now practise the sound /ð/ in the words and given below.

Father and son Clothes This boy

That girl Feather

Exercise 26
Read the sentences given below and underline the words that contain the consonant sound
/ð/.
1. The father walks with his son every evening.
2. The leather bag will last longer.
3. This is the pen that I bought yesterday.
4. Although the weather was rough yet they attended all the meetings.
5. The peacock has colourful feathers.
6. The boy is bathing with his friends in the river.
7. My brothers work in this factory.
8. Don’t go out without your shoes.

Exercise 27
Read the following words aloud and divide them into two columns on the basis of the sounds
/θ/ and /ð/ in them ( Note that both the sounds are spelt as ‘th’)
the, thank, thought, this, with, those, brother, these, through, though, there, three, think,
thin, breathing, breath, faithful, toothless, authority, without, mother.

Words containing the /θ/ sound Words containing the /ð/ sound

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/s/ Sofa
To produce the sound /s/:
1. Slightly touch your upper teeth with the tip of the tongue.
2. Blow out air between the teeth and the tongue without using your voice.
See the figure given below to know how the sound /s/ is produced.

Figure 3.13: Production of the sound /s/

Read the following words aloud and note how the consonant sound /s/ is produced.

Soap Caps Sofa

Circle Study Cycle

Exercise 28
Read the sentences given below and underline the words that contain the consonant
sound /s/.
1. She keeps dirty utensils in the sink.
2. The seal is a sea animal.
3. The children were playing in a circle.
4. The soup is steaming hot.
5. The postman delivered the parcel.
6. The policeman at the crossing blows a whistle.

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Exercise 29
Read the following words aloud and underline the different letters producing the sound /s/ :
caps, box, skull, school, sir, books, salt, sip, sand, soul, pass, parcel, face, cell, difference, science,
scene, mix, essence.

/z/ Zip
To produce this sound /z/:
1. First practise the sound /s/.
2. Then add voice to it to produce the target sound. See the given figure to understand how the
sound /z/ is produced.

Figure 3.14: Production of the sound /z/

Practise reading the following words aloud and note where the sound /z/ occurs in each word:

Zip Hands Rose

Cloves Zebra Zoo

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Exercise 30
Read the following sentences and underline the letter(s) producing the sound /z/ and also
note the spellings.
1. The zebras are enclosed in cages at the zoo.
2. The rose is the king of flowers.
3. Cloves are good for the throat.
4. Always wash your hands before meals.
5. The sun is rising over the hills.
6. The bazaar is closed on Tuesdays.
Note: The alternative spelling of the sound /z/ is ‘s’, as in case of ‘hands, cloves and rose.’

Exercise 31
Read the following words aloud and divide them into two columns on the basis of the sounds
/s/ or /z/ which they contain.
rings, rise, sign, slow, price, bags, cats, sweet, sleep, lungs, peace, peas, fence, fans, niece, knees,
lacy, lazy, ice, eyes, falls, false, buttons, bottles

Words containing /s/ sound Words containing /z/ sound

/ʃ/ Ship
To produce the sound /ʃ/:
1. First practise the sound /s/.
2. Then move the tip of the tongue further back to produce the target sound.
See the figure given below and practise this sound.

Figure 3.15: Production of the sound /ʃ/

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Read the following words aloud and note how the consonant sound /ʃ/ is produced.

Shoe Ship Push

Cushion Fish Shore

Exercise 32
Read the following words and note down the different combinations of the letters used to
produce the sound /ʃ/.
sheet, shy, shine, shore, shave, passion, fashion, ration, emotion, sure, show, shoot.

Exercise 33
Read the following words aloud and group them into three columns depending on the sound
they contain /s/, /ʃ/ or /z/.
school, breeze, shoe, case, easy, shine, flash, permission, cash, bus, box, mission, closes, pauses,
pass.

Words containing /s/ sound Words containing /ʃ/ sound Words containing /z/ sound

Exercise 34
Read the following plural forms of the words given below and group them into three
categories according to the ending sounds /s/, /z/ and /iz/.
pens, dams, songs, caps, crabs, pets, beds, kicks, mugs, watches, judges, wolves, puffs, berths,
deaths, breathes, clothes, bathers, clutches, bridges.

Words ending with /s/ sound Words ending with /z/ sound Words ending with /iz/ sound

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/ʒ/ Treasure
To produce the sound /ʒ/ :
1. First practise the sound /ʃ/.
2. Then add voice to it to produce the target sound.
See the figure given below and practise this sound.

Figure 3.16: Production of the sound /ʒ/

Read the following words aloud and note how the consonant sound /ʒ/ is produced.

Treasure Garage Barrage

Vision Division Measure

Exercise 35
Read the following sentences and underline the words which contain /ʒ / sound.
1. The decision of the parents was most appropriate.
2. Soil erosion is due to deforestation.
3. The illness affected his vision.
4. The cars were all parked in the garage.
5. The division of the property among the brothers was unfair.
6. The thief stole the treasure.
7. A barrage was built on the river to control the flood water.

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/h/ Hat
To produce the sound /h/ :
1. First open your mouth.
2. Then push plenty of air out from the throat quickly just like we do in the winters to warm our
hands.
See the figure given below and practise this sound.

Figure 3.17: Production of the sound /h/

Read the following words aloud and note how the consonant sound /h/ is produced.

Hat Hen Horse

Helmet Houses Hair

Exercise 36
Read the sentences given below and underline the words which contain the sound /h/.
1. Who has left his hat in the hall?
2. The race horse was standing behind the hedge.
3. They have put a hoarding up on the hill top.
4. Hunting tigers is prohibited in Bihar.
5. Perhaps they will be happy in Haryana.

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(iv) Lateral
The English sound /l/ comes under this category. The sound is called lateral (which means side)
as the air stream comes out from both sides of the tongue due to blockage in the middle of the
mouth.

/l/ lamp
To produce the sound /l/ :
1. Let the tip of the tongue touch the teeth ridge.
2. Let the air come out through the sides of the tongue.
3. Feel the vibrations in your throat.

Figure 3.18: Production of the sound /l/

Read the following words aloud and note how the consonant sound /l/ is produced.

Lamp Bottle Lip

Flower Wall Lion

Practise saying the following words which contain the sound /l/
light, line, loyal, lamb, long, late, liver, legs, handle, yellow, laugh, pull, oil, flame, loaf, lock, pillar,
slide, black-board, ladder, letter, apple.

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Exercise 37
Read the sentences given below and underline the words which contain the sound /l /.
1. Lalit fell off the lorry and was badly hurt.
2. The liver is a vital organ in the body.
3. Lift the bundle up and put it on the table.
4. Planting trees helps lower the pollution level.
5. Village life is still simple and healthy.
6. Leela blessed Lalit with a long and healthy life.
7. Blow the flame lightly but calmly till the fire lights up.
Note: ‘l’ is silent in words like walk, talk, half, calm, calf, should, would.

(v) Frictionless continuant

The English sound /r/ as in ‘rat’ comes under this category. The air passes out through a narrow
passage without any friction.

/r/ rose
To produce the sound /r/:
1. Put the tip of the tongue just behind the teeth ridge.
2. Let the air come out of the narrow passage near the teeth ridge.
3. Feel the vibrations in your throat.

Figure 3.19: Production of the sound /r/

Read the words given below and note the sound /r/.

Fruits Ring Tourist

70 Spoken English - Section I © 2013, Dayalbagh Educational Institute

 River Rose Rain

Other words:
ray, three, draw, cross, road, track, tree, river, raised, rough, rock, scream, grow, root, forest,
heart, cradle.

Exercise 38
Read the following sentences and underline the words containing /r/ sound.
1. Cricket is a crazy game.
2. The driver of the red car braked suddenly at the traffic light.
3. The acrobat in the circus swung around on the trapeze and then went through the ring of fire.
4. This greeting card is worth three hundred rupees.
5. Remember to bring a crate of soft drinks for the party.
6. Her answers are never wrong.
7. Ring out the old, ring in the new.
8. Reading, writing and arithmetic are the three R’s of primary education.
9. She bought red roses for her mother’s birthday.
Note: If /r/ is followed by a consonant, its sound is unheard. It is also silent if it comes at the end
of the word i.e. ‘better’, ‘sir’, ‘singer’, ‘fur’, etc. The sound of the phoneme /r/ is heard only when
it is followed by a vowel sound i.e. ‘driver’, ‘hundred’ etc.

(vi) Nasals
There are three nasal sounds in English-/m/ as in ‘man’, /n/ as in ‘nine’ and /ŋ/ as in ‘ring’. These
are called nasals because the outgoing air stream passes through the nasal cavity in place of the
oral cavity as in all other sounds. The oral cavity is closed by lowering the soft palate.

/m/ Man
To produce the sound /m/ :
1. Close your lips tightly
2. Let the air come out through the nose. Add voice to it.
See the figure given below and practise this sound.

Figure 3.20: Production of the sound /m/

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Read the following words aloud and note how the sound /m/ is produced.

Mirror Monkey Lamb

Magnet Jam Man

Exercise 39
Read the sentences given below and locate the words containing the sound /m/.
1. He has worked hard for months and must score the maximum possible marks now.
2. They need him most in the team.
3. Money makes the mare go.
4. Report the temperature using the metric units.
5. Thermometers are used to measure temperature.
6. The map of Mumbai shows areas where the mangroves are found.

/n/ Nine
To produce the sound /n/:
1. Bring the tip of tongue to touch the teeth ridge.
2. Let the air come out through the nose. It is a voiced sound.
See the figure given below and practise this sound.

Figure 3.21: Production of the sound /n/

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Read the words given below and practise the sound /n/.
pen, pant, tent, rain, minister, mines, hen, and brown.

Nails Banana Ten

Pin Nine Nails

Note: When the consonant /n/ is placed after the consonant /k/, the sound produced is of /n/ and
the letter ‘k’ remains silent as in the words know, knowledge, knee, etc.
Read the following words beginning with the letter ‘k’ and note how these words are
pronounced.
knight, know, knife, knot, knock, knew, knowledge, knell, knit, knave.

Exercise 40
Read the sentences given below and locate the words containing the sound /n/.
1. Many men wanted to win the reward.
2. It is fun to see the sun shine while it is raining.
3. They appointed nine new nurses to look after the new-borns.
4. The man can nose out a new story anywhere.
5. An instrument blown with the nose is called a nose-flute.
6. Nitrate is used to enrich the soil.
7. The eleventh month of the year is November.

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/ŋ/ Ring
To produce the sound /ŋ/:
1. Raise the back part of the tongue to touch the soft palate and shut the mouth cavity.
2. Let the air come out through the nose.

Figure 3.22: Production of the sound /ŋ/

Read the words given under these pictures and note how the sound /ŋ/ is produced.

Flying Ring Sing

King Tongue Fingers

Exercise 41
Read the words given below noting the position of the consonant sound /ŋ/ in the words.
Categorize them accordingly.
singing, jungle, bangle, triangle, among, singer, song, uncle, string, tongue, wrong, hang, crying,
swinging.

Words containing /ŋ/ sound in the Words in which the sound /ŋ/ occurs at
middle the end

Note: The sound /ŋ/ occurs in the middle and the end of the words but in does not occur at the
beginning of words.

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Exercise 42
Read the sentences given below and underline the words containing the sound /ŋ/.
1. There is something wrong with his ankles.
2. He waited for his friend for a long time in the jungle.
3. Two tanks full of drinking water are needed.
4. She fell off the top rung of the ladder.
5. He is gardening while his sister is cooking.

Exercise 43
Categorize the following words into three columns according to the presence of the sounds /m/,
/n/, and /ŋ/.
map, new, bring, sting, knew, more, blink, nose, mole, button, night, ring, monkey, knob, sling.

Words containing /m/ Words containing /n/ Words containing /ŋ/

(vii) Semi-vowels
These sounds include /w/ as in ‘wall’ and /j/ as in ‘yellow’. A semi-vowel is a vowel glide in
which the tongue glides from one position to another while pronouncing it. However, semi-vowels
function like consonants in English speech. Hence they are termed semi-vowels.

/w/ Wall
To produce the sound /w/ :
1. Put your lips in a rounded position as when you say /u/.
2. Raise the back of the tongue close to the soft palate.
3. Produce the sound by quickly gliding over to the vowel sound that follows.
4. In producing this sound the lips are rounded and the tongue assumes a position required
for producing the sound that follows it in the word. See the figure given below and practise this
sound.

Position of tongue Shape of lips

Figure 3.23: Production of the sound /w/

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Read the words given below and note how the consonant sound /w/ is produced.
twig, watch, wallet, whale, wine, queen, wheel, wail, white, worm, railway.

Write Wind mill Woman

Wall Whistle Watch

Exercise 44
Read the sentences given below and underline the words containing the sound /w/. Also
note its position in the words and categorize them accordingly.
1. This week the weather has been worse.
2. The woman wailed for the loss of her husband’s wallet.
3. William was coming on Wednesday.
4. They wore woollen clothes to keep themselves warm.
5. Twenty women were invited to the wedding feast.
6. The party enjoyed walnut cake and sweet wine.
7. From the railway station they walked towards the woods which were very quiet.
8. Why was the queen weary?

The sound /w/ occurring in the The sound /w/ occurring in the
beginning of the words middle of the words

Note: The consonant sound /w/ occurs in the beginning and middle of the words but, it does not
occur at the end of the words.

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Exercise 45
Given below is a list of words which contain the sound /w/. When we say these words
sometimes the sound of /w/ remains silent. Now read these words and divide them in two
columns on the basis of the presence of the sound/w/.
worth, write, swallow, sweater, twig, whisky, wrestler, wrong, wring, would, whims, switch, swing,
wrinkle, wrap.

Words in which the sound /w/ Words in which the sound /w/
remains silent is heard

Note: It should be noted that the sound /w/ remains silent if it is followed by the letter ‘r’.

Consonant sounds /v/ and /w/

Some speakers use the sound /v/ for both the sounds /w/ and /v/ which leads to a confusion
in meaning.
Read the following pairs of words and note the way the sounds /w/ and /v/ are pronounced.
vest — west vine — wine veil — whale vein — wane verse — worse
Note: For producing the sound /v/ the lower lip touches the upper teeth and the lips are in approx-
imately spread position whereas, for production of the sound /w/ the lips are rounded.

Exercise 46
Read the following sentences and underline the words which contain the /v/ and /w/ sounds.
Also put them in the correct column of the table given below.
1. He visited the place twice during this week.
2. She was wearing a veil for a while.
3. They went without any woollen vests.
4. Wait, the train is slowing down.
5. Everyone claimed a square of land.
6. The driver went swiftly and avoided the crowd.
7. We voted him vice-president.
8. There lived a hermit in the village above the valley.
9. His book was reviewed.
10. The thief was acquitted.

Words containing sound /v/ Words containing sound /w/

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Exercise 47
Read this conversation in pairs and note the words containing the sounds /w/ and /v/.
A: I saw that your hotel had advertised vacancies in the newspaper. I’m interested in working
at your hotel. Are the posts still vacant?
B: Yes, they are. There are three vacancies for waiters and waitresses and one vacancy for a
watchman.
A: I’m interested in the waiter’s job. Are the interviews next week?
B: Yes, on Wednesday. Send me your CV and we’ll inform you by Monday evening about the
interviews.

Words containing the sound /v/ Words containing the sound /w/

/j/ Yellow
To produce the sound /j/:
1. Put your lips in a position as when you say /i/.
2. Raise the back of the tongue close to the soft palate.
3. Produce the sound by quickly gliding over to the vowel sound that follows.

Figure 3.24: Production of the sound /j/

Read the words given under the following pictures and note how the consonant sound /j/ contained
in these words is produced.

Yes Youngman Yacht

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 Tube Yellow

Exercise 48
Read the sentences given below and locate the words containing the sound/j/. Also note its
position in the words and categorize them accordingly.
1. He owns a huge yellow jeep.
2. Have you used the New York subway?
3. A yoke is placed on a bullock’s neck.
4. The union members met as usual yesterday.
5. On Tuesday they stood in a queue.
6. They are playing tunes to cure their patients.
7. His future in Europe is uncertain.

Words containing sound /j/ Words containing sound /j/

in the beginning in the middle

Note: The consonant sound /j/ occurs in the beginning and middle of the words but it does not
come at the end.

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 Answers to Lessons 3
Exercise 1
The words containing the sound /p/ are:
painter, sprayed, pink, paint, puzzle, polish, pronunciation, practise, patiently, sip, soup, cup,
Peter, lips, please, pack, pound, potatoes, Polly, prize, triple, hopping, skipping, jumping

Exercise 2
The letter ‘p’ is silent in these words: cupboard, receipt.

Exercise 3
The words containing the sound /b/ are:
baby, blocks, beautiful, building, buy, bottle, black, bazaar, borrow, books, buy, baked, beans,
bread, breakfast, club, members, bills, by, February.

Exercise 4
The sound /t/ is produced by letters ‘t’ ,‘tt’ and ‘ed’.

Exercise 5
The words containing the sound /t/ are:
at, time, must, tense, tattered, coat, took, twenty, minutes, to, stitched, it’s, time, set, out, tour,
Fatty, Twinkle, Teddy, favourite, toy, put, it, past, perfect, tense, don’t, try, to, touch , hot, pot,
laughed, talked, watched, together, pretty, teenager, attracted, lot, attention, at, party.

Exercise 6
The sound of /t/ is silent in the following words: castle, Christmas, whistle, fasten

Exercise 7
The words ending with the sound /d/ are: bad, pod, sad, bread, blade, behind, hand, pleased,
ground, called, sinned and shrugged.

Exercise 8

Words ending with Preceding Word ending with Preceding

sound /t/ consonant sound /d/ consonant
asked, helped, attacked k, p, ch, sh, begged, filled, shared, g, l, r, th, b, v, dg,
talked, watched wished, gh (f), s bathed, dragged, rubbed m, n
slipped, laughed, missed kneeled, loved judged
hummed, pinned

Exercise 9
The words containing the sound /d/ are:
He’d, dried, dahlia, and, dog, seeds, garden, don’t, add, dollars, pounds, directly, dye, dress drip,
dry, shade, do dance, Fridays, I’d, bad, day, Delhi, yesterday.

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Exercise 10
The different spellings of the sound /k/ are: k, c, ch, q, cc, ck.

Exercise 11
In these words the sound /k/ is silent.
It is so when the letter ‘k’ is followed by the letter ’n’.

Exercise: 12
The words containing the sound /k/ are:
quality, cakes, bakery, quite, strikers, work, factory, can’t, drink, cold, coffee, because, caught,
Kamal, kicked, back, court, cut, cabbages, cauliflowers, carrots, capsicum, baked, cricket, cup,
attracted, controversy, keep, quiet, calm, class, discussion.

Exercise 13

Word containing the letter ‘g’ pronounced Word containing the letter ‘g’ pronounced
as /g/ as /dʒ/
girl, gun give, glass guest, gaze, gate, ginger, gym, gingerbread, giraffe gesture,
gallant, game, gain, God, Geography, sag, general, generation, gem, gene suggest,
guard jungle, dagger. budge, George, Geography.

Exercise 14
Words which contain /g/ sound are:
holding, long, string, get, grass, goat, beggar, gave, luggage, got, bag, great, struggle, garbage,
garnished, garlic.
The words which contain the letter ‘g’ which it is pronounced as /dʒ/ are: George, luggage,
garbage, ginger.

Exercise 15
a. The sound ‘ch’ occurs of in the beginning of the following words: chair, chain, chew, choose,
chick, cheese, charming, cheerful.
b. The sound ‘ch’ occurs in the middle of the words in the following words: feature, reaching,
riches, archery, watchman, furniture, nature, picture, suggestion, question.
c. The sound ‘ch’ occurs at the end of the words in the following words: catch, watch, match,
peach, bench, march, research, teach, speech.

Exercise 16
The letters used to produce the consonant sound /tʃ/ are: ch, tu, tch, tio.

Exercise: 17
The words containing the sound /tʃ/ are:
children, choose, chips, sandwiches, ketchup, chapatti ,chutney, watchdog, cheerfully, charming,

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speech, researcher, chased, chickens, bench, chairperson, cherry, question, furniture, match,
teacher, watched, children, beach

Exercise 18
In the words of set 1 the consonant sound /dʒ/ occurs in the beginning.
In the words of set 2 the consonant sound /dʒ/ occurs in the middle.
In the words of set 3 the consonant sound /dʒ/ occurs at the end.

Exercise 19
The letters ‘j, g, dg, d’ are used to produce the sound /dʒ/.

Exercise 20
The words containing the sound /dʒ/ are:
jam, ginger, fridge, Janki, Geography, January, soldier, juice, gentleman, joined, jumped, bridge,
gorgeous, orange, jacket.

Exercise 21
The spellings which are used to produce the sound /f/ are: f, ph, gh.

Exercise 22
The words which contain the sound /f/ are:1955, flora, fauna, of, wildlife, finest, photographs,
forests, life, fodder, for, fuel, fresh, fruits, food, floods, rough.

Exercise 23
The words which contain the sound /v/ are:
vegetables, every, veins, very, visitors, visit, votes, revolution, given, five, expensive, vases, vision

Exercise 24
The words containing the /f/ sound are: fridge, roof, fur, raft, refresh, half, enough, laugh,
photo.
The words containing the /v/ sound are: voice, level, victory, revolution, vision, love, behaviour,
five.

Exercise 25
The words containing the /θ/ sound are: thermometer, mouth, teeth, thread, thumbs, health,
three, months, theatre, birth, panther, athlete, breath, through, thick.

Exercise 26
The words containing the /ð/ sound are: the, father, with, leather, this, that, although, weather,
they, feathers, bathing, brothers, without.

Exercise 27
The words containing the /θ/ sound are: thank, thought, through, three, think, thin, breath,
faithful, toothless, authority.

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The words containing the /ð/ sound are: the, this, with, those, brother, these, though, there,
breathing, without, mother.

Exercise 28
The words containing the /s/ sound are: keeps, utensils, sink, seal, sea, circle, soup, steaming,
postman, parcel, policeman, crossing, whistle.

Exercise 29
The different letters producing /s/ sound are: s, x, ss, c, and sc.

Exercise 30
The words containing /z/ sound are: zebra, enclosed, cages, zoo, rose, flowers, cloves, always,
hands, meals, rising, hills, bazaar, closed, Tuesdays.

Exercise 31
The words containing the /s/ sound are: sign, slow, price, cats, sweet, sleep, peace, fence, niece,
lacy, ice, false.
The words containing /z/ sound are: rings, rise, bags, lungs, peas, fans, knees, lazy, eyes, falls,
buttons, bottles.

Exercise 32
The different combinations of letters used for the sound /ʃ/ are: ‘sh’, ‘ss’, ‘ ti’, and ‘s’.

Exercise 33
The words containing /s/ sound are; school, case, bus, box, pass.
The words containing /ʃ/ sound are: shoe, shine, flash, permission, cash, mission.
The words containing /z/ sound are: breeze, easy, closes, pauses.

Exercise 34
The words containing the /s/ sound are: caps, pets, kicks, puffs, berths, deaths.
The words containing the /z/ sound are: pens, dams, songs, crabs, beds, mugs, wolves, breathes,
clothes, bathers.
The words containing the /iz/ sound are: watches, judges, clutches, bridges.
We pronounce ‘s’ as /s/ when it comes after voiceless sounds, /z/ when it comes after voiced
sounds and /iz/ when it is followed by ‘ch’ or ‘dʒ’ sound.

Exercise 35
The words which contain the sound /ʒ/ are: decision, erosion, vision, garage, division, treasure,
barrage.

Exercise 36
The words which contain the sound /h/ are: who, has, his, hat, hall, racehorse, behind, hedge,
have, hoarding, hill, hunting, prohibited, Bihar, perhaps, happy, Haryana.

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Exercise 37
The words which contain the sound /l/ are: Lalit, fell, lorry, badly, liver, vital, lift, bundle ,table,
planting, helps, lower, pollution, level, village, life, still, simple, healthy, Leela, blessed, long,
healthy, life, blow, flame, lightly, calmly, till, lights.

Exercise 38
The words containing /r/ sound are: cricket, crazy, driver, red, braked, traffic, acrobat, around,
trapeze, through, ring, greeting, three, hundred, rupees, remember, bring, crate, drinks, wrong,
ring, reading, writing, arithmetic, R’s, primary, red, roses.

Exercise 39
The words which contain the sound /m/ are: months, must, maximum, marks, him, most, team,
money, makes, mare, temperature, metric, thermometers, measure, map, Mumbai, mangroves.

Exercise 40
The words containing the sound /n/ are: many, men, wanted, win, fun sun, shine, raining,
appointed, nine, new, nurses, new-borns, man, can, nose, new, anywhere, an, instrument, blown,
nose, nitrate, enrich, eleventh, month, November.

Exercise 41
Words containing the sound /ŋ/ in the middle are:
singing, jungle, bangle, triangle, singer, uncle, swinging.
Words containing the sound /ŋ/ at the end are:
singing, among, song, string, tongue, wrong, hang, crying, swinging.

Exercise 42
Words containing the /ŋ/ sound are: something, wrong, long, jungle, drinking, rung, gardening,
cooking.

Exercise 43
a. Words containing the /m/ sound are: Map, more, mole, monkey.
b. Words containing the /n/ sound are: New, knew, nose, button, night, knob.
c. Words containing the /ŋ/ sound are: Bring, sting, blink, ring, sling, monkey.

Exercise 44
The sound /w/ occurring in the beginning of the words are: week, weather, worse, woman, wailed,
wallet, William, was, Wednesday, wore, woollen, warm, women, were, wedding, walnut, wine,
walked, woods, which, why, was, weary.
The sound the /w/ occurring in the middle of the words are: twenty, sweet, railway, towards, quiet,
queen.

Exercise 45
Words in which the sound of ‘w’ remains silent are: write, wrestler, wrong, wring, wrinkle, wrap.
Words in which the sound of ‘w’ is heard are: worth, swallow, sweater, twig, whisky, would, whims,
switch, swing.

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Exercise 46
Words containing /v/ are: visited, veils, vests, everyone, driver, avoided, voted, vice, lived, village,
valley, reviewed.
Words containing /w/ twice, week, was, wearing, while, went, without, woollen, wait, everyone,
square, swiftly, we, acquitted.

Exercise 47

Words containing the sound /v/ Words containing the sound /w/

advertised, vacancies, vacancy, vacant, working, waiter, waitress, warden, week,

interviews, cv, evening, Wednesday, we’ll.

Exercise 48

Words containing /j/ in the beginning Words containing /j/ in the middle

yellow, you, used, yoke, union, usual, huge, New York, Tuesday, queue, tunes,
Europe, yesterday cure, future.

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 LESSON 4
Features of English Speech
English speech is characterized by certain features which need to be acquired so that our speech is
understood by all. These features also help to bring fluency and rhythm in speech. These features
can be observed at two levels – the word level and the sentence level as is shown below.

WORD LEVEL SENTENCE LEVEL

Stress - primary and secondary Stress
Stress shift Intonation
Stress change Weak forms
Silent letters Contracted forms

We are going to discuss and practise these one by one:-

(i) What is stress?

In order to use stress correctly we should be aware of the syllables in a word.

(ii) Words: Phonemes and Syllables

A word is made up of a group of sound units. These sound units are also called phonemes. We
know that in the English language there are 44 phonemes. Phonemes are of two types: vowel
phonemes and consonant phonemes.
Words consist of various combinations of vowel and consonant phonemes. However, when saying
a word, these phonemes are not pronounced individually but in small pronounceable groups of
phonemes known as syllables. For example, the word ‘teacher’ consists of five phonemes /t/, /i:/,
/tʃ/, /ə/ and /r/. While pronouncing the word these phonemes are grouped into two pronounceable
units or syllables, /ti:/ and /tʃ ə r/. There may be one or more consonant phonemes in a syllable
but the vowel phoneme should be only one. Thus, if there are two or more vowel phonemes in a
word, it has correspondingly two or more syllables.
A word is considered short if it consists of only one vowel phoneme and therefore, only one
syllable.

Exercise 1
Read the following words and indicate the vowel sounds and the number of syllables in
them.
Hint: You can determine the number of syllables in a word by counting the number of vowel
phonemes contained in it.
Gone, carry, light, sing, beat, bell, leaf, master, teacher, milk, black, swim, swear, read, delight,
object, record, increase, waste, family, suppose, never.
N.B. Observe the spellings of the following words: leaf, wait, seat, suit, see.
You will see that these words consist of two vowel letters. But the sound produced by these vowel
letters is a single vowel sound. Therefore, each of these words consists of one vowel phoneme.
Thus, these are all single syllable words.
When the words consist of only one vowel sound, they are called short words or words of one
syllable

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(iii) Word stress
When we pronounce a word having more than one syllable, we speak these syllables with a variation
in the breath force. Some syllables of a word are more prominent (pronounced more loudly) while
others are uttered with weak force of breath. The syllables which are uttered with greater force
of breath are called stressed syllables. Thus, we can say that stress is the degree of force used to
pronounce a syllable.

Read the words given below, giving greater stress to the part which is underlined.
behind, alone, able, bicycle, captain, delight, battle, beautiful, fever, yellow, perform, actor, cover,
attend, advance.

It is important to know that there are only some rules to guide which syllable of the word is to be
stressed. However, every good dictionary indicates which syllable of the word should get stressed.
So, it is necessary to consult a dictionary to find out the stress pattern of any unfamiliar word.
The stressed syllable in a word is shown by putting a small vertical bar above and in front of the
syllable to which it refers, e.g. |older.

Read the following words and note the stressed syllables in these words. Note the small
vertical bar shown above and in front of the stressed syllables.
be|cause, a|bout, sub|mit, |delicate, al|low, her|self, |instrument, |human, |factory, |bigger, |drama,
a|broad, |nature, |doctor, ad|vance, |father, |order, |famous, re|late, |answer, ex|amine.

Thus, we have come to know that words can consist of one or more syllables. The number of
syllables of a word can be known by finding out the number of vowels used in them. A syllable
may be stressed or unstressed.

Patterns of stress in words

As has already been described, there are no fixed rules governing the stress pattern of different
words. Therefore, it is advisable to consult a good dictionary to find out the correct stress pattern
in words. However, there are a few rules related to the system of stress/accent in words. These
are given below:
 Words beginning with weak syllables are stressed on the root word,
e.g. : a|broad, a|lone, be|cause, be|low
(Note: The ‘basic’ words are called the ‘root’ words.)
 When the verb suffixes – ed, – es, and –ing are added to the words, the stress
(also known as accent) remains on the same syllable, e.g. :

Word Word with suffixes

(-ed, -es, -ing)
recom|mend recom|mended
sub|mit sub|mitted
com|pose com|poses
di|sease di|seases
|
reason |
reasoning
ad|vance ad|vancing

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 When we add the suffixes –age, -ance, -en, -er, -ess, -ful, -hood, -ice, -ish, -ive,
-ly, -ment, -or, -ship, -ter, - ure, and – zen at the end of words the accentual pattern does not
change.

Read the suffixes along with the words and note the stressed syllables

Suffix Word Word with Suffix added

-age |
cover, |marry |
coverage, |marriage

-ance an|noy, per|form an|noyance, per|formance

-en |
bright, |tight |
brighten, |tighten

-er at|tend, pre|tend at|tender, pre|tender

-ess |
actor, |author |
actress, |authoress

-ful |
beauty, |duty |
beautiful, |dutiful

-hood |
brother, |child |
brotherhood, |childhood

-ice |
coward |
cowardice

-ish |
fever |
feverish

-less |
bottom |
bottomless

-ly |
certain |
certainly

-ment |
manage |
management

-ness |
useful |
usefulness

-or col|lect col|lector

-ship |
author |
authorship

-ter |
laugh |
laughter

 Words ending in –ion take stress on second from the last syllable, e.g. : admi|ration,
appli|cation, deco|ration
 Words ending in –ity take the accent on the third syllable from the last, e.g. : a|bility , ca|pacity,
elec|tricity,
 Words ending in –ic, –ical, –ically, –ious, –al, –ially are accented on the syllable preceding these
suffixes, e.g. : pa|thetic, bio|logical, che|mically, no|torious, com|munal, confi|dentially

Exercise 2
Read the words given below and put stress marks at the appropriate places. Consult the
dictionary to verify.
basket, answer, entertain, father, knowledge, deliver, duty, committee, backward, beside, liberty,
effect, famous, doctor, deceive, because, possess, recommend, sentence.

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Stress shift
Read the following words and note the shift in stress according to change in word form.

aca|demy academic
|
a|cade|mician
|
politics po|litical poli|tician
|
|
advertise ad|vertisement
|
photograph pho|tographer photo|graphic
|

res|ponsible re|sponsi|bility

Primary and secondary stress

We also notice in the above list of words that vertical lines are marked both above the syllable and
below the syllable. The vertical line above the syllable indicates primary stress while the vertical
line below the syllable points out the secondary stress.
Thus, we can conclude that there are two types of stress. These are:

Primary stress
The syllable which gets the maximum breath force or stress in a word is said to have primary stress.
This is indicated by putting a vertical bar above and before the syllable which is stressed ( | ).

Secondary stress
The other stressed syllables of the words pronounced with lesser breath force than the primary
syllable are said to have secondary stress. This is indicated by putting a vertical bar below and
before the syllable which is stressed ( | ).
Besides the syllables which receive the primary and secondary stresses, there may be other syllables
which are uttered without any stress. These are called unstressed syllables.

Exercise 3
Read the following words and indicate the primary stress. Use a dictionary if needed.

inferior inferiority
superior superiority
examine examination
confirm confirmation
educate education
register registration
classify classification
benefit beneficent beneficial
personal personify personality
family familiar familiarity

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Stress change according to function
(use of the word in the sentence)
Different syllables of the same word can be stressed depending on its use in the sentence
(that is, as a noun, adjective, verb, etc.)

Read the following sentences and note the underlined syllables which are stressed in the words.
 He speaks |perfect English.
 She needs to per|fect her skills before taking up the job.
 His previous criminal |record is an obstacle in his future life.
 The papers re|cord that the inflation has dropped.
 There has been very little |progress in this semester.
 Their work pro|gresses slowly but steadily.
 He was |absent from the class last week.
 You should not ab|sent yourself from the class.
 His friends defended his |conduct.
 He will con|duct the test.
 They could see every |detail in the picture.
 He couldn’t de|tail all the facts.

Note: In the underlined words the pattern of stress changes. For example in the first sentence, we
see that the stress is at the beginning of the word ‘perfect’ but, in the second sentence the stress
is on the second syllable of the same word.
The pattern of stress in words depends upon its use in the sentence. If the word is used as a noun
or adjective the stress is on the first syllable of the word but, if it is used as a verb the stress is on
the second syllable. This can be seen in the words ‘perfect, record and progress, absent, conduct,
and detail’ used as different parts of speech in these sentences.
Read these words and note the stress pattern used as nouns/adjectives and verbs in a good
dictionary.

content, discount, confine, reject, permit, subject, protest, progress, present, increase.

Exercise 4
Read the following sentences and mark the stressed syllables in the underlined words.
1. Greater investment in education leads to an increase in the number of students.
2. He increased his speed to overtake the bus.
3. She is an absent-minded person.
4. He absented himself from the meeting.
5. A digest of the news was presented.
6. He could not digest the news.
7. A careful contrast of the two plans shows minute differences.
8. It is interesting to contrast the two pictures.

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Stress in compound words
Words composed of two separable words are called compound words. There may or may not be
a hyphen between them. In compound words generally the stress is on the first word or at the
beginning.
Read the following compound words and note that the stress in them falls on the first part.
|
blackbird, |blackboard, |
rain-coat, |
postman, |
school-bus, |
mailbag, |
footprint, |
bathroom,
|
lampshade, |sandbox.
 There are some compound words in which the stress is on the second part e.g.: her|self,
what|ever, them|selves.
 There are some compound words in which the stress is on both the parts of the word e.g.:
|
after|noon, |home-|made, |good-|looking, |bad-|tempered.
Note: In the noted words above both the parts of words are stressed but the primary stress is on
the second part of the word.

(iv) Stress in Phrases

A phrase is a group of words which forms a part of a sentence and adds some meaning to it.
However, this meaning is not complete by itself.
Read the following phrases and note the words/syllables which are stressed.
Buy him one, Pay for it, Send us one, Think of it, Answer me, Go away, Can you come? Cup of
tea, As you like, Do it now, Not at all, Talk to him, That’s enough, Thank them please, Ought to
know, Wait a bit, Show me one, What’s the time?, Put them down, Take them all, A railway engine,
A shoe repairer, Another question, Can’t have seen them, A cup of cocoa, Think it over, A clever
answer, A pretty picture, Do it again, Over the hills, Not before eight, Couldn’t believe it, Order it
for them, Dinner at eight, Difference between them, Talking about you, Writing about it.

(v) Stress in Sentences

A sentence consists of a number of words arranged in a systematic order and conveys some
meaning.
In sentences we find that all the words are not spoken with the same force of breath. Some words
stand out from others because they receive greater force of breath. The words which receive
greater force of breath are called stressed words. The words that are stressed are usually the words
that the speaker thinks are the more important for communicating the meaning.

Read the following sentences and note the words that are stressed. The stressed words are
written in bold type.
 You came to see him.
 We bought an interesting book.
 It was good to speak to him about it.
 I can’t come now.
 Tell her to put it down.
 He wrote the letter on Monday morning.
 He cut the bread with a sharp knife.
 I doubt if he can read it.
 Who did it?
 This pen is mine.

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Exercise 5
In the sentences given above note the stressed and unstressed words. Which parts of speech
do these words belong to ?

Exercise 6
In the sentences given below, some words are prominent, or stand out from the rest. Put
stress marks in the prominent words in each sentence.
1. I’m tired.
2. Who cooked dinner?
3. What time is it?
4. She bought a radio.
5. Do you think she’ll like it?
6. I’ll have some sandwiches.
7. It’s getting late.
8. She’s my aunt.
9. She’s in the kitchen.
10. He asked me to do it.

(vi) Rhythm
Rhythm denotes the element of music in speech which is produced by the arrangement of stressed
and unstressed words in sentences. In English speech when words are combined to form sentences
the stressed syllables tend to occur at regular intervals. Thus, the time interval between begin-
nings of strong (stressed) syllables is roughly the same. The unstressed syllables between the two
stressed syllables are reduced. This feature gives rhythm to English speech.
To understand this let us read the sentence given below:
|
This is the |house that |Jack |built.
In this sentence the stressed syllables are: ‘house’, ‘Jack’ and ‘built’. In sentences generally the
content words carry the stress ( e.g. nouns, main verbs, adjectives, adverbs, etc.). The time gap
between the stressed syllables should be roughly the same when we say this sentence.
Poems and nursery rhymes can help us to practise rhythm in English speech (which is not confined
to poems, but characterizes all speech in English).

To get some practice in English rhythm, let us read the poems given below giving stress as
indicated:

 |
Jack and |Jill |went up the |hill,
To |fetch a |pail of |water,
|
Jack fell |down and |broke his |crown,
And |Jill came |tumbling |after.
 |
One, |two, |three, |four, |five. |Once I ˌ |caught a |fish a|live.
|
Six, |seven, |eight, nine, |ten. |Then I |let it |go a|gain.
|
Why |did you |let it |go? Be|cause it| bit my |fingerˌ |so.
|
Which |finger |did it |bite ? The |little |finger |on theˌ |right.

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Read the sentences stressing the prominent syllables and reducing the unstressed
syllables.
 This |pencil is |sharp.
 I have |lived in| Bengal since |childhood.
 She is not |fond of |coffee.
 Super|ficial |knowledge |does a |lot of |harm.
 He will be |glad to |get a |book as a |gift.
 I couldn’t |come to |college as |I was |ill.
 He |does his |work on |time.
 |
All the |thieves have been ar|rested.
 He is |going to the |market to |buy some |books.
 |
Why don’t they |tell me the |plan?

(vii) Intonation Patterns

Intonation refers to pattern of pitch in a sentence. When we hear someone speaking we realize
that he does not speak on the same note. We notice variation in the pitch of his voice. Sometimes
his pitch rises and at other times it falls. This pattern of variation in the pitch of voice is called
intonation. There are mainly two types of intonation patterns followed in English language. These
are:
a. Falling tone: indicated by the symbol

b. Rising tone: indicated by the symbol

Falling intonation pattern

The tone in these sentences usually falls before the last word/segment of utterance. This is used:
In ordinary statements:

It’s |seven o’ clock.

The| milkman hasn’t come.

I didn’t do it.

The |water is cold.

The |postman was looking for you.

In questions beginning with the question words — what, when, where, how etc. — when
asking for information in a matter-of-fact manner.
|
Why did you do it?
|
Where are they going?
|
How do they come here?
|
When are they shifting?
|
What’s the time?

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 |
What do you |like best?
|
How are you?
|
Who’s |coming with me?
|
Why don’t you listen?
|
When can you come?

In commands
|
Do as I say.
|
Shut the door.
|
Go a way.
|
Sit down.
|
Bring a ‘glass of water.

In tag questions

It’s a |lovely day, isn’t it?

You can |swim well, can’t you?

He has a |lot of books, hasn’t he?

He didn’t |come, did he?

You’re |there, aren’t you?

This is the one you asked for, isn’t it?

You’re not going to play, are you?

To|morrow is |Monday, isn’t it?

Read the conversation using falling tone. The important words are written in capital letters.
Notice how the voice falls at the end (Note the slanting line placed before the words.)

WHAT’S your FAVOURITE COLOUR?

RED.

WHAT’S YOURS?

MY favourite’s BLUE.

Repeat each of the following words in falling intonation:

No, Push, Speak, Next, Sure, Which, Right,

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Repeat the following sentences / phrases according to the pattern shown below:

Pattern :

We’re late they’ve come you’re right he can’t

You must just now at school from here

Read the following sentences using falling tone, stressing the prominent words and paying
attention to the stress marks shown.

I must |get my hair cut.

It would be |better to |
leave it.

We |went for a |ride in a car.

I’m |looking for a |paper and a pencil.

We’ll |meet you at the station.

I |took away my |coat to be cleaned.

She’s |gone for a |walk in the park.

Rising intonation patterns

Here the voice rises towards the end of the sentence. It is used in the following cases:

Incomplete utterances

It’s |seven o’ clock (but the milkman hasn’t come yet)

The |house is empty (for many years in the past)

When I |reached there (he had left)

In questions which demand an answer in ‘yes’ or ‘no’

|
Are |they going?

Will |he be there?

|
Have |they done it?
|
Is she studying?
|
Has he started?
|
Have you |heard the news?
|
Do you know?
|
May I try?
|
Couldn’t you ask?

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 |
Aren’t you well?
|
Can you do it now?
|
Does it work?
|
Are you ready?
|
Did he enjoy it?

 In questions which begin with the question words but said in a polite or friendly
manner.
It is also used when we politely ask a person to repeat the information which we have not
clearly heard or understood, e.g.

A: They are coming from Delhi tomorrow.

B: When are they coming? (Asking for repetition)

|
How is your sister?
|
Why didn’t you |come to the party?
|
What is |wrong with you?
|
When’re you coming?

In polite requests:

|
Would you |open the door?
|
May I |have your pen?
|
Would you |mind |giving me your pencil?
|
Will you |sit down?
|
Please sit quietly.

Repeat the following questions using the rising tone. The important words are written in
capital letters. Notice how the voice rises at the end.

Are you TIRED?

Are you READY?

Have YOU seen my KEYS?

Could I borrow a RUPEE?

Wasn’t that a GREAT SHOW?

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  In subordinating clauses (but falling tone is used in the main clauses as shown
below).
|
When he came I |asked him to wait.

In| spite of the rain they all |came as they had promised.
|
If you like I will |send the car for you.
|
Since you re fuse help I must do it all alone .
|
When you are ready we can go.

(viii) Contracted forms

Some verbs have long as well as contracted forms. These forms are used more in speaking than
in writing, but they are often used in writing that shows conversation. Contracted forms are used
to maintain rhythm in connected speech. Many words have more than one contracted form. Read
the words given in the following table and practise speaking their contracted forms. Also say the
sentence using the contracted form of the verbs.

Long form of Contracted form(s) Contracted form used in

Verbs pronounced as sentences

Am /m/ I’m not going today.

Are /r/, /ər/ They’re coming today.

Is /s/, /z/, /iz/ What’s the matter?

Has /s/, /z/, /iz/ She’s done the work.

Have /v/, /əv/ They’ve taken their dinner.

Had /d/, /id/ He’d reached the station.

Would/could /d/, /id/ He’d like to join the army.

Do /d/ What d’you think about it?

Will/shall /l/, /əl/ He’ll definitely come.

Exercise 7
Read the sentences given below using contracted forms as shown. Also write the full forms
of these words in the brackets.
1. When’s he expected back? ( _______________ )
2. He says he’s needed in this case. ( _______________ )
3. It’s time to go. ( _______________ )
4. They think it’s he. ( _______________ )
5. You’re very beautiful. ( _______________ )

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6. They’re not going to wait all day. ( _______________ )
7. You’ll feel much better if you rest. ( _______________ )
8. He’ll open the gate for her. ( _______________ )
9. It’ll warm up soon. ( _______________ )
10. There’ll be no fun without them. ( _______________ )
11. They’ve got something for the boy. ( _______________ )
12. What I’ve always wanted was his presence. ( _______________ )
13. If they’ve passed how have their friends failed? ( _______________ )
14. It’s gone. It’s not here. ( _______,________ )
15. I think he’d have tried. ( _______________ )
16. They’d left early. ( _______________ )
17. It’d eaten the cake. ( _______________ )
18. She’d like a cold drink. ( _______________ )
19. It’ll be difficult to tell this to him. ( ______________)

There are also some contracted forms of verbs with ‘question words’ and with ‘here, there’
and ‘that’, for example
who’s, what’s, where’s, when’s, how’s’ who’d, what’ll, here’s, there’s, that’s, there’ll, there’d,
that’d
 Sometimes we can contract either the verb or ‘not’
‘
He is not lazy’ can be expressed as — ‘He isn’t lazy.’ or ‘He’s not lazy.’
You will not accept it’ can be expressed as — ‘You’ll not accept it.’ or ‘You won’t accept it’.
‘

 Uses of the contracted forms ‘s’ and ‘d’ :

‘s’ can be used in place of ‘is’ or ‘has’.
‘d’ can be used in place of ‘had’ , ‘would’ or ‘did’.

Exercise 8
Read the sentences given below and write the full form of ‘s’ and ‘d’.
1. She’s short. She’s got long hair.
2. It’s embarrassing to reach late for the party.
3. He’s left the job.
4. They’d come to stay with us.
5. Where’s she gone?
6. He’d already gone when I reached there.
7. It’d be difficult to explain.
8. If he’d known he’d have told me.
9. It’s time to mend our ways.

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Contracted form of negatives

When ‘not’ is used after the helping verbs ‘not’ is reduced to “n’t” and combined with the helping
verb coming before it. This is illustrated below.
They haven’t yet finished their work.
She hasn’t accepted the offer.
Students aren’t attentive in the class.
He won’t return before Sunday.

Read the following words using the contracted form of ‘not’.

aren’t, isn’t, wasn’t, weren’t, haven’t, hasn’t, hadn’t, don’t, doesn’t, didn’t, won’t ( will not), shan’t
(shall not), can’t, couldn’t, mustn’t, needn’t, mightn’t, shouldn’t, wouldn’t, daren’t.
Given below are a set of sentences in which the contracted form of ‘not’ is used.

Read these sentences aloud using the contracted form of ‘not’.

1. Don’t open that, please.
2. Please open the door, if you don’t mind.
3. He isn’t alone.
4. Isn’t it a fine day?
5. They aren’t playing cards.
6. We aren’t doing anything tonight.
7. You haven’t seen him I suppose.
8. Hasn’t the doctor come yet?
9. She hadn’t got the time to speak.
10. They wouldn’t lower the price at all.
11. She knew you’d come. He won’t help her.
12. We won’t forgive him.
13. He couldn’t have said this but to keep peace.

Note: We can’t use ‘ n’t’ when we use the pronoun ‘I’. We say
‘I’m not sure’ instead of saying ‘I am n’t sure’

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(ix) Consonant clusters
When two or more consonant letters come in sequence, they form clusters. These consonants
occur in the beginning or at the end of a syllable and are difficult to pronounce for those learning
English as a second language.
Read the words given below and note the consonant clusters occurring at the beginning of
these words.

Word Consonant cluster Word Consonant cluster

1 blue bl 15 state st
2 train tr 16 flood fl
3 glass gl 17 grow gr
4 spell sp 18 tutor /tj/
5 smile sm 19 twelve tw
6 sweet sw 20 draw dr
7 cry cr 21 duty /dj/
8 fresh fr 22 clip /kl/
9 slow sl 23 queen /kw/
10 pray pr 24 glass gl
11 few /fj/ 25 sprain spr
12 throw thr /θr/ 26 strain str
13 snake sn 27 scream skr
14 squeeze sq /skw/ 28 please pl

Given below is another set of words. Read these words and note the consonant clusters at
the end of these words

Word Consonant cluster Word Consonant cluster

1 bulb lb 9 orange ng
2 lamp mp 10 self lf
3 clasp sp 11 revolve lv
4 past st 12 fifth fth
5 hand nd 13 cubs bs
6 ask sk 14 maps ps
7 milk lk 15 sins ns
8 branch nch 16 killed ld

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Exercise 9
Read these words and find out which consonant clusters are used.
Note: You may find them in the beginning, middle or at the end of the words.
scrapbook, blackboard, postman, screwdriver, earthquake, long-lived, middle-aged, goldsmith,
churchyard, accident, occupation, require, liquid, vaccination, frequent, taxi, equal, application,
scrub, shrink.

Exercise 10
Read the following sentences and underline the consonant clusters.
1. Sandeep went for camping in Hilton Park. He set up a camp and walked through the meadows.
He bought a candy from the shopkeeper.
2. Kamla asked him to stop quarrelling and be quiet.
3. It’s difficult to be a king.
4. Will you sing a song?
5. I can’t sing, but I can beat the drum and you can sing along.
6. Bring him along and play Ping-Pong for the whole day long.
7. Squishy Squirrel and Quincy Duck were squabbling in the Quality Park.
8. He squeezed the squirrel so tight that it squealed in fright.
9. We get scabs on our skin if we have scurvy.
10. When he is scared he screams.
11. The eagle swooped swiftly from the sky.

Exercise 11
Here are some more sentences in which consonant clusters occur at different places in words.
Read these sentences and locate the consonant clusters.
1. Fluffy went flip-flop all over the floor.
2. In a flash, it flew out of the window.
3. Here are some flowers and a flask of tea of your favourite flavour.
4. Smita fell ill with flu.
5. My friend is frightened of frogs.
6. Thumbelina stumbled out of the bush. She heard a rumble and a cry.
7. ‘Climb up’, said Tom.
8. Freedom needs to be fought for.
9. Children were munching crunchy French fries.
10. Monkeys were lunching on bunches of banana.

Exercise 12
Given below is another set of sentences. Read these sentences and underline the consonant
clusters.
1. Great grandma was grumpy one day.
2. She was groaning in bed and grunting away.
3. She grumbled that she was hungry.
4. She wants grapes from the grocer’s shop.
5. They have a grand plan to get her up.
6. Watch the patch and catch the thief.
7. Clasp your hands and clench your teeth.
8. Due to a clash of opinion a break in the party was felt.

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9. Cricket drives the spectators crazy.
10. She cried and screamed but nobody listened.
11. They threatened him three times.

(x) Silent letters

Read the following words and note their pronunciation.
write, wrapped, knight, knife, psychology, wrinkle, balm, worm, calm, would, should, bright,
straight.
In all of these words we see that a group of consonants are used in sequence but when we
pronounce these words some of the consonants remain silent. As some of the consonant sounds
are not heard, we can say that there are no consonant clusters due to silent consonant letters.

Exercise 13
Read the following sentences and note the consonant sounds which remain silent when we
read those words.
1. He wrapped a muffler round his neck and sat down to write.
2. He said that he would wring her wrinkled neck.
3. She says that her notes are all wrong.
4. I know a boy whose name is Knight.
5. She likes kneeling while knitting.
6. She knocked the door, turned the knob and entered.
7. This is a knotty problem, but you know what you can do if you remain calm.
8. I would if I could.
9. If you could then you should.
10. Calm down and sit by these palms.
11. Here comes a calf.
12. Get me some balm.
13. I bought eight nuts for my daughter.
14. I thought Santa brought gifts for everyone.
15. This isn’t the right thing to do.
16. He jumped straight and landed on a bough.

Exercise 14
Read the following words and note the consonant clusters. Put them in appropriate columns
in the table given below according to their pronunciation.
psychology, pseudo, psalm, prudent, protect, prosper, wriggle, wring, write, wrong, trim, triple,
trend, true, stroke, stroll, strive, caught, bought, night, sight, walk, talk, born, bundle, turn.
(xi) Weak forms

Words with consonant clusters Words without consonant clusters (with

silent letters)
eg: Prudent eg: Write

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This is another characteristic of English speech. There are a number of words in English which
have two forms, the strong form and the weak form. When these words are emphasized (stressed)
or when they are pronounced in isolation, strong forms of these words are used. When they are
unstressed or when they are spoken in sentences, the weak forms of those words are used. Weak
forms possess the following features:
 Reduction of the length of the sound
 Weakening of the vowel sound used in them
 Absence (elision) of the vowel sound and consonant sounds used in them.

Given below is a list of common words with their two forms written in phonetic symbols.
Practise reading the strong and weak forms of these words

Category Words Strong form Weak form

Articles a eɪ ə
an æn ən
the ðiː ði, ðə
Auxiliary verbs am æm əm, m
are ɑː ə
can kæn kən
could kud kəd
does dʌ z dəz
do du: du
had hæd həd, d
has hæz həz, z
have hæv həv, v
is iz z
must mʌst məst , məs
shall ʃæl ʃəl, ʃl
will wil l
would wud əd, d
was wɔz wəz, z
were wɜː wə
Prepositions at æt ət
for fɔː fə

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 Category Words Strong form Weak form
from frɔm frəm
of ɒv əv, v
to tu tə, t
Conjunctions and ænd ənd, n
as æz əz
than ðæn ðən
that ðæt ðət
but bʌt bət
Others been biːn bin
some sʌm səm
there ðeə ðə
him him im
her hɜː hə
his hiz iz
who hu: hu
you ju: ju
sir sɜː sə
we wiː wi
she ʃiː ʃi

Read the following sentences aloud using the weak forms of the helping verbs.
1. Why I am going to visit him is not known to me either.
2. The bus has already gone.
3. The man was extremely kind.
4. All their money had gone.
5. It is raining now.
6. Children are going to school.
7. They have finished their assignment.
8. He will see her tomorrow.
9. They would never get such an opportunity.
10. Mohan is not staying here.
11. We shall come and see you.

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Exercise 15
Here is another set of sentences containing weak forms of some words. Read these sentences and
identify the words which should be read using the weak forms.
1. The lion is the king of beasts.
2. This is the same building.
3. Punjab is a rich province.
4. A crow sat on the branch of a tall tree.
5. An apple a day, keeps the doctor away.
6. Hardy is famous for his novels.
7. He is grateful to her for many reasons.
8. She is qualified for the post.
9. He said that he was ill.
10. Raman and his sister are invited to the party.
11. Anand wanted him to wait till he returned.
12. She needed some money.

Given below is another set of sentences written using the strong forms. Practise the sentences
using the weak forms where needed.
1. I am going to Delhi.
2. She met her friend after an interval of seven years.
3. Why do you not mind your business?
4. Where can you find him?
5. They both are lawyers.
6. He was looking at the children in the park.
7. I was at home at six o’clock.
8. He was not at home.
9. How is Raman these days?
10. He took his dog for a walk in the park.

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(xii) A few tips to pronunciation
 Silent ‘e’: When a silent ‘e’ is put at the end of a word having one syllable, the vowel before
it says its name. Look at the following examples.
bath bathe fir fire
cloth clothe plum plume
strip stripe grim grime
 Words ending in ‘ar’ sound like /eər/on adding the silent ‘e’. For example:
bar bare car care
far fare star stare
mar mare scar scare
 In words containing ‘ea’ the sound produced is /iː/. For example:
speak, stream, and sneak.
 ‘a’ before ‘l’ is pronounced as /ɔː/. For example:
walk, talk, chalk, halt, salt.
 ‘ay’ is pronounced as /eɪ/ if it comes at the end of a word. For example:
pray, tray, day, say, gay, hay, lay.
 ‘ai’ is pronounced as /eɪ/ if it comes at the beginning or middle of a word. For example:
rail, snail, pail, tail, ail, rail, fail, train, pain, rain, wait, maid, paid, claim.
 When ‘ow’ comes at the end of a word it is pronounced as /əʊ /. For example:
crow, throw, snow, blow, bow, row, glow, grow, below.
 In words containing ‘oa’ the sound produced is /əʊ/. For example:
goat, coat, throat, float, boat, toad, load, coal, moan, loan, soak, clock.
 In words containing ‘oe’ the sound produced is /əʊ/. For example:
toe, hoe, foe.
 ‘y’ if it comes at the end of the word, it is generally pronounced as /aɪ/ . For example:
my, reply, July, rely, occupy, why, satisfy, multiply.
 In words containing ‘igh’ the sound produced is /aɪ/. For example:
sigh, flight, plight, right, fight, light.
 In words containing ‘ie’ the sound produced is /aɪ/. For example:
pie, tie, die, lie.
 In words containing ‘oo’ the sound produced is /u:/. For example:
loop, tooth, spoon, room, school, tool, roof.
 In words containing ‘ou’ the sound produced is /u:/. For example:
youth, group, soup, route.
 In words containing ‘ir’ and ‘ur’ the sound produced is /ɜː/. For example:
shirt, skirt, bird, burn, turn, church, purple, curtain, surface.
 In words containing ‘ov’ the sound produced is /ʌv/. For example:
glove, above, dove, cover.
 ‘o’ and ‘u’ are good friends and they often change their places but the meaning also
changes. For example:
son sun some sum none nun

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 The letter ‘g’ in a word followed by ‘e’ ‘i’ or ‘y’ is pronounced as /dʒ/. For example:
gentle, gypsy, gesture, ginger, general, gem, genius.
Note: There are some exceptions to this rule, e.g. geese, gear, get, give, girl, gift, gynaecology.

Exercise 16
Given below is a list of words. Read these words and put them into two columns of sounds
/g/ and /dʒ/.
gender, gain, give, get, gone, gill, gift, gap, gypsy, gym, agree, arrangement, origin, agent,
manager, baggage, luggage.

Words containing /g/ sound Words containing /dʒ/ sound

 ‘g’ followed by ‘u’ in a word is pronounced as /g/. For example:

guilt, guess, guy, gulf, guide, vague, guilt.
 ‘k’ followed by ‘e’ and ‘i’ in a word is pronounced as /k/. For example:
keep, kick, keen, kidney, key, kettle, king, kind.
 ‘c’ and ‘ic’ are pronounced ‘k’ if it comes at the end of words having more than one syllables.
For example:
music, picnic, havoc, cubic, public, rustic, critic, heroic, elastic, dramatic.
 ‘que’ and ‘ch’ are pronounced as ‘k’ in words having more than one syllable. For example:
unique, physique, school, echo, stomach.
 ‘c’ is pronounced as ‘s’ if it followed by ‘e’ or ‘i’, otherwise it is pronounced as ‘k’. For
example:
service, notice, prince, justice, urgency, proficiency, advance, glance, chance, circular,
cube, call, come, clay, crowd.

Exercise 17
Read the words given below and then put them in appropriate columns on the basis of the
pronunciation of the letter ‘c’.
character, cinema, cattle, caught, cold, cell, central, civil, celebrate, city.

Words containing /s/ sound Words containing /k/ sound

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 Answers to Lessons 4
Exercise 1
The syllables contained in these words are:

Words Vowel sound & syllables contained

Gone /ɒ/ one
Carry /æ/ one
Light /aɪ/ & /i/ two (ca+rry)
Sing /i/ one
Beat /i:/ one
Bell /e/ one
Leaf /i:/ one
Master /a:/ &/ə/ two (Mas+ter)
Teacher /i:/& /ə/ two ( tea+cher)
Milk /i/ one
Black /æ/ one
Swim /i/ one
Swear /eə/ one
Read /i:/ one
Delight /i/ & /aɪ/ two ( de+ light)
Object /ɒ/ /e/ two (ob+ ject)
Record /i/& /ɔː/ two (re+cord)
Increase /i/ &/i:/ two (in + crease)
Waste /eɪ/ one
Family /æ/ & /i/ three ( fa + mi + ly)
Suppose /ʌ/& /əʊ/ two (sup +pose)
Never /e/ & /ə/ two (ne+ver)

Exercise 2
|
basket, |answer, enter|tain, |father, |knowledge, de|liver, |duty, com|mittee, |backward, be|side,
|
liberty, ef|fect, |famous, |doctor, de|ceive, be|cause, pos|sess, recom|mend, |sentence.

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Exercise 3
in|ferior inferi|ority su|perior superi|ority
ex amine
|
exami nation
|
con firm
|
confir|mation
|
educate edu|cation |
register regis|trar
|
classify classifi cation
| |
benefit be|neficient bene|ficial
|
personal per|sonify perso|nality
|
family fa miliar
|
famili|arity

Exercise 4
1. Greater investment in education leads to an |increase in the number of students.
2. He in|creased his speed to overtake the bus.
3. She is an |absent-minded person.
4. He absented himself from the meeting.
5. A |digest of the news was presented.
6. He could not di|gest the news.
7. Careful |contrast of the two plans shows minute differences.
8. It is interesting to con|trast the two pictures.

Exercise 5
In the given sentences the stressed (highlighted) words belong to the following parts of speech:
• Nouns and some interrogative pronouns.
• Demonstratives include — this, that, these, etc.
• Adjectives
• Most adverbs
• Main verbs
The other words are unstressed. These are:
• Prepositions
• Articles
• Auxiliaries
• Conjunctions and
• Pronouns

Exercise 6
1. I’m |tired.
2. |
Who |cooked |dinner?
3. |
What |time is it?
4. She |bought a |radio.
5. Do you |think she’ll |like it?
6. I’ll |have |some |sandwiches.
7. It’s |getting |late.
8. She’s my |aunt.
9. She’s in the |kitchen.
10. He |asked me to |do it.

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Exercise 7
1. When’s he expected back? (is)
2. He says he’s needed in this case. (is)
3. It’s time to go. (is)
4. They think it’s he. (is)
5. You’re very beautiful. (are)
6. They’re not going to wait all day. (are)
7. You’ll feel much better if you rest. (will)
8. He’ll open the gate for her. (will)
9. It’ll warm up soon. (will)
10. There’ll be no fun without them. (will)
11. They’ve got something for the boy. (have)
12. What I’ve always wanted is his presence. (have)
13. If they’ve passed how have their friends failed? (have)
14. It’s gone. It’s not here. (has, is)
15. I think he’d have tried. (would)
16. They’d left early. (had)
17. It’d eaten the cake. (had)
18. She’d like a cold drink. (would)
19. It’ll be difficult to tell this to him. (will)

Exercise 8
1. She’s short. She’s got long hair. (is, has)
2. It’s embarrassing to reach late for the party. (is)
3. He’s left the job. (has)
4. They’d come to stay with us. (had)
5. Where’s she gone? (has)
6. He’d already gone when I reached there. (had)
7. It’d be difficult to explain. (would)
8. If he’d known, he‘d have told me. (had, would)
9. It’s time to mend our ways. (is)

Exercise 9

Words Consonant clusters

scrapbook scr
blackboard bl
postman st
screwdriver scr, dr
earthquake qu

110 Spoken English - Section I © 2013, Dayalbagh Educational Institute

 Words Consonant clusters
long-lived ng, vd
middle-aged dl
goldsmith ld, sm
churchyard chy
accident nt
occupation ccu, tion
require qu
liquid qu
vaccination cc, tion
frequent fr, qu, nt
taxi x
equal qu
application pl, tion
scrub scr
shrink shr

Exercise 10
The consonant clusters are underlined.
1. Sandeep went camping in the Hilton Park. He set up camp and walked through the meadows.
2. He bought a candy from the shopkeeper.
3. Kamla asked him to stop quarrelling and be quiet.
4. It’s difficult to be a king.
5. Will you sing a song?
6. I can’t sing but I can beat the drum and you can sing along.
7. Bring him along and play ping- pong the whole day long.
8. Squishy squirrel and Quincy Duck were squabbling in Quality park.
9. He squeezed the squirrel so tight that it squealed in fright.
10. We get scabs on our skin if we have scurvy.
11. When he is scared he screams.
12. The eagle swooped swiftly from the sky.

Exercise 11
The consonant clusters occurring in these sentences are:
‘fl’, ‘fr’, ‘mb’, ‘cl’, ‘nd’, ‘nch’, ‘sk’, ‘sm’, ‘st’, ‘ bl’, ‘cl’, ‘cr’, ‘ds’, ‘nk’, and ‘dr’.

© 2013, Dayalbagh Educational Institute Spoken English - Section 1 111

Exercise 12
The consonant clusters occurring here are: ‘gr’, ‘dm’, ‘mp’ ‘ngr’, ‘ts’ ‘thr’, ‘kr’ and ‘mbld’, ‘fr’, ‘pl’,
‘sp’, ‘ds’, ‘cl’, ‘lt’, ‘cr’, ‘dr’,’ rs’, ‘scr’ and ‘nds’.

Exercise 13
The consonant sounds that remain silent in these words occur in the following combination of
consonant letters. The silent consonants are underlined.
‘wr’, ‘kn’, ‘ld’, ‘lm’, ‘lf’, and ‘gh’

Exercise 14

Words with consonant clusters Words without consonant clusters (with

silent letters)
prudent, protect, prosper, wriggle, psychology, pseudo, psalm, wring,
wrong, trim, triple, trend, true, write, caught, bought, night, sight,
stroke, stroll, strive, , bundle. walk, talk, born, turn.

Exercise 15
The words which should be read using the weak forms are: is, am, are, the, of, on, an, was, for, to,
that, and, her, his.

Exercise 16
Word containing / g / sound Words containing /dʒ/ sound

gain, give, get, gone, gill, gift, gap, agree, gender, gypsy, gym, arrangement, origin,
baggage, luggage. agent, manager, baggage, luggage.

Exercise 17
Word containing the /s/ sound Words containing the /k/ sound

cinema, cell, central, civil, celebrate, city. character, cattle, caught, cold.

112 Spoken English - Section I © 2013, Dayalbagh Educational Institute

 Sound Games
Crossword
Complete the crossword by putting the listed consonant sounds on both sides of the vowels
given in the central position in each line. You can use the consonant sounds more than once.
The words which you have to fill in are given in normal English spelling (in the box).
ʃ, t, d, b, k, r, p

should, book, cart, red, cat, bet,

part, peak, sheet, rat, taught /i:/

/u/

/e/

/æ/

/a:/

/ɔ:/

/i/

/^/

/ɔ/

/u:/

/ə:/

/æ/ t, n, k, b, d, m, p
burn, noon, cut, knob, boot, cot,
pad, bit, tub, tin, bird

© 2013, Dayalbagh Educational Institute Spoken English - Section 1 113

Treasure hunt
Help Reena to find the hidden treasure. You can move along the squares with words
containing the /z/ sound only.

Zest Jest Page Geography Join

Buzz Zoo Raise Jump Forge

Jew Wage Gaze Cage Noise

Rage Bars Reason Joy Freeze

Change Increase Biology Zebra Rise

Region Boys Engineer Huge Magic

Jealous Ways Zealous Cheese Plans

114 Spoken English - Section I © 2013, Dayalbagh Educational Institute

Help the Puppy find its Home
Help the puppy to find its home. You can move along the squares with words containing the
/ʃ/ sound only.

Shift Ship Shell Division Vision

Sip Same Sure Sow Station

Shout Precious Show Measure Nation

Cushion Sea Rice Sign Confusion

Mission Show Push Rush Delicious

© 2013, Dayalbagh Educational Institute Spoken English - Section 1 115

Family Tree

Matching Vowel Sounds

Complete the following family tree with the help of the names given in the box. Remember that
in this family all brothers and sisters have the same first vowel in their names and they can get
married to people with the same first vowel sound in their names. You can take help from the
names given in the box.

Hemant Renu

Hitesh Rinku

Manju Manu Rakesh Ramvir

Neeta Puneet Suraj

Male: Hemant, , Raman, Rakesh, Ramvir, Manu,Puneet, Hitesh, Rinku Suraj, Neeraj
Female: Mithlesh, Manju, Anu, Shanu, Rani, Neeta, Renu, Ritu, Urvashi, Poorvi

116 Spoken English - Section I © 2013, Dayalbagh Educational Institute

Word squares

Complete the Word Squares to make four words in each puzzle. You can take help from the
words given under these puzzles.

/ei/ /ai/

/ei/ /ei/ /ai/ /ai/

/ei/ /ai/

pale, late, date, paid bite, tight, bike, kite

/əu/ /ɔ:/

/əu/ /əu/ /ɔ:/ /ɔ:/

/əu/ /ɔ:/

coat, tone cone, known hall, lawn, corn, hawk

© 2013, Dayalbagh Educational Institute Spoken English - Section 1 117

Searching the Professionals

Given in the box below are some phonemic symbols in which names of certain professionals
are hidden e.g. ‘nurse’ shown as (nə:s ). Find the names of ten other professionals using all
the symbols. Use each symbol once only.

m d ɔ k t ə e

ə t i: tʃ ə k n

k p n ə: s u g

æ eɪ g a: d k i

n n s i ŋg ə n

i t æ k t ə iə

k ə g a: d n ə

118 Spoken English - Section I © 2013, Dayalbagh Educational Institute

Word Stress Maze
In the following maze some words are written with stress either on the first, second or
third syllable. Starting from the entry Rinku can move along the squares with words having
primary stress on the first syllable only to reach to his school.

Apple Because Delicate Educate Foreign

Baggage Effect Holy Entertain Backbone

Leader Delight Ringing Recommend Goldsmith

Nature Understand Backward Deliver Dentist

Captain Reactor Package Recover Freedom

Damage Committee Careful Admit Aimless

Eager Quality Booklet Effect Hydrogen

© 2013, Dayalbagh Educational Institute Spoken English - Section 1 119

Consonant Cluster Cones

You are given a starting word at the base of each cone. Make a new word by adding a single
consonant sound (of one or more letters) to the beginning, middle or end of the word and
write it on the next strip of the cone. Go on adding other consonant sounds to make new
words till you reach the top of the cone.

/ai/ cone /ei/ cone /i/ cone

my ray it

120 Spoken English - Section I © 2013, Dayalbagh Educational Institute

A Game with /θ/ and /ð/

Complete the given crossword with the help of the clues given below to discover words written
either horizontally (Across) or vertically (Down).Each word contains either / θ/ or / ð / sound.

1 2 3 5 6
br r th e f

7
b

8
th

4 10 9
th w o

ACROSS: DOWN:
1. Masculine gender of sister (7 letters) 1. Taking in and giving out air from
4. The bowlers _________ the ball six lungs (6 letters)
times in a cricket over (5 letters ) 2. I like tea ___________ than coffee
7. Washing the body with soap and (6 letters)
water (4 letters) 3. Pointing to a single object at a
8. Objective Case of ‘they’ (4 letters) distance (4 letters)
9. The two friends gave gifts to each 5. Another word for sky (5 letters)
________ (5 letters) 6. Birds are covered with this (7 letters)
10. Children like bread ___________
butter (4 letters)

© 2013, Dayalbagh Educational Institute Spoken English - Section 1 121

Sound Spelling Game
Given below are sets of words written in phonetic spellings. In each set the phonetic
spelling of one word is the same as in normal spelling. Underline it and then write the
other words in normal spelling. Score one point for each correct answer. The maximum
score is 30 points.

desk, teibl, tʃeə blju, jeləu

səufə, kʌbəd pə:pl, wait, red

Furniture Colours

ʃi:p, kau, lain, θ ə:ti:n, twenti,

zebrə, pig ten, fəu, siks

Animals Numbers

Hændz, feis, dʒʌp, wɔ:tʃ, siŋ,

fiŋgə, nek, leg sit, i:t

Body Parts Action

122 Spoken English - Section I © 2013, Dayalbagh Educational Institute

 Answers to Sound Games
Crossword

Complete the crossword by putting the listed consonant sounds on both sides of the vowels given
in the central position in each line. You can use the consonant sounds more than once. The words
which you have to fill in are given in normal English spelling (in the box).
ʃ, t, d, b, k, r, p

p
sheet, book, red, cat, part, taught,
peak, should, bet, rat, cart ʃ /i:/ t

b /u/ k

r /e/ d

c /æ/ t

p /a:/ t

t /ɔ:/ t

t i n

c /^/ t

(k)n /ɔ/ b

b /u:/ t

b /ə:/ n

p /æ/ d t, n, k, b, d, m, p
tin, cut, knob, boot, burn, pad,
bit, tub, cot, noon, bird

© 2013, Dayalbagh Educational Institute Spoken English - Section 1 123

Treasure hunt
Help Reena to find the hidden treasure. You can move along the squares with words
containing the /z/ sound only.

Zest Jest Page Geography Join

Buzz Zoo Raise Jump Forge

Jew Wage Gaze Cage Noise

Rage Bars Reason Joy Freeze

Change Increase Biology Zebra Rise

Region Boys Engineer Huge Magic

Jealous Ways Zealous Cheese Plans

124 Spoken English - Section I © 2013, Dayalbagh Educational Institute

Help the Puppy find its Home

Help the puppy to find its home. You can move along the squares with words containing the
/ʃ/ sound only.

Shift Ship Shell Division Vision

Sip Same Sure Sow Station

Shout Precious Show Measure Nation

Cushion Sea Rice Sign Confusion

Mission Show Push Rush Delicious

© 2013, Dayalbagh Educational Institute Spoken English - Section 1 125

Family Tree

Matching Vowel Sounds

Complete the following family tree with the help of the names given in the box. Remember that
in this family all brothers and sisters have the same first vowel in their names and they can get
married to people with the same first vowel sound in their names. You can take help from the
names given in the box.

Hemant Renu

Hitesh Ritu Rinku Mithlesh

Manju Raman Manu Anu Rakesh Shanu Rani Ramvir

Neeta Neeraj Urvashi Puneet Poorvi Suraj

126 Spoken English - Section I © 2013, Dayalbagh Educational Institute

Word squares

Complete the Word Squares to make four words in each puzzle. You can take help from the words
given under these puzzles.

p /ei/ l b /ai/ t(e)

/ei/ /ei/ /ai/ /ai/

d /ei/ t(e) k /ai/ t(e)

pale, late, date, paid bite, tight, bike, kite

c /əu/ n(e) h /ɔ:/ l(l)

/əu/ /əu/ /ɔ:/ /ɔ:/

t /əu/ n(e) c/k /ɔ:/ n

coat, tone cone, known hall, lawn, corn, hawk

© 2013, Dayalbagh Educational Institute Spoken English - Section 1 127

Searching the Professionals

Given in the box below are some phonemic symbols in which names of certain professionals
are hidden e.g. ‘nurse’ shown as (nə:s ). Find the names of ten other professionals using all
the symbols. Use each symbol once only.

1 5 4
m d ɔ k t ə e

6 3
ə t i: tʃ ə k n

k 2
p 7
n ə: s u g

æ eɪ g a: d k i

8
n n s i ŋg ə n

i t 9æ k t ə iə

k ə 10g a: d n ə

ANSWERS
Down: 1. Mechanic, 2. Painter, 3. Cook, 4. Engineer.
Across: 5. Doctor, 6. Teacher, 7. Nurse, 8. Singer, 9. Actor, 10. gardener.

128 Spoken English - Section I © 2013, Dayalbagh Educational Institute

Word Stress Maze
In the following maze some words are written with stress either on the first, second or
third syllable. Starting from the entry Rinku can move along the squares with words having
primary stress on the first syllable only to reach his school.

Apple Because Delicate Educate Foreign

Baggage Effect Holy Entertain Backbone

Leader Delight Ringing Recommend Goldsmith

Nature Understand Backward Deliver Dentist

Captain Reactor Package Recover Freedom

Damage Committee Careful Admit Aimless

Eager Quality Booklet Effect Hydrogen

© 2013, Dayalbagh Educational Institute Spoken English - Section 1 129

Consonant Cluster Cones

You are given a starting word at the base of each cone. Make a new word by adding a single
consonant sound (of one or more letters) to the beginning, middle or end of the word and
write it on the next strip of the cone. Go on adding other consonant sounds to make new
words till you reach the top of the cone.

/ai/ cone /ei/ cone /i/ cone

smiles sprayed split

smile spray spit

mile pray sit

my ray it

130 Spoken English - Section I © 2013, Dayalbagh Educational Institute

A Game with /θ/ and /ð/

Complete the given crossword with the help of the clues given below to discover words written
either horizontally (Across) or vertically (Down).Each word contains either / θ/ or / ð / sound.

1 2 3 5 6
b r o th e r f

r a a th e

7
e th t e b a th

8
a e r th e m

4 10 9
th r o w o th e r

e i r

th

ANSWERS
Across: 1. Brother, 4. Throw, 7. Bath, 8. Them, 9. Other
Down: 1. Breathe, 2. Rather,3. That, 5. Ether, 6. Feather, 10. With.

© 2013, Dayalbagh Educational Institute Spoken English - Section 1 131

Sound Spelling Game
Given below are sets of words written in phonetic spellings. In each set the phonetic
spelling of one word is the same as in normal spelling. Underline it and then write the
other words in normal spelling. Score one point for each correct answer. The maximum
score is 30 points.

desk blue, yellow,

table, chair, purple, white,
sofa, cupboard red

Furniture Colours

Sheep, cow, Thirteen,

lion, zebra, twenty, ten
pig four, six

Animals Numbers

Hands, face, Jump, watch,

finger, neck, leg sing, sit, eat.

Body Parts Action

132 Spoken English - Section I © 2013, Dayalbagh Educational Institute