'Exploit' is the word

Dear visitor,

Yes, you're in the right place! Clicking on the tab "How to Use" or at least choosing to take a look at this post was the best decision you've made this week! So, to honour this superb decision don't look away, let the food burn in the kitchen, forget the boiler on and continue reading.

If you're planning to use this blog, then you may as well want to use it properly.

In the next three minutes you'll learn how to organise your self-study so as to make the most of the material provided here, as well as your time and effort, and hence accelerate your progress.

What you need

 For that purpose, you'll need the items shown in the picture.

• a computer with a good Internet connection
• headphones
• a voice recorder
• some paper and a pen

The computer, Internet connection and the pair of headphones are self-explanatory.

As for the voice recorder, you'll need it to make the most of the oral exercises and your practice time (read why below). If you don't already have a voice recorder or if you don't have the money to buy one (I got mine 3 years ago and it cost me £80; though I'm sure there are cheaper options out there), then you can use a free online recorder, such as  this one.

There will be some exercises in the upcoming videos which will be largely oral exercises but some may require you to grab a piece of paper and a pen and jot down a thing or two. 

Got all these? Perfect. Let's get started..

Step 1

Click on the 'Received Pronunciation' tab. Read the post 'An Introduction to RP'. I simply cannot stress enough how important it is for you to learn a bit more about the 'tool' you'll be working with throughout your self-study before you make a start.

How to Go Through the Lessons

Step 2

Read the text of the x Lesson and listen to the audio (if any). Listen carefully. We don't want it to go in one ear and out the other, now do we?

Step 3

When you've finished reading, listen to each recording again and repeat until you're satisfied, until your pronunciation resembles or mimics the one in the recording. 

Step 4 

Find a voice recorder, a voice recording app or website and repeat once more what you've been practising. Record your voice. Listen to it. Found flaws in your pronunciation? You don't like it? Listen to the blog's recordings again and try to spot the differences. Record your voice again. It's all about trial and error really. Time-consuming but incredibly rewarding!

Step 5

Watch the video. (I know I know.. there is no video here whatsoever! The equipment will arrive around mid-July, so by the end of the month I'll have made my first-ever videos. Exciting and scary stuff.)

Step 6

Go through all the exercises of the video. Don't just skip them and watch the video passively. Do the exercises (both oral and written) and practise. 

Practice makes perfect; a saying that couldn't be more suitable for pronunciation improvement. Your tongue is just another muscle. The more you practise, the more you train the muscle of your tongue. Eventually, in the middle of a conversation in English you'll find yourself utilising and applying what you've learnt without even realising it and, most importantly, without struggling (thanks to the endless hours you spent training your tongue muscle and your brain).

Step 7

Relax. Sit back and enjoy a nice cup of coffee or tea.. or a nice, cool beer.. or whatever. This step is just as important as the previous steps. You should always treat yourself after a lesson's hard work! :)

Hope this helps.

Take care.

Lesson 03: Syllables - Introduction

Teach Me the basics of syllables

Syllables: The Building Blocks of Words

We can divide the pronunciation of a word into units called syllables. There are words made of just one syllable, and longer words made of two or more syllables. For instance, the word dad has one syllable, father has two syllables and grandfather has three syllables.

Sounds: The Building Blocks of Syllables

Just as we can break down a word into syllables, we can similarly break down syllables into sounds. To put it another way, sounds are the building blocks of syllables.

The shortest syllable has only one building block, i.e. one sound and that sound will always be a vowel sound. The vowel sound is the core of the syllable. For instance, the word eye /aɪ/ has one syllable and that syllable is just one vowel sound long. 

Syllables Longer than One Vowel Sound

The vowel sound of a syllable may have a consonant before it (CV), a consonant after it (VC) or have one consonant preceding it and one following it at the same time (CVC). 

Look at the table for examples of such words. For the sake of simplicity only one-syllable words were used this time. (Tip: Always listen to the audio and repeat multiple times.)

CV	VC	CVC
do    /du/	of   /əv/	pen   /pen/
key   /kiː/	ape   /eɪp/	cook   /kʊk/
high   /haɪ/	eat   /iːt/	rice   /raɪs/
know   /nəʊ/	eight   /eɪt/	weight   /weɪt/

Of course, the vowel sound can be preceded, followed or surrounded by more than one consonant, as follows:

CCV	VCC	CCVC / CVCC
ski   /skiː/	act   /ækt/	great   /ɡreɪt/
throw   /θrəʊ/	elk   /elk/	twist   /twɪst/

W, Y and R: Consonant or Vowel sounds?

You shouldn't confuse letters with sounds!

As it was explained in Lesson 01, one word may have fewer sounds when pronounced than has letters in writing. Also, letters usually don't correspond to the same sounds. 

For example, the letters W and Y sometimes correspond to a consonant sound and sometimes to a vowel sound. More specifically, W and Y are usually considered to be consonant sounds, as in the words witch and yacht. 


That is except for when W and Y come after a vowel sound; then they sound as part of the vowel sound, as in the words saw and say. 


The same applies to the letter R. In general it has a consonant sound, as in carrot, but when it comes after a vowel sound it's pronounced as an extension of that vowel, as in car or arm.

The Syllables in Writing and in Pronunciation

In writing, most people would divide the word restaurant into three parts or syllables, like this: re-stau-rant. But when we read the word (in British English), we pronounce only two syllables, /ˈrest.rɒnt/. (There is a dot in the middle to separate the two syllables).


Indeed, many words are pronounced with fewer syllables than in writing. Listen to the following examples. Mind the dots separating the syllables.   

Word	Pronunciation	Syllables
vegetable	ˈvedʒ.təbl	2
chocolate	ˈtʃɒk.lət	2
interesting	ˈɪn.trə.stɪŋ	3
different	ˈdɪf.rənt	2
lovely	ˈlʌv.li	2
Wednesday	ˈwenz.deɪ	2