Saturday 2 August 2014

Tongue Twister No 4

SUNDAY'S TONGUE TWISTER


Betty Botter bought some butter,
"But," she said, "this butter's bitter.
If I bake this bitter butter,
It will make my batter bitter.
But a bit of better butter -
That would make my batter better."
So she bought a bit of butter,
Better than her bitter butter,
And she baked it in her batter,
And the batter was not bitter.
So 'twas better Betty Botter
Bought a bit of better butter.


Source of this brilliant illustration here

Tongue Twister No 3

SATURDAY'S TONGUE TWISTER


Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.
A peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked.
If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers,
Where's the peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked?



Peter Piper picked peppers 
Illustration by Carol Schwartz

Lesson 08: Dear and Tear, /d/ and /t/

Teach Me the consonant sounds /d/ and /t/ 


In words, the letters D and T have the sounds /d/ and /t/ respectively. They are similar sounds but also very different.


Similarity: How do I start?

For both sounds you start with the same mouth position. Mouth slightly open, with the tongue touching the ridge behind the teeth. This way you stop the air from coming out and build pressure in your mouth. You basically trap the sound in your mouth before letting go.

Difference: What do I do next?

Now you have to release the air, in a sudden explosive manner, by sliding the tongue away from the tooth ridge (forward).

The sound /d/ is voiced, meaning that there is voice coming up from the throat as you pronounce it. So, along with the release of the air there should be voice too. You should feel a small vibration in your throat (vocal cords).

The sound /t/ is unvoiced, meaning that only air passes through your mouth (no voice whatsoever). So you don't have to use your vocal cords to make this sound.

Part I
In words, the letters B and P have the sounds /b/ and /p/ respectively. They are similar sounds, but also very different. - See more at: http://reduce-your-accent.blogspot.gr/search/label/Letters%20and%20Sounds#sthash.EpyKZiPC.dpuf
In words, the letters B and P have the sounds /b/ and /p/ respectively. They are similar sounds, but also very different. - See more at: http://reduce-your-accent.blogspot.gr/search/label/Letters%20and%20Sounds#sthash.EpyKZiPC.dpuf

Listen to the sound /d/ carefully.


Okay? Now time for practice. Listen again and repeat the sound yourself as many times as necessary for it to sound the same as the one in the recording.

Below you can see three columns with groups of words which may at first glance look similar but are pronounced completely differently. The column in the middle consists of words with the target sound /d/. Listen and compare with the words on each side. Repeat.

tie - die - tie
thaw - draw - thaw
tip - dip - tip
age - aid - age


Tongue Twister

Did Debbie's or David's dog dig up your garden today?


Part II

Listen to the sound /t/ carefully.


Ready? Now time for practice. Listen again and repeat the sound yourself as many times as necessary for it to sound the same as the one in the recording.

The column in the middle consists of words with the target sound /t/. Listen and compare with the words on each side. Then repeat.

dear - tear - dear 
which - wit - which
thought - taught - thought
fade - fate - fade


Tongue Twister

Mr. Tongue Twister tried to train his tongue to twist 
and turn, and twit and twat, to learn the letter "T".


T as a Silent Letter


In some words we don't pronounce the letter T at all. Listen to the following examples of words where the letter T is silent.



Spelling
Pronunciation
listen
ˈlɪsn
castle
ˈkɑːsl
soften
ˈsɒfn
whistle
ˈwɪsl

Words with TH


TH corresponds to more than one sound and, therefore, for every word you need to know which sound it corresponds to before pronouncing it. 

TH is pronounced /t/ in some words like Thames or Thomas


But most of the time you will either encounter it as the sound /θ/ as in three or think, or as the sound /ð/ as in they or feather.




d and t sounds

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