PRONUNCIATION IN ENGLISH: WORKSHEET
Although French and English have the same alphabet, some letters do not sound the same at all – especially vowels.
The tricky case of the letter “A”
Using Google Translate, look up the following words. For each of them, listen to the pronunciation and focus on how the letter “a” is pronounced. So, how many different sounds can you hear for the letter
“a”?
Journal, based, acquisition, personalize, educational, organize, classify, compare, answer, secondary
=> 5 possible sounds = [a], [eille], [eu], [o], [è]
The tricky case of the letter “U”
Same as above, but with the letter “u”.
Conduct, execute, education, curriculum, student, study, subject, pupils, university, public, funded, picture
=> 3 possible sounds = [eu], [ou], [you]
The tricky case of the preterit’s “ed”
Same as above, but with the preterit’s ending as “ed”.
assessed, graduated, grouped, lasted, worked, attended, published, staffed vs
e-mailed, delivered, enrolled
=>the rule is:
- [id] pour les verbes qui finissent par t ou d (ex: to graduate, to last, to attend)
- [t] pour les verbes qui finissent par p, k, ch, f, s (ex: to assess, to group, to work, to punish, to staff) - [d] pour tous les autres verbes!
The tricky case of the “th”
Same as above, but focus on the “th” sound.
the, this, that, these, those, they, them vs
thing, thrilled, thought, theme, mouth, author, method
=>the rule is:
- [ð] pour les mots grammaticaux - [θ] pour les mots lexicaux
The tricky case of “false friends”
Still using Google Translate, listen to the pronunciation of the following transparent words:
episode(s), series, villains, Disney, oral, presentation, future, specific, example, PowerPoint
=> if you plan to use a transparent word in your presentation, make sure that you check its pronunciation before and train!!!
