BBC | British Council

PRONUNCIATION 1
For each of the six questions choose the one correct answer.

1. Which of the following jobs has the stress on the first syllable?
a. biologist
b. photographer
c. psychiatrist
d. secretary

2. Which word sounds different?

a. debt
b. fret
c. treat
d. sweat

3. Which word sounds different?

a. mother
b. bother
c. brother
d. another

4. Which word sounds different?

a. hot
b. knot
c. taught
d. what

5. Which word does not rhyme?

a. through
b. sew
c. due
d. do

6. Which word has the correct stress in British English?

(Stressed syllables are in CAPITALS)
a. ADvertisement
b. adVERtisement
c. adverTISEment
d. advertiseMENT

www.teachingenglish.org.uk
BBC | British Council

PRONUNCIATION 1 answers

1.
a. BiOlogist has the stress on the second syllable.
b. PhoTOGrapher has the stress on the second syllable.
c. PsyCHIatrist has the stress on the second syllable.
d. Correct - SECretary has the stress on the first syllable. The others are all
stressed on the second syllable.

2.
a. debt - /dEt/
b. fret - /frEt/
c. Correct - treat /trI:t/. The other words all have the vowel sound /E/.
d. sweat - /swEt/

3.
a. mother - /'mVDe/
b. Correct - bother /'boDe/. The other words all have the vowel sound /V/.
c. brother - /'brVDe/
d. another - /e'nVDe/

4.
a. hot - /hot/
b. knot - /not/
c. Correct - taught /tO:t/. The other words all have the vowel sound /o/.
d. what - /wot/

5.
a. through - /TrU:/
b. Correct - sew /seu/. The other words all have the vowel sound /U:/.
c. drew - /drU:/
d. do - /dU:/

6.
a. Incorrect
b. Correct - AdVERtisement is the correct pronunciation.
c. Incorrect
d. Incorrect

www.teachingenglish.org.uk