IZONE Chinh Phục Pronunciation Chuẩn Mỹ PDF

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IELTS TRAINING ACADEMY [PRONUNCIATIONSUCCESSAMERICAN ENGLISH]
Mục lục
MODULE 0 – THE 10 KEYS TOWARDS IMPROVEMENT ...................................................................... 3
Number 1 – Open your mouth when you speak English ............................................................... 3
Number 2 – Listen and Repeat ....................................................................................................... 3
Number 3: Watch the mouth of native speakers when then speak and imitate them ................ 3
Number 4 – Do not leave off word endings ................................................................................... 4
Number 5 – Make a list of frequently used words......................................................................... 5
Number 6 – Record your own voice and listen for pronunciation errors ...................................... 5
Number 7 – Pace yourself and revise what you’ve learnt ............................................................. 5
Number 8 – Don’t be afraid to speak ............................................................................................. 6
Number 9 - Read aloud in English for 10 to 15 minutes every day ............................................... 6
Number 10 – Be patient ................................................................................................................. 6
MODULE 1 - THE 15 VOWEL SOUNDS OF AMERICAN ENGLISH ........................................................ 7
Rule 1 – the four relaxed vowels .................................................................................................... 8
Rule 2 - /i:/ & /ɪ/ ............................................................................................................................. 8
Rule 3 - /ɑː/ & /ə/ ......................................................................................................................... 10
Rule 4 – “pool” or “pull” ............................................................................................................... 11
Rule 5 – /æ/ - as in “apple” & /au/ .............................................................................................. 13
Rule 6 – “/ɔː/ as in “ball” .............................................................................................................. 13
Rule 7 – /oʊ/as in “most” ............................................................................................................. 14
Rule 9 – Understanding stressed vowels ..................................................................................... 15
Rule 10 – Understanding reduced vowels ................................................................................... 16
MODULE 2 - CONSONANT SOUNDS ................................................................................................. 17
Rule 11 – Fully pronouncing each sound. .................................................................................... 17
Rule 12 – Voiced & voiceless ........................................................................................................ 18
Rule 13 – ‘th’ sound...................................................................................................................... 19
Rule 14 – The American “l” sound ............................................................................................... 20
Rule 15 – The American “R” sound and “R” blend (link to Rule 24) ............................................ 21
Rule 16 – The “w” and “kw” sound .............................................................................................. 22
Rule 17 – The “v” and “w” sound ................................................................................................. 23
Rule 18 – The “s” and “z” sound .................................................................................................. 24
Rule 19 – Stops and continuants .................................................................................................. 25
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Rule 20 – “t” between two vowels ............................................................................................... 27

Rule 21 – “t” followed by “n” ....................................................................................................... 28
Rule 22 – The “ing”, “m” & “n” the nasal sound .......................................................................... 29
Rule 24 – The ‘tu’ and ‘du’ sounds ............................................................................................... 30
Rule 25 – “ed” endings “t” & “d” ................................................................................................. 31
Additional rule 4: tongue twister ................................................................................................. 34
MODULE 3: ADVANCED RULES TO SOUND LIKE A NATIVE SPEAKER .............................................. 39
Rule 26 – Linking consonants to vowels....................................................................................... 39
Rule 27 – Linking consonants to consonants ............................................................................... 41
Rule 28 – Linking vowels to vowels .............................................................................................. 42
Rule 29 – Reducing words part 1 ................................................................................................. 43
Rule 30 – Reducing words part 2 ................................................................................................. 45
Rule 31 – Contractions ................................................................................................................. 46
Rule 32 – Difficult contractions .................................................................................................... 48
Rule 33 – Dropped syllables ......................................................................................................... 49
Additional rule – phrase reduction .............................................................................................. 51
Rule 34 – Silent consonants ......................................................................................................... 52
Rule 35 – Relaxed speech ............................................................................................................. 55
MODULE 4: RHYTHM AND INTONATION ......................................................................................... 57
Rule 36 – Basics of syllable stress................................................................................................. 58
Rule 37 – Syllables of verbs and nouns ........................................................................................ 59
Rule 38 – ATE words ..................................................................................................................... 60
Rule 39 – Stress rules of suffixes .................................................................................................. 62
Rule 40 – How unstressed syllables works ................................................................................... 63
Rule 41 – Basics of stressing the right words within sentences .................................................. 65
Rule 42 – Focus words and thought groups ................................................................................. 68
Rule 43 – How to stress adjectives and nouns ............................................................................. 69
Rule 44 – Compound nouns ......................................................................................................... 71
Rule 45 – Rules of stressing phrasal verbs ................................................................................... 73
Rule 46 – Names of places and people ........................................................................................ 74
Rule 47 – Abbreviations and numbers ......................................................................................... 75
Rule 48 – Stress for special emphasis .......................................................................................... 77
Rule 49 – Rising and falling intonation ......................................................................................... 78
Rule 50 – Changing intonation ..................................................................................................... 81
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MODULE 0 – THE 10 KEYS TOWARDS IMPROVEMENT

Number 1 – Open your mouth when you speak English
Proper English speaking involves a lot of mouth movements. If you watch the mouth of
native speakers when they speak, you’ll see that each sound produced will accompany a
particular mouth movement.
Practice speaking very slowly, out loud, in a strong voice and exaggerate the mouth
movements for best results. Once you are used to movement, you can tune it down. Apply
this to Rule Number 9.
Number 2 – Listen and Repeat

When you listen to any recording or watch any movies/videos, try to repeat the words
spoken or speak along.
You can also do the same thing with the IELTS tests script, especially the Cambridge set,
which always feature Listening test with available scripts. Follow these steps:
Step 1: Attempt the test as usual. Listen again to the parts where you make mistakes.
Step 2: Read the scripts available at the end of the book. Look up for any words you
don’t know
Step 3: Play the recording again. This time around, pause after every sentence, and
try to repeat it. If you can’t catch the words the first time, play it over and over again until
you get it.
How to fix your pronunciation: Keep in mind that if you can’t catch any word(s), there’s a
high chance that you’ve mispronounced the words. Therefore, make sure you look up for
the pronunciation/phonetic symbols of these words in Oxford).
Number 3: Watch the mouth of native speakers when then speak and imitate them
Similar to point number 1, mimicking native speakers’ mouth movements is the best
practice to familiarize yourself with the way English sounds are produced. Also, be mindful
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of how your tongue movement when you speak. If you have the habit of constantly raising
your tongue, that might block the air flow and twist the sounds you produce.
When you learn the 50 rules, highlight the sections that talk about the movement of your
mouth and the placement of your tongue for best effect.
Number 4 – Do not leave off word endings

Meanings of the words can change dramatically when you assemble a different ending.
Example 1: Example 2:
/laɪt/ => light /faɪl/ => file
laɪk/ => like /faɪt/ => fight
/laɪf/ => life /faɪr/ => fire
Trong ứng dụng Elsa, có nguyên 1 Skill gồm 37 bài luyện tập về chủ đề Ending sound này
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Number 5 – Make a list of frequently used words

Take note of the words/sentences used in 50 rules of Pronunciation. Practice these words
to the point of perfection. Use the Script of 50 Rules to help you.
Also, come up with a list of frequently misspelled/mispronounced words and words that
have slightly different pronunciations on your own
Examples:
/əˈses/ assess
/ˈæset/ asset
/ˈækses/access
Some frequently mispronounced words: business, adjust, general, graduate, specific,

severe, general, popular…
Number 6 – Record your own voice and listen for pronunciation errors
It goes without saying that you can hear yourself when you speak, but the sound coming to
your ears would be distorted and different from what others hear.
So, the best way to check whether you speak correctly is to record yourself and listen
again.
If you use Android, you can download an app titled “Smart Voice Recorder”
In case you use Iphone, you don’t have to download anything, just look for the built-in app
(e.g. phần mềm ghi âm…)
Number 7 – Pace yourself and revise what you’ve learnt

Don’t rush it. Take your time but make sure to get the hang of the rules before moving on
Pace yourself (make sure you have a specific plan on your progress, e.g.: 3 rules every week)
Also, there will be a lot of rules for you to remember, therefore practice and revise on a
frequent basis, preferably after every 5 rules.
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Number 8 – Don’t be afraid to speak

This may sound like a cliché. But if you don’t enjoy speaking English, you can never speak
well. It’s that simple.
So, the take-away lesson here is to learn to enjoy speaking English, as it’d be the most
essential key towards your progress.
Number 9 - Read aloud in English for 10 to 15 minutes every day

The materials you use for practicing reading out loud should be the sentences in this
handbook. And while you are at it, record yourself.
After you’ve completely mastered the techniques put forward here, move on to practice
other paragraphs as you wish.
How should you read: refer to Rule No.1
Number 10 – Be patient
Most importantly, be patient. Fixing your mispronunciations involves a lot of time
commitment. It’s a challenge that cannot be completed overnight. So, stay patient and
keep practicing.
If you can keep at it, you’ll find yourself gaining noticeable improvements over the course
of 2 or 3 months.
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MODULE 1 - THE 15 VOWEL SOUNDS OF

AMERICAN ENGLISH
Group 1: from number 1 to number 5 – they’re called front vowels (your tongue is in front).
Your jaw opens wider on each vowel. (heat, hit, hate, het, hat)
1 /i:/ please, seat, meet, believe
2 /ɪ/ this, difficult, if, dinner
3 /eɪ/ late, gate, baseball, stay, okay
4 /e/ bed, men, dress, friend
5 /æ/ apple, man, stand, angry
Group 2: from number 6 to 10 – they’re called back vowels (your tongue is in the back).
Your jaw forms a round shape and moves back a bit with each vowel (boot, book, boat,
bought, bot)
6 /ɑː/ hot, topic, office, modern
7 /ə/ & /ʌ/ but, done, jump, love
8 /ɔː/ always, tall, bought, thought
9 /oʊ/ go, drove, slow, moment,
10 /ʊ/ book, foot, full, push, took
Group 3: the remaining words
11 /uː/ moon, shoes, room, blue
12 /ɜːr/ first, Thursday, girl, work
13 /aɪ/ time, while, nine, dining
14 /aʊ/ now, house, brown, announce
15 /ɔɪ/ enjoy, noise, boy, annoying
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Rule 1 – the four relaxed vowels

Voiced
- Tense: our tongue is tense and sometimes our lips are also tense
- Neutral/relaxed: our lips are relaxed and tongues are relaxed in the back
- It is critical to know the difference between tense and neutral vowels. Otherwise,
you might be confused by words like fool or full, hot or hut, steel and still
- The four relaxed vowels are: 2 /ɪ/ 4 /e/ 7 /ə / & /ʌ/ 10 /ʊ/
Rule 2 - /i:/ & /ɪ/

E.g.: beach & bitch, sheet & shit
It’s very important to discriminate these vowel sounds – this difference doesn’t exist in
some other languages like Vietnamese.
The difference lies in fact that one vowel is tense /i:/ and the other vowel is neutral or
relaxed /ɪ/
/i:/ please, steal & steel, me, see
 Usually spelt with ee, ea, ie, ei
 Your lips must be tense and your tongue must be tense in the back of your
mouth.
 Raise your tongue up in the back and say /i:/
 Put your fingers right under your jaw on your throat; when you produce the
sound, your fingers should be moving a bit
 Another practicable way to practice this vowel sound is to smile (like when you
say “cheese”): sheep, sheet, lead, feet, feel
/ɪ/: if, different, this, think
 Usually spelt with /ɪ/ (if, different, this), y (in the middle of the word like system,
gym)
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 Your tongue and your fingers will not be moving. Also, your lips should be
relaxed.
Vowel pairs - Differentiation Differentiation

Feet - Fit Can you feel it? - Can you fill it?
Leave - Live Did you heat it? - Did you hit it?
Sleep - Slip He doesn’t want to leave - He doesn’t want to live
These - This
Sheep - Ship
Sheet - Shit
Lead - Lid
Beat - Bit
Steal - Still
Mix – Practice saying these sentences (a little slow for the first time and speed it up for
the 2nd time) – Concentrate on your mouth movements
 She was feeling sleepy after eating the big meal
 These three people speak Chinese
 We love the green fields and the beach breezes
 Steve believes he will see Peter this week
 I will leave the East Coast in three weeks
 There are six filthy dishes in the kitchen sink
 Mr. and Mrs. Smith lived in India for six years.
 Bill took some interesting pictures on his trip to Italy last spring.
 The winter wind will bring a big chill
 Do you think that this swimmer has the ability to win?
Remember that the main difference between these 2 vowels is not that one vowel is long
and the other is short, but rather one vowel is tense and the other is neutral/relaxed.
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Even a relaxed vowel can sometimes be prolonged if the word is stressed.
EX: Wow, your house is big
Rule 3 - /ɑː/ & /ə/

/ɑː/ can be a problem to a lot of people because sometimes /ɑː/ can be spelt with the letter
/o/. E.g.: hot, stop – these two are pronounced exactly the same as the /ɑː/ in father, army
or watch
The “o” and the “a” have similar sounds frequently, which is the /ɑː/
 To create the /ɑː/ sound, open your mouth wide. Keep your tongue at the
bottom of your mouth touching the bottom teeth.
 This vowel is usually longer than most non-native speakers tend to make it. E.g.:
stop, that’s impossible. Particularly, if it’s a verb or a noun, we prolong the “ɑː”
in the stressed syllable. E.g.: that’s impossible, that’s my new job.
“O” words that are pronounced with /a:/ (these can be confusing, so take your time to
get used to them)
Hot Follow Mop

Top Not Product
Stop Blob Solve
Probably Sock Problem
/ə/ & /ʌ/ - neutral sound: lip & tongue are neutral at the back. There is hardly any
movement in my face.
 Almost like you punch yourself in the stomach to make a tiny little noise.
 Commonly spelt with letter “u” (but, fun, number), “ou” (cousin, country)
 Some other: love, son, other, done
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Vowel pairs – differentiation
Shot - Shut Cop - Cup

Don - Done Not - Nut
Lock - Luck Robber - Rubber
Sentence practice /ɑː/ sound
- The modern novel is very popular.

- Tom will watch hockey with his father.
- John will probably study biology in college.
- I will not bother to respond to Tom’s offer.
- If you gossip about your boss, you might lose your job.
- Bob opened the box and followed the instructions.
- Tom put some cotton, rocks and doorknob in his locker.
- His mom made a concrete model of a hockey rink.
Sentence practice /ʌ/ sound
- We must discuss this with the other judges.

- My buddy Doug is a wonderful drummer.
- On Mondays he plays the drums in that club.
- On Sunday I had duck for lunch with my cousin
- He doesn’t study much and he loves to have fun.
The spellings can be confusing at times, so, it’s best to look up for word meanings and
pronunciations in Oxford dictionary.
Rule 4 – “pool” or “pull”

/uː/ - tense
 Commonly spelt with “oo” (food, moon), “ue” (blue, true)
 For /u:/, your lips are rounded
 Your lips move forwards like you’re kissing someone.
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Blue Loop
Booth Knew
News Tooth
Juice Smooth
Ruler Pool
Food Moon
Choose Shoes
Mood Zoo
Moving Grew
/ʊ/ - neutral
 Common spelling pattern “oo” (look, took, shook), “ould” (would, could, should), “u”
(push, pull)
 Your lips are very slightly rounded
 Look at the good book
 Distinguish “food” & “foot”
Word pairs practice
Food - Foot
Fool - Full
Pool - Pull
Push - Pull
Practice some sentences: the first slow, speed up for the 2nd time
/u:/ /ʊ/
The report was due on Tuesday at noon. The woman in the wool pullover is good-looking.
He knew the values of those 2 suits. It would be good if you could help me.
The crew uses a lot of new tools. You should walk in the woods.
In the future, there will be new school rules. You should walk in the woods.
Susan wore her new shoes to school. He took a good look under the hood.
He spent his childhood playing football.
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Rule 5 – /æ/ - as in “apple” & /au/

Your lips are open, your tongue is down and tense. Visualize you’re saying /ɑː/ with a smile
(open your mouth wide). In British English, this sound very frequently resembles /a:/. The
common spelling pattern for this word is the letter “a”
 Apple, angry, man, fat, dance
 Los Angeles, class, dance class, Los Angeles California, random, answer,
random answer.
If it’s a noun or a verb, make sure that it is prolonged
 “I can’t stand that class”
Sentence practice
- Last January, Adam travelled to Los Angeles, California.
- Jack lacks cash because of a bad gambling habit.
- Frank is angry and he demands a fast answer.
- I brought my black jacket on my last trip to France.
- My family understands that I can’t handle that matter.
Rule 6 – “/ɔː/ as in “ball”

Your jaw is all the way down and your lips/mouth forms an oval shape like an egg. Don’t
push your lips forward too much, don’t say “oo” (British speakers do this and it is strictly
not American English). In British English, this sound is very different from American English.
For instance: tall, fall.
The common spelling pattern for this sound is:
 “al” – tall, small, always
 “au” – automobile, August, audience, applaud
 “aw” – law, saw, awful
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Sentence practice
- He paused in the hall to talk with Paul.

- The author talked to the small audience.
- We all thought you bought it at the mall.
- It’s awful that he always breaks the law.
- He’s exhausted because he has been walking all day long.
Rule 7 – /oʊ/as in “most”

/oʊ/ is the combination of 2 sounds /o/ and /ʊ/, therefore you must move your mouth
forward.
EX:
 /ɑː/ hot, god, job
 /oʊ/ go, hole, ghost
Word practice Sentence practice

O: post, moment, go The lonely soldier wrote home.
OW: flow, slow, show The wind mostly blows over the ocean
Oa: road, boat, soap
Do you know who own most of those homes?
No, I don’t
Don’t go Let’s watch the show in slow motion
So slow He sold both of these boats.
Almost over
Rule 8 – /ər/ & /3:/ as in “her”
Produced with the /ə/ sound plus /r/. The common spelling for this sound can be almost
any vowel plus the “r”: er, ar, ear, ir, or.
 Er: her
 Ar: grammar
 Ear: learn, heard
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 Ir: bird, first, girl
 Or: work, worry
 Ur: nurse, hurt,

Work early It’s your turn to work early on Thursday
Learn the words I’m certain that Mr. Turner has courage
Early bird I heard that the first earthquake was the worst
Perfect world Don’t worry about learning those German words
The early bird always gets the worm
If there is a vowel before the “r”, chances are the word is pronounced as “ər”
Rule 9 – Understanding stressed vowels

Vowel length: American vowels can sometimes sound very long and louder if the syllable
is stressed or if the word is stressed. Stressed words are often longer, louder and with “a”.
Ask yourself which syllable is stressed. Aim to prolong the vowels in the following words.
EX: banana, Canada, biology, photography
The same things happen when the word is stressed. Generally, we stress verbs and nouns
– often the key words. Make those vowels.
EX: I love my new class
The word is class a noun, so we it must be prolonged and spoken a bit louder
o I love it
o I have to call him
o You’re really tall.
o It’s hot.
o Let’s go to the park.
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Stressing 2 words: I got a job at the hospital.
So remember to prolong the vowels and stressed words and stressed syllables.
Rule 10 – Understanding reduced vowels

Contrary to the stressed vowels, many vowels are reduced in speaking. Reduced vowels are
not pronounced fully. Many vowels can sound like /ə/ when it’s part of the
reduced/unstressed syllable.
EX: symbol, local, record (noun), record (verb)
The same things happen when words are reduced within sentences. We stress the key
words like nouns and verbs, we reduced the little less important words like: prepositions,
articles, modal verbs.
 Preposition: in, on, at, for with, buy
 Modal: can, could, should, should have, has
EX:
Look at me
I’d like to talk to you
I’m looking for you
Let’s meet at two o’ clock
I’d like to talk to the pilot
Let’s meet for breakfast
I’d love to go for a walk
Remember: reduced syllables regularly have the /ə/ sound (sometimes the /i/ sound)
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MODULE 2 - CONSONANT SOUNDS

Common reasons for making mistakes
Some of the sounds/consonants may not exist in Vietnamese
Even though sounds/some of the consonants may exist in Vietnamese, they are
pronounced slight differently with an American accent.
The tongue is in a slightly different position or the lips move more firmly or softly; or the
vocal cords are vibrating slightly differently.
All of these factors influence/affect the American consonant sounds.
Another reason could be the sound exists in Vietnamese, but it never appears at the end of
the word or the middle of the word. So when you say these letters, you don’t say them the
way you should with an American accent.
Rule 11 – Fully pronouncing each sound.

You must fully pronounce each consonant sound. Don’t take any shortcut
Most of us are not aware with what we are doing with our mouth when we’re speaking our
native language.
When you learn English, it becomes very important to note mimic the mouth movement of
native speakers.
EX: I need five dollars
If you tend to speak quickly in your native language, be especially careful when you speak
in English (don’t mumble or your mouth still when speaking)
It’s essential to develop an awareness of what reapply happens in the mouth when we
speak English.
EX: p, b – you have to open and close your mouth when pronounce these consonants –
probably (lips open and close 3 times)  don’t take any shortcut
EX. l (la, la), n (nasal sound) – In general – your tongue must touch your upper teeth 3 times.
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Practice saying the following numbers (move your lips fully and try every consonant)
o Seven
o Twelve
Rule 12 – Voiced & voiceless

Depends on the vibration of your vocal cords.
Affect your pronunciation of your –ed ending, the –s ending and the vowel length.
The best way to test whether a consonant is voiced is to put your fingers on your throat –
you can feel your vocal cords vibrating if it’s a voiced consonant.
Paired consonants:
s z
f v
th (as in “thing”) th (as in “this”)
p b
t d
k g
ch dʒ
Many words contain both voiced & voiceless consonants, therefore you must switch
promptly. EX: five – Give me five dollars.
Note: The vowels before the voiced sound is longer: ice, eyes (the vowel sounds in ice are
shorter than in eyes)
Back - Bag Safe - Save

Safe - Save Light - Lied
Pick, pig Leaf - Leave
Lock - Log Cup - Cub
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Rule 13 – ‘th’ sound

One of the most difficult sounds for people to make because it doesn’t exist in most other
languages. When we produce the “th”, the tongue position is the most important thing you
need to know.
What is the tongue doing exactly? The tip of your tongue is lightly touching your upper
teeth & there is an airflow coming out when your tongue touches the upper teeth. Be
careful that your tongue doesn’t touch too hard your upper teeth (which will block the air
friction)
Common mistake - distinguish these:
 θ (think), s & t
 ð (this) & z
Note: for practice purpose, you can stick your tongue out fully to familiarize yourself with
the sound. Later on, you can just contact your tongue with your upper teeth. Sticking your
tongue all the time is not realistic and will slow you down
EX: thank you for the birthday present.
- The “Unvoiced Th” - /θ/ sound: flat tongue protruding through your teeth. Maintain
a steady air stream. Stretch out the “Th” word.
For practice purpose, think of the word thumb as having two beats
- Unvoiced “θ” practice words
Beginning Middle End
Thanks Anything Bath
Thick Bathmat North
Thunder Toothpick Beneath
Thursday Athletic Fourth
Think Mouthwash South
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Sentence practice
- I’m thirsty. Is there anything to drink in this place?
- I thought it was on Thursday at three thirty
- This is my fourth month studying Math.
- Both my father and mother are healthy
- I think Mathew lives in the North
Rule 14 – The American “l” sound

- Say “la, la, la, la, la”- your tongue should be going up and down your upper teeth
- When the “l” is at the end of the word, it’s a little bit more difficult than that. Your
tongue is relaxed and it touches right behind the upper teeth and it stays there. EX: I will
call Bill
- Note that when placed at the end of words, “l” comes from the tongue movement,
not placement.
- The American “l” is prolonged – (softer and longer)
Word practice:
Beginning Middle End

Lunch Inflation Will
Local Believe Ball
London Volume Tall
Learn Glue Little
Large Elevator Call
Life Solve Small
Lobby Pulling Control
Library Flood Bowl
Lucky Delete Apple
Lift Elect Miracle
Laugh Alive Powerful
Long Colour Control
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Sentence practice
- I’ll call Bill to tell him about the film
- I feel terrible about the political scandal
- I think I’ll be able handle it by myself
- You’ll do well at school
Rule 15 – The American “R” sound and “R” blend (link to Rule 24)
Say the “R” in 2 different ways and define which one is the American “R”
 Four
 Here
 Teacher
 Robert
The first thing you need to know is that the American “R” is never silent, even if it’s at the
end of a word.
In British English, people don’t generally pronounce the final “r” at the end of words
 Teacher, four more

How do you produce the American “r”
 The tip of the tongue should never touch the top behind your upper teeth
 The rolling “r” is Russian, don’t do this – that sounds like American accent to foreign
speakers.
Curl the tip of the tongue and pull it back. Your mouth and lips move forward like you’re
going to kiss. Also, the “r” is not silent even before another consonant.
EX: learn, German
Word practice
o Their computer isn’t working.
o I gave her four other pictures
o Her fourth birthday is on Thursday
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o There are many more over there.
o We were the first to arrive the park
Remember: good strong “R” sound and curl your tongue back.
Rule 16 – The “w” and “kw” sound

The “w” sound is actually not the like the “g” in Vietnamese. It sounds more like “gườ”. You
need to round your lips and you need to have a lot of air coming through, so make sure
that your vocal cords are vibrating and there is air coming out of your lungs.
You can practice with:
o First, say “OOOOOO”
o Then, go into “OOOOOWAWAWAA”
Word practice:
At the beginning of words In the middle of words

Why Always
Which Away
When Beware
What Rewind
Wipe Awake
Wish Someone
Weight Halloween
Wing Hollywood
“Kw” sound
When we have words that are spelt with qu (ex: quiet, quick), they are pronounced as “kw”.
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Word practice:
Quiet Queen
Question Qualify
Require Qualification
Quality Quit
Liquid Quebec
Quilt Choir
Sentence practice
- What do you want to do this weekend?
- I’m always required to work on Wednesdays.
- She will wear a white wedding dress on her wedding day.
- I have a quick question about the quality of the watch.
- There are always 12 women with the children.
- We wish we were with our wives
Remember, round your lips and let the air flow through
Rule 17 – The “v” and “w” sound

To correctly product the “v” sound, your lower lip should touch your upper teeth. Don’t
bite your lower lip too hard. Try to create the vibration of air and say “vvvv” – “have”. When
people speak too quickly, the letter “v” tends to disappear. EX: involved, five months. The
“v” (an important vowel) tends to be easily overlooked.
Word practice
Very well Evaluate Every

Vote Voice Glove
Vest Travel Alive
Oven River
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When v is in the middle of a word, it’s a bit harder and people tend to neglect it.
o Eleven
o Seven
o Seven eleven
Sentence practice
A famous athlete. Husband and wife

A food vendor. Very well done
The foreign service. He’s very involved in their lives.
Vocabulary test I’ve been here from five to seven hours
Over the rainbow I will visit the village on my vacation
Our fist victory Have you viewed the five videos?
Harvard university We will review their votes in November
Her promotion was well deserved The street vendors were selling souvenirs to
There was only one survivor on the island tourists.
Steve noticed that the olive juice must have

stained his sleeve.
Word pair practice 2 (“v” and “w”)
Vow – wow Twelve vowels West Virginia

Vine – wine Five women However you wish
Vest – west Very weird I’ll have wine with the veal
Remember lower lips touch the upper teeth and feel the vibration.
Rule 18 – The “s” and “z” sound

Very often in English a word is spelled with the “z” sound but is produced with the “z” sound
Ex: Has, Bags
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One way to know is to check whether the consonant before the “s” is voiced or voiceless
Books Likes
Laughs Cooks
Lives Lights
In case the last letter off the word is a vowel (ex: has), the sound is usually “z” though there
some exceptions
Is Those
His Easy
As Please
Was Always
Because
These
Sentence practice
- He plays the drums on the weekends
- She has friends in many countries
- Does he always use those things?
- It rains and snows in these areas?
When it’s a voiced consonant followed by an “s”, the “s” makes the sound /z/
Rule 19 – Stops and continuants

- Another way to categorize consonants aside from being voiced or voiceless is
whether they are “stops” or “continuants”
- A “stop” is a consonant we produce when stopping the air flow. E.g. Job (you cannot
continue the sound b – it’s not “b”, “b”, “b”)
- A continuant is a sound we can continue as long as we have air in our lungs. For
instance, when you say the word “yes”, you can say “yessssssssssssss” (prolonging that “s”
for quite a long time). So the “s” is a continuant.
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- Why is it important to know if it’s a “stop” or a “continuant”?
Mistake with continuants
- When we have a continuant, a lot of people make this mistakes to treat it like a stop,
they’ve cut the consonants in half and they rush through the words
Ex: sometimes – “s” & “m” are continuants in this case, so take your time and fully
pronounce the continuants – a lot of people make the mistake to rush through the
continuants and make them too short
- Feel the sounds and extend the letters if you can, especially if it’s a continuant. E.g.:
have
Mistake with stops
Pop music – when we have a stop in front of a consonant, don’t release the stop before the
consonant.
 If we release the stop, it sounds like we are adding an extra syllable.
Make sure you hold the stop “Job market”, “had this”
 Job hunting
 Top model
 Good boy
 That day
 Not now
Note that the last two have a “t” ending. And so, the “t” is not always released at the end
of words or sentences because that’ll make your accent sound different from American
style.
Ex: No, it’s not (hold the “t” at the end of a word – tongue behind top teeth)
 I’m not that hot.

 You’re quite right
Fully pronouncing the t-ending would make you sound like British English or other foreign
accents. You need to hold the “t” at the end to have a more American accent. That’s why
people have a hard time understanding “can” and “can’t” - very often American would say
“I can’t go” with the teeth being held.
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 I want that blue hat.

 Robert, you might be right.
 It’s not that different.
 What did you eat last night?
 I can’t wait for that flight
Remember, hold the final stop by either holding your tongue for the “t” or the “d” (e.g. but
& end) or closing your lips and say up & job. Don’t release the puff of air.
Rule 20 – “t” between two vowels

Practice another American style “t” sound. Say one word in 2 different ways (ask yourself
which one sounds American)
Water Ability
Better Better
Butter Water
City It is
If you notice, all the words said have a “t” in it, but the “t” doesn’t really sound like “t”. It
sounded more like a “d”
Rule: when the “t” is between 2 vowels, it sounds like a fast “d” (e.g. better - remember, it
is not a strong “d” sound)
This also happens when the “t” is between 2 vowels even when the words are separate.
Yes, it is Butter
Water Auto
Better Metal
Sentence practice
- Betty bought a bit of better butter

- This butter’s bitter
- If I put it in my batter
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- It’s make my batter bitter

- I got up at 11 o’ clock
- Do you want to get in or get out?
- I bought it at a computer store
- What a nice day it is!
By the way, this is not considered lazy, sloppy or casual speech. This is the standard
American accent.
Rule 21 – “t” followed by “n”

The final rule about the “t” sound in American English. Say one word in 3 different ways,
you have to ask yourself which one sounds like American accent.
 Written /’ri: town/ /’ri down/ /ˈrɪtn/

 Button /’bʌ town/ /’bʌ down/ /ˈbʌtn/
 Forgotten /fər ‘got town/ /fər ‘got dn/ /fərˈɡɑːtn/
When we have a /t/ followed by an “n” (written), the ‘t’ is held, so we hold our tongue
behind our upper teeth and we don’t release it. We directly go the “N” sound without
moving our tongue down, just move your tongue forward to go directly to the “n” (so,
basically it’s the “t” and the “n” that are next to each other)
The air flow associated with the /t/ will come out of your nose.
 Written
 Mountain
 Button
 Curtain
 Carton
It is like the vowels in the middle of “t” and “n” disappear
Sentence practice:
- I’m certain that’s the tallest mountain.

- My cotton shirt has buttons.
- I have forgotten when the book was written.
- Martin was born in Great Britain
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When a “t” is followed by an “n”, keep your tongue up – don’t release it.
Rule 22 – The “ing”, “m” & “n” the nasal sound

So many verbs take the ING form. E.g. I’m going, I’ve been working, what have you been
doing? Let’s learn how to correctly pronounce that sound. 3 different ways of
pronunciation:
- Going /gou ‘in/ /’gou ink//ˈɡoʊɪŋ/

- Doing /ˈduː.ɪŋ/
- Thinking /ˈθɪŋ.kɪŋ/
When you produce the “ng” sound, the “g” is at the back, your tongue is touching in the
back (g, g, g, g, g), but the “g” is not released very much. When you produce the “g”, let the
“g” stay there. At the same time, some Americans might not produce the “g” E.g. Going
/’gou in/, doing /’do in/, but it’s considered sloppy street language. Educated people don’t
say this.
Remember, raise your tongue up in the back and try to keep it up there, do not release the
“g”. If you do, just release a bit because “ing” is a nasal sound.
Thinking Interesting Thing

Working Ring Bring
Practicing Sing
Sentence practice
- I’m thinking about buying the ring.

- Who are you bringing to the wedding?
- I love swimming, running and playing tennis.
Rule 23 – The ‘tr’ and ‘dr’ sounds
Sometimes, when we have 2 consonant sounds and we put them together, they create a
brand new sound, so the combination of two individual sounds creates a brand new
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different sound. This is true with the letter “t” and “d” when they’re followed by the
consonant “r”.
Try Control
Travel Dry (sounds like /dʒ rai/)
Tradition The “dr” sorts of become the letter j /dʒ/
Introduction
Use the tip of your tongue a bit
Similarly: drama, drop, drastic, address, one hundred, Sandra
Sentence practice
- Is it true that you took a trip to Detroit?

- That was an interesting trick
- Children, don’t drop your drinks
- I hope my dream comes true.
Remember, “dr” sounds like /dʒr/
Rule 24 – The ‘tu’ and ‘du’ sounds

Let’s talk about happen when the “t” and “d” is followed by the “s” sound. When the “t” is
followed by an “u” (e.g. actually), “t” becomes “tʃ ” sound, so the “t” and “u” combined
become “tʃ”.
 Statue
 Nature
 Picture
This also happens when the “t” is followed by an “u”, the change also happens but in a
slightly different way, but this time it sounds like “dʒu”.
 Educate & education

 Individual
 Graduate & graduation
 Schedule
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When we have the word “you” that follows a “t” (e.g. can’t you), the “t” also becomes a
“tʃ” sound, so we say can’t you.
 Can’t you? Why can’t you do it?

 Aren’t you? Aren’t you hungry?
 Won’t you? Why won’t you help me?
 Shouldn’t you?
 Didn’t you?
Similarly, when we have the word “you” that follows a “d” (e.g. did you), most Americans
would say “did you” creating a “tʃ” sound
 Did you do it?

 Could you?
 Would you like something to eat?
Sentence practice:
- Would you like to see the schedule?

- Aren’t you graduating in the spring?
- Can’t you see the statue?
- Did you get a college education?
When both “t” and “d” are followed by “you”, “you” becomes “tʃiu”
Rule 25 – “ed” endings “t” & “d”

Let’s talk about the “ed” ending that forms the past tense of regular verbs. Look at the three
following words
- Waited /id/
- Stopped /t/
- Robbed /d/
There are 3 different ways to pronounce the “ed”. The rule changes according to the
consonant before the “ed”.
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#1: If the last letter of a verb is either “t” or “d”, we add the extra syllable /id/
Words compared Example sentence

Wait - Waited Today, I lift the ball. Yesterday, I lifted the
Paint - Painted ball.
Need - Needed I heated up my dinner.
Complete - Completed He voted this morning.
Attend - Attended He handed me his report.
Count – counted I traded in my old car.
Invite – invited She added some information.
#2: If the last consonant of the verb is a voiceless consonant, the “ed” becomes a /t/
 Work – worked
 Park – parked
 Cook – cooked
 Pass – passed (therefore, passed sounds exactly like past)
 Laugh – laughed
 Push – pushed
 Watch – watched
#3: If the last consonant of the verb is a voiced consonant, the “ed” becomes a /d/ (Ex:
robbed)
 Love – loved
 Realize – realized
 Call – called
 Use – used
Sentence practice
- I painted the walls and fixed the gates

- I cooked a meal and washed the dishes
- I attended a party and danced all night
- He called his friends and talked for an hour
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Summary
The last letter /t/ or /d/, we add an extra syllable /id/
The last letter is voiceless, we add /t/
The last letter is voiced, we add /d/
Additional rule 3: “p” & “b” endings
/b/ review /p/ review /b/ and /p/ consonant pairs

Best, cubs, cupboard Pulls, cups, copy Bear – pear
Buy, bird, bread Park, please, price Beach, peach
Rubber, about, able Open, apple, spring Pack, back
Job, web, globe Tape, help, jump
Bernie brought a big Pat put the purple paint in
breakfast back to bed the pool
To be intelligible, make sure that the final sounds in your words come through clearly and
fully. Don’t drop off or shorten the endings. “p” and “b” are two consonants in endings that
are dropped off most often.
 Job, jop (nonsense word)

 Cap, cab
 Tape, tabe (nonsense word)
 Cup, cub
Sentence practice
P endings B endings
I hope the group will sleep on the ship We cleaned the coweb from the doorknob in the bathtub
The soda pop spilled out of the cup, Rob broke his golf club when he slipped on the ice cube
over the map and onto her lap The crab was under the cement slab at the yacht club.
Was the egg drop soup cheap? The ticket stub was found in the taxicab.
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Additional rule 4: tongue twister

Say the following sentences for 2 times. The first time slowly, repeat the same thing a bit
faster on the 2nd time.
- F, W, Voiced Z
o Fuzzy Wuzzy was a bear,
o Fuzzy Wuzzy had no hair.
o Fuzzy Wuzzy wasn’t fuzzy, was he?
- Voiced /v/
o Vincent vowed vengeance very viciously
Voiced /p/
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,
How many peppers did Peter Piper pick?
(Sh, S and Z)
She sells seashells by the seashore.
The shells she sells are surely seashells.
So if she sells shells on the seashore,
I’m sure she sells seashore shells.
(W, Ch and final consonants)
How much wood, would a woodchuck chuck
If a woodchuck could chuck wood
He would chuck, he would, as much as he could,
And chuck as much wood as a woodchuck would
If a woodchuck could chuck wood
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(w)
Which witch, wished which wicked wish?
While we were walking, we were watching window washers wash
Washington’s windows with warm washing water
If two witches would watch two watches, which witch would watch which watch?
(r)
Roberta ran rings around the Roman ruins
(b, br, and bl blends)
Bradley’s big black bathbrush broke.
Bradley’s big black bathbrush broke.
(th)
Tom threw Tim thirteen thumbstacks
He threw three free throws
There are thirty-three thousand birthdays on the third of every month.
The father gathered smooth feather for Thanksgiving
The sixth graders are enthusiastic about Jonathan’s birthday.
(gr and gl blends) – bring your mouth forward on the “gr” and bring your tongue up on the
“gl”
Green glass globes glow greenly
(l, “oo” vowel)
Aluminium, linoleum /lɪˈnoʊliəm/, aluminium, linoleum, aluminium, linoleum, aluminium,

linoleum.
(Won’t)
I would if I could! But I can’t, so I won’t
(Woke)
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I woke, he woke, she woke, they woke.
We all woke up
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Putting it all together - paragraph practice
Paragraph 1: Photo album
Keeping a family photograph album is a very good way to save family memories for yourself
and future generations of your family. Very old pictures can be taken to photo shop and
reprinted so that they can be placed in an album. Be sure to write on the back of the picture
any information you remember about the people in it. Also, write the date if you remember
it. Looking at photo albums is a relaxing way to spend the day and it’s a fun activity to share
with family and friends. Your children, grandchildren and their grandchildren and their
children will appreciate your efforts too.
Paragraph 2: the public library
Your library card can be your ticket to entertainment, current events and new ideas. Almost
every city has a public library and there is no charge for a library card. Libraries have books
about many subjects, but there are also other things at the library. These include books on
cassette tape, video tapes, large print books, CD’s, DVD’s and magazines. Many have free
programs in the afternoon or evening about travel, hobbies or other topics of interest.
Some cities also have a bookmobile or travelling library, which brings the library into your
neighborhood.
Paragraph 3: John D. Rockerfellar
John D. Rockerfeller did three amazing things. First, he acquired probably the greatest
fortune in history. He started out in life digging potatoes under the hot sun for four cents
an hour. In those days, there were not half a dozen men in all the United States who were
worth even one million dollars. Eventually, John D. managed to collect a fortune said to be
anywhere from one to two billion dollars. Eventually, John D. managed to collect a fortune
said to be anywhere near from one to two billion dollars. And yet, the first girl he fell in love
with refused to marry him. The reason given was because her mother refused to allow her
daughter to “throw herself away” on a man who had such a poor prospect.
Paragraph 4: Stars
How many stars can you see on a dark, clear night? You can see about 3,000 stars with your
eyes alone. But keep in mind that you’re only viewing part of the sky. If the whole sky were
visible, you could count about 5,000 stars. If you look through a small telescope, you might
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see as many as 600,000 stars. Through the most powerful telescopes, astronomers can spot
millions of stars. No one is sure exactly how many stars there are altogether, but
astronomers believe there are at least 200 billion, billion stars out in space.
Once again, the 10 key words improvement are:
Number 1 – Practice and listen
Number 2 – Do not leave off word endings
Number 3 – Make a list of frequently used words
Number 4 – Open your mouth when you speak English
Number 5 – Don’t be afraid to speak
Number 6 – Read aloud in English for 10 to 15 minutes every day
Number 7 – Record your own voice and listen for pronunciation errors
Number 8 – Watch the mouth movement of native speakers and imitate them
Number 9 – Listen and repeat
Number 10 – Be patient
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MODULE 3: ADVANCED RULES TO SOUND LIKE

A NATIVE SPEAKER
Word linking, word reduction, contractions, phrase reduction (additional rule) silent
consonants, relaxed speech
- When, why and how to
 Connect words together  natural sounding speech

 Reduce words  better stress and intonation
- Some exceptions and some difficult words to pronounce
- Some of the most common mistakes found in students
- The difference between casual and formal speech  how to speak appropriately in
different situations
Note – it is important to remember that as soon as you learn these rules, try to apply them
(speak with people or to yourself while thinking about the rules that you’ve just learnt)
Word linking
Rule 26 – Linking consonants to vowels

Let’s talk about a very important concept called Linking which means Connecting words
together.
In speech, linking is connecting two words together. There are specific rules that native
American speakers follow when they are speaking English that they don’t realize they’re
following, but they naturally and smoothly connecting words together
Non-native speakers have to learn these rules. If you don’t learn these rules, your speech
will sound choppy (containing a lot of short sentences and changing topics too often) and
mechanical – kind of like computer generated voice like “How / how/ are / you?”
It’s very important to learn how to link words together to sound smooth and your speech
will be interesting to listen to and it will have that natural smooth connection.
The first rule of linking (rule 26): when a word ends with a consonant, and the following
word begins with a vowel, we connect these words together and we link the final consonant
to the initial vowel.
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Let’s take a look at how that works
 In an instant
 John is a friend of mine
 I’m an actor
3 important rules you need to know about linking
 Linking doesn’t mean you’re speaking fast: a lot of students – when they first learn
the concept of linking – they think they have to speak really fast. (e.g. I’m an actor,
John is a friend of mine) – these are not linking  Linking is smooth connected
speech: in fact, it can be slow if you want to make it slow.
 Secondly, you still need to remember the concept of Stressing the key word -
content word. Otherwise, the words would just sound connected together and you
don’t know when one word begins and another one ends. Ex: John is a friend of mine
 Do not link between thought groups (or word chunks) and don’t link after commas
or where you need to make a pause between word chunks. Ex: [I’ll call you] [in an
instant]
Build up [bill up] Hold on a minute
Come over [ca mover] A cup of coffee
Call up [ca lup] Just a moment
For a while [fo ra while] It’s all I’ll need for a while
Where is [whe ris] Where is his uncle?
What if [wha dif – the “t” is between 2 vowels] Does everybody here work out?
Can I think it over?
Why did Adam bring it up again?
Linking the final consonant to the following vowel is especially important for you if you
tend to drop the final consonant at the end of words, like a lot of my students too.
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If you have a difficult time pronouncing the final consonant for some words (e.g. card),
linking that “d” to the following vowel makes a bit different, automatically connecting it –
pronouncing the final consonant each time.
Rule 27 – Linking consonants to consonants

When one word ends in a consonant and the following word begins with a consonant. Let’s
take a look at the first rule – when we have two same consonants, we only pronounce it
once.
EX: Likes swimming – we can blend it together and eliminate the first “s”, you can prolong
the “s” a bit but don’t pause and don’t break the two words in half.
EX2: Bill likes swimming – likewise, the consonant “l” & “s” are not pronounced separately.
Word practice:
Stop practicing Bad day

I’m gonna stop practicing. I had a bad day yesterday
Next time Nine nails
I’ll see you next time Bob Barker
Wish she His name is Bob Barker
I wish she would Love vegetables
I wish she would call me Everything is going great
2nd rule of linking consonants: we link consonants that have the same point of articulation.
The point of articulation is the point of contact that is made to produce sounds. (E.g. p & b
have the same point of articulation because both of them require the lips to close). Another
example would be “t” and “d’
Word practice:
 Used to
 Five friends
 Big kitchen
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 Supposed to
 Need to
When the consonant is a stop and another consonant follows, even when the consonant
doesn’t have the same point of articulation, make sure you hold that first consonant and
kinds of link it
 Back door (don’t release the “k”)

 Help me
 Help him, help John
Just remember don’t over-pronounce the final consonant ever, don’t release them too
much if something is coming next
Sentence practice
- I wish she would talk to me

- Did that man know about the situation?
- I could drive you there right now
- He always seems so happy
- I used to work crazy hours but these days I’ve slowed down
As you can see, when you link one consonant to another consonant, your speech sounds a
lot smoother.
Rule 28 – Linking vowels to vowels

The final rule about linking: if one word ends in a vowel and the end the next word begins
with a vowel, there is also linking that has to happen. What happens in that case is:
o See it (we put a little y/j in between “see” and “it”)
The rule is when your vowel requires your lips to be flat (i:, ɔɪ,aɪ, eɪ– all the vowels that end
with the i sound), we’re going to make the j/y sound.
Very interesting May I

Carry on Enjoy it
We all – we all have a good time I hope you enjoy it
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Let’s learn what happens when our lips are rounded in the last vowel position. (/uː/: who,
/oʊ/: know).
 Who is
 No one
 Blue ocean
 Do all – I will do all of it
 No answer
Sentence practice
- I don’t do it very often.

- Why is she so afraid of it?
- I can see inside the open window.
- This is the only one I know about.
- Did you see any other ones?
Keep in mind we insert very little /j/ and /w/ sounds between vowels
Rule 29 – Reducing words part 1

Smooth natural connected speech that has the right rhythm and the right stress. It has to
do with knowing which words to reduce and what happen to the words when we reduce
them.
Remember, we stress the content words such as nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs and
we reduce function words which are pronouns, prepositions, articles, auxiliary verbs (will,
am, is, do, does). Very often when we reduce auxiliary verbs, they’re contracted (e.g. “I’ll
go”, “I’m fine”). The vowels in the preposition generally become the neutral sound.
Here is what happens when we reduce prepositions: the vowels in the prepositions
generally becomes the neutral sound
As /əs/ On /ɑːn/ At /ət/
As soon as I’ll see you on Monday I’m at home
As long as I’ll call you on Tuesday I’m at school
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As far as I know Put in on the desk I’ll meet you at five
As good as it get Please come on time) I’ll call you at six
To /tə/ For /fər/ Or /ər/
I’d like to go to the store For a while Yes or no
I’m going to work For a moment Good or bad
I’d like to talk to you For a long time This or that
 Sometimes, there could be a reason when you extend the “or” like when you’re
thinking what to say next (Do you want this oorrrr that?). But if you know definitely where
you’re going with the sentence, then make sure you say it a little faster)
Our /ɑːr/ And /n/

This is our house Rock and roll
This is our car I love rock and roll
Do you like our new garden? In and out
Here is our number John and Marry
This and that
In this case, re reduce the “a” and the “d”, which disappear often
Sentence practice
- I’d like to see you for a moment

- Sooner or later, you’ll meet our parents.
- I went to work at nine o’ clock
- I had bacon and eggs for breakfast
- Do you like black and white or colour photos?
Again, remember that reducing function words does not mean that you’re speaking really
fast, you still have to slow down on the content word.
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Rule 30 – Reducing words part 2

Let’s learn how to reduce pronouns, by reducing them how to make your speech sound
more natural.
Pronouns that begin with letter “h” or letter “th”
He did  did he? (we pronounce the “h” in “he did” but often skip the “h” in “did he”?)
 Did he go?
 Did he do it?
 Could he help me?
 Should he call you?
 Would he come?
Remember, if you want to speak very carefully and pronounce things formally, you can
express it fully “did he do that?”
The same thing applies to “him”, we drop the “h” and we say
 “I told him”.
 I’ll call him
 Ask him – I’ll ask him a question.
 When I see him, I’ll say “hello”
Her
 Call her
 I really love her
 Do you like her?
 Drive her
Them – the voiced “th” also gets reduced
 Pick them – I’ll pick them up
 Need them – I don’t need them
 By them – I’ll stand by them

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Sentence practice:
 I’ll talk to him when I see him
 He wants her to know that he loves her
 I’ll pick them up and take them home.
 Is that his car? – No, that’s his brother’s car.
 She cut her hair and I didn’t recognize her.
Keep in mind that when the pronoun is the 1st word of the sentence, you’d never eliminate
the “h” or the “th”. They’d never be silent.
Also, sometimes there is a special reason to stress the pronouns, for example:
 I love him/her
 I want to talk to him/her
Rule 31 – Contractions
Contractions are very important to use in your everyday speech.
 Students who don’t use contractions often sound like they’re often just beginning to
learn English like they’re at the first stage and they’re still pronouncing every word
separately.
 Pronouncing every word separately would give the impression that you’re a
beginner
Some contractions are easy and commonly used (e.g. Don’t do that). However, a lot of
students tend to avoid certain contractions that might be hard for them (e.g. I’ll do that,
I’ve been there)
Remember that you can separate the words to emphasize it
 Do NOT do that.
 I did NOT do it
Note that in formal written language, as opposed to spoken language, you won’t see
contractions that often.
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Contracting some common words
 Will – ‘ll
 I’ll (put a little ow between the “I” and the “l”). Similarly,
 he’ll
 She’ll
 They’ll
Note, for “it’ll”, you say /id l/ (you need to change the “t” into a fast “d”. E.g.: it’ll rain, it’ll
be hot. It’ll be nice (it’ll rhyme with the word “little” – we say /’lidl/ in informal natural
speech.
Note 1: Would – ‘d; Had – ‘d – the contraction of “Would” and “Had” sound exactly the
same (I’d - I would & I had). Similarly:
o He would – he’d
o She would – she’d
o We would –we’d
o We’d like it
o They’d love it
Note 2: “is” and “has” sound the same when they’re contracted. E.g. He’s (he has, he is)
o He is here  he’s here
o He has been here before  he’s been here before
Are /a:r/
o You are  you’re
o They are  they’re
o We are  we’re
o We’re hungry
o They’re home
o You’re tall
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Have – ‘ve
o I have  I’ve
o They have - they’ve
o We have  we’ve
o They’ve been there
Sentence practice
o We’ve been married for a long time
o It’ll rain all day
o It’s good that you’re home
o He’ll call me and I’ll give him the number
o We waited because you said you’d come
o I’ve already eaten but he’s still hungry
- Remember, contractions are a natural part of daily conversations.
Rule 32 – Difficult contractions

When speech evaluation is given to accent reduction students, these are the ones many
people pronounce incorrectly.
Could have (“have” is an auxiliary verb in this case) – We put a little /ə/ between Could and
Have, so it sounds like /’ku dəv/
 I could have told you
 Should have – You should have known
 Would have – He would have love it.
Let’s look at what happens when we have the word “not” in there – Could not have 
Couldn’t have – Note that the “t” disappears in this case, so it sounds like /kudn əv/
 Couldn’t have – He couldn’t have done it
 Shouldn’t have – She shouldn’t have told you
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 Wouldn’t have – They wouldn’t have known
In Questions (e.g. would you have, should you have)
 Would you have/əv/
 How would she have known?
 Could you have /əv/
 What would you have done?
Sentence practice:
o You should’ve seen it
o You would’ve liked it.
o I shouldn’t have said that to him
o I wouldn’t have called you if I’d known you were sleeping.
o You wouldn’t have been tired if you’d gone to bed earlier.
o What would you’ve said to her?
Remember:
o Could have /kʊ dəv/
o Couldn’t have /ˈkʊd ənt əv/
o Would you have /wʊd juː əv/
Rule 33 – Dropped syllables

Another very common mistake that people make is to fully pronounce certain words with
vowels which are not pronounced at all.
“a”
Basic /ˈbeɪ sɪk /- 2 syllables; If we add “ally” to make it “Basically” /ˈbeɪsɪkli/- The “a” is not
pronounced.
Similarly:
 Actual – actually
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 Practical – practically
 Physical – physically
“e”
 Accident /ˈæksɪdənt/ – accidentally /ˌæksɪˈdentli/ - we don’t pronounce the “e”
 Vegetable /ˈvedʒtəbl/
 Interesting /ˈɪntrəstɪŋ/
 Different / ˈdɪfrənt/
“o”
o Chocolate /ˈtʃɑːklət/
o Comfortable /ˈkʌmftəbl/
The following is a list of words – each one of these words contains one vowel & one syllable
which are not pronounced.
Aspirin /ˈæsprɪn/ Beverage /ˈbevərɪdʒ/ Favourite / ˈfeɪvərɪt/

Evening /ˈiːvnɪŋ/ Naturally /ˈnætʃrəli/ Extraordinary / ɪkˈstrɔːrdəneri/
Family /ˈfæməli/ Catholic /ˈkæθlɪk/ Preference / ˈprefrəns/
Laboratory /ˈlæbrətɔːri/ Miserable /ˈmɪzrəbl/ Temperature /ˈtemprətʃər/
Several /ˈsevrəl/ Opera /ˈɑːprə/ Broccoli /ˈbrɑːkəli/
Diamond /ˈdaɪəmənd/ Camera /ˈkæmrə/
Sentence practice:
- I’d like a chocolate beverage

- Let’s go to a different restaurant
- Every evening, she takes an aspirin
- Basically, they’re different
- I went to an extraordinary opera last night.
- I actually like broccoli
There are not too many of these words. So, for the ones listed, try to memorize them and
pronounce them correctly.
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Additional rule – phrase reduction

In conversational English (not in formal context), words are often broken down or not fully
pronounced. Two and three words are often squeezed together to create “easy to say”
phrases.
(Going to try) becomes “gunna try” or “gonna try”
o I’m gunna try to finish this book
o I’m gonna sing you a song
(Want to eat) becomes “wanna eat”
o Do you wanna eat at seven o’ clock?
o Do you really wanna go there?
(Have to start) becomes “halfta start”
o I halfta start a diet tomorrow
o You halfta do it before you can know the outcome
(Has to try) becomes “hasta try”
o He hasta try harder
o She hasta break up with him, he’s a jerk
(Got to leave) becomes “gotta leave”
o I gotta leave in 15 minutes
o We gotta go now, they’re coming
(Ought to believe) becomes “oughta believe”
o She oughta believe in what he’s saying
o You oughta trust me, I mean no harm
(Out of bed) becomes “outa bed”
o I got outa bed when I heard the alarm clock
o We gotta get outta here before it’s too late
(Did you go?) becomes “Didja go”

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o Didja go to the store?
o Didja know he would come?
(Would he help) becomes “woody help”
o Woody help me move the furniture?
o Woody go with you to the party?
(Won’t you play) becomes “woncha play”
o Woncha play one more song on the piano
o Woncha get tired after repeating everything everyday?
(Didn’t you know) becomes “Didincha know”
o Didincha know she was coming home tomorrow?
o Didincha run when he chased you?
(Is he?) becomes “Izzy”
o Izzy the one that called?
o Izzy the man to talk to when you’re in trouble?
(What do you want?) becomes “Whatdaya want”
(Give it to me.) becomes “Givida Me”
o Gividame right away
Rule 34 – Silent consonants

Another common mistake has to do with the silent letter
Silent k
o Know
Silent b
o Bomb
o Climb
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o Debt
o Subtle
o Doubt
o Dumb
o Numb
o Thumb
o Tomb
Silent ch
o Yacht
Silent d
o Adjust /əˈdʒʌst/
o Adjective /ˈædʒɪktɪv/
o Handkerchief /ˈhæŋkərtʃɪf/
Silent l
o Walk – talk /wɔːk/ - /tɔːk/
o Could – would – should – half / kʊd/-/ wʊd/- /ʃʊd/- /hæf/
o Calm /kɑːm/
o Palm /pɑːm/
o Salmon /ˈsæmən/
o Stalk /stɔːk/
o Chalk / tʃɔːk/
o Folk /foʊk/
Silent t – very often occurs in words that are originally French because in French, the t is
most of the time silent.
o Ballet /ˈbæleɪ/
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o Bouquet /buˈkeɪ/
o Buffet /ˈbʊf eɪ/
o Valet /ˈvæleɪ/
o Chevrolet /’Sevrəlei/
Other silent “t”
o Listen /ˈlɪsən/
o Fasten /ˈfæsn/
o Often /ˈɔːfən/
o Castle /ˈkæsl/
o Buffet /ˈbʊfeɪ/
Silent th
o Months (the “th” and “s” combination are very difficult, even for native speakers,
most American don’t really say the word fully (one month, two months)
o Clothes (the same thing applies to “clothes” – you might hear a tiny “th”, most
people say /kloʊz/
Silent p
o Receipt /rɪˈsiːt/
o Psychology /saɪˈkɑːlədʒi/
o Psychic /ˈsaɪkɪk/
o Cupboard /ˈkʌbərd/
Silent s
o Island /ˈaɪlənd/
o Debris /dəˈbriː/
o Aisle /ail/: a passage between rows of seats in church, theatre or train, rows of
shelves in the supermarket.
Silent n
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o Autumn /ˈɔːtəm/
o Column /ˈkɑːləm/
Silent w
o Answer /ˈænsər/
These are the most commonly mispronounced words with silent letters.
Rule 35 – Relaxed speech

o Let’s compare formal speech with casual everyday conversational speech
o When we have the words “have”.
EX: could have been – Formal /’ku də/; Casual /’ku dav/
 I could have called you
 I could have come over
 Would have
 Should have
Of /əv/
 Kind of /ˈkaɪndəv/
 Sort of /sɔːrtəv/
 Cup of coffee
 Bottle of wine
To /tə/
 Want to  wanna (I wanna go)
 Go to  gotta (I gotta eat)
 Going to  gonna
A few more rules of casual speech
o Let me  lemme (lemme do it, lemme go, lemme help you)
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o Give me  gimme – dropping the “v” (gimme a call, gimme that)
The “ing” ending (sometimes the “g” disappear but this is considered really casual speech
– probably in music lyrics) – but this is not considered professional speech
o Going  goin’ - Where are you going?
o Doing  doin’ – What are you doing?
o Happening  happenin’  what’s happening?
Sentence practice (Please note that this is not the proper spelling)
o You shoulda told me ealier. I coulda helped you
o I wanna get a cup of coffee
o He’s gonna make a lotta money
o We gotta go shopping because we’re outta food
o Lemme introduce you to a frienda mine
You’d most often hear this kind of casual speech in movies and in a casual conversation;
but remember in IELTS speaking, don’t abbreviate things like this.
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MODULE 4: RHYTHM AND INTONATION

Stressed & unstressed syllables, -ate word, suffixes, rules of word stress, focus word &
thought groups, private names & places, abbreviations & numbers, Intonation, special
stress.
- Rhythm, intonation and melody are the music of language, and it’s one of the most
important things you need to know to have a good American accent. It’s probably even
more important than learning correct vowels and pronunciation.
- In some languages, the words sound flat and some words are pronounced the same
way and each syllable is pronounced the same way. If you’re speaking English quickly and
you speak with that kind of rhythm and melody, people will have a really hard time
understanding you.
- On the other hand, if you’re stressing the wrong syllables or stressing the wrong
words and your music is different from how it is supposed to be with an American accent,
once again your speech will not be intelligible.
- The following are the rules you need to know to have a natural sounding rhythm and
melody of American English.
- For instance:
o It’s nice to meet you (the proper word to stress is meet)
- When we stress we word, we make it longer, louder and higher in pitch.
- If you make a mistake and stress the wrong word, this can be a big problem and
people will have a hard time understanding you.
o It is nice to meet you
o It’s nice to meet you.
- The order
o The first several rules will deal with stress of syllables
o The rules will proceed to deal with word stress within sentences
o In the last part – you will learn about intonation, which is the pitch going up or the
pitch going down
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 It is nice to meet you/
 It is nice to meet you\
The best way to practice is reading out loud paragraphs and recording your own voice and
then analyze your voice and ask yourself if you’re stressing the right part of the word and
the right part of the sentence according to the rules that you’re going to learn. Keep
recording your voice over and over again and practice these rules and very soon you’ll have
a very good American accent.
Rule 36 – Basics of syllable stress

- A syllable is a small unit of speech that has one vowel and sometimes a vowel and a
consonant together.
- If you have 2 separate vowel sounds, that’d be 2 separate syllables.
o Seat – although there are two vowels (e & a), but these 2 syllables represent only
one sound /i:/, therefore we don’t have to worry about which syllable is stressed because
it’s only one word and one syllable.
o Sci/ence – the word is broken up in the middle, forming 2 syllables. In this case, one
syllable has to be stressed. If you look up the word in the dictionary, you’d see an
apostrophe in front of the word that is stressed.
o Audiovisual /ˌɔː di oʊ ˈvɪ ʒu əl/ this word contains 6 syllables. With words such as
these, it’s really important to know which syllable is stressed.
- To stress a syllable, we make them longer, louder and higher in pitch.
- Stressing the wrong syllable would often cause you to be misunderstood
o Success /sowk ‘ses/
o Success
o Which one is correct?
o Urban
o Urban
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o Which one is correct?
- It is critical to know which syllable is stressed.
- Word stress test: take a look at these words and see whether you can tell which
syllable the stress falls on:
Decade Japan Parenthesis (bracket)
Colleague Iran Necessary
Female Locate Necessity
Detail
Answer: decade, colleague, female, Japan, Iran, locate, detail, parenthesis /pəˈrenθəsɪs/,
necessary, necessity
Don’t be dispirited if you make many mistakes on these words. These are very common
mistakes that people make
Note; sometimes, when we change the form of a verb (from a verb to a noun or to an
adjective), the stress pattern changes as well.
Rule 37 – Syllables of verbs and nouns

For words with 2 syllables:
o If the word is a noun, 90% of the time, the first syllable is stressed if the word has 2
syllables: office, problem, window, paper, answer, building, mother, father,
o If it’s a verb, around 2/3 of the times, the second syllable is stressed: apply, agree,
create, relax, complain, enjoy.
Let’s look at some words that play the role of both nouns and verbs at the same time:
o Record (v), (n)
o He broke the world record
o I’d like to record my voice
o Object (v) (n)
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o That’s an interesting object /’ob jekt/
o I object to your decision
Sentence practice:
I hope to progress Do you like that OBject
You’re making good progress No, I obJECT to it
Did he inSULT him? Is there a CONflict between them?
Yes, I heard the Insult Yes, those two always conFLICT
I want to preSENT you to my family Where should I inSERT it?
I will bring them a nice PREsent Do you reCALL it?
Do you have the INsert? No, I have no REcall of it
- Be careful, it could be that it could be in your language, generally the first syllable is
stressed or the last one is. In that case, pay special attention to this and practice.
Rule 38 – ATE words

Another rule on how syllables are pronounced have to do with words end in “ATE”
o Graduate
o Estimate
o Articulate
To know what we say /eit/ or /ət/ for the endings, we have to know what kinds of words
they are,
o If it’s a verb, it’s /eit/ - sounding like 8
 I’d graduate from college soon.
o But if it’s a noun, the sound is /ət/
 He’s a college graduate
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o Estimate
 I’d like to estimate the cost of this
 Please give me an estimate of the costs.
o Articulate – to say something really well and really clearly
 We’d like to articulate it
 He’s a very articulate man. (adj) (he speaks clearly and he speaks well)
If it’s a verb, we say /eit/ whereas if it’s a noun/adjective, we reduce it and we say /ət/
o Separate (v) (adj)
o Approximate (adj) (verb)
o Approximate (verb)
Some more verbs that end with “ate”
o Negotiate
o Abbreviate
o Calculate
o Nominate
o Donate
Let’s practice some nouns and adjectives
o Delicate
o Chocolate
o Accurate
o Affectionate
o Intimate
Sentence practice
o Did he graduate from college?
o Yes, and now he’s in graduate school working on his PhD
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o I will calculate it and give you an estimate
o I don’t think that number is accurate
o I think you’re exaggerating the amount
o That’s just an approximate estimate
o Thanks for the chocolate. I really appreciate it.
Remember /eit/ if it’s a verb and /owt/ if it’s a noun or adjective.
Rule 39 – Stress rules of suffixes

Some more rules about syllable stress deal with the general rules about which syllable to
stress, but keep in mind that there are so many exceptions to each rule that you need to
study them on your own when you look up for each word.
Guidelines regarding syllable stress and suffixes
A suffix is something that goes to the end of the word
o Quick – quickly
Some rules on suffix stressing:
If the word ends with –ese, we stress the suffix:
o ChiNESE
o JapaNESE
o PortuGUESE
If the word ends with EER, we stress the suffix
o PioNEER
o VolunTEER
o EngiNEER
If the word ends with –IQUE, we stress the suffix
o AnTIQUE
o BouTIQUE
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o CriTIQUE (a piece of written criticism on a work of art….,) Critic – the person who
does this job (distinct from CRItical)
o TechNIQUE (different from TECHnical)
Words that end in IC –we stress the syllable immediately before the suffix
o ReaLIStic
o eLECtric (elecTRIcity)
o straTEgic (STRAtegy)
o OptiMIStic
o terRIfic
o speCIfic
o paCIfic
These are some important rules to know which syllables are to be stressed.
Stress change from nouns to adjective
o Origin /ˈɔːrɪdʒɪn/ Original /əˈrɪdʒənl/
o Industry /ˈɪndəstri/- Industrial /ɪnˈdʌstriəl/
o Memory /ˈmeməri/ - memorial /məˈmɔːriəl/
o Finance /ˈfaɪnæns/- financial /faɪˈnænʃl/
o President /ˈprezɪdənt/- presidential /ˌprezɪˈdenʃl/
Keep listening carefully to the way native speakers pronounce words and you will
distinctively figure out which syllable is supposed to be stressed.
Rule 40 – How unstressed syllables works

- So, what happen to syllables that are not stressed?
- Take a look at the words that have one thing in common: a vowel followed by an
“m” in word ending
o Madam
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o Problem
o Symptom
o Album
In many languages, Vietnamese included, these syllables are pronounced the same way.
E.g. madam. In English, the syllables that we stress are longer, louder and higher in pitch &
syllable stress are extremely important:
o Madam - the first a is completely different from the 2nd a – the first one is longer and
louder.
o Problem
o Symptom
o Album
If you notice, all the ending ‘am, em, om, um” are pronounced the same /əm/. The point to
be highlighted here is that in English, we reduce and we stress.
Another set of words with 2 “o” in each word
o O’ clock
o Doctor
o Photography
o Photo /ˈfoʊtoʊ/- an exception to this rule
All the unstressed syllables are reduced and become /ow/
o Atom /ˈætəm/
o Adam /ˈædəm/
Note that the d between the 2 vowels (Adam) sound exactly like a short “t”
Some words are pronounced exactly the same but their spellings are slightly different:
o Lesson – lessen /ˈlesn/
o way – weigh
o collar – caller # colour
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o Profit – prophet /’pro fit/ (Note: prophet = (1) a person who claims to see what
happens in the future or (2) a person who supports or teaches new ideas/theories)
o Seller – cellar (= wine cellar – an underground room used for storing things)
For the following list of words, single out the syllables that are stressed and reduce the
unstressed syllables and make the sound /ə/ or, less commonly, /i/. Note to underline the
stressed words
o Economy
o Memory
o Control
o Contain
o Develop
o Europe
o Information
o Commercial
The more you listen to spoken English, the better syllable stress and reductions you will
acquire because the words will become more familiar to you and you’ll automatically get a
feeling of which syllables you’re supposed to stress.
Also, when looking up for new words, make sure to check their stress patterns.
Rule 41 – Basics of stressing the right words within sentences

Just like certain syllables are stressed in words, there are certain words that we have to
stress in sentences. This is very important to learn because this is what create the natural
music and rhythm of American English and it’s a really important skill to master to have a
good accent.
o I will be driving to the market to buy something to eat
The underlined words are verbs and nouns – they are content words.
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Content words are the words that carry the most meaning of a sentence. If other words
were to be eliminated and if we only said the underlined words, you’d still understand what
the speaker was trying to say
o Generally speaking content words are:
o Nouns: house, dog, men….
o Verbs (action words): go, eat, sleep, drive, think….
o Adverbs: carefully, clearly, well, soon…
o Adjectives: tall, short, good, bad, difficult, easy….
Function words: are the other words around the content words. They’re other words that
are not absolutely necessary to the meanings of the sentence.
Remember to jump up (go higher in pitch) for words that need to be stressed. Practice
saying the sentence once again:
o I will be driving to the market to get something to eat.
This is the natural rhythm of English.
When we have two content words, generally the second content words get more stress.
o E.g. I’ve got a job (Job gets more stress as it is the 2nd content word)
o Do me a favour
o See you later
o Let’s go for a walk
o Did you do your homework?
In all of these cases, the second word gets more stress.
Compare these two sentences:
o Did you get it?
o Did you get the job?
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o In the 1st sentence, get is emphasized, but it is a pronoun, therefore it didn’t get
emphasized. In the 2nd sentence, job is emphasized because it’s a noun, so we reduce
pronouns and we stress nouns.
Similarly:
o Did you see it?
o Did you see the film?
o Who stole it?
o Who stole my money?
If we add another element to the end of the word, it may become different:
o Who stole the money from me?
 From is a preposition and me is a pronoun, so these two are reduced.
o I was washing the dishes.
o I was washing the dishes for her
o He’s fixing the car.
o He’s fixing the car for them.
Take a look at these sentences and try figure out the stress pattern:
o I just got a new job. I am so excited about it. I couldn’t find one for a long time
o I’m working at the store. I’m selling women’s shoes. I started working there last
week.
o On the first day, I was really nervous, there was so much to learn.
o Answer: I just got a new JOB. I’m so EXCITED about it. I couldn’t FIND one for a long
TIME.
o I’m working at the STORE. I’m selling women’s SHOES. I started WORKING there last
WEEK.
o On the first DAY, I was really NERVOUS, there was so much to LEARN.
When you stress a word, make it louder & longer, but don’t put too much melody in it.
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o Have a NICE DAY (exaggerated)
o It’s nice to MEET YOU (exaggerated)
Rule 42 – Focus words and thought groups

Let’s talk about what happen when we have a long sentence with a lot content words.
Basically, we need to divide one sentence into thought groups. EX: I will be driving to the
market/to get something to eat. As can be seen, the sentence is separated into 2 thought
groups by a comma. The most important word within a thought group is called the FOCUS
WORD.
o The focus word of the first thought group is market
o The second focus word is eat
Sometimes a sentence can have three focus words
o I will be driving to the market/ to get something to eat/ because I was very hungry
o The three words in bold are the focus words.
So, how do you divide your sentences? You can use your natural instinct/intuition to decide.
For instance
o I will be driving/to the market  this thought group is another way to divide your
thought group because it also makes sense.
o I will be driving to/the market  not sensible to break down your thought groups in
this way.
So, you have a choice of whether where to pause based on your intuition as long as it makes
sense. It depends on how quickly you want to speak. The important thing to keep in mind
is when you have a thought group, emphasize one key word the most.
Let’s try another sentence:
o I was watching a movie/ with my friends/when suddenly it started to rain
Obviously, that’s a very long sentence, so if you don’t break down and stress any word, it
would be very hard to understand. So, breaking it down to chunks (thought groups) make
it have a very nice rhythm and much easier to understand.
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o I was so tired/that I couldn’t wait/ to get home.
o Or “I was so tired/that I couldn’t wait to get home.
o It’s up to you how to you how to break down the sentence.
Sentence practice:
o If I forget to pay my BILL/ please REMIND me about it.
o He wants to KNOW/if you NEED anything/from the SUPERMARKET.
o Did you know it was SNOWING/in all parts of the EAST COAST?
o When we CLIMBED/to the top of the MOUNTAIN/we could see the OCEAN.
o Or “when we climbed to the top of the MOUNTAIN/we could see the OCEAN”
When you have a longer sentence with a few thought groups, make sure you find the focus
word and stress that one the most. Remember, it’s the last content word (if it’s a noun or
a verb)
Rule 43 – How to stress adjectives and nouns

Let’s talk now about which words to stress: noun or adjective. Listen to these sentences:
o It’s a HOT day
o It’s a hot DAY
Which one sounds correct to you?
In English, nouns, rather than adjectives, are stressed, so the correct way is
o It is a hot DAY.
o You did a good JOB.
o I have blonde HAIR.
o I’m wearing a black JACKET.
o I’m wearing a black BLOUSE/and a black JACKET.
o Blouse /blauz/ a piece of clothing like a shirt – worn by women.
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Remember, the important rule is to emphasize the nouns. If you emphasize the adjectives
instead, it will be difficult for native speakers to understand you
o I’m wearing a BLACK blouse/and a BLACK jacket
Sentence practice
o I have brown EYES
o I have a nice JOB
o I have an older BROTHER
o I went to a PARTY/ and I have a good TIME
o He has blue EYES
o I’m wearing black SHOES
o I’m wearing a gold RING
Take a minute now to describe yourself (your hair, your eyes and what you’re wearing today
using proper stress).
If the adjective is alone, we do stress it of course. For instance:
o He’s TALL
o It’s HOT
o That was GOOD
But if have a noun
o He’s a tall MAN
o It’s a hot DAY
o That was a good JOB
Sentence practice 2:
o That was FAST.
o That was a fast FLGIHT.
o I have FIVE
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o I have five DOLLARS
o It’s OLD
o It’s an older FILM
o He’s YOUNGER
o He’s my younger BROTHER
o That was GREAT
o I had a great TIME.
o I have an older BROTHER/ and a younger SISTER.
o She has brown HAIR/ and blue EYES.
o That old LADY/ has a little DOG.
o My new CAR has four DOORS.
o I read a good BOOK/during the long FLIGHT.
What happen when we have 2 adjectives before a noun? Ex: big black dog, angry old man.
Long hot shower. In this case, we emphasize the first adjective and the noun
o BIG black DOG
o ANGRY old MAN
o LONG hot SHOWER
Rule 44 – Compound nouns

Compound nouns are two words that represent one thing. For example: credit card. In this
case, we stress the first word: CREDIT card. Also, join the words together. Let’s practice
some other compound nouns
o EYElid
o EYE-brow
o FOREhead
o EARring
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Some compound words with HAIR:
o HAIR style
o HAIR colour
o HAIR brush
o HAIR salon
Things around your house
o BOOKshelf
o WASHING-machine
o LAPtop
o WINDOW-frame
In your wallet:
o DRIVER/DRIVING license
o CREDIT card
o CELL phone
o CAR keys
o CHEWING gum
Sentence practice:
o Please give me your PHONE number/with the the AREA code first
o My house has three BEDrooms/ and two BATHrooms
o I got a HEADache from the loud ROCK music
o The POLICE officer was on a MOTORcycle
o After their WEDDING day, they went on their HONEYmoon
o Don’t put the NEWSpaper in the TRASHcan
o I bought a BIRTHDAY present for my ROOMmate
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Remember, when it’s an adjective plus noun, we stress the noun. But when it’s a compound
noun, we stress the first word
o Green HOUSE
o GREENhouse
Rule 45 – Rules of stressing phrasal verbs

 Pick up
 Break down
Pick and break are verbs; but if we add prepositions and other words afterwards, they
become phrasal verbs: pick up, break down.
With phrasal verbs, we stress the second element which is usually a preposition, so we say:
o Pick UP
o Break DOWN
Sometimes the phrasal verbs can have a pronoun or a noun in between, so we can say:
o Pick it UP
o Turn it ON
o Cross it OUT
Sometimes, phrasal verbs can have a noun equivalent. For instance:
o Work out & Workout
o I had a great WORKout (emphasizing the first part)
o I work OUT for three hours every morning
Sentence practice:
o I found OUT about it
o Can you look it OVER for me?
o I’ll think it OVER and I’ll call you BACK
o I can’t figure OUT why it broke DOWN
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o When he grew UP/ he moved OUT
Remember if it’s a phrasal verb, we stress the 2nd part – the preposition. But if it’s a noun,
we stress the first part. For example:
o MakeUP: I’m wearing some MAKEup
o Make UP: I’m sure he made UP the story. It can’t possibly be true
o CHECK-up: I went to the doctor for a medical CHECK-up
o Check UP: after checking UP on him, the doctor can’t diagnose any disease
o BREAK-up: It was a very painful BREAKup
o Break UP: the decided to break up since they can’t get along well anymore
o Turn OFF: the light is hurting my eyes. Could you turn it OFF, please?
o TURNoff: that’s a real TURNoff (not interesting & attractive)
o Print OUT: have you printed OUT the information?
o PRINTout: he handed me a copy of the PRINTout
Rule 46 – Names of places and people

- Let’s learn the rules of stress for names of people and names of places.
- If the place has two words, we stress the 2nd word:
o South AMERICA
o United KINGDOM
o Los ANGELES
o Las VEGAS
o Mexico CITY
o South AFRICA
o Central PARK
The same thing happens when we stress the names of people, we stress the last name –
the 2nd word
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o George WASHINGTON
o Barrack OBAMA
When the name has three words, we stress the last word. For example:
o Martin Luther KING
o John F. KENEDY
Think of actors/actresses that you like:
o Julia ROBERT
o Brad PITT
o Tom CRUISE
Sentence practice
o John WILSON and Bob JONES went to South AMERICA.
o Central PARK is in New YORK.
o His father likes Bob DYLAN, but his grandfather likes Frank SINATRA
o Barrack OBAMA was elected president of the United STATES
o Is that Julia ROBERTS or Nicole KIDMAN?
Remember the final name gets the most stress
Rule 47 – Abbreviations and numbers

Abbreviations are the short form of a longer name
o CNN (Cable News Network)
o W.H.O (World Health Organization)
o Ph.D (Doctor of philosophy)
The rule is we stress the last letter of the abbreviations, for example:
o cnN
o uclA
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o ph.D
Don’t pronounce each letter separately, try to say it as if it were one word (link it together)
and stress the last element
o asaP
o Call me BACK asaP
o pC – my pC is broken
o dvD, cD, iQ
Try to think of more abbreviations and speak them using the proper stress pattern.
Sometimes, people might ask you to spell your names (especially when you come overseas
to study), make sure to break up your names and emphasize the last part:
o Parker (Spelling: p – a – R/ k – e – R)
We emphasize the last element (according to the syllables)
Numbers work the same way – we generally emphasize the last element, for example
o 3799 0 Thirty seven ninety NINE
o 58 – fifty EIGHT
o 812 – eight hundred TWELVE
o Area code 310/555/8239
Practice saying your telephone number, your birthday, your birth year & or an important
holiday
o October twenty seven/nineteen eighty-eight
o She was born in nineteen ninety-four
Sentence practice:
o I went to work/ at 9:15/ and came home/ at 5:45/
o Flight 507/ left LAX/ at 7:25/
o This CD/ costs $ 19.99/
o He was born in L.A./ in 1987/

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o When they got married/, he was 31/ and she was 29/
Remember: in abbreviations and in numbers, the last element gets stressed.
Rule 48 – Stress for special emphasis

The last rule for word stress: any word can be stressed if you have a good reason to stress
it – if you want to emphasize the word for some reasons:
o This is the best ICE-CREAM/ I’ve ever HAD/
o This is the BEST ice-cream/I’ve ever had/
o That’s the BIGGEST dog/I’ve ever seen/
You emphasize words to put more emotions in them & to make sure people understand
your point. But be careful, don’t do that too much, in regular conversations, you usually
emphasize the last word (ice-cream, had – as they are content words)
o I love your new CAR
However, there’s still room some creativity there
o You don’t smoke, /do \you?
o I USED TO smoke. I don’t SMOKE now, but I USED to smoke
o You will NOT go there tomorrow night, right?
o I WILL go
o Do you speak French or German?
o I speak French AND German
In the first case, we emphasize “used to” to say that you smoked before, but not now. In
the 2nd case, you’re disagreeing with the speaker. In the last one, the speaker emphasizes
that he can speak both languages.
The message here is that the stress pattern of the words can change according to the
meanings we wish to convey:
o I will drive to the beach/next week – Normal way
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o I will drive to the beach/next week – emphasize I to mean that it is you, not someone
else, will drive to the beach.
o I will drive to the beach/next week – to say that you’re not going to walk or take a
bus, but you will drive instead.
o I will drive to the beach/ next week – stress the location you’re going to
o I will drive to the beach/ next week – not this week or 2 weeks from now – but next
week.
o Finally “I will drive to the beach next week  in this case, put a little more extra
stress on the word “week”
You can see how the stress change leads to changes in meanings
Let’s say this sentence normally first
o Marry made a cake for my birthday.
o MARRY made a cake for my birthday (emphasizing that it’s Marry who made the
cake, but not anybody else)
o Marry MADE a cake for my birthday (she didn’t buy it but made it herself)
o Marry made a CAKE for my birthday (she didn’t make cookies)
o Marry made a cake for MY birthday (she didn’t make a cake for anybody else’s
birthday, but MY birthday)
Remember, for special emphasis or for clarification, you can stress any word.
Rule 49 – Rising and falling intonation

Intonation is the going up and down of your voices (the rising and the falling of the pitch)
o All right\ (falling intonation because it’s a statement/answer)
o All right?/ (when it’s a question)
There are 2 different ways we can say hello
o Hello\ - Hello, nice to meet you!
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o Hello/ (when you answer the phone for instance – the pitch goes up) – Hello, who’s
calling?
If you’re using the wrong intonation, people might be confused about what you’re trying
to say, they may misunderstand you or get the wrong impression – you may sound nervous,
insecure or unsure of yourself if your intonation is going up rather than down.
Practice the following intonation by saying simple sentences that are statements.
Remember a statement is not a question. After we do this, we will learn some rules for
intonation with questions. With questions, sometimes the intonation rises, but not always
so.
Statement
o I like it\
o Have a nice day\
o My name is Bob\
o It’s cold outside\
o I’m tired\
o I’m hungry\
o I’m hungry because I haven’t eaten all day
Don’t confuse stress and intonation – we have learnt that for stress – we jump up on the
key word, but intonation is when you jump up, how you do it.
o Have a nice day\ (you still stress the word day but not with a high pitch – it’s not
“Have a nice day”)
o Note that your voice is still going down even though you’re still stressing the word.
It’s important that your pitch is down
Practice – think of how you feel right now
o I feel good
o I’m feeling happy
o Today is Monday
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o I’m going to work soon
Make some statements while making sure that your pitch goes down in the end.
The rules for intonation for Questions – we can have either rising or falling intonation
depending on what kind of question it is
Yes/No questions (rising intonation) – can be answered by either a yes or a no
o Are you happy?
o Did you do that?
WH questions (falling intonation) – what, why, how, where, when? – These questions
cannot be answered by “Yes, No”.
o What is that?
o How old are you?
o Where do you live?
o What do you do?
o Where were you born?
o How did you do that?
o Are you hungry?
o Did you like it?
Sentence practice
o Are you angry at me/?
o Why are you angry at me\?
o Is it hot in there?
o Why is it so hot in there?
o Did you get there late?
o Why did you get there late?
o Have you been to New York?
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o How many times have you been to New York?
o Did it start?
o What time did it start?
Remember, for statements & WH questions, we use falling intonation. For other questions,
we use rising intonation.
Rule 50 – Changing intonation

- How can intonation change within one sentence?
- Within one sentence, the intonation can both rise and fall
- 1st case – Enumeration (listing items in a series)
o I bought chicken/, fish/, apples/ and sugar\.
o The last one will have falling intonation. When you keep your intonation rising,
people know that your list will continue
o I woke up/, ate breakfast/ and went to work\
o List some sports you like to watch or some activities you like to do or what you have
in your refrigerator today
 I like to run/, to play tennis/ and to swim\.
 I have milk/, water/, sugar/ and bread\.
- 2nd case – saying one short sentence in 2 different ways
o I think it’s gonna rain\
o I think it’s gonna rain/
o If you say it the 2nd way with an upward pitch, it sounds like something else is coming
are you’re not finished speaking.
o I think it’s gonna rain/ but I’m not sure\
o I’d love to eat that\
o I’d love to eat that/but I’m on a diet\
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o Give me your number\
o If you give your number/, I’ll call you\
Generally, to indicate that you’re not finished and you have something else to say, let your
pitch go up at the end of the first part of your sentence. It’s kind of having a comma and
knowing that your expressions are just partially finished.
- 3rd case: Also, with introductory words/phrases, we use rising intonation
o On the other hand
o However
o In my opinion
- It’s something you put in the beginning of a sentence – usually followed by a comma
o On the other hand/, may be I’ll go
o On the other hand/, maybe I’ll take the blue one
o If you ask me/, I think you did a good job\
o If I were you, I’d talk to him
- 4th case: giving a choice
o Should I call you/ or send you an email\?
o Do you like chicken/ or beef\?
o Does he have green eyes/ or blue eyes\?
o Is he a young man/ or an old man\?
Sentence practice
o Are you married/ or single\?
o They have four children/, ages seven/, nine/ eleven/ and fourteen\
o I went to the gym/, came home/ and called my friend\.
o As far as I know/, I’m not allergic to anything\.
o According to the weather report/, it’s going to rain\.
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Remember: rising intonation when you’re not finished speaking and have something more
to say. In contrast, you’d use falling intonation at the end of your sentences.
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Putting it all together - paragraph practice Part 2
Paragraph 1: a foreign student
- When a student from another country comes to study in the United States, he has
to find out for himself the answers to many questions, and he has many problems to think
about. Where should he live? Would it be better living in a dormitory or in a private room
off campus? Should he spend all of his time studying, or should he take advantage of the
many cultural and social activities that are offered? At first, he may not feel that he fits in
with the American culture. He may not feel confident when he speaks. Little by little,
however, he learns how to handle himself in various situations. Finally he begins to feel
very secure and “at home”. Unfortunately, this long-awaited feeling doesn’t develop
suddenly. It takes time.
Paragraph 2: Volcanoes
- Volcanoes are holes in the Earth’s crust which allow molten rock to escape from
beneath. The molten rock, or lava, may flow out gently or it may be blasted high in the air
with gas and ash in a violent explosion. There are eight hundred and fifty active volcanoes
active around the world. Do you know where the mountains of fire are found? Three
quarters of them are found within a zone called the “Ring of Fire”. One edge of the zone
stretches along the west coast of the Americas from Chile to Alaska. The other edge runs
along the east coast of Asia from Siberia to New Zealand. Twenty percent of these
volcanoes are located in Indonesia. Other big groupings are in Japan, the Aleutian Islands,
and Central America.
Paragraph 3: the Chinese language
- Chinese is the most unusual language. It differs from English and most other major
languages in that it has hundreds of different dialects. A person who lives in one section of
the vast country of China, often cannot understand a fellow Chinese who lives in another
section. These two major dialects are Cantonese and Mandarin. Cantonese is a southern
dialect. Mandarin, a dialect that originated in northern China, is spoken by more Chinese
than any other dialect
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- Non-Chinese people say that the Chinese seems to “sing” their language. China
sounds as though it is sung, because many words are only one-syllable long and because
the tone of voices changes for each word. As in English, many words have more than one
meaning. The speaker’s tone of voice indicates each word’s specific meaning.
- Even more fascinating than the variety of spoken sounds is the Chinese written
language. It has no alphabet. Instead, it employs sounds called “characters”. Each spoken
word in the language is represented by a separate character. Originally, the characters were
drawings that depicted meanings of words, but over the years, they have simplified, and
most no longer look like the things they represent.
Paragraph 4: the Supercontinents
- Around 100 to 150 million years ago, there may have only one continent on our
planet. At least that is what some Earth scientists have decided after years of research. If
you look at the map of the world carefully, you can see that the present-day continents
could be thought of as pieces of gigantic jigsaw puzzle. In your imagination carefully put the
pieces of together to form the supercontinent. You will see that if you took away the South
Atlantic Ocean and pressed South America and Africa together they would fit very nicely.
You could continue removing oceans and seas and put other parts of the world together
quite easily until you get to the last 2 pieces of Australia and Antarctica. Scientists believe
that the continents of Australia and Antarctica were once linked together. They may have
split slowly off from the supercontinent and then separated from each other as recently as
40 million years ago.

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IELTS TRAINING ACADEMY [PRONUNCIATIONSUCCESSAMERICAN ENGLISH]

Rule 20 – “t” between two vowels ............................................................................................... 27

MODULE 0 – THE 10 KEYS TOWARDS IMPROVEMENT

Number 2 – Listen and Repeat

Number 4 – Do not leave off word endings

Number 5 – Make a list of frequently used words

Some frequently mispronounced words: business, adjust, general, graduate, specific,

Number 7 – Pace yourself and revise what you’ve learnt

Number 8 – Don’t be afraid to speak

Number 9 - Read aloud in English for 10 to 15 minutes every day

How should you read: refer to Rule No.1

MODULE 1 - THE 15 VOWEL SOUNDS OF

1 /i:/ please, seat, meet, believe

2 /ɪ/ this, difficult, if, dinner

3 /eɪ/ late, gate, baseball, stay, okay

4 /e/ bed, men, dress, friend

5 /æ/ apple, man, stand, angry

6 /ɑː/ hot, topic, office, modern

7 /ə/ & /ʌ/ but, done, jump, love

8 /ɔː/ always, tall, bought, thought

9 /oʊ/ go, drove, slow, moment,

10 /ʊ/ book, foot, full, push, took

Group 3: the remaining words

11 /uː/ moon, shoes, room, blue

12 /ɜːr/ first, Thursday, girl, work

13 /aɪ/ time, while, nine, dining

14 /aʊ/ now, house, brown, announce

15 /ɔɪ/ enjoy, noise, boy, annoying

Rule 1 – the four relaxed vowels

Rule 2 - /i:/ & /ɪ/

/i:/ please, steal & steel, me, see

 Usually spelt with ee, ea, ie, ei

 Raise your tongue up in the back and say /i:/

/ɪ/: if, different, this, think

Vowel pairs - Differentiation Differentiation

 She was feeling sleepy after eating the big meal

 These three people speak Chinese

 We love the green fields and the beach breezes

 Steve believes he will see Peter this week

 I will leave the East Coast in three weeks

 There are six filthy dishes in the kitchen sink

 Mr. and Mrs. Smith lived in India for six years.

 The winter wind will bring a big chill

 Do you think that this swimmer has the ability to win?

Even a relaxed vowel can sometimes be prolonged if the word is stressed.

EX: Wow, your house is big

Rule 3 - /ɑː/ & /ə/

Hot Follow Mop

 Some other: love, son, other, done

Vowel pairs – differentiation

Shot - Shut Cop - Cup

Sentence practice /ɑː/ sound

- The modern novel is very popular.

- We must discuss this with the other judges.

Rule 4 – “pool” or “pull”

 Commonly spelt with “oo” (food, moon), “ue” (blue, true)

 For /u:/, your lips are rounded

 Your lips move forwards like you’re kissing someone.

Rule 5 – /æ/ - as in “apple” & /au/

 Apple, angry, man, fat, dance

If it’s a noun or a verb, make sure that it is prolonged

 “I can’t stand that class”