We're on to the final vowel sound. This lecture is concentrating on one
sound only and the sound is // // as in
'sugar'. This is an extremely
important sound in English, perhaps the
most important because it's the most
common sound in English. It's the one
that appears most frequently. It's the
sound // // It's a very short, simple
sound but it appears so often.
First of all focus on the shape of
the mouth. // What do you notice about
the shape? // It's just neutral. No
rounded lips, no wide mouth, no open mouth,
it's just neutral. // as in sugar. Now, the second thing I want you to
really pay attention to is where the
sound appears in words. The word
sugar contains two syllables. This means
two beats: sugar su-gar. Now, one of these
syllables is stressed, the other syllable
is unstressed. Which syllable do you
think is unstressed? Sugar sugar. It's the
second syllable, and in the second
syllable we have the sound // the target
sound. Sugar sugar. So this sound that
we're focusing on in this lecture always
appears in an unstressed part of a word.
Not every word, but many many words.
So when the part of the
word is unstressed this could appear.
Also when we have words in English
sentences that are unstressed, this sound
very often appears. For example the word
'the' T-H-E 'the'. This sound appears in that
word the the. Can you hear? // as in the.
So 'the' is very often unstressed when we
say a sentence in English. For example,
the boy went to the shop. The boy.
'The' is very unstressed, we don't put
emphasis on it.
So whenever words don't have emphasis,
whenever they're unstressed, very often
we have this target sound. So let's look
at the word list and it will become much
much clearer for you to grasp. So as you
can see we have the word list, the target
sound practice word list, and I've
highlighted all the areas where this
sound appears. And also notice every
section of the word where the sound
appears is unstressed. Keep this in
mind.
It's the unstressed part of the word. LOet's start practicing this sound.
Remember the sound is // and the mouth is in a neutral position. So listen and
repeat. Letter. About. Colour.
Paper. Police. Banana. Telephone. America.
A camera. I hope that's cleared it up
for you a little bit. If it's still a
little difficult, don't worry. We have
more practice to come. This is probably
the most challenging sound in English
because it's so short and it appears
everywhere, but it's very difficult to
really hear and to master this sound. But
don't worry we have more practice by the
end of this and once you've downloaded
the extra resources you will have
mastered this sound. It's a very
important sound. Now we're going to go
to the minimal pairs. This will really
help you to master the sound. On the
left we have words that don't contain
the sound // and on the right we have
words that contain the target sound //
So they're basically the same words
except the words on the right have an
extra sound which is the target sound. So
listen to each pair and repeat after me.
Drive, driver. Way, away. Bout, about.
Let, letter. Short, shorter. Dress, address.
I hope that's made it a bit clearer
for you. Go back and practice the minimal
pairs again and really start to
understand this sound because it's so
short and so quick it takes time for the
ears to really grasp it. Now, this section
is also very important: the target sound
in use. So let's look at the first
sentence. Every sentence we're focusing
on contains the sound // as I've
highlighted in each sentence. Sentence
one listen and repeat after me.
This is the best burger I've ever eaten.
Sentence two. Listen and repeat. I'm
going to America in April with Robert.
Very good. And the last sentence. The
scenery and the towns in Canada were
amazingly beautiful. Don't worry if it's very difficult for now to really grasp this sound.
Just start to notice it and download the PDF, which will help you take your understanding
to the next level, and the MP3 will really help you master the sound.
The MP3 is key because you need to get more and more exposure to this sound to really master it.
So listen to the MP3s as many times as you can. This way, you'll train your ears to really notice the sound.
This is the last vowel sound. Please try to master it before you move on to the next section.
The next section of this course is of course the consonants. Very important
sounds in English. The consonants are coming next
so master this sound and I'll see you in the next section.