Pronunciation and Spelling in English

ЛИНГВОГУМАНИТАРНЫЙ КОЛЛЕДЖ УЧРЕЖДЕНИЯ ОБРАЗОВАНИЯ

«МИНСКИЙ ГОСУДАРСТВЕННЫЙ ЛИНГВИСТИЧЕСКИЙ УНИВЕРСИТЕТ»

ЗВУКОБУКВЕННЫЕ СООТВЕТСТВИЯ

В АНГЛИЙСКОМ ЯЗЫКЕ

Практикум

Минск, 2008

Pronunciation and Spelling in English

Self-study and classroom use

СОСТАВИТЕЛИ: Гуринович Е. А., преподаватель практической фонетики;

Кучерчук Ю. В., преподаватель практической фонетики.

Практикум предназначен для учащихся лингвогуманитарного колледжа.

Данные материалы включают теоретические сведения о звукобуквенных соответствиях в английском языке, упражнения для совершенствования навыков чтения, а также материалы для чтения и заучивания наизусть. Материалы могут быть использованы как для аудиторной, так и самостоятельной работы учащихся.

Рассмотрено и одобрено на заседании ПЦК практической фонетики.

Протокол № 3 от 14 октября 2008 года.

1. The Syllable. The Principles of Syllable Division

The nature of the syllable

Syllable formation in English is based on the phonological opposition vowel-consonant. Vowels are usually syllabic while consonants are not with the exceptions of [l], [m], [n], which become syllabic in final position preceded by a consonant or between two final consonants: bottle
[|
bɒtl], bottom
[|
bɒtm], button
[|
bʌtn].

A syllable is a speech unit which consists of a sound or a group of sounds one of which is heard more prominent than the others. This sound is the peak or the nucleus of the syllable and is called syllabic (vowels and sonorants are usually syllabic).

The English language has developed the closed type of a syllable as the fundamental one while in Russian it is the open type that forms the basis of syllable formation.

The other aspect of this component is syllable division. There is a problem of syllable division in case of intervocalic consonants and their clusters, like in such words as city, extra, standing and others.

Let us consider the word extra.
There are two syllables but where should the boundary between them fall?

1) [e-kstrə]. It is unlike that people would opt for a division between [e] and [kstrə] because there are no words in English which begin with consonant sequence [kstr].

2) Similarly, a division between [ekstr] and [ə] would be unnatural.

3) [ek-strə], [eks-trə], [ekst-rə] are possible. People usually prefer either of the first two options here, but there is no obvious way of deciding between them.

In some cases we may take into account the morphemic structure of words. For example, standing
consists of two syllables; on phonemic grounds [|
stæn-dI
ŋ], on grammatical grounds [|
stænd-I
ŋ].

Syllable division rules for simple words and parts

of
compound
words

Vowel	Intersyllabic sounds	Boundary	Examples	Notes
I. Short stressed	a) single consonant	within the consonant	[leən] [rım]
	b) consonant cluster	between the consonants	[ek1|s2|t3|rə] [wın|dəυ] [rıŋ|kl]	In case of intervocalic clusters we use the distributional criterion: the combination of consonants belongs to the following syllable, if such combinations are typical of English.
II. Short unstressed, long, diphthong	a) single consonant	before the consonant	[melə|dı] [k:|nə] [ leı|bl]
	b) consonant cluster	maximally close to the vowel	[ə|dres] [ık|spektıd] [fα:|stə] [peı|trən]

!

The so-called thriphthongs in English are disyllabic combinations, because they contain two vowel phonemes: [ f

a

I

|ə].

Ex. 1.1
( , track 1
)

How many syllables?

One word in each set has a different number of syllables from the others. Decide which it is, then check with the recording.

Example:	lengths	if	table	on
1	destiny	chocolate	computer	afterwards
2	stopped	smashed	wanted	tried
3	Leicester	Lester	Stratford	Manchester
4	altogether	avocado	banana	Argentina
5	rhythm	chasm	through	thorough

Ex. 1.2
( , track 1
)

What stress pattern?

One word in each set has a different stress pattern from the others. Which is it? Define the type of the stressed word. Check with the recording.

Example:	picture ○	nature ○	capture ○	mature ○
1	politics	dynamic	musician	historic
2	create	supply	prostate	dictate
3	teacher	refer	eager	offer
4	edit	debit	submit	credit
5	Angela	Therese	spaghetti	banana

Ex.1.3 Transcribe and divide into syllables.

Determine where the syllable boundary lies

1.	goodness	5.	about	9.	Saturday
2.	hotter	6.	lazy	10.	export
3.	village	7.	family	11.	hourly
4.	cotton	8.	admission	12.	mathematics

Ex. 1.4 Transcribe the following words, divide them into syllables and explain the rule

1.	ninety	6.	sentence
2.	middle	7.	vowel
3.	imitate	8.	cinema
4.	teacher	9.	expensive
5.	advertise	10.	commission

Ex. 1.5 Divide the words into syllables and explain the rule in each line:

1) Ready, pocket, mother, coffee, city;

2) Bottle, couple, cattle, mitten, middle;

3) Breakfast, hedgehog, doctor, country, fifty;

4) Farmer, herself, sleepy, ninety, gloomy;

5) Extreme, abrupt, include, nasty, attract;

6) Fire, towel, vowel, lower, goer.

2. The Primary and the Secondary Meaning of Letters

In English one letter can denote a few different sounds (polysemantic letters). That’s why there are the primary and the secondary sound meanings of them. The primary meaning of a letter is the sound which this letter:

1) denotes in the alphabet: a

– [eI
], e
– [i:]. E.g. bake, be

;

2) doesn’t correspond to the alphabetical letter: a

– [æ]. e.g. cat

;

3) approximates the alphabetical letter: f

–
[f], y
– [aI
].

The secondary meaning of a letter is the one which differs from its primary alphabetical meaning and depends on the consonants preceding or following this letter. E.g. a
– [ a

:
] - staff,
[o
] – wander,
[
ɔ
:
] – war.

The sound formation of the English language distinguishes long and short vowels. According to this peculiarity in English each stressed vowel can have two meanings: alphabetical (long) and short.

READING OF VOWELS IN STRESSED SYLLABLES

Letter	Primary meaning		Secondary meaning
	long	short	Vowel + r	Vowel +re
a	Ka te	cat	ca r	ha re
e	he , Pe te	he n, he lp	he r	he re
iy	I , Mi ke, mi ne	si t, gy m	bi rd, By rd	hi re, ty re
o	no , sto ne	no t	fo r	mo re
u	u se	bu t	tu rn	cu re

3. The Primary Sound Meanings of Vowels in Different Types of Syllables

In disyllabic and polysyllabic words the vowel letter has its alphabetical (long) primary
meaning
if:

1) it is used in word final position e. g. he, no, my;

2) it is separated from the following vowel letter or from the combinations –le, -re
by only one consonant letter e.g. pilot, idle, fibre;

3) it is followed by a consonant + r +
vowel e.g. library, April;

4) in some vowel combinations* e.g. diet, going.

The vowel letter has its short primary meaning:

1) if it is separated from the following vowel or the combination –le
by two or more consonants e.g. render, silly, fiddle.

2) if the vowel letter (apart from “u”)
is in the third stressed syllable from the end e.g. family, cylinder;
but: funeral;

3) if the vowel letter is followed by a single letter “v”
e.g. river, never;
but: uvula
[
ju:vju:lə], fever
[
fi:və], over
[
əυvə];

4) if the vowel letter is followed by a consonant and one of the combinations, such as –-ic, -ish, -ity e.g. tragic, polish, cavity;

5) in disyllabic words with the sound [I
] and [ju:] in the last unstressed syllable the vowel letter of a stressed syllable has a short meaning: e.g. tribune, facet;
but: stupid.

But if the word ends in –y, -ie
as in the words ladies, Edie the letters “a”, “e” have
their alphabetical (long) meaning.

*For more information about the rules of reading of vowel combinations (digraphs), see further rules.

READING SINGLE VOWEL LETTERS IN STRESSED NON-FINAL SYLLABLES

Meaning	Spelling	Examples	Exceptions
I. Primary long	1) vowel + vowel	diet
	2) vowel + consonant + vowel vowel + consonant + “r” + vowel vowel + consonant + “le” vowel + consonant + “re”	pilot library idle fibre
II. Primary short	1) vowel + consonant cluster + vowel vowel + consonant cluster +“le”	Render fiddle
	2) vowel + consonant + “ic” vowel + consonant + “ish” vowel + consonant + “ity”	tragic polish cavity
	3) vowel + “v” + vowel	never	∙fever ∙over ∙uvula
	4) vowel + syllable + syllable	fa∙mi∙ly	cases with “u”: funeral
	5) vowel + [ı]-closed syllable vowel + [(j)u:]-closed syllable	fa∙cet tri∙bune	stupid

Ex. 3.1
( , track 2
)

Read the following names and decide, from their spelling, if the vowel is short
or long
. (If there is more than one vowel, focus on the vowel receiving most stress.) If you are not sure, check the recording.

Example:
Mick = short Susan = long

Mick	Susan	Dean	Sammy	Cathy
Martha	Jane	Luke	Tammy	Rose
Bert	Muriel	Patty	Pete	Ross
Ted	David	Becky	Bud	Simon
Beth	Mike	Mary	Tom	Jean
Timmy	Joan	Bonnie	Sheila	Bill

Primary short meaning

Primary long meaning

Ex. 3.2 Read these words according to the rules:

Letter “A” (primary short and long meanings):

barrel	gas	bat	land	shall
angry	cab	bag	band	marry
tangle	fat	tan	pack	cattle
back	has	sand	dad	carry

sail brain paper

baby lady main

able bacon wait

parade famous mate

lain pain fate

Letter “E” (primary short and long meanings):

best	clever	led	met	peck
bell	seven	set	beg	shell
send	very	men	lend	merry
berry	when	pen	bend	kettle

he	we	these	agree	evening
she	be	me	even	deep

Letters “I/Y” (primary short and long meanings):

thimble thin chips

wish wiggle scribble

twin little picnic

fiddle kitchen history

ministry primitive system

why mine vice imply

rise idle license while

by fly nylon byre

rhyme arrive bicycle triangle

line kite file white

why mine vice imply

Letter “U” (primary short and long meanings):

crumple under humble hungry	duck must funny ugly	begun thus thunder bungle	buck lust fuss yuck	cluck bud puck luck
tube duty dual	music tune computer	tune muse humour	unit use student	human cube tunic

Letter “O” (primary short and long meanings):

dot stop chop flop	cost doctor bottle body	robber coffee promise fox	cod shot stock con	cock cop wop doll
so nose go probe phone open			hope rose joke	note whole quote	tone hole drove

Ex. 3.3

A: Here are the twelve pairs of rhyming words. In each case, one has an expected spelling for the particular sound and one has not. Choose which has the more predictable spelling.

Example:
cheque neck

(compare neck
with peck, deck, wreck, speck
and so on)

1	dome	some	5	rich	stitch	9	file	style
2	mash	cache	6	chest	breast	10	taste	waist
3	steak	make	7	wand	bond	11	want	pant
4	moon	prune	8	blood	mud	12	cut	put

Ex. 3.4
( , track 3
)

A: In this section the spelling is 100% predictable from the pronunciation. Listen to the recording and write these individual words down.

1	________	5	________	9	________	13	________
2	________	6	________	10	________	14	________
3	________	7	________	11	________	15	________
4	________	8	________	12	________	16	________

B: Now see if you can read the following words aloud before you listen to them on the recording. Remember that the pronunciation is still predictable from the spelling.

1	scoop	5	patched	9	puddle	13	shun
2	muted	6	rotter	10	stutter	14	candle
3	glitch	7	hugged	11	handy	15	rumbled
4	spine	8	treck	12	budge	16	trash

C: Now do the same with the following nonsense words.

1	flape	5	snork	9	frake	13	spump
2	spline	6	preck	10	drumble	14	flinge
3	smotted	7	glumpy	11	duddle	15	chinker
4	gatter	8	chandy	12	shunker	16	strended

It doesn’t matter if you don’t know what the words in A
and B
mean; you can always check them in a dictionary afterwards. Don’t look in a dictionary for the nonsense words in C
.

Ex. 3.5 Find and practice reading vowels in their short meanings:

Letter” A”

a) Read as quickly as possible:

A cat, a black cat, a black cat sat, a black cat sat on a mat, a black cat sat on a mat and ate. A black cat sat on a mat and ate a fat rat.

b) Read the sentence:

There was a red van traveling West, and several cars and vans behind it. The van driver suddenly turned and crashed into the taxi. The taxi driver wasn’t badly hurt, but he was very angry.

Can you imagine an imaginary menagerie manager, imagining an imagery menagerie.

c) Proverbs and idioms:

Flat as a pancake.

A hungry man is an angry man.

d) Rhymes and tongue-twisters:

Pat’s black cat is in Pat’s black hat.

Pussy-cat, pussy-cat

Can you catch that bad fat rat?

If you catch that bad fat rat,

You will have some milk for that.

Letter “E”

a)
Hens, red hens, best red hens, ten best red hens, Ted sells ten best red hens. Every day Ted sells ten best red hens.

b)
Only ten per cent of Kensington Express readers take regular exercise. Ten per cent felt that they were healthy or very healthy.

c)
All’s well that ends well.

d)
Better late than never.

e)
Lesser leather never weathered wetter weather better.

f)
Fred fed Ted bread and Ted led Fred bread.

g)
Can you retell ten texts in twelve seconds?

Letters “I, Y”

a)
As fit as a fiddle.

b)
Which witch wished which wicked wish?

c)
Needles and pins, needles and pins,

When a man marries, his trouble begins.

d)
I slit the sheet, the sheet I slit, and on the slitted sheet I sit.

Letter “O”

a)
Bob’s dog got a hot pot of porridge and some chops.

b)
I’ve got a job in a sports shop at the moment.

c)
Honesty is the best policy.

d)
A proper cup of coffee from a proper copper coffee pot.

Letter “U”

a)
A duck, an ugly duck, an ugly duck was in a cup, an ugly duck was in a funny cup, an ugly duck was in a funny cup on Sunday. An ugly duck was in a funny cup on a sunny Sunday.

b
) Lucky in cards unlucky in love.

c)
Mummies munch much mush.

d)
Double bubble gum bubbles double bubbles.

Ex. 3.6 Practice reading vowels in their long meanings:

Letter “A”

a)
This amazing lake in Wales is a famous place for great races.

b)
I can explain. The Daily Mail came late.

c)
Make hay while the sun shines.

A stitch in time saves nine.

d)
Rain, rain, go away,

Come again another day.

e)
Billy, Billy, come and play

While the sun shines bright today.

Letter “E”

a)
A man of words and not of deeds

Is like a garden full of weeds.

b
) He speaks Chinese and Japanese with equal ease.

c)
Easy come easy go.

Letters “I, Y”

a)
Mike likes spicy pies with fried pike.

b)
Hi, Mike! I’m busy typing. I have ninety-nine pages to type by Friday.

c)
Out of sight out of mind.

Variety is a spice of life.

d)
Why do you cry, Willy?

Why do you cry?

Why, Willy, why, Willy?

Why, Willy, why?

Letter “O”

a)
The road below goes from Rome to the south coast. We are very close to our home.

b)
Chip-chop, chip-chop,

Chipper-chopper Joe,

One big blow.

Oh! My toe!

Ex. 3.7 Put the words given below into a suitable column according to the rules of reading of stressed vowels:

Twilight, crying, Friday, magic, transport, limit, fiddle, panic, student, trying, bypass, never, uncle, letter, river, alphabet, timid, numeral, being, stupid, apricot, atomic, cinema, majority, better, hunting, visit, novel, palace, luggage, sentence, alcoholic, beginner, British, cucumber, famine, forever, Labrador, laser, microphone, noble, novel, poet, printer, puritan, puzzle, regular, Roman, secret, stupidity, syllabic, typical.

Primary long meaning

Primary short meaning

Ex. 3.8 Read the following words and see how –e
changes the pronunciation

WITHOUT –e : WITH –e :	fat cat am plan hat gate late name plane hate	NOW PRONOUNCE: man same take that lemonade bale safe tap tape
WITHOUT –e : WITH –e :	sit in begin if swim invite fine wine wife time	NOW PRONOUNCE: fit inside still mile hid ride tide like pipe strip
WITHOUT –e : WITH –e :	stop top not hot clock hope home note nose smoke	NOW PRONOUNCE: job stone rose God joke dome bone on spot coke
WITHOUT –e : WITH –e :	bus run pub sun just excuse June tube rude use	NOW PRONOUNCE: much fuse cube cub fuss tune gun fun duke luck
EXCEPTIONS: some come one have give live love

Ex. 3.9 Place the following words in the grids according to their vowel sound:

Rich, curl, month, cart, suit, breath, flashed, loom, herd, still, hemmed, torn, scene, cruise, floor, dock, just, don, sword, hoop, banned, rang, bin, love, hat, bird, stabbed, hood, farm, ought, ridge, ton, cloth, chalk, hoot, son, link, next, calm, germ, hymn, cab, wood, breath, creep, itch, blood, cough, should, could, black, said, foot, monk, dog, stood, piece, arch, move, purr, feast, palm, pearl, edge, shopped, eve, barred, soup, leaf, bard, begged.

Short vowel sounds

[ I ]

[æ]

[e]

[υ]

[o]

[ Λ ]

Long vowel sounds:

[i:]

[ 3 :]

[ ɑ :]

[o:]

[u:]

TEST I

1.
Divide into groups and transcribe these words:

Worry, student, apricot, oppose, novel, after, magic, limit, visit, excuse, sentence, bypass, money.

primary alphabetical meaning

primary short meaning

secondary meaning

2.
Find the odd word:

a) little, silly, fiddle, middle, quite

b) tragic, pathetic, paste, falls

c) ruling, tulip, truthful, trustee, numeral

3. Transcribe these words:

Archery, point, cricket, victory, golf, runner-up, water polo, racket, rugby, swimming, championship, spectator.

TEST II

1.
Divide into groups and transcribe these words:

Cinema, never, crying, stupid, numeral, uncle, Monday, figure-skating, war, river, panic, staff, hunting, transport.

primary alphabetical meaning

primary short meaning

secondary meaning

2.
Find the odd word:

a) doing, hunting, uncle, cinema, magic

b) stupid, trying, Friday, April, silly

c) student, numeral, never, crying, being

3. Transcribe the words:

Fibre, April, going, render, family, avid, cavity, facet, lady, fever, over, funeral, fencing.

4. Reading of Stressed Vowels in Combination with the Letter ”r”

VOWEL LETTERS + “R
”

vowel	+ “r” + vowel + vowel + ”r” + vowel + ”l/n”	+ “r” + consonant + final “r”
Aa	[εə] fair, fare	[α:] farm, far
Ee	[ıə] here, hero, neon	[3:] herbal, her
Ii	[aıə] liar, fire, giant	[3:] firm, fir
Oo	[:] boar, more	[:] north, for
Uu	[(j)υə] pure, sure, fuel	[3:] surf, fur
Yy	[aıə] tyrant	[3:] byrd

Ex.
4.1

a) Name the stressed sound of every line:

1. share, rare, care, compare, prepare, hare.

2. here, mere, sphere, material, serial, period.

3. fire, lyre, hire, tired, wire, satire.

4. pure, cure, lure, curious, during, secure.

5. more, shore, explore, before, store.

b) Read these words according to the rules:

Letter “A” (primary short and long meanings):

farce arch scarf

market alarm jar

fare Mary daring

sharing snare care

Letter “E” (primary short and long meanings):

germ perch mercy

verse concern German

hero mere inhere

era severe zero

Letters “I/Y” (primary short and long meanings):

thirty birch smirch

shirk circle quirt

fire lyre tyre

require wire quire

Letter “U” (primary short and long meanings):

turn further lurch

Thursday curtains turkey

endure cure pure

obscure fury curious

Letter “O” (primary short and long meanings):

storm mort orchard

pork force thorn

core shore score

wore oral forehead

Ex.4.2

a) Make words with these beginnings and write them in the correct part of the table:

Beginnings ba fa ra da sta squa ca ha cha Endings r re lf ir rd rt lm

Words with the vowel [α:]	Words with the vowel [εə]
bar	bare

b) Divide the words into groups according to the sounds:

Air, bear, deer, square, tour, real, giant, your, near, ear, pair, oar, more, secure, cure, fire, lure, lyre, pure, satire, board, fair, hair, hear, dear, tire, fuel, sore, our, area, near, pier, hour, fire, mere, real, diamond, ear, fierce, science, vary, zero, theory, fuel, ore, millionaire, lair, mere, where, trial, work, earn, sergeant, warm, worm, heart, world, merry, persuade, nurse, harp, early, scarcely, clerk, form, target, learn, hurry, bird, persue, war, firm, circus, turn, farm, earth, word, market, girl, fir, bargain, turkey, mortar, swirl, sword, order, urgently, orchid, appear, observe, persue, surface, disregard, perm, sardines, require, depart, quarrel.

Ex.4.3 Read as quickly as possible:

1. Hares, rare hares, take care of rare hares; my parents take care of rare hares. My parents rarely take care of rare hares and canaries.

2. Football, more than football, basketballs more than football, adore basketball more than football, boys adore basketball more than football, tall boys adore basketball more than football. Almost all tall boys adore basketball more than football.

3. The theory, the theory of this experienced engineer is clear, the theory of this experienced engineer is really clear. My dear! The theory of this experienced engineer is really clear.

4. Near an ear, a nearer ear, a nearly eerie ear.

5. Cheers, dear! Cheers! Here’s to the bearded mountaineer!

6. Charming, large and charming, farms are large and charming, gardens and farms are large and charming. The parks, gardens and farms are large and charming.

7. A girl, a circus girl, Pearl is a circus girl, Pearl is a circus girl who works, Pearl is a circus girl who works with birds.

8. Her work, her work in workshop, her work in a dirty workshop, her work in a dirty workshop was the worst. Her work in a dirty workshop was the worst in the world.

Ex. 4.4 Pick out the odd word:

1. term, clerk, serve, perfect.

2. target, farm, warm, market.

3. learn, earth, pearl, heart.

4. Vernon, terrible, merry, hurry.

5. word, work, world, war.

6. first, fur, far, turn.

7. girl, shirk, wire, birch, birth.

8. earn, learn, heart, early.

9. worm, worn, world, work.

10. nurse, lurk, hurry, hurt, suburb.

11. advertisement, university, reserved, western.

Ex. 4.5 Put the words into three columns:

[ɑ:]

[ɔ:]

[з:]

Tardy, sort, purge, war, heart, dormant, world, port, darling, warm, earn, lord, work, partake, furbish, learn, mortify, clerk, purblind, portly, sergeant, dart, further, partner.

Ex. 4.6 Complete this conversation using the words in the box. Then listen and check

( , track 4
)

Cars cares stars stares

Sid: This is a great life, with no worries or cares
!

Joe: It would be nice if we had ________ though, Sid.

Sid: I didn’t say ______, I said ______!

Joe: Oh, I see. Not _______, as in traffic, but ______ with an ES at the end!

Sid: That’s right. I’ve always loved sleeping under the ______.

Joe: But why? There’ hardly any space under the ______!

Sid: No, not ______, ______! You know, little lights in the sky.

Joe: Oh, ______! I thought you said _________, that people walk up!

Ex. 4.7 Read and transcribe the following sentences:

1. I’d like to reserve a seat on the ten-thirty flight to Birmingham, on Thursday. My name is Vernon.

2. I’ll search under the fir trees and the birches, I’ll circle the earth – and I’ll return with a superb firm earthworm for my perfect turtledove.

3. Pearl will be thirty next birthday. Her perfume from Germany is perfect.

4. Gregory reported about this story with sarcasm, then he asked rhetorical question.

5. I always think about misfortune with a horror.

6. Barbara’s government had a very bad reputation.

7. Sorry, but I don’t like horror films, I prefer going to the theatre.

Ex. 4.8 Listen and circle the word you hear
( , track 5
)

Heart or hat? She put her hand on her hearthat
.

1. Nowhere or no way? There’s nowhereno way
to go.

2. Fair or far? It isn’t fairfar
.

3. Part or port? This is the main partport
of Athens.

4. Bear or beer? That’s a strong bearbeer
.

5. Come or calm? She told me to comecalm
down.

Ex. 4.9 Practice reading

idioms, sayings:

He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.

If the cap fits, wear it.

Here today, gone tomorrow.

Five fat friars frying fish.

While there is life there is hope.

No smoke without fire.

Real weird rear wheels.

First come, first served.

Even a worm will turn.

It is the early bird that catches the worm.

A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.

One good turn deserves another.

A picture is worth a thousand words.

The calm before the storm.

To put the cart before the horse.

A barking dog seldom bites.

Don’t take your harp to the party.

A bird is known by its note, and a man by his talk.

Adversity makes the man wise, not rich.

Through hardship to the stars.

Return good for evil.

Better unborn than untaught.

You can bring your horse to the water but you can’t make it drink.

rhymes and twisters:

An old woman, old woman, shall we go a – shearing?

Speak a little louder, sir, - I am very hard of hearing.

Old woman, old woman, shall I love you dearly?

Thank you, kind sir, I hear you very clearly.

How many boards

Could the Mongols hoards

If the Mongol hoards got bored?

“What is this life if, full of care,

We have no time to stand and stare?”

I cannot bear to see a bear

Bear down upon a hare.

When bare of hair he strips the hare,

Right there I cry, “Forbear!”

5. Reading of Vowel Digraphs
*

Aa	Ee	Ii	Oo	Uu	Yy
Aa	[i:] formulae	[eı] ai d [aı] balalai ka [æ] plai d [e] sai d	[α:] au nt [ɔ: ] Au gust [ɒ] sau sage [əυ] au bergine	[eı] way [e] say s [ə] alway s [ı] Monday
Ee	[i:] sea [eı] grea t [ ıə] idea [e] brea d	[i:] nee d	[i:] cei ling [eı] bei ge [aı] ei ther [e] lei sure	[i:] peo ple [ıə] theo ry [e] leo pard	[(j)u:] neu tral [jυə] Eu rope	[i:] key [ı] money [eı] they
Ii	[ə] Parlia ment [aıə] dia mond	[aı] tie [i:] achie ve [ı] Freddie [e] frie nd	[ıə] patrio t [aıə] lio n	[aıə] triu mph
Oo	[əυ] oa k [ɔ:] broa d	[u:] shoe	[ɔ I ] boi l [ə] tortoi se [ı] connoi sseur	[əυ] broo ch [u:] foo d [υ] foo t [Λ ] bloo d	[əυ] sou l [u:] you [υ] cou ld [aυ] thou sand [Λ ] cou rage [ɒ] cou gh [ɔ: ] ou ght	[ı] loy al
Uu	[u:] true [υə] crue l	[(j)u:] jui ce [ı] biscui t	[aı] buy
Yy	[aıə] hya cinth	[aı] bye	[(j)əυ] yo ga

Principles of Reading Vowel Digraphs

1) The 1st
letter is read in its primary long meaning: sea
[i:], oa
k [əυ], etc.;

2) The 2nd
letter is read in its primary long meaning: neu
tral [u:], ei
ther [aı], etc.;

3) Two letters are read in their primary short meanings, forming a diphthong: bei
ge [eı], they
[eı], boi
l [ɔ
I
], oy
ster [ɔ
I
];

4) One of the letters is read in its primary short or secondary meaning: au
nt [ɑ:], theo
ry [ıə], etc.

Ex. 5.1 Read the following words with digraphs [ei|ey
]. Identify the sound of each line.

[ ] 1. beige, deign, heinous.

[ ] 2. either, seismograph, deictic.

[ ] 3. seize, inveigle, ceiling, receive, deceive, conceive, perceive.

[ ] 4. heir, heiress.

[ ] 5. leisure, Leicester.

[ ] 6. counterfeit, sovereign, foreign, surfeit, forfeit.

[ ] 7. eight, freight, neighbour, weight, sleigh, weigh.

[ ] 8. height, sleight.

[ ] 9. they, survey, grey, obey.

[ ] 10. eyrie.

[ ] 11. key.

[ ] 12. monkey, money, whisky, hockey, trolley.

Ex. 5.2 Which twelve of these words contain the sound [
eə] (as in chair)? How are the others pronounced? Can you think of any more words with [
eə]?

Air, care, dear, fair, hair, her, here, pear, pair, share, tear (verb
), their, there, they’re, were, we’re, where.

Ex. 5.3

a) Read the poem. Explain the reading of vowel combinations.

A little hea
lth, a little wea
lth

A little hou
se and free
dom

With some few frie
nds for certain ends,

But little cau
se to need them.

b) Each word on the left rhymes with one word on the right. Match the words that rhyme and try to write a short poem using some of the rhyming words.

Brain, teeth, lost, foot, boast, suit, weight, slight, death, says, dull, phrase, war, full, chef, leaf, glued

Deaf, great, beef, breathe, skull, Les, reign, days, tossed, post, height, wreath, food, shoot, put, law, wool

Ex. 5.4

a) Put the following words in the correct column according to the pronunciation of “ea”. Careful! Three of the words have two different pronunciations (and different meanings).

scream bean bread gear tear breath dread lead

spear break heal steak dead yearn spread read

knead plead pear bead great team breathe fear

bear thread instead wear head year mean pearl

[e] 10 words

[i:] 11 words

[ ε ə] 5 words

[ ıə] 5 words

[ 3 : ] 2 words

[e I ] 3 words

b) Give 2 examples of your own to each variant of pronunciation of the given digraph.

[
ıə ] [
ε
ə
]

[ e
I
]

EA
[ɑ
:]

[ i:]

[ e ]

Ex. 5.5 Read the following words. Identify the sound of each line.

[ ] 1. food, boot, foolish, boost

[ ] 2. good, cook, took, look

[ ] 3. should, would, could

[ ] 4. blood, flood

[ ] 5. door, four, floor, boor

[ ] 6. moor, tour, poor

[ ] 7. brooch

[ ] 8. round, found, sound, pound

[ ] 9. soul, bowl, mould, shoulder

[ ] 10. touch, rough, nourish, courage

[ ] 11. soup, group, boulevard, goulash

[ ] 12. thought, bought, caught, fought

[ ] 13. you, youth

Ex. 5.6 Pick out the odd word.

Example:

Like by ninth live

1. monkey — donkey — whiskey — key

2. feudal — few — sew — queue

3. cook – look – pound – could

4. foot — good — food — cook

5. round — house — ounce — trouble

6. could — would — mould — should

7. seize — receive — deictic – ceiling

8. toilet – tortoise – boycott – buoy

9. joy –oily –voyage – connoisseur

10. annoy – choice – they –joy – poison

11. pear — swear — near — bear

12. door – floor – start – small

13. cream — head — leave — fleet

14. purple – thirsty – journey – there

15. ooze—wood—kangaroo—booze

16. courage — soul — trouble — nourish

17. plaintiff — raider — plaintive — plaid

18. bread – reads – pence – very

19. work – third – person – hair

20. size – grey – life – eye

21. buy – like – rich – kind

22. wear – ear - hear – nearly

23. earn – third – where – dirty

Ex. 5.7 Give 2 examples to each variant of pronunciation of the given digraph
.

[
əυ] [
aυ]

[
u:]

OU
[Λ
]

[
ɔ:]

[
Ŋ
]

Ex. 5.8 Underline the words in which the vowel combinations are read according to the basic rule:

Cream, bleed, leave, fleet, death, dean, daily, head, rouge, great, tie, key, few, ceiling, thief, plain.

Oar, fair, fuel, fare, ore, type, ear, prior, giant, pure, fire, here, trial, real.

May, oak, coin, connoisseur, heaven, broad, seize, agree, soar, aid, via, fiery, idiot, lie, peer, fear, lean, Sunday, says, formulae, main, leisure, sea, eagle, receive, triumph, foam, aegis, sieve, needle, people, leopard, die, Leicester, pseudonym, ceiling, holiday, read, clear.

Reading of the digraph “ou” in homographes:

slough – сброшенная кожа змеи, забытая привычка; уныние, депрессия, болото.

wound – рана; крутиться, извиваться (pastofwind)

Ex. 5.9 Translate the sentences and transcribe the underlined words:

1. When I was going through the slough
, I saw a slough
.

2. Sometimes your slough
can remind about itself. We went to the forest and found a slough
there.

3. A man was injured, he had a wound
. A snake wound
in the cage.

4. While he was wounding
, somebody wounded
him.

Ex. 5.10

Place the following words in the grids according to their vowel sound.

Rich curl death month shone lawn cart suit breathe flashed loom herd still earn hemmed poured torn scene cruise floor dock just would don sword hoop banned rang bin love hat bird stabbed hood farm ought ridge ton cloth chalk hoot son link next calm germ hymn cab wood breath creep itch blood cough should could black said pearl edge shopped eve barred soup leaf bard begged

Short vowel sounds

pit [pI t]

pat [pæt]

pet [pet]

putt [pʌt]

pot [pɒt]

put [pυt]

Long vowel sounds

peat [pi:t]

pert [pз:t]

part [pɑ:t]

port [pɔ:t]

boot [pu:t]

Ex. 5.11

a) Pronounce the words: foot – booth – flood booklet – coop – hook hoof – footer – looter wooed – wood – moorings taproom – sooty – woof doubt – honorable – tough neighbour – drought – coup should – soup – pouring thought – amount – loaches aloud – louver – brooch colourist – pounding – coulter

b) Choose the right variant: [u:] a) wood, b) foolish, c) country [Λ] a) ooze, b) flood, c) boot [υ:] a) good, b) brooch, c) floor [əυ] a) nourish, b) mould, c) koumiss [Λ] a) cough, b) tough, c) soup [u:] a) douche, b) bounce, c) sound c) Find the odd word: 1. plait, plaid, said, aiglet 2. heir, seize, ceiling, inveigle 3. Leicester, either, height, seismograph 4. break, great, steak, bread 5. tear, heart, fear, tear

Ex. 5.12 Give some examples on each of these combinations, but all of them should denote the sound [ei]:

ai
ei

[ei]

ay ey

Ex. 5.13 Pronounce the following pairs of words and write down the sounds:

[ ] – [ ]:

daughter – Dottie

caution – coughing

naughty – novice

[ ] – [ ]:

joined – John

oyster – ostrich

soiled – solid

[ ] – [ ]:

tomb – tour

view – viewer

queue – cure

[ ] – [ ]:

cleaning – clearly

ease – ears

[ ] – [ ]:

beer – bear

teary – dairy

peer –pair

[ ] – [ ]:

climb – cloud

finder – founder

dry – drought

Ex. 5.14 Divide the words into columns:

[i:]

[e]

[aiə]

[I]

Eel, bread, aegis, seize, leisure, said, quay, says, diet, key, monkey, ion, leopard, formulae, fiery, sweat, agree, giant, biscuit, lion, Leonard, connoisseur, violate, breath, diamond, auntie, pioneer, species, biological, people, jeopardy, piece, triumph, feather, via, friend, achieve, dialogue, mischief, diadem, build.

Ex. 5.15 Insert the suitable word:

fair/fare, buy/bye, waist/waste, flower/flour

1. This man in black is ...

2. When you get on bus you have to pay ...

3. My wife is satisfied with her good ...

4. It is necessary to say “Good ...” when you leave home.

5. It is a ... of time.

6. I am proud of my ...

7. We can’t bake a cake without ...

8. The girl has painted a ...

Ex. 5.16 Find a way from start to finish. You may pass a square only if the word in it has the sound [
aυ]
. You can move horizontally or vertically only.

START

house	sound	group	about	mouth	cow
soup	out	brown	mouse	bought	south
could	couple	grow	low	would	cloud
know	snow	touch	ought	down	count
thought	should	slow	blow	pound	young
soul	country	though	throw	town	round

FINISH

Ex. 5.17 Group the words below according to the pronunciation of the stressed vowels. Compare the meanings of single vowels and vowel combinations. What principle of reading vowel digraphs do the given words illustrate?

1. [e] 2. [eı] 3. [I]

4. [i:] 5. [aı] 6. [əυ]

7. [ɒ] 8. [ɔ I] 9. [u:]

Antennae, beg, beige, believe, brooch, bruise, boy, buy, by, coin, die, dine, either, got, in, key, made, maiden, needle, neutral, obey, pay, people, receive, seat, she, shoulder, soap, sold, soup, steak, tune, true.

Ex. 5.18 Practice reading the following words.

The letter "a":

pale, dale, rake, navy, table, ladle, staple, cradle, apron, sabre, latch, rack, jacket, quack, yank, jag, carry, parrot, garret, sparrow, barrel, rattle, tangle, sample, angry, fare, Mary, snare, daring, age, sharing, air, hairy, chair, repair, affair, farce, arch, jar, market, scarf, alarm, call. all, also, chalk, walk, tall, augur, sauce, pause, aught, author, caught, taught, claw, crawl, law, yawn, hawk, jaw, draw, day, nail, rain, wait, gait, quail, chain, away, praise, lay;

The letter "o":

nose, probe, Joe, quote, drove, wove, phone, noble, ogre, cobra, joke, ogle, yoke, jog, lodge, wrong, knock, knot, strong, core, shore, wore, oral, score, story, storm, mort, orchard, thorn, force, pork, lorry, horror, borrow, porridge, goggle, jostle, bottle, scallop, foam, coal, load, toast, roach, throat , coach, oak, roam, hold, cold, gold, jolt, stroll, roll, scold, pillow, show, window, snow, glow, crow, yellow, row, know, own, hook, hoys, coil, coy, choice, enjoy, roil, voice, destroy, cook, book, wood, look, stood, rook, coo, wool, soon, moon, zoo, broom, coop, hover, too, wooed, roof, ooze, sooth, out, about, mouth, south, scouts, count, down, town, crowd, crown, clown, howl, jowl, fowl, tower, power, flower, shower, coward, towel, trowel;

The letter "u":

cute, cube, humour, purple, unit, super, student, bugle, bugler, duty, computer, tunic, cure, Ural, pure, dual, obscure, endure, fury, curious, furious, jury, plural, cruel, rural, flue, true, rule, jute, truce, June, lunar, plume, chute, under, cut, run, jump, thunder, just, hungry, hurry, current, burrow, humble, struggle, bungle, uncle, buckle, crumple, cur, hurl, turkey, gurgle, curtains, Thursday, lurch, further, turn;

The letter "e":

bead, these, cede, Eve, recent, scene, secret, legal, sere, zero, sphere, cero, hero, mere, inhere, severe, era, well, text, vet, wet, zest, length, theft, gentle, error, cherry, sherry, Jerry, where, terror, derrick, kettle, temple, nettle, verse, germ, perch, concern, German, mercy, thermos, leap, knead, gleam, streak, teach, quean, streak, easy, wreak, veal, creek, cheep, screed, jeep, breeze, meeting, kneel, seethe, queer, wheedle, ear, tear, clear, weary, hear, rear, beard, smeary, beer, cheer, fleer, jeer, queer, pioneer, few, hew, news, yew, view, stew, newspaper, flew, grew, drew, blew, chew, threw, seize, deceive, conceit, conceive, receive, ceiling;

The letters "i/y":

nice, knife, fly, type, stifle, trifle, fibre, nylon, idle, hydra, cycle, quite, fire, lyre, tyre, quire, wire, byre, require, pick, quick, think, crypt, symbol, myth, system, gym, gyps, with, griddle, little, wiggle, sizzle, scribble, thimble, mirror, chirrup, squirrel, shirk, chirp, thirty, birch, smirch, sir, circle, quirt, Myrtle, bind, kind, mind, wind, grind, behind, high, light, might, knight, bright, thigh, tight, sigh, dial, trial, lion, diary, triumph, pioneer, flyer, giant, quiet, violin, field, grieve, believe, achieve, thief, thieve , piece.

Vowel Letter Combinations

ay, ai

says, quay, certainly, always, holiday, Sunday, certainty, Monday, portrayal, play, clay, aid, straight, against, fair, chair, rain, air, said, aisle, balalaika, curtain, claim, certain, pay, again, plait, plaid, plaintiff, plaintive, quay age, clay

ea

eagle, stream, sea, deal, bread, meal, lean, feather, sweat, breath, breakfast, heaven, pleasure, break, great, steak, fear, idea, tear, theatre, clear, earthly, rear, earthworm, Earn, earn, ear-splitting, Earn Shaw, earring, earnest, eaglet, each, eager, Easter, leave

ee

eel, needle, agree, addressee, employee, peer, beer, beetle, teenager, teem, teetotal, returnee

ei, ey

veil, convey, receive, key, height, eye, either, seismograph, sleight, money, heifer, Reynolds, atheism, deity, heir, heirloom, leitmotif, beige, donkey, eight, Leicester, weight, leisure, ceiling, receive, seize, geyser, they, survey, bogey, monkey, whiskey, weird

eu, ew, iew

feudal, few, masseuse, sew, Freudian, masseur, lieutenant, euphemism, feudalism, queue, pseudonym, neutral, Europe, leukocyte, rheumatism, leukemia, leucotomy, Lucite, Peugeot, Reuter, Reuben, reunion, reusable, Seurat, chew, Tewkesberry, mew, mewl, fewness, Newton, New-York

eo

jeopardy, leopard, Geoffrey, Leonard, people, theory, peony, theology, theorem, reorganize, reopen, Seoul, Leo, Leonardo, Leopold, Leonora, deodar, deoxyribonucleic, deodorant, , Neo-Latin, neologism, neoplasm, neonatal.

ie

piece, tie, fierce, tried, studied, dries, fries, friend, flies, sieve, handkerchief, science, pliers, society, acquiesce, Viennese, happiest, Vietnam, viewpoint, achieve, chief, species, series, mischief, auntie, Freddie, brier, fiery, diet, field, fiesta

oo

food, good, blood, flood, door, moor, poor, brooch, zoology, cooperate, cook, book, wood, floor, ooze, boost, boot, foolish, too, woo, kangaroo, foot, boost, boor, boomerang, boondocks, soothe

oi, oy

noise, boy, patois, turquoise, coin, oily, turmoil, boil, connoisseur, tortoise, loiter, loin, soiree, Boyd, boysenberry, boycott, toy

ou

round, soul, touch, group, could, should, would, thought, through, bough, through, rough, cough, thorough, flour, tourist, four, journey, courage, courier, ounce, oust, house, thousand, account, sound, fountain, youth, soup, boulevard, goulash, you, nourish, trouble, poultry, mould, shoulder, bought, slough, house, wound

Ex. 5.19 Spot the homophones:

Homophones are words (or combinations of words) which sound the same, but are spelled differently and have different meanings: meet
and meat, seen
and scene.
Find the pairs of homophones hidden in the list below.

Side, balls, bear, bowled, cue, ducked, fort, work grate, hair, hare, bales, week, dally, bald, hold, fought, weekly, stoke, walk, missed, air, pure, packed, pear, pore, where, pour, duct, bore, seam, quiet, sought, please, shake, wade, sheikh, pleas, weakly, bold, past, sighed, piece, mist, wear, seem, sight, slay, wake, win, steak, stalk, stroke, stork, daily, stake, weak, bare, holed, wine, pact, bawls, passed, wane, queue, great, heir, pair, whine, grant, sleigh, same, weighed, site, peace.

Some of these words do not form pairs of homophones.

Ex. 5.20 Read the following proverbs:

1. The cook stood still and looked the bush was full of good wood.

2. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

3. A sound mind in a sound body.

4. A green wound is soon healed.

5. I wouldn’t like to be in your shoes.

6. Too many cooks spoil the broth.

7. New brooms sweep clean.

8. The proof of the pudding is in the eating.

9. Too good to be true.

10. A little pot is soon hot.

Ex. 5.21 Try to read these tongue-twisters s quick as possible:

1. A tutor who taught on the flute

Tried to teach two young tooters to toot.

Said the two to the tutor,

Is it harder to toot or

To tutor two tooters to toot?

2. Whatever one toucan can do

Is sooner done by toucans two,

And three toucans (it’s very true)

Can do much more than two can do.

3. How many cookies could a good cook if a good cook could cook cookies?

A good cook could cook as much cookies as a good cook who could cook cookies.

TEST
I

1. Transcribe the following words:
Four, boot, cook, young, couple, good, proud, round, look,foolish, food, sour, moon, loose, pronoun.

2.
Sort out the words according to the reading of vowel digraphs:

Borough, brought, tough, bough, thorough, ought, drought, dough, though, bought, sough, slough, pool, root, room, sooth, tootle, took, wooden, hooves, hook, foolhardy, footer, bootlegger, booklet.

3.
Translate the following utterances and transcribe the words in bold type:

1. After that she divorced from her husband and left her work, she was in a slough.

2. The wound
was fatal and there was no hope for his rescue.

TEST
II

1
. Transcribe the following words:
Nutritious, food, young, neighbour, childhood, fourteen hours, joyous cousin, wooden house, took, roomy, would.

2.
Sort out the words according to the reading of vowel digraphs:

Ooze, poor, floor, enough, choose, soul, book, southern, ounce, blood,

should, account, poultry, flood, too, could, mould, youth, rough,

trouble, mould, broach, bloom, tooth, tourist.

3.
Translate the following utterances and transcribe the words in bold type:

1. The little girl very was very frightened, when she saw a slough
of a snake on a stone.

2. A man was injured, he had a wound.

6. Reading of Unstressed Vowels

Vowels in unstressed syllables in disyllabic and polysyllabic words usually denote the neutral sound [ə] and short [ı].

1.
The letters ‘e
’, ‘i
’, ‘y
’ denote the sound [ı]: rocke
t, bandi
t, funny
.

2.
The letters ‘a
’, ‘o
’, ‘u
’ denote the sound [ə]: Pola
nd, botto
m, cactu
s.

BUT
-a
ge [ı] (message), -a
te [ə/ı] (delicate), -i
ble [ı/ə] (terrible).

3.
The letter combinations ‘vowel + the letter ‘r
” give the neutral [ə]: dollar
, dinner
, doctor
, natur
e.

4.
In the letter combination ‘vowel + vowel + consonant’
(-ial, -ion, -our, -ous etc.) we pronounce the neutral [ə]: initial
, division
, labour
, generous
.

5.
In the letter combinations ‘vowel + consonant + consonant (+ consonant/vowel)
’ (-able, -ance, -ent etc.) we pronounce [ə]: capable
, attendance
, student
.

6.
In the letter combinations ‘consonant + vowel + consonant (+ vowel)
’ we can pronounce:

a) the neutral [ə]: freedom
;

b) the neutral [ə] or short [ı]: careless
;

c) the neutral [ə] or short [υ]: awful
.

7.
The letters ‘o
’ and ‘u
’ in an open syllable and after a stressed syllable have their primary long meanings: sambo
[əυ], costu
me [ju:].

8.
An unstressed vowel is not pronounced, as a rule, in the following cases:

a) e+ ln
(at the end of a word): seven [
sevn];

b) i+l
(at the end of a word): pupil [
pju:pl];

c) o+n
(at the end of a word): lesson [
lesn]

Ex. 6.1 Read the riddles. Try to guess the right answer. Transcribe the underlined words, explain the rules.

1) A man looks at the photo
and says: “Brothers and sisters I have none, but this man’s father is my father’s son.” What relation
is the man in the photograph
to the man who is looking at it?

2) There is a question
to which you never answer “yes”. What question is it?

3) What is it that looks like a ball,

But stands still and does not fall

off its thin and graceful
leg?

Children
like to turn it round,

Lakes and rivers
are there found.

Countries
, states and their towns

You can see on it all round.

Ex. 6.2
( , track 6
)

a) Listen to the poem. Circle the words which rhyme.

Mr. Porter loves his pasta.

No one else can eat it faster.

Mr. Porter’s sister Rita,

Buys the pasta by the metre.

Mr. Porter’s older daughter,

Boils it all in tubs of water.

b)Learn the rhyme.

The Time-table of Lazy-bones Grundy

Lazy-bones Grundy

Must do sums for Monday.

“And today it is Thursday”,

Says lazy-bones Grundy,

“So I’ll do it on Wednesday,

If not – then on Thursday,

Or even on Friday”,

Says lazy-bones Grundy.

Not very soon comes Friday

And Saturday comes,

But lazy-bones Grundy

Has no time for sums.

“Never mind”, says Grundy,

“I’ll do it on Sunday.”

So this time-table

Of lazy-bones Grundy.

Ex. 6.3 Transcribe the following words and divide them into three columns: [ju:], [əυ], [ə]

Tribune, monotony, statue, samba, cactus, attribute, customs, gratitude, ambulance, monogram, common, also, tempo, recognize.

Ex. 6.4 Pay attention to the full quality of the unstressed vowels and explain the rule:

a) mambo, canto, tempo, dingo, banjo, fresco, motto, tango, salvo, stucco, Plato, photo, solo, memo, credo, veto, Pluto, silo;

b) commune, costume, capsule, formula, circular, occupant.

Ex. 6.5

a) Listen. In each sentence or phrase there are two vowels which are not [ə]. Circle them
( , track 7
)

Example:
an a
pple and a bana
na

1. from Canada to China

2. The parrot was asleep.

3. The cinema was open.

4. the photographer’s assistant

5. a question and an answer

6. a woman and her husband

7. a pasta salad

b) Write the words in the correct part of the table. Then listen and check
( , track 8
)

Orange woman return collect market begin visit asleep Salad teaches needed letter sofa peaches quarter women

Vowel in weak syllable = [ə]	Vowel in weak syllable = [І]
woman	orange

Ex. 6.6 Compare the reading of the vowels in stressed and unstressed position. Read the following words:

land – Holland land – Poland land – Iceland

Man – Frenchman Man – Dutchman Man – Scotchman

Us – cactus Bus – campus Tom – bottom Sum – possum Rack – barrack Lot – ballot Bad – ballad Mock – hammock Lock – hillock

Ex. 6.7 Pronounce the following words and comment on the reading of unstressed vowels:

Error, terror, horror, chirrup, barrack, mirror;

Ballot, gallop, cactus, census;

Grammar, beggar, collar, cellar, dollar, poplar;

Volga, delta, extra, villa, Sylva, Edna, character, manager;

Baggage, bandage, courage, garbage, message, accurate, adequate, affectionate, approximate, delicate;

Amber, banner, summer, supper, dinner, number, member, butter, pepper, shelter, winter;

Academy, generous, achievement, ailment, golden, deepen, different, patience, fluency, bravery;

Positive, possible, ineligible, invisibility;

Doctor, proctor, tractor, factor, actor.

Ex. 6.8 Read the following words. Note that they have complete vowel reduction.

Britain, curtain, separate, metal, medal;

Interest, model, parcel, travel;

Medicine, professional, revolutionary.

Ex. 6.9 Find the words in which unstressed vowels are not reduced:

1.
government, assurance, terrible, crock ware

2.
translation, improvable, partial, monotonous

3.
meaningless, soluble, wisdom, trainer

4.
monkey, canvas, carpet, dismount

Ex. 6.10 Listen and circle the word you hear
( , track 9
)

1. Woman or women? What time did the womanwomen
arrive?

2. Dress or address? Where’s Kate’s dressaddress
?

3. Manager’s or manages? The team manager’smanages
well.

4. Teacher’s or teaches? The German teachesteacher’s
English.

5. Weight’s or waiter’s? The weight’swaiter’s
heavy.

6. Dancer’s or dances? The woman dancer’sdances
fast.

7. Officer’s or office’s? The officer’soffice’s
here.

8. Away or way? Take that awayway
.

9. Drive or driver? What a nice driverdrive
!

10. Racer’s or races? The racer’sraces
finished.

Ex. 6.11 Read the following words and pay attention to the reading of unstressed vowels:

Dizzy, remedial, examination, painful, remedy, extract, fever, giddy, recovery, malady, giddiness, harmful, injury, illness, injection, inflammation capable, record, competitor, chessman, curable, handicap, amateur, sensible, garment, recovery, expert, stressful, careless, judgement, remedy, doctor, patient, medical, inflammation, to operate, ambulance, ointment, prescription, painful, treatment, cancer, ailment.

Ex. 6.12 Write down the unstressed vowels, which the following words have:

clumsy, ointment, stressful, complication, dormitory, treatment, sickness, vitality, surgery, conscious, deficiency, condition, shivery, breathless, ailment, cavity, therapy, bandage, appointment, funny, rocket, nature, dollar, bottom, Poland, costume, samba, attendance, capable, student, message, delicate, freedom, awful, careless.

Ex. 6.13 Choose the words, in which the unstressed vowel is not reduced and has its primary alphabetical meaning. Explain the rule:

Stamina, contest, participant, costume, sedentary, snooker, polo, badminton, racket, victory, samba, hockey.

Ex. 6.14 Extract the words with unstressed vowels and group them according to the sound, which they denote:

Stress is a disease of the twentieth century. Life has never been faster and jobs have never been more stressful than they are today. People have to perform more and more work under difficult and more stressful conditions. Many people suffer from stress and the illness it can cause. But as this situation is becoming recognized, people shouldn’t have to fear comments such as, “He’s had a nervous breakdown. Can’t take the pressure, you know.” This is because more people are recognizing that stress is a natural reaction – it is a reaction of a person’s body to pressure, either from the outside world or from the inner world of emotions and physical organs. We can’t avoid stress. And we can’t help ourselves, or others, until we know more about it. Not all stress is bad and perhaps if we understand it better we could make the most of it.

Ex. 6.15 Find the superfluous word in each group (unstressed vowels):

[ɔ:] – ׀
football, ׀
terror, ׀
record;

[I
] – ׀
phoneme, ׀
profit, ׀
fifties;

[æ] – can׀
teen, fan׀
tastic, sex׀
tet;

[e] – sen׀
sation, ׀
congress, ׀
drawback;

[i:] – re׀
set, re׀
group, e׀
lusive.

Ex. 6.16 Transcribe the following words and explain why the unstressed vowel is reduced or not:

ba׀ nana ׀ profit pre׀ vented ׀ tribune ma׀ chine ׀ ticket ׀ statue

po׀ litical ׀ lovely ׀ dangerous ׀ movement ׀ horrible ׀ echo ׀ giddy

Ex. 6.17 Read the limerick and underline the words with [ə], [
I
]:

There once was a student named Bessor

Whose knowledge grew lesser and lesser

It at last grew so small,

He knew nothing at all,

And today he’s a college professor.

Ex. 6.18 Read these twisters and underline the words with [ə], [
I
]:

The hammer man hammers the hammer on the hard highroad.

Little lady Lilly lost her lovely locket. Lucky little Lucy found the lovely locket. Lovely little locket lay in Lucy’s pocket. Lazy little Lucy lost the lovely locket!

Ex. 6.19 Read the proverbs, explain the reading of the unstressed vowels:

1. Appearances are deceitful.

2. Honesty is the best policy.

3. Better late than never.

4. Love is a malady without cure.

5. Little knowledge is a dangerous thing.

6. Don’t make a mountain out of a molehill.

7. Absence makes the heart grow fonder.

8. Accident will happen.

9. Desperate disease must have desperate remedies.

10. Prevention is better than cure.

11. A merry heart is a good medicine.

12. Caution is the parent of cure.

13. To be a cut throat competition.

TEST

Ex. 1 Distribute the words into four groups (one and the same word can be in different groups) according to the reading of unstressed vowels:

[ə]

[ I ]

[ə/ I ]

primary alph. meaning

Radio, message, kingdom, hopeless, gratitude, cellar, belong, changeable, divide, downy, also, prepare, deliberate, attribute, deliver, courage, teacher, countable, probable, tempo.

Ex. 2 Find the words with unstressed vowels and explain their reading:

1. Look before you leap.

2. Hasty climbers have sudden falls.

3. If you run after two hares, you’ll catch neither.

4. It’s not cricket.

5. Study sickness, while you are well.

6. Health isn’t valued, till sickness come.

Ex. 3 Transcribe the words:

Samba, gymnastics, glider, contest, spectator, vicious, medical, polo, bicycle, judo, discuss, stamina, marathon, achievement, disqualification.

7. Reading of Consonants

Letter	Meaning(s)		Examples
Bb	[b]		Boy, baby
Cc	[s] – before e, i, y [k] [∫] – before unstressed vowels		City, cycle Come , cat Social, musician, delicious, special
Dd	[d] – after vowels & voiced consonants in endings [t] – after voiceless consonants in endings		Played, rained Stopped, watched
Ff	[f] [v]		Fine, film of
Gg	[dʒ] – before e, i, y [g] [ʒ] – in words of French origin		Gy m, ge ntle, ange l Game !!!girl,get,give Garage, rouge, beige
Hh	[h]		Hello, hamster
Jj	[dʒ]		Jane, joy
Kk	[k]		Kettle, kitchen
Ll	[l]		Lemon, little
Mm	[m]		Money, mirror
Nn	[n]		Nose, novel
Pp	[p]		Pepper, pick
Qq	[k] – at the end of words [kw]		Unique, technique Qu arrel, qu ality
Rr	[r]		Right, reality
Ss	[s] – at the beginning of words, after voiceless consonants in endings [z] – after vowels & voiced consonants at the end of a word; between two vowels [∫] [ʒ]		Son, stops, caps Mends , los es , advertis e, pres ent impression , sugar Measure , pleasure ,
Tt	[t] [t∫]– in words ending in -ure [∫]–when followed by a letter i in many suffixed words		Take, water Nature , future , Nation , education , initial , ambition
Vv	[v]		Van, cover
Ww	[w]		Wood, wet
Xx	[ks] [k∫][gz] [gʒ] – before a stressed vowel		Box, fox, mixture Luxury luxurious Luxury
Zz	[z]		Zero, zebra

READING OF “c, g, j”

Ex. 7.1 Read the following words according to the rules and find exceptions:

college scoff science cyclist screen occupy cinema scenery soccer canteen success

get gallery German give general begin goal genus game ginger gather

jar judge jelly join joke justice jungle July Jump Job journalist

Ex. 7.2 Put the words into the right column and find exceptions if there are any:

[k]

[s]

[g]

[d3]

Cc:
biscuit, cake, can, cap, car, cat, carpet, carry, chocolate, cinema, city, class, clean, clear, clerk, clever, clock, close, coat, come, concert, cook, cool, count, cousin, cow, cucumber, cup, cure, dance, December, doctor, face, race, factory, ice-cream, pencil, picture, place, quick, second, secretary, uncle.

Gg:
august, begin, finger, flag, game, garden, get, girl, give, go, good, goose, grandfather, grass, great, green, grey, ground, jug, jungle, large, leg, orange, page, pig, porridge, tiger, village, engineer, giraffe, cage, German, together, forget, egg, dog, again, agree, angry, England, hungry, glass.

Ex. 7.3 Find the odd word:

1. cap, candle, centre, cosy, council.

2. gold, gum, gossip, game, give.

3. curriculum, century, ceramic, circle, cycle.

4. gentle, gerund, giant, gymnast, get.

5. cake, call, cease, cause.

6. gas, gentleman, ginger, gymnastics.

7. get, gain, give, begin.

8. scissors, scientific, scarf, scene.

Ex. 7.4 Add the word according to the rule:

1. career, car, can, capital, ...

2. century, centre, cite, Cyprus, ...

3. gallery, gamble, garlic, governmental, ...

4. gentle, general, gibber, gymnasium, ...

Ex. 7.5 Indicate how the letter c
is pronounced in the words: [s], [∫], [k].

1. success – 2. juice – 3. sufficient – 4. anchor – 5. accept – 6. scientific – 7. chemist –

8. appreciate – 9. balcony – 10. proficiency – 11. decide – 12. clown – 13. precious – 14. tobacco –

Ex. 7.6 Indicate how the letter g
is pronounced in the words: [g], [d3].

1. religion – 2. geography – 3. bridge – 4. beggar – 5. gear – 6. figure – 7. hamburger – 8. guilty -

9. engineer – 10. giant – 11. oxygen – 12. guard – 13. gypsy – 14. regulator – 15. bargain – 16. government –

Ex. 7.7 C, k, ck, que or ch for [k]? Complete the words by spelling the sound [k].

statisti_ che___ pani_ing _riti_al mimi_ing traffi_er mista_e

inspe_tor heada_e _ustoms traffi_ musi_al terrifi_ uni__

pani_ basi_ te_ni__ lu__ pi_ni_ che__ _ids

pi_ni_ing tru_ wal_ basi_ally drin_ mimi_ athleti_ally

Ex. 7.8 Underline the letters which are pronounced [
∫] in the following sentences. List the ways you found to spell this sound.

1. If you are an ambitious language learner, you should work hard on pronunciation and dictation.

2. So, after graduation you will be able to do translation and hold conversation taking part in negotiations.

3. He is impatient to go to the exhibition. Its expositions resulted from the exploration of the culture of ancient civilizations.

4. If you are anxious about future generations, please take part in our conversation project.

5. I don’t think I need your permission to go on an excursion.

6. Flies spread infectious disease. You’d better take measures against them.

7. I’m sure we won’t finish our work without financial support from a social organization.

Ex. 7.9 Fill in the missing letters s or z. Some words can be spelt both ways.

1. I must apologi_e for disturbing you so late.

2. Do you want to try on this sweater? I think it’s your si_e.

3. Everybody was surpi_ed at his calm.

4. She received the Nobel Pri_e for phy_ics.

5. What do you think of medicine adverti_ing on TV?

6. The doctor advi_ed him to take more exerci_e.

7. My parents do not sympathi_e with my ambition to go on a stage.

8. I could hardly recogni_e him. He looked different in his new suit.

9. Stop critici_ing everybody! Mind yourself!

10. It was very wi_e of you not to go there.

Ex. 7.10 Read the proverbs. Explain the rules of reading.

1. To let the cat
out of the bag
.

2. Appearances
are deceitful
.

3. The devil is not so black
as it is painted.

4. The tongue
is not steel, yet it cuts
.

5. To stew in one’s own juice
.

6. Well begun
is half done.

7. The game
is not worth the candle
.

READING OF ENDINGS -(e)s, -(e)d

The ending -(e)s
of plural forms of nouns and of the 3rd
singular present indefinite of verbs is read

how	when
a)	[s]	after voiceless consonants;
b)	[z]	after vowels, voiced consonants and sonorants;
c)	[ız]	after [s], [z], [∫], , [t∫], .

The ending-(e)d
of regular forms of verbs is read

how	when
a)	[d]	after vowels, voiced consonants and sonorants;
b)	[t]	after voiceless consonants
c)	[ıd]	after [t], [d]

Ex. 7.11
( , track 10
)

Each line contains either verbs or adjectives ending in <-ed>, or verbs or nouns ending in <-s>. Decide which is the odd one out in terms of the way that the ending is pronounced. Then check your answer with the recording.

Example:
seas picks
pays digs

1	picked	stopped	robbed	taped
2	wanted	shaped	estimated	congratulated
3	shops	digs	robs	codes
4	judges	horses	names	wishes
5	trapped	faked	hoped	faded
6	wicked	picked	tricked	licked

Ex. 7.12 Read the words according to the rule:

a) with the ending -(e)s

inches, hands, chiefs, shoes, maps, boxes, safes, dishes, machines, roofs, classes, wives, babies, benches, books, bottles, boys, brings, burns, buzzes, cages, capes, cars, catches, cats, checks, clashes, clings, clocks, crooks, dates, dishes, doctors, dresses, edges, faces, feeds, fetches, fifths, fingers, foxes, gains, gnats, hooks, hopes, horses, jobs, kites, knives, knows, ladies, leaps, lies, matches, moths, noses, nurses, pages, papers, parts, phones, pies, picks, pipes, places, pumps, roses, seats, sites, skies, sofas, swims, taxes, teachers, thinks, ties, trays, wages, waves, weeks, wives, writers.

b) with the ending -(e)d

acted, added, advised, agreed, begged, called, camped, carried, compiled, composed, concreted, concurred, crashed, decided, defended, diffe­red, dressed, ended, enjoyed, entered, explained, failed, finished, fired, followed, founded, handed, hoped, hurried, joked, listed, listened, looked, marked, mended, opened, packed, painted, placed, pronounced, pumped, reminded, rested, roun­ded, sacked, shouted, seemed, seized, skated, smoked, started, stayed, robbed, tacked, talked, turned, typed, waited, walked, washed, packed, arrived, moved, worked, played, needed, smashed, ended.

Ex. 7.13 Put the words into columns:

a) with the ending -(e)s

[s]

[z]

[Iz]

Cats, touches, drops, pencils, coats, poses, gods, cured, ports, causes, fits, its, adds, tends, courses, boxes, mottos, toes, heroes, saves, boxes, spies, memories, tomatoes, drivers, potatoes, matches, plays, pockets, fingers, sources, marches, invalids, secrets.

b) with the ending -(e)d

[t]

[d]

[Id]

Forced, recorded, swamped, saved, treated, brushed, connected, viewed, waited, stopped, used, enjoyed, needed, tended, dressed, helped, danced, opened, played, counted, decided, answered, wanted, cried, studied, traveled, used, skipped, stopped, hated, trusted, published, switched, named, sounded.

Ex. 7.14 Find the odd word:

1) noses, pieces, years, dresses, dollies.

2) stopped, used, traveled, smelled, agreed.

3) pens, hens, pets, lessons, heads.

4) coasted, ended, resulted, resisted, suffered.

5) tips, backs, points, models.

6) places, matches, cases, shocks.

7) passed, worked, dropped, needed.

8) hated, promoted, landed, licked.

Ex. 7.15 Add the word according to the rule:

1) toys, arms, fingers, hairs, ...

2) displeased, smelled, pervaded, ...

3) secrets, tickets, shocks, foots, ...

4) hands, legs, years, eyes, ...

Ex. 7.16 Find a way from Start to Finish. You may not pass a square if the word contains the sound [z]. You can move horizontally or vertically only.

start

↓

spots	squares	prize	since	six	sports
streets	wise	sells	sits	exact	escapes
rice	rise	sense	science	lose	lost
oasis	desert	smokes	songs	crisps	box
place	face	snacks	seas	voice	boxes
plays	phase	nose	smiles	focus	concert

↑finish

Ex. 7.17 The pronunciation of the possessive “s” is the same as for plural endings. For example:
Peter’s [z], John’s [z], Philips [s], Steph’s [s], Gearge’s [
I
z], Alice’s [
I
z].

Put the words in italics in the correct column, according to the pronunciation of the possessive “s”.

a month’s holiday Jane’s dog the horse’s mouth Joe’s ambition Uncle Toby’s Mr. Walsh’s car Beth’s doll the judge’s decision

Liz’s mother the Jones’s children the government’s duty the boys’ father the world’s resources a wasp’s nest a week’s pay

[z]

[s]

[ I z]

Ex. 7.18 Read the text, underline the past verbs with –ed
ending and explain the rule of reading.

Robin Tailor was born in Birmingham on the 27th of December 1958. His mother died the same day. Mr. and Mrs. Taylor adopted him. In 1960, the Taylor family immigrated to Perth in Western Australia. Last year, Robin was in Britain on holiday. He traveled to Birmingham and asked about his family. He discovered that he had a twin brother! Robin phoned a BBC radio programme and told his story. He asked for information about his brother. That afternoon he received a phone call from Perth in Scotland. The next day he went to Scotland and met his brother for the first time.

Ex. 7.19 Read the proverbs. Explain the rules of reading.

1. He laughs best who laughs last.

2. What can’t be cured must be endured.

3. Exception proves the rule.

4. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

5. Where the shoe pinches.

6. When in Rome, do as the Romans do.

7. It’s the early bird that catches the worm.

8. The devil is not so black as it’s painted.

9. Still waters run deep.

READING OF COMBINATIONS OF VOWELS WITH CONSONANTS

Letter combination	Sound	Examples
O + ld I+ld I+nd Igh A+ s + consonant A+ n + consonant A+ th A+ll Al+k W+a W+ar W+or ow	[əυ] [aı] [ɑ:] [ɔ:] [ɒ] [ɔ:] [3:] [əυ], [aυ]	Cold, gold Wild, child Kind, find High, night Class, past Plant, dance Path, father All, ball, wall Talk, walk, chalk Want, was War, warm Word Row, cow

Ex. 7.20 Read the following words containing combination of vowels and consonants:

[əυ] cold, fold, hold, bold, gold, told, sold;

[aı] wild, mild, child,;

[aı] kind, mind, find, bind, blind, rind.

[a:] class, fast, ask, plant, bath, pass, past, task, grant, path, glass, cast, bask, can’t, father, grass, vast, basket, shan’t, brass, mask, branch.

[ɔ:] all, small, ball, fall, call, stall, tall, wall.

[ɒ] was, wash, what, want, watch, quality;

[aυ] now, how, cow, down, town, clown, brown, crowd, crown, flower, power, tower;

[əυ] row, own, slow, grow, snow, glow, show, throw, know

Ex. 7.21 Which word in the pair has more predictable spelling?

warm –charm cork – work wart –dart worm – storm window - binding

worm – squirm want – pant word – lord call – shall eight – height

Ex. 7.22 Find the odd word:

Target, farm, warm, market, barking.

Word, work, world, war, worse.

Behind, bind, wind, mind, blind.

Call, shall, tall, also, always.

Howl, jowl, crown, throw, coward.

Own, borrow, pillow, tower, crow.

Dance, can’t, bathroom, past, east.

Warship, quality, watch, wash, was.

Pond, gold, sold, behold, scold.

Ex. 7.23 Find the homophones:

side/ stalk/ hold/ might/ bold/ knight/ sight/ won/ site/ holed/ stork/ bowled/ night/ one/ sighed/ mite

Ex 7.24 Find the rhymes:

a) warm/ calm/ heard/ polite/ want/ show/ world/ aunts/ what/ work/ stalk/ bite

b) ago/ farm/ dance/ fight/ pot/ pond/ whirled/ perk/ night/ fork/ storm/ word

Ex. 7.25
( , track 11
)

Listen to the recording and decide which names you hear.

Example:
I’ve invited ____Pete
___to join us.

a) Pete b) Peter c) Pet

1. I’ve just been talking to __________________.

a) Jan Lipman b) Jane Lipman c) Jane Leapman d) Jan Leapman

2. I’ve just got a letter from __________________.

a) Eryl b) Meryl

3. Can I speak to _____________, please?

a) Mick Wilson b) Mike Wilson c) Mack Wilson d) Mark Wilson

4. I haven’t seen ____________ for ages.

a) Mary b) Marie

5. Could you give this to __________, please?

a) Lucille b) Lucy

6. I think that’s ___________ over there.

a) Peter Bales b) Peter Vales c)Pete Bales d) Pete Vales

7. Have you met _________________?

a) Barbara Eaton b) Barbara Heaton c) Barbie Eaton d) Barbie Heaton

8. I’ve invited _______________ as well.

a) Joe Newman b) Joan Newman

9. That’s _________________, I think.

a) Sir Ralph b) Sir Alf

10. I think that’s ____________over there.

a) Sue Weedon b) Sue Eden

11. Is ___________ here today?

a) Gert b) Curt

12. I’m going with ___________ to the cinema.

a) Alec b) Alex

13. Have you seen ____________ recently?

a) Rita b) Lita

14. I hear that ___________has got a new job.

a) Bet b) Beth c) Betty d) Bess

15. Isn’t that ________over there?

a) Carl b) Carla

Ex. 7.26
( , track 12
)

Look at and listen to these pairs of words.

a. Peter
and pepper.
These start with the same consonant sound [p], but the following vowel sound is different: [׀

pi:tə], [׀

pepə].

b. Peter
and pizza.
These start with the same three sounds: [׀

pi:tə] and [׀

pi:tsə].

Now read the following pairs of words. How many identical sounds do they start with? Listen to the recording to check how they are pronounced.

Examples:

Peter/ pepper – 1
Peter/pizza – 3

1. Kate cake __ 9. Penny pizza __

2. Charles chocolate ___ 10. Margery margarine ___

3. Oliver olives ___ 11. Barbara bananas ___

4. Tom tomatoes ___ 12. Sam salmon ___

5. Susan sugar ___ 13. Colin cola ___

6. Salome salami ___ 14. Brenda bread ___

7. Pat pasta ___ 15. Jim gin ___

8. Patty pastry ___ 16. Raymond radishes ___

Ex. 7.27

a) Put the following words into the correct column according to the pronunciation of”-ough”:

Cough, through, plough, fought, thought, tough, nought, ought, drought, borough, bough, sought, bought, dough, though, enough, rough, thorough

[ ɔ : ]

[ ʌ f]

[ ɒ f]

[u:]

[ə]

[ə ʊ]

[ a ʊ]

b) Add two more words into each group:

caught, cuff, burglar, glow, stew, toffee, groan, snuff, warn, queue, terror, doubt, frown, off.

8. Mute Consonants

Mute letter	Combinations of letters	Examples
b	bt mb	Doubt, subtle,climb but: obtain Bomb, comb, lamb, tomb
c	sc	Scissors, scene, muscle
d	Before consonants	Wednesday, handsome
g	gn gm	Sign, sovereign, gnat, resign, but: pregnant, magnet Paradigm, gnome
h	wh rh, h gh kh	Which, white, where, what Rhyme, hour, exhibition, honor Ghost, gherkin Khaki, khan
gh	igh	High, light, weight, fight
k	kn	Know, knife, knight, knee
l	ld (only in words) lf alk lm	Could, would, should Half, calf, but: golf, wolf Talk, walk, chalk Calm, psalm, but: film
n	nm	Autumn, column, condemn
p	pn pt ps	Pneumonia, pneumatic Receipt, but: helicopter, September, raptorial Psychology, psalm, but: laps, perhaps
r	after vowels	Far, farm, girl, turn, term
s	sl	Island, isle
t	ften stle sten	Often, soften Whistle, castle Listen, fasten
w	wh (before –o) wr sw	Who, whose, whom, whole Writer, playwright, wrong, wrestling Answer, but: swallow, swan, sweet

Ex. 8.1 Find the homophones:

Lamb/ wood/ receipt/ rime/ hole/right/ reseat/ knew/ fought/ whine/ reign/ lam/ rain/ new/ fort/ wine/ would/ rhyme/ write/ whole.

Ex. 8.2 Find the rhymes:

Farm, boom, delight, hurl, gate, design, sign, who, calm, threw, court, reign, alarm, height, gloom, bite, polite, refine, weight, whirl, pine, chew, caught, refrain, incite, womb, psalm, night, charm, tomb, through, balm.

Ex. 8.3 Choose the odd word:

when, which, whose, where

lump, limb, lamb, comb

calm, palm, film, balm

knapsack, knowledge, knick-knack, acknowledge

Gypsy, pseud, perhaps, eclipse

pseudonym, psychosis, trapshooting, psyche.

Ex. 8.4 Choose the appropriate word:

1. That was really a very courageous _______.

a) knight b) night

2. She doesn’t _____ _____ her necklace is.

a) no, were b) know, where

3. He ______ his father was coming home because he heard his horse’s _______.

a) new, slay b) knew, sleigh

4. He became an ________ of a tremendous fortune after his ________ death.

a) heir, father’s b) air, father’s

5. The troops had to _____ the river.

a) wade b) weight

6. The rose was very beautiful but the thorns on the _______ hurt my fingers.

a) stork b) stalk

7. The king’s ________ his spouse’s glance and understood everything.

a) court b) caught

8. It was the first day of ______ for the ______.

a) rain, shake b) reign, sheikh

Ex. 8.5 Correct the mistakes:

I got court in the reign this morning and got wet threw.

I’d like to get some fire-would.

I no wot you mean.

I always get aches and peigns in winter.

We booked the tickets threw the Internet.

She can’t weight for you.

It’s very hot there, she won’t knead her fur-coat.

Rite! That’s the correct variant.

Ex. 8.6 Complete the word by adding the silent letter.

1
. An _onest man never tells lies.

2. _hose spectacles are these?

3. A bom_ exploded just near the bridge.

4. The spirit of a dead person is called a g_ost.

5. Do you hear someone _nocking at the window?

6. His _nowledge of the subject is rather poor.

7. The clock strikes every _our.

8. I’m afraid he’s caught _neumonia.

9. You’d better _rap her present up.

10. If you don’t want to forget, tie _not in your handkerchief.

9. Reading of English Consonant Clusters

English sibilants and interdental sounds which don’t have their equivalents in the Latin alphabet are denoted by combinations of consonants, the second element of which is “h”,
e. g. she, chain, thus, three.

All the combinations of consonants, except “sh
”, have the primary and the secondary sound meanings. The combinations of consonants are read in the primary sound meaning in most English words. In the words of foreign origin they are read in their secondary meaning.

Cluster	Sound	Where	Examples
ch	[t∫] [k] [∫] [d3] [h]	Geek and Latin French	cheap, chair, watch ache, school machinery, chef sandwich, spinach Loch
th	[θ] [t] [ð]	word end and beginning proper names between and before vowels	throw, tooth Thomas, Thailand this, leather
ph	[v] [f]	Greek and Latin	Stephen philosophy, phonetics
sh	[∫]	shelf, wash

READING OF “ng, nk”

Cluster	Sound	Where	Examples
ng	[ŋ]	In final position or before suffixes –er, -est, -ed, -ing	Sing, singing, singer
ng	[ŋg]	In the middle of a root word	Anger, hunger but angel, conglomerate, congratulate
nk	[ŋk]	Any position	Ink, pink

READING OF LETTER “n”

The leter “n” denotes:

[n] in prefixes – con, - non, - in, -un (income, nonsense, confident, unread)

[ŋ] before: c, k ([k] function, tank), ck, qu ([k] conquer, ancker), xi ([k∫] anxious), g ([g] England, longer), the suffixes and endings –er, -est, -ed, -ing (sing, singer, singing).

Ex. 9.1 Read the words with letter “n”:

condition tranquil non-stop confidential constant cleanest

hank infamous unbroken conquer singing interrupt

hang anxious lighting fore-finger unconscious inkpot

Ex. 9.2 Transcribe the following words and divide them into groups according to the reading of the combinations of consonants:

linked, wings, inkpot, jungle, anxious, mounting, singer, single, anger, anxious, nonsense, eating, finger, income, function, conquer, having, confident, eaten, English, concentration, nonplus, indirect, frank, hanger, linked, wings, jungle, anxious, mounting, condition, nonunion, invisible, tank, function, belonged, nice, can't, sing, incredible, land, giant, pane, strong, bringing, long, banker.

Ex. 9.3 Find the odd word:

1. jungle, nonsense, Frank, sorting, single.

2. uneasy, nonplus, convention, English, irritation.

3. ring, tongue, boring, chunk, conversion.

4. dinner, convenient, nonstop, involve, undid.

5. unclaimed, nonsense, link, inhale.

6. finger, hang, frank, stronger.

7. singer, hanger, belonged, doing.

Ex. 9.4 Add the word according to the rule:

1. informal, non-aggression, unable, ...

2. tank, frank, hank, ...

3. longer, stronger, younger, ...

4. sung, wing, finger, ...

5. consult, industry, indulge, ...

6. stinks, tank, inkpot, ...

7. boring, sorting, lying, ...

Ex. 9.5 Find the way from Start to Finish. You may pass a square only if the word in it has the sound [ŋ]. You can move horizontally or vertically only.

Start ↓

sing	think	thick	strong	wrong	rung
sign	uncle	unless	drug	strange	comb
thanks	angry	signal	drank	English	finger
anxious	angel	single	monkey	money	young
language	tongue	skiing	skin	came	ink
lounge	danger	band	dream	swim	wing

↑ Finish

Ex. 9.6 Explain the rules of reading in these proverbs:

1. What is done cannot be undone.

2. Wars the sport of kings.

3. He who swims in sin will sink in sorrow.

4. The proof of the pudding is in the eating.

5. Better unborn than untaught.

6. Honey is sweet but the bee stings.

Ex. 9.7 Join consonant clusters with the sounds they can denote. There are 4 sounds that don’t fit here.

[d3]	[t]	[t∫]	[v]	[ð]
[s]	CH SH TH NG PH NK			[n]
[ŋk]				[h]
[f]				[θ]
[g]	[ŋ]	[∫]	[k]	[ŋg]

Find the word with each sound:

Chandelier, worth, anger, triumph, Anthony, sandwich, cheekbone, Stephen, shrewd, bang, Frank, than, monarchy

Ex. 9.8 Find the odd word according to the way of the reading of consonant clusters:

1. accept, success, soccer, accede, access, accent.

2. anchor, young, conquer, conclude, function.

3. think, thunder, throne, thyme, thick, thing.

4. chaos, chord, stomach, monarchy, chaste.

5. tooth, scythe, truth, thumb, throw, thin.

6. go, gargle, gage, glove, stage, give.

7. chef, chic, champagne, charade, chick.

Ex. 9.9 Sort out the words into columns according to the reading of consonant clusters.

Machinery, scheme, scythe, child, Thames, weather, chef, Christmas, Thompson, chick, than, chic, chord, chalice, cliché, Chaos, neither, thyme, thrift, cheek, though, thorn, thaw, thief.

Ex. 9.10
Find a way from start to finish. You may pass a square only if the word in it has the sound [θ]. You can move horizontally of vertically.

Start

north	northern	either	weather	breathe	those
south	bath	bathe	thought	breath	youth
southern	third	their	through	though	thumb
Thailand	cloth	path	fifth	with	worth
month	clothes	these	brother	that	teeth
throw	thing	author	other	they	wealth

Finish

Ex. 9.11
Complete this rhyme using words from the box. Then listen and check
( , track 13
)

Earth

another

Heather

together

brother

birth

neither

either

mothers

brothers

Arthur had a brother

And he didn’t want another.

And of the brothers, ______

Wanted sisters _____ .

The last thing on this_____

They wanted was a _____.

So Arthur’s mother _____

Got them both _____,

And told them all good _____

Should learn to share their _____.

Ex. 9.12 Listen and circle the word you hear
( , track 14
)

1. Youth or use? There’s no youthuse
talking about that.

2. Thought or taught? I don’t know what she thoughttaught.

3. Free or three? FreeThree
refills with each packet!

4. Closed or clothed? They weren’t fully closedclothed
.

5. Breeding or breathing? They’ve stopped breedingbreathing
.

6. These are or visa? These areVisa
problems we can deal with later.

Ex. 9.13 Practice reading the following words observing the rules of reading of consonant clusters:

a) Sheep, fish, Lewisham, mishap, ghost, rough, high, eight, daughter, Ghana, ghastly, ghee, gherkin, ghetto, ghillie, ghoul, Ghana, ghee, gharry, ghoulish, shoulder, shovel, show off, shrewd, shrink, Zhirinovsky, Zhukov, Zhivago, Zhejiang, Zhang, Zhuhai, photograph, shepherd, Stephen, Clapham, nephew, cheap, chair, charm, scheme, school, ache, cholesterol, chemistry, machinery, clef, sandwich, Charles, charter, charka, charivari, chateau, chauffeur, cheekbone, Chaucer, chauvinism, Chihuahua, chloral, choir, cholera, cholinesterase, pharmacology, pharyngeal, phoneme, phonetic, physiotherapy, phthisis, phylum

b) Wristband, knout, wryneck, Khachaturian, wreathe, Khan, Khyber, khanate, pneumothorax, Knox, knuckle, wrongheaded, Khrushchev, knurl, knockdown.

Ex. 9.14 Read the proverbs; explain the reading of consonant clusters:

Th
e tong
ue is not steel, yet it c
uts
.

Exc
eption proves
th
e rule.

Wh
ere th
e sh
oe pinch
es.

Don’t cross th
e bridg
e till you get to it.

Ph
ysic
ians
mend or end us.

Neith
er fish
nor flesh
.

A bird in th
e hand is worth
two in the bush
.

A watch
ed pot never boils
.

A drowning
man will catch
at a straw.

Little knowledg
e is a dang
erous th
ing.

Ex. 9.15 Practice reading the following homophones:

Homophones

are words (or combinations of words)

-which sound the same, but are spelled differently and have different meanings: e.g. meet
and meat, seen
and scene.

-There are some examples of one
word sounding like a combination
of words: e.g. heed
and he’d.

-Sometimes three
words (or combinations of words) sound exactly the same: e.g. I’ll, isle
and aisle.

-scent
– a distinctive smell, sent
– the past tense of send

-scene
– the place where an event takes place, seen
– the past tense of see

-site
– a piece of land, cite
– to quote

-session
– the meeting of a court, cession
– the act of ceding

-scull
– rowing motion, skull
– head bone

-sic
– to set upon, sick
- ill

-sink
– to submerge, synch
– together in time

-soared
– to have sailed through the air, sword
– long fighting blade

-sucker
– one who sucks, succor – relief

-plum
– purple fruit, plumb
– straight up and down

-profit
– money earned, prophet
– seer

-bark
– outer sheath of a tree, barque
– square-rigged sailing ship

-bloc
– an alliance, block
– square object

-bold
– brave, bowled
– knocked over

-boll
– round seed pod, bowl
– dish

-borough
– township, burrow
– dig into the ground

-bough
– tree branch, bow
– front of a ship, respectful bend

-burger
– meat sandwich, burgher
– merchant

-but
– excepting, butt
– the thick end

Ex. 9.16

Spot the homophones 1

isle / bard / beer / bored / caught / night / pale / cawed / chord / sly / died / dyer / cored/ dough / flawed / toed / pear / meal / floored / teas / knew / heard / soar / heal / lacks / lax / male / steer / we’ll / maize / might / slay / dead / stair / mite / breaks / knight / towed / dire / knit / weight / herd / seam / aisle / he’ll / nit / tees / new / pail / bier / board / barred / pare / doe / pair / rain court / bared / dyed / heel / reign / saw / mail / sore / I’ll / seem / maze / sleigh / stare / tease / toad / wait / wheel

Some of these words do not form pairs of homophones.

Ex. 9.17

Spot the homophones 2

In the following conversation a large number of words have been replaced by homophones. Spot where they have been used and decide how the words should be written.

- Lousy whether we’ve been having recently. (=Lousy weather
…)

- We haven’t been having much son, that’s for shore. I got court in the reign this mourning and got wet threw.

- Me two. And how about that cold missed first thing? I went out bear headed to get sum fire-would and haven’t bean warm since. And my hands got quite saw as well. Really roar, they feel.

- I no watcher mean. I always get aches and panes in the winter. Anyway, weir off to get some son necks tweak. Weave booked a few daze in Singerpoor.

- Yes, I herd you had. Lucky yew! Still, I shouldn’t mown. We flue to Florida last cheer, witch was really nice, and it’s only fore weeks till we visit my sun and daughter-in lore in Roam. Haven’t scene them for rages. We only maid the booking yesterday, threw the internet. Mary’s already pact; she can’t weight.

- Well, tell her she won’t knead her fir coat any weigh.

- Rite. Oh Kay. Aisle sea you later.

- Buy. See ewe a round.

Some of the homophones show that this is fast, informal speech.

Ex. 9.18 Transcribe the following words:

Shop, fish, this, English, shot, three, cheese, something, thus, months, catch, through, that, child, chef, these, those, thirst, third, chop, shelf, anxious, trophy, scholarship, changes, England, machinery, gage, judge, science, echo, tongues, income, scheme.

Ex. 9.19
( , track 15
)

A
In each line, identify the word that has a different first consonant
sound. Read them first, then listen to the recording to check.

Example:
friend priest
physical philosophy

1	kettle	car	circle	catch
2	these	thank	think	thread
3	when	which	whose	where
4	church	choir	cheap	chart
5	plenty	prince	piano	pneumatic
6	number	know	moon	gnaw

B
In each line, identify the word that has a different final consonant
sound. Then listen to the recording to check.

1	picked	rubbed	fact	bought
2	dragged	road	dropped	hide
3	cough	safe	roof	of
4	packs	ox	begs	pats
5	lump	chasm	limb	name
6	sock	music	arch	ache

Ex. 9.20 Practice reading the following twisters:

1. Have judgement not to judge this judgement judging by people’s judgement.

2. Each child has much chance to become the champion of the match.

3. This is a thick thimble.

4. A handsome singer sang an exciting song in English.

TEST

I. Find the odd word in the line:

1. Guide, gas, general, glass, globe

2. Crimson, music, lens, always, research

3. Initiative, negotiate, transition, completion, station.

II. Explain assimilation(s) in the following words:

Cupboard, nice shoes, twice, try, sweet, plane, pray

III. Mark stresses:

heretical

Arabic

political

Chinese

attention

lunatic

IV. Transcribe the following words:

Psychiatrist, appointment, therapy, tranquilizer, medicinal, malaria, typhoid, hang gliding, windsurf, athletics, steeplechase, draughts, rink, oar, tournament.

10. Revision and Consolidation Practice

Ex. 10.1 Practise the following poem, which illustrates the irregular spelling of English.

HINTS ON PRONUNCIATION FOR FOREIGNERS

I take it you already know

Of tough
and bough
and cough
and dough
?

Others may stumble but not you,

On hiccough
, thorough, laugh
and through
…

Well done! And now you wish, perhaps,

To learn of less familiar traps.

Beware of heard
: a dreadful word

That looks like beard
and sounds like bird
.

And dead
: it’s said like bed
not bead
–

For goodness’ sake don’t call it deed
.

Watch out for meat
and great
and threat

(They rhyme with suite
and straight
and debt
!)

A moth
is not a moth
in mother;

Nor both
in bother
, broth
in brothe
r;

And here
is not a match for there
,

Nor dear
and fear
for bear
and pear
.

And then there’s dose
and rose
and lose

(Just look them up) and goose
and choose,

And cork
and work
and card
and ward
,

And font
and front
and word
and sword,

And do
and go
and thwart
and cart
…

Come, come! I’ve hardly made a start.

A dreadful language? Man alive!

I’d mastered it when I was five!

I will teach you in my verse

Words like corps, corks, horse
, and worse
.

For this phonetic labyrinth

Gives monkey, donkey, ninth
and plinth
;

Woun
ded, roun
ded, grieve
and sieve
;

Friend
and fiend; alive
and live
.

Query
does not rhyme with very,

Nor does fury
sound like bury
.

Dies
and diet; lord
and word
,

Earth
and hearth
and clerk
and herd;

Evil, devil, tomb, bomb, comb;

Doll, roll, dull, bull, some
and home.

Finally – for I’ve said enough –

Through though thorough plo
ug
h cough tough!

While hiccough has the sound of cup…

My advice is: GIVE IT UP!

Put the words which are wholly or partially in italics on the correct line, according to the pronunciation of the italicized vowel sound. Some have been done for you.

[ʌ]	tough
[aʊ]	bough
[ ɒ]	cough
[ əʊ]
[ ə]
[ ɑ:]
[ u:]
[ ɜ:]
[ ɪə]
[ e]
[ i:]
[ eī]
[ ɛə]
[ ɔ:]
[ aī]
[ ɪ]
[ ʊ]

Ex. 10.2 Group the letters of the English alphabet according to their pronunciation:

O P A C

H D

V
F Z J Y

I

U The Alphabet B Q R

M

W G

N
E
S
L

K

T
X

[ i: ]

[ e ]

[ e I ]

[ u: ]

[ a I ]

[ əu ]

[ ɑ : ]

Ex. 10.3 There is one spelling mistake in each word in the following text. Underline every word which is wrongly spelt. Then write the correct spelling in the space provided at the end of the sentence.

The moon is a natural satellite that travels around the earth (_______). As the moon moves, it seemes to change shape (______). But it does not change sheipe (_____). It has no ligth of its own (_____). When we see the moon, we see sonlight reflected off it (______). We can see the moon only if the lighted part is torned towards Earth (_____). During the full moon, the lighted part of the moon is torned towards Earth (_____). There is no eaar on the moon (____). And it is very hot in the day-time on it (____). It appeares to have no live (_____). Many people wanted to lean more about the moon (_____). Long ago, people used only there eyes to look at the moon (_____). They could not see the moon’s land clealy (_____). Later, a telescope was invanted (______). Since then, people have used telescops to study the moon (_____).

Ex. 10.4 There is one spelling mistake in each line in the following text. Underline every word which is wrongly spelt. Then write the correct spelling in the space provided at the end of the sentence.

Have you ever thought that a person’s apperance ____________

revels more than we realise? According to some _____________

experts, a persons’ face, head, and body can_________________

reveal a great deal about personallity. ______________________

The art of frenology studies the form of the _________________

head, to be more acurate, the bumps on it. __________________

Phrenologists have identified forty bumps of varios ___________

shapes and sises on the human head. They “read _____________

these bumps to identifie a person’s talents and _______________

charactor. For exmple, a bump between the nose _____________

and forhead is said to be present in people who ______________

have natural elegence and love of beauty. A bump ____________

behind the cirve of the ear is the sign of ____________________

a courageous and adventerous person. _____________________

Ex. 10.5 The two words that are written after each sentence sound alike, but have different meanings and spellings (they are called homophones). Fill in the blanks with the correct words to complete each sentence.

1. The _______ spent the ______ in the castle.

A) knight B) night

2. Be sure to ______ your surname on the ______ line.

A) write B) right

3. Have you heard the fairy ______ about the cat with no ______ ?

A) tale B) tail

4. Didn’t you ______ Ann ask you to put the plate______ .

A) here B) hear

5. The ______ on a ______ is called fur.

A) hare B) hair

6. Yesterday the sky was clear ______ and the wind ______ from the north.

A) blue B) blew

7. He decided to ______ his new belt, but he doesn’t know ______ he put it.

A) where B) wear

8. From ______ hundred flowers the prince had to find the flower before it was ______ late.

A) too B) two

9. It is not ______ if some people do not pay their bus ______ .

A) fair B) fare

10. The coach announced which ______ of the teams ______ the game.

A) won B) one

11. We brought a ______ of cool water to the ______ traveler.

A) pail B) pale

12. Do you always ______ the skin off a ______ before you eat it?

A) pare B) pear

13. The Indians wrote the ______ treaty on a ______ of bark.

A) piece B) peace

14. After his illness John felt ______ for a ______ .

A) week B) weak

15. The boat sailed ______ through the ______ .

A) straight B) strait

Ex. 10.6 Correct the spelling mistakes in the letter below:

Deer Jane,

Hear I am in Siberia. We’ve been hear for too weaks now, and I can’t bare the thought of staying in this country any longer.

What dreadful whether! It’s bitterly cold out. When I’m chilled to the bone, I think I’ll never warm up.

Wee leave in a wooden house. It is surrounded with a huge would. The hunter, who lives with us, says that the would is full of beasts. You can walk their and meat a dear or a bear. As for me, I saw a hair’s sine.

Do you think it is fare to leave me hear! I can’t even sleep in piece. Can’t you come and stay with me? The air fair is really not very expensive. Hope to sea you soon. Your Jack.

Ex. 10.7 Find the pairs of homophones hidden in the list below:

Side/ balls/ bear/ bowled/ cue/ ducked/ fort/ work/ grate/ hair/ hare/ bales/ week/ dally/ bald/ hold/ fought/ weekly/ stoke/ walk/ missed/ air/ pure/ packed/ pear/ pore/ where/ pour/ duct/ bore/ seam/ quiet/ sought/ please/ shake/ wade/ sheikh/ pleas/ weakly/ bold/ past/ sighed/ piece/ mist/ wear/ seem/ sight/ slay/ wake/ win/ steak/ stalk/ stroke/ stork/ daily/ stake/ weak/ bare/ holed/ wine/ pact/ bawls/ passed/ wane/ queue/ great/ heir/ pair/ whine/ grant/ sleigh/ same/ weighed/ site/ peace

Ex. 10.8 Each line contains three words that rhyme and one word that doesn’t. Choose the odd one out.

Example:
steel peal stale
peel

Bert	Curt	shirt	Bart
coot	loot	soot	shoot
relate	fete	weight	height
spook	took	look	rook
food	mood	brewed	good
sewed	glued	chewed	nude
jerk	clerk	work	shirk
packed	backed	baked	fact
scene	sign	mean	convene
laze	phase	days	size
peak	steak	leak	cheek
soot	cut	put	foot
height	tight	weight	might
stalk	work	fork	cork
quite	night	lied	light
clear	bear	hare	fair
barred	bared	hard	yard
duke	spook	look	Luke
taught	court	snort	coughed
priced	missed	fist	kissed

Ex. 10.9 Spelling tests:

a) Each word here has the sound [e]. How many ways are there to spell this sound? Arrange the words into the groups:

ready desk bread instead against leather

hello next helpings said breakfast sledge

meant again when enemy hedgehog pencil

b) Tick the words that have the vowel sound [
ɒ]:

catch pond bones pocket what bought

job home blank road house roof

wife doctor popular soup close horse

c) Each word here has the sound [
Λ
]. How many ways are there to spell this sound? Arrange the words into the groups:

touch stuff drum rough among glove

tongue dug mother trust done month

country enough son double couple muddy

d) Each word here has the sound [f]. How many ways are there to spell this sound? Arrange the words into the groups:

laugh coffee herself face enough

officer fact elephant gift off

epigraph roof farmer rough telephone

e) Each word here has the sound [e
I
]. How many ways are there to spell this sound? Arrange the words into the groups:

hay main trail may save

gate tray fail lane sail

stage paint stay place game

f) Each word here has the sound [i:]. How many ways are there to spell this sound? Arrange the words into the groups:

seed dream sleep wheel team

grief week niece delete complete

sea eve field meat scene

g) Each word here has the sound [a
I
]. How many ways are there to spell this sound? Arrange the words into the groups:

find dime fly right quite

tight bright pile ninth kind

mine dry line flight sigh

h) Each word here has the sound [əυ]. How many ways are there to spell this sound? Arrange the words into the groups:

doze moan snow goat hold

stone cold joke gold bowl

road code grow float blow

i) Each word here has the sound [u:]. How many ways are there to spell this sound? Arrange the words into the groups:

moon chew glue blew zoo blue

clue drew rule true threw June

school pool rude include gloomy boot

Ex. 10.10 Find the rhymes

Here are some very short, two-line poems, but the rhyming words are missing. Try to guess the missing words which complete each poem. If you can’t think of any, choose from the list. (The list contains some words which rhyme, but which do not make sense in the poems.)

A)

I think you ___________ She’s learned to ___________

To leave the __________ In just a __________________

You haven’t ________ It’s always ___________

A single ___________ Down on the __________

I like a ________

Last thing at ____

bike/ bird/ bite/ bought/ byte/ calm/ caught/ charm/ court/ farm/ feel/ fight/ harm/ heard/ herd/ leak/ leek/ light/ like/ listened/ meal/ might/night/ ought/ right/ should/ sight/ speak/ spoken/ talk/ taught/ token/walk/ weak/ week/ wood/ word/ work

B)

This shirt you ______ I think I’ll __________

Is rather __________ A pound of _________

He’s learned to _______ It’s not too __________

In just one __________ To lose some ________

I wish the ___________

Would make less ______

bought/ boys/ buy/ by/ caught/ day/ height/ kids/ late/ light/ mate/ meat/ meet/ night/ noise/ play/ poem/ read/ reed/ right/ shake/ short/ soon/ sound/ steak/ take/ toys/ wait/ weigh/ weight/ write

C)

I think the ______ It might make _____

Would like to _____ To build a ________

My youngest ________ I’ll try to __________

Sure likes to _________ To get a __________

He’s too ___________

To want to _________

alone/ aunts/ bone/ box/ dames/ dance/ fence/ fight/ friendly/ fun/ girls/ loan/ lone/ none/ one/ pence/ phone/ polite/ right/ run/ scared/ sense/ sight/ son/ sun/ trance

11. Additional Practice in Reading and Memory Work

( , track 16
)

LES SILHOUETTES

Oscar Wilde

The sea is flecked with bars of grey

The dull dead wind is out of tune,

And like a withered leaf the moon

Is blown across the stormy bay.

Etched clear upon the pallid sand

The black boat lies: a sailor boy

Clambers aboard in careless joy

With laughing face and gleaming hand.

And overhead the curlews cry,

Where through the dusky upland grass

The young brown-throated reapers pass,

Like silhouettes against the sky.

( , track 17
)

REQUIESCAT

Oscar Wilde

Tread lightly, she is near

Under the snow,

Speak gently, she can hear

The daisies grow.

All her bright golden hair

Tarnished with rust,

She that was young and fair

Fallen to dust.

Lily-like, white as snow,

She hardly knew

She was a woman, so

Sweetly she grew.

Coffin-board, heavy stone,

Lie on her breast,

I vex my heart alone

She is at rest.

Peace, Peace, she cannot hear

Lyre or sonnet,

All my life's buried here,

Heap earth upon it.

( , track 18
)

(MR= Marta Rodriguez)

MR Good morning, everyone. Thanks for coming to my presentation. My name’s Marta Rodriguez. I’m Personnel Director of Tara Fashions. I’m going to talk to you today about our company. First, I’ll give you some basic information about Tara Fashions. Then I’ll talk about our overseas stores. After that I’ll outline the strengths of the company. Next I’ll talk about career opportunities with Tara. And finally I’ll mention our future plans. I’ll be pleased to answer any questions at the end of my talk.

Let me start with some basic facts about Tara. The company started in 1978. We are a family-owned business and our head office is in Cordoba, Spain. We sell clothes for men and women, and our customers are mainly fashion-conscious people aged 20 to 35. We have 15 stores in Spain. All the stores are very profitable.

Right, those are the basic facts.

Let me add a few figures. We have an annual turnover of about 260 million euro. Our net profits last year were approximately 16 million euro. We have a workforce of just over 2,000 employees. So those are the numbers. Now about our overseas stores. We have four large stores in France and another ten in other European countries. We are planning to open five new stores next year. What are our strengths? We keep up with fashion trends. If we spot a trend, we can bring out a new design in 15 days. And we get it to the stores very quickly. We deliver to stores twice a week. And we sell our designs at the right price.

OK, now what about career opportunities? It’s quite simple. If you are ambitious and fashion-conscious, we have opportunities in all areas of our business. We will welcome you with open arms.

Finally, a few words about our new projects. We are planning to open a new store in New York next year – on Fifth Avenue. This will give us a foothold in the US market. We’re very excited about this new development.

Well, thanks very much for listening to my talk. Are there any questions?

( , track 19
)

(I=Inge, Ka=Katharina, Ke=Kenneth, N=Nada, J=Julia)

I Right, can we start, please? The main aim of the meeting is to decide the date of the launch. After that, we’ll talk about our marketing strategy and decide which sales outlets we should target. OK, when are we going to launch the goggles? Katharina, what do you think? Should it be early next year or should we wait until the summer?

Ka I’m in favour of February or March. There’s a gap in the market for our products. Why wait any longer? The goggles are technically advanced – let’s just cash in on that.

I Thanks, Katharina. OK, let’s hear a few more views. Kenneth, what’s your opinion?

Ke Mmm, I don’t know about February. It’s a bit early in the year. I suggest we launch in May or June. People go on holiday then. It’s a peak period for buying goggles.

I Thanks, Kenneth. Nadia, what’s your view? You’re a keen swimmer, I know.

N In my opinion, February’s best time. We could promote them in swimming pools and opticians. The price should be high. I’d say, at least 50 pounds.

Ka Hold on a minute. I thought we were talking about the launch date, not about promotion or price.

I You’re right, Katharina. Let’s get back to the point. OK everyone, I think on balance we agree – we prefer the earlier date. Let’s move on now to marketing. Julia, which outlets do you think we should target?

J I think we should start with the specialist stores. That’s were most swimmers buy their goggles.

I What do you mean by specialist stores, Julia? Are you thinking of sports goods outlets, you know, stores which only sell sports equipment?

J Exactly. They should be our main target.

( , track 20
)

Now, I’d like to move on to our most successful products, Protean. As I’m sure you know, our new fabric was named after Proteus, the Greek sea god who was able to take on different roles and shapes. Indeed, Protean can be used for a wide variety of products because it is extremely flexible. Let me give you some basic information about Protean’s three main features.

Firstly, it is made from fibres that are similar to nylon and polyester. These fibres are coated with a metallic substance, so that the fabric can conduct electricity. In addition, the fabric can be made very thick or very thin – so thin in fact as to become translucent, - to let some light pass through.

Secondly, as you can experience for yourselves from the samples that are going round, not only is it very soft to the touch, but it’s also strong and long-lasting.

Finally, it can be made in absolutely any colour.

To conclude my presentation, I’d like to tell you about our future plans.

We at Fabtek believe that Protean has enormous sales potential. We are currently trying to increase sales by licensing other manufacturers to produce interesting new products with Protean. We already have a licensing agreement with Azra, a Swiss firm, which has created some award-winning products using Protean. You can find the details of some of those products in the leaflet in your folder.

( , track 21
)

(V=Vincent, M=Monica, T=Tanya)

V I think we should do a lot more to improve our staff’s health and fitness. What do you think, Monica?

M I agree. There are all sorts of things we could do to help staff to become more healthy and stay healthy. For one thing, we could offer them a free medical checkup every year.

V Right. That’s a good idea. A lot of firms do that. And how about having a no-smoking policy in the staff restaurant? What do you think about that, Tanya?

T Mm, I don’t think I like the idea very much. It wouldn’t be good for morale. A lot of our staff smoke – they’d be against it, I’m sure of that. I think we should improve the food. A lot of the dishes aren’t healthy – there’s far too much fatty food, not enough fish, fruit and vegetables.

V True. We could change the menus and offer healthier meals. I like that idea.

M what about setting up a counseling service, Vincent? Some staff are under a lot of stress. It affects their work and they need professional help.

V I don’t know, Monica. It’d be very expensive to set up a service like that. Anyway, we have a company doctor. That’s her job, isn’t it?

( , track 22
)

(V=Vincent, T=Tanya, M=Monica)

V I’ve got another suggestion. We could talk to the manager of our local sports centre and arrange a company membership. What do you think, Tanya?

T Mm, I don’t know. It sounds interesting, but it could be very expensive. A group fee for all our staff would probably cost a fortune.

V What’s your opinion, Monica?

M I think you’re right, Tanya. It’s cost a lot and I’m not sure how many staff would actually use the centre. Some people say it hasn’t got many facilities.

V I can’t agree with you there. It’s got a very good pool and sauna. If we could negotiate a low membership fee, it might be worth considering, surely.

T Yes, it’s worth checking out, I suppose. A lot of staff might enjoy having a swim at lunchtime or after work. And a sauna is very relaxing, I must admit.

M Maybe, but there are so many other things we could do. Things which are less expensive, but they’d improve people’s health just as much. Let me tell you about a few ideas I have…

12. BIBLIOGRAPHY

Cotton D.
Market Leader. Pre-Intermediate Business English. Longman, 2007.

Hancock M.
English Pronunciation in Use. Cambridge University Press, 2007.

Hornby A.S.
Oxford Advanced Learner’s Compass. Oxford University Press, 2005.

Kelly J.
How to Teach Pronunciation. Longman, 2003.

Vaughan-Rees M.
Test Your Pronunciation, Penguin English, 2006.

CONTENTS

1.The Syllable. The Principles of Syllable Division. 5

2.The Primary and the Secondary Meaning of Letters. 9

3.The Primary Sound Meanings of Vowels in Different Types of Syllables. 10

4.Reading of Stressed Vowels in Combination with the Letter ”r”. 19

5.Reading of Vowel Digraphs*. 24

6.Reading of Unstressed Vowels. 35

7.Reading of Consonants. 41

8.Mute Consonants. 50

9.Reading of English Consonant Clusters. 52

10.Revision and Consolidation Practice. 59

11.Additional Practice in Reading and Memory Work. 67

12.BIBLIOGRAPHY.. 71

*
Digraph [daıgræf] – a pair of letters that represent one sound