Activities and Exercises For Teaching English Pronunciation
Activities and Exercises For Teaching English Pronunciation
Adam Brown
First published 2022
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◆ v
Section B Suprasegmentals
B1 Waking up for Suprasegmentals, A rap G
class especially
rhythm, linking
B2 There was a Rhyme Piecing together P
young lady limericks
from …
B3 And to end the Key (pause, Analysis, then I, P
news, … intonation), production
“verbal
paragraphs”
B4 My name’s Sentence stress Production, with P
Sophie learner choice
B5 What year? Stress and Production of I, P, G
Every year. contrast jokes
B6 What’s the Stress and Production of I, P, G
difference contrast, rhyme plays-on-words
between a cat
and a comma?
B7 No, it isn’t. Stress and Production, with P
correction learner choice
B8 Let’s eat Pauses Analysis, then I, P
Grandpa production of
texts.
Section C Word stress
C1 BRAzil, Stress placement A maze, with I
braZIL? in multisyllable analysis of stress
country names placement, then
production
C2 EDucation, Stress placement A maze, with I
eDUcation, in multisyllable analysis of stress
eduCAtion, words placement, then
educaTION? production
C3 She was Stress placement A grammar I
presented with in noun/verb game, followed
a present pairs by production
C4 Edinburgh, Stress placement A maze involving I
eDINburgh, in multisyllable stress-recognition
edinBURGH? British place
names
vi ◆ Contents
C5 Letter from Stress placement A stress- I
London in multisyllable recognition
American state sorting game
names
Section D Spelling and phonemic symbols
D1 Eh, bee, sea, … Pronunciation A sorting game I
of the names of
letters
D2 We joined the Homophones A mistake- I, P
navy to see the spotting exercise
world
D3 Around the Recognizing A wordsearch I
world in 20 phonemic of countries of
countries symbols the world (BrE
pronunciation)
D4 D’you know Recognizing A wordsearch I
the capital of phonemic of US state
Alaska? symbols capitals (AmE
pronunciation)
D5 Let us prey Homophones A matching game G
of homophone
jokes
D6 Never a cross Producing A crossword I, P, G
word phonemic using phonemic
transcription symbols
Section E Vowels and consonants
E1 Sounds in Identifying A pen-and- I, P
common sounds in paper exercise
common involving
pronouncing
E2 What’s the Identifying A pen-and- I, P
difference? differentiating paper exercise
sounds in involving
minimal pairs pronouncing
E3 Allan or Ellen? Identifying A sound- I
words containing recognition
/æ/ maze game,
with spelling
implications
Contents ◆ vii
E4 Do we invite Identifying A sound- I
Yvonne? words containing recognition
/ɪ/ game, with
spelling
implications
E5 United or Identifying A sound- I
untied? words containing recognition
/j/ maze game,
with spelling
implications
E6 Happy hour Identifying A sound- I
words containing recognition
/h/ maze game,
with spelling
implications
E7 So, do go! Identifying the A pen-and- I
odd-one-out in paper sound-
vowels recognition
exercise,
with spelling
implications
E8 Who? When? Identifying the A pen-and- I
Where? odd-one-out in paper sound-
consonants recognition
exercise,
with spelling
implications
E9 A big pig Plosives /p, b, t, A communicative P
d, k, g/ sound-
distinguishing
exercise
E10 I sought; I th sounds /θ, ð/ A communicative P
thought; I sound-
taught distinguishing
exercise
E11 Take the dose, /s, z/ A communicative P
then doze sound-
distinguishing
exercise
E12 Jerry ate a jelly /r, l/ A communicative P
sound-
distinguishing
exercise
viii ◆ Contents
E13 Caesar's Long and short A communicative P
scissors vowels sound-
distinguishing
exercise
E14 We are /e, æ/ A communicative P
phonetics sound-
fanatics distinguishing
exercise
E15 Pause, then Diphthongs A communicative P
pose for the sound-
camera distinguishing
exercise
Contents ◆ ix
Support Material
Exercises marked with the Support Material symbol have associated audio
fles which can be downloaded by visiting the book product page on our
website: www.routledge.com/9780367551629. Then click on the tab that
says “Support Material” and select the fles. They will begin downloading
to your computer.
The following exercises have corresponding audio fles:
◆ xi
Phonemic Symbols Used
Consonants
Vowels
* In AmE, these words contain a vowel followed by /r/: /nɪr, skwer, kjʊr/.
†
AmE pronunciation of murder is transcribed /mɜ:rdər/ in this book,
although the two vowel plus /r/ sequences may be realized only by
r-coloured vowels.
‡
An unstressed vowel of the /i:, ɪ/ or /u:, ʊ/ quality.
◆ xiii
In this book:
• a tilde (“~”) is used to show alternative pronunciations between AmE
and BrE, e.g. grass /græs ~ grɑ:s/.
• brackets are used around /r/, to indicate that it is pronounced in AmE
but not in BrE (rhotic /r/), e.g. worth /wɜ:(r)θ/ represents /wɜ:rθ/
(AmE) and /wɜ:θ/ (BrE).
◆ 1
Thirdly, we learn our native languages by listening to others around
us, especially our parents. However, other languages are normally learned
by explicit instruction from a teacher. In an educational environment, and
especially in higher levels of education, with learners of older ages, imita-
tion still works, but it is often accompanied by more explicit explanation
of what is happening when we produce sounds.
Explanation naturally means that the teacher must understand in some
detail what is happening. Simply being able to speak the language is not
enough. That is, there is a difference between knowing a language, and
knowing about a language.
There are two problems about teaching pronunciation that do not apply,
or do not apply so much, in other aspects of language teaching.
Firstly, there are many strands that make up pronunciation. These
are summarized in Figure 1.1, and discussed further later in this section.
Secondly, all the strands occur at the same time in speech, and therefore
need to be taught as soon as possible. You cannot, for example, postpone
teaching the /ð/ sound, a voiced dental fricative, because it is diffcult for
most learners; it is a very common sound in English, occurring in a lot of
common words: the, this, that, they, there, etc. You can, however, postpone
teaching advanced aspects of grammar, for instance the past perfect tense
(I had done something), until long after learners have mastered easier, more
common tenses (the simple present, simple past, present continuous, etc.).
In short, several features of pronunciation need to be taught from the
very start.
2 ◆ Introduction
Figure 1.1 The components of pronunciation
Pronunciation
Loudness Intonation Speed Pause Peak Coda Voiced Voiceless Long Short
Introduction ◆ 3
Pitch range Pitch movement Word stress Rhythm Assimilation Elision Linking Weak forms Diphthongs Long monophthongs
Consonant sounds are traditionally divided into those that are voiced
(involving vibration of the vocal cords), and voiceless (without this vibra-
tion). This division makes sense in that voiced consonants behave like
other voiced consonants, and voiceless like voiceless. However, the voicing
feature—whether the vocal cords are vibrating or not—is often not the
most reliable feature to concentrate on.
At the other extreme, on the left-hand side of the diagram, supraseg-
mentals are those features that are imposed on (supra) the string of vowel
and consonant sound segments.
Not all writers would agree with the division of suprasegmentals into
voice quality, prosody, meter, and timing. However, they would agree with
the features that come under those headings.
Voice quality refers to long-term settings of the various vocal organs.
Voice quality features thus affect all susceptible segments in the speech.
They include settings of the vocal cords, e.g. creaky voice, whisperiness.
They may also relate to settings of the soft palate, allowing air into or
stopping it from the nasal cavity, e.g. the nasal speech of Birmingham,
UK. Settings of the tongue affect all vowel sounds, e.g. the velarization
of Liverpool speech, whereby all vowels are slightly retracted from their
positions in other accents. Labialization refers to the amount of rounding
or spreading of the lips as an overall setting.
Different writers include different features under the umbrella term
prosody. Loudness is a simple concept easily understood. Intonation, how-
ever, is more complex and relates to the pitch or note at which speech
is produced, which varies throughout the stretch of speech. The pitch
depends on the rate of vibration of the vocal cords and, as a result, only
voiced sounds can be said to have pitch. We can distinguish pitch range
(the typical highest and lowest pitch of a speaker) from pitch movement
(how pitch goes up and down within that range).
Meter refers to the rhythm of speech. At least in one often-quoted
analysis of rhythm, it depends on the regularity of stressed syllables. Word
stress, or the placement of stress on particular syllables within words, is
therefore an important factor in rhythm.
Timing relates to the temporal characteristics of speech. Speed distin-
guishes between fast and slow speech. Pause represents the absence of
speech, which thus affects the perception of how fast the speech is.
Between the two extremes of segmentals and suprasegmentals lie other
features related to the way that segmentals combine in connected speech.
Speakers, regardless of their native language, seem to have the concept
of a syllable, although it is not an easy one to defne rigorously. Words
may have only one syllable (e.g. one /wʌn/), or more than one (e.g.
twenty /twenti/). Within each syllable, any initial consonant(s) is known
as the onset (/w, tw, t/ in the words one, twenty above). The remainder
is the rhyme (/ʌn, en, i/), which is the part that determines rhymes in
poetry; for instance, one rhymes with son, pun, and done, regardless of the
4 ◆ Introduction
differences in spelling. The rhyme can itself be divided into the peak (the
vowel) and the coda (any fnal consonant(s)); thus, /ʌ, e, i/ above are the
peaks, while /n/ is a coda in two of the syllables.
As their name implies, connected speech processes describe the way
sounds may be affected by adjacent sounds, when the speech is connected
and pronounced at a normal, relatively fast speed.
Assimilation means that one sound changes in some respect in order
to become similar to the adjacent, usually following, sound, e.g. Great
Britain /greɪt brɪtən/ > /greɪp brɪtən/.
Elision is the deletion of sounds in certain contexts, e.g. best friend
/best frend/ > /bes frend/.
Words and syllables are not separate from the words and syllables that
surround them. There is no small pause between words, corresponding to
the space in writing. Instead, the ends of words and syllables are linked
up to the beginning of the following words and syllables. For instance,
there is a joke in pronunciation circles about a young man who went into
a shop. “I’d like to buy a potato clock, please.” “I don’t think we sell any
such thing.” “Oh, what a pity, because I am starting a new job on Monday
and my boss told me to get a potato clock.” Of course, the boss told him to
“get up at eight o’clock.” Linking (as well as other features like weakening)
makes the two meanings pronounced much the same.
The alternation between words that are stressed in sentences and those
that are not depends on the stressed words being pronounced clearly and,
just as importantly, the unstressed words not being pronounced clearly.
This often happens with grammatical function words like an, and, from,
have, of, them. Most of the time they are unstressed (because no emphasis
is being given to them) and pronounced with the /ə/ vowel, rather than
a full, strong vowel. This is occasionally refected in the spelling, e.g. fsh
‘n’ chips.
This has necessarily been a brief description of a wide feld. For greater
detail, see Brown (2014).
Introduction ◆ 5
remembering it. A few of the exercises in this book concern this domain,
for example, the various possible spellings for the /ɪ/ vowel sound (exer-
cise E4).
Pronunciation is a physical skill involving the coordinated movement
of the various parts of the lungs, vocal cords, mouth, and nose. The skills
domain comprises this. Just as the best way to improve at football is to
practice playing football and learn from your mistakes and shortcomings,
so the best way to improve your pronunciation is to actually pronounce.
For this reason, exercises in this book involve production; that is, saying
things out loud, either explicitly in the exercise itself (e.g. the communica-
tive minimal pairs in E9–15), or in the debrief (e.g. the /æ/ and confusable
vowel sounds in E3).
Finally, the affective domain relates to feelings, attitudes, emotions, etc.
For instance, the frst two exercises (A1, A2) promote discussion of how
learners feel about English, and English pronunciation.
In short, the cognitive domain relates to what you know, the skills
domain to what you can do, and the affective domain to how you feel. All
three are important. However, as primarily a physical activity, the skills
domain should not be overlooked. Learners cannot learn pronunciation
if they are not instructed to pronounce things out loud.
Readers who are not native speakers of English may feel that they are at
a disadvantage when it comes to teaching English, including pronuncia-
tion. This is not necessarily the case.
Native speakers have native-speaker pronunciation. Some non-native
speaker-teachers of English may have excellent pronunciation, but most
have a pronunciation that diverges from native pronunciation to varying
degrees.
Native speakers have large vocabularies of words they actively use.
They also know how to pronounce these words correctly, in terms of the
vowels and consonants, stress placement, etc. Non-native speaker-teachers
are likely to have smaller vocabularies. They may also mispronounce some
words, being deceived by the inconsistencies of English spelling.
In contrast, on the plus side, non-native speaker-teachers have some
advantages over native speakers. Non-native speakers have learned
English in addition to their native language. They therefore understand
the similarities and differences between the two languages, and the dif-
fculties that learners face, because they have faced them themselves. A
native speaker of, say, Chinese thus has a natural advantage teaching
English to Chinese learners, over a native English speaker.
Similarly, a non-native speaker-teacher has learned English through
explicit instruction, whereas a native speaker has not. A native speaker
6 ◆ Introduction
may speak the language perfectly (natively), but that does not mean that
they know a lot about the language. As a result, they may not be able
to explain points about the language, including pronunciation. A non-
native speaker may be able to explain the features and rules of English
better, because these features and rules were explained to them when
they learned English.
Guidelines to Exercises
Introduction ◆ 7
the exercise can be presented in soft copy on their devices. For some exer-
cises, the materials can be shown to the whole class by projector.
In Introducing the exercise, some suggestions are made as to how the
teacher can initiate the exercise. Often, this takes the form of explaining
things such as the format of raps and limericks, or pronunciation features
such as word stress. It may involve explaining some vocabulary, or dif-
ferences between AmE and BrE.
Conducting the exercise is a step-by-step guide for the teacher. This cov-
ers whether the activity is conducted individually, in pairs, or in groups.
In pairs or groups, the teacher must understand how materials are dis-
tributed. Most importantly, it explains what the learners do. This is not,
however, a “painting by numbers” approach; the teacher can adapt the
procedure according to the learners, their needs, their profciency, what
has preceded the exercise, etc.
Debrief notes describe what happens, if anything, after the learners have
attempted the exercise. In many exercises, this is the most important part,
because it recaps the main pronunciation points. In one or two cases, a
second exercise, subsequent to the main one, is included in order to make
further points. Often, it is suggested that all the words in the exercise
should be pronounced by the class. The spelling-to-sound and sound-to-
spelling correspondences of English vowels and consonants may also be
deduced from the examples given.
It is impossible to write pronunciation materials that are appropriate
for all learners at all levels in all situations. The Create your own materials
suggestion encourages teachers to produce their own materials that are
better tailored to the precise group of learners being taught. These origi-
nal materials may be modifcations of the exercises given here, or may be
different exercises inspired by the type of exercise here.
The title of exercise E10 (I sought; I thought; I taught) is, in fact, a rea-
sonable defnition of this kind of research. Firstly, you identify a problem
and look for background information about it, or even elicit your own
data by research. Then you consider what you have found and analyze it,
coming up with possible solutions to the problem. Research for research’s
sake is meaningless, unless it somehow benefts your learners. That is, you
make their learning more effective, more effcient, longer-lasting, faster, etc.
That is what the Create your own materials subsection in each exercise
attempts to promote. Firstly (seek), work out what pronunciation features
your learners have diffculty with. Find out how important these features
are for communication. For instance, for the sounds in E10 (/t, θ/), how
common are these sounds in connected speech and how many words are
distinguished by them (minimal pairs)? A good place to start is Higgins
(2017). Read up on the phonologies of your learners’ native languages.
Secondly (think), analyze what you have found. Many pronunciation
problems are caused by differences between English and the learners’
native language. Not many languages have the /θ/ consonant, so it is
8 ◆ Introduction
a new sound for many learners. Devise exercises that use the sounds in
question.
Finally (teach), try out your original materials on your learners. They
may work well. On the other hand, they may not, in which case some
tinkering is probably necessary.
Technology
Further Reading
Introduction ◆ 9
Brown, A. (2014). Pronunciation and phonetics: A practical guide for English
language teachers. Routledge.
Brown, A. (2019). Understanding and teaching English spelling: A strategic
guide. Routledge.
Celce-Murcia, M., Brinton, D. M. & Goodwin, J. M. (2010). Teaching
pronunciation: A course book and reference guide (2nd edition).
Cambridge University Press.
Davies, A. (2013). Native speakers and native users: Loss and gain.
Cambridge University Press.
Grant, L. (Ed.). (2014). Pronunciation myths. University of Michigan
Press.
Hall, C. & Hastings, C. (2017). Phonetics, phonology and pronunciation for
the language classroom. Red Globe Press/Macmillan.
Hancock, M. (2020). Mark Hancock’s 50 tips for teaching pronunciation.
Cambridge University Press.
Higgins, J. (2017). Minimal pairs for English RP. http://minimal.
marlodge.net/minimal.html
Higgins, J. (2018). English (RP) homophones. http://minimal.marlodge.
net/phone.html
Isaacs, T. & Trofmovich, P. (Eds.). (2017). Second language pronunciation
assessment: Interdisciplinary perspectives. Multilingual Matters.
Jones, T. (Ed.). (2016). Pronunciation in the classroom: The overlooked
essential. TESOL.
Jones, T. (2019). Fifty ways to teach pronunciation: Tips for ESL/EFL
teachers. Independently published (ISBN: 1691712418).
Kang, O., Thomson, R. I. & Murphy, J. M. (Eds.). (2017). The Routledge
handbook of contemporary English pronunciation. Routledge.
Krathwohl, D. R. (2002). A revision of Bloom’s taxonomy: An overview.
Theory into Practice, 41(4), 212–218. https://doi.org/10.1207/
s15430421tip4104_2
Levis, J. M. (2018). Intelligibility, oral communication, and the teaching of
pronunciation. Cambridge University Press.
Marks, J. & Bowen, T. (2012). The book of pronunciation: Proposals for a
practical pedagogy. Delta Publishing.
Murphy, J. (2013). Teaching pronunciation. TESOL.
Murphy, J. M. (Ed.). (2017). Teaching the pronunciation of English: Focus on
whole courses. University of Michigan Press.
Newton, J. M. & Nation, I. S. P. (2021). Teaching ESL/EFL listening and
speaking (2nd edition). Routledge.
Pennington, M. C. (2021). The pronunciation book: A language teacher’s
guide. Equinox Publishing.
Pennington, M. C. & Rogerson-Revell, P. (2019) Using technology for
pronunciation teaching, learning, and assessment. In M. C.
Pennington & P. Rogerson-Revell (Eds.), English pronunciation
10 ◆ Introduction
teaching and research. Contemporary perspectives (pp. 235–286).
Palgrave Macmillan.
Pickering, L. (2018). Discourse intonation: A discourse-pragmatic approach to
teaching the pronunciation of English. University of Michigan Press.
Reed, M. & Levis, J. M. (Eds.). (2015). The handbook of English
pronunciation. Wiley-Blackwell.
Walker, R. (2010). Teaching the pronunciation of English as a lingua franca.
Oxford University Press.
Wells, J. C. (2008). Longman pronunciation dictionary (3rd edition).
Longman.
Yoshida, M. T. (2018). Choosing technology tools to meet pronunciation
teaching and learning goals. CATESOL Journal, 30(1), 195–212.
https://fles.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1174226.pdf
Introduction ◆ 11
Section A
The Components
of Pronunciation
A1
Who Needs Good
Pronunciation?
Pronunciation point: If you don’t know what you’re aiming for, how can
you know if you’ve achieved it? Not everyone needs a pronunciation of
English (or any other foreign language) that is “perfect” or quasi-native.
In many circumstances, a target that is lower than this is perfectly
acceptable—and probably more likely to be achieved.
Also, mastering English involves not only pronunciation, but also
grammar, vocabulary, etc. Teachers do not have unlimited class time to
cover everything, so a clear understanding, by both teachers and learners,
helps to prioritize elements of language. Participants should be encour-
aged to try to work out what makes a “perfect” pronunciation desirable
or unnecessary, given the circumstance.
Minimum level: Elementary
Exercise type: A thinking and discussion exercise. Learners should there-
fore discuss the items in pairs or small groups.
Approximate time: 20 minutes (exercise), 20 minutes (debrief)
Preparation: Make one copy of the worksheet for each learner. Alterna-
tively, to save paper, either make the worksheet accessible in soft copy on
learners’ devices, or show the worksheet on a screen.
Introducing the exercise: Explain that learners do not necessarily need to
aim for a perfect pronunciation, but rather one that is widely understood.
In any case, many learners are unlikely to achieve perfection.
Conducting the exercise: Distribute the worksheets (or show it on screen).
Instruct the learners to discuss in pairs and tick one column each time.
There is no one “right” answer, so encourage students to discuss.
Debrief notes:
The purpose of this exercise is to get learners thinking about their goals
in learning English. The level of English pronunciation that people require
depends on various factors:
◆ 15
• Whether there is a clear (present or future) audience that the per-
son speaks to. For example, Miss Japan will go the Miss World/
Universe pageant, which is conducted in English and where good
English pronunciation is a distinct advantage.
• Intelligibility to a wide range of audiences. Immigration offcials,
hotel frontline staff, fight attendants, taxi drivers, etc. can expect
to have to speak to, and be easily intelligible to, tourists from vari-
ous countries.
• Whether the person is representing his/her country (“fying the
fag”). The Malaysian ambassador represents his/her country, and
any poor English pronunciation would refect badly on the coun-
try as a whole.
• Proximity to a native English-speaking country. A McDonald’s
server at Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam is likely to have to deal
with many customers from the UK.
• Whether the country is one like (i) the USA and UK, where
English is a native language spoken by the vast majority of the
population, (ii) India, Malaysia, and Nigeria, in which English,
as a former colonial language, has some offcial functions, such
as in education, the media, and the law, or (iii) most of the rest
of the world, where English is not a native language but is wide-
spread for international communication, especially for trade. (This
three-way model of Englishes around the world comes from Braj
Kachru, and is less ambiguous than the perhaps more common
terms ENL, ESL, and EFL, English as a native/second/foreign
language.)
• Whether school subjects are taught (fully or partly) in English.
• Whether there are serious potential consequences to poor pronun-
ciation. A pilot who is diffcult to understand may cause a crash. A
spy who does not sound quasi-native will be suspected.
Get into pairs. Discuss, and decide whether the following people need
a pronunciation of English which is good or very good, or which can be
so-so. Tick one column each time.
18 ◆
Debrief notes: Go through all 18 questions, asking the learners to give
feedback about the answers that were given, and any discussions. Try to
create a non-threatening environment in the classroom, so that learners
will happily take part in pronunciation exercises.
American or mispronounced describe your your English understood you speak English
Start British English your name? pronunciation of pronunciation
outside the
when you were to?
pronunciation? How did you English. speaking in
classroom?
Why? feel about that? English?
18 Do you have 7 Name one
“a good ear”, or famous person
do you prefer you think has a
pronunciation horrible accent
things to be of English.
explained?
17 Name one 8 In what
person you situations is it
think has a nice most important
accent of to pronounce
English. well?
◆ 21
The rest of the learners act as the audience and try to guess which set
of characters and context they chose. They mark their guesses with a tick
in the answer table. They should also note down in the fnal column any
aspects of the pair’s performance that helped them make up their mind.
These are important, and should be comments about the pronunciation
(not vocabulary, grammar, etc.). They should not be vague (“They sounded
secretive”), but focus on particular pronunciation features (“They were
whispering”).
Repeat this with all the other pairs.
Debrief notes: After all the pairs have acted, ask the learners whether they
thought the frst pair had chosen the frst or second set of characters and
contexts. The number of correct answers is an indication of how well the
pair acted. Also ask the learners for the pronunciation clues that helped
them make up their mind.
Make a checklist on the board of these clues. They will probably cover
suprasegmentals such as speed (e.g. slow for more serious matters), loud-
ness (e.g. louder for urgency), intonation (e.g. wider ranges with higher
pitches for more animated speech), and voice quality (e.g. whisperiness
for secrecy).
Create your own materials: Two-way dialogues like this are not diffcult
to create. However, you need some ingenuity in thinking of the two sce-
narios in which the dialogue works. This may involve rather vague expres-
sions in the dialogue, that can be interpreted in different ways in the two
situations.
Passage 1
Passage 2
Passage 3
Passage 5
Passage 7
Passage 8
Passage 10
Decide if the pair have acted the passage in the first or second situation,
and tick the “Guess” column. Importantly, write in the “Notes” column
about how you made this decision.
The Mr. Men (pronounced “Mister Men”) are a series of children’s books
with male characters, originally produced in the 1970s by British author
Roger Hargreaves. A series with female characters, Little Miss, appeared
in the 1980s (Mr. Men, Little Miss, 2020). After Roger’s death in 1988, his
son Adam continued to write and illustrate the books. They have been
translated into many languages, and sold millions of copies worldwide.
Pronunciation point: As in A3, this exercise focuses on suprasegmentals
(intonation, speed, voice quality, etc.).
Some learners seem to lapse into a monotonous delivery when speak-
ing a foreign language (English). However, when the class is over, and
they are talking to their friends in their native language, they are very
animated and expressive! Emphasize that this expressiveness is appro-
priate in English too. You could even ask the learners to act out one or
two of the scenarios in their native language. You may well fnd that the
pronunciation features used for emotions are similar to, if not the same
as, in English.
Minimum level: Intermediate
Exercise type: A individual production exercise, much like acting
Approximate time: 15 minutes (pre-teaching), 20 minutes (exercise), 10
minutes (debrief)
Preparation: Make one copy of Worksheet 1 (characters) and Worksheet 2
(passages) for each learner. Alternatively, to save paper, either make the
worksheets accessible in soft copy on learners’ devices, or show them on a
screen.
Introducing the exercise: Perhaps take one character, e.g. Mr. Grumpy, and
ask the class how they think he usually speaks. Responses will probably
relate to speed, low intonation, and a hoarse voice quality. Do not discour-
age nonverbal features, e.g. a grumpy facial expression.
28 ◆
Conducting the exercise: The worksheets contain:
• a list of Mr. Men, Little Miss characters. Their names are usually a
clear indication of their personalities, e.g. Mr. Grumpy is always
grumpy.
• a number of passages to be spoken.
Allocate each learner a character and one of the passages to read out. The
rest of the class guess which character they are.
There is no problem if the same passage is allocated to more than
one of the students/characters, e.g. Mr. Happy and Mr. Slow. This allows
everyone to appreciate the differences between different speaking styles.
Debrief notes: Discuss with the learners the pronunciation features—
mostly suprasegmentals—that they controlled to achieve the desired char-
acters. For example, Mr. Forgetful is likely to use slower speed and plenty
of pauses (and perhaps pause fllers, ums and ahs). Are the same features
used when speaking in the learners’ native languages?
Create your own materials: The full set of Mr. Men, Little Miss characters
can be found at Mr. Men, Little Miss (2020), Wikipedia (n.d.). Some of
them refer to non-language characteristics, e.g. Mr. Tall, Little Miss Neat,
that cannot be used for pronunciation work.
Simply choose some more (suitable) characters, and produce more
passages that can be pronounced in varying ways.
Practice and then read out the passage in the manner of the character.
Characters
Character Personality
Little Miss Busy, or Mr. Busy He/she can’t sit still, but always has something to do,
and is rushing around.
Little Miss Careful She is cautious, and gives thought to things before she
does them, to avoid accidents.
Mr. Daydream He is always distracted by pleasant, faraway thoughts.
Little Miss Fickle She has trouble making up her mind, and deciding what
to do and what she likes.
Mr. Forgetful He has a short memory, and can’t remember facts and
people, and what he was going to do.
Little Miss Fun She loves to have fun all the time, and will do anything
that is enjoyable or amusing.
Little Miss Giggles Everything amuses her, so she can’t stop giggling.
Mr. Grumpy, or Mr. Miserable He is always unhappy, in a bad mood, hating anyone or
anything he comes across.
Mr. Happy He is positive and contented, finding pleasure in most things.
Little Miss Loud, or Mr. Noisy He/she talks too much, usually in a very loud voice.
Little Miss Naughty, or He/she loves to play practical jokes on anyone.
Little Miss Trouble, or Mr.
Mischief, or Mr. Cheeky
Little Miss Quick, or Mr. Rush He/she never does anything properly, because he/she is
always in a hurry.
Mr. Rude He is impolite to everyone, and causes offense because
of bad manners.
Little Miss Shy, or Mr. Quiet He/she is afraid of everything, embarrassed or lacking in
confidence.
Mr. Slow He does everything very slowly, including speaking.
Little Miss Stubborn, or Mr. He/she always thinks he/she is right, even when other
Stubborn people have good ideas.
Mr. Uppity He is very rich, feels he is better than others, and as a
result is rude to everybody.
Mr. Worry He is anxious about everything, whether it’s real or not.
1 I have a dog. Her name is Fifi. She’s a poodle. She’s white, and 12 years
old. She used to play with me a lot, but now that she is getting older,
she’s happier just to sit on the sofa. I think she’s getting a bit fat.
2 Would you like a coffee? They make very good coffee here. I think it’s
because of the beans they use. And coffee always goes well with a
piece of cake. Would you like cake as well?
3 It was a memorable holiday. We arrived by plane, but our luggage
went to Madrid! Fortunately our hotel provided us with a change of
clothing until the luggage arrived. Then Mary got food poisoning. We
think it was because of the prawns one evening.
4 I’ve got something to tell you. That house at the end of the street has
been uninhabited for over two years now. I’m nervous every time I
have to walk past it. It looks like it’s something out of a horror movie.
5 I’ve started taking swimming lessons, because it’s important that you
should learn how to swim. My instructor’s name is Helen, and she
used to be a swimming champion. She’s very good, and I’m already
learning confidence in the water.
6 This has been a strange day. First of all, I woke up late. Then I
couldn’t find two matching socks, which is why I have odd ones on.
Then, when I was halfway to school, I realized that I’d forgotten to
comb my hair and it looked a real mess.
7 Shall we go shopping this Saturday? I really need a new pair of
jeans, because my current pair are starting to look old. We could
have a look at that new shop that’s just opened: Glorious Jeans.
They may have the kind of jeans I’m looking for.
8 Let me tell you about my boss. He’s 75 years old, and has been in
charge of the company for 37 years now. I’m not sure how much the
company has changed in that time. But he wants to downsize now. I
wonder when he’ll retire.
9 Last summer, we went on holiday to Dubai. They have the #1 of
everything: the world’s tallest building, the world’s first seven-star hotel,
the world’s largest shopping mall, and the world’s largest performing
fountain. It’s strange to think that 40 years ago, it was all largely desert.
10 Graham has bought a new car. His old one was starting to look old
and unloved. The paint was coming off in places, one wing mir-
ror was hanging off, and it looked as though he had never actually
washed it. I only hope he takes care of this new one.
32 ◆
Allocate each pair one of the scenarios. They should act out a one-
minute scene, using only the words they have chosen. A role play could
therefore go like this:
A: Desk desk!
B: Seven!
A: Desk desk desk. Desk desk desk?
B: Seven seven seven.
A: Desk?
B: Seven!
etc.
Learners should also be encouraged to use body language (facial expres-
sions, gestures, etc.), since these features can perform a similar function
to suprasegmentals.
Debrief notes: Discuss with the learners the pronunciation features—
mostly suprasegmentals—that they controlled to achieve the desired emo-
tions, status, etc.
Create your own materials: You do not need to write any dialogue. Simply
create some scenarios. They should involve differences in status, and emo-
tions such as fear, anger, sadness, joy, disgust, surprise, trust,
anticipation.
Rhubarb ◆ 33
Worksheet
1 Two friends meet in a coffee bar. One tells the other a very funny
joke. The other doesn’t really understand the joke and asks for it to
be explained. Of course, now it’s not really funny anymore.
2 A car owner enters a repair shop because there is a strange knock-
ing noise from the car’s engine. The mechanic asks questions about
what kind of noise it is, when it occurs, etc. The mechanic then
quotes a price, and says it will take three days to fix. The owner is
shocked at how much it will cost, and how long it will take.
3 A learner is rehearsing a speech they have to give in a foreign lan-
guage. Their teacher keeps interrupting them because they are not
loud enough, not expressive enough, showing too many nerves, etc.
4 Two work colleagues share an office. One asks the other to open the
window because they are feeling hot and would like some fresh air.
The other one says that opening the window makes the office noisy
because there is a main road outside. The first one finally agrees and
turns on a fan instead.
5 The receptionist at a doctor’s clinic greets a new patient. Because they
are new to the clinic, the receptionist has to enter the patient’s details
(name, address, telephone number, etc.) into the clinic’s computer sys-
tem, and check that it has been entered correctly, including the spelling.
6 A customer enters a shop with a faulty iron, disappointed because
it was bought at the shop only last week. The shop assistant apolo-
gizes, calms the customer, takes the iron, writes down the custom-
er’s contact details, and promises that the manager will contact the
customer the next day.
7 Two friends meet by accident at the airport. One has just returned
from a group hiking holiday in the mountains and tells the other
how magnificent it was. The other tells the story of when they were
on a mountain trail last year, and another member of the group fell
and twisted their ankle, and had to be air-lifted by helicopter.
* This page is photocopiable for classroom use only.
Rhubarb ◆ 35
A6
Big and Small Mistakes
36 ◆
Ask the learners not only what rankings they gave, but also, and
perhaps more importantly, why. Why are some features important/not
important? Reasons given will probably relate to three questions:
# Feature Score
1 Unmarked sentence stress 1.25
2 Contrastive stress 1.52
3 Stress in multisyllable words 1.58
4 Pausing 1.67
5 Rhythm 1.70
6 Correcting stress 1.73
7 Stress in noun/verb pairs 2.15
8 Linking 2.15
9 Morphologically determined stress 2.15
10 Speed 2.18
11 Initial CC 2.24
12 Weak forms 2.27
13 Phonemic vowel length 2.30
14 Final CC 2.42
15 Allophonic vowel length 2.42
16 Proclaiming and referring tone 2.58
17 Initial CCC 2.59
18 Aspiration 2.64
19 Key 2.67
20 Loudness 2.78
21 All contrasting vowels 2.90
22 Final CCC 2.94
23 Spelling 3.00
24 Non-verbal features 3.14
25 Elision 3.33
This does not mean that these are the “right” answers; merely, that
this is what international experts thought. It may explain to you why this
book is organized the way it is.
Below are 29 features of English pronunciation. They are not all equally
important. If a learner of English does not pronounce these features cor-
rectly, how serious a problem do you feel this is? Rank each one from
1 (important) to 5 (unimportant).
Pronunciation point: All languages have their own phonology; that is,
their own set of vowel and consonant sounds, suprasegmentals, voice
quality, etc. English is not English words pronounced as if they were in
the learners’ native language (say, French) and, vice versa, French is not
French words spoken as if they were English.
Minimum level: Elementary
Exercise type: A listening task, followed by discussion
Approximate time: 10 minutes (exercise), 10 minutes (debrief)
Preparation: The worksheets you use depend on the native languages of
your learners. Four exercises are given for German, Turkish, Malay, and
Thai. However, teachers should prepare similar worksheets for the par-
ticular languages of their learners. This requires a reasonable understand-
ing of the pronunciation features, and typical mistakes, of the learners.
Make one copy of the worksheet for each learner. Alternatively, to
save paper, either make the worksheet accessible in soft copy on learners’
devices, or show the worksheet on a screen.
Introducing the exercise: If you have French or German learners, you
could begin with a bit of light relief: the following transliterations of the
English Humpty Dumpty rhyme into French and German spelling (Hulme,
1981; van Rooten, 1967). They are mostly nonsense in those languages.
◆ 41
English French German
Humpty Dumpty Un petit d’un petit Um die Dumm’ die
Sat on a wall. S’étonne aux Halles Saturn Aval;
Humpty Dumpty Un petit d’un petit Um die Dumm’ die
Had a great fall. Ah! degrés te fallent Ader Grät fahl.
And all the king’s horses Indolent qui ne sort cesse Alter ging’s Ohr sass
And all the king’s men Indolent qui ne se mène und Alter ging’s mähen
Couldn’t put Humpty Qu’importe un petit Kuh den “putt” um Dieter
Together again. Tout gai de Reguennes. Gitter er gähn.
Conducting the exercise: Learners listen to a speaker read out one of the
words. The speaker may be a live speaker (that is, the teacher or a guest)
or a recording. They decide (i) whether it is the frst or second language,
and (ii) what features of the pronunciation led to that answer.
As a variation, the teacher could ask the learners to choose either
the English word or the other one, and say it out loud. The teacher then
guesses which word was being pronounced.
Debrief notes:
Although it has been infuenced by many languages in its history, English is
considered a Germanic language, dating back to the invasion in the 5th cen-
tury of tribes (mainly the Angles, Saxons, and Jutes) from present-day northern
Germany (and parts of Denmark and the Netherlands). For this reason, the
differences between present-day English and German are relatively small. At
the other extreme, English and Thai are unrelated, so the differences are large.
Many words have been borrowed from English into other languages,
usually with regularization in terms of conforming to the borrowing lan-
guage’s phonology and spelling system. This has had the result that the
same original word (restaurant, taxi, telephone, etc.) is pronounced in two
slightly different ways, highlighting the differences between the phonolo-
gies of the two languages.
The features of the sound systems of the two languages that allow
the learners to identify the language may be of various kinds, such as
the following:
Create your own materials: A worksheet using English and another lan-
guage can easily be produced, but requires an in-depth knowledge of the
phonology of the other language, and a native or native-like pronunciation
of both languages.
My Language or Yours? ◆ 43
Worksheet (German)
Your instructor will say or play a recording of one word from each line,
either the English word or the German word. You need to listen carefully
and tick whether you think it was the English or German word.
3 air er “he”
7 my Mai “May”
8 zoo zu “to”
Your instructor will say or play a recording of one word from each line,
either the English word or the Turkish word. You need to listen carefully
and tick whether you think it was the English or Turkish word.
1 on on “ten”
2 sue su “water”
13 shoe şu “that”
My Language or Yours? ◆ 45
Worksheet (Malay)
Your instructor will say or play a recording of one word from each line,
either the English word or the Malay word. You need to listen carefully
and tick whether you think it was the English or Malay word.
Your instructor will say or play a recording of one word from each line,
either the English word or the Thai word. You need to listen carefully
and tick whether you think it was the English or Thai word.
1 D ดี /dii/ “good”
7 Ma มา /maa/ “come”
9 me มี /mii/ “have”
My Language or Yours? ◆ 47
A8
English With My Native
Voice Quality, My Native
Language With English
Voice Quality
48 ◆
are caricatures of English speakers, and not the way English speakers
actually pronounce things.
An example of this kind of exaggeration is the French accent adopted
by Peter Sellers in the Pink Panther flms. Planchenault (2015) gives some
examples (from The Pink Panther Strikes Again, 1976):
[y] is like the vowel of beat, but with lip-rounding. Similarly, [œ] is like
the vowel of bet, but with lip-rounding. There is no reason why Clouseau,
being after all French, cannot pronounce his name the French way [kluzo]
(nor [fon], [rum] or [baɪt]). This exaggerated mispronunciation was adopted
by Steve Martin in the remakes (2006, 2009). It has produced a few schol-
arly articles, e.g. Pickett (2004).
A similarly comical pronunciation may be familiar to readers from
Offce Crabtree of the ‘Allo ‘Allo TV series, with two differences: this is
an Englishman pretending to be French and mispronouncing English, and
the mispronunciations seem more like misspellings:
“The British Air Farce have dropped their bums on the water works.
They have scored a direct hot on the pimps” (Force, bombs, hit, pumps)
Again, this may be amusing (and has spawned Offcer Crabtree’s Fronch
phrose berk; Bostrom, 2018), but it is not accurate interlanguage, although it
was said to be based on the pronunciation of 1970s British prime minister
Edward Heath, who spoke French fuently but with a clear English accent
(Allo Allo Wiki, n.d.).
So, what the original question “How does your language sound when
pronounced not very well by an English speaker?” tries to elicit is not
caricatures, but more accurate performances.
Conducting the exercise:
Part 1
Give the learners a copy of the worksheet. Two worksheets are provided
here, one for AmE teaching environments, one for BrE. Alternatively, to
save paper, show it on a screen. Ask the learners how a native speaker of
their language would pronounce it.
Any alternative English passage that the learners are familiar with
could be used.
Ask the learners to identify the pronunciation features that make it
sound non-English. Compile a list on the whiteboard, fipchart, etc.; these
Part 2
Ask the learners to recite the words of their countries’ national anthem
(or any other alternative passage), but the way an (American or British)
English speaker would read them. Ask the learners to identify the pro-
nunciation features that make it sound English. Compile a list on the
whiteboard, fipchart, etc.; these are the features that the learners should
try to adopt if they want to sound like a native speaker of English.
Debrief notes: Notice that, in exercise A1, we saw that not all learners
necessarily want or need to acquire a native speaker accent of English.
US National Anthem
Oh, say can you see,
By the dawn’s early light,
What so proudly we hailed
At the twilight’s last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars,
Through the perilous fight,
O’er the ramparts we watched,
Were so gallantly streaming?
And the rockets’ red glare,
The bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night
That our flag was still there.
O say, does that star-spangled
Banner yet wave
O’er the land of the free
And the home of the brave?
* This page is photocopiable for classroom use only.
UK National Anthem
God save our gracious Queen,
Long live our noble Queen,
God save the Queen!
Send her victorious,
Happy and glorious,
Long to reign over us,
God save the Queen!
* This page is photocopiable for classroom use only.
Pronunciation point: Raps are a popular and fun way to practice supra-
segmentals, especially stress placement and the weakening of unstressed
syllables. In order to ft unstressed syllables between the very regular
stressed syllables, they need to be weakened and shortened (called the
concertina effect by Abercrombie, 1967, p. 97).
Since the words are spoken rather than sung, raps are ideal for students
who cannot sing in tune.
Minimum level: Elementary
Exercise type: A rap, best performed as a class
Approximate time: 15 minutes (exercise)
Preparation: Make one copy of the worksheet for each learner. Alterna-
tively, to save paper, either make the worksheet accessible in soft copy on
learners’ devices, or show the worksheet on a screen.
Introducing the exercise: All students will surely know what a rap is. Point
out the strict regularity of the beat, and that the words therefore have to
be ftted into that beat. Some devices for achieving that are shown in the
spelling (gonna, gotta, wanna).
Explain some language points:
◆ 55
Conducting the exercise: A steady beat needs to be established. One fun
way of doing this is to get the students to produce it in the manner of
Queen’s “We Will Rock You”: namely, two slaps on the thighs followed
by one clap in the air.
The frst time, this beat can be fairly slow as the students get used to the
words and stress placement of the passage. In subsequent times, the beat
can be quickened.
Two versions of the rap are given. The left-hand version is in normal
spelling. In the right-hand version, the syllables to be stressed are shown
in capital letters; this may help learners initially. Some variation in the
placement of stress is possible. As learners get used to the text, they can
use the left-hand version more.
Debrief notes: Draw learners’ attention to aspects of connected speech:
56 ◆ Suprasegmentals
Worksheet
I slowly yawn, it’s the crack of dawn i SLOWly YAWN, it’s the CRACK of DAWN
Gotta get up, see the drapes are drawn GOTta get UP, see the DRAPES are DRAWN
Get out of bed, my eyes are red GET out of BED, my EYES are RED
Gotta get ready for the day ahead GOTta get READy for the DAY aHEAD
Take a quick shower, a really cold shower TAKE a quick SHOWER, a REALly cold SHOWER
Gotta get going in a quarter of an hour GOTta get GOing in a QUARTer of an HOUR
Comb my hair, choose what to wear COMB my HAIR, CHOOSE what to WEAR
Don’ wanna look like I just don’t care DON’ wanna LOOK like i JUST don’t CARE
Quickly get dressed, gotta look my best QUICKly get DRESSED, gotta LOOK my BEST
Gonna make sure my teacher’s impressed GONna make SURE my TEACHer’s imPRESSED
Have a slice of bread, though I feel half-dead HAVE a slice of BREAD, though i FEEL half-DEAD
Don’ want tea, I’ll have coffee instead DON’ want TEA, i’ll have COFfee inSTEAD
Got a grammar test, that’s why I’m stressed GOT a grammar TEST, that’s WHY I’m STRESSED
It’s how our English skills are assessed it’s HOW our ENGlish SKILLS are asSESSED
But wait a sec, let me check but WAIT a SEC, LET me CHECK
I’m all disorganized. What the heck! i’m ALL disORGanized. WHAT the HECK!
Today’s not Monday, this is Sunday! ToDAY’S not MONday, THIS is SUNday!
Aaargh! I’ve got the dates wrong by one day AAARGH! i’ve GOT the dates WRONG by ONE day
What a waste, I shouldn’t have raced WHAT a WASTE, i SHOULDn’t have RACED
Too much speed, not enough haste TOO much SPEED, NOT enough HASTE
Go back to bed, my eyes still red GO back to BED, my EYES still RED
There’s a noisy pounding in my head there’s a NOISy POUNDing IN my HEAD
I wanna just weep, go back to sleep i WANna just WEEP, GO back to SLEEP
One two three four, counting sheep ONE two THREE four, COUNTing SHEEP
Zzzzzzz Zzzzzzz
• It is humorous.
• It is written as fve lines.
58 ◆
• The frst, second, and last lines rhyme (seeker, Eureka, and streaker),
as do the third and fourth lines (mile and smile). Rhyme means that
the sounds from the stressed syllables of the words onwards are
the same or very similar (/i:kə(r)/).
• The frst, second and last lines have three stresses each (-me-,
well, and seek-; out, bath, and -re-; and -came, ve-, and streak-),
while the third and fourth lines have two each (ran and mile; on-
and smile).
• The frst, second, and last lines each have an extra beat (a silent
stress) at the end. It is not natural to continue from seeker straight
into jumping.
• Thus, the limerick is pronounced as follows (with the extra beat
shown by ∆):
archiMEdes, the WELL-known truth-SEEKer ∆
jumping OUT of his BATH, cried, “euREka!” ∆
he RAN half a MILE
wearing ONly a SMILE,
and beCAME the world’s VEry frst STREAKer. ∆
• This is, in fact, a very regular poetical form. If we combined the
third and fourth lines, we would end up with four lines, each with
four beats.
• It is also regular in that the rhythm is usually a stressed syl-
lable followed by two unstressed syllables, as in ME—des—the,
WELL—known—truth.
Practice reading this limerick with the students, until you are sure they
understand the format.
Conducting the exercise:
Answer
There was a young lady named Harris,
Whom nothing could ever embarrass,
’Til the salts that she shook
In the bath that she took,
Turned out to be Plaster of Paris.
There was a young man from Darjeeling,
Who got on the bus for West Ealing.
It said on the door
“Don’t spit on the foor,”
So he stood up and spat on the ceiling.
There was an old barn owl named Boo,
Who used, every night, to yell, “Hoo.”
A kid once walked by,
And started to cry,
And called out, “I haven’t a clue!”
There was a young man from Hong Kong,
Who wrote a new popular song.
But the song that he wrote
Was all on one note,
Though it sounded superb on a gong.
I’m papering walls in the loo,
And frankly I haven’t a clue.
For the pattern’s all wrong,
Or the paper’s too long,
And I’m stuck to the toilet with glue.
I’d rather have fngers than toes.
I’d rather have ears than a nose.
And as for my hair,
I’m glad it’s all there.
I’ll be awfully sad when it goes.
60 ◆ Suprasegmentals
There once was a slimmer named Green,
Who grew so incredibly lean,
And fat, and compressed,
That his back touched his chest,
So that sideways he couldn’t be seen.
There was a young schoolboy of Rye,
Who was baked by mistake in a pie.
To his mother’s disgust,
He emerged through the crust,
And exclaimed, with a yawn, “Where am I?”
62 ◆ Suprasegmentals
Worksheet B
66 ◆ Suprasegmentals
Worksheet
And to end the news, here are the main points again. The prime
minister has completed his official visit to Canada. He said that he
had had productive discussions with Canadian officials on a possible
free trade agreement, and hoped this would make possible increased
two-way trade between the countries. He is accompanied by his
wife, and representatives of the Ministry of Trade. He now continues
to the USA, the next stop on his one-week tour. The Ministry of
Labor has just released official statistics indicating that productivity
has risen by the largest jump in the last eight years. The increase
of 1.3% recorded between July and December this year was caused
in part by increased automation, and changes in working practices.
However, the government has warned that this increase is unlikely
to continue into the new year. In the latest round of mid-week
league matches, East Shore United have beaten Wellington Rangers
4–1, to take a five-point lead at the top of the table. Their nearest
rivals, Hamilton United, were held to a 1–1 draw at home by Epsom
Rovers. The two teams meet in a top-of-the-table clash on Saturday.
Two unconnected multiple-car crashes on the Northwest Highway
have left three people dead and nine in hospital. The Traffic Police
have stated that the accidents were caused by drivers not making
adequate allowances for the foggy conditions this morning. They
remind drivers to turn on headlights and to slow down when it is
foggy. And that’s the end of the news.
Obviously, if you are reading out the news, your audience can’t see the
paragraph breaks in your script. How do you think the newsreader should
convey this information in his or her pronunciation?
* This page is photocopiable for classroom use only.
68 ◆
Explain that in each of the following examples, sentence c could follow
sentence a or b. However, if it follows a, it will be pronounced in a dif-
ferent way than if it follows b. Student A chooses either sentence a or b
from their worksheet. Student B then responds with sentence c, but pro-
nounced with the stress on the item that is appropriate in the context.
Then the roles are reversed for the second example.
Create your own materials:
My Name’s Sophie ◆ 69
Worksheet A
70 ◆ Suprasegmentals
Worksheet B
1 c He scored an A in English.
2 a Is she ever unprepared?
b She leaves everything to the last minute, and as a result, . . .
3 c No, my daughter has graduated from Cambridge.
4 a Is this Victoria Street?
b Is that Albert Street?
5 c I hate chilli.
6 a Have you completed your homework?
b Why weren’t you at the match yesterday?
7 c I’ve got Geography at 10.
8 a When did you realize you liked math?
b I’d never work in a bank, because . . .
9 c I could make a copy of them for you.
10 a When will you start working on the Physics assignment?
b What’s next, after the History assignment?
* This page is photocopiable for classroom use only.
My Name’s Sophie ◆ 71
B5
What Year? Every Year
1. They read the passages, highlighting the words that are important
in terms of meaning and message, for instance by underlining.
2. They read the passages out loud, making sure they put stress on
those underlined words, and leaving appropriate pauses.
Create your own materials: Jokes are useful in the language classroom, frstly
because they are fun, and secondly because it now means that the learners
know a joke in a foreign language. There are many joke websites on the inter-
net, and publications like Reader’s Digest contain suitable short jokes. Pick those
jokes that involve a clear contrast, and thus an appropriate stress placement.
72 ◆
Worksheet
Passage 1
Passage 2
Heaven is where the police are British, the chefs are Italian, the mechan-
ics are German, the lovers are French, and it’s all organized by the Swiss.
Hell is where the police are German, the chefs are British, the mechanics
are French, the lovers are Swiss, and it’s all organized by the Italians!
Passage 3
One day, a little girl was sitting, watching her mother do the dishes at
the kitchen sink. She suddenly noticed that her mother had several white
hairs, sticking out in contrast on her dark brown head. She looked at her
mother, and asked, “Why are some of your hairs white, Mum?”
Her mother replied, “Well, every time that you do something wrong,
and you make me cry or unhappy, one of my hairs turns white.”
The little girl thought about this for a while, and then asked, “Mummy,
how come all of Grandma’s hairs are white?”
Passage 4
A man was sitting at the bar staring at his drink, when a large, trouble-
making motorbiker stepped up next to him, grabbed his drink, and finished
it in one go.
“Well, whatcha gonna do about it?” he said, threateningly.
“This is the worst day of my life,” the man said. “I’m a complete
failure. I was late to a meeting and my boss fired me. When I went to
the parking lot, I found my car had been stolen, and I don’t have any
insurance. I left my wallet in the cab I took home. Then, when I got
home, my dog bit me. So I came to this bar to work up the courage to
kill myself. I bought a drink, I dropped a capsule in it, and just sat here
watching the poison dissolve. Then you showed up and drank the whole
thing! But enough about me, how’s your day going?”
* This page is photocopiable for classroom use only.
One day, a rich father decided to take his son to the countryside, to show
him how poor some people are—in contrast to them, who live in a nice
house in the wealthy suburbs of a big city. This way, his son could under-
stand the value of things, and how lucky he is. So they went to the
countryside, and spent one day and one night, in a simple countryside
home.
On the journey back home, the father asked his son, “So, what did
you think of this little trip?”
“It was great, Dad!”
“Did you see how poor some people are?”
“Yes. I saw that we have one dog; they have four. We have a pool
at home; they live by a beautiful lake. The streetlamps give us light in
our garden, whereas they get the light of a million stars. Our back yard
ends at the fence; theirs is as far as the eye can see. And finally, I saw
they had the time to talk to each other and live like a happy family; you
and Mum work all day and I barely see you. Thanks, Dad, for showing
me how rich we could be.”
* This page is photocopiable for classroom use only.
74 ◆ Suprasegmentals
B6
What’s the Diference
Between a Cat and a
Comma?
◆ 75
Answers
Set 1
A prince is the heir to the throne. Water in a fountain is thrown to the air.
A man who has visited Niagara Falls has seen a mist. One who has not,
has missed a scene.
A married man kisses his Mrs. A bachelor misses his kisses.
Set 2
76 ◆ Suprasegmentals
Worksheet
Set 1
Set 2
78 ◆
stress on X, while “Is it an X-ray of your foot?” should elicit “No. It’s an
X-ray of my HANDS” with the stress on hands.
Debrief: Reiterate that contrast is a strong factor in English pronunciation,
and that the contrasted element is highlighted by stress, loudness, and
intonation (especially a high fall).
Create your own materials: This is actually easy. Simply take a photo or
other picture, e.g. a green apple. Then ask two questions relating to the
different elements of the picture: “Is it a red apple?” or “Is it a green
pear?”
No, It Isn’t ◆ 79
Worksheet A
80 ◆ Suprasegmentals
8 No. A girl is feeding a pigeon.
No, It Isn’t ◆ 81
Worksheet B
82 ◆ Suprasegmentals
8a Is your picture a girl feeding a fish?
8b Is your picture a boy feeding a pigeon?
No, It Isn’t ◆ 83
B8
Let’s Eat Grandpa
1. Elicit the meaning of pause from the students, and ask for sugges-
tions as to why pauses are important in speech. You could use the
title of this exercise. It has to be, “Let’s eat, Grandpa!”; otherwise it
sounds like cannibalism! There must be a comma (representing a
pause) after eat, to show that you are addressing Grandpa.
2. The main functions of pauses are:
• to show the listener (who can’t see the script) what belongs
together in terms of meaning and grammar, in the same way
as punctuation in writing
• to signal changes of topic (cf. paragraphs; see B3)
• in dialogue, to show who is speaking
• to emphasize that what you have just said is important
84 ◆
• to allow the speaker to take breath
• to prevent the speaker from speaking too fast
Conducting the exercise:
Answer
86 ◆ Suprasegmentals
Worksheet
The following passage has been printed here without any punctuation.
However, it should be thought of as a script to be read aloud, as a teacher
might to a class, or a parent to a child, rather than as a written passage
to be punctuated. Where do you think the speaker should pause? Should
it be a long, medium, or short pause? Put:
a father and his young son enjoyed going for long walks in the
country one day as they were about to turn back and go home it
suddenly began to pour with rain they did not have an umbrella or
even raincoats with them and there was nowhere to shelter from
the rain so they soon got very wet for a long time as they were
making the long walk back home the boy was thinking then at last
he turned to his father and asked why does it rain Dad I don’t like
rain it’s unpleasant you may think it’s unpleasant but it’s very useful
replied his father you see when it rains water sinks into the ground
and then it helps the fruit and vegetables grow for us to eat and
makes the grass grow long and green for sheep and cows to eat
as they walked on the boy thought about this finally he said if it
rains to make the fruit vegetables and grass grow then why does it
rain on the road too
Answer
88 ◆ Suprasegmentals
Worksheet
The following passage has been printed here without any punctuation.
However, it should be thought of as a script to be read aloud, as a teacher
might to a class, or a parent to a child, rather than as a written passage
to be punctuated. Where do you think the speaker should pause? Should
it be a long, medium, or short pause? Put:
one weekend Robert Bill and Henry went on a fishing trip in Henry’s
small boat quite unexpectedly a violent storm began the giant waves
tossing their small boat about and smashing it into pieces for three
days they floated on a small raft with only some torn sheets kitchen
equipment and an oil lamp they had no food or drink and the raft
gave them no shelter from the burning sun or the driving rain finally
in desperation Bill remembering the story of Aladdin rubbed the
lamp a genie appeared in a puff of smoke I will grant each of you
one wish he declared terrific cried Henry I want to go to the finest
restaurant in our hometown the genie answered your wish is granted
and Henry disappeared and I added Robert I want to go to my social
club in our hometown your wish is granted too said the genie and
Robert disappeared as well and you Bill what is your wish the genie
asked the last survivor er I feel lonely now answered Bill sadly I
wish Robert and Henry were here
(“Susan”) Brazil—Jamaica—Peru—Japan—Nepal—Kuwait—Malaysia—
Bahamas—Morocco
◆ 93
(“David”) Argentina—Ethiopia—Mozambique—Indonesia—Madagascar—
Bangladesh—Venezuela—Senegal—Vietnam
Debriefng note: You could ask learners to say which syllable the stress is
on in all the place names.
These are the stressed syllables in the English pronunciation of the names
of these countries. This may differ from the way nationals of the countries
pronounce them, because of differences in the way stress is used in their
languages, etc. It may also be different from the way the words are pro-
nounced as names, e.g. the British linguist David Brazil, referred to in B3,
was DAvid BRAzil.
Create your own materials:
94 ◆ Word Stress
Worksheet
Where is Susan?
BRAzil, braZIL? ◆ 95
Worksheet
Where is David?
96 ◆ Word Stress
C2
EDucation, eDUcation,
eduCAtion, educaTION?
◆ 97
Worksheet
All the words in the grid below contain four syllables. However, they may
be stressed on the first, second, third, or fourth syllable. Start at the bot-
tom left with the word education.
98 ◆ Word Stress
If the word is stressed:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
integrity generator conversation disadvantage television democratic relationship ecosystem 9
EDucation, eDUcation, eduCAtion, educaTION? ◆ 99
100 ◆
in Last year was the warmest winter on record, record is a noun, so the letter
S should be circled.
If they circle the correct letters, they form the sentence, “Stress the right
syllable.”
This is a grammatical exercise and should be fairly easy for learners who
understand grammatical categories. The real purpose of the exercise, how-
ever, is the difference in stress placement, which should be covered at
some length in the debrief.
Debrief notes: This exercise is in fact a grammatical exercise. From the
grammatical point of view, nouns can be identifed by
The important point is that, during the debrief, the teacher illustrates, and
gets the learners to pronounce, the stress patterns of the various words
and uses, clearly distinguishing frst- and second-syllable stress.
Create your own materials: Here are (admittedly less common) words that
behave the same way: abstract, compound, compress, confict, consort, contest,
contrast, convict, decrease, defect, detail, discharge, discount, escort, export, fre-
quent, implant, import, increase, insert, invite, misprint, perfect, perfume, present,
proceeds, produce, protest, refund, refuse, retard, rewrite, segment, survey, tor-
ment, transfer. Note that sometimes the meaning is somewhat different,
e.g. They refused to cooperate versus There was refuse on the streets.
Nouns are naming words for things, people, animals, places, character-
istics, and ideas. Verbs are doing words describing actions, states, or
occurrences.
Decide if the underlined words in these sentences are nouns or verbs—as
they are used in the sentences. If they are nouns, circle the letter in the
noun column, or in the verb column for a verb. Then the letters go
together to form a sentence.
104 ◆
1st syllable 2nd syllable 3rd syllable
Cambridge Armagh Aberdeen
Cardiff Northampton Bognor Regis
Edinburgh Northumberland Inverness
Gloucester Southampton John o‘ Groats
Hereford St Albans Milton Keynes
Lincoln St Leonards Stoke-on-Trent
Liverpool West Bromwich Wolverhampton
Norwich
Peterborough
Salisbury
Sunderland
Drive from the bottom of the page to the top, only going through places
that have stress on the third syllable.
St Leonards Norwich
Southampton Stoke-on-Trent
Milton Keynes
Sunderland Edinburgh
Armagh
Wolverhampton St Albans
Lincoln Gloucester
Cardi€
Bognor Regis Northumberland
West Bromwich
Cambridge Salisbury
Inverness Hereford
Northampton
Aberdeen
◆ 107
1st syllable 2nd syllable 3rd or later syllable
Arkansas Alaska Alabama
Delaware Connecticut Arizona
Florida Hawaii California
Georgia Kentucky Colorado
Idaho Missouri Illinois
Iowa Montana Indiana
Kansas Nebraska Louisiana (4th)
Maine Nevada Massachusetts
Maryland Ohio Minnesota
Michigan Vermont Mississippi
Oregon Virginia Oklahoma
Texas Wisconsin Pennsylvania
Utah Wyoming Tennessee
Washington
Sort the following letters according to the stress pattern (on the 1st, 2nd,
or 3rd syllable) of the name of the state. Write the name of the state
under the correct mailbox.
◆ 113
Debrief notes: The answers are:
Points to make:
• The name of the letter and the sound that it typically makes are
different things.
• The name of the letter and the sound that it typically makes are
not usually the same.
• The name of a letter may not be the most common sound that it
represents, e.g. G is not usually /dʒ/.
• The name of a letter may not even contain the sound that it typi-
cally makes, e.g. H, Q, R (for BrE), W, Y.
• The names of the letters of the Roman alphabet in English may
differ from their names in other languages (French, etc.).
The letters of the Roman alphabet used for English (A, B, C, etc.) have
names. However, these names may not be a reliable indication of the
sounds the letters represent.
Take the 26 letters of the alphabet: A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N,
O, P, Q, R, S, T, U, V, W, X, Y, Z. Sort them into the correct mailbox accord-
ing to the vowel sound their names contain. A and B are done for you.
B …… A …… ……
…… …… …… …… ……
…… …… …… …… ……
…… …… …… …… ……
…… …… …… …… ……
…… …… …… …… ……
…… …… …… …… ……
…… …… …… …… ……
Pronunciation point: English has many homophones; that is, words that
are pronounced the same but spelled differently. This shows that the spell-
ing system of English is not very regular. Homophones do not occur, or
are much less common, in other languages.
Minimum level: Elementary (depending on vocabulary level)
Exercise type: A mistake-spotting exercise, to be completed individually
or in pairs
Approximate time: 10 minutes (exercise), 20 minutes (debrief)
Preparation: Make one copy of the worksheet for each learner. Alterna-
tively, to save paper, either make the worksheet accessible in soft copy on
learners’ devices, or show the worksheet on a screen.
Introducing the exercise: Explain the concept of homophones. The some-
what cryptic title of this exercise comes from the 1936 Fred Astaire and
Ginger Rogers flm Follow the Fleet, and goes: “We joined the navy to see
the world. And what did we see? We saw the sea.” That is, the English
words see and sea are homophones.
Conducting the exercise: The passage contains a number of homophones;
that is, words that are pronounced the same as, but spelled differently
from, the intended words. Learners identify the misspellings and correct
them. Encourage the use of dictionaries (printed or online) for any words
the learners are not sure of.
116 ◆
Debrief notes: Here are the misspelled (homophone) words with the
intended words/spellings.
Lunch/Dinner
Thai red curry with muscles, cooked with bamboo chutes, time, and chilly
Hole prawns, tossed in flower and fried, with mushrooms and maze
Venison (dear) meet loaf, with a sighed salad
Jugged hair, cooked in red whine
Would-fired pizza
Heir-fried egg roles
Soups
Leak soup
Carat soup
Ox tale soup
Desert
Chocolate moose
Doe nuts
Cheese bored
See the display cabinet for more suites
Children’s Menu
Stake and kidney pi
Byte-sized chicken nuggets
Place and chips, cooked in the air friar
Cheese omelet with baked been salad
Drinks
Tee or coffee
Soft drinks (Coke, Pepsi, Mountain Due, route beer, Dr. Brown’s, etc.)
Milk sheikhs
Wines, biers
We do not serve hard licker
* This page is photocopiable for classroom use only.
◆ 119
Answers
Create your own: There are several websites that allow you to create your
own wordsearches. However, they work with words in regular English
spelling. In order to create a wordsearch in phonemic transcription:
You may still be able to add a word or two to the generated wordsearch,
and generally tidy it up.
Find the names of 20 countries in this wordsearch. The names have been
written in phonemic symbols. They may be horizontal, vertical or diagonal
in any direction. To start you off, Singapore has been highlighted in the
first row. If you are really stuck, the capital cities of the countries are
given underneath the puzzle as a clue.
æ s ɪ ŋ ə p ɔ: dʒ aɪ l
f w ŋ ɪ ʃ æ m s t m
i: ɪ g j ʌ n l aʊ s e
dʒ t l ɜ: r ə b u: j k
i: s ə ɪ n m ɪ f ɔ: s
dʒ ə n d p ɑ: r w p ɪ
ɪ l d tʃ ə i: ɑ: eɪ ə k
p ə aɪ s ʌ n n l r əʊ
t n ɑ: w aɪ t æ z u: p
ə d n æ g u: j k ɔɪ r
Capital Cities
122 ◆
Answers
Create your own: There are several websites that allow you to create your
own wordsearches. However, they work with words in regular English
spelling. In order to create a wordsearch in phonemic transcription:
You may still be able to add a word or two to the generated wordsearch,
and generally tidy it up.
Find the names of 20 US state capital cities in this wordsearch. The names
have been written in phonemic symbols. They may be horizontal, vertical
or diagonal in any direction. To start you off, Juneau, the capital of Alaska,
has been highlighted in the first row. If you are really stuck, the states
are given underneath the puzzle as a clue.
æ dʒ u: n oʊ m z r ŋ ɪ tʃ s
p ɔ: l b ə n i ə ɪ h g oʊ
v u: s i k ə l v s r ɪ p
eɪ d ɪ s r n ɑ: oʊ n k ɪ k
f n l ɔɪ ɑ: ɪ r d æ ə θ ɑ:
ə ə ə b m l æ e l l w ŋ
t m p s z e t n f ʌ h k
n tʃ æ t ɪ h l v i: m m ɔ:
æ ɪ n l b dʒ æ ə n b ə r
s r ə ʌ l tʃ n r ɪ ə l d
t oʊ p i: k ə t f k s eɪ u:
n æ aɪ ʃ ə t ə z s w s g
States
Pronunciation point: English has many homophones; that is, words that
are pronounced the same but spelled differently. This shows that the spell-
ing system of English is not very regular. Homophones do not occur, or
are much less common, in other languages.
Minimum level: Intermediate
Exercise type: A matching game relying on memory (pelmanism), to be
played in groups
Approximate time: 30 minutes (exercise), 10 minutes (debrief)
Preparation: Print out the 40 game cards below, preferably onto card rather
than paper, and cut them up into individual cards. Make as many sets as
you have groups of four or fve learners in the class. For instance, for a
class of 20, make four or fve sets. On some cards, there is more than one
transcription, for BrE and AmE pronunciations.
Introducing the exercise: Explain the concept of homophones.
Conducting the exercise:
Debrief: Go through all 20 jokes, making sure the learners (i) understand the
joke (some of the vocabulary is a little diffcult), and (ii) can give the two pos-
sible spellings of the words given in phonemic transcription, i.e. homophones.
◆ 125
Game Cards
Why was the boy's Because his grades Why did the
school report card were all below /si:/ chicken cross the Because the referee
wet? level. football pitch? shouted "/faul/!"
Why should you Because they are Why did the girl
not tell secrets to always spreading run away from the She was afraid of
peacocks? /teilz/. dark castle? the /nmt/.
The magician
didn't pull a rabbit It was a /her~ he;i/. Why are libraries Because they have
out of his hat. so tall? lots of /sb:nz/.
Answers
Elementary
Across
1 think /θɪŋk/, 3 school /sku:l/, 5 ram /ræm/, 6 twin /twɪn/, 8 left
/left/, 10 globe /gloʊb ~ gləʊb/, 12 child /tʃaɪld/, 14 mean /mi:n/,
15 names /neɪmz/, 16 jump /dʒʌmp/.
◆ 127
Down
1 throat /θroʊt ~ θrəʊt/, 2 crown /kraʊn/, 3 smile /smaɪl/, 4 last
/læst ~ lɑ:st/, 7 wool /wʊl/, 9 fll /fɪl/, 10 green /gri:n/, 11 bombs
/bɑ:mz ~ bɒmz/, 12 change /tʃeɪndʒ/, 13 drop /drɑ:p ~ drɒp/.
Intermediate
Across
1 focus /foʊkəs ~ fəʊkəs/, 4 bumps /bʌmps/, 7 cable /keɪbəl/, 8 exam
/ɪgzæm/, 9 ink /ɪŋk/, 10 toning /təʊnɪŋ/, 12 season /si:zən/, 14
coasts /koʊsts ~ kəʊsts/, 17 insane /ɪnseɪn/, 20 its /ɪts/, 21 bull-
ock /bʊlək/, 22 canal /kənæl/, 23 beneath /bɪni:θ/, 24 passage
/pæsɪdʒ/
Down
1 fxed /fɪkst/, 2 cabin /kæbɪn/, 3 sailing /seɪlɪŋ/, 4 bricks /brɪks/,
5 mazes /meɪzɪz/, 6 salmon /sæmən/, 11 oboe /oʊboʊ ~ əʊbəʊ/,
13 away /əweɪ/, 14 kebab /kəbɑ:b ~ kəbæb/, 15 Ceylon /sɪlɑ:n ~
sɪlɒn/, 16 sixth /sɪksθ/, 17 escape /ɪskeɪp/, 18 saints /seɪnts/, 19
knowledge /nɑ:lɪdʒ ~ nɒlɪdʒ/
This crossword follows the normal rules of crosswords, except that the
answers have to be written in phonemic symbols, not regular spelling.
So, you must concentrate on the pronunciation.
1 2 3 4
6 7 8 9
10 11 12 13
14
15 16
Across
Down
This crossword follows the normal rules of crosswords, except that the
answers have to be written in phonemic symbols, not regular spelling.
So, you must concentrate on the pronunciation.
1 2 3 4 5 6
7 8
10 11 12 13
14 15 16 17 18 19
20
21 22
23 24
Across
Down
1 Firmly fastened
2 A bedroom on a ship
3 If something is easy to do, it is plain . . . (idiom)
4 Lego sets consist mostly of . . .
5 Children’s games on paper, in which you try to draw a line through a
complicated set of lines without crossing them
6 An edible fish with pink flesh
11 A woodwind instrument in a classical western orchestra
13 “Go . . . and leave me alone!”
14 Turkish-style meat and vegetables cooked on a stick
15 The former name of Sri Lanka
16 June is the . . . month of the year
17 The prisoner made a daring . . .
18 George, Andrew, David, and Patrick are the patron . . . of England,
Scotland, Wales, and Ireland.
19 Information you have gained through learning or experience
* This page is photocopiable for classroom use only.
Answers
◆ 135
# Words Sound in common Transcriptions
3 wished, better /t/ /wɪʃt, betə(r)/
4 fight, mine /aɪ/ /faɪt, maɪn/
5 gaming, hammer /m/ /geɪmɪŋ, hæmə(r)/
6 taxi, less /s/ /tæksi, les/
7 anyone, best /e/ /enɪwʌn, best/
8 parachute, English /ʃ/ /pærəʃu:t, ɪŋglɪʃ/
9 physics, rough /f/ /fɪzɪks, rʌf/
10 feather, wedding /e/ /feðə(r), wedɪŋ/
11 cheetah, helped /t/ /tʃi:tə, helpt/
12 become, young /ʌ/ /bɪkʌm, jʌŋ/
13 zoom, praise /z/ /zu:m, preɪz/
14 debt, brand /d/ /det, brænd/
15 machine, breathe /i:/ /məʃi:n, bri:ð/
16 guard, single /g/ /gɑ:(r)d, sɪŋgəl/
17 ceiling, grass /s/ /si:lɪŋ, græs ~ grɑ:s/
18 rhythm, stitch /ɪ/ /rɪðəm, stɪtʃ/
19 queen, southwest /w/ /kwi:n, saʊθwest/
20 Matthew, yourself /j/ /mæθju:, jɔ:(r)self/
1 piece, Beatles /i:/ /pi:s, bi:təlz/
2 design, cheese /z/ /dɪzaɪn, tʃi:z/
3 worth, squeeze /w/ /wɜ:(r)θ, skwi:z/
4 prove, juice /u:/ /pru:v, dʒu:s/
5 passion, cliché /ʃ/ /pæʃən, kli:ʃeɪ/
6 doubt, brushed /t/ /daʊt, brʌʃt/
7 many, threat /e/ /meni, θret/
8 lawless, proceed /s/ /lɔ:lɪs, prəsi:d /
9 rehearse, whose /h/ /rɪhɜ:(r)s, hu:z/
10 yacht, disuse /j/ /jɑ:t ~ jɒt, dɪsju:s/
11 bullet, unhook /ʊ/ /bʊlɪt, ʌnhʊk/
12 laughter, suffx /f/ /læftər ~ lɑ:ftə, sʌfɪks /
13 income, strong /ŋ/ /ɪŋkəm, strɔ:ŋ ~ strɒŋ/
14 business, hymn /ɪ/ /bɪznɪs, hɪm/
15 Judith, hedge /dʒ/ /dʒu:dɪθ, hedʒ/
16 kingdom, Gwyneth /ɪ/ /kɪŋdəm, gwɪnɪθ/
17 language, reservoir /w/ /læŋgwɪdʒ,
rezə(r)vwɑ:(r)/
Create your own materials: It is easy to create your own version, provided
you are fairly familiar with sounds and phonemic symbols. You can con-
centrate on sounds that your learners mix up.
In each pair of words, only one sound occurs in both words. Say the
words out loud, and work out the sound they share.
1 soup, true
2 chemist, bank
3 wished, better
4 flight, mine
5 gaming, hammer
6 taxi, less
7 anyone, best
8 parachute, English
9 physics, rough
10 feather, wedding
11 cheetah, helped
12 become, young
13 zoom, praise
14 debt, brand
15 machine, breathe
16 guard, single
17 ceiling, grass
18 rhythm, stitch
19 queen, southwest
20 Matthew, yourself
* This page is photocopiable for classroom use only.
In each pair of words, only one sound occurs in both words. Say the
words out loud, and work out the sound they share.
1 piece, Beatles
2 design, cheese
3 worth, squeeze
4 prove, juice
5 passion, cliché
6 doubt, brushed
7 many, threat
8 lawless, proceed
9 rehearse, whose
10 yacht, disuse
11 bullet, unhook
12 laughter, suffix
13 income, strength
14 business, hymn
15 Judith, hedge
16 kingdom, Gwyneth
17 language, reservoir
18 hated, break
19 reflex, once
20 police, grieving
Pronunciation point: Minimal pairs are pairs of words that differ only in
that one word has one sound where the other word has a different sound,
the rest remaining the same. Since we are talking about sounds, the spell-
ing is irrelevant. Learners should not be misled by the spelling.
Minimum level: Intermediate (because of the vocabulary level implied)
Exercise type: A pen-and-paper exercise requiring a lot of thought about
sounds. It can be conducted individually or in pairs.
Approximate time: 20 minutes (exercise), 15 minutes (debrief)
Preparation: Make one copy of the worksheet for each learner. Alterna-
tively, to save paper, either make the worksheet accessible in soft copy on
learners’ devices, or show the worksheet on a screen.
Introducing the exercise: Introduce the concept of minimal pairs. Start
with simple pairs, e.g. bet, bat, where the spelling closely refects the pro-
nunciation, and the distinguishing sound is clear. Then progress to more
complex examples, e.g. sheet, chute, where the spelling is less of a clue.
Emphasize that minimal pairs relate to sounds, not to spelling.
Conducting the exercise: Go through the frst example (feel, Phil) with the
class. Point out that it is sounds that are important here. Some of the
examples relate to differences in vowel sounds, and some to consonants.
Encourage learners to say the words out loud. Then it should be more
obvious what difference there is in the pronunciation.
Answers
Words Different
sounds
1 feel, Phil /i:, ɪ/
2 debt, death /t, θ/
140 ◆
Words Different
sounds
3 Dan, done /æ, ʌ/
4 sue, zoo /s, z/
5 lentil, rental /l, r/
6 ballot, ballad /t, d/
7 look, Luke /ʊ, u:/
8 chateau, shadow /t, d/
9 ankle, uncle /æ, ʌ/
10 simple, symbol /p, b/
11 false, falls /s, z/
12 Max, mucks /æ, ʌ/
13 streaked, strict /i:, ɪ/
14 maternity, modernity /t, d/
15 candle, Kendal /æ, e/
16 taught, thought /t, θ/
17 hood, who’d /ʊ, u:/
18 precedent, president /s, z/
19 calorie, gallery /k, g/
20 salmon, summon /æ, ʌ/
21 anchor, anger /k, g/
22 Alice, alleys /s, z/
23 scheme, skim /i:, ɪ/
24 incite, inside /t, d/
25 rice, rise /s, z/
26 fanatic, phonetic /æ, e/
27 Mauritius, malicious /r, l/
28 cute, queued /t, d/
29 Caesar’s, scissors /i:, ɪ/
30 oppressed, abreast /p, b/
Debriefng note: All the example words used work regardless of whether
a BrE or AmE pronunciation is used. The pairs of sounds are ones that
are often not distinguished by learners. The mistakes that learners make
may refect (i) features of their pronunciation, and (ii) the fact that they
are misled by the spelling.
The following pairs of words may look fairly different in their spelling,
but in fact there is only one difference in their pronunciation. One word
has a sound, where the other word has a different sound. Identify those
sounds, by using their phonemic symbols.
(Elementary) bad, fash, pack, land, crash, bag, track, gas, drank, mad,
slapped, damp, Brad, Dad, pan, trapped.
(Intermediate) stamp, sacked, campus, bland, Sam, cattle, slam, badge, fan-
cies, ramp, access, fanfare, mallow, barrel, mansion, trapped.
Debriefng note: It may not be obvious, but the words were chosen because
they have minimal pairs with words with other sounds that /æ/ is often
144 ◆
confused with, namely /e/ and /ʌ/. Most /ɑ:/ examples involve a fol-
lowing /r/ in AmE; they have mostly been omitted here, although they
are minimal pairs (without the /r/) in BrE.
(Elementary) bad, bed, bud; fash, fesh, fush; pack, peck, puck; land, lend;
crash, crush; bag, beg, bug; track, trek, truck; gas, guess, Gus; drank, drunk;
mad, mud; slapped, slept; damp, dump; Brad, bread; Dad, dead, dud; pan,
pen, pun; Ellen, Allen; any, Annie; X, ax; bets, bats, butts; letter, latter; pet,
pat, putt; send, sand; palm, Pam; uncle, ankle; cup, cap; dumb, dam; drug,
drag, dreg; lump, lamp; puddle, paddle, pedal/peddle.
(Intermediate) bland, blend; Kendal, candle; cattle, kettle; phonetic,
fanatic; fancies, fences; neck, knack; melody, malady; mallow, mellow;
mansion, mention; access, excess; wreck, rack, ruck; sacked, sect, sucked;
celery, salary; barrel, Beryl; calm, cam, come; Sam, psalm, some/sum;
buggy, baggy; butter, better, batter; badge, budge; brush, brash; campus,
compass; sucks, sacks/sax, sex; fanfare, funfair; mutter, matter; ramp,
rump; salmon, summon; slam, slum; snug, snag; stamp, stump; thrush,
thrash, thresh.
You can therefore spend some time cementing the difference between these
vowels by practicing the pronunciation of these minimal pair words.
You can also elicit the spelling patterns of these vowel sounds. The fol-
lowing percentages, using BrE, come from Carney (1994).
Create your own: it is in fact quite simple to produce such a maze-type game.
You are the spider. Make your way to the center of the web by passing
through only those words containing the /æ/ vowel (such as bad and
trapped /bæd, træpt/).
gas
track drank
bets
puddle
bad dumb
You are the spider. Make your way to the center of the web by passing
through only those words containing the /æ/ vowel (such as stamp and
trapped /stæmp, træpt/).
ramp
celery fancies
access
wreck
stamp campus
sacked
◆ 149
Worksheet
You are holding a party, but only want to invite people whose names
contain the /ɪ/ vowel. Here is the total list of possible people. Which
ones will you invite, i.e. which ones’ names contain the /ɪ/ vowel?
Invite? ✓ or ✗
Bill Guy Pete
Brian Gwyneth Phyllis
Chris Jane Raymond
Clive Jim Reg
Crystal Keith Robyn
Cynthia Kendal Ryan
Dave Kylie Sid
Diana Liz Tim
Dick Lynn Tyrone
Dylan Michael Wayne
Evelyn Neil Wendy
Fiona Penny Yvonne
use, yoga, few, cute, Europe, value, yellow, unique, review, music, year, barbe-
cue, nephew, computer, amuse, onion, argue, your, unicorn
beauty, uniform, young, yogurt, uranium, usual, stimulate, mule, yesterday,
regular, volume, feud, ukulele, euthanasia, immunity, curious, canyon,
funeral, utopia
◆ 151
You might like to derive observations about the occurrence and spelling
of /j/:
Most AmE speakers do not have /j/ after /θ, t, d, n, s, z/, e.g. enthusiasm,
tube, steward, duty, introduce, new, revenue, pseudo, pursue, Zeus, presume.
The /j/ is pronounced in BrE in these contexts. There are no examples of
such words in this exercise.
Create your own materials: Like other exercises in this book, this is a maze
format that can be used for many pronunciation features—not just sound
recognition.
You are the mother T. Rex. Return to your nest by treading only in those
adjacent footprints (horizontally or vertically, not diagonally) where the
word contains the /j/ consonant, as in “You’re huge!” /jɔ:(r) hju:dʒ/.
You are the mother T. Rex. Return to your nest by treading only in those
adjacent footprints (horizontally or vertically, not diagonally) where the
word contains the /j/ consonant, as in “You’re huge!” /jɔ:(r) hju:dʒ/.
◆ 155
Debriefng note: Once the correct route has been found, get the learners
to pronounce all the /h/ words. You could also ask them how the other
words (without /h/) are pronounced. Eventually, you should arrive at
the rule that, in English, /h/ only occurs at the beginning of a syllable.
So, for example, two-syllable manhood is /mæn.hʊd/, where the “.” shows
the syllable division.
In terms of spelling correspondences:
Create your own materials: Again, this is a maze format that can be used
for many pronunciation features—not just sound recognition.
You are flying the plane. Make your way to the airport by passing through
only those words containing the /h/ consonant sound (such as hug and
happy /hʌg, hæpi/).
You are flying the plane. Make your way to the airport by passing through
only those words containing the /h/ consonant sound (such as hug and
happy /hʌg, hæpi/).
When the English tongue we And think of goose and yet with
speak, choose.
Why is break not rhymed with Think of comb, tomb, and
freak? bomb,
Will you tell me why it’s true Doll and roll or home and some.
We say sew but likewise few? Since pay is rhymed with say,
And the maker of the verse Why not paid with said I pray?
◆ 159
Cannot rhyme his horse with Think of blood, food, and
worse? good.
Beard is not the same as heard. Mould is not pronounced like could.
Cord is different from word. Wherefore done, but gone and lone—
Cow is cow but low is low. Is there any reason known?
Shoe is never rhymed with foe. To sum up all, it seems to me
Think of hose, dose, and lose Sound and letters don’t agree.
The origins of this poem are not conclusively known. It appeared in the
Simplifed Spelling Society newsletter of 1917, but may date back to the
Spectator magazine of 1902. See the English Spelling Society (n.d.) for this
and other example poems.
Conducting the exercise: Distribute or show the worksheet. Explain that
in each row, two of the words have the same-sounding ending (they
rhyme), while the third does not (it has a different vowel sound). Learners
should tick the odd one out.
Debrief notes: The odd ones out are whose, give, do, put, have, were, most,
pull, glove, bear, blood, quay, four, does, worm, pint, bury, height, canoe, laughter.
Notice that many of these are very common words of English; some of
the commonest words have irregular spellings.
Create your own materials: Carney (1994) lists the spelling-to-sound cor-
respondences of (British) English.
Each row below contains three words. Two of them have same-sounding
endings; that is, they rhyme. The third one has a different-sounding end-
ing, with a different vowel sound. Tick the odd one out.
3 so go do
Pronunciation point: English has many silent letters; that is, letters in the
spelling that represent no sound in the pronunciation. This is often because
the sounds were pronounced in earlier versions of English, but while the
sound has disappeared, the letter remains.
Other languages have no—or far fewer—silent letters. In other words,
their spelling systems are more regular.
Minimum level: Intermediate (because of the vocabulary level)
Exercise type: A sound recognition exercise. It is best conducted individu-
ally, but can be conducted in pairs, depending on the learners.
Approximate time: 10 minutes (exercise), 15 minutes (debrief)
Preparation: Make one copy of the worksheet for each learner. Alterna-
tively, to save paper, either make the worksheet accessible in soft copy on
learners’ devices, or show the worksheet on a screen.
Introducing the exercise: Introduce the notion of silent letters in English
with common words such as bread, comb, sign, knife, damn, receipt, island,
listen, guard, answer, where the underlined letters are silent. In the exercise,
all the silent letters are in initial position in the word.
Conducting the exercise: Individually or in pairs, learners identify which
of the three words has a different beginning from the other two. For hour
and heir, the silent h represents no initial consonant (an empty onset); they
are thus homophones of our and air.
Debrief notes: The odd ones out are psalm, white, kite, Peugeot, gash, house,
who, perish, key, wing, hair, wolf.
162 ◆
All the silent letters in this exercise are in initial position. The following
lists are all the common words that, with their related words (who, whose,
whom, etc.), pattern like the examples in the exercise:
Create your own materials: Carney (1994) lists the spelling-to-sound cor-
respondences of (British) English.
The exercise can be extended by considering silent letters in non-initial
position. There are many websites of silent letters in English on the
internet.
In each of the following sets of three words, tick the word that starts
with a different onset (consonant sound(s), or no consonants, before the
vowel sound) from the other two.
All the following exercises have the same format. The difference is in the
sounds being contrasted. Whether you use the particular exercises given
here depends on the particular segmental pronunciation problems your
students have. If you have a class of fairly homogeneous students who
can distinguish, say, /r/ and /l/ easily, quite possibly because the pho-
nology of their native language distinguishes them, then that exercise
(E12) is not needed. In a class of mixed nationalities, some students will
have certain problems, while other students will have different ones. It is
therefore a good idea to mix nationalities in the pairings. It may be that
one learner who does make the distinction can coach the other learner,
who may fnd it diffcult.
Pronunciation point: See the individual exercises, where this is explained.
Minimum level: Elementary (although some vocabulary may need to be
introduced)
Exercise type: Pairwork production and perception exercises
Approximate time: This varies depending on the exercise. Some exercises
have more examples than others. Some exercises relate to sounds that
particular students may fnd very diffcult, while other students may
pronounce and hear them easily.
Preparation: Make one copy of the sentence worksheet and one copy of
the response worksheet for each learner. They could be printed back to
back, so that the learner can only read either the stimuli (on one side) or
the responses (on the other).
Introducing the exercise: See the individual exercises, where guidelines
for introducing the pronunciation differences are given.
Conducting the exercise:
• Divide the class into pairs. Mix the nationalities, if possible and
appropriate.
• Distribute the sentence and response worksheets.
• Explain that, for each item, one member of the pair (A) will be the
speaker, and the other (B) the listener. So, A should not look at the
response worksheet, and B should not look at the sentence work-
sheet. This forces the two members to listen carefully.
• A chooses either the frst or the second sentence, e.g. “Did the
shepherd take his pig?” and says it out loud to B. B listens care-
fully to what A says, and works out which of the two alternative
responses makes sense as a response to the stimulus, in this case,
Pronunciation point:
A major problem for some learners is distinguishing the so-called voiceless
plosives /p, t, k/ from the so-called voiced ones /b, d, g/.
They are “so-called” because voicing is not usually the clearest signal to
be focused on. Indeed, voiced plosives may often be virtually voiceless.
There are three clearer signals.
Firstly, in syllable-initial position, the voiceless ones are usually released
with a burst of voiceless air (aspiration), before the voicing for the follow-
ing vowel starts up. Thus, there is aspiration in pin, but not in bin. A piece
of paper or a feather held in front of the mouth makes this obvious.
Secondly, vowels preceding the voiceless set /p, t, k/ are shorter than
those preceding the voiced set /b, d, g/. They do not become different
vowels (e.g. long /i:/ does not become short /ɪ/), but are shorter versions.
So, the vowel in beat is shorter than that in bead.
Finally, the phenomenon of linking should not be forgotten. If your learn-
ers have a tendency to drop fnal plosives, put them in contexts where
the following word begins with a vowel sound, so that they can be linked,
and not dropped, e.g. swap it versus swab it. In such contexts, the differ-
ence between voiced and voiceless may be more obvious.
Stimuli 1–10 relate to initial plosives; 11–20 to fnal plosives; and 21–25 to
fnal plosives being dropped. Note that there are no examples of plosives
in the middle of words, especially between vowels, because in AmE the
voiceless /t/ is usually changed into the voiced /d/. Thus, Plato and
playdough may be identical. This is known as intervocalic voicing (making
something voiceless into voiced, between voiced vowels).
◆ 167
Worksheet
Sentences
Responses
1 It was delicious.
No. It was crowded.
2 Not too large: 100 cc.
Not too large: 16 students.
3 Manchester Central station.
The sewer.
4 No. I find it really interesting.
Yes. I’ve never seen such heavy rain.
5 No. I prefer badminton.
Yes. He’s a lovely man.
6 No. I don’t believe in them.
Yes. It’s very beautiful.
7 Fifteen inches.
Three years.
8 Yes, but I couldn’t understand him.
Yes. I think that floorboard is loose.
9 No. It really wasn’t wet.
Yes, but it didn’t fit me.
10 A soap dish.
A wire fence.
11 A tattoo.
A New Zealand badge.
12 Toweling.
Wire.
13 In his pocket.
Through the window.
14 Yes, and I pinned up all the notices.
Yes, and I tied them onto my luggage.
* This page is photocopiable for classroom use only.
Pronunciation point:
There are three main pairs of sounds that learners confuse with /θ, ð/:
/t, d/, /s, z/, /f, v/.
/θ, ð/ are dental fricatives. Dental means that the tongue sticks out between
the teeth, but not very far. This means that learners can easily see the
difference between /θ, ð/ (dental) and (i) /t, d, s, z/ (alveolar), where
the tongue does not stick out, and (ii) /f, v/ (labio-dental), where it is the
lower lip that moves, not the tongue. All this is clearly visible.
Fricative means that the tongue comes towards the upper teeth, without
touching them, but leaving a small gap through which air passes, creat-
ing a hissing sound. Since air escapes, the sound can be prolonged. This
distinguishes /θ, ð/ (fricatives) from /t, d/ (plosives), where there is
contact, and once the contact is released, the sound ends, i.e. they are
not prolongable.
172 ◆
Worksheet
Sentences
Responses
1 It was in my soup.
I’ve been playing football.
2 I hate arithmetic too.
Did you hit it with the hammer?
3 But I get seasick.
But I can only afford to go on one trip, not two.
4 Why? Did you not solve the problem in the first nine meetings?
Why? Was everyone nervous that the company would be sold?
5 Overland.
By fax.
6 Lucky you! They must be worth a lot of money.
Who are the two other people you’re going with?
7 Because the previous one couldn’t get along together.
Because the previous one had already been investigated.
8 You accidentally met him at a party, didn’t you?
You attended the same church, didn’t you?
9 Yes, she knows so much about IT.
Yes, how does she keep looking much younger than she really is?
10 But some biologists think otherwise.
But that’s not part of the syllabus!
* This page is photocopiable for classroom use only.
Pronunciation point:
As for the plosives (see E9), the main difference between voiceless /s/
and voiced /z/ is not usually voicing.
Being the voiceless member of the pair, /s/ usually has more hiss (frica-
tion) than the voiced member, /z/. The same is true of /f, v; θ, ð; ʃ, ʒ/.
As we saw with the plosives, the voiceless member in fnal position short-
ens the preceding vowel. Thus, Bruce is shorter than brews. The same is
true of leaf, leave; teeth, teethe; Confucian, confusion. (In fact, there are very
few minimal pairs for /θ, ð; ʃ, ʒ/ and for initial /s, z/.)
◆ 175
Worksheet
Sentences
Responses
• For AmE classes, the distinction is between fnal /r/ and fnal /l/.
• For BrE classes, it is between fnal /l/ and no fnal consonant.
178 ◆
Worksheet
Sentences
Responses
1 A young one.
An adult male.
2 I, R, E, N, E
E, I, L, E, E, N
3 Because my sister had taken her handbag.
Because she wanted to pray.
4 No, I used a lithium one.
No, I used a green one.
5 He killed the captain with his sword.
He guided it safely into port.
6 Because he had been sent home.
Because his lungs were infected with it.
7 Yes. There isn’t much rubbish.
Yes. There is a lot of rubbish.
8 She added up the total marks.
She corrected it.
9 Yes, our local football team always gets large crowds.
Yes, the Queen strongly approves of it.
10 They got out.
They got in.
* This page is photocopiable for classroom use only.
Pronunciation point:
This distinction ought to be easy for learners because it is exactly what it
says it is: the long vowels /i:, ɑ:/ are longer than the short vowels /ɪ, ʌ/.
In terms of the quality of the sounds, as determined by the position of
the tongue and lips, they are similar (but not identical).
There are three factors to consider:
Firstly, in many languages of the world, there is no clear distinction
between long vowels and short vowels, all vowels being a similar length.
Learners from these languages are therefore likely to need some readjust-
ment for English.
Secondly, there is another distinction in length in English between vowels
before voiceless consonants, and those before voiced consonants. We have
already alluded to this in E9 and E11. However, while the vowel in beat
is shorter than the vowel in bead, it is the same vowel sound (phoneme),
and thus the same symbol: /bi:t, bi:d/. It is simply a long or short version
(allophone) of the vowel (phoneme) /i:/. The vowel has not changed to
the short phoneme /ɪ/ as in bit or bid.
Finally, there are four long versus short vowel pairs in English:
◆ 181
often pronounced with /æ/ in AmE, e.g. grant, graph, pass /grænt,
græf, pæs/ (AmE), /grɑ:nt, grɑ:f, pɑ:s/ (BrE).
• /ɔ:, ɒ/: These are a long and short pair in BrE, and thus like the
above pairs. However, in AmE, /ɒ/ is often pronounced /ɑ:/, as
in lot, dodge, possible, quality /lɑ:t, dɑ:dʒ, pɑ:səbəl, kwɑ:ləti/.
• /u:, ʊ/: These are a long and short pair in AmE and BrE. How-
ever, some accents, notably Scottish, do not distinguish the two.
Also, there are very few minimal pairs.
In light of the above points, there is a full exercise below for /i:, ɪ/, which
any teacher can use. The exercise for /ɑ:, ʌ/ can only be used by non-AmE
teachers. There is also no exercise for /ɔ:, ɒ/ or /u:, ʊ/. However, if learn-
ers master the /i:, ɪ/ distinction, we can expect them to also master the
other distinctions since they are the same difference between long and
short vowel phonemes.
Sentences
Responses
1 It was soapy.
He found the bed uncomfortable.
2 Seven days, of course.
Usually an inch or two.
3 But my doctor gave it to me!
Nonsense! Oranges are good for you.
4 Yes, on the ear.
Yes, he won the title.
5 My friend Muhammad left five minutes ago.
Prophet Muhammad lived 570 to 632.
6 By mowing the grass?
By peeling it?
7 I’m disgusted.
My donut has strawberry inside.
8 Only one buyer was interested in it.
Not enough to complete it.
9 Yes. The traffic accident left two people dead.
Yes. He should go to prison.
10 Yes, she should wear lower ones.
Yes, she should climb lower ones.
* This page is photocopiable for classroom use only.
Sentences
Responses
1 Cattle.
Raisins.
2 They were imported illegally from Africa.
My English workbook.
3 Why can’t we discuss it up here?
I am not angry!
4 They’re trying to breed them.
It needs washing. It’s got lipstick on it.
5 The Prophet David.
My arithmetic teacher.
6 He’s very loud.
It’s a historical tragedy.
7 They are refusing to leave the office.
I haven’t thrown it out yet.
8 You’ll need lots of black, then.
You’ll need lots of green, then.
* This page is photocopiable for classroom use only.
Pronunciation point:
The two vowels contrasted here are both short vowels. The difference is
in the tongue position, specifcally tongue height. The one of the pair that
typically causes problems is /æ/. For /æ/, the tongue is lower than for
/e/; that is, the mouth is wider open. Also, the lips are drawn wide apart
sideways.
◆ 187
Worksheet
Sentences
Responses
Pronunciation point:
Diphthongs are vowel sounds whose quality changes because the tongue
and/or lip position changes during the vowel. They are in contrast with
monophthongs, where the tongue and lips stay relatively stable, and the
vowel sounds the same throughout.
As a result, diphthongs are represented by two symbols in transcription
(e.g. /eɪ/ in pain), whereas monophthongs have only one symbol (e.g. /e/
in pen). Diphthongs are long, while monophthongs can be long or short.
There is a lot of variation in the diphthong/monophthong distinction—and
in vowel sounds generally—between accents of English. The vowels of
made and mode are very diphthongal (involving a lot of change) in Aus-
tralian accents, but largely monophthongal (with little movement) in Scot-
tish accents. Because non-rhotic BrE accents do not pronounce an /r/ in
here, where, poor, they have diphthongs instead: /hɪə, weə, pʊə/. For many
of these accents, the vowel of where is a long monophthong rather than a
diphthong.
For reasons like the aforementioned, it is diffcult to give exercises that
are widely applicable since it depends on the reference accent used for
pronunciation teaching.
The exercise below covers the monophthong-diphthong distinctions /e,
eɪ; ɔ:, əʊ ~ oʊ; ɒ ~ ɑ:, əʊ ~ oʊ/.
190 ◆
Worksheet
Sentences
Responses
◆ 193
Pickett, W. (2004). A believable accent: The phonology of the Pink
Panther. California Linguistic Notes, 29(1), 1–13. http://english.
fullerton.edu/publications/clnArchives/pdf/picket_pink.pdf
Planchenault, G. (2015). Voices in the media: Performing French linguistic
otherness. Bloomsbury Academic.
The Pink Panther (2006). Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Columbia Pictures.
The Pink Panther 2 (2009). Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Columbia Pictures,
Robert Simonds Company.
The Pink Panther Strikes Again (1976). Amjo Productions/United Artists.
van Rooten, L. D. (1967). Mots D’Heures: Gousses, Râmes. Viking Adult.
Wells, J. C. (2006). English intonation: An introduction. Cambridge
University Press.
Wikipedia (n.d.). Mr. Men. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mr._Men
194 ◆ References