Page 43 - English Vocabulary In Use upper intermediet and advance

Words commonly mispronounced

English spelling is notoriously unphonetic. This page looks at some of the words which cause
most pronunciation difficulties for learners of English. The phonetic transcription is
provided for some of the words below. If you are not sure of the pronunciation of any of the
other words, check in the index at the back of the book.

To master English pronunciation you need to learn the 20 phonetic symbols for English
vowel sounds. It is not really necessary to learn the consonant symbols as it is usually not
difficult to know how consonants should be pronounced. Vowels are important because the
vowel letters can be pronounced in many different ways.
about /a/ wander ID/ last /a:/ late led
alive /a11 give /I/
put /u/ cut /A/ cupid /ju:/
fiend /i:l friend /el science lala1
rein /erl receive /i:l reinforce /i:11
met /el meter /i:/ /a/
sorry ID/ go Iaul love /A/ to /u:/
head /el team /i:/ react 1i:rel
our Iaul route /u:/ would /ul
cool /u:l cook /u/ coopt /au~/

# " ve
6 Silent letters can be a problem. The letters below in bold are silent in the following words:
psychic/sa~krkl psychiatry pneumatic receipt pseudonym psychology
comb/kauml dumb numb tomb climb womb lamb
doubt Idautl subtle debt debtor
could/kudl should calm half talk palm walk salmon chalk
honourl~nal honourable honest hour hourly heir heiress
whistle Iw~sall castle listen fasten soften Christmas
kneehi:/ knife know knob knowledge knot knit
card 1ka:dl park farm burn work storm tart
(unless followed by a vowel) mother /m~6a/ sister teacher water

In a number of two-syllable words in English, the stress is on the first syllable of the word
when it is a noun and the second syllable if it is a verb, e.g. 'Wool is a major Scottish
export.' 'Scotland ex- a lot of wool.' Here are some other words like this.
-
conduct conflict contest decrease suspect
desert import increase insult transfer
permit present progress protest transport
record reject reprint subject upset

Here are a number of other words which are often mispronounced.
apostrophe Ia'p~strafil catastrophe Ika'tzestrafil cupboard I'k~badl
recipe I'res~pil hiccough I'hrk~pl sword Is3:dl
plough Iplaul muscle /'m~sall interesting 1'1ntrast1gI

English Vocabulary in Use