Look at these words: what is their final sound?
Laugh Cough Enough
Now look for more words with the same sound:
Though High Sleigh Sigh tough Thigh
Conclusion: ____________________________________________________________
Look at these words: what is their vowel sound?
Lock ton son sock moss thorn mob clock
Now look at the letter in bold. What is its sound?
Women
Conclusion: ____________________________________________________________
Look at these words now. What are the sounds in bold?
Tin time ticket till tip tide tiger
And in these words?
Nation motion function attention mention
Conclusion: ____________________________________________________________
Now put all the above-mentioned spellings together into a word. Think about their possible
sounds.
WORD: ______________
How would you pronounce it?
PRONUNCIATION: ___________________________
George Bernard Shaw (1856- 1950)
Irish playwright, very concerned with the English spelling.
Famous work: Pygmallion (later made into a musical My Fair Lady)
Quote :
Some languages are "phonetic". That means that you can look at a word and know
how to say it. English is not phonetic. You cannot always look at an English word
and know how to say it. You cannot always hear an English word and know how to
spell it.
George Bernard Shaw (GBS) was a famous Irish writer. He wanted to reform
English spelling so that it was more logical. He asked the following question as an
example:
How do we pronounce the word "ghoti"?
His answer was "fish".
How can "ghoti" and "fish" sound the same? GBS explained it like this:
the gh = f as in rouGH
the o = i as in wOmen
the ti = sh as in naTIon
Of course, this was a joke. The word "ghoti" is not even a real word. But it showed
the inconsistency of English spelling.
It is very important to understand that English spelling and English pronunciation
are not always the same.
Same spelling - different sound
Do not place too much importance on the spelling of a word. The more important
thing in understanding English is the sound.
Here are five words that end in "ough". In each word, the "ough" has a different
pronunciation:
bough rhymes with cow
cough rhymes with off
rough rhymes with puff
though rhymes with Jo
through rhymes with too
Many words have exactly the same spelling but are pronounced differently when
the meaning is different. These words are called "homographs". Here are some
examples:
bow (noun: front of ship) rhymes with cow
bow (noun: fancy knot) rhymes with go
lead (verb: to guide) rhymes with feed
lead (noun: metal) rhymes with fed
wind (noun: airflow) rhymes with pinned
wind (verb: to turn) rhymes with find
Different spelling - same sound
Many words have different spellings but are pronounced exactly the same. These
words are called "homophones". Here are some examples:
sea, see
for, four
hear, here
one, won
knight, night
him, hymn
to, too, two
What can we learn from all this? We can learn that the sound of a word is more
important than the spelling.
Of course, it is good to spell correctly. But to help you understand spoken English
and many rules of English, you should think first about the sound of the words. Do
not worry too much at first about the spelling.
Take, for example, the rule about pronouncing the past simple "-ed" ending of
regular verbs. You have probably learned that when a verb ends in "d" or "t", we
add "-ed" and pronounce it /Id/ as an extra syllable.
wanT wantED/Id/
So why do we have:
divide dividED/Id/???
"Divide" does not end in "d". It ends in "e". But it does end in a /d/ sound. With
this rule, it is the sound at the end of a word that matters, not the letter. You
must think about the spoken word, not the written word.
This is only one example of the importance of sounds in English. There are many
more examples!
