In English, one spelling can have different pronunciations and the words with same sound can have different spellings. If you check the pronunciation of the whole word by looking at the phonetic script in a dictionary, you will find that the sound is very common in English. It is always unstressed. In this article, we will look at some of the sounds in English.
- Words ending with ‘ough’ are spelled in different ways in English. Some examples are given below:
Now sound: plough, bough
Cuff sound: enough, tough, rough
Toe sound: though, dough
Off sound: cough.
- Words containing ‘st’ where ‘t’ is not pronounced. Some examples are listen, whistle, whistle, bristle.
- Words containing ‘bt’ and ‘mb’, where b is not heard. Some examples are given below:
‘bt’: debt, subtle, doubt
‘mb’: plumber, comb, dumb
Tips for Pronunciation and spelling English words:
The tips given below will help you to understand spelling and pronunciation of some words in English.
- Correct pronunciation is very much essential. Pronunciation and spelling are knotted in English and so one of the solutions to spelling is a perfect pronunciation.
- Try to read the word carefully. You can divide the words into syllables so that it will be easy for you to pronounce.
- You can think of root words and similar words and also remove the suffixes and prefixes from your mind. For instance, the word ‘conduct’ can have a prefix ‘mis’ and it will become ‘ misconduct’ and the word can have a suffix ‘ing’ and so it becomes ‘misconducting’. In this word, first try to spell the word ‘conduct’ and add the prefix or suffix later. It will be easy for you to pronounce the word.
- It will be difficult to learn some words in English. If you find difficult to learn some words, it is better to write down the word and this will help you to recall if you are a good visual learner.
- You can use online learning methods for learning more about spelling and pronunciation. Some websites have speaking pronunciation tools and this will be of great use to you, not only for learning the spelling, but also for learning the pronunciation. Some interactive spelling websites are also available; you can get the help of these websites as well.
- You can look up the etymology of certain words, which you find difficult to understand. Etymology is nothing but the study of the origins of the words or parts of the words and how they have arrived at their current form and meaning.
- As said earlier, perfect pronunciation of words is essential to become a good speaker and a good speller in English. Most of the people do the mistake of spelling the words ‘then and than’ in the same manner, try to avoid this. Try to use proper English, even when the people around you do not use proper English.
We all will have to take English spelling and words seriously and should try to avoid mistake in pronunciation and spelling.