When a verb that ends with a 't' or
'd' sound has 'ed' added to it, the last syllable is pronounced as a distinct
‘id’ sound.
Most English speakers from England pronounce it as in ‘did’
but other native English speakers (e.g., U.S., Australia, Canada, NZ) tend to pronounce it as somewhere between
‘did’ and ‘dead’. Nevertheless, it is still clearly heard. For example, here is
the North American pronunciation of "graduated":
graduated. Most Australians pronounce the ‘id’ sound similar to the North American
way, rather than to the English way.
After these sounds, ‘es’ is pronounced as
a distinct‘Iz’
sound. The same British-American pronunciation variation of ‘ed’ (see above)
also applies with this sound, with the Australians and New Zealanders especially
pronouncing it close to, ‘əz’.
Make sure that you can pronounce
'clothes' correctly. Do not pronounce it as “clo-this”.
There are two correct pronunciations. The pronunciation that most English
speakers use is “kləʊðz”.
This is hard for many Chinese to pronounce and is even hard for some
English speakers and that is why there is a second acceptable pronunciation. The
second pronunciation is “kləʊz”,
just as in the first but you leave out the ‘ð’
sound. It sounds the same as ‘close’
in, “Please close the door.”
Similarly,
if you can't say ‘months’ as “mʌnθs”,
just change the ‘θ’
sound to ‘t’.
Strictly speaking, that pronunciation is not correct but it sounds much better
than saying “mon-this”
(“mʌn-θəs”).
‘Graduated’
is pronounced with the word stress (重音)
on the first syllable: /ˈɡrædʒuˌeɪtɪd/,
not/ɡrædʒuˈeɪtɪd/.
[Test
yourself on the pronunciation of the following words by first guessing the
pronunciation and then listening to the correct pronunciation by clicking on
the word –
graduated,
communicated,
complicated,
sophisticated. If you got the pronunciation wrong (if you got the the
stress pattern wrong) for any of those words, then this new page will
explain how to avoid this error –
The_'ate'_verbs.htm]
graduate This word is pronounced differently, depending on whether it is
the noun or the verb.
Here are two more recordings of
the verb and noun, ‘graduate’.
adjective: “a
graduate student”, “graduate
studies”
(The pronunciation is the same as the noun:ˈɡrædʒuət).
Americans usually use the adjective, “graduate”
but the British usually use, “postgraduate”.
The two mean the same thing.
Many people make mistakes, both
in writing and speaking, when they try to use any of the words that are
related to the word, “economy”. You should spend some time
studying these words.
The recordings shown by the
cassette icon are British English. For the American pronunciation, click on
.
Alternatively, you can go to the page 'MW' (for Merriam Webster Dictionary),
read the information about the word and then click theicon on that page to hear the
American pronunciation. I am including the American pronunciation here for
some words where there is a difference between the standard British English
and the American because many Australians and people from England do tend to
use the American pronunciation for some words. In the case of words related
to 'economy', I'm referring here to speaking the first sound as 'e'
instead of 'ɪ'
– both are possible and both are equally suitable, in my opinion.
That is, both pronunciations are suitable for the
IELTS test. (In fact, speaking 100% American pronunciation is not considered
'wrong' for the IELTS Speaking test.)
The
syllable (音节)that has word stress
(重音)
is highlighted in yellow.
Word
中文
Examples
Pronunciation
Listen
economy
(国家的) 经济管理;经济制度
a)
China's economy is growing very fast at the moment.
Another common mistake is to say, “technique” when you really mean,
“technical”. Although these two words come from the same
ancient Greek word ('techne' = art, craft, skill), they are now quite different in meaning and in
pronunciation.
A
‘technique’(tеk/'ni
:kHear)is
a method of doing or performing something, especially in the arts and
sciences. (尤指艺术或科学方面的) 技法，手法，技巧。Example:applying
modern techniques to a traditional craft 将现代技术用于传统手工业。Another
example: High jumpers adopted a new technique in the 1960's, which allowed
them to jump much higher than they used to when they used the old
technique.
On the other hand, ‘technology’
and the words derived from it are all related to the idea of 科技 or 技术,
as shown in the table below.
Word
中文
Examples
Pronunciation
Listen
technology
科技;共艺及应用科学
(如工程技术);
工艺学;工程学
I think one reason why
people are living longer nowadays is the fact that medical
technology has advanced a lot in
the last few decades.
13.How
to Say "You know" when Introducing a New Piece of Information
There are two ways to say, "You know, ..."
because there are two main usages or meanings for, "you know".
Sometimes we say, "You know" with the
meaning of, "You already know". In this usage, the word "you" is spoken more
emphatically than the word "know". We often speak this way in informal
conversation when we are trying to explain something but can't quite find
the exact word or words that we want to say. For example, Q: "What's the
difference between traditional stories and modern stories?" A: "Well,
traditional stories are usually set in the traditional lifestyle that
Chinese people had, which was rural, whereas most modern stories have
modern, urban settings. As well as that, most traditional stories are either
myths that explain natural phenomena such as how the moon came to be in the
sky or stories that teach you a moral lesson, ...
you know, like teaching
people what is good and bad behaviour, such as the story of the boy who
cried "wolf". But most modern stories are not myths or moral tales; they
just tell a short story, which is often an adventure story or a mystery
story, like what we see in a TV program or in a movie."
It's very suitable, and very natural to include "like", "something like",
"similar to", "what I mean is" or "such as" when using "you know" this way.
A similar usage of "you know" meaning "you already know", but one that
would not be used in the IELTS Speaking test very often, is shown in this
example: "Where did you buy that?" "You know! I told you
yesterday; I bought it at Carrafour."
When you introduce a new fact,
you can say, "you know"
but you should say it almost as "y' know", with more stress on the word, "know",
not on the word, "you". In other words, the word, "you"
should not be spoken emphatically when you are introducing a new piece of
information. For example: "You
know, I've only been living in Beijing for the past three years, so I
don't know the city as well as I know my hometown."
14. When and when not to emphasize the
word, "some".
The word, "some" has two main meanings or usages:
1) "some" = "a few but not many" (or, "a little but not much") (一些) and,
2) "some" = "a few of this group but not all" (有的).
Here is an example of "some"
= "a few but not many" (or, "a little but not much"). "What did
you see in the park?" "I saw some people, some dogs,
some trees, some grass and some flowers."
When we speak a sentence like that, the "some" is not emphasized and, in
fact can be spoken very quickly in a short way that sounds like, "s'm".
Instead, it is the noun that follows the word "some" that is emphasized.
This second usage, where
"some" = "a few of this group but not all", is spoken with
the word "some" emphasized because it has a contrast (对比) meaning. For
example: "The topic of climate change is quite controversial at the moment.
Some experts even predict that the world is now starting to
enter a prolonged cold period." It is incorrect to speak that
sentence with the emphasis on the word, "experts", i.e., "Some experts
even predict ..." Here's a recording showing this usage: "some
of us" (but not all of us).
The following words also follow the same logic of this second usage:
someday,
somehow,
somebody,
someone,
someplace,
something,
sometime,
sometimes,
somewhere (= someplace). In these words, the prefix "some" has the
meaning of "a certain" or "a particular", such as "someday" = "a particular
day, but I don't know exactly which day."
The word, "somewhat"
is spoken the same as these words but it can also be spoken this way, "somewhat"
(similar to pronunciation 1 or with equal emphasis on both words) because
the meaning is, "to some degree but not to a large degree".
15. When and when not to emphasize the
word, "self".
The word (the suffix), "self" is used in the following words: myself,
yourself, himself, herself,
itself and in the plural forms, ourselves,
yourselves, themselves.
Sometimes the suffix, "self" (or "selves") is spoken with strong stress and
sometimes it is not.
When "self" and "selves" are
not spoken with strong
emphasis
"Self" and "selves" are not emphasized when these words are used in a
reflexive way. "Reflexive" (反身的) means the verb is reflected back onto
the person or thing that is the subject of the sentence, i.e., the person or
thing who does the verb. For example: "He fell over and hurt
himself". In that sentence, the verb "hurt" is spoken with the strongest
emphasis; the suffix "self" in the word, "himself" is not emphasized.
Many verbs can be used reflexively. For example, there are many things you
can do to yourself such as hit yourself, hurt yourself, cut yourself,
burn yourself, injure yourself, help yourself, ask yourself, wash yourself, feed
yourself, enjoy yourself, entertain yourself, amuse yourself etc.In
all these examples, the verb is spoken stronger than the word "yourself",
"myself" etc. [But English does not use "relax yourself" – we simply say, "I
like to go for a long, slow walk to relax"; not, "I like to go for a
long, slow walk to relax myself".]
When "self" and "selves" are spoken with strong emphasis
The words "self" and "selves" are emphasized when the meaning is, "not
done by someone else". This is another example of contrasting stress.
Here are some examples:
"Who wrote that essay for you?" "Nobody! I wrote it myself."
"How do you like my new bookshelf? I made it myself."
A variation of the meaning, "not done by someone else" is "not
with/by/for someone else". When we say, "by myself", we are
using this meaning. For example: "I prefer to study by myself." This means, "I prefer to study alone." Another example: "Who did you go
to the cinema with?" "Nobody. I went by myself." (= I went alone.)
If you say, "I made the bookshelf by myself" your
meaning is, "I made the bookshelf alone." (= There was nobody else with me; I
was alone.) This is similar to, but not exactly the same as, "I made the
bookshelf myself." (= Nobody else made it. Or: Nobody else helped
me to make it.)
16. Which word is stressed when you
say, "drinking water", "a cleaning woman" or "a travelling salesman"?
Many people make mistakes when they speak two-word combinations where the
first word ends with "ing". On a separate page, you will be able to learn the
basic rules for this pronunciation and you will be able to mimic many
recordings.
This topic, which is really part of the topic, Word
Combination Lists, is a little advanced and is most suitable for
students who are already at around Band 6 level, or higher.
