Pronouncing /s/

Pronouncing (–ed)
Pronouncing /t/
Pronouncing (–ing)
Pronouncing (the)
Pronouncing /r/

Pronouncing 's'

Regular plural nouns (e.g. names, parents) and 3rd person present simple verbs (e.g. she
sings, he learns, it runs) all end in 's' but there are three different ways of pronouncing this
letter.

verbs nouns
wishes buses
judges watches
closes experiences

verbs nouns
jumps parents
bites cuffs
drinks maths

verbs nouns
sings clothes
needs mums
loves names
Voiced and unvoiced sounds

If a sound is voiced it means that there is a vibration in your throat

when you say the sound. If place your hand over your throat and say
the sound /z/ or /m/, for example, you can feel your throat vibrate
or buzz.

When you say an unvoiced sound, on the other hand, like /s/ or /t/,
you can't feel any buzz or vibration in your throat.

Rules for pronouncing 's'

Here are some rules about how you pronounce the final 's':

If the word ends with the sounds

the final s is pronounced

If the word ends with any other voicless consonant, for example:

the final s is pronounced

If the word ends with any other voiced consonant, for example:

the final s is pronounced

How to Pronounce -ed in English

The past simple tense and past participle of all regular verbs end in -ed. For
example:

base verb past simple past participle

(v1) (v2) (v3)

work worked worked

In addition, many adjectives are made from the past participle and so end in -ed. For
example:

 I like painted furniture.

The question is: How do we pronounce the -ed?

The answer is: In 3 ways - / Id/ or / t/ or / d/

example
If the base verb ends in one example pronounce extra
with -
of these sounds: base verb*: the -ed: syllable?
ed:

unvoiced /t/ want wanted

/ Id/ yes
voiced /d/ end ended

/p/ hope hoped

/f/ laugh laughed

/s/ fax faxed

unvoiced / t/
/S/ wash washed

/tS/ watch watched no

/k/ like liked

play played
all other sounds,
voiced allow allowed / d/
for example...
beg begged

* note that it is the sound that is important, not the letter or spelling. For example,
"fax" ends in the letter "x" but the sound /s/; "like" ends in the letter "e" but the sound
/k/.

Exceptions

The following -ed words used as adjectives are pronounced with /Id/:

 aged  dogged  ragged

 blessed  learned  wicked
 crooked  naked  wretched

So we say:
  an aged man /Id/
 a blessed nuisance /Id/
 a dogged persistance /Id/
 a learned professor - the professor, who was truly learned /Id/
 a wretched beggar - the beggar was wretched /Id/

But when used as real verbs (past simple and past participle), the normal rules apply
and we say:

 he aged quickly /d/

 he blessed me /t/
 they dogged him /d/
 he has learned well /d/ or /t/

The glottal stop /ʔ/

In both British and American varieties of English, a /t/ which comes at the end of a
word or syllable can often be pronounced as a glottal stop /ʔ/ (a silent gap produced
by holding one’s breath briefly) instead of a /t/. For this to happen, the next sound
must not be a vowel or a syllabic /l/. So football can be /ˈfʊʔbɔːl/ instead of /ˈfʊtbɔːl/,
and button can be /ˈbʌʔn/ instead of /ˈbʌtn/. But a glottal stop would not be used for
the /t/ sounds in bottle or better because of the sounds which come afterwards.

Examples and Observations:

 "Glottalization is a general term for any articulation involving a simultaneous

constriction, especially a glottal stop. In English, glottal stops are often used in this
way to reinforce a voiceless plosive at the end of a word, as in what?"
(David Crystal, A Dictionary of Linguistics and Phonetics. Blackwell, 1997)

 "We often make this stop--it's the sound we make when we say 'uh-oh.' In some
languages, this is a separate consonant sound, but in English we often use it with d,
t, k, g, b or p when one of those sounds happens at the end of a word or syllable. . . .
We close the vocal cords very sharply and make the air stop for just a moment. We
don't let the air escape.

"This glottal stop is the last sound of these words:

o words: light . . . flight . . . put . . . take . . . make . . . trip . . . report
o multisyllable words: stoplight . . . apartment . . . backseat . . . assortment . . .
workload . . . upbeat
o phrases: right now . . . talk back . . . cook the books . . . hate mail . . . fax
machine . . . back-breaking
 You also hear it in words and syllables that end in t + a vowel + n. We don't say the
vowel at all, so we say the t + n: button . . . cotton . . . kitten . . . Clinton . . . continent
. . . forgotten . . . sentence."
(Charlsie Childs, Improve Your American English Accent. McGraw Hill, 2004)

 "Nowadays younger speakers of many forms of British English have glottal stops at
the ends of words such as cap, cat, and back. A generation or so ago speakers of BBC
English would have regarded such a pronunciation as improper, almost as bad as
producing a glottal stop between vowels in the London Cockney pronunciation of
butter . . .. In America nearly everybody has a glottal stop in button and bitten . . .."
(Peter Ladefoged, Vowels and Consonants: An Introduction to the Sounds of
Languages, Vol. 1, 2nd ed. Blackwell, 2005)

/r/
RP is non-rhotic, which means that the letter r is usually "silent", unless it is followed
by a vowel. Here's how it works:

 In words like car, tower, inform and first, r is silent (r is not followed by a
vowel).
 In words like red, foreign, print, r is pronounced (r is followed by a vowel).
 R is also pronounced at the end of a word, if the next word starts with a vowel,
for example: number eight, far away.
 Most RP speakers also insert an r in phrases like: the idea(r) of, Africa(r) and
Asia, law(r) and order. This r is not in the spelling; they just use it to separate
two vowels.

The following pairs sound exactly the same in RP: or/awe, court/caught, sore/saw,
farther/father, formerly/formally. In General American, they all sound different.

How to Pronounce "the" in English

Normally, we pronounce "the" with a short sound (like "thuh"). But when "the" comes
before a vowel sound, we pronounce it as a long "thee".

vowel sound we write we say

A the apple thee apple

 E the egg thee egg

I the ice-cream thee ice-cream

O the orange thee orange

U the ugli fruit thee ugli fruit

It is important to understand that it is what we say that matters, not what we write. It
is the sound that matters, not the letter used in writing a word. So we use a long
"thee" before a vowel sound, not necessarily before a vowel. Look at these cases:

we write with we say with

the house consonant (h) thuh house consonant sound

the hour consonant (h) thee our vowel sound

the university vowel (u) thuh youniversity consonant sound

the umbrella vowel (u) thee umbrella vowel sound

Emphatic the [thee]

When we wish to place emphasis on a particular word, we can use "emphatic the"
[thee], whether or not the word begins with a consonant or vowel sound. For example:

A: I saw the [thuh] President yesterday.

B: What! The [thee] President of the United States?
A: Yes, exactly.

Pronunciation of the /-ing/ ending in English

words with the “-ing” ending similar words and expressions putting put in king kin madding
madden anything any thin helping help in calling call in wing win rowing row in knowing
know win know when morning more nan costing cost in
I hope you’ve noticed that with the correct pronunciation of the /ŋ/ sound you feel the
vibration in your nose. Sentences with examples that show the importance of the right
and clear pronunciation of this sound.

We charge no roaming fees. We charge no Roman fees.

I’m aiming for my day off.
Are you wedding?
I don’t like this taxing.
Gorge’s got a degree in accounting
I can feel the sting.
I’m amy for my day off.
Are you wait Ann?
I don’t like this taxi.
Gorge’s got a degree in accountee.
I can feel the steam.

Word Stress in English

Word stress is your magic key to understanding spoken English. Native speakers of
English use word stress naturally. Word stress is so natural for them that they don't
even know they use it. Non-native speakers who speak English to native speakers
without using word stress, encounter two problems:

1. They find it difficult to understand native speakers, especially those speaking

fast.
2. The native speakers may find it difficult to understand them.

In this lesson we look at the most important aspects of word stress, followed by a
short quiz to check your understanding:

 Understanding Syllables for Word Stress

 What is Word Stress?
 Why is Word Stress Important?
 Where do I Put Word Stress?
 Word Stress Rules
 Word Stress Quiz

Rules of Word Stress in English

There are two very simple rules about word stress:

1. One word has only one stress. (One word cannot have two stresses. If you
hear two stresses, you hear two words. Two stresses cannot be one word. It is
true that there can be a "secondary" stress in some words. But a secondary
stress is much smaller than the main [primary] stress, and is only used in long
words.)

2. We can only stress vowels, not consonants.

Here are some more, rather complicated, rules that can help you understand where to
put the stress. But do not rely on them too much, because there are many exceptions.
It is better to try to "feel" the music of the language and to add the stress naturally.

1 Stress on first syllable

rule example

Most 2-syllable nouns PRESent, EXport, CHIna, TAble

Most 2-syllable adjectives PRESent, SLENder, CLEVer, HAPpy

2 Stress on last syllable

rule example

Most 2-syllable verbs to preSENT, to exPORT, to deCIDE, to beGIN

There are many two-syllable words in English whose meaning and class change with
a change in stress. The word present, for example is a two-syllable word. If we stress
the first syllable, it is a noun (gift) or an adjective (opposite of absent). But if we
stress the second syllable, it becomes a verb (to offer). More examples: the words
export, import, contract and object can all be nouns or verbs depending on whether
the stress is on the first or second syllable.

3 Stress on penultimate syllable (penultimate = second from end)

rule example

Words ending in -ic GRAPHic, geoGRAPHic, geoLOGic

Words ending in -sion and -tion teleVIsion, reveLAtion

For a few words, native English speakers don't always "agree" on where to put the
stress. For example, some people say teleVIsion and others say TELevision. Another
example is: CONtroversy and conTROversy.

4 Stress on ante-penultimate syllable (ante-penultimate = third from end)

rule example

Words ending in -cy, -ty, -phy and deMOcracy, dependaBIlity, phoTOgraphy,

-gy geOLogy

Words ending in -al CRItical, geoLOGical

5 Compound words (words with two parts)

rule example

For compound nouns, the stress is on the first part BLACKbird, GREENhouse

For compound adjectives, the stress is on the bad-TEMpered, old-

second part FASHioned

to underSTAND, to
For compound verbs, the stress is on the second part
overFLOW

Sentence Stress in English

Sentence stress is the music of spoken English. Like word stress, sentence stress can
help you to understand spoken English, especially when spoken fast.

Sentence stress is what gives English its rhythm or "beat". You remember that word
stress is accent on one syllable within a word. Sentence stress is accent on certain
words within a sentence.

Most sentences have two types of word:

 content words
 structure words

Content words are the key words of a sentence. They are the important words that
carry the meaning or sense.

Structure words are not very important words. They are small, simple words that
make the sentence correct grammatically. They give the sentence its correct form or
"structure".

If you remove the structure words from a sentence, you will probably still understand
the sentence.

If you remove the content words from a sentence, you will not understand the
sentence. The sentence has no sense or meaning.

Imagine that you receive this telegram message:

Will you SELL my CAR because I've GONE to FRANCE

Click here to hear

This sentence is not complete. It is not a "grammatically correct" sentence. But you
probably understand it. These 4 words communicate very well. Somebody wants you
to sell their car for them because they have gone to France. We can add a few words:

Will you SELL my CAR because I've GONE to FRANCE

Click here to hear

The new words do not really add any more information. But they make the message
more correct grammatically. We can add even more words to make one complete,
grammatically correct sentence. But the information is basically the same:

Content Words

Will you SELL my CAR because I've GONE to FRANCE.

Structure Words

Click here to hear

In our sentence, the 4 key words (sell, car, gone, France) are accentuated or stressed.

Why is this important for pronunciation? It is important because it adds "music" to the
language. It is the rhythm of the English language. It changes the speed at which we
speak (and listen to) the language. The time between each stressed word is the
same.

In our sentence, there is 1 syllable between SELL and CAR and 3 syllables between
CAR and GONE. But the time (t) between SELL and CAR and between CAR and
GONE is the same. We maintain a constant beat on the stressed words. To do this, we
say "my" more slowly, and "because I've" more quickly. We change the speed of the
small structure words so that the rhythm of the key content words stays the same.

syllables

2 1 3 1

Will you SELL my CAR because I've GONE to FRANCE.

beat beat beat beat

 t1 t1 t1 t1

Sentence Stress Rules >

See also: Word Stress

I am a proFESsional phoTOgrapher whose MAIN INterest is to TAKE SPEcial,

BLACK and WHITE PHOtographs that exHIBit ABstract MEANings in their
photoGRAPHic STRUCture.

Rules for Sentence Stress in English

The basic rules of sentence stress are:

1. content words are stressed

2. structure words are unstressed
3. the time between stressed words is always the same

The following tables can help you decide which words are content words and which
words are structure words:

Content words - stressed

Words carrying the meaning Example

main verbs SELL, GIVE, EMPLOY

nouns CAR, MUSIC, MARY

adjectives RED, BIG, INTERESTING

adverbs QUICKLY, LOUDLY, NEVER

negative auxiliaries DON'T, AREN'T, CAN'T

Structure words - unstressed

Words for correct grammar Example

pronouns he, we, they

prepositions on, at, into

articles a, an, the

conjunctions and, but, because

auxiliary verbs do, be, have, can, must

Exceptions

The above rules are for for what is called "neutral" or normal stress. But sometimes
we can stress a word that would normally be only a structure word, for example to
correct information. Look at the following dialogue:

"They've been to Mongolia, haven't they?"

"No, THEY haven't, but WE have.

Note also that when "be" is used as a main verb, it is usually unstressed (even though
in this case it is a content word).

To make progress with sentence stress fast, try the world's #1 pronunciation program,
Pronunciation Power.

Linking in English
When we say a sentence in English, we join or "link" words to each other. Because of
this linking, the words in a sentence do not always sound the same as when we say
them individually. Linking is very important in English. If you recognize and use
linking, two things will happen:

1. you will understand other people more easily

2. other people will understand you more easily

There are basically two types of linking:

 consonant > vowel

We link words ending with a consonant sound to words beginning with a
vowel sound
 vowel > vowel
We link words ending with a vowel sound to words beginning with a vowel
sound

In this lesson we look at:

 Understanding Vowels and Consonants

  Linking Consonant to Vowel
 Linking Vowel to Vowel

Understanding Vowels & Consonants

for Linking
To understand linking, it is important to know the difference between vowel sounds
and consonant sounds. Here is a table of English vowels and consonants:

vowels a e i o u
consonants b c d f g h j k l m n p q r s t v w x y z

The table shows the letters that are vowels and consonants. But the important thing in
linking is the sound, not the letter. Often the letter and the sound are the same, but not
always.

For example, the word "pay" ends with:

 the consonant letter "y"

 the vowel sound "a"

Here are some more examples:

though know

ends with the letter h w

ends with the sound o o

uniform honest

begins with the letter u h

begins with the sound y o

Vowels and Consonants | Consonant to Vowel | Vowel to Vowel

Linking Consonant to Vowel

When a word ends in a consonant sound, we often move the consonant sound to the
beginning of the next word if it starts with a vowel sound.

For example, in the phrase "turn off":

We write it like this: turn off

We say it like this: tur noff

Remember that it's the sound that matters. In the next example, "have" ends with:

 the letter "e" (vowel)

 the sound "v" (consonant)

So we link "have" to the next word "a" which begins with a vowel sound:

We write it like this: Can I have a bit of egg?

We say it like this: Ca-nI-ha-va-bi-to-fegg?

Linking Vowel to Vowel

When one word ends with a vowel sound and the next word begins with a vowel
sound, we link the words with a sort of W or Y sound.

If our lips are round at the end of the first word, we insert a W sound:

oo We write it like this: too often who is so I do all

|
o We say it like this: tooWoften whoWis soWI doWall

If our lips are wide at the end of the first word, we insert a Y sound:

oo We write it like this: Kay is I am the end she asked

|
-- We say it like this: KayYis IYam theYend sheYasked

To really understand linking you might like to try a pronunciation program like
Pronunciation Power which comes on CD-rom and is available for all levels.

Informal Contractions
Informal contractions are short forms of other words that people use when speaking
casually. They are not exactly slang, but they are a little like slang.

For example, "gonna" is a short form of "going to". If you say "going to" very fast,
without carefully pronouncing each word, it can sound like "gonna".

Please remember that these are informal contractions. That means that we do not use
them in "correct" speech, and we almost never use them in writing. (If you see them
in writing, for example in a comic strip, that is because the written words represent
the spoken words or dialogue.) We normally use them only when speaking fast and
casually, for example with friends. Some people never use them, even in informal
speech.

It is probably true to say that informal contractions are more common in American
English.

Also note that, unlike normal contractions, we do not usually use apostrophes (') with
informal contractions when written.

Listed below are some common informal contractions, with example sentences. Note
that the example sentences may be a little artificial because when we use a contraction
we may also use other contractions in the same sentence, or even drop some words
completely. For example:

 What are you going to do? >>

 Whatcha going to do? >>
 Whatcha gonna do?

or

 Do you want a beer?

 Do you wanna beer?
 D'you wanna beer?
 D'ya wanna beer?
 Ya wanna beer?
 Wanna beer?

These informal contractions are not "correct" English. Do not use them in a written
exam, for example, except in appropriate situations.

 ain't = am not/are not/is not

I ain't sure.
You ain't my boss.
 ain't = has not/have not
I ain't done it.
She ain't finished yet.

 gimme = give me
Gimme your money.
Don't gimme that rubbish.
Can you gimme a hand?

 gonna = going to
Nothing's gonna change my love for you.
I'm not gonna tell you.
What are you gonna do?

 gotta = (have) got a

I've gotta gun.
 I gotta gun.
She hasn't gotta penny.
Have you gotta car?
 gotta = (have) got to
I've gotta go now.
I gotta go now.
We haven't gotta do that.
Have they gotta work?

 kinda = kind of
She's kinda cute.

 lemme = let me
Lemme go!

 wanna = want to
I wanna go home.

 wanna = want a
I wanna coffee.

 whatcha = what are you

Whatcha going to do?
 whatcha = what have you
Whatcha got there?

 ya = you
Who saw ya?

Choosing between American and British

pronunciation
by Tomasz P. Szynalski

© Tomasz P. Szynalski, Antimoon.com

Different kinds of English have different pronunciation. For example, the

pronunciation (the accent) of British English is different from the pronunciation of
American English.

The most frequently learned kinds of English in the world are American English and
British English.

Sample recordings of General American (GenAm) pronunciation

American pronunciation
In the context of language learning, American pronunciation means General
American (GenAm) pronunciation. This is the pronunciation used by educated
Americans, on television and on radio. It is described in dictionaries of American
English, such as the Merriam-Webster and Random House dictionaries.

Most Americans and Canadians speak something similar to General American.

Whether you're in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Seattle or Toronto, you will
generally hear the same accent. There are some regional differences, but they are
usually very small. The only major exception is the South of the US (especially
outside of big cities), which has its own distinct accent.

General American pronunciation is rhotic, which means that the letter r is always
pronounced.

Sample recordings of British pronunciation (RP)

British pronunciation
When people talk about learning British pronunciation, they usually think of Received
Pronunciation (RP). This is the pronunciation that you will learn at a British language
school; it is also the model taught in coursebooks and dictionaries from publishers
like Oxford and Longman.

In the UK, only a small percentage of people speak something similar to RP. "Normal
people" only speak it in the southeast of England — in the area near Oxford,
Cambridge, Brighton and London (excluding working-class Londoners, who speak
Cockney or Estuary). Elsewhere RP is spoken only by upper-class people, academics,
actors, TV personalities, politicians and English teachers.

"Normal" Britons usually speak with their local accents, which are often quite
different from RP, and can be very hard to understand to untrained ears. Sometimes
cities that are only 20 km apart have very different accents. (The British Library has
an interactive map of the UK which lets you listen to some examples of British
accents from various areas.)

RP is non-rhotic, which means that the letter r is usually "silent", unless it is followed
by a vowel. Here's how it works:

 In words like car, tower, inform and first, r is silent (r is not followed by a vowel).
 In words like red, foreign, print, r is pronounced (r is followed by a vowel).
 R is also pronounced at the end of a word, if the next word starts with a vowel, for
example: number eight, far away.
 Most RP speakers also insert an r in phrases like: the idea(r) of, Africa(r) and Asia,
law(r) and order. This r is not in the spelling; they just use it to separate two vowels.

The following pairs sound exactly the same in RP: or/awe, court/caught, sore/saw,
farther/father, formerly/formally. In General American, they all sound different.

Which one should you choose?

To choose between American and British pronunciation, you need to answer two
questions:

1. which one will be more useful to you?

2. which one will be easier to learn for you?

On the first question, you should remember that whether you choose General
American or RP, you will be understood by all English speakers, because everyone
familiar with both of these accents from TV and movies. So the objective usefulness
of GenAm and RP is about the same. Still, if you know you're going to be talking
mainly to people who have a particular accent, you may want to learn a similar accent
(or you may decide that it is better to stand out).

For example, if you are planning to move to England, or if you have many English
friends, you may want to learn RP. Of course, the accent of most Britons is quite
different from RP, so you will probably stand out anyway. (Speakers of GenAm will
have a much better chance of blending in with Americans, as there are fewer regional
differences in the US.)

The second question is more tricky. Here, the most important thing are your
individual circumstances, such as:

 Whether you simply prefer one of the accents (for example, because it sounds more
pleasant, more sexy, more intelligent, more powerful, etc. to you). If you want to get
results, you have to be excited about learning English pronunciation. The more
attractive your goal seems to you, the more motivation you will have.
 Which accent you find easier to imitate. Sometimes people find they have a knack
for one, but not the other.
 Which accent your friends are learning. It is easier to learn if you can talk things
through with your friends.
 Which accent your teacher speaks. (Same reason as above.)
 Whether you are interested in science or computing. GenAm is more frequently used
in those fields and if you are interested in them, you will hear it more often and will
find it easier to learn.

If the above questions don't point to an obvious choice, take a look at this table, which
compares the more objective advantages of each accent:

General American (GenAm) Received Pronunciation (RP)

 If you speak it, you will be

 If you speak it, you will be understood by
understood by all English
all English speakers.
speakers.

 You have a better choice of  Although American English dominates the

movies, TV shows and video
games to learn the accent from.
America's media industry makes
a larger amount of interesting,
funny and exciting content than
media, there are plenty of well-known
British actors and movies full of British
pronunciation (Harry Potter, Lord of the
Rings).
 Britain's.

 The Web has more GenAm

content (YouTube videos,
podcasts, etc.) than RP content.

 There are at least 10 times more

speakers of GenAm than of RP. If
you have pronunciation
questions, it is easier to find a
speaker of GenAm (or something
close to GenAm) than of RP.

 The best English dictionaries are made in

Britain and focus on RP. (They also have
information on American pronunciation,
but it is not always accurate, so if you
choose American English, you will have to
consult American dictionaries, too.)

 Americans love RP. If you speak RP in

 People in Britain are neutral
America, people will think you are
towards speakers of American
intelligent and the opposite sex will take
English.
more interest in you.

My choice of General American pronunciation

My reasons for choosing American pronunciation were personal. I wanted to learn the
same kind of English as my two best friends in high school, who were also the best
English learners. I also wanted to be different from "average" students (most people in
Poland try to learn RP), and I wanted to annoy my teachers, many of whom viewed
RP as some kind of "gold standard". If I had been studying RP, I simply would not
have had so much fun on a social level.

Even though my reasons were personal, American English turned out to be a good
choice. RP may be the king of schools, coursebooks and dictionaries, but most
popular, real-world content (movies, TV series, podcasts, Web videos, etc.) features
American speakers. Because I was learning American English, I could practice my
pronunciation while watching my favorite TV shows and playing my favorite video
games. If I had chosen RP, I would have still had some fun content to learn from, but
my options would have been more limited.

The importance of learning about the other accent

Whichever accent you choose, you should have some knowledge about both accents.
Let's suppose you want to speak pure RP. You don't want to have an American accent
at all. Should you pay attention to the American pronunciations in your dictionary?
Yes, you should. First of all, you need to understand both British and American
English, since both are widely used. Even if you want to speak RP, it is good to know
how words are pronounced in General American. It helps you understand American
speech.

Secondly, you ought to be aware of the systematic differences between RP and

GenAm because you will be learning words from Americans as well as Britons.
Consider what happens if you (a student of RP) hear a new English word on an
American TV channel. Let's suppose this word is nuke, pronounced /nu:k/. If you
know nothing about American pronunciation, you may assume that the word is
pronounced the same way in RP, and you may learn to say it like that.

However, if you had some basic knowledge of American phonetics, you would know
that many words which have the sound /ju:/ in RP, have /u:/ in GenAm (for
example: new, due). Because nuke is one of such words, the pronunciation /nu:k/ is
not correct in RP. The correct pronunciation is /nju:k/.

If you pay attention to both British and American pronunciations in your dictionary,
you will eventually develop a type of intuition about these things. For most words,
you'll be able to tell how to pronounce them in your accent, even if you have only
heard them from speakers of the other accent. For other words, you'll know that you
just have to look them up to be sure.

How to Speak in a British Accent

 1
Understand that in most British accents speakers don't roll their R is(except
those from the West Country, Scotland, Northumbria, Northern Ireland, and
parts of Lancashire), but not all British accents are the same, ie: a Scottish accent
varies greatly from an English accent.
 2
Don't attempt to learn more than one accent at a time. Since Estuary English
sounds very different to a "Geordie" accent, you'll get confused very easily.
 3
Please pay attention to the tones and emphasis used throughout spoken sentences
by the British. Do sentences generally end on a higher note, the same, or lower? How
much variation is there in tone throughout a typical sentence? There is a huge
variation between regions with tonality. British speech, especially RP, usually varies
much less within a sentence than American English, and the general tendency is to go
down slightly towards the end of a phrase. However, Liverpool and north-east
England are notable exceptions!
 4
Pronounce U in stupid and in duty with the ew sound. Avoid the oo as in an
American accent; thus it is pronounced stewpid, not stoopid, etc. In the standard
English accent, the A (for example, in father) is pronounced at the back of the mouth
with an open throat - it sounds like "Arh". This is the case in pretty much all British
accents, but it's exaggerated in RP. In southern England and in RP, words such as
"bath", "path", "glass", "grass" also use this vowel. However, in other parts of Britain
"bath", "path", etc. sound like "ah".
 5
Get a British person to say well known sentences: "How now brown cow" and
"The rain in Spain stays mainly on the plain" and pay close attention. Rounded mouth
vowels in words such as "about" in London, are usually flattened in Northern Ireland.
 6
Notice that two or more vowels together may prompt an extra syllable. For
example, the word "road" would usually be pronounced rohd, but in Wales and with
some people in Northern Ireland it might be pronounced ro.ord.
 7
Enunciate on heavy consonant words. Pronounce that T in "duty" as T: not as the
American D as doody so that duty is pronounced dewty or a softer jooty. Pronounce
the suffix -ing with the G. This way it sounds like -ing rather than -een. But
sometimes it is shortened to in as in lookin.

 The words human being are pronounced hewman being or yooman been in
certain areas, though it could be pronounced hewman bee-in.

 8
Drop the Ts. With some accents, Ts aren't pronounced at all, especially in words with
two Ts grouped together. So battle might be pronounced Ba-ill, catching the air
behind the back of the tongue at the end of the first syllable before expelling it on
pronunciation of the second syllable. This is known as the glottal stop.

 People with Estuary English, RP, Scottish, Irish and Welsh accents do
consider it lazy and rude to drop the Ts, and this feature doesn't exist, but in
almost all accents it's accepted to do it in the middle of words in casual
contexts and almost universal to put a glottal stop at the end of a word.)
 Addition from an American theatre specialist: Americans do glottal stops all
the time,"bu-on" for button, "mou--ian" for mountain). However, it is
considered by Brits that people with chav or Cockney accents do glottal stops.

 9
Observe that H is always pronounced. The "H" is pronounced in the word "herb,"
in contrast to American erb.
 10
Realize that some words require the ee sound to be pronounced as in the word
been. In an American accent, this is often pronounced bin. In an English accent, been
is the more common pronunciation, but "bin" is sometimes heard in casual speech
where the word isn't particularly stressed.