THE PRONOUNCIATION OF ‘-ED’ ENDINGS

PRONUNCIATON RULES

O modo de pronunciar o -ed nos verbos no passado dos verbos regulares é determinado pela terminação surda (sem vibração das cordas vocais) ou sonora (com vibração das cordas vocais) do infinitivo ao qual o ed é acrescentado, assim:

1.     When a verb ends in “t” or “d”, the past aquires a new syllable and sounds /id/.

2.     When a verb ends in an unvoiced sound (p, k, f, th (q), s, sh, ch), the past –ed sounds /t/

3.     When a verb ends in a voiced soud (all the vowels and b, g, v, z, dz, m, n, ng (h), r, l, th (ð), w, y) the past –ed sounds /d/

EXERCISE: Change into past and separete the following verbs in three colums, according to the -ed sound:

Wait    stop     add      use      end      boil     like      comb   brush   live     laugh   dress watch            answer study   end      play    

/d/	/id/	/t/

THE PRONOUNCIATION OF ‘-S’ ENDINGS

PRONUNCIATON RULES

The ‘-s’ at the end of words is pronounced either as /s/ /z/ or /iz/. The pronounciatin used depends on the sound that comes before the final ‘-s’, like follows: 

1.      When nouns or verbs ends in the sibilant sound /s/, /z/, /S/, /tS/, /Z/, or /dZ/, the plural takes an extra syllable /iz/

2.      When nouns or verbs ends in a vowel sound after other voiced consonants /b/, /d/, /g/, /l/, /m/, /n/, /N/, /r/, /ð/ or /v/, s is pronounced /z/

3.      After other unvoiced final consonants /p/, /t/, /k/, /f/, or /T/, s is pronounced /s/

Note:  Pronunciation of –s endings for regular verbs in the third-person singular of the simple present follow the same rules as the pronunciation of -s endings for regular plural noun.

EXERCISES

1. Listen and practice

Plural noun -s
-s = /z/	-s = /s/	-s = /iz/
Telephone  - Telephones Camera      - Cameras Bag            - Bags	Desk             - Desks Map              - Maps Wastebasket - Wastebaskets	Sentence - Sentences Exercise - Exercises Watch    - Watches

Third-person singular –s
-s = /s/	-s = /z/	-s= /iz/
Take - Takes Sits Walks	Go – goes Live – lives Study – studies	Dance  - Dances Use – uses Watch – watches

2. Complete the chart with the plural form of the following nouns. Check with a friend.

Newspaper	Key		Purse		Television
Brifcase              Clock	Address		Stamp		Wallet
-s = /s/		-s = /z/		-s = /iz/

3. Listen  and repeat these sentences

Writes books	Stops trucks	Asks questions
Makes clocks	Eats chips	Visits friends
Break plates	Cooks breakfast	Tells jokes
Make cakes	Helps students	Counts heads
Cleans walls	Spells words	Washes cloths
Digs holes	Rides bicycles	Sells watches
Sing songs	Rings bells	Teaches horses
Telephones friends	Loves dogs	Watches football matches

4. Underline the odd one out in each group.

looks	sleeps	runs	cuts	hopes
finishes	includes	chooses	switches,	buys
plays	stays	rains	happens	gets
forgets	sits	speaks	touches	stops
begins	promises	drives	seems	sells

5. Tong twister: Repeat as fast as you can.

a)      She sells sea shells at the sea shore.

b)      The cook thickens the soup. The soup sickens the cook.

c)      An  endless fence across the endless fens.

A few pens costing a few

Como diferenciar o som das vogais na pronúncia das palavras?

HOW TO RECOGNIZE A VOWEL SOUND[1]

ØA letra ‘a’

1. Seguida de consoante em posição final tem, em geral, som de /æ/

Ex: fat, bag, black, hand, jam, glass, stand

2. Seguida de consoante e da vogal e tem som de “ei”

Ex: game, grape, Jane, date, safe, make, plate, take.

ØA letra ‘e’

3. Seguida de consoante em posição final tem, em geral, som de /ε (é)/

Ex: desk, dress, egg, hen, ten, get, men, rest.

Ø  A letra ‘i’

4. Seguida de consoante em posição final tem, em geral, som de /I/

Ex: big, fish, film, milk, sit, tin, pig, spring

5. Seguida de uma consoante e da vogal e, tem som de /aI /

Ex: time, dime, file, like, vice, tile, quite, wife.

Ø A letra ‘o’, seguida de consoante surda em posição final tem som de / o /

Ex: box, stop, sock, clock, lot, shop, not, knot

6. A letra ‘o’, seguida de consoante sonora em posição final tem som de /c /

Ex: dog, bog, store, form, or, core, porch, lord, force, born, bought, bore

7. A letra ‘o’, seguida de consoante (exceto ‘r’) e a vogal ‘e’ tem a pronúncia de /oƱ/

Ex: close, note, home, those, smoke, coke, nose, wrote

Ø  A letra ‘u’

8. Seguida de consoante em posição final tem som de /^ =â/

Bus, duck, club, us, shut, lunch, Dutch

9. Seguida de consoante e da vogal ‘e’ tem som de /u::/ = prolongado

Ex: rude, rule, ruse, buses

10. Todas as vogais, seguidas de ‘r’ em posição final tem som de /3/

Ex: bird, fur, word, nurse, fir, her, familiar, church, teacher, first, shirt, bigger

11. A terminação ‘le’ precedida de consoante pronuncia /əl (âl)/

Ex: Able, terrible, vegetable, temple, sensible, horrible, example

12. O grupo de palavras grafadas com aw e au tem som de /с /

Ex: law, saw, automobile, author, daughter, caught

13. O grupo ou e ow, tem som de /Au/

House, our, how, out, now, cow, blouse, sound, down, mouth, found, ground

14. Letras com som de /i::/

A junção de ey tem som de /i::/  - quando precedido de consoante k, key, keyboard, monkey

A junção de ee tem som de /i::/ -  deep, sheep, feet, beet, green, feel, seek, heel, sleep

A junção de ea tem som de /i::/ - dear, meat, tea, eager, eat, lead, seat, leak, feast, heap, read, beach, bean

A junção de oe tem som de /i::/ - amoeba

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[1] Adaptado a partir de: JARDIM, A.V. Fonética inglesa para estudantes brasileiros. Rio de Janeiro, 1962.
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