Home > Lesson 6: Deleting Sounds > Unit 6.4 Deleting h
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Quiz
#1. We can delete h from the following words in fast speech: (Choose three.)
Select all that apply:
#2. By deleting h we create a ________ connection, meaning the consonant sound has to ________.
#3. True or false. Some native speakers decide to delete h from the beginning of many or all English words.
#4. The sound h is spelled ‘wh-’ in several common words, including: (Choose up to three.)
Select all that apply:
#5. Which example shows h being deleted in a good VC connection, creating a VV connection that has a consonant sound added?
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Discussion
- Do you know any native speakers of English who consistently ‘drop’ the h from the beginning of words. Do they have a particular accent? What does ‘h-dropping’ tell us about class? What effect does it have on you ears?
- Look at slide 15. Do you believe that we should extend ‘h-dropping’ to other function words beginning with h, e.g., ‘he’?
Practice
- Write down ten phrases where the first word ends with a consonant sound and the second word is ‘him’, e.g. ‘tell him’. Practice saying them out loud, deleting the h and moving forward the consonant sound. Record yourself and listen back, slowing down the recording. How did you do?
- Do the same with ‘her’, ‘his’, ‘himself’, and ‘herself’. Put these phrases into sentences and keep your speech fairly fast, not drawing attention to the deleted h, e.g., ‘Tell him we’re ready to go.’ How do you feel saying these phrases without the h?
- Practice the phrases on slide 7. Focus on deleting h and moving forward the final consonant sounds.
- Practice the sentences with too much ‘h-dropping’ on slide 11 out loud. How do they sound to you? Why is this considered wrong in Standard English? Search online for the topic of ‘h-dropping’ and see what the experts say. Do you agree with them?
- Practice saying the words beginning with h on slide 13 out loud. Can you add any more examples?
- Read slide 13. Can you find any more examples of when the sound h is spelled with ‘wh’, like ‘who’?
- Practice saying the sentence on slide 16: ‘I got him a new bike.’ Say it with a glottal stop, then with h deleted and t moved forward. The latter is the preferred option in connected speech.
- Practice the other sentences on slide 17 too. How do you feel about the contractions: ‘WANNA’ = ‘WANT HER’ and ‘PUDIS’ = ‘PUT HIS’? The main aim is to hear the respective stressed vowel sounds loudly and clearly: o from ‘want’ and uu from ‘put’. Make up your own sentences to practice saying out loud.
- Make a note of the important exception to the VC connection rule, shown on slide 18. We do take a perfect VC connection, e.g., ‘show him’, delete h, creating a bad VV connection (on purpose), which requires the insertion of w. (See Lesson 7: Adding Sounds.) Write more phrases that start off as good VC connections but change to bad VV connections and need correcting. Practice them out loud.
- Practice saying the phrases on slide 19 out loud. Focus on deleting the h in each phrase and moving forward the previous consonant sound. Record yourself saying them, then listen back, slow down the recording and listen to the sound connections. How did you do?
- Practice the phrases on slide 20 out loud. Can you add any more short phrases? Practice them out loud.