Home > Lesson 8: Multiple Actions > Unit 8.7 Blends caused by regular verbs…
Presentation
Audio [06:29]
Quiz
#1. True or false? It is easy for us to pronounce the sounds t and d together in a blend: td.
It is impossible to pronounce t and d together in a blend without a schwa sound between them, e.g., in ‘wanted’.
#2. When I look at the phrase ‘moved it’ I immediately see a problem due to the ________ connection.
#3. In the phrase ‘looked for’ there are ________ unhelpful consonant sounds to deal with before I can get to the vowel sound that I need for a VC connection.
#4. In each phrase in this unit, the letter ‘e’ before ‘d’ is a ________ letter.
#5. ________ verbs will always cause a problem in connected speech because they all end in a ________ sound and we need a ________ sound at the end of a syllable.
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Practice
- Try saying the regular verbs that end with t or d in the past form, without the schwa sound, so that you have to try to blend ‘d’ with ‘d’ – e.g., in ‘added’ – and blend ‘t’ with ‘t’ – e.g., in ‘wanted’. Listen to the recording to see how difficult it is.
- Practice following and saying out loud the transition on slides 7-14. Say each stage out loud. Make sure you understand what is happening and why. Listen again to the recording if you have any doubts.
- Practice saying the phrases on slide 15 out loud, going from bad connection to good. Notice the actions and practice the interim stages. Notice the relative frequency of each action, i.e., we move forward the most. Add the phrases to your own sentences; practice them out loud. Record them, slow them down, and listen to your sound connections – then get a partner or teacher to check your pronunciation.
- Focus on the summary of actions on slide 16. Make sure you know what is happening and why. Learn the facts of connected speech so well that you remember them and are able to implement them when you are speaking.
- Find a list of regular verbs in English, choose five with blends – e.g., ‘helped’ – and five without – e.g., ‘shared’. Add an ‘-ed’ ending, then put them into phrases with CC connections, e.g., ‘helped me’. What actions do you have to take? What is the difference? Practice them out loud. Put them into sentences and practice saying them a few times. Regular verbs occur very often in English, so get used to dealing with the awkward connections that occur when they meet other consonant sounds, e.g., ‘asked the’ loses the d, then k and s move forward to result in the easier to pronounce ‘a skthe’.