Quick Pronunciation Tips

By Sudhakar Yatra


1. The sound of -ed in words ending with the letters ch, k, p and s is pronounced as [t].


Passed is pronounced as Past

Missed is pronounced as Mist

Packed is pronounced as Pact

2. The sound of -ed of words ending in d or t is pronounced as [id].

Examples: decided, selected, collected, committed, prohibited, fitted, lidded, kidded.

3. The sound of -es (usually for plurals) of the words ending in s, sh, dj or ch is [iz].

Examples: houses, churches, buses, bridges, brushes, ledges, misses, catches, pauses.

4. The sound of the last syllable -ege or -age is pronounced as [ɪdʒ].

Examples: college, message, marriage and carriage.

5. Words with a that have a magic e at the end are pronounced as if they were written with ei or ai.


male is pronounced as mail

Tale as tail

Waste as waist

Pane as pain

Stare as stair.

Also, there is pronounced as their.

6. In most English words the sound of ‘r’ is not pronounced, except in North American English. In British English, r is said only when it is followed by a vowel sound.


R is pronounced in: forum, story, frame, patron, federation and colouring.

But r is silent in colour, fear, more, door, stairs, car and tour.


Exercise 1

Pick out the word that has the same vowel sound as the head word.

A. Hate: rare, face, cat, master.

B. Tail: tear, hale, hair, fine.

C. Pain: pine, fine, fair, mane.

D. Stay: taste, dance, sand, many.

E. Dare: hair, hale, hate, eight.

F. Train: lane, mean, mine, pine.

G. Fame: aim, crime, dam, gym.

H. Plane: rare, hare, plain, pine.

I. Care: heir, main, mane, gear.

J. Lady: lad, bail, land, glad

K. Baby: main, mime, mile, mere.

Exercise 2

Pick out the words in each set that end with the sound [id] or [t] (There is one for each in each line).

A. Deed, heed, kicked, wicked.

B. Played, talked, nodded, lived.

C. Smiled, sipped, sounded, shoed.

D. Added, allowed, asked, aged.

E. Bothered, bowled, banded, based.

Exercise 3

Identify the one word in which [r] is sounded (in British English).

A. Pore, pork, store, story.

B. Armour, array, army, arms.

C. Care, carer, card, corn.

D. Earring, earnings, ear set, earnest.

E. Garnish, garlic, garner, garish.

Solutions to the exercises: scroll down.

Sudhakar Yatra has an M.A in English and a Bachelor’s degree in Teaching. He works as an English teacher at the Andhra Prasad Z.P. High School in Vatsavai, India.

More articles about pronunciation:

C or K: How to Spell and Say

Pronunciation of TH

Fun Pronunciation

Words that Can Make You Crazy

Words that Can Make You Crazy 2

How to Pronounce V

Aspiration of K, P and T

Stress in Nouns and Verbs

How not to Say Bitch when you mean Beach

Video Lesson about A

How to Pronounce I’d, She’d, You’d








Answers to the exercises:

Exercise 1 

A. Hate: face

B. Tail: hale

C. Pain: mane

D. Stay: taste

E. Dare: hair

F. Train: lane

G. Fame: aim

H. Plane: plain

I. Care: heir

J. Lady: bail

K. Baby: main

Exercise 2  

A. id: wicked. t: kicked

B. id: nodded. t: talked

C. id: sounded. t: sipped

D. id: added. t: asked

E. id: banded. t: based

Exercise 3 

A. story

B. array

C. carer

D. Carring

E. garish

71 thoughts on “Quick Pronunciation Tips

  1. This is the perfect webpage for anyone who wants to find out about this topic.
    I really would want to…HaHa). You certainly put a new spin on a topic that’s
    been written about for a long time. Wonderful stuff,
    just great!


  2. Hello there! I know this is kinda off topic
    nevertheless I’d figured I’d ask. Would you be interested in exchanging
    My site goes over a lot of the same topics as
    yours and I believe we could greatly benefit from each other.
    you! Excellent blog by the way!


    I mean, what you say is important and all. Nevertheless imagine if you added some great photos or video
    clips, this website could definitely be one of the most beneficial
    in its niche. Excellent blog!


    1. I’ve checked the list of commentators and I don’t see you on the list more than once. Moreover I don’t have any way to remove you from the list. You could try removing yourself from my mailings, and then if that was effective, subscribe again.


  4. An outstanding share! I have just forwarded this onto a friend who has been doing a little homework on this.

    But yeah, thanks for spending time to discuss this matter here on your web page.


  5. Hey this is kinda of off topic but I was wanting
    I’m starting a blog soon but have no coding knowledge so
    I wanted to get guidance from someone with experience.
    Any help would be enormously appreciated!


  6. Hey there would you mind letting me know which hosting company you’re working with?
    Kudos, I appreciate it!


  7. Fascinating blog! Is your theme custom made or did you download it from somewhere?
    Please let me know where you got your design. Many thanks


  8. My partner and I stumbled over here coming from a different


  9. You could certainly see your enthusiasm in the work you write.
    how they believe. At all times go after your heart.


  10. Greetings from California! I’m bored at work so I decided to browse your blog on my iphone during lunch break.


  11. It is the best timе too make ѕome plans for thee futude aand it is time to be happy.
    I’ve read this post and if I could I desire to suggest you ffew interesting tings orr advice.
    Perhaps you cɑn write nxt articles referring to this article.
    I want to read even more thiոgs about it!


  12. With havin so much content and articles do you ever run into any problems
    of plagorism or copyright infringement? My blog has a lot of completely unique content I’ve either written myself or outsourced
    agreement. Do you know any methods to help protect against content from being ripped off?

    I’d certainly appreciate it.


    1. Yes, in the past I used to google my name now and then and I noticed all kinds of unknown magazines (unknown to me) who had copied my articles. Only one of them had bothered to ask my permission, and they also courteously offered me payment. To be honest, I stopped to care about it. In most cases my name was written above the article. You could also see it as free publicity. I myself am careful not to infringe copyrights. I pay for articles and images or I take free images without copyright. If you are concerned about people stealing your work, I recommend that you write to the website that is using your stuff and either ask them to take it down or that they pay you (in case you’re interested in that last option). If they don’t comply, you have the right to sue.


  13. Spot on with this write-up, I actually believe this


Leave a Reply to black soap facial cleanser Cancel reply


You are commenting using your account. Log Out /  Change )

Google photo


Twitter picture


Facebook photo


Connecting to %s