Carrot, cabba$e

Unstressed vowels lel andltl

ffiwordswithtwormoresyllables,atleastonesyllableisweak(doesnothavestress). "4 r Listen to thesewords which have two syllables,and the secondsyllable is weak. , I Inl"i speakers of Englishvery often usethe weak vowel sounds *"rr!:,tft /a/ and lil. . Listen again to the two words above:the O in canot is pronouncedlel andthe A in cabbage is pronounced//. " 'azP . Look at the mouth diagrarnto seehow to make the sound /a/. o Listen to theseexarnplesand repeat them. The weak vowels in the unstressed syllablesin bold are pronounced/d.
weak weak weak weak A: E: O: U: away garden police support banana paper doctor figure woman under correct colour sugar

ffi

relaxed tongue-..".........and lips

"l ate an appleand a bananain a cinemain Canada."

l.:9,
f9 . Look at the mouth diagram ro seehow ro make the sound //. . Listen to theseexamplesand repeat them. The weak vowels in tlre unstressed syllablesin black are pronounced/r/.
weak A: orange cabbage weak E: dances wanted begin weak I: music walking weak U: lettruce minute women

front of tongue up

'Alex's lettuces tastedlikecabbaqes."

xw
^. /\

Spelling
Notice in the examplesabovethat nearly any vowel spellingmay be pronouncedas a weak vowel. ttote,Often, whole words arepronounced asweak syllablel with a weak vowel. Forexample: halfan hougoingto work, Jimwaslate. See Unit33.

22

EnglishPronunciation in Use (lnrmedie)

Section A Leftersond sounds

txerclse5
7.1
_{31

Listen to the poem. Circle thewords which rhyme.

7.2
'Ai2:. .+ 1

Listen. In eachsentence or phrase thereare two vowelswhich are not lel. circlethem. Exeuprn an@pple and a ban@ra 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 from Canada to China The parrot was asleep. The cinema was open. the photographer'sassistant a question and an answer a woman and her husband apastasalad

a.'

t<

table. Then listen andcheck.

*:

{*: '1

= /e/ vowel in weaksyllable womon

= /r/ vowelin weaksyllable oronge

7 "&
.".,a

Listen andcircle the wordvou hear.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Woman or women? What time did the woman I women arrive? Dress or address? Where's Kate's dress I address? Manager's or manages? The team manAger'sI manages well. Teacher'sor teaches? The German teacber'sI teachesEnglish. Weight's or waiter's? The weight's I waiter's heavy. Dancer's or dances? The woman dancer's I dances fast. Officer's or ofce's? The officer's I office's herc. Away or way? Tke that away / way. 'S7hat Driver or drive? a nice driuer I driuel Racer's or races? The racer's I races finished.

.?'$';

r-

Follow yourself up: Record saying thesentences in 7.4, choosing oneof the two words. Make a noteof which yousay. words Then listen to your recording in about two weels. ls it clear yousaid? which words

EnglishPronunciotionin Use (lntermediote)

23