Grammar Challenge

Pronunciation: 'ed' endings

Practice activities

© British Broadcasting Corporation 2007

 BBC Learning English – Grammar Challenge

Pronunciation: 'ed' endings

Exercise 1:
Listen to what Callum did last Sunday. In particular listen to how he pronounces the –ed
endings of his regular past simple verbs. Which group does each verb fall into - / t /, / d /
or / ɪd / ?

Sunday (1) turned into a very long day. My mum was coming back from holiday so I went
to the airport to pick her up.

Unfortunately her flight was (2) delayed for a couple hours so I had to hang around at
the airport. I went to the bookshop and (3) browsed around for a while, (4) flicked
through some magazines and bought a paper to read while I (5) waited.

She finally (6) arrived at about 5 o'clock and (7) wanted to go straight home because
she was so tired. So we (8) jumped in the car and I (9) dropped her off at her place
then (10) headed to my flat in south London but when I (11) tried to find my house
keys, they weren't in my pocket.

I (12) realised with horror that I must have left them in the airport bookshop when I was
paying for my paper. So I had to go all the way back to the airport but luckily someone
had handed in my keys and I was able to collect them and come home again. It was a
very, very long day.

(1) turned /t/ /d/ /ɪd/

(2) delayed /t/ /d/ /ɪd/
(3) browsed /t/ /d/ /ɪd/
(4) flicked /t/ /d/ /ɪd/
(5) waited /t/ /d/ /ɪd/
(6) arrived /t/ /d/ /ɪd/
(7) wanted /t/ /d/ /ɪd/
(8) jumped /t/ /d/ /ɪd/
(9) dropped /t/ /d/ /ɪd/
(10) headed /t/ /d/ /ɪd/
(11) tried /t/ /d/ /ɪd/
(12) realised /t/ /d/ /ɪd/

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 BBC Learning English – Grammar Challenge

Pronunciation: 'ed' endings

Exercise 2:
Listen to these sentences. Is the person pronouncing the 'ed' endings correctly or not?

1. He liked ice-cream when he was young.

a. Correct
b. Wrong

2. She closed the door.

a. Correct
b. Wrong

3. They invited you to the party.

a. Correct
b. Wrong

4. She waited at the bus stop for an hour.

a. Correct
b. Wrong

5. I phoned you last night but you weren't in.

a. Correct
b. Wrong

6. I watched television all last night

a. Correct
b. Wrong

NOTE:
The audio for these exercises is available to download from:
http://www.bbclearningenglish.com/radio/specials/1413_gramchallenge26

Grammar Challenge activities © BBC Learning English

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 BBC Learning English – Grammar Challenge

Pronunciation: 'ed' endings - Answers

Exercise 1:
Listen to what Callum did last Sunday. In particular listen to how he pronounces the –ed
endings of his regular past simple verbs. Which group does each verb fall into - / t /, / d /
or / ɪd / ?

Sunday (1) turned into a very long day. My mum was coming back from holiday so I went
to the airport to pick her up.

Unfortunately her flight was (2) delayed for a couple hours so I had to hang around at
the airport. I went to the bookshop and (3) browsed around for a while, (4) flicked
through some magazines and bought a paper to read while I (5) waited.

She finally (6) arrived at about 5 o'clock and (7) wanted to go straight home because
she was so tired. So we (8) jumped in the car and I (9) dropped her off at her place.
Then (10) headed to my flat in south London but when I (11) tried to find my house
keys, they weren't in my pocket.

I (12) realised with horror that I must have left them in the airport bookshop when I was
paying for my paper. So I had to go all the way back to the airport but luckily someone
had handed in my keys and I was able to collect them and come home again. It was a
very, very long day.

Answers
(1) turned /d/
(2) delayed /d/
(3) browsed /d/
(4) flicked /t/
(5) waited /ɪd/
(6) arrived /d/
(7) wanted /ɪd/
(8) jumped /t/
(9) dropped /t/
(10) headed /ɪd/
(11) tried /d/
(12) realised /d/

Grammar Challenge activities © BBC Learning English

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 BBC Learning English – Grammar Challenge

Pronunciation: 'ed' endings - Answers

Exercise 2:
Listen to these sentences. Is the person pronouncing the 'ed' endings correctly or not?

1. He liked ice-cream when he was young.

a. Correct, 'liked' was pronounced with a / t / sound.

2. She closed the door.

b. Wrong, 'closed' was pronounced with an / ɪd / sound. It should be / d /.

3. They invited you to the party.

a. Correct, 'invited' was pronounced with an / ɪd / sound.

4. She waited at the bus stop for an hour.

a. Correct, 'waited' was pronounced with an / ɪd / sound.

5. I phoned you last night but you weren't in.

a. Correct, 'phoned' was pronounced with a / d / sound.

6. I watched television all last night

b. Wrong, 'watched' was pronounced with an / ɪd / sound. It should be / t /.

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Grammar Challenge
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Nuala's Grammar Explanation

Pronunciation: 'ed' endings
In the past simple regular verbs end in 'ed' and there are three different ways of pronouncing

these two little letters - / ɪd /, / d / and / t /.

First let's look at the / ɪd / ending.

Regular verbs that end in the sound / t / or / d /, in the past simple the 'ed' ending is

pronounced / ɪd /. Here are some examples:

Examples:

start - started invite – invited want –wanted need – needed

decide - decided

The pronunciation of the 'ed' ending for other regular verbs in the past simple depends on

whether the last sound of the infinitive of the verb is voiced or not. Regular verbs that end in

voiced sounds will have / d / as the pronunciation of the 'ed' ending in the past simple. Here

are some examples.

Examples:

smile - smiled turn - turned love - loved seem - seemed

Finally, regular verbs that end in unvoiced sounds will have / t / as the pronunciation of the 'ed'

ending in the past simple. Here are some examples.

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Examples:

jump - jumped kiss – kissed wash - washed look - looked

watch – watched

So, to recap. There are three different ways to pronounce the letters '-ed' for regular verbs in

the past simple and the way to choose how to pronounce them depends on the final sound of

the infinitive.

That's all from me, good luck with your grammar challenge!

Find out more

/ ɪd / /d/ /t/

infinitives that end in the infinitives that end in a infinitives that end in an

sound / t / or / d / voiced sound unvoiced sound

needed lived shopped

hated chilled picked

dated enjoyed wished

seated tried crunched

All vowel sounds are voiced.

You can find more information about which sounds are voiced and unvoiced on the

Pronunciation Tips section of the website:

http://www.bbclearningenglish.com/multimedia/pron/index.shtml

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