REVIEW

When L comes at the end of a word or syllable, it’s articulated differently than L at the beginning of a
word or syllable.

LIGHT L

L at the beginning of a word or syllable is called the LIGHT L. It’s articulated with the tip of the tongue
behind the top front top teeth. The back of the tongue is down.

Light
Love
Live

DARK L

With the DARK L Sound, all the action happens with the back of the tongue or the root of the tongue.

As you make the DARK L Sound, the back of the tongue pulls back and down.

TIPS

1. It could be helpful to think creating space in the back of the mouth – between the roof of the
tongue and the soft palate – at the back of the roof of the mouth.
2. Place your hand where your neck and head meet. You can feel the muscles contracting as the
tongue moves down and back to make the DARK L Sound.

10 English Idioms with "fall": Practice Linking

and Dark L
ConsonantsTips And Tricks
How to Pronounce the Dark L
The Light L: L vs R

Practice articulating this tricky sound, as well as

linking the Dark L to other sounds:

Fall through (felll through): something fails to happen

We were supposed to meet up for dinner, but our plans fell through.

The contract on the house fell through.

Fall off (falll-loff): the amount or number of something becomes less

Business tends to fall off during the summer months.

Our sales really fell off last month.

Fall apart (falll-lapart): to become very emotional where you can’t think or act in the usual
way

When her dad died, she completely fell apart.

Fall apart can also mean to fail or stop working:

This entire plan fell apart.

Fall into place (falll-linto place): to fit together, become organized or make sense

Once I knew the truth, things began to fall into place.

After 6 months in the new house, things are finally beginning to fall into place.

Fall into someone’s lap (falll-linto): to be received unexpectedly or without effort.

This new position just fell into my lap.

He doesn’t even try. Everything just falls into his lap!

Fall into the wrong hands (falll-linto): For something to be acquired by someone who’s not
supposed to have it and may use it for nefarious (evil) purposes

Please keep this information to yourself. I don’t want it to fall into the wrong hands.

We don’t want this weapon to fall into the wrong hands.

Take the fall: to take the blame for something someone else did

This is your fault and I won’t take the fall.

He did it, but she took the fall.

Fall for (fall fer)

Fall for someone: to start to love or become infatuated with someone

He fell for her in 5 minutes.

She always falls for the wrong guy.

Fall for something (fall fer): to be deceived by something, especially a lie

I told them there weren’t any cookies left and they fell for it.

I can’t believe he fell for that.

Fall short (falllshort): something doesn’t reach the desired amount, standard or expectations

The final product fell short of my expectations.

We fell short of our goal by a thousand dollars.

Fall off the radar (falll-loff): to be ignored or forgotten in favor of something more important or
more significant

I’ve been so busy getting the house ready to sell everything else fell off my radar.

They had a hit single in the 90s then completely fell off the radar.