The regular plural, the possessive case, and the 3rd person singular inflectional –s morphemes

The regular plural inflection, the third-person singular Present Simple Tense inflection, and the possessive
inflection all share the same set of pronunciation rules:

- If the noun (or verb) ends inor , the suffix {S} is realized as 

- If the noun (or verb) ends in a vowel or a voiced consonant (i.e. ), the
suffix {S} is realized as 

- If the noun (or verb) ends in a voiceless consonant (i.e. the suffix {S} is pronounced
as 

Regular Plural       
boys  groups  buses 
pubs  boats  roses 
bags  lakes  beaches 
    beds gulfs dishes
homes months garages
gloves bridges

3rd Person Sg. sees   makes uses

Present Simple tense runs  hits   catches

Possessive Ray's  Blake's  Rose's 

Marvin's Pete’s boss’s
Tom’s Philip's Hamish's

The -s genitive is pronounced in singular only. After the plural ending the genitive inflection is written as an
apostrophe (').
With regular plural nouns there is no difference in pronunciation between the singular possessive and the
plural possessive modifier, i.e. the girl's books sounds like the girls' books, the neighbour's house sounds
like the neighbours' house.

Exceptions:
a) A number of nouns ending in the voiceless fricative  in the singular are pronounced with the
voiced fricative in the plural followed by the –s suffix which agrees in voicing and is realized as
/z/:
path  paths 
bath  baths 
mouth /maʊθ / mouths/maʊðz/ 

compare: oaths or truths  or 

cloths ɒɒ
deaths  breaths
months ʌ
   growths
   myths

b) Nouns with spellings ending in –f or –fe (pronounced as /f/) in the singular spelt with –ves in the
plural (pronounced as /vz/):
calf-calves kɑːf, kɑːvz
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 elf-elves
half-halves
knife-knives
leaf-leaves
life-lives
loaf-loaves
self-selves
shelf-shelves
thief-thieves
wolf-wolves

compare:
dwarf-dwarfs/dwarves 
hoof-hoofs/hooves
scarf-scarfs/scarves
roof-roofs 
handkerchiefsæ

Exercise 1:
Transcribe the following nouns phonemically. Write down their plural forms, and transcribe them:

house

church

price

dove

chief

niece

lamb

judge

boy

lake

thing

rate

prize

orange

wife

youth

wreath
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Exercise 2:
Transcribe the following genitive forms:

wife's youth's

witch's Selfridge's

George's Charles’s

Smith’s Bush’s

St.James’s Samuel’s

waitress’s dentist’s

Exercise 3:
Transcribe the 3rd person singular Present Simple forms of the following verbs:

kiss

pause

employ

try

study

cut

laugh

PRONUNCIATION RULES FOR THE –ed INFLECTIONAL SUFFIX

The –ed ending for Past Simple and Past Participle forms of regular verbs is pronounced as follows:
a) , after the sounds:
start-started  or   guide-guided
point-pointed     affect-affected 

b) , after voiceless consonants other than :
stop-stopped ɒ   pack-packedæ
watch-watchedɒ  miss-missed
laugh-laughed  push-pushed
look-looked 


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 c) , after vowels and voiced consonants other than :
 
rob-robbed ɒ   play-played 
forge-forged   serve-served
kill-killed   bathe-bathed 
buzz-buzedʌ   sabotage-sabotaged æ
warm-warmed  ban-banned æ
long-longedɒ

Exercise 4:
Transcribe the following verbs and then transcribe their past tense/past participle forms:

attach

talk

bridge

land

refer

waste

dance

bang

loathe

mix

crash

breathe

occur

touch

bond

shout

prefer

ache

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PRONUNCIATION RULES FOR THE –ing INFLECTIONAL SUFFIX

The –ing suffix for gerund and present participle forms of verbs is always pronounced as 

singing    ringing 

playing    saying

Exercise 5:
Transcribe the –ing form of the following verbs:

obey apply

try blur


PRONUNCIATION RULES FOR THE ARTICLES

The definite article the:

strong form:
The strong form is used for emphasis: e.g. You mean the Ernest Hemingway?

weak forms:before consonants: e.g. the firstthe last the way 
the hat æthe yard   
before vowels, e.g. the end the other ʌ

The indefinite article a/an:

strong forms: before consonants, e.g. a boy 

æbefore vowels, e.g. an appleææ
The strong forms æare used mainly for contrast, e.g. ‘This is a solution, but not the only one.’
‘This is an ideal, but not the ideal’.

weak forms before consonants, e.g. a boy , a cat

before vowels, e.g. an appleæ an egg