tough ~ tuhf Stuff ~ stuhf

English is Tough Stuff

creature ~ kree-chur creation ~ kree-eyshuhn
Dearest creature in creation
Study English pronunciation verse ~ vurs
I will teach you in my verse corpse ~ kawrps horse ~ hawrs
corps ~ kohr worse ~ wurs
Sounds like corpse, corps, horse and worse.
Suzy ~soo`zee busy ~ biz`ee
I will keep you, Suzy, busy head ~ hed heat ~ heet
Make your head with heat grow dizzy. tear ~ teer tear ~ tair
hear ~heer prayer ~prair
Tear in eye you dress will tear.
So shall I! Oh hear my prayer. beard~ beerd
heart ~ hahrt heard ~ hurd
Just compare heart, beard, and heard, dies ~ dahyz diet ~ dahy-it
Dies and diet, lord and word, lord ~ lawrd word~ wurd
sword ~ sawrd sward ~swawrd
Sword and sward, retain and Britain. retain ~ ri-teyn Britain ~ brit-n
(Mind the latter, how it's written.)
plague ~ pleyg plaque ~ plak
Now I surely will not plague you argue ~ ahr-gyoo
With such words and plaque and argue. break ~ breyk steak ~ steyk
bleak ~bleek streak ~ streek
But be careful how you speak: cloven ~ kloh-vuh n oven ~ uhv-uh n
Say break and steak, but bleak and streak; how ~ hou low ~ loh
Cloven, oven, how and low, script ~ script receipt ~ ri-seet
Script, receipt, show, poem and toe. poem ~ poh-uh m toe ~ toh

Daughter ~ Daw-ter laughter ~ laf-ter

Hear me say, devoid of trickery, Typhoid ~ tahy-foid
Daughter, laughter, and Terpsichore, Measles ~ mee-zuh lz exiles ~ eg-zahylz
Typhoid, measles, topsails, aisles, topsails ~ top-seyls similes ~ sim-uh-leez
Exiles, similes, and reviles; aisles ~ ahylz reviles ~ ri-vahylz
Scholar, vicar, and cigar, scholar ~ skol-er solar ~ soh-ler
vicar ~ vik-er mica ~ mahy-kuh
Solar, mica, war and far; cigar ~ si-gahr war ~ wawr

One, anemone, Balmoral, one ~ wuhn far ~ fahr

Kitchen, lichen, laundry, laurel; anemone~uh-nem-uh-nee Balmorral ~ bal-mawr-uhl
kitchen ~ Kich-uh n Lichen ~ lahy-kuh n
Gertrude, German, wind and mind,
laundry ~ lawn-dree Laurel ~ lawr-uhl
Scene, Melpomene, mankind. Gertrude ~ gur-trood German ~ Jur-muh n
wind ~ wind mind ~ mahynd
scene ~ seen melpomene ~ mel-pom-uh-nee
Billet does not rhyme with ballet, mankind ~ man-kahynd
Bouquet, wallet, mallet, chalet. billet ~ bil-it ballet ~ ba-ley
Blood and flood are not like food, bouquet ~ boh-key wallet ~ wol-it
Nor is mould like should or would. mallet ~ mal-it chalet ~ sha-ley
Viscous, viscount, load and broad, blood ~ bluhd mould ~ mohld
Toward, to forward, to reward. flood ~ fluhd should ~ shuhd
viscous ~ vis-kuh s viscount ~ vahy-kount
load ~ lohd broad ~ brawd
toward ~ tuh –wawrd forward ~ fawr-werd
reward ~ ri-wawrd
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 croquet ~ kroh-key
rounded ~ roun-did wounded ~ woon-did
And your pronunciation's OK grieve ~ greev sieve ~ siv
When you correctly say croquet, friend ~ frend Fiend ~ feend
alive ~ uh-lahyv Live ~ liv
Rounded, wounded, grieve and sieve,
Friend and fiend, alive and live. ivy ~ ahy-vee privy ~ priv-ee
famous ~ fey-muh s clamour ~ klam-er
Ivy, privy, famous; clamour enamour ~ i-nam-er hammer ~ ham-er
And enamour rhyme with hammer. river ~ riv-er rival ~ rahy-vuh l
tomb ~ toom bomb ~ bom
River, rival, tomb, bomb, comb, comb ~ kohm doll ~ dol
Doll and roll and some and home. roll ~ rohl some ~ suhm
home ~ hohm

stranger ~ streyn-jer anger ~ ang-ger

Stranger does not rhyme with anger,
devour ~ di-vour clangour ~klang-er
Neither does devour with clangour. souls ~ sohlz foul ~foul
Souls but foul, haunt but aunt, haunt ~ hawnt aunt ~ ant
Font, front, wont, want, grand, and grant, font ~ font wont ~ wohnt
front ~ fruhnt want ~ wont
grand ~ grand grant ~ grant

shoes ~shooz goes ~ gohz

does ~ duhz finger ~ fing-ger
Shoes, goes, does. Now first say finger, singer ~ sing-er ginger ~ jin-jer
and then singer, ginger, linger, linger ~ling-ger
real ~ reel zeal ~ zeel
Real, zeal, mauve, gauze, gouge and gauge, mauve ~ mohv gauze ~ gawz
Marriage, foliage, mirage, and age. gouge ~ gouj gauge ~ geyj
marriage ~ mar-ij foliage ~ foh-lee-ij
mirage ~ mi-rahh age ~ eyj

query ~ kweer-ee very ~ ver-ee

Query does not rhyme with very, fury ~ fyoor-ee bury ~ ber-ee
Nor does fury sound like bury. dost ~ duhst doth ~ duhth
Dost, lost, post and doth, cloth, loth. lost ~ lawst cloth ~ klawth
Job, nob, bosom, transom, oath. post ~ pohst loth ~ lohth
job ~ job nob ~ nob
bosom ~ boo-zuh m transom ~ tran-suh m
oath ~ ohth

actual ~ ak-choo-al victual ~ vit-l

Though the differences seem very little, refer ~ ri-fur deafer ~ def-er
we say actual but victual. foeffer ~ fef-er zephyr ~ zef-er
Refer does not rhyme with deafer. heifer ~ hef-er
mint ~ mint pint ~ pahynt
Foeffer does, and zephyr, heifer. senate ~ sen-it sedate~ si-deyt
Mint, pint, senate and sedate; dull ~ duhl bull~ bool
Dull, bull, and George ate late. ate ~ eyt late ~ leyt
scenic ~ see-nik arabic ~ ar-uh-bik
Scenic, Arabic, Pacific, Science, conscience, scientific.
pacific ~ puh-sif-ik science ~ sahy-uh ns
conscience ~ Kon-shuh ns

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 liberty ~ lib-er-tee library ~ lahy-bruh-ree
heave ~ heev heaven ~ hev-uh n
Liberty, library, heave and heaven, Rachel ~ rey-chuh l ache ~ eyk
Rachel, ache, moustache, eleven. moustache ~ muhs-tash eleven ~ i-lev-uh n
hallowed ~ hal-ohd allowed ~ uh-loud
We say hallowed, but allowed, people ~ pee-puh l leopard ~ lep-erd
People, leopard, towed, but vowed. towed ~ tohd vowed ~ voud

Mark the differences, moreover, mover~ moo-ver cover~ kuh-ver

Between mover, cover, clover; clover ~ kloh-ver
leeches ~ leech-ez breeches~ brich-iz
Leeches, breeches, wise, precise, wise ~ wahyz precise~ pri-sahys
Chalice, but police and lice; chalice ~ chal-is police ~ puh-lees
Camel, constable, unstable, lice ~ lahys camel ~ kam-uh l
Principle, disciple, label. Constable ~ kon-stuh-buh l unstable ~ uhn-stey-buh l
principle ~ prin-suh-puh l disciple ~ di-sahy-puh l
label ~ ley-buh l

petal ~ pet-l panel ~ pan-l

canal ~ kuh-nal wait ~ weyt
Petal, panel, and canal, surprise ~ suh-prahyz plait ~ plat
promise ~ prom-is pal ~ pal
Wait, surprise, plait, promise, pal. worm ~ wurm storm ~ stawrm
Worm and storm, chaise, chaos, chair, chaise ~ sheyz chaos ~ key-os
Senator, spectator, mayor. chair ~ chair senator ~ sen-uh-tor
spectator ~ spe-tey-tor mayor ~ mair

tour ~ toor our ~ ahr

succour ~ suhk-er four~ fohr
Tour, but our and succour, four. gas ~ gas alas~ uh-lahs
Gas, alas, and Arkansas. Arkansas~ ahr-kuh n-saw
Sea, idea, Korea, area, sea ~ see idea ~ ahy-dee-uh
Psalm, Maria, but malaria. korea ~ kuh-ree-uh area ~ air-ee-uh
psalm ~ sahm maria~ muh-ree-uh
Youth, south, southern, cleanse and clean. malaria ~ muh-lair-ee-uh youth ~ yooth
Doctrine, turpentine, marine. south ~ south southern ~ suhth-ern
cleanse ~ klenz clean ~ kleen
doctrine ~ dok-trin turpentine ~tur-puhn-tahyn
marine ~ ma-reen

face ~ feys efface ~ i-feys

efface ~ pref-is phlegm ~ flem
Face, but preface, not efface. phlegmatic ~fleg-mat-ik glass ~ glas
Phlegm, phlegmatic, ass, glass, bass. ass ~ as bass ~beys
large ~ lahrj target ~ tahr-git
Large, but target, gin, give, verging,
gin~ jin give ~ giv
Ought, out, joust and scour, scourging. verging ~ vurj-ing ought ~ awt
out ~ out joust ~ joust
scour ~ skou-er scourging ~ skurj-ing

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 ear ~ eer earn ~ urn
Ear, but earn and wear and tear wear ~ wair tear ~ tair
here ~ heer ere ~ air
Does not rhyme with here but ere. seven ~ sev-uh n even ~ ee-vuh n
Seven is right, but so is even, hyphen ~ hahy-fuh n roughen~ ruhf-uh n
Hyphen, roughen, nephew Stephen, nephew~ nef-yoo Stephen ~ stee-vuh n
Monkey, donkey, Turk and jerk, monkey ~ muhng-kee donkey ~ dong-kee
Ask, grasp, wasp, and cork and work. turk ~ turk jerk ~ jurk
ask ~ ask grasp ~ grahsp
wasp ~ wosp cork ~ kawrk
work ~ work

Pronunciation � think of Psyche!

psyche ~ sahy-kee paling ~ peyl-ing
Is a paling stout and spikey?
stout ~ stout spikey ~ spahy-kee
Won't it make you loose your wits, groats ~ grohts grits ~ grits
Writing groats and saying grits? abyss ~ uh-bis tunnel ~ tuhn-l
It's a dark abyss or tunnel: strewn ~ stroon stones ~ stohnz
Strewn with stones, stowed, solace, gunwale, stowed ~ stohd solace ~ sol-is
gunwale ~ guhn-l islington ~ iz-ling-tuh n
Islington and Isle of Wright, Isle ~ ahyl wright ~ rahyt
Housewife, verdict and indict. Housewife ~ hous-wahyf verdict ~ vur-dikt
indict ~ in-dahyt
Finally, which rhymes with enough �
Though, through, plough, or dough, or cough? enough ~ i-nuhf though ~ th oh
through ~ throo plough ~ plou
Hiccough has the sound of cup. dough ~ doh cough ~ kawf
My advice is to give up!! hiccough ~ hik-uhp

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