PUBLIC SPEAKING FOR BUSINESS

ENGLISH LEARNERS
By Andrew Smith
 - The main pronunciation rules you
In this lesson, we’ll look at: need to know about when publicly
speaking.

Pronunciation
Overview
SHORT VOWEL SOUNDS

1. Rat
vowel + single consonant at the end = short vowel sound.

Examples of words that follow this rule include:

● cut (/kʌt/)
● tap (/tæp/)
● big (/bɪɡ/)
LONG VOWEL SOUNDS

2. Late
vowel + consonant + e = long vowel sound.

The e is silent at the end of these words. A lot of these are diphthong
(gliding) sounds and include:

● care (/keə/)
● bike (/baɪk/)
● tape (/teɪp/)
SHORT VOWEL SOUNDS WITH DOUBLE CONSONANT

3. Latter
vowel + double consonant after = short vowel sound

When a vowel is followed by two consonants that are the same, the
vowel is usually a short sound. Examples of these kinds of words
include:

● hitter (/ˈhɪt.ə/)
● muffin (/ˈmʌf.ɪn/)
● banner (/ˈbæn.ə/)
SINGLE LONG VOWELS

4. Boat
vowel + vowel = single long vowel

Quite often when we have two vowels next to each other we ignore the
second vowel and draw the first vowel out longer. Examples include:

● rain (/reɪn/)
● treat (/triːt/)
● you (/juː/)
3 DIFFERENT -ED ENDINGS (#1)

5. Hugged
regular verb (-ed ending) = 3 different pronunciations

With regular simple past tense verbs, the pronunciation of -ed endings
changes depending on the final sound of the verb (before the ed).

If it ends in d or t then the ed is pronounced /ɪd/

● hunted (/ˈhʌnt.ɪd/)
● winded (/ˈwɪnd.ɪd/)
● haunted (/ˈhɔːnt.ɪd/)
3 DIFFERENT -ED ENDINGS (#2)

It it ends in a voiced sound then the ed is pronounced /d/

● hugged (/hʌgd/)
● fried (/fraɪd/)
● robbed (/rɒbd/)
3 DIFFERENT -ED ENDINGS (#3)

If it ends in a voiceless sound then the ed is pronounced /t/

● talked (/tɔːkt/)
● tapped (/tæpt/)
● missed (/mɪst/)
-ED ENDINGS DIAGRAM
COMPOUND NOUNS

7. Whitehouse
compound noun = stress on the first syllable
When we combine more than one word into a single noun (compound
noun), we tend to put the stress on the first syllable of the first word.

● cowboy (/ˈkaʊ.bɔɪ/)
● newspaper (/ˈnjuːzˌpeɪ.pə)
● friendship (/ˈfrend.ʃɪp)
 - Short vowel sounds
REVIEW:
WHAT WE - Long vowel sounds

HAVE - Short vowel sounds with

double consonants
LEARNED - Single long vowels
TODAY - 3 different -ed endings

- Compound nouns
HOMEWORK

● Do exercises and watch videos on the

pronunciation topics we looked at today.

● Use the pronunciation section of the

website Oxford English to help you do this.

● Focus mostly on the pronunciation areas

you are struggling the most with.