Large, but target, gin, give, verging, Ought, out, joust and scour, scourging. This phonetic labyrinth Gives moss, gross, brook, brooch, ninth, plinth. Just compare heart, beard, and heard, Dies and diet, lord and word, Sword and sward, retain and Britain. Viscous, viscount, load and broad, Toward, to forward, to reward. Considering that I couldn't even do this myself I slip up once in the video even this time, and probably pronounce one or two words wrong , I knew that the money was safe! Nevertheless, many native English-speaking readers will find the poem a revelation: the juxtaposition of so many differently pronounced parallel spellings brings home the sheer illogicality of the writing system in countless instances that such readers may have never previously noticed. Wholly, holly, signal, signing, Same, examining, but mining, Scholar, vicar, and cigar, Solar, mica, war and far. Let me know how you go! Liberty, library, heave and heaven, Rachel, ache, moustache, eleven.
Sally with ally, yea, ye, Eye, I, ay, aye, whey, and key. Are you ready to have fun while practicing your pronunciation? Say rapier, pier, Tier one who ties , but tier. Job, nob, bosom, transom, oath. From 1909 until his death in 1946 he wrote frequently for an Amsterdam weekly paper, with a linguistic column under the pseudonym Charivarius. Face, but preface, not efface. Say aver, but ever, fever, Neither, leisure, skein, deceiver.
Also, keep watching through to the end, because after the poem I add in some encouraging words of my own to essentially contradict the title of the poem and its very last line! Liberty, library, heave and heaven, Rachel, ache, moustache, eleven. Then one may be that and three would be those, Yet hat in the plural would never be hose, And the plural of cat is cats, not cose. Ivy, privy, famous; clamour And enamour rhyme with hammer. Youth, south, southern, cleanse and clean, Doctrine, turpentine, marine. My advice is to give up!!! Though the differences seem little, We say actual but victual. Billet does not end like ballet; Bouquet, wallet, mallet, chalet; Blood and flood are not like food, Nor is mould like should and would. Youth, south, southern, cleanse and clean.
Muscle, muscular, gaol, iron, Timber, climber, bullion, lion, Worm and storm, chaise, chaos, chair, Senator, spectator, mayor, Ivy, privy, famous; clamour Has the a of drachm and hammer. Cornice, nice, valise, revise, Rabies, but lullabies. A few minor corrections have however been made, and occasional words from earlier editions have been preferred. Stranger does not rhyme with anger, Neither does devour with clangour. And now you wish, perhaps, To learn of less familiar traps? Hiccough has the sound of cup. Meandering but mean, Valentine and magazine. Ear, but earn and wear and tear Do not rhyme with here but ere.
I teach English at a university in Australia, as well as to private students around the world. A poem about pronunciation A poem about pronunciation. Hiccough has the sound of cup. My advice is — give it up! Query does not rhyme with very, Nor does fury sound like bury. Sally with ally, yea, ye, Eye, I, ay, aye, whey, and key. Won't it make you lose your wits, Writing groats and saying grits? Refer does not rhyme with deafer. Say then these phonetic gems: Thomas, thyme, Theresa, Thames.
Face, but preface, not efface. Sword and sward, retain and Britain Mind the latter how it's written. But be careful how you speak: Say break and steak, but bleak and streak; Cloven, oven, how and low, Script, receipt, show, poem, and toe. Phlegm, phlegmatic, ass, glass, bass. Evil, devil, mezzotint, Mind the Z! Now first say: finger; Then say: singer, ginger, linger. Ear, but earn and wear and tear Do not rhyme with here but ere. Tour, but our and succour, four.
Feel free to link to this page, and to use the recordings in the classroom, but please don't hotlink to them or steal them for your website. Won't it make you lose your wits Writing groats and saying 'grits'? Real Life English loves making English learning fun and educational. Phlegm, phlegmatic, ass, glass, bass. If you are a nonnative English speaker then you know all too well that English pronunciation can be very confusing because of the overwhelming number of exceptions to the rules. Compare alien with Italian, Dandelion with battalion, Rally with ally; yea, ye, Eye, I, ay, aye, whey, key, quay! Won't it make you lose your wits, Writing groats and saying grits?. Large, but target, gin, give, verging, Ought, out, joust and scour, scourging. Refer does not rhyme with deafer.
Blood and flood are not like food, Nor is mould like should and would. The general importance of Drop your foreign accent is clear from the number of editions it went through, from the first without the poem in 1909, to a posthumous 11th revised edition in 1961. Sally with ally, yea, ye, Eye, I, ay, aye, whey, and key. Mind the latter, how it's written. River, rival, tomb, bomb, comb, Doll and roll and some and home. A moth is not a moth in mother, Nor both in bother, brothin brother.
Hear me say, devoid of trickery, Daughter, laughter, and Terpsichore, Typhoid, measles, topsails, aisles, Exiles, similes, and reviles; Scholar, vicar, and cigar, Solar, mica, war and far; One, anemone, Balmoral, Kitchen, lichen, laundry, laurel; Gertrude, German, wind and mind, Scene, Melpomene, mankind. Feel free to link to this page, and to use the sound recordings in the classroom, but please don't hotlink to them or republish them. It's a dark abyss or tunnel: Strewn with stones, stowed, solace, gunwale, Islington and Isle of Wight, Housewife, verdict and indict. Stranger does not rhyme with anger, Neither does devour with clangour. Though the differences seem little, We say actual but victual.