Monday 9 July 2018

Homophones 1

Ex. Which of these words are homophones, that is words pronounced the same but spelt differently? Some of the following words do not match other words. The default accent is RP.

air, aren't, aunt, bare, bear, beat, beer, beet, boar, boor, bore, caught, court, ere, feat, feet, flew, flu, flue, hair, hare, heir, here, hoard, horde, hour, Lear, leer, mast, moor, more, must, our, pair, Paul, pear, peer, pier, pole, Pole, poll, root, route, sandwich, sand witch, shore, soar, sore, sure, weather, wet, whet, whether

KEY

air - ere - heir; aren't - aunt; bare - bear; beat - beet; boar - bore (and 'boor' unless we pronounce it /bʊə/) caught - court; feat - feet; flew - flu - flue, hair - hare; hoard - horde; hour - our; Lear - leer; moor (unless 'moor' is /mʊə/) - more; pair - pear; peer - pier; pole - Pole - poll; root - route; shore - sure (unless 'sure' is /ʃʊə/), soar - sore, wet - whet, weather - whether
no pair: beer, here, mast, must, Paul, sandwich (no /d/); sand witch

Update /'ʌpdeɪt/

As you can see, I have posted very little over the past year. This is something I hope to change in the near future since I am going to start teaching British English phonetics in October. This means that I'll do my best to post as many pronunciation exercises as possible, focusing on issues that are particularly relevant to native speakers of Polish. Unfortunately, I won't be able to include recordings - you'll have to make do with other sources such as howjsay.com. Stay tuned for more.

Punctuation: Gap filling and error correction

These exercises are a follow-up to my paper to be delivered on 23 July 2018 at the 4th English Teachers' Convention in Stryszawa, Poland. They focus on problems which are typical of Polish learners of English.

Ex. 1 Fill in the gaps with punctuation signs. In some gaps you do not need to use a sign.

1. This is the best comedy ___ I___ve ever seen. My friend didn___t like it at all ___ but I think it was hilarious.
2. After dinner ___ we went for a walk. The weather was very pleasant ___ it was warm and sunny.
3. I was in the waiting room. I had already read the magazine ___ that I___d bought one hour before ___ and there were still eight people before me. If I hadn ___t brought a book with me ___ I would have gone crazy.
4. I will not let you play computer games ___ unless you finish your homework by five.
5. We knew ___ Egypt was hot in July ___ S/still ___ we decided to fly to Sharm el-Sheikh ___ for a week.
6. My friend Jane Smith ___ who lives in a small village ___ says ___ that she misses London.
7. My brother ___ who works as a waiter ___ wants to open his own restaurant one day. (I have one brother)
8. My brother ___ who works as a waiter ___ wants to open his own restaurant one day. (I have two brothers)

Ex. 2. Each of the following sentences contains at least one punctuation error. Correct the sentences.

1. George asked me, if I was an English teacher. I said, that he must have mistaken me for Mr Kowalski who looks a little, like me. He said — Sorry, I expected him to arrive first.
2. Although, it was raining Jukka went swimming, he said he didnt mind, a bit of rain.
3. Ill help you do the dishes, if you read my essay and tell me, if its any good.
4. The textbook is entitled French Grammar — Phonology, Morphology and Syntax.
5. Ian paid 23.000,99 pounds for an old car.

KEY

Ex. 1.
1. This is the best comedy [none] I[']ve ever seen. My friend didn[']t like it at all [, / none] but I think it was hilarious. 2. After dinner [none/ ,] we went for a walk. The weather was very pleasant [: / — it was warm and sunny. 3. 3. I was in the waiting room. I had already read the magazine [none] that I[']d bought one hour before [,] and there were still eight people before me. If I hadn[']t brought a book with me [, / none] I would have gone crazy. 4. none, 5. We knew [none] Egypt was hot in July [. / ;] S/still [,] we decided to fly to Sharm el-Sheikh [none] for a week. 6. My friend Jane Smith [,] who lives in a small village [,] says [none] that she misses London. 7. two commas (a non-defining relative clause) 8. no commas (a defining relative clause)

Ex. 2.
1. George asked me [none] if I was an English teacher. I said [none] that he must have mistaken me for Mr Kowalski [,] who looks a little [none] like me. He said[,] [']Sorry, I expected him to arrive first['].
2. Although[,] it was raining [optional ,] Jukka went swimming [. / ;] he said he didn[']t mind [none] a bit of rain.
3. I[']ll help you do the dishes [none] if you read my essay and tell me [none] if it[']s any good.
4. The textbook is entitled French Grammar[:] Phonology, Morphology and Syntax. (an optional serial comma after 'Morphology')
5. 23,000.99