Halloween Special

Ex. Paraphrase the following sentences using the words provided so that the meaning remains as similar as possible.

1. What would you do if you saw a real vampire?
Supposing .....................................................................................................................
2. This is the most frightening film I've ever seen!
Never ...........................................................................................................................!
3. People believe that this castle has been haunted for centuries.
This castle is ................................................................................................................
4. There are rumours that a banshee can be seen wandering at night.
a. Rumour ....................................................................................................................
b. It is ..........................................................................................................................
5. The witch scared me out of my wits!
The witch ................................................... daylights ................................................!
6. I've never used a ouija board till now.
This is the ....................................................................................................................
7. It's impossible you saw H. P. Lovecraft in Providence. He's been dead for 81 years.
You can't .................................................................. He died .....................................
8. If you think Alien is based on a true story, you are crazy!
If you think Alien is based on a true story, you ............................................... belfry!
9. I can't stay up late - I get sleepy at 10 pm.
I can't stay up late - ...................................................................... pumpkin at 10 pm.
10. The scientist presented a terrible image of life after climate change.
The scientist ..................................... picture of life ............. wake of climate change.
11. Mr Smith says he was abducted by aliens.
Mr Smith considers ................................................... alien .......................................
12. Why don't you make your own Halloween costume?
How ...........................................................................................................................
13. When I scared Frances, she screamed loudly.
When I scared Frances, she .......................................................................... murder.

KEY
1. Supposing you saw a real vampire, what would you do?
2. Never (before) have I seen a more / such a frightening film!
3. This castle is believed to have been haunted for centuries.
4a. Rumour has it that a banshee can be seen ....
4b. It is rumoured that a banshee can be seen ...
5. The witch scared the living daylights out of me!
6. This is the first time I have used a ouija board.
7. You can't have seen HPL in Providence. He died 81 years ago.
8. ... you have bats in your belfry!
9. ... I turn into a pumpkin at 10 pm.
10. The scientist painted a grim picture of life in the wake of climate change.
11. Mr Smith considers himself to be/have been an alien abductee.
12. How about making your own Halloween costume?
13. ... she cried/yelled blue murder.

I used The free Dictionary at www.thefreedictionary.com to make sure I used the idioms correctly. Happy Halloween, whatever you are!

Minimal pairs: /e/ and /æ/

Both sounds are difficult for Polish learners. While pronouncing Polish /ɛ/ instead of English /e/ is not a problem that would lead to misunderstandings, using Polish /a/ or /ɛ/ (or even the nasal diphthong spelt <ę> in Polish) instead of /æ/ is admittedly a far greater obstacle to intelligibility. Speakers of other Slavic languages may find this exercise equally useful.

Ex. 1. Look at the following words containing the short vowel /e/ and find their counterparts containing the short vowel /æ/.

bed, beg, Ben, bet, dregs, fret, Jen (Jennifer), Ken, kept, leg, men, merry, neck, net, peck, pen, pent, pet, petty, rep, said, set, shell, spend, wrench

Ex. 2. In each set of words choose the one which does not contain the vowel /æ/.

a. mad, plan, Japan, Malta   b. hall, trap, hat, lap   c. lad, flat, wad, pad   d. tad, pack, paste, damp

e. tag, ball, span, lack   f. many, crammed, tan, ran

Key
Ex. 1. bad, bag, ban, bat, drags, frat (a fraternity in the USA), Jan (Janine), can, capped, lag, man, marry, knack, gnat, pack, pan, pant, pat/Pat, patty, rap, sad, sat, shall (full form), spanned, ranch (also with /ɑː/)
Ex. 2. a. Malta, b. hall, c. wad, d. paste, e. ball, f. many

Minimal pairs: /ɪ/ and /e/

The vowels /ɪ/ and /i/ are variants of one category whose use depends on the position of the vowel in a word. They are not interchangeable, however: it is impossible for speakers to pronounce /i/ instead of /ɪ/ in native English in any environment. 

Ex. I. Look at the following words containing the short vowel /ɪ/ and find their counterparts containing the short vowel /e/.

a. bill/Bill, bin, bit, bid, bliss   b. Brit, din, fill, fins, fitter   c. gin, git, gist, hill   d. Jill, kin, lid, list   e. mill, miss, mint, nick/Nick   f. nil, nit/knit, pig   g. pick, pin, Pippa, pit
h. rich, rid, rip, river, since   i. sit, sill, will, whipped, wrist   j. win, wince, whist, wit

Ex. II. Which words contain the vowel /i/? How is it usually spelt?

winner, lucky, firm, happy, chimpanzee, kitty, print, edgy, mill, witty, ginger, giddy, hill, wintry, binge, study, dear, womanly, hear, daily, greatest, weekly, birth, monthly, limp, thirty, thirteen, forty, fourteen, fifty

KEY
I. a. bell, Ben, bet, bed, bless; b. Brett, den, fell, Fens, feta (cheese); c. Jen, get, jest, hell; d. gel, Ken, led, lest; e. Mel, mess, meant, neck; f. knell/Nell, net, peg; g.peck, pen, pepper/Peppa, pet; h. wretch, red, rep, revver (engine), sense; i. set, sell, well, wept, rest; j. when, whence, west, wet

II. lucky, happy, kitty, edgy, witty, giddy, wintry, study, womanly, daily, weekly, monthly, thirty, forty, fifty
The usual spelling is <y>.

Minimal pairs: /iː/ and /ɪ/

A minimal pair is a pair of words which differ in terms of just one contrastive sound. In other words, they would be homophones (words pronounced identically) if it weren't for just one sound. For example, the words ship and sheep are a minimal pair, because the only sound that makes their pronunciation different is the vowel: ship has /ɪ/ while sheep contains /iː/. Here I omit technical terms such as phoneme or allophone or a discussion whether a long vowel can be treated as two vowel sounds rather than one since this is not a post about linguistics.

Ex. I. The words written below contain the short /ɪ/ sound. Find their counterparts containing long /iː/.

a. bin, bit, biz   b. did, dim, dip  c. fill, fist, fizz   d. gin, grid, grin, grit   e. hid, hip, hit   f. ill, is he (spoken fast)
g. kill, kin, kipper, knit   h. lid, lip, list, live (verb)   i. mid, mill  

Ex. II. The words written below contain the long /iː/ sound. Find their counterparts containing short /ɪ/.

a. kneel, peat, peak, peal/peel, peep   b. read, ream, reap, seal, seat, seen, seep   c. teal, team, teen, weep, ween, wheat, wheeze



KEY
I. a. bean/been, beat/beet, bees; b. deed, deem, deep; c. feel, feast, fees; d. Jean/Gene, greed, green, greet; e. heed, heap, heat; f. eel, easy; g. keel, keen, keeper, neat; h. lead (verb), leap, least, leave; i. mead, meal

II. a. nil, pit, pick, pill, pip; b. rid, rim, rip, sill, sit, sin, sip; c. till, Tim, tin, whip, win, wit, wiz