Thursday 31 January 2019

Minimal pairs: /ɜː/, /ɪə/ and /eə/

Ex. 1 Look at the following words containing a. /ɜː/, b. /ɪə/ and find their counterparts containing the diphthong /eə/.

a. burr, err, fir/fur, her, purr
b. beer, clear, dear/deer, ear, fear, hear/here, leer, mere, peer, spear, steer, tear (crying), year

Ex. 2 Choose the correct option

a. All is fare/fair/fir in love and war.   
b. Please open the window. We need some air/heir.
c. Who was the air/heir/hare to the Spanish throne?   
d. Have you met the mare/mayor/mere of Paris?
e. Some teenagers start smoking because of pare/peer/pear pressure.   
f. Please be careful on the wooden stares/stairs/steers.   
g. It's best to stare/steer/stair well clear of criminals. 
h. Men shouldn't leer/lair at women. 
i. The RSPCA rescued a young deer/dear/dare in the city park yesterday. 
j. The right to bare/bear/beer arms is an often quoted American law.
k. "Nothing to fear/fir/fare but fear/fir/fare itself."  


KEY
1. a. bare/bear, air/heir, fair/fare, hair/hare, pear
    b. bare/bear, Claire, dare, air/ere, fair/fare, hair/hare, lair, mare/mayor, pair, spare, stair/stare, tear (apart), yeah

2. a. fair, b. air, c. heir, d. mayor, e. peer, f. stairs, g. steer, h. leer, i. deer, j. bear, k. fear, fear,

Friday 25 January 2019

Minimal pairs: /iː/ and /ɪə/

Ex. 1 Look at the following words containing the vowel /iː/ and find their counterparts containing the diphthong /ɪə/.

be/bee, bead, dee, E, fee, he, knee, me, pea, tea/tee, we, ye

Ex. 2 In each group of words find the one which does not contain the diphthong /ɪə/.

a. friar, career, superior, sphere
b. dearest, bear, King Lear, Caribbean
c. pianist, leer, foreign, area
d. misdemeanour, we're, gear, nearer
e. pier, peer, pear, beer

KEY
1. beer, beard, dear/deer, ear, fear, hear, near, mere, pier, tear (eye), we're/weir, year
2. a. friar, b. bear, c. foreign, d. misdemeanour, e. pear


Monday 14 January 2019

Minimal pairs: /ɑː/, /aʊ/ and /əʊ/

Ex. Look at the following words containing 1. /ɑː/, 2. /əʊ/ and find their counterparts containing the diphthong /aʊ/.

1. bar, Bart, can't, car, Carl, grass, maths, tart

2. boat, bro, clone, foal, goat, gross, hoe, no, road/rode, woe

KEY
1. bough, bout, count, cow, cowl, grouse, mouths, tout
2. bout, brow, clown, foul/fowl, gout, grouse, how, now, rowed (argued), wow 

Tuesday 8 January 2019

Minimal pairs: /ɔː/, /ɜː/ and /əʊ/

Ex. 1 Look at the following words containing the vowel 1. /ɔː/, 2. /ɜː/ and find their counterparts containing the diphthong /əʊ/.

a. boar/bore, call, called, corpse, door, floor, gnaw, morn/mourn, prawn, raw/roar, soar/sore, stork, tore

b. Bert, burn, curt, earn, earth, fir, girl, hurl, learn, nurse, perk, sir, stern, turn, were

Ex. 2 How does the 'silent -e' change the pronunciation of the following words?

cod - code, cop - cope, hop - hope, mop-mope, ton-tone

KEY
1. a. bow, coal, cold, copes, dough, Flo/floe/flow, know/no, moan, prone, roe, so, stoke, toe
b. boat, bone, coat, own, oath, foe, goal, hole, loan/lone, nose, poke, sew/so, stone, tone, woe

2. In the first four words the letter <o> stands for /ɒ/ on its own and in ton it is /ʌ/, but when there is a silent <-e>, the vowel is /əʊ/.

Saturday 5 January 2019

Minimal pairs: /ɔː/, /aɪ/ and /ɔɪ/

Ex. 1 Look at the following words containing the vowel /ɔː/ and find their counterparts containing the diphthong /ɔɪ/. What are the homophones of boar, oar and soar?

all, ball, boar, call, core, corn, fall, oar, roar, soar, tall, tore

Ex. 2 Look at the following words containing the vowel /aɪ/ and find their counterparts containing the diphthong /ɔɪ/.

aisle, bile, buy, eye, Kyle, file, lighter, rye, sigh, tied, try, vied
 
KEY
1. /ɔɪ/: oil, boil, boy/buoy, coil, coy, coin, foil, oy, Roy, soy, toil, toy; homophones: bore, ore, sore
2. oil, boil, boy/buoy, oy, coil, foil, loiter, roy, soy, toyed, Troy, void

Wednesday 2 January 2019

Minimal pairs: /ɑː/, /aɪ/ and /eɪ/

Ex. 1 Look at the following words containing the vowel /ɑː/ and find their counterparts containing the diphthong /aɪ/.

arm, bar, bard, bark, Carl, cart, darn, mar, mart, par, scar, star, tar

Ex. 2 Look at the following words containing the diphthong /eɪ/ and find their counterparts containing the diphthong /aɪ/.

bake, brain, day, hate, hay, lane, lay, mane/main, may/May, neigh, pay, praise, pray, raise, ray, say, stay

Ex. 3 In each group of words choose the word which does not have /aɪ/ or /eɪ/.

/aɪ/ a. incline, pine, blinder, consider   b. achieve, blight, apply, drive
/eɪ/ c. Maine, Spain, train, said   d. afraid, Norway, quay, laid

KEY
1. I'm, buy, bide, bike, Kyle, kite, dine, my, mite, pie, sky, sty, Thai
2. bike, brine, die, height, hi/high, line, lie, mine, my, nigh, pie, prize, pry, rise, rye, sigh, sty
3. /aɪ/ a. consider, b. achieve
/eɪ/ c. said, d. quay