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English has many ways to pronounce words. Pronunciation changes over history and between the many dialects (local ways of speaking). Even so, the basic phonology (sound system) is similar in many places. Dialects often differ in syllables (units of sound with one vowel sound), in where they place stress (the strong part of the word). Some consonant sounds, such as stop consonants (sounds like p, t, k made by stopping air), affricates (sounds like ch, j made by stop + release), and fricatives (sounds like f, v, s made by friction) can also be different across dialects.
There is research on prestige speech (more formal) and standard speech (more common). In practice, these often mean Received Pronunciation (England), General American (United States), and General Australian (Australia).
Many dialects grow on their own, so they slowly become different from one another.
The IPA writes sounds with special symbols. Each symbol is one sound.
English has many vowel sounds and about two dozen consonant sounds. The exact set changes by dialect. For example, the vowel in the LOT set is /ɒ/ in Received Pronunciation (RP) but /ɑ/ in General American (GA).
Most dialects use the 24 consonant sounds below. The sound /x/ is less common in English.
| Sound | Example | Sound | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| p | pen | b | bed |
| t | ten | d | dog |
| k | cat | ɡ | go |
| tʃ | chip | dʒ | jam |
| f | fan | v | van |
| θ | thin | ð | this |
| s | sit | z | zip |
| ʃ | she | ʒ | measure |
| h | hat | x | loch (Scottish/German) |
| m | man | n | no |
| ŋ | sing | l | leg |
| ɹ (r) | red | j (y) | yes |
| w | wet |
| Sound | Key word | Sound | Key word |
|---|---|---|---|
| tʃ | chip | dʒ | jam |
| ʃ | ship | ʒ | measure |
| θ | thin | ð | this |
| ŋ | sing | x | loch |
John C. Wells made a list of vowel sets that show the pronunciation in Received Pronunciation (RP) and General American (GA). A vowel can be a monophthong (one clear sound, like /i/ in bit), a diphthong (a glide between two sounds, like /aɪ/ in my), or a triphthong (a glide between three sounds, like /aʊə/ in hour). English uses all three types, and different accents may show them in different ways. In the table, a set means a group of words that share the same main vowel sound across many words, for example the KIT set includes words like bit, ship, milk. The RP and GA columns give simple word examples. The IPA column shows the sound symbol, and the last column shows how to say it in plain words.
| Set | RP (example) | GA (example) | IPA | Pronunciation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| KIT | bit | bit | ɪ | short i as in bit |
| DRESS | bed | bed | e ~ ɛ | short e (somewhere between e in bed and eh) |
| TRAP | cat | cat | æ | flat a as in cat |
| STRUT | cut | cut | ʌ | mid uh as in cut |
| LOT | hot | hot (often ɑ) | ɒ ~ ɑ | RP rounded o in hot vs. GA ah in father |
| FOOT | put | put | ʊ | short oo as in put |
| FLEECE | see | see | i ~ iː | long ee as in see |
| GOOSE | two | two | u ~ uː | long oo as in two |
| FACE | day | day | eɪ | ay as in day |
| GOAT | go | go | əʊ ~ oʊ | oh as in go (RP starts more central) |
| PRICE | my | my | aɪ | eye |
| CHOICE | boy | boy | ɔɪ | oy as in boy |
| MOUTH | now | now | aʊ | ow as in now |
| NURSE | bird | bird | ɜː ~ ɝ | RP long ir as in bird / GA er |
| COMMA | final a in sofa | same | ə | weak uh (schwa) as in sofa |
The next three tables show the vowel phonemes (basic sound units) in Received Pronunciation, General American, and General Australian. In the RP and Australian tables, short means the vowel is said more quickly, and long means it is held a little longer. In the GA table, lax means the tongue and lips are more relaxed, and tense means they are tighter and the sound is usually a bit longer. These tables show how vowel sounds differ across accents by using different example words.
| Short | Long |
|---|---|
| i (bit) | ii (beet) |
| e (bet) | |
| a (cat) | aa (cart) |
| o (cot) | oo (caught) |
| u (pull) | uu (pool) |
| ə (collect) | əə (curl) |
| Lax | Tense |
|---|---|
| i (bit) | ii (beet) |
| e (bet) | ei (bait) |
| a (cat) | aa (father) |
| ʌ (cup) | ɑ (lot) |
| o (thought) | ou (boat) |
| u (put) | uu (boot) |
| Short | Long |
|---|---|
| i (bit) | ii (beet) |
| e (bet) | ee (bear) |
| a (cat) | aa (cart) |
| o (cot) | oo (caught) |
| u (pull) | uu (pool) |
| ə (comma) | əə (bird) |
The passive voice is used when the focus is on the object of the action (the thing acted on), not the agent (the doer). Form: be + past participle.
Adjective clauses (also called relative clauses) give information about a noun. They begin with pronouns such as who, that, which.
A gerund is a verb + -ing used as a noun. A gerund phrase is a group starting with a gerund.
Modals are helping verbs like may, might, could. For the past, use may have / might have / could have + past participle.
