Phonetics: Students of English, different sounds, find the odd one out;)

Question

This exercise is aimed at students of English only.

Phonetics

A) Put the words into the correct column, th sound

mother, throw, teeth, clothes, those, brother, nothing, the, other, this

1) father 2) thin

B) As above

south, underground, boutique, coach, mouth, coupon, mountain, coast

1) boat 2) cloud 3) souvenir

C) As above

railway, fair, straight, wait, repair, upstairs, jail, millionaire, hare

1) rain 2) hair

D) As above

breakfast, jeans, near, treasure, pair, tea, wear, bread, east, dear, speak, red, fiest, there, here, beer, meat, met, seat

1) read 2) read 3) bear 4) ear

E) Which vowel sound is different in each line?

1) hear ear pear near

2) paper make star game

3) brother close rose those

3) sister miss ice fifteen

F) In which word is the gh pronounced?

bought right light fought laugh caught

G) Which past tense is pronounced differently in each line?

1) waited stopped liked watched

2) moved walked missed looked

3) fixed hired combed kissed

4) listened hated played walked

Fantastic idea! - rabbitwho, Mar 17, 2011

Answer 1

Phonetics

A) Put the words into the correct column, th sound

mother, throw, teeth, clothes, those, brother, nothing, the, other, this

1) mother, clothes, those, brother, the, other, this

2) throw, teeth, nothing

B) As above

south, underground, boutique, coach, mouth, coupon, mountain, coast

1) coach, coast

2) south, underground, mouth, mountain

3) boutique, coupon

C) As above

railway, fair, straight, wait, repair, upstairs, jail, millionaire, hare

1) railway, straight, wait, jail

2) fair, repair, upstairs, millionaire, hare

D) As above

breakfast, jeans, near, treasure, pair, tea, wear, bread, east, dear, speak, red, fiest, there, here, beer, meat, met, seat

1) jeans, tea, east, speak, meat, seat, fiest

2) breakfast, treasure, bread, red, met

3) pair, wear, there

4) near, dear, here, beer

E) Which vowel sound is different in each line?

1) pear

2) star

3) brother

3) ice

F) In which word is the gh pronounced?

laugh

G) Which past tense is pronounced differently in each line?

1) waited

2) moved

3) fixed, kissed

4) hated, walked

very nice , fidalgo, as usual - 00494d19, Mar 17, 2011

Is it just my accent or is the TH in "clothes" not only unvoiced but completely unpronounced. I say "cloze" - rabbitwho, Mar 17, 2011

I'm not sure if "clothes" belonges wtih the first group. Because when I pronounce clothes, it sounds like it's not there at all. It belongs with neither:S - ekimgkc, Mar 17, 2011

Loads of people say '' close', I agree Rabbit. I say 'clothes' (like 'those') though because I'm a bit pedantic at times. ^^ - galsally, Mar 28, 2011

"HatED! is not pronounced the same as "Walk't" - ian-hill, Apr 11, 2011

Answer 2

Answers to the exercise, please check your post.

On the issue of clothes, it can be pronounced with a slight th, or none at all.

clothes /kl??ðz/

A) Put the words into the correct column, th sound: 1) father 2) thin

1)mother, those, brother, the, other, this

2) throw, teeth, clothes, nothing

B) As above, 1) boat 2) cloud 3) souvenir

1) coach, coast

2) south, underground, mouth, mountain

3) boutique, coupon

C) As above 1) rain 2) hair

1) railway, wait, jail, straight,

2) fair, repair, upstairs, millionaire, hare

D) As above 1) read 2) read 3) bear 4) ear

1) jeans, tea, east, speak, seat, meat

2) breakfast, treasure, met, bread, red

3) bear, pair, wear,

4) near, dear, here, beer

E) Which vowel sound is different in each line?

1) hear ear pear near

2) paper make star game

3) brother close rose those

3) sister miss ice fifteen

F) In which word is the gh pronounced?

bought right light fought laugh caught

G) Which past tense is pronounced differently in each line?

1) waited stopped liked watched

2) moved walked missed looked

3) fixed hired combed kissed

4) listened hated played walked

¡Gracias, Heidi! - cogumela, Mar 28, 2011

Hmmm... I find G hard to grasp - cogumela, Mar 28, 2011

Answer 3

A) Put the words into the correct column, th sound

mother, throw, teeth, clothes, those, brother, nothing, the, other, this

1) father, mother, those, brother, nothing, the, other, this (voiced th)

2) thin, teeth, (unvoiced th)

3) clothes (silent)

B) As above

south, underground, boutique, coach, mouth, coupon, mountain, coast

1) boat, boutique, coach, coast ...(long o)

2) cloud, south, underground, mouth, mountain ...(ou dipthong)

3) souvenir, coupon...(long oo)

C) As above

railway, fair, straight, wait, repair, upstairs, jail, millionaire, hare

1) rain, railway, straight, wait, jail ...(long a)
2) hair, fair, repair, upstairs, millionaire, hare....(r controlled long a)

D) As above

breakfast, jeans, near, treasure, pair, tea, wear, bread, east, dear, speak, red, fiest, there, here, beer, meat, met, seat

1) read(simple past tense), red, breakfast, treasure, bread, met...(short e)
2) read(present tense), jeans, tea, red, east, speak, feast(spelling?), meat ....(long e)
3) bear, pair, wear, there....(r controlled long a) 4) ear, near, dear, here, beer....(r controlled long e)

E) Which vowel sound is different in each line?

1) hear ear pear near (pear)

2) paper make star game (star)

3) brother close rose those (brother)

3) sister miss ice fifteen (ice)

F) In which word is the gh pronounced?

bought right light fought laugh caught (laugh)

...gh makes an /f/ sound when it comes as the final consonant sound in a relatively short list of native English words - cough, trough, rough, tough, and laugh.

Tip: Do not pronounce gh as an /f/ sound anywhere else except for the 5 words on the above list.

G) Which past tense (inflection?) is pronounced differently in each line?

1) waited (/ed/), stopped(/t/), liked(/t/), watched(/t/) = waited

2) moved(/d/), walked(/t/), missed(/t/), looked(/t/) = moved

3) fixed(/d/), hired(/d/), combed(/d/), kissed(/t/) = kissed

4) listened(/d/), hated(/ed/), played(/d/), walked(/t/) = no one answer here

thanks gerry - 00494d19, Apr 13, 2011

Heidita - de nada. (You're welcome) - gerry118, Apr 13, 2011

Answer 4

¡Genial, Heidi! ¡Gracias!

A) Put the words into the correct column, th sound: 1) father 2) thin

1)mother, those, brother, the, other, this

2) throw, teeth, clothes, nothing

B) As above, 1) boat 2) cloud 3) souvenir

1) coach, coast

2) boutique, coupon

3) south, underground, mouth, mountain

C) As above 1) rain 2) hair

1) railway, wait, jail, straight,

2) fair, repair, upstairs, millionaire, hare

D) As above 1) read 2) read 3) bear 4) ear

1) jeans, tea, east, speak, seat, meat

2) breakfast, treasure, met

3) bear, pair, wear, bread, red

4) near, dear, here, beer

? fiest

E) Which vowel sound is different in each line?

1) hear ear pear near

2) paper make star game

3) brother close rose those

3) sister miss ice fifteen

F) In which word is the gh pronounced?

bought right light fought laugh caught

G) Which past tense is pronounced differently in each line?

1) waited stopped liked watched

2) moved walked missed looked

3) fixed hired combed kissed

4) listened hated played walked

Answer 5

A.

1. Father, mother, clothes, those, brother, the, other, this

2. Throw, teeth, nothing

B.

1. Boat, coach, coast

2. Cloud, south, underground, mouth, mountain

3. Souvenir, boutique, coupon

C.

1. Rain, railway, straight, wait, jail

2. Hair, fair, repair, upstairs, millionaire, hare

D.

1. Read, jeans, tea, east, speak, meat, seat

2. Read, met

3. Bear, breakfast, pair, wear, bread, red, there

4. Ear, near, dear, here, beer

E.

1. pear

2. star

3. brother

4. ice

F.

Laugh

G.

1. Waited
2. Moved
3. Kissed
4. Hated

Answer 6

A) Put the words into the correct column, th sound:

mother, throw, teeth, clothes, those, brother, nothing, the, other, this

1) father : mother - clothes - those - brother - the - other - this

2) thin : throw - teeth - nothing

B) As above:

south, underground, boutique, coach, mouth, coupon, mountain, coast

1) boat : coach - coast

2) cloud : underground - mouth - mountain

3) souvenir: boutique - coupon

C) As above:

railway, fair, straight, wait, repair, upstairs, jail, millionaire, hare

1) rain: railway - straight - wait - upstairs - jail

2) hair : fair - repair - millionaire - hare

D) As above

breakfast, jeans, near, treasure, pair, tea, wear, bread, east, dear, speak, red, fiest, there, here, beer, meat, met, seat

1) read: speak - meat - seat - jeans

2) read: red - fiest - breakfast - treasure - tea - bread - met

3) bear: there - pair - wear

4) ear : east - dear - here - beer - near - east

E) Which vowel sound is different in each line?

1) pear

2) star

3) brother

3) ice

F) In which word is the gh pronounced?

laugh

G) Which past tense is pronounced differently in each line?

1) waited

2) missed

3) fixed

4) walked

Thanks so much for the exrcise Heidi :)))) - 00b6f46c, Mar 17, 2011