Look at these words and try to pronounce them.
are, your, more, care, there, for, four, other, or, here, over, hour, before, higher, comfort, hear, never, etc.
Should we sound the 'r' when pronouncing these words?
Actually, there's no need for us to stress the 'r' sound let alone to sound it. It will sound awkward.
However, we sound the 'r' if one of those words is followed by a vowel (a,e,i,o,u).
Here are some tips/examples:
-"Before my eyes" - silent 'r'
"Before I go...." - with 'r' sound
- "Hear you say" - silent 'r'
"Here I come" - with 'r' sound
- "Four or five?" - with 'r' sound
"Four people" - silent 'r'
Now, I've found the reason why people say that Siti Nurhaliza sounds awkward when she sings her English songs.
Anyway, I'm not perfect too as I'm still learning. Peace! :)
*Another thing, be careful when pronouncing "can't" & "can" because they contrast each other.
** "WORD" and "FIRST" - the 'r' is totally silenced.
There are a lot of common errors in English that can be encountered among my students, friends, colleagues and other Malaysians. I usually don't have the heart to tell them upfront as it might hurt their feelings. Besides, I don't want them to think that I think I'm too good, because I am not that good. In fact, I still have a lot to learn. Hopefully, this blog will help us to correct our errors so that we could practise good and standard English together.
Thursday, 29 December 2011
PRONUNCIATION TIPS: Should we really stress the "r" sound in English words?
Labels:
pronunciation,
silent r
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
thx hafiz sudi share ilmu2 yg berguna ni :)
ReplyDelete