English Pronunciation Secrets 5 Tips to Improve English Pronunciation
Hi, I’m Oli.
Welcome to Oxford Online English.
In this pronunciation lesson, you can see
everything you need to think about in order
to pronounce one English sentence correctly.
You’ll see that there’s a lot to think
about, even in just one sentence!
Let’s look at our example: Although we hadn’t
planned everything perfectly, it all went
as smoothly as anyone could expect.
Try reading the sentence.
Is it difficult?
Easy?
Let’s see what you need to think about to
pronounce this sentence naturally and clearly.
The most basic thing to get right is the sounds.
Depending on what language you speak, you
might find some English sounds more difficult
to pronounce than others.
In this sentence, which sounds do you find
most difficult to pronounce?
‘Th’ sounds are difficult for many English
learners.
So, you might need to pay extra attention
to the /ð/ sounds in although and smoothly,
and the /θ/ sound in everything.
What else?
Some vowel sounds can be challenging, like
the /əʊ/ sound in although, or the /ɛː/
sound in perfectly.
Finally, pronouncing sounds right isn’t
just about pronouncing single sounds.
Sometimes, sounds which are easy to pronounce
by themselves can become a problem when you
have to combine them with other sounds.
Again, which combinations are easy or difficult
for you will depend on your native language.
For many English learners, the combination
of /ð/ and /əʊ/ in although is difficult.
Although
Although
Consonant combinations, like the ‘pl’
in planned or the ‘xp’ in expect, are
also challenging for some English learners.
Planned
Expect
Now, you have a job to do.
Read the sentence aloud two or three times.
Find the sounds or sound combinations which
are most difficult for you.
You can pause the video and do this now.
When you know which sounds you need to practice,
start by just practicing the sound.
For example, if you chose the /ð/ sound,
like the ‘th’ in smoothly, then start
by just practicing the sound.
/ð/
Then, take a short word with the sound, like
the, or this.
Say the words several times to practice.
Focus on getting the sound right.
Start slowly until you’re sure you can pronounce
it correctly.
Finally, practice with longer words, like
smoothly, although or brother.
Again, say the words several times, and start
slowly to make sure you get the sounds right.
In this way, you can improve your pronunciation
of English sounds which are difficult for
you.
Next, let’s talk about stress and prominence.
I’m guessing that most of you know what
stress is, but some of you might be thinking:
what’s prominence?
Prominence is similar to stress, but I’m
going to use a different name because it’s
not exactly the same, and I think it’s useful
for you to remember that these are two different
things.
Stress is found in words which have more than
one syllable.
For example, in the word everything, the stress
is on the first ‘e’.
Everything
Everything
In the word expect, the stress is on the second
‘e’.
Expect
Expect
Now, you can see the stress in the other words
of the sentence:
Although we hadn’t planned everything perfectly, it all went as smoothly as anyone could expect.
Stress is fixed; it doesn’t change.
The stress in expect is always on the second
‘e’.
Every time you say expect, you need to put
stress in the same place.
So, what about prominence?
Prominence means that the key words and ideas
in a sentence are emphasised.
It’s similar to stress, because you’re
pronouncing some words and syllables more
strongly than others.
However, it’s different to stress, because
it’s not fixed.
Prominence depends on the sentence and the
situation.
The same sentence can have different prominent
words depending on the speaker, or on the
situation.
Also, words which have one syllable don’t
have stress, but they can have prominence.
For example, all could be prominent in our
example sentence.
You heard before that the prominent words
in a sentence are the most important words
and ideas.
The prominent words are the words that carry
the meaning of the sentence.
So, look at our sentence again.
Which words do you think will be prominent?
Think about it, and even if you’re not sure,
take a guess!
It doesn’t matter if you get it wrong.
Pause the video if you want more thinking
time.
Here’s my suggestion.
Although we HADN’T PLANNED EVERYTHING PERFECTLY,
it ALL went as SMOOTHLY as ANYONE could EXPECT.
Because prominence is flexible, this is only
a suggestion.
If you want to emphasise different points,
you might make some words more prominent.
For example:
Although we hadn’t planned everything perfectly,
it all went as smoothly as anyone could expect.
Or, although we hadn’t planned everything perfectly,
it all went as smoothly as anyone could expect.
Or, although we hadn’t planned everything perfectly,
it all went as smoothly as anyone could expect.
Which is right?
They all are!
It depends on what you want to say.
This shows you another point: prominence can
have different levels.
Some words can be more prominent than others;
you can have different levels of prominence
in a sentence.
Stress and prominence are both essential for
your English pronunciation.
When I meet English learners, I generally
have no problems understanding people if they
make some mistakes with sounds.
But, if someone makes mistakes with stress,
it can be really hard to understand them.
Think of stress and prominence as two layers
over the sentence.
The first layer is the stress, which is fixed.
The second layer is the prominence, which
is flexible.
You need to pronounce both together:
Although we hadn’t planned everything perfectly, it all went as smoothly as anyone could expect.
The prominence might change, but the stress
stays the same:
Although we hadn’t planned everything perfectly, it all went as smoothly as anyone could expect.
Try reading the sentence in different ways.
Change the prominent words.
Also, think about a question: how does changing
the prominence change the meaning?
Why would you make some words prominent and
not others?
That’s a question to think about: there
are many possible answers.
It’s enough for now just to think about
these ideas.
This will already help your English pronunciation!
Next, you’re going to think about weak forms.
Weak forms are words which have a different
pronunciation when they aren’t prominent.
For example, look at the word as.
There are two.
These words aren’t prominent, and the pronunciation
in this sentence will change.
It’s not /æz/; it’s /əz/.
Which other words in our sentence have weak
forms?
Do you know?
Could is definitely weak.
Its pronunciation changes from /kʊd/ to /kəd/.
There are other words which might be weak
forms.
There’s a grey area where it’s hard to
say if a word is definitely a weak form or
not.
For example, if you say the sentence very
fast, the pronunciation of we might change
from /wiː/ to /wɪ/.
The pronunciation of hadn’t might change
from /hædnt/ to /hədnt/.
However, these changes don’t always happen.
You’ll only use these weak forms if you’re
speaking really fast.
For now, focus on the words which are definitely
weak forms: as, as, and could.
Let’s read the sentence with the weak forms:
Although we hadn’t planned everything perfectly,
it all went /əz/ smoothly /əz/ anyone /kəd/
expect.
Weak forms are closely connected to stress
and prominence.
To sound natural in English, you need a clear
contrast between syllables which are stressed
and syllables which are weak or unstressed.
Here’s a tip: make the contrast as clear
as possible.
To do this, pronounce the stressed and prominent
syllables more strongly and clearly.
Pronounce the weak and unstressed syllables
as fast as you can:
Although we hadn’t planned everything perfectly, it all went as smoothly as anyone could expect.
You can hear that this contrast between stressed
and unstressed gives the sentence a rhythm.
This rhythm is very important if you want
to sound natural in English.
There’s another point which is important
for the rhythm of the sentence: intonation.
Intonation is how your voice moves up and
down as you talk: whether your voice goes
higher or lower.
The easiest way to get the intonation right
is simply to listen and try to copy it.
Although we hadn’t planned everything perfectly, it all went as smoothly as anyone could expect.
For some of you, that might be enough.
However, in case you need more help, let’s
look at the intonation of this sentence in
more detail.
There are six basic intonation patterns in
English: high, low, rising, falling, falling-rising
and rising-falling.
Each of these can be used in different ways.
For example, rising-falling intonation can
be used to show excitement, surprise, or anger.
Also, like prominence, intonation isn’t
fixed.
Remember this point, because what I’ll show
you is not the only possibility.
First: you generally need a rising tone to
show that your sentence is not finished.
That means perfectly gets a rising intonation.
To get this right, you need to start moving
gradually upwards from the beginning of the
sentence.
Start with a falling-rising tone on although,
then move upwards in small steps.
Then, make a bigger move upwards on perfectly.
Although we hadn’t planned everything perfectly…
Although we hadn’t planned everything perfectly…
In the second half of the sentence, you need
to do the opposite.
You use a falling tone to show that your sentence
is finished.
So, expect needs a falling tone.
Again, start moving down in small steps from
the start of the clause.
Then, make a bigger move downwards on expect.
…it all went as smoothly as anyone could expect.
…it all went as smoothly as anyone could expect.
You need to think about two things here.
Firstly, your intonation should move on every
prominent word, but not on words which are
not prominent.
That means you need to move from low to high
on everything—not much, but a little bit.
You need to move from high to low on smoothly—again,
not a big movement.
Secondly, the last word of the clause should
have a much bigger movement.
On perfectly, you also move low to high, but
it’s a much bigger movement than on everything,
or other prominent words in the first clause.
The same is true in the second clause.
You need a much bigger intonation change on
expect.
Let’s try the whole sentence.
Although we hadn’t planned everything perfectly, it all went as smoothly as anyone could expect.
One more time.
Although we hadn’t planned everything perfectly, it all went as smoothly as anyone could expect.
Remember that intonation is flexible.
If you change the prominent words, or emphasise
different points, then the intonation will
also change.
This is the basic, ‘neutral’ intonation.
Wow!
So much to think about for just one sentence.
Let’s look at one final point.
Linking means how you pronounce two words
together as one continuous sound.
For example, if one word ends with a consonant
sound, and the next word begins with the same
or a similar sound, you can link the sounds
together, like this: as_smoothly.
If one word ends with a consonant sound, and
the next word starts with a vowel sound, you
can link the sounds together, like this: planned_everything.
Can you find any other places in our sentence
where you could link words?
Pause the video and think about it.
You could also link:
it_all
went_as
as_anyone
could_expect
Generally, when you speak English, you should
connect words as much as possible.
Connecting words together will make your speaking
more fluent and natural-sounding.
Thinking about linking will help you to do
this.
Let’s practice reading the sentence again,
focusing on the links:
Although we hadn’t planned_everything perfectly,
it_all went_as_smoothly as_anyone could_expect.
One more time: Although we hadn’t planned_everything
perfectly, it_all went_as_smoothly as_anyone
could_expect.
You can see that there’s a lot to think
about when you pronounce even one sentence
in English!
Actually, there are even more points, but
the things you’ve seen in this lesson are
the most important.
If you can master these, your English will
sound clear, natural and fluent!
I have a question for you.
Which pronunciation point from the lesson
do you find most challenging?
Please let us know in the comments!
Don’t forget that you can see more of our
free English lessons on our website: Oxford
Online English.com.
Thanks for watching and see you next time!