Lesson 28. One House,Two Houses.
Syllables
Lesson 28; Part A
Listen to these three lists of words. The words in list 1 have threeparts - we say they have three syllables. The words in list 2 have twosyllables, and the words in list 3 have one syllable.
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Some words have more than three syllables: television has foursyllables, for example, and geographical has five syllables. Listen. te-le-vi-sion ge-o-gra-phi-cal | Ooh, thank you very much! | ||||
The simplest type of syllable is just a vowel sound, like /u:/. Peopleoften say the vowel sound /u:/ (usually written Ooh) when they arepleased or surprised. Listen. Ooh, that's nice! Ooh, thank you very much! | |||||
Some syllables have one or more consonant sounds before the vowel. Listen. /s/ + /u:/ = /su:/ This is the name Sue. /bl/ + /u:/ = /blu:/ blue | |||||
Some syllables have one or more consonants after the vowel. Listen. /i:/ + /t/ = /i:t/ eat /i:/ + /st/ = /i:st/ east | |||||
Some syllables have consonants before and after the vowel. Listen. /nj/ + /u:/ + /z/ = /nju:z/ news /f/ + /i:/ + /Idz/ = /fi:ldz/ fields /str/ + /i:/ + /t/ = /stri:t/ street |
Lesson 28; Part B
Usually, the number of syllables in a word is the number of vowel sounds - not the number of vowel letters. Listen. worked (2 vowel letters but only 1 vowel sound /wз:kt/, so only 1 syllable) different (3vowel letters but only 2 vowel sounds /'difr∂nt/, so only 2 syllables) interesting (4 vowel letters but only 3 vowel sounds /'intr∂stiη/, so only 3syllables) | |
Sometimes the sound /l/ can be a syllable with no vowel sound. Listen. bottle (2 syllables /'bo/ + /tl/) syllable (3 syllables /'si/ + /1∂/ + /bl/) It'll be ready soon. (2 syllables /it/ + /l/) |
Exercises
| Lesson 27 Lesson 28 Lesson 29 | |