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.

1.
in-ter-net
un-der-line
un-der-lined
al-pha-bet
con-so-nant

2.
six-ty
un-der
u-nit
hou-ses
go-ing

3.
six
line
lines
house
goes

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

1 How many syllables are there in these words? Write the number of syllables next to the word.

How many syllables are there in these words? Write the number of syllables next to the word. eyes 1 why ___1 white ___1 write ___1 writing ___2 glass ___1 glasses ___2 university ___5 business ___2 information ___4 Listen to check your answers. Check with the Key.
Then listen and repeat these sentences. 1 I've got blue eyes. 2 I don't know why. 3 Black coffee or white? 4 Will you write to me? 5 What are you writing? 6 Is this your glass? 7 I don't wear glasses. 8 Where's the university? 9 Business is business. 10 There's the information office.

2 Answer the questions.

Answer the questions. Key1. Saturday
2. Two
3. Eleven, seventeen
4. W (double "u")
5. March, May, June

1   Which day of the week has three syllables?
2   How many syllables do the other days of the week have?
3   Which numbers between 1 and 20 have three syllables?
4   Which letter of the alphabet has more than one syllable?
5   Which months have only one syllable?

Listen to check your answers. Check with the Key. Then listen and repeat.

3 Read this story and mark all the words that have two or three syllables.

Read this story and mark all the words that have two or three syllables.

28.2.jpg I remember(3) once on my first visit(2) to England ( )2, soon after ( )2 I started ( )2 leaming ( )2 English ( )2, my landlady ( )3 went shopping( )2 and she came back with a big bag full of things, but she forgot( )2 to buy some soup - she needed( )2 a tin of tomato( )3 soup. So I said, "I'll go to the shop and buy it for you" because( )2 I wanted( )2 to be helpful( )2 and it was a chance to practise( )2 my English( )2 a bit So I went to the litlle( )2 shop round the corner( )2 and asked the shopkeeper( )3 for tomato( )3 soup. But he seemed surprised( )2, he didn't( )2 understand( )3, and I repeated( )3 again( )2 and again( )2 "soup, tomato( )3 soup" until( )2 he gave me some red soap, and I realised( )2 I'd confused( )2 'soup' and 'soap' and I was asking( )2 for tomato( )3 soap'. I felt terrible( )3, I wanted( )2 to run out of the shop, but my landlady( )3 wanted( )2 her soup, so I said "Thank you. And tomato( )3 soup, please" - this time with the correct( )2 pronunciation - and he gave me the soup. I paid and went back to the house and said to the landlady( )3, pronouncing ( )3 very( )2 carefully( )3, "Here's your soup, and I bought you this soap as a present( )2," and she said, "Ooh, thank you very much, that's very( )2 nice of you!"

Listen to check your answers. Check with the Key. Then listen and practise reading the story aloud.

Lesson 27 Lesson 28 Lesson 29