Unit 18. Sun, Full, June.

The Vowel Sounds /Λ/, /υ/ and /u:/

Unit 18; Part A

When you say the letters of the alphabet, U has the long vowel sound /u:/ (we say it with the consonant /j/ in front of it). You hear the /u:/ sound in the word June. But the letter U is also pronounced as the short vowel sounds /Λ/ or /υ/, as in the words sun and full.
Listen to the sound /Λ/. Look at the mouth diagram to see how to make this short vowel sound.

Listen to the target sound /Λ/ in the words below and compare it with the words on each side.

   target /Λ/
shoot    shut    shirt
match much   March
look      luck    lock

Then listen and repeat the examples of the target sound.
Examples:
              come       blood    cut
              young       does    must

"My mother's brother's my uncle; my uncle's son's my cousin."

Important for listening!
In the North of England, speakers may use /υ/ in place of /Λ/, so luck /lΛk/sounds like look /lυk/.

Unit 18; Part B

Listen to the sound /υ/.
Look at the mouth diagram ro see how to make this short vowel sound.

Listen to the target sound /υ/ in the words below and compare it with the words on each side.

       target /υ/
luck    look    Luke
pool    pull    Paul

Then listen and repeat the examples of the target sound.
Examples:
full good foot
wolf would put

"That cook couldn't cook if he didn't look at о cook book."

Unit 18; Part C

Listen ro the sound /u:/.
Look at the mouth diagram to see how ro make this long vowel sound.

Listen to the target sound /u:/ in the words below and compare it with the words on each side.

       target /u:/
full    fool    fall
road rude rod
but     boot   boat

Then listen and repeat the examples of the target sound.
Examples:
shoe shoes shoot
new lose soup

"Sue knew too few new tunes on the flute."

Important for listening! Many words which have /j/ before /u:/ in British English don't in American English. Compare: news /nju:z/- news /nu:z/, tune /tju:n/- tune /tu:n/.

Unit 18; Part D

Notes on spelling:
If there is an R after the letter U (and the R does not have a vowel after it), U has a different pronunciation. (See Unit 19. )

Exercises

1 Write them in the correct part of the table.

Listen to this student. Do the underlined words have an /Λ/ or /u:/ sound? Write them in the correct part of the table.
I studied English at о school in London last summer. I was there for two months: May and June. England is famous for bad food and weather, but I thought the food was good. The pub lunches were very nice. But it's true about the weather. Too much rain for me!

/Λ/

/u:/

Studied

School

Follow up: Listen again and repeat sentence by sentence.

2 Complete these sentences with words from the box.

Complete these sentences with words from the box. The vowel sound is given. Listen, check and repeat.

brother wood moon juice won month June would full ~~boot~~ Cup ~~put~~ son good

Example:
Two things you can put /υ/ on a foot are a shoe and a boot /u:/.
1    The /Λ/ after /u:/ is July.
2    My mother's other /Λ/ is my /Λ/.
3    Brazil /Λ/ the World /Λ/ in 2002.
4    Fruit /u:/ is /υ/ for you.
5    There is a /υ/ /u:/ once a month.
6    You pronounce /υ/ exactly the same as /υ/.

3 Underline the word with the different vowel sound.

Underline the word with the different vowel sound. You can use a dictionary if you are not sure.
Example:
foot    look blood    push
1    soon    book    boot    room
2    rude    luck    run     but
3    shoes    does   true    blue
4    pull    full    put    rule
5    group   could    would    should
6    done    move    love    son
7    south    young   couple    won

4 Listen and circle the word you hear.

Listen and circle the word you hear.

1    Cut or cat?    There's a cut / cat on the arm of the sofa.
2    Come or calm?    You should try to come / calm down.
3    Gun or gone?    He's taken his dog and gun / gone.
4    Shoes or shows?    I've never seen her shoes / shows on TV.
5    Pool or putt?    It said 'pool' / 'pull' on the door.
6    Luck or look?    It's just her luck / look!
7    Shirt or shut?    The hairdresser's shirt / shut.
8    A gun or again?    He shot a gun / again.

Follow up: Recordyourself saying the sentences in 4, choosing one of the two words. Makea note of which word you say. Then listen to your recording in abouttwo weeks, is it clear which words you said?

Unit 17 Unit 18 Unit 19